Growing up, kitchen towels were not just a tool for drying your hands or the dishes, but also decoration. They were used to convey a theme and make the room seem cheerier, like the strawberries in my grandmother’s kitchen. And since a kitchen can only be decorated in certain ways and places due to fear of getting messy with food, I always liked the idea. And so I have done the same with ours.
But this tended to cause a disagreement between between my husband and I, silly as it is. For me, the current towel in use should reside hanging from the cabinet handles in the kitchen, while my husband likes to keep it out on the counter instead, even after he is done, leaving me to assume that it is dirty, and for him to then question where it is has gone.
But he did have a point – hanging the towels from the cabinet handles blocks the drawers below. So I challenged him to find us an alternative and he has finally delivered, a new type of towel hook that we can keep on the side of the cabinet instead of the front. And they’re super easy to install!
We first questioned how well they would stand up, considering how reasonably priced they are, but after 3 weeks of using the new hooks, I must say I’m impressed. I regularly dry my hands without removing the towels, and they’ve managed just fine.
One of the things I looked forward to most when we bought our house was the opportunity to host events and have a place we’re proud to have our friends and family (when they visit) come and hang out at. And I think we’ve been successful in that after three Christmas’s, a rehearsal dinner, a 4th of July party and now two birthdays.
Both birthdays have been for our friend’s daughter, Felicity. Last year’s theme was mermaids and this year’s was dinosaurs. While we reeled in the party plans a little, I still really enjoyed decorating and took the opportunity to try to do better than last year.
But, first things first. If the weather’s nice, it’s always a pool party at our house, which meant the deck steps needed some attention.
We painted them last year before the wedding and we’ve just gotten some much rain this summer that the paint started chipping off and left Felicity covered in specks of blue paint last time she was over. So it’s time for a fresh coat, but first Chris power washed them to get off all of the flakes.
With the pool freshly painted and looking new again, I could now move on to the rest of the decorations.
Balloon garlands have been all the rage over the past few years, and I always think they look so nice and add so much to the décor without having to spend too much. I tried tying the balloons to each other like I’ve seen in some videos, but it just didn’t work out very well last year, although I was happy with what I was able to create.
This year, I saw this tool I apparently overlooked because I found extra in my party supplies, but it made all of the difference, especially since we decided to put the garland over the door instead of moving our painting to put it above the table.
The directions are easy enough to follow, but don’t advise as to the spacing for the balloons so I originally tried filling every space in a very logical order, but it was just too big for the space and I had no way to attach it to the wall.
So, I rearranged them to be in every other space, simply removing those that were extra and then moving and adding balloons as needed. The spaces in the decorating strip were the perfect size for push pins to hold everything in place
The birthday girl playing with her new bead jewelry set. We had fun making rings, necklaces, bracelets and headbands.
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Brittany Bower 