12.07.2013

the project-per-month PROJECT month 10


Project-Per-Month Project HOW IT WORKS... If you want to join in the project project, and you totally should, here are the rules...
Pick a single, manageable project off your to-do list, just one.
- Determine that you WILL do it, come hell or high water, even if you have to stay up late one night
- Give yourself specific goals.
- Give yourself a deadline: the end of the month.
- Give yourself a budget.
- Do yourself proud.

My November project was to add a little warmth and personality to my kitchen, a room that holds a big place in my heart. We are renting the perfect house, in my taste, tall ceilings, white walls, old wood floors, and architectural details galore... and if I could I would live here forever, reinforce the 101 year old windows (because Hello heating bills) and spend the rest of my life happily updating countertops and fixtures and turning the yard into a food garden that I don't kill (one can dream!).

My updates were simple, a large format print over the oven that really embodies the way I want to approach feeding myself and my family and then a huge office plant and succulents near the sink to add some life. I really love how it turned out.

Yes we actually use our kitchens and ain't nobody got time to stage their counters and do their dishes for a photoshoot, haha. This is real life :)


My favorite part of this project is the way the "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." poster came out. Isn't it awesome?! I came across this phrase on Pinterest and found it came from Michael Pollan, someone I read recently (although I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and this phrase came from In Defense of Food which is now on my reading list). I reached out to Jess from I Rock So What to hand-letter the print (she does this on Fiverr) and can I just say THAT WOMAN IS A-FREAKING-MAZING. Thank you, Jess!

My whole budget for this project was supposed to be $40 and I spent $43 including plants, plant pots (thrift store ftw) and the print. I'm lucky though, my work was able to do the print on scrap so I didn't have to pay the fortune that Kinko's wanted. ::clicks heels::

I always loved my kitchen but now when I'm in there I like really, really love it. It feels personal and simple and just right.

For December Rob is joining in with me on our project, which is to turn Loretta's bookcase into a dollhouse as her Christmas gift. I can't wait to see how it comes out!

For those of you joining in on these projects here and there, please do let me know. I started a Pinterest board for us, although I'm pretty sure I missed some. Send me links and I'll add your projects to the board! Also, because there was a request (that basically MADE MY MONTH haha) there is now a project-per-month PROJECT button you can grab on the right sidebar.

And now for a moment of CAMERA-RELATED REFLECTION... I just wanted to take a moment to gripe about the image quality of these pics. More and more I consider myself an amateur photographer and I really care about how my photos turn out. I recently ordered a zoom lens for my camera and was so excited to FINALLY be able to take inside shots that weren't at 55mm (my original lens) which is really too zoomed in to show any kind of context in our small-roomed house. Well, the new lens zooms from 18 to 55mm alright, but that's about the extent of it. The pictures I took turned out grainy and I'm really unhappy with them. I'd hoped to take family pictures with this lens in a few weeks and now I'm pretty sure I'll be taking all of those shots at 55mm, which is fine, but I'm just annoyed. A word of warning, you get what you pay for and Amazon reviews can be misleading. A cheap 18-55mm zoom lens is a cheap 18-55mm zoom lens. Don't fall for that baloney. 

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