DIY Kitchen Reveal & Yardsale Find

 FINALLY, I can show photos of my kitchen! (You had a sneak peek in my Thursday Tablescape)  It all started in March.  YES, that is correct 6 months ago.  Ok, so I took a bloggy break in there too.  Seriously, I finally painted the trim this past week while off work. I'm joining in on Susan's Metamorphosis Monday for a reveal 'party'.  Here is the BEFORE photo:

This was last November.  I've lived in this house for over 10 years with this wallpaper chair rail.  I thought it would be too much 'work' to remove it.  Reading all the blogs made me decide to take the plunge and just DO IT!  I started by trying to remove the old OLD paper.

This step was messy and tedious!  I pulled off the old, then sanded and primed.  If you really look closely at the 'new' walls; you can see a small line where the old border print was there for so long.  Hey, but it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  The walls were painted, then bead board was applied with a trim over the top.  I changed out all the switch covers to white, but if you look close the switch itself is still cream.  Hey, I'm no electrician!  Maybe someday.

Notice that OLD gold ugly light?  Here it is:

 I didn't want to paint it.  Never liked it.  So I shopped around and finally found an inexpensive 'pub' style light at Lowes to match my 'pub' table.  Needless to say I did NOT hang the light alone.  There is something to be said about getting along with the Ex.  While he was here one day helping teen daughter with her truck; I got a hand in hanging my new light!

Here is one of the new kitchen with the light on.

The other side of the kitchen didn't get an 'update', although I really wanted to do something to it.  Would love to paint the cabinets...maybe one day.  I did try to clear as much counter space as I could.  I have a TINY work area, but this room serves as the kitchen and dining area.  I've always enjoyed that it was a large room.  The kids could do homework at the table, while I cooked dinner.

I know I have too much 'stuff' on my counters.  I have very little storage space to 'hide' things and use everything almost daily.  I really want to paint my cabinets!  Maybe one day.

Before taking photos today, I did a mini makeover for the top of my frig.  In February I cleared off the 'junk' on top of the frig and made it pretty.  You can see the Spring look here.  It was time for some Fall decor. Dollar Tree flowers, a mini harvest in a jar plus a different plate.  New look:

Saturday, I braved the rain for a local Community Yard Sale.  Thankfully, this entire subdivision has garages.  So they also survived the showers to sell their 'junk'.  I'm participating in my first Thrifty Treasure with Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality.  I went in EVERY garage!  The first purchase was 2 items that I am sure will surface in a future Tablescape.  The next purchase was the mother load!  I walked up to a lady's home and she said, "Sherri?".  She was a High School teacher of mine MANY moons ago.  Ms. Watts had several thrifty treasures.  A bit of bargaining and I left with 3 of these! 

I LOVE the mix of colors!  Just the punch my (hand me down, new to me) cream sofa and love seat needed.  There were two large pillows and a small one in the same print - $5 for all three.  I quickly moved the small burgundy pillows to the love seat with the small pillow and the two large pillows are on the sofa.  I gave my former teacher $9 with a huge smile; there are a few more thrifty finds that will make their way to my blog soon!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to check out all the other great makeovers and thrifty finds at Susan's Met Monday and Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures.  I added both blog buttons to my sidebar, because you don't want to miss out on the awesome ideas!