Where I've been... (mostly not crafting related)

Although I did get treats done for Dom's school friends for Valentine's Day... I forgot to get the photos, so I couldn't post that. Sorry!
It seems since then I've been working on our kitchen mini re-do, or upgrade, if you will. And since I did get some photos of that, I'll share!
These are the before. See that strip of green behind the stove? Yes, my whole kitchen and great room were that color when we moved in. That was the first thing we changed.... the color. I like natural tones so the walls became Classic Taupe in the kitchen, and further into the great room we used the same above the chair rail, and Cliff Rock below.














The black countertops were not my choice either and eventually they just HAD to go! So, of course, we upgraded to granite. LOVE it! We were able to select our own slabs and lay out the pattern. We got the best features of the natural stone included in our counters. There's a beautiful rust, black, quartz vein that runs through the island. Totally AWESOME!!

And you all know, with nice granite counter tops, we had to go with a tile backsplash. We used the natural Cabo tiles and I do like the way it looks with our granite. This is also the crafty part of the post. Check out that lovely decor feature above the stove. Carl and I designed and created that ourselves! We used some leftover scraps from our countertops and used those as the mountains so it all ties together! We priced some designs similar to this one, and let me tell you, they were PRICEY! So, I'm glad that my DH could figure out how to do this ourselves for a fraction the cost of a specialty piece.

We have lots of natural lighting in our great room from both North and South windows, and I thought it was amazing how much the room brightened up with the paint. Well... I was mistaken. Once we got those black countertops out and the granite in... we now have a beautifully naturally lit great room. What a difference! It's like a complete transformation! And I LOVE it!