How To Remove The Engraving On Slate Coasters
Slate coasters are popular gifts because they can be engraved with a personal or promotional message. But what if you want to remove the engraving on slate coasters? I can help with that. Our family recently completed a “fun” run together. If you have to put “fun” in the title of the event then it probably isn’t fun, but I digress. For completing the fun run we each received a promotional slate coaster with the name of the fun run engraved into the slate. I now had a set of 4 fun run slate coasters. They were a cool promotional gift, but not something I’d want to use in my…
How We Made Our Front Door Look Bigger With Paint
Let’s talk about how we made our front door look bigger with paint and only paint. Once again, the MVP of DIY saves the day. If you want to be all technical about it, I can concede the primary purpose of a front door is to allow access to a home. However, you and I know that the REAL purpose of a front door is to make a darn good impression on all the people who regularly see it like the Amazon driver, the UPS driver, and the FedEx driver. What?!? Am I hearing you correctly? Folks other than delivery people come to your house. Regularly?!? Huh. You must be…
Kitchen Peg Rail Adds So Much Functionality
We recently added a small kitchen peg rail to the end of our cabinets and I swear angels sang the Hallelujah Chorus when we finished installing it. This kitchen peg rail added a surprising amount of functionality and, dare I say, style to our kitchen. I didn’t take a true “before” picture of the peg rail, but I found it at the thrift store for $2. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we live in a time and age where $2 doesn’t even buy you a cup of coffee in most places. I could not buy the materials to make a small kitchen peg rail for $2,…
Reclaimed Kitchen Bar From An Old Piano
We created a reclaimed kitchen bar from an old piano. Yes, a piano. Are you surprised? No, the kitchen bar doesn’t look like a piano. Are you disappointed? If you’ve ever had the fortune (please note I did not say if it was good or bad fortune) to dismantle a piano, you will discover there’s a surprising amount of high-quality lumber inside. Old pianos are SOLIDLY built and typically made with gorgeous hardwood. Below is a picture of how our old piano started out. Please note this piano came with a house we purchased. We already owned a piano. There are a lot of things we need, even want in…
DIY Rustic Towel Bar From An Antique Harness
Who needs a rustic towel bar? Me, apparently. And maybe one of you. One of the things we found on our property was an antique harness that would have been part of the connection between a horse and a buggy or horse and a farm implement. At least, that’s what I think it is, but I could be wrong. From what I can tell, these harnesses go by different names: Singletree harness, Whiffletree harness, Whippletree harness, and leader-bars. Ours seems to be missing the center connection though. It looks like it could have been there and broken off, but that’s the only thing that makes me question whether or not…
4 Tips For How to Use a Headboard As a Room Divider
Have an awkward space and want to use a headboard as a room divider, but are wondering how to make that work? You’ve come to the right place. We recently used a headboard as a room divider and learned a few things the hard way along the way. Here are four tips for how to use a headboard as a room divider. Tip #1: Solid headboards work best for delineating spaces. I’m sure there’s an exception to every rule, but of all the pictures I’ve looked at and in our personal experience, a solid headboard seems to work best as a room divider. By that, I mean a headboard that…
The Mistake We Made When Adding Hardscaping Around An Old Pool
May my words of experience find you when you most need them. We made a mistake when we added hardscaping around an old pool, so please learn from us and for the love of your sanity, check for leaks before you hardscape around an old pool. Or any pool, really. What is hardscape? It refers to the man-made parts of landscaping that aren’t vegetation. Things such as paths, walkways, and walls would count as hardscaping. Why would you hardscape around a pool? It’s personal preference, but hardscaping around a pool (the pool deck, in essence) with concrete or stone is easy to maintain and helps keep the pool clean and…
Carriage House Interior Makeover Reveal
Thank you for following along on this Carriage House Interior Makeover series. (Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2.) Today is time for the reveal of the space! Makeover reveals make me uncomfortable. It’s not that I’m not happy with the work we’ve put into a space, but a reveal implies something final to me. This Carriage House interior makeover isn’t even really done yet. It’s just done for now. But that’s still a reason to celebrate! I’m going to assume I’m not the only one who feels this way about their home, especially one you are continually working on. As a reminder, here is what the Carriage House…
Carriage House Interior Makeover Madness
Today we are getting to the good stuff – our Carriage House interior makeover madness! And madness it was. Phew! To recap if you’re coming in new (welcome!), our Carriage House is a separate building on our property that was originally built a couple of hundred years ago to house horse-drawn carriages and horse tack. When we bought this property, the upstairs had been converted into a living space and was a time capsule from the 1980s with a side dose of plumbing fixtures from the 1940s and 1950s. Sweet, right? Well…not so much sweet, but full of potential. Trust me, it’s there. You just have to squint and plug…
Carriage House Interior Before Photos
If you follow us on social media then you’ll know I speak about our Carriage House fairly frequently, but I’ve not mentioned the Carriage House interior on the blog yet. We’ve owned this property for 3 years and this is the first time I’m addressing the Carriage House interior here. What have I been writing about?!? Hmm. That’s a good question. I have written about the new roof we put on the Carriage House and how snazzy that building is looking with its fresh exterior paint. The inside…well, it’s never felt done enough to write about it. It’s still not done, frankly. We put the slow in a slow renovation,…
