Bar Stools for the Kitchen

If you follow me on Facebook then you might have seen that I finally found a set of bar stools on Craigslist for our kitchen last week.  I had been looking for months on Craigslist, as well as thrift stores, etc., but hadn't come across a set that were decently priced.  I kept finding one here and one there, but if they were a set then people wanted way too much for them, even just for a set of two.  Then finally I came across these, a set of 4 priced at $85.  Not too awfully bad for a whole set.  I went and looked at them and offered her $60 thinking she'd counter with $75, but she was happy with the $60!  Woot woot!  :D

In a perfect world I'd have something more industrial looking and less honey oak, BUT...since the ones that I covet so very much are about $130 EACH, these will have to make do.  They're nice and sturdy and in good shape, and who knows, maybe I'll paint them someday.  I don't plan to paint them before painting the kitchen cupboards though.  I'd like to get those painted my dreamy white, and then see what to do with the stools. 

 (You can also see remnants of the orangey spackled walls and dark trim that have yet to be painted in the living room there in the background.)

Here's a little closer look at the top of the cupboards.  I have really struggled with decorating the tops of these.  I've tried to find the fine line of not so much that it looks cluttered and tacky, but not so sparse as to look completely plain and lifeless either.  I'm fairly satisfied with this section, but I'm still struggling with the cupboards on the left side of the kitchen.  Honestly, I would love to do away with the open tops and have glass fronted cabinets that go up to the ceiling built there instead.  Something like this.

(source)

I lurve this kitchen by the way!  Just sayin.'  But that's another one of those, "I wish/someday though probably never/if only/dream kitchen" kind of projects.

Anyways....back to my kitchen.  There was one more thing I wanted to point out to you that I've never shown before.  Can you tell what the arrow is pointing at?

It's our key holder!

We have lots of various keys for different machines and gadgets around here, so I turned an old metal loaf pan on its side and added magnetic hooks to hang them from.  The pan also helps disguise the fish tank pump that's behind it.  And that's Jerry (as in Tom & Jerry), our betta fish, by the way.  He's a funny little spazola who fights the filter pump quite often and likes to swim on his side when he's mad, lol!

  I think this same key holder idea could be used if you like to hang your keys right beside the door where you go in and out.  You could simply screw the loaf pan to the wall, and the hooks could be attached to the bottom of the pan and then the inside of the pan could be used as a little shelf to hold outgoing mail, cell phones, sunglasses, etc.  

Kind of quirky and fun, right?  

Just my style!  : )