It’s pretty embarrassing, but I’ve spent 21 years in my authentic retro kitchen with an ugly fan over my stove that I haven’t used in decades, and most of those years the fan has been covered with duck tape because it is incredibly drafty in the winter. A year ago, I finally had a wonderful idea for a solution for this unsightly situation, that would not involve a costly repair to the wall.

So last August, I started making handmade tiles in pottery, and have continued to do that between other projects until now. I had problems getting tiles to not to warp and there were difficulties matching yellow glazes to my kitchen, but finally last week I had enough tiles for what I wanted to do.

My husband made a wooden frame the width of the cabinet above the stove and the right height between the stove and the cabinet. He painted the edges the color of our kitchen. I carefully arranged the tiles inside the frame he made. He then helped more by gluing them in and installing grout, as you can see in the photos below.

I am thrilled with the result: such an improvement! It makes me smile every time I enter the room, and it amazes me that it took so long before we did something like this.

What are you living with that you could find a creative solution for? Whatever it is, I encourage you to do it. I’m sure glad I did!