Crisp and Clean Kitchen

Hi there!

Remember back in April my post Goodwill equals GOODBUY!, well I finally got around to re-decorating the tops of my kitchen cupboards, woo-hoo! Now the reason it took me forever and a day to FINALLY get around to completing this project is because I first had to completely clean and degrease the tops and sides of the cupboards from all that greasy cooking i do 😉

Anyways, I finally had my husband home for one day to watch the kiddos as I got down and dirty, literally! The first step was cleaning off all of the grease, for this I found a recipe that worked miracles! I am not kidding you when I say that as soon as I put this solution down there was a line between the black grease and the clean cupboard, so here is the recipe found at vinegartips.com:

Grease Fighter

1 c. white distilled vinegar

1 c. baking soda

1/2 c. ammonia

1 gallon hot water

Combine all ingredients in a large utility bucket, put on some gloves, soak a sponge and start wiping off the grease.

After I completely soaked the grease with this formula I used a dry paper towel to wipe off the solution.

Now onto the fun stuff! As you may or may not know I have been collecting little trinkets to complete the look of my kitchen. Three years ago when we first bought this house I was going for a Tuscany, Italy type decor in the kitchen, lots of beige, deep red and sage colors were happening in the kitchen, not to mention some green leaf plants that were completely covered in grease (yuck!) So when I decided to re-decorate the kitchen I still wanted my red accent (of course!) but I wanted something modern, clean and warm all at the same time. So when I found my three key pieces at Goodwill for a steal I decided to keep the black and white color scheme with little pops of red, and this is what has been three months in the making:

Items found:

white rooster and black ‘Family’ sign at Goodwill

fake white hydrangeas at Hobby Lobby (1/2 off!, and that little jug/vase they’re in, a little DIY from a Sangria bottle!)

antique chalkboard plaque (1 cent! another DIY I will post about a little later)

The ‘Family’ sign was too short, oops, so I just threw an old phone book underneath it and voila, it was perfect!

wine cork container: the jar is a hand-me-down from my aunt, and the corks are of course collected over the years, but you can also find them at any craft store if you don’t drink wine 😉

and these little beauties I found at Hobby Lobby for 80% off! Can you believe they were only $13 for the pair, originally $50

and the retro blender next to them was a hand-me-down from Grandma! (sorry for the empty rack above, I ran out of paper towels that day!)

As for the white shelves that were shown in that same post from Goodwill, well they’re going in my office, which will hopefully be complete before we move in 10 years!!