Above the Kitchen Cabinet Decor

I’m taking a brief break from baby stuff to share the decor I’ve finally added to my kitchen. I’ve been thinking about doing this for months and even went so far as buying frames (months ago I think) but I just couldn’t make up my mind on what I wanted to put in them.

I finally decided what I wanted to do with the frames. I whipped out my Silhouette Portrait and cut out kitchen themed shapes and arranged them on various scrapbook paper backgrounds.

Here’s a close up of all five frames I ended up doing. I didn’t come up with the sayings on my own. As usual I stole those from the internet.

Then I lined them up on the counter to figure out what order I wanted to hang them in. For reference all the frames I used are the Ribba line from Ikea. The smaller frames are the 8 1/2″ x 11″ size and the larger are the 12″ x 16″ size.

As usual I stood on the ground and Chris hung all the frames above the cabinets.

Finally there is something it fill that awkward space above the cabinets.

Has anyone else come up with some fun ways to fill the space above your cabinets?

Bar Stools Remixed

Sometime before Thanksgiving (yes I realize that was a long time ago now) I got it in my head that I wanted to recover the seats on our kitchen bar stools. There was really nothing wrong with the seats just that they were bland and I was ready for a change. Back when I bought the fabrics for the kitchen window valance I actually bought fabric with the intention of recovering the bar stools.

Recovering the seats was a lot easier than I expected. The seat was attached with 4 screws which I removed using a normal screw driver.

I set out my piece of fabric right side down on the floor. Then I centered the seat on top of the wrong side of the fabric. I think for this set I cut half a yard in half at the fold which is basically a fat quarter if you’ve used one before.

All I did from there was worked in a circle pulling, tucking and stapling the fabric around the curve as I went. I tired as much as I could to make tucks that wouldn’t show on the top.

Here’s what the seat looked like when I was done.

Then I just trimmed the extra fabric in the center and screwed the seat back on the stool.

It took me less that a half hour, a yard of fabric and some staples to jazz up these seats.

Anyone have some projects that you’ve been putting off that where must faster than expected?

Reversible Mixer Rug

One of my very first posts on this blog was about a rug that I made to go under my mixer. Back then I talked about how I like to keep my Kitchenaid mixer tucked back in a corner but I have a hard time pulling it out when I want to use it. The mixer rug turned out to be a really nice solution and I thought it was pretty cute.

Fast forward to now and I’ve learned a little bit from how I made the first one the rug doesn’t really match the kitchen now that we’ve painted. Here’s a reminder of what my first version looked like.

Since I had quite a bit of fabric left over from making my fall pillowcases and table runner I thought this would be a great time to update the mixer rug and even make it a little season appropriate.

One of the things I realized from my first attempt was that I made it a little large. The rug ended up bunching up a when I pushed the mixer back into the corner. So this time around I made it a little smaller.

I cut one 3.5″x12″ strip out of each of the five fall fabrics I had on hand. For the back I used a 12″x 21.5″ piece of fabric. Since I thought it would be nice if it was reversible I found a fabric that I thought would work for winter.

I used my serger to piece the fall fabrics together as well as finish one edge of the top. For the back I serged one edge to finish it as well as connect it to a piece of fleece interfacing that I used as the batting.

From there I serged around all the edges and left a small opening to turn the rug just like a pillow case. After I turned it right side out I ironed it and closed up the hole with a needle and thread.

To finish the rug I top stitched around the edge as well as along each of the seams.

The original mixer rug tended to bunch and stretch when I moved the mixer in and out. I’m hoping that the extra quilting will give it a little more structure and stability.

I’m really happy with how the updated mixer rug turned out.

I think the size looks much better under the mixer.

It also matches the kitchen a little better and it’s a fun pop of fall colors.

Of course once I want to decorate for Christmas I can just flip it over.

Do you have a mixer that you use a lot? Would you consider ever making a little rug to go under it or am I the only person with this problem trying to pull my mixer across my counters?

Pleated Window Valance in the Kitchen

On an unplanned trip to Hobby Lobby I stumbled across some fabric and I fell in love. I have always really liked the Toile patterned fabrics but I couldn’t find a good use for one.

When I found this one I thought it would match our kitchen paint colors perfectly and it would make a great valance for the window. Even Chris agreed with the fabric choice so I went ahead and bought 1 1/2 yards.

Before I started making the valance I knew that I wanted something simple, clean that had some pleating for interest.

Since the kitchen window is wider than the 45″ fabric I had to sew together several pieces of fabric to make it wide enough. I worked it out such that I had a seam located where I wanted to pleat the fabric.

I used a seam gauge and pleated the over the fabric one inch and pinned the pleat all the way down the valance. I top stitched just the top of the pleat a few inches down to keep the pleat in place. Then I came back and iron the entire length of the pleat to sharpen the crease so it would stay pleated once it was hung.

To finish the sides as well as the bottom I first serged the raw edge and then I did a double turn one inch hem. To hold the hem I top stitched close to the folded edge.

For the top I cut strips of fabric that were 2 1/2 inches wide. I sewed them together so the seams matched were the pleats were. Then I folded this in half and sewed it to the top of the valance.

Since I didn’t want a large bulky curtain rod I chose to use the Dignitet curtain wire system with two extra supports to keep the wire from sagging on the over 70 inch span.

It’s a little hard to photograph with the light from the window but here is a close up of the valance.

It has two pleats evenly spaced on either side of the center. The center portion is about two times the distance between the two side pleats.

I really like how the curtain hangs on the wire. We had to hang the valance a little higher than I originally planned so that the cabinet door wouldn’t bump into the wire and hardware. Although once it was hung it was hard to see how high above the window it actually hangs. It just looks like it’s meant to be even with the cabinets.

I think the color and pattern on the fabric fit in really well with our kitchen.

There’s just something about a window that just feels unfinished until it has some kind of curtain. I’m glad that I finally finished up this window.

Anyone else feel like you need some kind of curtain or valance for a window and a room to feel finished?

Pretty Pantry Overhaul

I’ve  rewritten this post a number of times now and I’ve been holding off because I wanted to finish some new container labels . Maybe I should have considered writing this in two parts but I just wanted it all together. That being said, you’ve been warned it’s a long one.

We have a pretty decent sized pantry. Not huge but it could defiantly be considered a walk in style. The major downside with our pantry is that the only shelving it had was 4 deep shelves. It isn’t really a great use of space and it’s pretty hard to organize things like cans that had to be all stacked on top and in front of one another.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a before photo before I started cleaning out the pantry but you can imagine it was pretty much a mess. Here it is mid clean out.

The first thing I did was pull everything out of the pantry and empty all the shelves.

Since all that stuff had to go somewhere it ended up all over the kitchen.

Before I started the reorganization I knew that I wanted to repaint while the pantry was empty. I liked using the Acro Pure paint in the kitchen  so I decided to try it out again. This time I had Sunken Pool from Martha Stewart Paint color matched in an eggshell sheen.

At first I thought I would just try to paint around the shelves but Chris came to the rescue. He figured out how to remove the shelves from their brackets which was much easier than expected and it made it so much easier to paint. I’m so glad we pulled them out otherwise it it would have been nearly impossible and I would never have been able to get a ladder in there big enough for me to reach the ceiling.

I’m pleased to say that just like last time the paint had pretty good coverage. The first coat did a good job and I just had to come back  to touch up corners and do an all over light second coat with the large roller.

We went to the paint store late on Friday and unfortunately I was only able to get one of the two colors I wanted to use since there wasn’t enough time for the paint store to do a color match. Since the color I was able to get was the wall color and I’m way to impatient to wait to do things in the best order I ended up painting the ceiling last. My suggestion: just don’t do it. It worked out ok but I ended up making a mess on the wall near the ceiling and having to come back and cut a line with a small brush.

Again I used the Acro Pure this time in Love in a Mist from Martha in an Eggshell  sheen. The Love in a Mist is a really light blue which is more of a white with a blue tinge.

It’s hard to tell in the photos especially with the super florescent light that is in the pantry but Sunken Pool seems to be the best match to the “Martha Stewart blue” that’s in most of her kitchen ware. I took this photo for reference after it was all done and you can sort of see how my recipe box matches up to the paint color. So, if you’re looking for a paint color to match the Martha kitchen line here is what I think it is.

In between waiting for coats of paint to dry I worked on some new shelves for the pantry to replace a woefully inadequate wire shelf from target. Of course I was in such a hurry to finish I didn’t take many in action photos but it’s a pretty simple set up and tailored to our needs and pantry size.

The bottom is a 1×12 board which is the height of the first shelf already in the pantry. The next set (3 shelves) are made from 1×6 boards. The first of those shelves in the same height as the second shelf already in the pantry and the others are spaced about 9″ apart. The last tier is made of 1×4 boards and the shelves are just over 6 inches. There are also 3 – 1×2 cleats at the top of each tier to help stabilize it against the pantry wall.

I cut all my boards and drilled my kreg holes before I started to assemble which ended up being a mistake since I miscalculated how long the shelves and the cleats needed to be. Chris helped me salvage the wider boards but I ended up having to cut new cleats. I may be an engineer but simple calculations can be almost too much for me.

Once we got it all figured out and assembled I filled the visible kreg holes and they we got to sanding it all down.

Here’s a better side shot that shows how it went together and what the tiers look like from the side.

In the background Chris is sanding down the flat shelf that I planned on installing above the current highest self for even more storage!

Chris wanted to see what it would look like in the pantry before we took the time to paint paint it so here it is. It’s a good thing that we removed the shelves since we would have never been able to get this in the pantry fully assembled with the shelves still in.

Once we were sure it was ready to go we got to the painting. I used the left over primer from the garage cabinets which was the kilz 2 primer. I ended up doing 3 coats over two nights since primer dries much faster than normal paint and I was hoping to only have to do one coat of paint on top. I ended up using an off the shelf white interior paint and primer from Behr in a satin sheen. I only did one coat and it worked out pretty well. There are just a few spots that I didn’t get covered perfectly but they aren’t visible with everything put away and I can always go back and touch them up later.

After everything was dry we started installing all the new shelving in the pantry. We were lucky to hit two studs with the new shelving unit which we screwed to the wall using basic countersunk screws. Once that was installed we started installing the new top shelf using 1×2 cleats. We weren’t able to hit any studs on the sides so we had to use molly bolts for those but the center is screwed straight to the studs.

Here it the pantry with the old shelves installed again. It’s so hard to tell with the lighting but I’m not sure the original shelves were really a pure white but with all the shadows it’s really hard to see the difference. Maybe one day we’ll come back and change up the other shelving with somethings else to match all the new shelving.

Then I started putting everything back in the pantry.

Since we added the extra shelving I was able to spread out all my containers so that now I don’t have to move one container to get to another one that is hidden behind it. I even took this opportunity to create some new pretty labels to replace the labels I had handwritten before.

I love the way they look now. The labels are just so pretty and professional looking, they still make me smile.

Now here’s the new shelving unit in action. I planned it out so that the lower shelves are wide and tall enough for boxes of crackers, pasta, cake mixes and large jars. The higher shelves are intended to hold canned food.

It’s so nice to finally see all the cans set out and not shoved in a corner where we can hardly tell how much of each thing we had. With the deep shelf it was so hard to tell what we had and what we needed to get. Now all it takes is a glance and I can see exactly what we have and what I need to pick up on the next grocery shopping trip.

Since it’s always fun to compare side by side, here’s the before and after shot. Isn’t it just so pretty?

I think that it was worth the work to paint and fix up the pantry and I’m so happy with all the new shelving. We didn’t get rid of much that was in the pantry before but it looks so much better and less crowded than before.

Whew, congrats on making it to the end!

Anyone else been working on your pantry or food storage?

If you’re curious about the magnet board on the back of the door check it out here. 

Makin’ Menus

Yesterday I posted about the new magnet board I made but I didn’t say what my plan was for it. Well I actually made it for my menu cards.

A while back I came across the idea of creating magnetic menu cards. At first I was using them on the side of the fridge. This worked out ok but there were two problems. One is that the cats love to knock them off the fridge and chew on them. The other problem was that I didn’t like looking at the mess they had become on the side of the fridge every time I walked into the kitchen.

Not exactly the most attractive or well organized thing ever.

My initial solution was to paint the inside of the pantry door with magnetic paint . After doing some research I just wasn’t sure that it was worth trying that. Instead I decided to go with a magnet board. Something that would add a pretty decorative touch to the pantry.

Since I was making a new pretty magnet board and after my revamp of my recipe box I had to update my menu cards as well. I debated about how I wanted to make the cards and what colors I wanted to use. I finally landed on a grey on grey chevron pattern with a black border. I figured that the magnet board had enough color that I didn’t want to compete with it.

On each of the cards I wrote down one of my tried and true meals that I make. I transferred each of the meals I had on the cards before as well as any new ones that I have begun adding to the mix. Then I cut a small strip from the roll of magnets I had and they are ready to go.

All I had to do was slap them on my magnet board. Since I could store them all on the board I put the rest in a small container I already had and stuck it to the door with the velcro strips. I don’t love the location and I think I may end up moving it to the wall inside the pantry.

In the past I’ve used my cards in two different ways. One way is to post up whatever meals that I have the ingredients for. Then when I come home and easily see what I can make for dinner and I can pick what I want to make.

Another way I’ve used them is by going through all the cards and set out the meals that I plan on making the next week. That way I can go through the pantry and make sure to pick up what grocery’s I need when we do our weekly trip.

The great thing about the menu cards is that it helps me to vary what I make for dinner. That way I don’t end up feeling like we are always eating the same thing week after week.

Compared to how long it took me to create the magnet board this was a pretty quick project.

If you’re interested in making your own menu cards why not give it a try to see how it goes for you.  Below is a copy of the cards I created. Just save the file to your computer and print them on a 8×11.5 cardstock paper. Then all you need is a few magnets and you’re ready to go.

If you’re interested in something with a little color you can also print out one of the other colors I created before I decided on the black and grey.

      

Have you been working on any projects to make your kitchen run a little smoother?

Making A Custom Magnet Board

It’s Wednesday which means it’s time to reveal my Pinterest Challenge results. I’m proud to say that late last night I finally got around to finishing it. If you read my post from last week I talked about wanting to create a magnet board. I actually made one and here’s how I did it follow along and you can make one too.

I didn’t know exactly how I was going to make this but I picked up a some supplies while we were already at Home Depot getting materials for the garage cabinets. Anything else I thought I might need I figured I would have at home.

Here’s a round up of what I ended up using:

Sheet of Zinc Metal* (18″x12″): $4.97
Hemlock Molding (7′): $4.06
Screw Eyes: $1.18
Velcro 3m Strips: $3.18
Spray Paint: On Hand
Paint Tester: On Hand ($3 each new)
Epoxy: On Hand
Ribbon: On Hand
3m Hook: On Hand
Ribbon: On Hand
Magnet Roll: On Hand
Buttons: On Hand

Total: $13.39

*As a side note it’s a good idea to bring a magnet with you to make sure the sheet you choose with work for your needs.

I used our miter saw and cut the molding down to about 1 inch shorter than my sheet metal on each side. Since our miter saw was a little off I didn’t get a perfect 45 degree cut and I had to be a little creative with trying to attach the frame. I ended up using wood glue and a lot of tape to hold it all in place and let it dry over night.

Surprisingly when I came back the next day the glue was dry and the frame held together. Since I still had gaps at the corners I used some left over chalking to fill in the gaps.

Once I had the frame done I decided to try painting the metal sheet. I had a paint tester that I wanted to use but I didn’t think that it would adhere to the metal. I figured that spray paint is meant to adhere to metal so pulled out a left over can I had and gave it a good coat.

Once that was dry I used a foam roller to roll on a light coat of paint. The paint tester I used for this was Sunken Pool by Martha Stewart which I already bought to test the color on some walls in our house.

At the same time I pulled out my tester of Love in a Mist also by Martha Stewart and painted the frame using a brush.

The worst part about most projects is the waiting. It took me at least three nights to finish the painting since it took two coats on the sheet metal and 3 coats on the frame to get everything covered.In the end the sheet metal didn’t come out perfectly smooth but the texture isn’t really noticeable in the finished product.

Next I worked on how to attach the metal to the frame. Chris and I stood in the adhesive aisle of Home Depot trying to figure out what to use for a while. In the end I finally just decided to use an epoxy that we already had at home which we purchased for something else but didn’t end up needing it.

Unfortunately since I only cut the frame an inch smaller it made it difficult to get the frame to stay on the sheet just by holding it down. The molding has a bit of a lip on the back side that made it difficult to glue down. To combat this I grabbed about every book I had in the vicinity to make sure the epoxy would fully adhere to the frame.

After the recommended 40 min I removed the books and took a look. For the most part it adhered except for on one of the short sides. I squirted some super glue on it and put some more books on it in hopes that it would hold it just a little better.

I think if I were to do it again I would have just used the super glue and “clamped” it with the books. That probably would have been a lot easier and I wouldn’t have worried so much about the epoxy squeezing out on the front.

Once the sheet was glued to the frame the rest was mostly the finishing touches. I used a small drill to pre-drill holes to attach screw eyes to the top of the board to hang the frame by.

I wanted to add a title to my board so I punched out some scrapbook papers and stuck on some adhesive magnets on the backs. I tried really hard to create some kind of flower to use as a magnets but I just couldn’t make something I liked. Instead I found some buttons I already had and hot glued magnets to the backs.

Once I got everything together and added a ribbon to the board it was ready to hang. I chose to put it inside my pantry door and hung it using a white decorative 3m hook which I already had at home.

Since the board bangs against the door when opening and closing it I attached some 3m velcro hooks to the top and bottom of the board. Now that baby is solid as a rock. I probably could have just hung it on the door with the velcro hooks but then I wouldn’t have the pretty ribbons!

Now the question is what to do with a magnet board in the pantry? Well, you could keep a grocery list, a pantry inventory  or any other information you may not want to keep on your fridge. I’ve got a different plan for this board though. Check back tomorrow and I’ll show you what I have in mind for my new magnet board!

Anyone else creating something fun for the pinterest challenge?

Check out how I used this board by making magnet menu cards here.

Pretty Up That Recipe Box

I can’t remember exactly how I came across this but once I laid eyes on it I was in love:

Source: thefarmchicks.typepad.com via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

My first thought was that’s the same recipe box I have. Then my next thought was that it was so pretty and mine looks messy and boring. I took this photo as a challenge to create my own dividers and recipe cards and make my recipe box look this pretty.

I didn’t take any before photos but it looked pretty boring. I was using 3×5 index cards, the original white dividers and a bunch of folded up recipe cards. I never really like the 3×5 cards they were inexpensive and easy to find but they just aren’t really big enough to write out all all the directions I needed.

Armed with the idea of a pretty recipe box I went in search of some pretty paper to use as my dividers. I picked out 12 different patterns that I liked out of a pack of 6″x6″ sheets.

I then worked on some recipe cars and added some colors to match the papers and recipe box.  I printed out some test pieces to see how the colors worked with together.

Once I was happy with the cards I went through the process of printing out 50 sheets worth of cards for a total of 100 cards. I knew that I wouldn’t need that many but I didn’t want to have to figure out how to print more when I needed them later. Originally I was going to use my paper cutter to cut them out but I had a hard time lining them up and I found it was just easier to cut them out with a pair of scissors.

Since I often don’t feel like there’s enough room to write directions I also created a back side to each one. I printed out the front sides and then flipped the pages over and printed the backs. They ended up being close but just a little bit off but once I trimmed them it’s hardly noticeable.

I also printed out a template to use of the dividers. When printed they weren’t exactly 4×6 but I adjusted a little.

Since the scrapbook paper is pretty thin I taped another piece of white card stock behind them to help them stand up and so the tabs wouldn’t bend when I pulled on them. I added labels based on different categories that worked for me. They included; beef, chicken, fish, soup, sauces, side dish, main dish, bread, breakfast, cookie and dessert.

Then on most of Sunday I worked on transferring all my recipes to my new cards. After many hours of Gilmore Girls and many hand cramps I finally finished them up.

Now the recipe box looks so pretty and organized.

Hopefully since I have lots of extra cards I will be encouraged to keep transferring recipes in the future.

Anyone else needing to give your recipe box some love?

If you’re interested here are jpg files of the fronts and backs of all three colors of cards. The files are actually 8″x12″ so that the resolution was a little better. I was able to open each jpg file in windows picture viewer and print it as two 4″x6″ photos per page. Hopefully it works for you as well.

Click on each thumbnail to open full size. Then click save as and you can save the jpg on your computer and print from there.

  

  

  

Happy Cooking and Baking!

In the Kitchen, Paintin’ it Up

Just shy of the one year mark of living in our new house we took the plunge and painted our first room! If you haven’t guessed it’s the kitchen.

We had some paint that peeled off when we had some electrical work done so we choose to paint this room first. So, without further ado lets get to the details.

The Paint: After much debating and back and forth (mostly on my part) we decided to go with Darkening Sky by Martha Stewart. Chris would like to say that he picked this one all along so, I’ll let him take the credit 🙂 . We picked up a sample jar at Home Depot to make sure we liked it over a large area as we did in the small swatch.

I painted the area under the cabinets near the stove to see what we thought of it. My mom and I both agreed that we liked the color and that the shade was good. The swatch in the picture below near the window is actually the same color but a little lighter. We were concerned that paint would be too dark so we tried this one out just to confirm that we still loved the other.

My mom has done a lot of painting throughout here life and she has always liked Miller Paint. I have tried a few other brands but I haven’t been especially pleased with any one yet. This time though I really wanted to find a low VOC, low odor paint, emphasis on the low odor. I considered Benjamin Moore but thought it was more expensive than I wanted to pay (~$55) and also Olympic paints from Lowes, but I didn’t really know much about them. In the end I went with Miller Paint’s Acro Pure (~$40) and I’m really glad I did.

The Tools: We didn’t really use anything too out of the ordinary. The things we used the most were a small roller, an edger pad and a small craft paint brush. Most what we were painting was very small chunks. Anything bigger than the small roller wouldn’t have fit. Of course we had plastic drop clothes, used frog tape, and disposable paint trays, all the usual things.

Now that that’s out of the way here is the Play By Play as it were:

First we taped off everything we didn’t want to get painted. I know that it possible to edge with a paint brush but, in this case it wasn’t worth it to damage our cabinets, tile, counters, and the other ceiling and wall paint. I actually started to do a little taping on Thursday and Friday evenings and then Chris came in and helped to finish up the taping on Saturday.

We were hoping that we could finish all the painting in one day so we waited until Sunday to actually bring out the can of paint. I started by using the edger and going around all the edges and corners as much as I would. Chris then came behind and filled in with the small roller.

We moved the fridge to paint the last of the walls.

Once we had finished the first coat we took a break to let it dry a little more.

Then after it had dried a little more I was able to tell what needed to be painted over again. There weren’t many spots to fix but there were a few. As I touched up I also pulled off the tape.

Thoughts on the Paint: I’m pretty sure the paint wasn’t a paint and primer mix so as for the coverage I was pretty pleased. It took less than two full coats to paint all the walls. I think after it was all done we had about 1/3 of the gallon left.

As for the low odor, it was amazing! The only thing I smelled was when I first opened the can, which I think was probably the pigment. As I began to paint I didn’t smell anything. I even tried going out of the house to see if I could smell it when I came in and nothing. After we were gone for the day we still didn’t smell anything when coming home. I love that I can’t smell the paint for days after and it helps knowing it’s also chemically safer.

Final Reveal:

So here it is the paint after it’s all done. I tried to take the truest to life color that I could.

Unfortunately I pretty much have no time to take photos in the natural light so this is the best I could do.

Basically the color is just a dark dusty blue.

Overall I’m in love. I’m happy with the color and shade and I love the fun pop of color against all the other beige walls.

Anyone else making some colors changes in your house?

My Kitchenaid Is On The Move

Ok, maybe it’s just me but I have this thing about my Kitchenaid mixer. (Besides the fact that I am in LOVE with it.)  Like many people I like to keep it tucked in a corner of my counter top under the cabinets. Then it’s out of the way when I want to use the counter top for something important like piling dirty dishes there. I know I’m not the only one.

The one thing I don’t like about shoving the mixer in the corner is that it makes this horrible screeching noise when I pull it out to use it. I’m sure that super sticky bottom is probably so the mixer won’t walk all over the counter when it’s running but it does not make a fun sound.

So here it is, my solution to the horrible noise, the fantastic mixer rug. I rummaged through my scraps and found two pieces of fabric that were about 12″ x 16.5″ and a left over piece of Warm and Natural batting to give it a little more thickness and strength. I stitched up all three layers with the outside fabrics having right sides facing each other. I didn’t sew all the way around, I left a bit of a gap to turn it all right side out. Once I had it turned I just top stitched around the whole thing, including my hole to close it up. It was Simple and quick.

One side is solid teal and the other you can see here is a white background with a black pattern and small flecks of teal.  Since a lot of my kitchen items including my towels are teal it works well with the rest of the kitchen.

The only regret I have is that it turned out being a little bigger than I needed it to be. The rug tends to bunch up in the back when I push the mixer back into the corner. Other than that I love it. It’s fun and pretty and makes pulling the mixer out easy and quiet. It has been simple to clean. So far I have just wiped of any flour or bits of mix that has gotten on it. If I need to I can also just throw it in the wash to give it a better cleaning.

Anyone else creating something from some fabric scraps?