Our Creativity Was At An All Time High In January

 

I spent a lot of time in the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Workshop in January. I had a lengthy list of projects that needed to be completed for our home. The big focus was on our kitchen, living room, and bathroom. There's a little story behind that. 

Back in August, Lisa's parents visited us for the day. It was their first time seeing our new house. They brought a lot of boxes filled with treasures. Most of those treasures were antiques that had been passed down from Lisa's grandparents and great-grandparents. 

In the weeks ahead, we sorted through everything. We narrowed everything down to 3 categories. Kitchen. Bathroom. Living room. The next step was to incorporate these pieces in the various rooms. This involved a little creativity because we spent the majority of 2020 painting most of the rooms in our house. Adding these pieces to the various rooms meant rearranging some of our existing decor.

The first room we tackled was the kitchen. 

We made a couple of primitive signs for the kitchen including 'Enjoy The Simple Things' and 'Kitchen Rules.'

We then decided to utilize the space in our kitchen on the left side of our refrigerator. 

In the Spring of 2020, this is what that area looked like. Shortly after, when we painted the kitchen, it remained the same except for the color of the wall.

This is the "after" photo. We got rid of the old baker's rack and replaced it with a black iron baker's rack. I posted the before and after photo on my personal wall with this caption...

"We have a tiny spot in our kitchen that needed...something. In August, we were gifted several boxes of family heirlooms. Quite a bit were kitchen items. So. That inspired us. 

The "before" photo was taken in the Spring of 2020. The "after" photo was taken this evening. After we hung our handcrafted "Enjoy The Simple Things" sign. 

We are more than proud to display vintage kitchen items that our elders once used and cherished. Both sides of our family. And, to get rid of the big and bulky microwave that we never used. 

It's all about simplicity. Our elders. And. Embracing the beauty behind the stories and carrying on the traditions."

And, before you ask, yes. We got rid of the microwave. It was, and always has been, an appliance that we very seldom use. It was big and bulky. Taking up space. I know this is a popular appliance for the majority, but not for us. 

There are others like us too. 

The second room we focused on was our bathroom. The black iron baker's rack that we put in our kitchen to replace the larger one came from our bathroom. It was a great piece to store our towels on along with baskets for other bathroom items. Once we took that piece out, we needed to replace it with another piece. 

We had the perfect solution...

At some point, over the years, we acquired this tattered antique side table. It's a solid wood piece. Gorgeous. But. It needed lots of TLC. 

Lisa kissed it with the sander and brought it up to my Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Workshop. I gave it a coat of Kilz and made a custom color mixing several shades of primitive blues and gray.

I also made a centerpiece for the table. 

After I painted the side table, Lisa distressed it. This was the final piece. We were both head over heels in love with it. 

Throughout that process, Lisa made an additional primitive ladder shelf for the bathroom so we could display the antique pieces throughout.

This is one of our existing primitive shelves.

This shelf was another existing shelf that we had in our bathroom. It's made out of barn wood from the late 1800s. I added a little touch in the right-hand corner with primitive berries and fabric. 

This is the additional ladder that Lisa built. We needed the extra shelves to display the antique bathroom tins and Avon bottles that had been passed down to us. 

The final room that we added our final touches to...

That happened earlier this month.

Stay tuned...