$80 Kitchen Remodel Reveal!

When I tell people I redid my kitchen, including now countertops, for around $80, they always look at me like I'm nuts. But it happened, and I've got to say I'm so proud of my thriftiness and creativity!

To get caught up to speed, you should probably read my post on my original PLAN for this room. I followed that up with a step by step of what I had decided to do in Let's Talk Kitchen Renovation! A lot of prices and products I used are listed in those posts.


This project was a LONG time overdue in happening, but now that's it's over I am kicking myself that I didn't do it like this when we originally did the room 5 years ago.  Remember how it looked before?? (The various was it looked before? haha!) To see how it looked in the VERY BEGINNING of our lives here, you can check out the KITCHEN EVOLUTION post.

Yeah, all that's gone now! I can't believe I lived like that for almost 5 whole years!

BUT HERE IT IS NOW!!

Let me show you around! - I would like to note that I got this project finished while I still had all my summer decor out, but now it's all fall-ish at my house, so things decor-wise may look a bit different now.

Yeah! It's so much brighter!! I love it!

I love how the table looks (it's showing up very red in this photo. It's not that red) with the new wall color, so much prettier!

I kept a lot of what I already had over my cabinets, including my big "BLESSED" that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby a few years ago.

It says "Missy's Kitchen, est. 2009" The bottle is a "Cheerwine" bottle. It's a lot like Cherry Coke but more cherry than coke. My Mom used to love it when she was in her early 20's and first married. I think she actually lived in the town where they made it, but I'm not sure. We found this at Cracker Barrel and bought a few bottles! And then the Mason Jar is filled with rocks that I picked up from out of the ocean in the Bahamas when we went in 2013.

My giant "R" was also from Hobby Lobby. I painted the bottle and the star blue with leftover front door paint! And, ya gotta have the glass "RC Cola" bottle. It's Aaron's favorite drink, ever! 

I thought it would be cute to have some photos of Aaron and I in the kitchen when we were little on display. This one is of him, ear to ear in chocolate pudding. How adorable?!

And this one is me, in my Dorothy costume, making biscuits with my Mama. I was probably 3 or 4. 

I change out this picture seasonally, but it's always a shot of me and my Dad. This one is a fun memory. He'd been fishing and pulled up in the driveway yelling for my Mom to bring me outside. He said "I caught a fish that's as big as my baby! Bring her out here and let's measure them up!" And, as you can see, the fish is as big as his baby. :)  Currently there's a shot of him and me, as Little Red Riding Hood, on Halloween in the frame by the window!

The pantry stands out so much more than it did before! It's easier for me to see what I have now!

Here's my iPad/TV set up in the kitchen! It's such a small space I wouldn't have room for a TV, unless it was teeny, so I just hook the iPad up to this iPod dock, put the iPad on an easel, and there ya have it, instant television! :) I use the heck out of this system! (I do need a less obnoxious easel though!)

 My microwave area! It's amazing to me how much easier this room is to keep clean now!! This section of the room was the first to get "finished" and for a moment I thought it was all too light, but after living with it for a few days, I had no regrets!

The stove (it's even prettier now!), and my little helper! She hung in there like a trooper with me while I was doing all of this! I did purchase the hand towel, and pot holder and oven mitt set specifically for the new kitchen and it was a $5 set from Dollar General!

I decided I was too tired to cook the day after it was all finished (I finished it around 2 or 3am, actually) so I stuck a meal in the crock pot! 

I leave this butcher block cutting board out all the time. It's arranged a bit differently now, for fall, but it's still out all the time. A very good idea, and super easy to clean up!

DIY EVERYTHING! Haha! DIY lotion, and DIY lamp! I painted both the lamp base and the shade! If I eventually find something I like better, ok, and if I don't I like this just fine! 

 MORE DIY! I did the "EAT" out of cardboard. I free-handed the letters, cut them out with an exact-o knife (it's not perfect but I didn't expect it to be), painted them blue with leftover front door paint and attached them to the wall with 3M tape! I LOVE it!  The curtains over the windows I found on sale at Dollar General for $5 a panel. I bought 3! (The one over the sink I cut in half and split up the middle!)

 My flowers and DIY table runner! My cooking utensils are actually living in the owl pitcher now, and I'm using my glass cake stand full of homemade cookies as a centerpiece! I loved that I could still use this runner! My Mom made it for me and monogrammed our last name initial onto each end. There's enough teal blue in it that it works!

 Chandelier is even more beautiful now!

The room is a small room. and we have a large table, but it all feels so much BIGGER now that it's so light!
 

I find myself WANTING to be in the kitchen now. I just LOVE how it all turned out.

Be sure to visit the posts linked above for prices on items (including my "new" countertops) and names of paint colors and such! I'm tickled pink and blue (wink wink) with this room and can't tell you how satisfying it was to completely change it for such a small price!

Thanks for catching up with me today! See y'all soon!

Dollar Store Sunglasses Case!

I don't buy expensive sunglasses. For me, it's just like that old Jeff Foxworthy joke. I could buy a pair of expensive sunglasses and 5 minutes after I walked out of the store I would lose them or destroy them. But a pair from the Dollar Tree I couldn't lose if I was trying. I believe he says that you could be on an ocean cruise and lean over the railing and your cheapo's fall off your face and a random scuba diver would pop up with them in his hand asking "hey did somebody lose a pair of sunglasses??" Yes. (I think he mentions this joke in his "Totally Commited" video but I cannot be sure, and I had no luck finding this specific joke on YouTube, but trust me, it's the truth and it's so funny!)

But the stinky part about buying inexpensive sunglasses is the fact that you don't get a case with them. And I throw mine in my purse and Heaven only knows what might happen inside that Mary Poppins bag! I carry a large Vera Bradley tote bag (I couldn't tell you the style.... but I do know that it is part of the "tote" bag genre) and it has 4 huge pockets on the outside, I've gotten into the habit of stuffing my shades into one of those pockets to try and protect them from getting scratched up. But still... they're not really protected. I could very easily squish them since they're in  a pocket on the outside of my bag.


These are my shades. I freaking love them!

I got them about a couple of years ago at Kohl's for like $12 and I have worn the heck out of them. I love aviator sunglasses so much! I feel so cool when I wear them. Like I look like I just stepped out of Top Gun and I'm doing the slow motion walk with my hair in the breeze and the fighter planes behind me...... there, that's my confession for the day. So embarrassing/

As you can tell, they are gold with rose colored lenses (...these roooose coooolored glasses... teeheehee) and they have a cute little circular design on the arms, or earpieces. I have several more pairs of shades, but these are my favorite and the ones I'm always reaching for.

A few weeks ago I was in the Dollar General store and I was wandering, killing time, checking the merchandise, checking if they had anything new, and I slipped into the clothing/accessories isle. Have y'all noticed that recently the dollar stores (Dollar General and Family Dollar, specifically) are starting to get some super amazing clothes?? Back in July I bought a boat load of clothes at the Family Dollar for just $30. Anyway, I was in "DG" as my Mom and I call it, and looking at the clothes and turned around to where they have like wallets and purses and things like that, and tucked way back into the far side was an entire box brightly labeled SUNGLASSES CASES!

For $4! Yes.... $4!

I was so excited. They had a ton of fun colors, and I picked up a pink leopard print one and was about to walk away with it when I saw my color peeking out at me from way in the back.

This is a super good quality case! I was afraid it wouldn't fit my aviators, my main pair, so I dug them out of my purse and checked it, right there in the middle of the store, and they fit, with room to spare!

It is such a pretty color blue. One side is blue and white stripes and the other is blue with white polka dots and it has a really adorable little set of baby pink "purse style" straps.

I am really loving this case. It slides into my outside purse pocket super easy, and if I want to stick it inside my zipper pocket in my purse, I can! And for $4 you cannot go wrong with this! It's giving me the protection I need for my favorite sunglasses.

I thought I'd share that with you all, and hopefully you, like me, will be able to save yourself a lot of broken/lost sunglasses grief!


Dollar General, you've done it again! Thanks for being on top of things!

I do not receive any compensation from DOLLAR GENERAL for discussing their products.