our house tour :: dining room + kitchen

You may be wondering the same question that James asked me while I was snapping these photos: "Mom, why are you taking a bunch of pictures of the kitchen?" I mean, who cares anyway?
My answer was this: "One day, you or your sister or brother may want to know what our house looked like when you were a kid, so I want to document it on my blog."
I won't be offended if you do the same as he did at this point, which was go back to playing Legos.

Otherwise, I'll give ya the tour...

The mirror above the dining room table was a ten dollar Goodwill find. The paint was black and chipping, so I sprayed it with some basic silver paint from the craft store. I love the way it turned out.
The "give thanks" sign was something I had a vision for, and explained that vision to my mother-in-law. Since she is much better at follow-through on these sorts of projects, she made it for me, which was so great of her. I love it. And it is a good reminder to have hanging up in our home.
All the black frames (which are pretty much always crooked, as you can see here) are full of rotating pictures I have taken of the kids or scenery from some place special.
On the table are some little candle holders, flowers in a Fiesta wear pitcher, the cloth napkins we registered for 7.5 years ago at Crate and Barrel, and the Jesus Storybook Bible, which I attempt to read to the kids at breakfast each morning.

Hey, look! There's me! And you are getting a sneak peak of the living room tour!

I forgot to take a picture of the chalkboard in the dining room, but you can see it out of focus behind Judah in the picture below. It usually contains the weeks' dinner menu, James' Awanas verse, and a list of things I will never get done, like "ironing.... organize closet... deep clean entire home...."

So, let's talk about these cabinets. They started out a hideous-80's- wood color with no hardware. Then my amazing husband sanded them all down, sprayed them white, and put cute hardware on them. I love how bright they are now.
Above some of James' watercolors are hanging from twine.

The "Rise and Shine" sign is something I grabbed at World Market to cover the unbearably ugly tile that is behind it. Behind is a picture of a lobster in the middle of a bunch of seafood. Really?
The little floral spoon rest was a gift. It is officially the only thing I own from Anthropologie, but I still feel pretty hip using it. Ha.

Let's talk about the window sill for a minute, even though I didn't snap any good photos of it.
I love our kitchen window sill. Not because it is ugly wood, hard to clean, always dusty and full of clutter. It is because of what the clutter is made up of and the stories it tells. The clutter is in constant rotation, but currently includes: bottle parts (for Elle's babies, not mine), a wine cork, a photo of Lane and James that always makes me smile, a binky, essential oils, tee tree oil, bubbles, a Batman watch, rocks collected from who-knows-where, and a small rubber Pokey (as in, Gumby and Pokey the horse).

The "brew station" (below left) is not very cute, but very necessary for survival. It contains the coffee pot, aeropress and accessories, and jars of the miracle substance itself.
In the photo below right is a card I framed from my in-laws. I love what it says:
"Blessed are those who give without remembering and receive without forgetting"

Thanks for taking the tour! Up next will maybe be the living room or Elle's toddler room. 

Happy Thursday,

Ashley