Happy Birthday Chad!

Today is Chad's birthday. Chad is my son in law, the husband of Kelli and the father of my two grandsons. I can't think of a better way to wish him a happy birthday than to post some of my favorite pictures of Chad and his family from our trip on my blog. I'm sure I'll do another post or so on our trip, but this is a great place to start. After all there are around 800 pictures. LOL

Here's Chad and my daughter Kelli at my Uncle and Aunt's 50th wedding party. They have been married for 10 years. Chad is a wonderful husband to Kelli. I don't think she would ever find anyone who would treat her as great as Chad does.
Chad is in quite a few pictures that I took of Cooper. He was always holding him wherever we went. Cooper is crazy about his daddy and often won't go to anyone else if Chad is around.
He is not quite in as many of the pictures we have of Connor since Connor thinks he can wander around like an adult! Here's a rare one of Chad holding him up to see some of the sights at the Magic Kingdom.
And here's Chad and Connor on the Dumbo ride. Connor had just had his face painted. Cooper and Kelli were in the elephant just ahead!
This one was made while we were waiting for our table at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.
Chad and Cooper at Sea World on Sunday with Cooper modeling a straw hat.
And last but not least...probably my very favorite picture of the three of them was taken at the Believe show at Sea World on Sunday. Don't you love the smiles on all 3 faces??
Chad was so much help and fun on our trip! He drove everywhere we went, and was so patient with all of us including me when I tried to be a backseat driver. I don't think there is a daddy anywhere who loves his family anymore than Chad does.

Happy birthday Chad, and we love you!

Won't you join me in wishing him a happy birthday? I believe he would enjoy hearing from you!

A Kitchen Redesign -a little at a time!

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Metamorphosis Monday. Please visit her for lots of inspirational photos!

When we bought our house in 2002, we knew it was a 'fixer upper.' So I've included our 'before' pictures in with my post.Here is a before of the kitchen before the other family moved out:
And here is the same view of my kitchen today:
We have done the remodeling in stages, and of course when you do that, there are always things that you wish you might have done differently. We replaced the appliances within a year, and now I wish that I had bought stainless steel.

My original plan was to have new cabinet doors put on the existing cabinets and add granite counter tops. After getting estimates from several contractors, we decided to replace the cabinets and use Formica on the counter tops. Maybe one day we'll add the granite or quartz counter tops, but we had to cut costs somewhere to stay within the budget...and that was the place for us. I'm so glad now that we had new cabinets put in...they not only look better, but are so much more efficiently designed!

The kitchen is not very large as you can see, so the redesign of the cabinet space, which was done on a computer, has made the area so much more usable. We have two of these corner cabinets...one on each side of the window. They are very deep and hold quite a bit. We chose stacks of drawers rather than cabinets with doors wherever possible. I really can find most everything so much easier. And all but the top drawer are deep enough to hold most pots and pans.
Here is another stack of drawers on the other side.
To utilize every bit of space, we used these corner cabinets that swing open with lazy Susan shelves on both sides of the sink. Now I can get to stuff that used to be almost impossible to reach.
Here is a before view of the other side of the room...the breakfast area before the other family moved.
And here is a picture of the way it is today.
We replaced the fluorescent overhead fixtures with ceiling fans and put in ceramic tile. One of my friends tried to get me to put in hardwood or laminate....I wish I had listened to her--the grout is a pain to clean. But as soon as I finish teaching this semester, redoing the grout with a permanent paint is on my list of projects!

The room has been repainted since we moved in...from golden grain to the sage green you see in this picture. I'm thinking of replacing the table in the corner with a chair and nice lamp to make a reading area. We never use this table! Our dining area is convenient to the living area, and we eat there or at the bar. So as you can tell...I'm not really totally 'done' with this room!

One of my favorite things in this room is my Daisy Chain pottery by Mississippi artist Gail Pittman.
I have quite a few pieces of this as you may notice from the other pictures. The pottery originally belonged to my daughter, Kelli at Sassy Southern Mom, and when she moved in her new home, it no longer worked for her....so I inherited it all! The color in the picture is a little off...the green in the dishes is not quite as bright as it looks in this picture. Daisy Chain has been discontinued, so I'm always on the lookout for it on Ebay, antique stores or flea markets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cabinet Facelift Postponed: Seeking advice!

A few weeks ago I posted some things that I bought from a young couple at their garage sale. I mentioned this cabinet, but didn't post the picture. My plan was to paint it...but now I'm unsure what to do with it. I liked the traditional style of this cabinet, and wanted to have a cabinet to display some pottery that I inherited from my daughter. Also, it has holes in the back for cords and will be a great place to display my North Pole Village at Christmas.

Below is the furniture in the breakfast room that I was going to replace. It is a really old washstand that belonged to my husband's grandmother. My daughter wanted this piece to go in a small spot in her house, so I went ahead and let her get it. As long as it stays in the family!
I know I said I was going to paint this cabinet when I bought it and I probably will...eventually! It's not that I'm lazy but I'm unsure what color to paint it. I didn't want the spot to be empty while I am trying to make up my mind, so my husband and I brought it inside and polished it. We made a few small repairs and put the missing hardware back on. The cabinet looks so much better!
Here is a close up of the dishes that my daughter gave me. The pattern is Daisy Chain and was designed by Mississippi artist Gail Pittman. This pattern has been discontinued, but is still one of my favorites. The colors in the pottery go with the color scheme in my kitchen much better than my daughter's kitchen.
My original plan was to paint it like the cabinet in the picture below. I saw this cabinet in antique store in Collins . My kitchen cabinets are finished with this same glazed color.

Or I could just leave it as is! It looks so much better after furniture polish and with the hardware put back on.

I wish I was more confidant about decisions like this! I know that once I paint it, that's it...the mahogany finish will be history! And it sure would be easier to leave it as it is now. What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by and PLEASE give your opinion!