It’s The Battle Of The Ninjas–Which One Will Win?

Welcome to the 775th Metamorphosis Monday! I've often shared with you in previous posts how much I love my Ninja Air Fryer.   I use it almost every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. If someone said to me, you have to give up either your microwave or your air fryer, I wouldn't even have to think twice. The microwave would get the boot because I can't imagine not having this air … [Read more...]




How NOT to Have a Microwave Installed!

This is the state of my kitchen right now, after multiple attempts to purchase and have a microwave installed. When it comes to buying appliances, I'm snakebit and starting to develop a case of ASPTSD--Appliance Shopping Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If that's not an actual medical diagnosis, it may be time to suggest it.   In June, my microwave started making bizarre noises, like a … [Read more...]




Such a Big Improvement–Love This Spice Rack Organizer!

My spice organization left a lot to be desired. The only place I have near my stove to store spices is inside this relatively narrow cabinet next to the stove. To try and make it more functional, I have a lot of my spices on a little turntable. It's not a great system because when I need a particular spice, I have to spin it around and around searching for the one that I need. Often, the smaller spice … [Read more...]




An Appliance Slider Tray For My Kitchen, Love How It Works!

Welcome to the 742nd Metamorphosis Monday! How was your weekend? Hope it was a great one! Last Monday I shared a full, down-to-the-studs kitchen renovation my son and daughter-in-law just recently completed in their home. If you missed that post, you'll find it here: This 1970s Kitchen Just Got a Dramatic, Down-to-the-Studs Renovation.   As part of a yay-we-have-a-new-kitchen and early, joint … [Read more...]




So, How Did That Metamorphosis Work Out?

Welcome to the 645th Metamorphosis Monday, a blog party sharing fabulous Before and Afters! Still very badly missing my main computer. You get spoiled quickly when you normally work with two large monitors.  Once I get my new computer, I should have three monitors--looking forward to that. In the meantime, I'm still working from my small travel laptop.   So, I got an idea last night. I was … [Read more...]




A Recent Kitchen Upgrade That’s Life Changing & Eating Dinosaurs for Breakfast

Family is en route right now so while I have a moment I wanted to share a life-changing update I just made in my kitchen (in case you find it helpful) and something that should make breakfast a lot more fun for the little ones this week. I just purchased this fun waffle maker and I can't wait to see my grandsons' faces when I serve them dinosaur waffles for breakfast! They are dinosaur obsessed right now … [Read more...]




After All That Garage Dish Storage, What’s Left Inside?

Welcome to the 525th Metamorphosis Monday! How was your weekend? Hope you had a great one! It rained here a lot so I mostly stayed inside. One of the questions I'm often asked in comments is where I store all the dishware you see me using in table settings for Tablescape Thursday. If you've been following BNOTP for a while, you may remember that back during the summer of 2017, I added several cabinets … [Read more...]




Hang a Little Painting Where It Will Surprise and Delight

Earlier in the spring I shared this wee painting of one of my tablescapes. (View this little teascape in detail here: St. Patrick's Day Tea.) The painting was a surprise painting done by a lovely artist and reader of BNOTP named, Fifi. After she let me know she had created the painting, I purchased it from her but never got around to having it framed.   Life got in the way and I never got … [Read more...]




A New Toy in My Cleaning Arsenal & Bunny Plates for Easter

I follow a few kitty Instagram accounts and they keep me in stitches daily. One account that I follow (bonnieclydekitties) shared the coolest tool for helping keep hardwood or tile flooring clean. I don't have pets now, so I don't have to worry about fur as she does, but I do have a lot of hardwood flooring to keep clean. My whole house is hardwood flooring now, except for one room, my upstairs family … [Read more...]




The Perfect Mudroom Hall Tree with Bench, Drawers & Cubbies

Welcome to the 469th Metamorphosis Monday! Thanks so much for all your input on which bag to go with in yesterday's post! I need to tally up the votes but reading through all the comments, I'm pretty sure the Prada bag came out the favorite, followed by the Chloe Drew. Based on your comments, I went ahead and ordered the Prada bag that night. I will compare it with Chloe bag that I had already ordered … [Read more...]




How to Get a Sample of Any Paint Color, Even Older Colors No Longer Available

Welcome to the 457th Metamorphosis Monday! Have you ever come across a great paint color online, perhaps on a blog or on Pinterest, only to discover it's an older color that's no longer available? I often get emails or messages from BNOTP readers asking how they can get the color formula for the yellow paint I've used in so many rooms of my home.   This yellow is an older Duron color … [Read more...]




A Faucet Installation & Some Fabulous Spring Sales

Whew! What  a day! It started out with mulitple plumbing installations followed by a Leaf Guard Gutter visit mid day to reroute a downspout and ended with getting two estimates, one for hardwood flooring and another for some much-needed landscaping. I think I'm ready for a nap now! lol So, you know that part on the HGTV show, Fixer Upper where JoAnna Gaines always tells the couple whose house they are … [Read more...]




Some Kitchen Updates: A Moen MotionSense Faucet and Soap Dispenser

I think spring fever has gone to my head! This week I'm getting estimates for tons of things I've been needing to get done. Not sure what all I'll try to do right away and what will have to wait, but tomorrow is the start of a few of the updates. The first update is here in the kitchen. The Grohe faucet I had installed back in 2001 when I completed a modest kitchen renovation, has been acting up over the … [Read more...]




Adding a Touch of Tartan to the Kitchen

In today's post, I'm sort of getting the cart before the horse. lol Yesterday I posted a table setting for Tablescape Thursday here in my breakfast area. In that post I shared this photo. I liked the contrast viewing the all white, serene table setting juxtaposed against the colorful, red plaid shade of a lamp I had just added to the kitchen. That picture sparked a good many questions and emails asking … [Read more...]




Bringing Home A Bit of Tuscany To My Kitchen

Welcome to the 353rd Metamorphosis Monday! Almost every day sees some kind of metamorphosis in our homes right now with the holidays here. I absolutely love this time of year! Halloween has always been one of most favorite holidays because it's filled with so many smiles and so much laughter. I hope your Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I have a small Before and After to share in my kitchen. It's … [Read more...]




Kitchen Counters: What To Keep Out and What To Put Away

Back around 2002, I gave my kitchen a mini-renovation. At that time I had the cabinets painted white, added glass to the front of eight cabinet doors, added under-cabinet lighting, new backsplash, had granite counters installed and replaced the stove, microwave and sink. Since my kitchen isn't overly large, I've made a conscious effort over the years to keep the countertops cleared off and as clutter free … [Read more...]




Decorating With Preserved Boxwood Wreaths

Welcome to the 305th Metamorphosis Monday! My kitchen cabinets saw a little transformation this weekend. Do you ever decorate with preserved boxwood wreaths? I love fresh greenery and use it a lot at Christmastime but I love the preserved wreaths here on the glass cabinet doors in the kitchen. I've been decorating the cabinets this way ever since I saw this done on a Christmas home tour in Madison, … [Read more...]




Decorating With Preserved Boxwood Wreaths

Each year I love to decorate my glass front cabinets in my kitchen with little wreaths. I started doing this after seeing it on wood cabinet doors in a kitchen while on a Christmas home tour. It can be hard to find wreaths in this smaller size. I had to search for quite a while to find these many years ago.   I've never been really thrilled with these.  They aren't very full and don't … [Read more...]




My Fave Yellow Paint Colors: Duron Sugar Cookie and Duron Tea Biscuit

One of my fave paint colors I go to time and time again is an old, old Duron color called Sugar Cookie.  There's a little story how I first discovered this color. Many, many years ago, through a job I had at the time, I met a delightful lady who was the wife of a professional coach for a local university.  I can't remember now if he was a footfall or basketball coach.  Anyway, when I visited their home, … [Read more...]




Kitchen Tweak: Updating my “It’s Complicated” Baking Center

Welcome to the 148th Metamorphosis Monday! Hope you've been having a fabulous weekend!  Have you been shopping for groceries in preparation of Thanksgiving?  The stores have all been packed when I've been in. I don't have a big "Before and After" to share for this Met Monday--it's more like a little tweak.  Last week I shared a change I made in my kitchen in this post: Baking Center in movie, It's … [Read more...]




The Baking Center in the Movie, It’s Complicated

Hope your day is going great!  It's been gorgeous here...in the 70's, so I've been spending some time out of the porch enjoying the fall colors.   I know the cold is coming so I'm trying to fully enjoy these last warm days of fall.   A while back I posted a tour of the house in the movie, It's Complicated, starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.  (That movie house tour is available … [Read more...]




Glass Front Cabinets for Your Kitchen

Welcome to the 88th Metamorphosis Monday! Happy Met Monday! How was your weekend? I've had out of town company all weekend so mine was busy and fun. We did a little antiquing and I came across a wonderful basket that I think will be beautiful hanging on my front door for this fall. It's huge so it will be a challenge to fill...hope to be sharing it with you soon. Metamorphosis Monday: For this Met … [Read more...]




Dish & Flatware Storage

Welcome to the 54th Metamorphosis Monday! For this week's Met Monday, I'm sharing a small but fun little metamorphosis in my china closet. You may remember when I posted a while back about the little redo of this space...it was really being poorly utilized. It was being used to store deck cushions that were rarely used. After a little renovation, (you may read about HERE) it looked like … [Read more...]




Updates to My China Closet

Welcome to the 35th Metamorphosis Monday! Where in the world do you store all that china? I get that question a lot.  Since several folks have left comments or e-mailed recently asking about china storage, I'm pulling out an oldie but goodie post for this Met Monday. I'm also including a few more recent photos showing some of the changes I've made. And, I'm including a link to a post from December … [Read more...]




A Kitchen Renovation

Welcome to the the 13th Metamorphosis Monday! Time for another Metamorphosis Monday! I can't wait to see all the Before and Afters posted for this Met Monday...you'll find all the links at the end of this post. Hold on tight...we're going for another ride this week in my time machine. Did you take your Dramamine...you know this thing goes pretty fast. I'm setting the dial for 1991...destination: … [Read more...]




Building a Dish Closet

Welcome to the 12th Metamorphosis Monday...where it's all about "Before and Afters." I decided this weekend to tackle a project I've been putting off...the redo of a 35" x 24" coat closet in my kitchen/breakfast room. The previous owner of my home had a shell niche installed in the foyer/entry (Click to visit entry), where others houses in my neighborhood frequently have a coat closet. Then they took a … [Read more...]




A Kitchen Renovation

Wecome to the 4th Metamorphosis Monday! Welcome to my modest kitchen renovation.  Okay, if you have a weak stomach, you might want to look away at this point.  This was my kitchen before renovation...dark and dreary. This is the only "before" pic I have to share...but it really tells the story of what the kitchen looked like prior to renovation. You can't see it in this photo, but the genuine … [Read more...]




Plantation Shutters: Versatile Window Treatment

My favorite, favorite window treatment has to be the plantation shutter. Don't get me wrong, I love other types of window treatments, too. I love the way drapes soften a room and would love to one day add gorgeous silk taffeta drapes to my dining room. But I'd still want plantation shutters underneath those drapes. Why do I love shutters so much? Well, there are a lot of reasons, one being their … [Read more...]




A Plate for All Seasons

In my kitchen, I have a little plate holder that for years held a red and white "rooster" plate. A while back I decided to make it more than just a plate holder with a decorative plate...now it's a fun way to mark the changing of the seasons, as well. So when February rolls around, it's time to think about cupid... And as it get closer to Easter... Once Easter has past, it's time to … [Read more...]