very often on the blog, but we recently did a really clever mini reno in there that really made the room feel like a whole new world, so I’ve kind of been re-inspired to share that room a bit more.

How could I not do the same thing for my own little Christmas elf?.I did one last year and of course it was an instant hit.

Here’s what I put together this year!.Of course, the one my gramma made for me was all nicely wrapped in pretty colorful papers, but this version suits us just fine this year.. Paper lunch bags, folded over and clipped with clothes pins and a little red and green ribbon for cuteness!.I expected a cheeky remark or two about the plainness of the packaging, but I knew Kennedy wouldn’t care one bit once she got to start finding out what was inside..

But you know what?Not a cheeky remark was heard the day I brought these baskets down and put them out for Kennedy to see.

All I got was some twinkling of the eyes and some excited jumping up and down.. And of course questions about which bag held the silly putty.

Hey, it’s what’s inside that counts!.So here’s the area that we’re working with here:.

So as you can see, we have a vent pipe and it needed covering.We decided that our best bet would probably be a combination of stainless steel and wood for this project.

The wood because it would be easy to work with to get it to fit properly next to our really slopey kitchen ceiling, and the stainless steel to match all the stainless steel everywhere else.. We started out with four “posts” made out of 2×2 pine, sanded them down really well, and then cut slots for the stainless steel to slide into.. Next, I painted the parts of the posts that would be visible with the same paint we used for the cabinets.. Then it was time to assemble!We had three sheets of 30 gauge stainless steel cut to cover the front and the two sides of the pipe and go all the way back to the wall.. We used GE Iron Grip adhesive to put the whole thing together and that really helped make this project a success rather than a total disaster.