Today I’m really excited to share my new thrifty pillar candle holders with you! I found these guys for $6.99 at our local Value Village. They are actually solid wood, and are hand carved… So my dream-style!
So they started out looking a little purple in color when I first found them… Not one hundred percent perfect for me, but I’m sure they were perfect for somebody else at one point in time! Continue reading
I recently had the opportunity to join a new blogging group called Furniture Refresh! Each month, we get to take an old piece of furniture and breath new life into it using different products and techniques! This month, our mission was to stain a piece of furniture.
This is my first project with the Furniture Refresh group, so I’m really excited to share it with you all! Continue reading
It’s amazing what you can do with a little bit of paint and some new flooring! When we first looked at purchasing our home, it was the large open space that got us! (Definitely not the once-white carpet!)
We thought oh man, how amazing would this space look with hardwood floors in it?! After we decided to make this house our home, I started dreaming of new hardwood floors, but didn’t actually think it would be something that we would be able to afford anytime soon.
Then, one day, we were just randomly shopping at Home Depot, and happened upon this beautiful hardwood flooring on sale for super cheap! I was about 98% sure that it matched the color of the hardwood already present in our dining room. We quickly snatched up a sample and ran home to check… and it did! Yipee! We were one step closer to getting our hardwood floors!
Although we could afford the flooring, we were not 100% sure that we could afford to pay for someone to install it, or that we wanted to pay someone to install it.
This lead to a quick phone call to my parents, to see if maybe they would help us, since they had previously installed hardwood flooring (that they made themselves from trees on the farm!). They said yes, and that they had all of the equipment that we needed and would bring it!
My parents live about 5.5 hours away and are always super busy with their farming, so I had a little bit of time to do the prep work before they got here.
The very first steps that I took were to remove the baseboard, and then start ripping up the carpet. When I removed the baseboard, I was very careful to label the baseboard itself and the wall where it came from, so I would know where to put it back.
Once I had ripped all of the carpet out, I thought, oh man… if we ever want to paint these walls, now’s definitely the time to do it! So I called up my husband at work, and said hey… I kind of want to paint too! Not really having that much of a choice, he said ok fine, and that night we went to pick out our paint colors. The next morning I started painting!
As you can see, we actually decided to paint the living room two colors to give it a little more dimension. (Please ignore the mess!)
After all of my carpet was ripped up, and my walls were painted, my parents headed up, and it was time to start installing the floors!
Row by row, we got it done. 564 square feet of hardwood flooring banged out in two days!
Here are the after pictures… What do you think? Would you choose before or after?!
Psst! Like these Oak Gunstock floors? Get your own here: Elk Mountain Oak Gunstock Dark 3/4 x 5″ Hand Scraped SOLID Hardwood Flooring FH261 SAMPLE
*This post may contain affiliate links*
So I’ve been wanting to re-do our master bedroom for a few years now…. We’ve been in our house for about six years, and I’ve got a few rooms finished (or almost finished!), but I have been completely putting off the master bedroom because it is just a huge room to paint! It has beautiful vaulted ceilings, and the color it is right now really isn’t that bad, (beige), but I feel like it needs a little more pizzazz!
I’ve finally been able to decide on a color pallet, somewhat similar to the colors that I’ve painted my kitchen, living room and dining room. (Surprise! Surprise!)
My amazing friend and neighbor, Courtenay from over at The Creek Line House suggested that I create a “Mood Board” for my master bedroom…. I wasn’t really sure of what exactly a mood board was, so she sent me her mood board that she created for her beautiful master bathroom as an example! She’s just so helpful! (Psst! Take a peek at The Creek Line House Master Bathroom Renovation Mood Board…. It’s really quite fantastic!!)
Sometimes you just need a little inspiration or motivation from the right people to get the ball rolling! So, without any further ado — I present to you, my Master Bedroom Dream Makeover Mood Board! (Click here to view the full PDF version: Master Bedroom Mood Board V04)
This mood board is a collection of inspiration colors, textures and pieces for my future master bedroom makeover! I love the look of a cooler aqua and grey color pallet, mixed with warm cream tones…. The assorted textures of wood, rod iron and lace will give the room a softened, yet slightly bold look! In case you can’t tell, I love the “old-world-antiquey” feel, and I feel like this unique mood board reflects my tastes perfectly!
Now, notice that I used the term “future” master bedroom makeover…. We’ll see how long it actually takes before I get around to it! I’m currently 7 and a half months pregnant and spend most of my time chasing my 2 year-old, wild-child, beautiful little Miss Lacee Grace…. Plus I think I’ll wait until I’m not pregnant to climb 20 feet up on the ladder to paint the walls! But — that doesn’t mean that I can’t start shopping! 😉
If you like any of these items, here are the links to all of the sources for my inspiration pieces!
If you caught last week’s post, you’ll remember that I was super-excited, because I finally tried Chalk Paint! And you know what…. I’m still super-excited about it! Woo-hoo!!!
So, without any further a due, I now present to you, my beautiful Hutch Make-Over!
I love, love, love this piece! I always have…. growing up as a little girl in my parents 180+ year old farm house, it was always a main feature piece in their beautiful dining room. As my parent’s decor-taste changed, as people’s often does, this gorgeous piece was moved out into the barn for storage, where it has probably sat for roughly ten years.
I was so excited to bring this hutch home and start working on it! Needless to say, it was in a little bit of rough shape…. I reinforced the piece using staples and finishing nails, and used wood filler to fill in any cracks. I then started sanding. One front foot was missing a piece, so to make them match, I took my trusty old hammer and tapped off the identical piece on the other front foot. I then sanded them down to round out the edges and make them match. This turned out to be such an easy solution to my major dilemma!
I then sanded down the top of the hutch, and the two front legs. The reason for doing this comes from that age old question — “To paint, or not to paint?”…. So I always try to compromise with myself and do a little of both! 😉
Since I was going to use chalk paint to paint the rest of my hutch, all that I needed to do was sand down any of the previous finish that was flaking. I then chalk painted the body of the hutch. It only took two coats with this amazing chalk paint! If you like, check out some of the reasons of why I decided to use chalk paint, and why I completely love chalk paint!
To finish the top and front legs of the hutch, I decided to use the dark wax that can be used to create a different finish with the chalk paint. I would normally use a stain here, but wanted to try this out instead. And the result? Amazing! I completely love how it turned out!
Ok, and here is the finished product! LOVE IT!
Tip: I used this fantastic trick from the CreekLineHouse.com to get my mirror sparkly-clean! – 10 Almost Life-Changing Uses for Rubbing Alcohol
So, I did it! I finally broke down and bought some of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint… So what did I think? Would I do it again? And most importantly, would I recommend it?
When it comes to crafting & DIY-ing, one of my main goals is to cut costs wherever possible, and painting furniture was definitely one of those items always up on the chopping block… Why would I buy special paint when I could just go out to my trusty garage and mix up some kind of creative concoction to get the job done? Well, chalk paint has been all of the rave lately, and I have a couple of friends who swear by it, so I finally decided to throw in the towel and try it!
And — dun, dun, dun… the results are in! I love, love, love it! And here are the reasons why:
So, in summary, if you have been contemplating Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint — I say… GO FOR IT! You will LOVE it! 🙂
