Lighting Upgrade

Our kitchen is not my most favorite room in our house...

See what I mean..

Aside from my mess, the lay out is just not my style. The cooktop, which is on an island, makes this island practically almost useless for anything else other than cooking. And when I cook, it is sometimes very hard to see because of the distance of the lights.

So I wanted to install one of these...

Pendant light kit

I wanted pendant lights on the island, so that I can see things better. However, this one above from Ballard Designs cost  $99 at least for one!  So when I went to our local Menard's Store, I was lucky enough to find this...

Pendant Light Kit

$14.97 each!!!!! I grabbed 3 of these babies and bought the white glass shade and total cost was around $30 (with tax included!)!

I ended up having 3 of my light fixtures done for the price of just ONE LIGHT KIT at a higher end store!!!!

So with these, here is what the island looks now...

Much brighter!

Up close

For a happy cook

Now, if only I can change those glass block tiles on the island... hmmmm..... :-)


Have a Nice Day!!!!!

Home-made Movie Theater Screen

Did you know that aside from me, there is another very creative and hard-working person working up our home???

It is none other than my wonderful husband!!!!!

Am I not lucky?! :-)

Yes, yes, I know, lucky me huh?! I agree, especially with his latest project that got me super-amazed at what he can do once he sets his mind and hand, into something.

Here is what he did...

I asked him how he did this, and this was how he explained it to me:

First of all, the materials:

1 x 4 wood

Black Velvet fabric

Seamless paper

L-Brackets

Stapler

Tools

1) Cut your wood to size

2) Assemble your frame using your L brackets

3) Cover your frame with the black velvet fabric using your stapler. He says that is important to you a fabric like velvet so that it will not reflect unto your screen (that's why all the movie houses have velvet curtains on the screens sides?!).

Assembling the frame

close-up view of the corners

4) Add the paper - this part is tricky - I actually helped him with this one because when he tried to do it alone, there were lots of un-even-es on the screen. We did this carefully using the stapler, but if your gonna try this, use duct tape or masking tape first before stapling, because it is very hard to remove them once set (like we did, when we adjusted the paper).

Finished product

Tada!

Our Basement/ Media Center is a work in progress... Stay tuned on how we slowly transform this purple space into a our Movie Space!

Have a Nice day!!!!!!

Blue- but- not- really BLUE Bedroom

All winter long and this early spring, our bedroom had a minor transformation...

Master Sanctuary

I bought the drapes from target.com on CLEARANCE for $22/panel. Pretty good deal I think, compared with the original ones I hung here, that were more than twice that price!

The design was modern damask, bluish silver in color. I think for the price and style it is a good alternative curtains to our bedroom.

Not too flashy print

Here's another look

I bought the duvet covers from TJ Maxx on CLEARANCE- major clearance. They are from TAHARI HOME, and was like more than 80% off! It is the most luxurious duvet I've ever had, and I threw away the packaging so I actually don't know what it is made of! But it is very cool to the touch and warms up right away once we're tucked in.

The  other new things are the bench - of course, from my fave TJ Maxx for $149. It is a lovely bench with natural stained, slightly curved legs, feminine but not glaringly so, and the recliner. The recliner was actually my Christmas gift to my husband ( bought it at a local furniture store - Bryan's) -  it the most comfy recliner ever ( and also decoratively appealing :-)), the fabric is grey suede and called "Lashes" (I think because it kinda looks like a bunch of lashes up close), this is where my hubby hangs-out after a long days work.

I have changed these AGAIN already but I wanted to share our Blue sanctuary with you.


Hope you have a wonderful day!