Cutting Board Kitchen Chalkboard

My mom gave me an old cutting board and I had the idea to turn it into a kitchen chalkboard.

First I marked off a rectangle on the board and wood burned a border. Then Aaron sanded the rectangle until it was nice and smooth. I taped off the area with masking tape and painted it with chalkboard spray paint. It's my favorite way to create a chalkboard surface since it goes on so smoothly.

Chalkboard tip: Did you know that before you start using a chalkboard, you should "cure" it by rubbing chalk all over the surface and then wiping it off. If you don't, it will be really hard to erase the first thing you write on the board.

Now I have a really cute kitchen chalkboard. I can write grocery lists, holiday messages or my favorite... the dinner menu. Writing out the menu makes me feel fancy.

Kitchen renovation - complete!

There isn't anything I can say about this but TAHDAH! I am calling our kitchen renovation complete.

Here are the before shots, taken before we bought the house.

I can barely remember what the kitchen used to look like. Before... blue wall paper, yellowed linoleum...

There is a long list of upgrades... new tile floor, fresh paint on the wainscoting, yellow wall paint, new counters, tile back splash, new sink and faucet, new lighting, fresh cupboard paint, ceiling paint... and more.

Oh and we got the breakfast nook set up. My mom made new curtains and Aaron hung new shelves. That's the same helper pug though.

Basically Aaron did most of the work. I picked out colors and painted a few spots here and there. Here is a closer look at the kitchen upgrades I like the most... the glass tile backsplash.

Cork shelf liners.

New counter, fresh cupboard paint and new cupboard hardware.

New lights over the stove.

New double sink and faucet.

And an unexpected surprise... Aaron refinished our milk box door! The icing on the cake! I am so happy with my bright, shiny new kitchen!

Land O' Lakes & Bisquick recipe tins and photobombers

I found these vintage recipe tins at a flea market. Not that I should be looking to take on another collection, but vintage branding and recipe card boxes combined into one was more than I could take.

When I was trying to take a picture of the boxes... in wanders Oscar. And he just stands there. For every picture on my blog I probably have a picture of pug blocking the shot or photobombing it.

I wonder where they get it from?

At any rate, the tins look really cute on my kitchen shelf.

I am grout.

The kitchen renovation continues with our new backsplash. Of course it isn't that simple - new backboard, some new wireing...

Tile going up! Next... grout grout grout.

New year - new counter - new sink

The kitchen renovation project is back on track. We got a new kitchen counter and Aaron put in a new sink and faucet. Sort of the like the floor, the counter is not real granit but is formica that looks surprisingly like granite. I love my new double sink and fancy faucet too! Next up... tile backsplash!

New kitchen shelves

This past summer, as part of our kitchen renovation project, I cleared out the breakfast room and made it into a real breakfast room. That meant removing the large metal shelf with all my kitchen gear on it to make room for a table and chairs. We love our breakfast room and eat dinner there too.

Most of the stuff from that shelf went to the attic and items I use more often went into this cupboard Aaron and my parents got for our dining room.

I still wanted a few things on hand in the kitchen and there was a big space on the wall in the breakfast nook. So Aaron made these shelves where and can store... and let's be honest... artfully display kitchen stuff. I enjoy arranging and rearranging everything!

Breakfast Nook

When we were working on the kitchen we rearranged the breakfast nook to be... a breakfast nook.

Previously, we had a big shelf crammed with appliances and kitchen tools. It has taken some reorganization and shifting but we cleared out the nook to hold just the table with chairs.

This weekend, I was thinking that it had been a long time since we had made breakfast ourselves. We love to go out for breakfast/brunch on the weekends but I wanted to get back in the habit of making a long, leisurely breakfast at home too.

Now that we have our proper breakfast nook, it's perfect for Aaron's ebelskiver (Danish pancakes) and all the fixins.

Oh and what do you listen to on the record player when you are making breakfast at home? Breakfast at Tiffany's of course.

Late night kitchen renovation: New tile floor

When we decided to tile the kitchen floor there was a lot of work that had to be done beforehand. When it finally came time to install the tile it went down so quickly and easily!

Probably because we had these three helping. Seriously it is hard to work with them around. As soon as you are busy with something they come poking their nose into it.

I love our new floor. It is tiles of vinyl with self-adhesive backing. You just peel the paper off and stick them down. You can even grout in between them and it looks just like ceramic tile at a fraction of the price and effort.

We still have a few things to do to finish up the kitchen: baseboard, paint the cupboards, electrical, new counters and backsplash. But it already looks so nice.

A lot of people have been asking me about the tile. This is the brand we got at Home Depot. I highly recommend it.

Kitchen upgrades & Helper pugs

Having the outside of the house painted inspired Aaron to do some upgrades inside too. After lots of grumping by me about our white linoleum that despite all the scrubbing in the world never looked clean, Aaron suggested we put in a new floor.

Helper pugs are ever so eager to help.

Of course if you are tearing up the floor you might as well pull down the wallpaper and paint as well. Here are two interesting things found while peeling off wallpaper... #1 - more ugly wallpaper #2 - a coupon for Calgon that expired in 1995

Patterned glass containers

We have been using glass containers for lunches and leftovers for awhile now. We needed some more so I was thrilled when I saw these at Fishes Eddy AND they had cute patterns on them. They look vintage, I think.

My mom just scored one of these As Seen on TV Smart Spin Storage Systems for me also and I am enjoying the "slide, spin and store" action.

Berry Pocket Pies

I used the berries we picked yesterday to make pocket pies... cherry, blueberry...

...black raspberry, red raspberry and some with all of them.

I used the Williams-Sonoma Lattice Pocket Pie Mold to make them.

It worked really well.

Blueberry.

Cherry.

We needed dinner so I made some savoury ones too. These are swiss cheese, goat cheese and mushroom pocket pies.

They are so darn cute. And tasty! I see a lot more pocket pies in our future!

Vintage wrap holder

My mom found this cool vintage paper towel, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, wax paper dispenser.

I got Aaron to hang it up in the kitchen and it's so handy. And it fits well in our vintage "but more in an old annoying way, not cute and endearing way" kitchen.

Microwave popcorn popper

Aaron had a movie theme for Valentines Day this year. He got us tickets to see "Valentines Day" and he got me this microwave popcorn popper. I love the popper. It even has a mesh lid that you can put butter in so it melts as the popcorn pops and coats the popcorn. Yum!

Paper Straws

I love straws and I really love these paper straws i just found. I was surprised at how long they last. You would think the paper would get all soggy, but they don't. I am pretty sure I had these when I was a kid. Classics.

Cherry Chomper in action

So it was time to try out the Cherry Chomper.

Ummm yeah. Cherry Chomper looked a little scary after 13 lbs of cherries but it did a great job.

We canned seven jars of cherries - (one not pictured - didn't have the matching lid)

They are just packed in a light syrup so we can make cherry pie and other goodies this winter.

My fingers are stained red, but it was so worth it.