Crazy Busy Giving Thanks

For some reason this time of year inspires me to get my act together and bust out a bunch of projects (and rope other people into helping me. Thanks Dad!) This time last year we were installing new kitchen cabinets and our dishwasher (read about that here) and it was a vast improvement for us. I have been giving thanks for that dishwasher everyday for the last year!

 I haven't touched the kitchen since though. So in the works are some painted cabinet doors and a new-to-us kitchen island. I wanted to show you painted cabinet doors but hurt my back helping get the island in the kitchen so I have been out of commission.

The biggest change that has already happened is our foyer light got switched out to the one I bought 2 years ago. I bought it while we were waiting to close on this house for $26 off ebay. Here is our before:

Not the worst light I have ever seen but it's hard to see what looks like orange sponge painting all over it- even on the glass. It matched the orange paint that used to cover these walls. Not my style. In fact if I could choose- my foyer would look like this.

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or it would look like this...

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I love just about everything in both of those entryways but I especially love the lantern style light fixtures. When I started pricing them, I wasn't as excited. So when I found ours on ebay for $26 I thought I hit the jackpot. It's a little different but we LOVE it.

My dad was kind enough to help me out and hang this. We added a medallion to cover up the hole that would have been around the canopy. I think it looks so much better. I think the medallion was $12 when we bought it (two years ago). The amber panels on there diffuse the light and I wasn't sure about them at first. My sweet hubby decided they were his favorite part, so they stayed and have grown on me. For some reason this light makes the foyer feel so much more open and airy. I love it!

I am still mid purge for many things like kids clothes and high chairs so the foyer is full of stuff right now. It was decided last minute that Thanksgiving is going to be at our house so I am going to be cleaning all of that out and hopefully can get some good pictures of all the changes we have been making.

Remember the side table I bought a while ago?

I last I talked about it, I had painted the top red.

It just wasn't working for me. I ended up painting the top in Grain Sack milk paint. Then is sat for ages until I decided what I wanted to do with it. I finally decided!

I painted some nice navy grain sack stripes on the top and sealed it with some polycrylic. I love it. It has the elegant farmhouse/Miss Mustard Seed feel. Do you love it? I am actually selling it. I am sad but we are still playing with furniture placement in the living room and she just isn't fitting. I am sad but I want to find her a good home. If you are interested let me know!

One more quick update... I have been taking some things to a local consignment store as I purge and the last time I went down she had an old set of wooden shutters that begged to come home with me.  I used them to add some texture to our desk area.

I love the crackly old paint. I think it adds a lot of interest to this corner.

We have so many things to be thankful for. The fact that we are crazy busy is a blessing all in itself. I am beyond thankful for my family.. all of you! and especially the ones that live here with me and endure all the crazy ideas I have. The house we live in, even if it needs work, had become our home and where our girls are growing up. I could go on and on.

I wish all of you the happiest of Thanksgivings!