Finishing Touches

Two tips for redecorating:
1. Define your space.
2. Use what you already have and make it better.

One part of remodeling or redecorating, along with decluttering, is identifying the purpose for a space. It has taken us these 3 years we've lived in this house to figure out exactly what we use each room for (and we're still figuring it out in some areas!). As we work on each room, we are trying to streamline that a bit.

Our kitchen, for example, gets used for a lot more than cooking and eating. We tend to lug our laptop in there quite frequently to either listen to music, or to look up recipes, or pay bills so we can spread out on the table. Rather than have it on the counter where food could spill, or on the table with the cord draped across the room (not wise with two small children running around), we decided it would be wise to incorporate a work area devoted to that and that alone. I had a console table in there that I originally plopped the coffee pot and a few other things on, but really wasn't necessary for that use, so we decided to "convert" it. Along with the "desk" space we created, I also wanted to make it more useful as the organizational "hub" of the house. So we moved the family calendar above it and a letter box I picked up from TJ Maxx for letters to mail, bills, etc to keep the desk clear.

But that's a pretty big wall for just the calendar so I have been trying to think of what else I could hang that would be functional as well as decorative. I really hated to pay much at all for shelving . . . so I figured I should look through what I already have and see what I could come up with. I found these two items - a cabinet with a chalkboard on the front that the previous owners had left. We had taken it down when we repainted the kitchen and never had a spot to put it back up. And a shelf someone had given me years ago that wasn't really the right style anymore.

The chalkboard cabinet I just painted to match the kitchen cabinets with leftover paint...

I took the shelf and removed the doors, painted it to match, and flipped it upside down! I added a little basket to hold receipts and a bowl for keys too!

I hung them on either side of the calendar and thought it was still missing something, so I moved my coffee clock above it and it was the finishing touch!

Since I moved the clock, the space above the cupboards looked too bare, so I picked up a decorative wall hanging for half off at Hobby Lobby!

Functionality + Beauty + Low Cost = Perfection!