Making my kitchen sparkle

I decided long ago that I wanted my kitchen to be a bright, happy place. I loved that our kitchen growing up had LOTS of windows. It was always such a nice place to be with the morning sun streaming in... That was the feel I wanted for MY kitchen. As we waited for the short sale to go through, I gave paint colors for my kitchen LOTS of thought and finally decided on yellow - a nice fall leaves type yellow. Mellow, but bright. Peaceful, yet cheery. So, when we finally got the house, we painted the kitchen yellow. We had to change the color a little, so it would be OK with the counter tops, but overall, I've really been happy with the color. But, as the months have gone on, I've felt like my kitchen was missing something. I loved the way it looked, but... falta algo. Then I thought of a vintage, olive green glass deviled egg plate my grandma gave me years ago. It didn't really fit with my "look" at the time, but I love old things, it was pretty and it came from my grandma. So of course, I had to keep it. I tucked it away and every time I came across it, I would think it was a shame I didn't have a "place" for it. That plate was what my kitchen needed! So I hung it up and loved it so much I wanted MORE vintage glass. I wanted my kitchen to sparkle. (Of course, I told all this to Beorn and gave him instructions to keep me from going too far. I want it to be beautiful, not tacky). Here are some pics of how it's coming together:

My cool shelf in the dining area. (see previous post) The plates are second hand finds, as are the metal shelves and the crystal dish and green vase on top of the china hutch. The hurricane lamp belonged to Beorn's grandma (it is so awesome that we now have a room that it fits in so perfectly)


Another view of the dining area.


Amazing candle lantern I found at the second hand store. I only paid $1! I painted the base to match the bronze of the light fixtures and curtain rods.


Plate rack- I paid $2, plus $5 for the paint (though I'll have paint now for several more projects). The green plate was my grandma's. The others I found second hand.


Finally, I felt like my windows should sparkle. I looked online hoping to find something that matched my vision, but I had no luck finding the colors/style I wanted. So, I made my own sun catchers. Six strands of glass (and a few plastic and metal) beads. I think they're beautiful!