Easter / Spring Mantel

We are not so great at all-out decorating for every holiday, big or small.  Christmas is the one holiday we do more than usual; this year we even managed to hang lights outside and we felt really accomplished.  But holidays like Easter don't see much of a change around our casa.  (I mean, Easter baskets sitting around and crosses already hanging on the walls count, right?)  But this year, I pulled a Bonnie Engstrom and decorated the mantel for Easter.  It needed a good dusting last week and one thing led to another and by the end of cleaning the mantel shelf, I had a whole new set up.

It doesn't scream bunnies and eggs (because in all honesty, I'm not a huge fan of that dang Easter bunny) but it's a simple nod to the reason for the season.

DIY Concrete Countertops - Prep & Pour

Last year, I wrote a post all about our kitchen plans and in that post I mentioned concrete countertops were on the docket.  Well, here we are, many moons later excitedly crossing that off our list.  And boy, are we glad we can.  What. A. Process. it's been.

The kitchen isn't finished yet - we still have more painting and floors to tackle - but it's gotten to the point where it's skipped right on over the dated to modern line and our new countertops have a huge part to play in that.  

rug*

Here's where we started three long years ago:

I painted the cabinets a few months ago and I know that really helps up the ante too.  A post on those will come but today, I'm going to share the beginnings of how we prepped the kitchen for those new counters and poured them in place.  I was going to write a whole big post on the prep, the pour, and the finishing but just adding photos was a bajillion pages so we'll split it up so you can chew it all without choking.