Tag, you're it!

If you love personalization and tags, then get thee to Michael's asap!

While checking out the $1 bins, I found these fabulous metal letter tags.

This photo was taken with my phone camera so it doesn't really depict the coloring well. They are brown metal and are 2.5 inches by 5 inches.

Here's the sticker info:

I don't really know what I am going to do with them, but at a $1 each I snagged them. I chose to get one for each member of our family, the first initial of each first name. I'm thinking of putting them on baskets on the shelf in our entryway coat closet--a basket for each family member--to hold various items such as hats, gloves and scarves in the winter. Maybe flip flops in the summer? They would also be great for using on large gift wrapped  items.

How would you use these fabulous, cheap tags?

I'm linking up this tip over at 

The Powder Room

Excuse me while I powder my nose.

This half bath on our main floor has undergone some major changes since we first moved into our home. It, along with the entire house, was beige. We came in and painted it a deep cranberry and hung Parisian inspired artwork in dark mustard and olive greens. I loved for a long time. 

But then I needed to lighten up. I chose a sea glass color paint for the walls and left the decor out of the equation for months. Then over the last few weeks as items from the kitchen came down and got shuffled around, things started ending up in other places including the powder room.

This room is really tough to photograph as it's tiny. I put my regular lens on. I put my 50mm lens on. I turned the lights off. I turned the lights back on. In the end, I got what I got. ;)

Lights Off:

Lights On:

The glass shelf over the potty (yes, I have two little ones and call it a potty) has a collection of items that have made the rounds from the living room to the kitchen and now this room.

And with kiddos in the house, a stool is a must. I love the bead board effect on this one!

My sister in law added river rocks to her powder room sink after seeing them in the sinks at a restaurant. I totally copy catted a copy cat. We also added the faucet.

We also removed our builder grade, basic light fixture and replaced it with this one. I original bought it with the intention of of the fixture pointing up, but instead we positioned it downward and I like it so much better. 

The wall plaques were a purchase from Willow House back when it was Southern Living at Home. You can't tell very well from these pics, but the patina has some greenish blue in it that I had never even noticed til they were on these walls.

And last but not least, I added this very full, green plant to a wire distressed basket I found at The Christmas Tree Shop a while back. I immediately bought it because of the birds on it without any idea of how I would use it. I also threw some burlap in there.

So there you have it. The place you could powder your nose if you were to stop by for tea.

The Little Things

Now that I've shared our kitchen makeover, I thought I'd share some of the little things that help make up the room. Are you ready for a TON of photos? Grab an ice cold glass of sweet tea or a hot cup of coffee, whichever tickles your fancy, and let's go!

I have a collection of milk glass that was in a display case in our living room, behind closed doors and not noticeable at all. I was more than happy to pull it all out of there and to actually use it in the kitchen. I love that the small "catch all" was just the right size for my favorite Ikea tindra candles. These candles smell so good and I stock up on them every time we make the trek to the Swedish store! (My husband and relatives are the red wine drinkers in the family, so I know nothing about the particular bottle here on our island.)

I love fresh flowers and often have them in our home, especially in the spring and summer. These were from my daughter's baptism over the weekend. The vase is a large Mason jar found at Goodwill that I wrapped twine around. The silver tray was a wedding gift and has been moved all over the house for holding various items. The soap dispenser was from Target. The iron sponge holder is from Southern Living At Home (which is now Willow House). The sponge is from Pier 1.

These baskets are some of the very few items that were newly purchased for the kitchen post makeover. They are the small milk crate water hyacinth baskets from Target.  (If you haven't noticed, I love that place!). I added metal mailbox numbers to them which I found at Home Depot for under $2. I've had several family members and friends ask me what the numbers mean and why they are on there. Don't these people read home decor blogs and pour over decor catalogs like me?!? Obviously not or else they would be familiar with the number craze. 

I added the baskets on top of the fridge. Because our fridge isn't built into it's spot, it sticks out quite far from the overheard cabinets. I liked that adding the baskets to the top helps to fill in that space, therefore making it less noticeable that the fridge isn't built in.

Next to the stove top I have my block of knives, silver salt & pepper shakers and a few decorative items. Putting a collection of items on a tray pulls everything together. This tray was another Willow House purchase back when it was Southern Living at Home. The Brighton candle holders were another wedding gift and are topped off with battery operated wax candles.

 I found the iron piggy bank at an antique shop several years ago. His name is Wilbur.

I made the framed L monogram a while ago. You can see my post on how I made it here.

I brought home a few different rugs for in front of the sink before settling on this one. I had wanted something with color in it, but none of them seemed to work until I placed this more neutral one in the spot.

(By the way...do any of you have items on your counters that you'd rather not have on display? That toaster is one of those items for me. But we use it multiple times a day so out it stays.)

 I found the rug at--you guessed it!--Target. I love the pattern on it.

I had to have these herb crates when I saw them on The Lettered Cottage blog. I first posted about them here. I bought them 2 years ago from an etsy shop that is no longer in business. These went right back in the same spot once we finished painting and adding bead board.

I keep our cereal in these glass canisters. Guess where they are from?!? The small herb crate is from the set on our wall. I keep it here by our phone and it holds a little journal and pen for message taking.

I use the green glass measuring cup to scoop out the cereal. It came from my grandparents' home. It is depression glass and was distributed by Kellogg's as a form of advertisement in the 1930s. I love having items like this in my home.

Speaking of the phone, ours is an old fashioned land line phone that we bought many years ago after I saw them at Pottery Barn. I found ours at Target. (Seriously, it is an addiction.)

The wreath on our pantry door was a purchase I made for Thanksgiving several years ago and it has stayed out ever since. I've hung it several different ways but now it is hanging by a strip of burlap. I get lots of compliments on my kitchen vinyl on the door. You can read about it here.

The hutch is my very favorite part of the kitchen. We purchased it shortly after getting married. It was handmade by the Amish not far from where we live. It was a dark, olive green and I repainted it using Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue.

This is where the rest of my milk glass collection now lives. Most of the pieces were my Granny's. A few pieces came from a dear friend's mom who gave them to me when she learned that I loved milk glass. I'd like to add to the collection and know I could find more at Goodwill, but I I like that my pieces came from loved ones.

My antique silver flatware, also handed down to me from family, is displayed in old mason jars.

In front of my huge jar of sugar (we're running low!) is my husband's cheese grater which was handed down to him from his Italian grandmother. I believe it was originally his great-grandmother's. He still uses it to grate delicious Italian cheeses.

The cutting board was a gift from my Irish roomate back in my college days. She brought it back to me from Ireland and I love that the colors now match so well in my kitchen. (sorry the pic is blurry)

The original knobs on the hutch were plain and stained. I found these vintage ceramic knobs at Pier 1 and love that they mimic the white milk glass.

Next to the hutch is a basket filled with quilts handmade by my great grandmothers. On top is a pillow that I covered in burlap and monogrammed with twine. 

The decor on my kitchen table in the eat-in area has already changed about three times in the last two weeks! For now there is a floral arrangement that I made for my daughter's baptism over the weekend. The vase was leftover from an arrangement I received from my darling husband a while back. I just covered it with burlap.

And the pewter cream and sugar set also came from my grandparent's home.

By the fridge is a decorative iron plaque with three hooks. This was another Southern Living At Home purchase several years ago. (Yeah, I went through a phase with them!) The yellow gingham apron was my grandother's. I'd like to add some burlap ruffles to the plain white one.

No kitchen is complete with a coffee maker! We adore our Keurig. The mugs are from William Sonoma and were a find at the Pottery Barn Outlet many years ago. I have the matching desert plates as well. The white plant pot is from Ikea and the plant is from The Christmas Tree Shop. The trivets are, again, from Southern Living At Home. I used to have a whole coffee station set up here with all the K-cups, sugar, stirrers, etc on display but it got a bit cluttered for me so now it is all in the cabinet above this area.

Over at the sink, I have two tall apothecary jars that I found a long time ago at Home Goods.

These get filled with various items according to season/holiday. Just a few weeks ago they had lemons in them. Now they are filled with white wooden eggs and plastic eggs that I covered in twine. I love the look so much in my new white kitchen though that I may be hesitant to take them out when Easter/spring is over.

On the sink is a tiny terracotta pot that my son made for me as a Mother's Day gift last year. The little ladybugs are his thumbprints. As you can see it got cracked, but I still love it. Inside of it is a seashell my son found and gave to me. It sits in a tiny dish that was my great aunt's. It often holds my rings as I wash off dishes.

For those of you who made it through the whole post, I thank you for reading and for looking at all my pics! I'd love to see the little things that help to make up a room that you love. If you have a post to share, please leave the link in a comment so I can take a look!

{To see the kitchen reveal post, click here!}