Friday, August 22, 2014

Newest Home Improvement Projects- Paint and Lighting

We have had a busy month making some home improvements I've wanted for years! This was the month to get it done!

First, remember my Annie Sloan red kitchen island? Well it isn't red anymore....


I painted it Annie Sloan cream and used a little bit of dark wax on it. I love it! The red was fun, but it didn't stand out like the cream does in comparison to the other cabinets. Most people never even noticed it was different. It is high contrast now! 


We also finally painted an accent wall in the master bedroom. We went with Antiquity by Sherwin Williams at 75%. It is a great apple green color with a hint of gold and matches the bedding perfect.


I love the warm green against the old rustic star above my bed.


Finally, it was time to upgrade our lighting. My black french country chandelier received a big upgrade and it now matches the pendant light above my sink....


I bought the mason jar chandelier from Pottery Barn and my sweet husband installed it!


It is so me and provides a lot of light in that room which was needed! The up lighting of the chandelier just wasn't bright enough especially when crafting or sewing at night on this table.


I'm happy with these changes and feel like my house really represents my style. But, I'm not done. I have two more paint projects, another kitchen cabinet upgrade and a major foyer project coming! Stay tuned!


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Abby's Kindergarten Luncheon

Hello! Long time no blog! I haven't had the time or desire to blog this summer, but have a couple of fun posts to share with you before summer wraps up. Later this week I'll share my 3 big home improvement projects, but today we are all about Abby's kindergarten luncheon. 

We invited 5 of Abby's friends that are all starting kinder next week over for lunch. She has known these kids most of her life from preschool and church. When they first arrived, I gave them all 2027 shirts representing the year they will all graduate and we went outside for pictures.


Back inside we sat down for lunch with only these six little ones in the formal dining room which had been decorated for the occasion. 

The dining room buffet table includes a chalkboard, apple and bell that I had on hand. I also bought a dozen globe stress balls on Zulily months ago and had the balloon topiary gifted as leftovers from a friends birthday party.

On the other side of the buffet were these adorable cookies from my friend Kelly who owns Cookies by Kelly. They were the perfect sweet touch after lunch! 


 The center of the table had lots of fun school supplies including my favorite globes from my office. I made the "ruler" runner on the table from a piece of white fabric my Mom hemmed and a black sharpie marker.


I decorated the windows with bunting from Modern June and a chalkboard bunting from the Target party section. 


Each place setting was decorated with a yellow crayon cup, a plain red paper plate with a felt stem and leaf hot glued on and the cutest napkins! I found these in the $1 spot last year and I just wrote each child's name on the napkin.


Inside the kitchen, I set up a simple lunch buffet and made it fun with another chalk board banner from Target. The little ham sandwiches were still in the oven when I snapped this picture. Along with those we served chips and dip, fruit salad, and had lunchables for the special kindergartners. I also had water, tea, lemonade, and a variety of juice boxes and old bottled sodas.

I served everything on my favorite stove top cover!


We had one little game planned for the kids. They went on an alphabet scavenger hunt. They had classic brown paper sacks where I had written the letters of the alphabet. They each started with a sack and then moved to the letter station.


At this station they dug through plastic magnets to find their letter and found the matching flashcard. Both were placed in their sack and it was taken to the toy station!


Here each kid dug in the bucket to find a toy that started with the letter sack they were holding. The kids had lots of fun looking for something with their letter and often worked together!


 After playing a little while longer, the kids left with these little packages of writing utensils and their own globe ball. I bought these notebooks on 90% off after school started last year! If you plan to throw a party like this next year, I recommend shopping in the next few weeks. Supplies go cheap fast!


These sweet six kids are some of my favorite little people in all the world and I'm so glad we could celebrate their upcoming big day together before we all go separate ways! As you can tell from their little signs, they have big futures ahead of them!

 

I found lots of ideas for this party on Pinterest. Check out my Back to School Party board here