I tried to make the other side of the sink cute too. The green soap dispenser is for hand soap, and the olive oil bottle is for dish soap.

The green one is great but the other isn’t working out as well. I liked the look of it much more than any actual dispensers I had seen, so I thought I was being very clever when I bought it. When I tried to use it though, I realized I’d have to dilute the soap considerably for it to pour through the spout. Oh well. At least I tried, right?

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as Cutest Dish Rack Ever | 114 comments

The kitchen door leads to the basement, which we’ve always left ajar for the cats. We had thought about cutting a hole when we initially moved in, but we were hesitant because we didn’t want to mar a 100 year old door. Recently though, I’ve become less afraid of ‘ruining’ our house in the pursuit of making it work for our family. Paint the woodwork? Yes, please. Cut a hole in the door? Don’t mind if I do.

And speaking of painting the woodwork, we’re getting there. All of the baseboards and doorways are done, one of the windows and one of the doors have been finished, and we still have one window and three doors to go.

© 2010, published by Making it Lovely as The Pet Door | 60 comments

So yes, progress has been made, albeit very slowly. My model below is the reason…

Remember, this is what the kitchen looks like now.

Also, Eleanor helped assemble some flat-packed Swedish furniture for my office. So handy, that little girl is!

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as We’re Up To Something | 40 comments

Look at what the electrician left us with in the kitchen though. Are there better looking light switches that go one above the other? There is not enough room for the standard side by side switches that I was expecting, and I would like something, you know, less ugly. The electrician said that he could replace the switches with white ones, and I suppose a new switch plate and some touch up paint will help. Still, I miss the simple standard switch that we used to have.

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as Braxton Lighting | 32 comments

Design Mom posted about chic salt and pepper shakers recently. Well having just shopped for a replacement set of our own not long ago, I thought I’d share the flip-side. See, I like my salt and pepper shakers to be shaped like little animals, or people, or to have science jokes, and so on. Maybe they’re not chic, but they’re fun! Of course I’m always drawn to shapely white ceramics too. Here are my top ten salt and pepper shakers…

1. Salt and Peeper
2. Granit
3. Good Chemistry
4. Classic Century
5. American Black Walnut
6. White Porcelain
7. Lantern
8. Hug
9. Bird
10. Moustache

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as My Top Ten Salt & Pepper Shakers | 46 comments

I put this “Eat” sign above the fridge quite a while ago, but I hadn’t taken a photo of it until now…

My mother-in-law has the same sign in red in the family’s Wisconsin lake house. I bought mine from Feather Your Nest (though it looks like they have different word signs now).

And how cute are these little measuring spoons? I love the soft clacking sounds they make as I open the cabinet.

© 2009, published by Making it Lovely as Orla Kiely (and Other New Details) in the Kitchen | 60 comments

*edit* I’ve posted photos of the floor in the comments below.

I love Elena Colombo’s colorful kitchen from Blueprint:

And I love Nora Fleming’s striped kitchen floor (via design*sponge):

Nora painted all of the trim in her 1920 Chicago bungalow white… just like I could do to mine. It’s a love/hate relationship, me and all this wood.

© 2008, published by Making it Lovely as We Might Paint the Kitchen Floor | 79 comments

This is where the stairs are that lead down to the basement, right next to the back door in the kitchen.

The hooks and shelves only cost about $15 total (from IKEA). We should have done this a long time ago.

© 2008, published by Making it Lovely as At the Back Door | 7 comments

Like mine, this kitchen has white cabinets, a white subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, yellow walls, brown quartz countertops, and wood floors. The kitchen also had a red blender and coffee maker, whereas I have a red stand mixer.

photo from Spice Up My Kitchen

photo from Spice Up My Kitchen

Sometimes I look at my kitchen and wish I had done certain things differently. If we had a bigger budget, I could have done so much more. Our kitchen only cost 1/4 of what the kitchen above did though!

© 2008, published by Making it Lovely as Same Finishes, Different Kitchen | 24 comments