DIY
Black Stained Vintage Stool Makeover
Today, for your viewing enjoyment, I’m sharing a black stained vintage stool makeover. I’m definitely throwing around the word vintage pretty loosely. I’ve read that anything older than 20 years can be considered vintage. Anything at least 50 years old is true vintage. An item has to be 100 years old to be an antique. All this tells me is 50 is the new 20. Who makes up these rules? Not this vintage person. We had a sturdy stool with a great profile sitting in our garage. It was left here by the seller. If I had a nickel for every time I said an item I’d made over in…
All About Our 240-Year-Old Pumpkin Pine Wood Floors
I have been unabashed in my utter love for and devotion to the original pumpkin pine wood floors in our Colonial Farmhouse. It was love at first sight. In fact, I might have discounted the problems our Colonial Farmhouse had because those floors were the rose-tinted glasses through which I viewed this money pit. Can you blame me? Look at these floors! Hubba hubba. The oldest part of our Colonial Farmhouse dates back to the 1780s. Additional rooms were added on in the early to mid 1800s. I’ve been so used to living with modern (1930s and after) hardwood floors that I didn’t realize how much I had to learn about…
Modern Live Edge Side Table – Target Hack
This story of how I created a modern live edge side table has the perfect old meets new plot line. Get ready to feel a flutter deep down in your sentimental soul. This story starts a long time ago in a land not so far away. A huge tree used to stand tall and proud about ten steps away from the front of our house. The diameter at the base of this tree was over 6-feet wide. Had this tree stood sentry over our house for one hundred years? Maybe more? Was it here before cars were mainstream and the county road was paved? I don’t know. I was told…
Painting Ceilings is Super Fun
Painting ceilings is super fun. Said no one ever. Here are some things to keep in mind when painting a ceiling. Who knows when this advice might come in handy? Truth #1: Painting a ceiling is great “me” time. Need some alone time? We all do from time to time. If you need some alone time just ask anyone if they want to help you paint a ceiling. Poof! Just like magic, everyone will disappear. Truth #2: Remember, painting ceilings is super fun. Just keep repeating this mantra over and over. If you say it enough times, you might even start to believe it. If you don’t say it enough,…
Cabinet Door Utensil Caddy
I swear it is the simple things in life, isn’t it? One of my favorite things you can’t even see in our “let’s make this kitchen less soul shriveling” makeover is the cabinet door utensil caddy that holds our cooking utensils. I don’t know why we’ve never incorporated something like this into any of our other kitchens because I can think of at least three where it would have worked. I may be slow to join the party, but at least I showed up. That’s a metaphorical party, by the way. My inner introvert is busy for the next million years if there’s an actual party. During our kitchen mini…
Wood Planter with Leather Handles
Sometimes I need a quick win on the home improvement front. Scratch that. I always need a quick win on the home improvement front. How often does that happen? Not as often as always. Today’s project – a wood planter with leather handles – was my version of ‘make a quick win happen’ or go back to painting an endless amount of baseboard trim. And I was desperate to have a break from painting trim. Here’s what I started with. It’s a wood box. It was left here when we moved in. It was shaped like a birdhouse. Handy Husband cut off the roof peaks and the perch. I don’t…
Kitchen Mini Makeover Reveal
Who is ready for our kitchen mini makeover reveal? This will be awkward if you say you aren’t ready because that’s all I’ve got for you today! I’ve been thinking about the tone I want to set with this kitchen mini makeover reveal. When I last wrote about this space I mentioned that my new standard for design, as it relates to THIS kitchen, is a place that doesn’t make my soul shrivel up. If that doesn’t set the tone for this post, I don’t know what will. This is not an “I have the most amazing kitchen ever” kind of reveal. This is more of a “we’re on a…
Kitchen Mini Makeover Progress
If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for some sort of progress since I shared the before photos of our Colonial Farmhouse kitchen, well, today is your day. I told you that we weren’t doing a major renovation on our kitchen, but I did want to make it easier on the eyes. However, I needed to do a mini makeover on the cheap. Elbow grease and paint kind of cheap. I was also going to take my time with this project because this is not HGTV. This is real-life and, frankly, I’m not the Energizer Bunny. Shocking, I know. Here’s the timeline of my kitchen mini makeover progress. KITCHEN MINI…
Built-In Computer Desk Reveal
I love typing the word “reveal” into a blog post title. It makes it sound like I’ve really got things dialed in on the home front, doesn’t it? So, let’s run with that utter nonsense sentiment and talk about our built-in computer desk. THE DESIGN DILEMMA We live in a colonial era farmhouse that has plenty of weird spaces character. Case in point? There is a narrow, awkward space on our second floor that is a real head scratcher. It’s bigger than a hallway, but not big enough for a bedroom. It is more like a landing. I’ve come to realize ‘landing’ is just a nice word for “you have to…
Easily Turn an Accent Table into a Decorative Tray
This easy DIY project to turn an accent table into a decorative tray only took me ten years to finish. Ten. Years. If I don’t win the procrastination prize of the day, I’m going to get around to feeling sad later. Don’t overlook old, wobbly accent tables because they no longer function well as accent tables. You know, because of the wobbly part. All you have to do is cut the legs off of the accent table and use the top of the table as a decorative tray. Seriously! A little chip, a little chop. Boom! It is that easy to turn an accent table into a decorative tray. I…
