Sleek Stainless Kitchen Backsplash

When we built our little home years ago, we were undecided on what to do with our kitchen backsplash.  So, we put that project on the back burner and settled in with a coat of paint ... until now. 




This was our boring but clean slate:




To narrow down our backsplash material choices, we knew we wanted a clean, sleek look without grout lines.  That's when we found these sheets of stainless tiles at Lowes:



They come in 12" square mosaic sheets and are self-adhesive.  

To prep our wall, we lightly hand sanded and wiped to remove dust.  



We chose to leave the 4" vertical countertop backsplash along our wall, but could have removed it to have the backsplash meet the horizontal countertop.  This was just our personal preference to leave it in place.


We also decided to replace our fluorescent undercabinet lighting with LED lighting.  Best decision ever!  The LED lighting is so much brighter and whiter.   

These were the light fixtures we chose at Home Depot:


http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Enbrighten-24-in-LED-Direct-Wire-Under-Cabinet-Light-34289/300049749


To install the steel mosaic sheets, we started in the corner and began applying full sheets of tiles along the bottom row.  This was the fastest and easiest row to install - no cuts!







To make custom cuts around our window frame and outlet openings, we used small tin snips.

We're really pleased with how easy these steel tiles were to work with and we're enjoying the sleek and clean look of them.  They're also super easy to maintain.  If you're looking for a groutless backsplash material, please check them out.






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The Interior Frugalista

DIY Weathered Wood Jar Sconces

Yesterday as Mia (our pup) and I took a walk across our property, I glanced at the small stash of scrap wood I set aside for projects.  A few short hours later, these were casting a warm glow above our fireplace ...





Materials:

6 boards 30" long
4 boards 7" long
4 hooks (for hanging mason jars)
1" brad nails
1-1/2" wood screws
8 wood shims (as spacers)
2 D-ring hangers with screws
2 picture hangers with screws
4 jars
Wire
Jute string
Salt
Candles

Tools Used:

Ryobi Cordless Mitre Saw
Ryobi Cordless Drill
Ryobi Cordless Brad Nailer
Ryobi Cordless Screwdriver 

What can I say? .. We like Ryobi! 





The weather was gorgeous - sunny and slightly cool - a perfect day for an outdoor project.  



I began by cutting all the boards to length.  Thanks to the cordless mitre saw, this part of the process was quick and easy. 





I laid the boards out to determine spacing and our driveway made a great work surface.





The thickest ends of the wood shims served as spacers.






To help find the correct placement of the shorter 7" horizontal boards,  I placed jars along the sconces and found I liked them best with 11-1/2" spacing between the 7" horizontal boards.





Using the brad nailer, I tacked the 7" horizontal boards to the long vertical boards. This secured them, allowing me to flip the sconce over to install 1-1/2" screws thru the underside with the drill.


But before putting in any screws, I made pilot holes, to prevent the dry and weathered wood from splitting.






At this point I installed D-ring hangers on the back of each sconce.






 

Flipping the sconce back over to the front, I then attached a hook to the center of each horizontal board.






That completed the sconce assembly.

Now for the jars!


You don't really have to rush out to buy brand new canning jars (unless you want to).  Any clear jar from pasta sauce, pickles, salsa, etc. work just as well.  


Wire wrapped tightly around each jar ring formed a loop for hanging.

A length of thick jute string wrapped around the top of the jar and tied in a double knot adds a rustic touch.

Each jar contains a votive candle resting on a layer of regular table salt. Epsom salt, sand or pebbles can also be used if you like.







Battery operated votives or tea lights are a nice alternative to regular candles and the jars can also be used as vases.  Be sure to check out Pinterest for lots of cute variations.


With the sconces built, I enlisted my sweet hubby to hang them above the fireplace.  He used these picture hangers to ensure they stayed securely on the wall - they're a little more heavy duty than was actually necessary, but we already had them on hand:



Picture Hanger
Picture Hanger

 

Nothing beats the fun of brainstorming a project and having it completed all in one day - that doesn't happen all that often (at least in my world).  





Thanks to all the materials we already had on hand, the total cost for this project was only $6.84 for the 4 hooks.  Yay!








Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!


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Our Shelby

Since my little blog is about "all things home," I wanted to share a recent and heartbreaking event that took place within our abode. 
We noticed our super sweet 10 year old greyhound, Shelby, began limping and not putting much weight on her front right leg.  Being a retired racer, it wasn't unusual through the years for her to come away with a minor sprain while running circles in our back lawn, so we weren't alarmed.  

She had just turned 10 in October ... we had adopted her from Greyhound Pets of America - Houston (GPA) in 2009 when she was only 3. 

She never yelped in pain but her limp didn't appear to be getting better, so we took her to our amazing vet, Dr. Helen Philips

What we suspected was a pulled muscle, torn ligament, or at the very worst a fracture, was far worse than we could have imagined. 

Shelby was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her right shoulder.  

We were stunned and shocked even though we were fully aware of the high occurrence of osteosarcoma in greyhounds. In fact, we'd been extremely blessed that over the 20 years we have had greyhounds in our family, none were stricken with this horrible disease. 

Our good fortune had run out. 

There were various options ... chemo, amputation/chemo, etc. But hubby and I concurred that we wouldn't put our dear girl through all that just to delay the inevitable.  We chose to keep her home and pain-free and comfortable as long as possible. 

To not pursue treatment was our personal choice ... parent(s) of other pups in this unfortunate situation have every right to pursue any and all medical measures they feel are appropriate for their pup and their family.

As it turned out, we had three weeks to continue to spoil her and love her and shower her with attention before she became lethargic and had no interest in eating or drinking, even with her daily cocktail of pain meds. 

The look in her eyes told us it was time. That spark was no longer in her big brown eyes. 

We've now been without her one week and our home is far too quiet.   We miss our big goofy girl and her silly antics. 

Shelby's racing name is Sakkara Shelby and we were fortunate to locate several of her racing videos online.  When we adopted her we were surprised to also receive her actual racing collar with her brass nameplate affixed to it. We've adopted several retired racers over the past 20 years but had never received their collars.

Shelby was such a sweetheart ... she loved being petted and would stand perfectly still and not move until you stopped petting. We always felt she would have made an ideal therapy pup. 

She was patient and tolerant of having little ones tug and pull on her, or use her as a pillow. 
She was very curious which many times did not work out in her favor ... such as when she was snake bitten on her long nose, or sprayed by a skunk. 

She loved her bed in hubby's home office and spent each day being his office buddy. 

She was totally obsessed with paper shredding and that obsession came in quite handy each Christmas as she tore into her stocking stuffers.  

She loved to lay on her back in the grass on a sunny day.

She was our designated fence inspector ... each morning and evening she would walk our back lawn fence line, checking for the scent of any critters that may have violated the boundary. 

It was awesome to see her have a great time on our California road trip last year - she waded in the Pacific Ocean and enjoyed pup entrees at beach cafes along the Pacific Coast Highway.  


She was the leader of our pack ... Her fursiblings ... Mia (6 year old pit mix) and Baby (13 year old alpha cat) have not quite adapted to life without her but are slowly settling into a new routine.  


She loved zooming across the lawn with her sidekick, Mia, even if Mia couldn't quite keep up.


Shelby's ashes will be back home soon thanks to the kind and caring staff at Live Oak.   Hubby will affix her racing collar nameplate to the oak box containing her ashes. 

Each day we discover something new that we miss about her, and we'll be forever grateful she was in our lives and was such a wonderful member of our family.










Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

Creating a Blessings Jar & Free Printables

Doesn't it seem as if last year just zipped right by in the blink of an eye? Here's a great idea for being mindful of our blessings in the coming year!





The beauty of closing one year and welcoming a new is that we get a fresh 365 days to accomplish new things, set new goals, and formulate new plans.  We can use the time to complete any unfinished projects and goals from the previous year.

It's also a great opportunity to reminisce and be thankful for all the blessings that we encountered in the past year.  The big and monumental blessings are stamped in our memories, but the small positive day-to-day experiences may be a little more difficult to recall. 

That's where a Blessings Jar can come in quite handy.







Ideas for creating them are all over Pinterest and can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.

The concept is to jot down positive blessings and experiences each day and drop them in a jar.  On New Year's Eve, empty the jar and as you celebrate the New Year, take a few minutes to review your past year blessings.

The materials needed are a jar, slips of paper and a pen/pencil.  

Of course, I couldn't leave my jar unaltered and created a label.

Below you'll find three label options that can be printed and attached to your jar with decorative ribbon; resized to print on Avery labels; or simply print on regular paper, cut out and use double stick tape or glue to attach to your jar.  Feel free to use as you like!

~~~~ Click on image to download ~~~~


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8rBEr2gbzAmWG5lQjdqbWhhQXc/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8rBEr2gbzAmb2ZtVnlCd1Q2UkU/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8rBEr2gbzAmVUk2QWNGVk9HeGs/view?usp=sharing

Do you have a method for tracking and reviewing the blessings in your life?  Do you use a journal or have you created a Blessings Jar?









Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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