Giving My Kitchen A New Look

It's officially spring and the weather's been beautiful here lately, which means that I've started on some spring cleaning, working on getting the yard ready for spring, and I've also been thinking about things around my house and garden that I can freshen up and redecorate.

One room that I'd really like to work on this spring is my kitchen. I'd love to update it a little bit and give it more of a modern feel. I've been looking through some home magazines and blogs for ideas and one thing that I'm really liking right now is the idea of using stainless steel tile for a backsplash. It looks really sleek and clean.

So I've been researching stainless steel tiles a little bit and it turns out that they're just as easy to install as ceramic or other types of tile. I found one great site that has tons of options to choose from, and you can even order samples of the different styles so that you can see what the tile will really look and feel like before you commit to ordering it. I'm really liking this stainless "brick" option:

Does anyone have any experience with using metal tiles in a kitchen backsplash, or in any other room in your house? Do you like the look? Any pros and cons that I should think about before I go for it?

Treating my bedroom as my sanctuary

Guest post written by Chelsea Winston

I've worried about making sure that all of my kids' bedrooms are perfect and exactly how they'd like them. Now I need to worry about my own bedroom. I've been putting off redecorating it for years, so now I have a pretty good idea of how exactly I want it to look.

I looked at some great design blogs to find some ideas about how to achieve some great looks and while I was doing that I ran across some info Here about kitchen remodeling. I've thought about refacing our kitchen cabinets for a while and I think that I'm going to do that over the next few months.

I found this amazing canopy bed online that I just couldn't wait to order! I'm so excited about it and I already ordered the matching curtains to go with the bedding for the new bed. Now I just have to pick out a paint color to paint the walls and an accent color for the crown molding. That and actually painting might be the toughest part of this room makeover.

Some of My Favorite Sites Right Now

Here are ten sites that are favorites of mine right now.  This list should give you some idea of the topics that I'll probably be blogging about a lot.

1. Food Network Humor - I love to cook and watch cooking shows, but I also think the Food Network can be pretty ridiculous sometimes, so I spend a lot of time checking out Food Network Humor.
2. Design*Sponge- This is "a daily website dedicated to home and product design". I could spend hours looking through all of the cool stuff that the Design Sponge team posts every day.
3. Decor8 - Founder Holly Becker says, "I created decor8 to catalog beautiful finds and to inspire others."  Mission accomplished.
4. Orangette - Food blog written by Molly Wizenberg.  I love her column in Bon Appetit and I love this blog. Wonderful recipes, beautiful photos, and great food writing.
5. Cake Wrecks - Yeah, I know, who doesn't love Cake Wrecks?  But that's because it's hilarious.
6. Regretsy - Where DIY Meets WTF
7. Fred Flare - I could spend so much money shopping this site.  Cute clothes and extra super cute home accessories.  How have I lived without an ice cream cone lamp and a cheeseburger phone?
8. Coconut & Lime - Another awesome food blog.
9. The Semi-Homemade Cooking forums on TWoP - Sandra Lee's Food Network show tops my "love to hate" list, so reading this forum is like hanging out with a bunch of like-minded (and hilarious) friends.
10. Better Living Through Design - Features a wide variety of cool, interesting, and sometimes just plain wacky items.  Fun and inspiring.