{p,h,f,r} Kitchen Whitewash Edition

It's Thursday. Time for {p,h,f,r}! You know, these four words capture so much about the truth of home and family life. Once again, I feel that these photos could all fit in multiple categories, depending on how you look at them, and their context. 
{pretty} and {real}   

My newly refinished pickled oak cabinets! (Auntie Leila, I was inspired by your fireplace whitewashing results. Want to see more pics here?) I am very happy with the results, a fresh, bright, pretty finish *and* the real, natural oak grain shining through.

{happy}

What's happier than this? Daddy with his little boy, and a glass of Guinness; little Bilbo in Daddy's arm, smiling at Mommy.

{funny}

While I was trying to get something done in the kitchen, I had an inspiration. Little Bilbo is there in his exersaucer, (see his foot?) and Leia had these wooden beads and needed something to do. I grabbed some bamboo skewers, punched them into the bottom of this box (beer again), and told her she could use it for her beads. She had a wonderful time for quite a while. Which goes to show, once again, why we don't need shiny plastic toys that do only one thing. Natural materials, cardboard, and ingenuity tend to satisfy more.

{real} but also {pretty}

When you're doing any home improvements, things get a lot worse before they get better, right? Here is a  pile of kitchen stuff all displaced during the counter and cabinet project. And yet, look at these great colors!

Come to think of it, all of this stuff is as {real} as it gets! And it's a good life.