Brighter = Better

I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago and while the basement re-org was the main to-do, I also accomplished a couple other little jobs that had been pending.

We have a very poorly laid out kitchen.

Almost no counter space,

few cupboards,

one drawer.

 (and a kitchen floor that is disintegrating rapidly.)

(that will be a much bigger job when the time comes.)

I brought this radiator shelf from the apartment when we moved. 

(yes, I stole it.)

It was good to claim the top of the radiator for usable space.

I thought it was cute but it was in need of a touch up.

It was stained from my leaky old coffee maker.

Yucky.

So I gave it a little sand,

a little primer,

and a couple of coats of paint.

And now - ta da!

I also moved a couple of other things since I was in a "styling" kind of mood

and in doing so was able to clear the kitchen counter a bit

It is, by no means, a drastic makeover

 but at least it doesn't have embarrassing coffee stains on it anymore.

(I also got a new coffee maker. That helps.)

Also while on vacation, I assembled and painted the legs of this butcher block cart/table to put in the kitchen. I still have to stain/protect the wood and haven't done that yet so we're not really using it for food prepbut I think it will come in very handy.

and I love the colour of the legs. 

Our kitchen is beige beige beige

so the blue is a nice punch of colour.

And to up the cute factor, the colour is called

"baby bird".