We have a ton more counter space in the new kitchen then we did before, and to make it feel less empty, (and less "morgue like" since that's Mike's favorite new way to describe it), I wanted to add some art.  I knew this space at the corner of the peninsula would be perfect since there is a lot of space, it would be less likely to be in the way.


I remember seeing this pin a couple months ago and thought how appropriate a recipe card would be.  

via

I already knew what recipe I would use too.  My grandmother, whom I call TwoMommy, (don't ask), makes a mean Salisbury Steak.  Something we always request when we're in town.  So, I knew I wanted that to be the framed recipe.  A couple years ago, my Aunt gave my sister and I one of my favorite Christmas presents to date, a recipe box of all my grandmother's recipes.  She printed them out on personalized cards with a silly picture of my grandmother.


While I loved the card, I was hoping to find a more "vintage" style recipe card.  So, I put the card back with all the other family recipes and searched google.  I hit the jackpot when I came across this free template from Love vs Design.

via

I used photoshop plus a "typewriter" font, (found here), to add the recipe and printed out my "vintage" recipe card.


Awhile ago on an unrelated art hunt, I had been looking for an Etsy artist to paint our house to have custom illustration.  I was getting discouraged because all the ones I really liked were more than I was willing to spend.  I thought I would save this for maybe an anniversary or Christmas gift idea for Mike and sort of forgot about it.

That's until the recent Waterlogue app craze.  I'm pretty cheap with apps and rarely buy the $0.99 ones, so dropping $2.99 on an app seemed crazy, but when I thought that I was willing to shell out over $100 for an Etsy painting, I figured $3 wasn't that much to lose to see if I could make something myself.  I bought the app and used the only exterior shot I have.


30 seconds of digital painting later:


I loved it.  Best $3 on art I've spent in a long time!

Sidenote: After all that internal dialogue over spending a couple bucks, my mom sent me this exact "painting" via text a couple days after I made this.  Turns out she bought the app and was having fun turning everything into a watercolor too!

So, I had my two pieces of art, and I have enough frames in the house to start a shop, the only problem was the matting from the frames, were 1.) two different colors and 2.) no where near the right size for the art I just made.  This is a big problem for me since I buy frames in bulk but then they sit empty because I can't find a photo/art to perfectly fit the matting opening.  That's when I figured out how to solve this on-going issue.  My own mat cutter.

via Amazon

 
I was at Joann's and had hoped to grab a couple uncut mat boards, but it turns out they do not sell them, (must have something to do with the entire department of custom framing), so I was told to get a large piece of illustration board and was reassured it's the same weight of traditional matting.

I'm not going to lie, it was really difficult cutting the mat while holding a straight edge in place, but I have a hundred more frames to fill so, I'll get it down.  Luckily, the mat and the edge of the paper is both white, so it's not that noticeable that my lines are wavy.


After the art, I added the tray I had bought awhile ago, which was part of my original mood board.



I didn't exactly style the tray, it just sat empty for a couple days, then Mike added some liqueur bottles, (he's on a mixology kick), and I saw the cutest mini orchard for $4 at Home Depot one day.

I'm also trying to use more candles, (weird that Mike's the bigger fan in the family), and really fell for this one at Target.  I'm pretty sure it's Black Orchard and Amber.  The little copper pot didn't hurt either!


You may also notice our little techy addition to the backsplash on the right.

We added a usb charger outlet!

Everyone comments on it when they come over, so I definitely wanted to mention it.  We knew we wanted a place to charge our phones in the new kitchen, and figured we should place it on the end of the peninsula so that we can use our phones while we're sitting there.  Mike bought a receptacle from Home Depot, but the usb ports replaced one of the outlets.  We found this bad boy at Menards, which still has two outlets, plus the two usb ports.

via

  
It's actually kind of overkill at this point since you can see there's an outlet 3' to the left, but it's still nice to have!  Also good to mention, is that this didn't require any special wiring, so you can replace any receptacle with this one for your own usb ports!

After I added the frames and everything else, I realized I can "hide" the cords by putting them behind the frames.


We charge our phones every night either on the counter or setting them in the tray.  It's nice to finally have a permanent solution.

It's such a little thing to style a whole 2 feet of countertop space, but I love the personal art as well as the cute factor.  Mike just loves that the whiskey is within reach at any given moment!