Outdoor Wednesday/ Foxes and Fur

Isn't the summer just flying by! We are finally going to get some summer like weather this week with highs in the upper 80's to low 90's. Up until now it's been cooler than normal with highs in the upper 70's to about 80. My husband says that he likes it that way but I would like just a little bit of hot weather. I have seen more critters this summer than I can keep track of! The critter below was sitting in our yard one afternoon. Since foxes tend to be nocturnal and quite shy you have to wonder if he was OK. I took this pic through our large living room window so it's not the best but I knew if I tried to go outside he would take off before I got the pic.

We found another critter, our feline Lily all curled up in some flowering shrubs taking a nap. It was late morning and she looked so peaceful and cute all curled up in there.

And another fleeting view of our visiting fox. See what I mean, his fur looks a little mangy and he might not be in the best of shape.

Please visit our hostess Susan for some more Outdoor Wednesday posts. Thanks for stopping by, I love hearing from you! Cindy

Sunday Favorites/ Kitchen re-do on a bitty budget.

Welcome to Sunday Favorites with my dear friend and our lovely hostess Chari! Please visit her lovely blog by clicking on the logo above. Thank-you Chari for hostessing this neat blog party and for being such a gracious hostess! My post is a Met Monday re-do with a twist! Since posting this much has changed but the biggest change is the lovely Armoire built by my handy hubby! I added the pic of the armoire below, also a previous Met Monday post.

When we moved into our present home 18 months ago we knew we couldn't spend much on our kitchen but could do a mini-makeover. Below shows a before pic. The armoire is sitting in the far end back wall .

Another view, the appliances,flooring and counter tops were only year old and the cupboards were still in pretty good shape. Some of the pics are a little dark, sorry about that.

First order was the curtains and paint. We painted the walls a combo of cotswold green and a soft patina from the Laura Ashley/cotswold stone collection. The curtains I ordered from J.C. Penneys.

I painted the old bench off white and made a cushion and some pillows.

We changed out the light over the dining area and added a more old fashioned looking one. Another big project was getting rid of the ugly faucet and replacing it with a rubbed bronze one. I'm lucky that hubby can do electrical and plumbing work too. In the 11 years we've been married, we've never had to call one.

We changed the other light in the kitchen area, it had been a big ugly fluorescent one. We found some white knobs and pulls for the cupboards which were fairly inexpensive but seemed to add a lot.

A closer view of the paint color.

One of my favorite things was the back splash my hubby did behind the stove, and on this side of the kitchen. Its a copper color and I really like the vintage look it adds. They are panels that you buy at Home Depot etc. but then they need to be cut and placed together in a match up pattern, kind of like hanging wallpaper.

Another view of the back splash and knobs and pulls.

Just recently we painted the other back splash with a tea leaf color and hubby added a few of the strips he had left from the other side.

I wanted this part to stand out a little more but keep the expense low. Because we do all the work ourselves we only spent about $500.00 for everything which includes paint, curtains, new light fixtures, new faucet, new knobs and pulls, and the copper back splash.

Thank-you for stopping by and don't forget to check out more Sunday Favorites with our hostess Chari. Cindy