$50 Kitchen Face Lift

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Our kitchen has needed a bit of a face lift and I've been lusting after fabulous backsplashes lately (have you seen the backplash that my friends over at The Fix-Its just installed? Love!).

See how sad things look? Blah and boring. Unfortunately, our budget was a little blah when it came to this project and as you may know, a backsplash definitely doesn't come cheap. So, I turned to my friend Google and searched for cheap backsplash options.

I landed on a favorite blog, Young House Love, and a project one of their readers had submitted. Check out the quick and easy backsplash they did in a kitchen that looks JUST LIKE MINE! It was meant to be.


After I made Steve bust out the measuring tape in the kitchen, I went on over to Amazon and ordered some Handy Wall Tiles.

$45.96 and a few days later, our tiles arrived. And check it out: As seen on TV - you can't go wrong with that.



We grabbed some heavy duty double sided foam tape after reading some reviews of the tiles. I'm glad we did, as the flimsy little sticky squares that come with the tiles don't give you a lot of confidence in the product.


The tiles are about the thinnest pieces of aluminum possible. They dent and bend easily. However, they are also fairly easy to cut using a sharp pair of household scissors.

Needless to say, it was an interesting project. My fingertips were sliced with tiny little cuts from the tiles, my manicure was completely ruined, and I became a pro at prying tiles off the wall with a butter knife because I didn't stick them on there quite straight enough. But the end result was...


...awesome! Overall it feels so much more polished, pulled together and just complete.


Here's a close up of the tiles. So shiny and new!


For roughly $55 and a few hours, I was able to give our kitchen a fancier feel. While it doesn't rival a professional job, it definitely will do for now.

Summer Shoe Love

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

We are finally seeing warmer weather here in Chicago - hallelujah! - so I kinda sorta feel comfortable putting away the cold weather clothes and busting out fun summer dresses and flip flops. I absolutely live in flip flops during the summer...but they don't, you know, look very dressy. And any pair of "nicer" flip flops I buy just aren't comfortable.

So a couple of weeks ago I was hunting around in Piperlime for a new purse, and decided to check out some sandals. I came across the Pierre Dumas Devora...not only did the sandals have great reviews, but they were on sale for around $20!

I decided to buy them in "Whiskey" because I figured that would go with everything. And, of course the day after I bought them I realized they would not go with everything...specifically, they would not go with the super awesome dark brown sun dress I just bought from Anthropologie. Hmph. I called Piperlime to see if they could switch out my order, but sadly they were already set for shipping.

Two days later, the sandals arrived and I slipped them right on my feet at my desk and walked around the office. They. Are. Amazing. So comfortable and cute! But they just don't match my new dress.

{Source}

So, what's a girl to do? Go right back online and buy them in gold, too!

The gold are just as fabulous as the "Whiskey" color and between the two, I can tackle any summer outfit.

Do you have a summer shoe love?