Man...this "teaching thing" has definitely prevented me from getting my hands a little dirty lately! With a free weekend, I should have been packing for our upcoming move, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to get to work on my latest FB garage sale purchase. A friend of a friend listed this incredible pedestal table and when I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I have no idea where it will go in the new house, but I'm pretty sure that finding a spot won't be too hard...

The table is an old, sturdy antique and had been painted in a glossy black paint. When I noticed the area of chipped paint on the top of it, I caught a peek at the wood and was so excited! 

I decided to strip the top portion of the table. If you're a person who loves to pick, peel, etc. like me - a project like this will be right up your alley! I used a product called Strip Fast Power Stripper. I simply brushed the product on, and the paint began to bubble in about 10 minutes. I then used a putty knife to scrape off the paint and then wiped it with towels. 

I decided to go for a white-washed + gray look that still showed the grain of the wood for the top and then keep the base black. I mixed about 1 part white chalk paint with 2 parts water and wiped it on the top. I then wiped on Minwax stain in Classic Gray and rubbed until I achieved the look I was going for. Next, I painted the base in a black chalk paint. 

To the left is a close-up of the finish.

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This desk...what a great piece! It just needed a little love. 

Chandeliers are so cool and add incredible ambiance to a room. I have been loving all of the rustic designs that are hot right now, but not the price tags that come along with them. We have a small sunroom off of our family room that had a ceiling light + fan. We rarely use either, since there is so much natural light in that room. So that provided me the perfect opportunity to try a new DIY project. 

Ballard Designs has amazing light fixtures - I own a couple & absolutely love them. This orb chandelier has been one of my recent favorites. But it's a bit trendy and I'm not sure how in love with it I'd be in a few years. So instead of spending the $399-$499, I decided to try and do one myself! 

I had seen some metal garden orbs by Threshold at Target and the large size looked to be about the size I was envisioning in our sunroom. I picked one up for $29.99 and had my husband drill a hole in one end of it. I then found a very dated, working brass light fixture at our local ReStore for about $8 and new it had the "bones" to fit inside my metal orb. I took it all apart, spray painted the goods with one of my favorite Rustoleum products, and assembled the fixture. Once it was hung, I added some rope to it for some texture. What do you think? Not bad for about $40! And I learned how to wire light fixtures, thanks to some tips from my husband and YouTube!

This post definitely needs be placed under a "Nathan Utz Designs" tab, as he is the master builder of now TWO amazing X Base Farmhouse Tables for our family. His parents have been updating their place up at Diamond Lake and this year for Christmas, we gifted them a table and a bench for the lake. Upon completion of this one, though - he said, "Next year I'm just giving my parents a gift card." Ha! It's a process, but sooooooo worth it!

We used the same plans as the first table that we made a year ago, but adjusted the lengths to meet our needs. They are from Ana White and Shanty 2 Chic and can be found here. Truly, if you have a miter saw, you CAN do this build! It's a bigger project, but such an awesome end result.

For the bases, we sanded heavily, primed, caulked, and then painted 2 coats of white paint. For the Tops, we sanded, painted 1 light coat of white paint, sanded again, then stained with a mixture of ebony and dark walnut stains. I use very little stain, and rub it on and off, trying to achieve a look of worn, weathered wood. We then topped all pieces with a coat of poly. The chairs were from Target and can be found here. They look fantastic with the table design and are both sturdy & cute! 

We're pleased with the outcome, and hope Meeka & Papa are, too! I'm thinking we can fit at least 6 little grandkids' booties on that bench for dinner, right? Easily.

 

This little hose holder was just too cheap, too easy, & too cute not to try and make. I absolutely love it! And CLEARLY...I was in desperate need of something to hold my garden hose. My two favorite gals over at Shanty 2 Chic were the master minds behind this one. You can click here for the step by step directions, which I followed. Again - SUPER easy. 

I scored over at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, finding my 4x4 for only $4, so less than half of what the girls had paid for a new one at Lowe's. The metal hose holder was purchased at Meijer for about $8; I had the 2 square pieces in my scrap wood pile in my garage, and the cute finial was about $2.50 over at Menards. 

This bench is EASY + INEXPENSIVE and is the perfect, casual addition to any room! Whenever my mom comes to spend the night, she goes to a closet in our basement and pulls out a folding chair, so that she has a place to set her bag. And it's taken me four years to fix that problem! Now our guests will have a larger (and cuter) option to use for their belongings!

I found the plans for this bench in Ana White's book, The Handbuilt Home - 34 Simple Stylish and Budget-Friendly Woodworking Projects for Every Room. You can purchase it on Amazon or check it out from your library (which is what I did!). It's filled great ideas. You can also view her plans for the Rustic X Bench here on-line. We (yes, my husband assisted me with this) modified it just a tad, using some scrap wood we had in our garage for some of it. This is more of a decorative accent bench, as opposed to something you'd use daily at a table, but it's sturdy & stylish - a win + win for me!

I lightly sanded it, then spray painted the edges with black paint. I then painted it with white chalk paint, sanded the edges (so the black would pop out a tad) and then finished it with a clear wax, giving it a rustic look. VERY easy.

After months of pinning on Pinterest, reading on-line and watching You Tube videos - I finally did it. I cut and installed crown molding! ALL.BY.MYSELF. Can you tell I'm a little excited? My husband has no idea what's to come in other rooms of our house...

When we bought our house and moved in, the downstairs trim had been updated and painted white, while the upstairs trim was still the red oak brown color from the 80's. I couldn't stand it. We primed and painted the upstairs trim immediately. Our trim is your basic colonial builder-grade trim - pretty skimpy in size with little detail. Boring. Luckily, there was some nice, thick crown molding in our foyer, living, dining & piano rooms. It's just gorgeous and I love it. 

A year or so after moving, we had all of the hardwoods refinished and stained from the red oak color to a dark walnut stain. I love them, but then realized we had wood doors, stair railings & stair treads that still featured the dated red stain. Ugh. So, refinishing the inside of our front door was a must, and the first of many to do. I have done only 4/20 doors... God help me. I may end up painting the ones upstairs.

First, I used a stripping agent and then sanded. It is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and so not fun...but worth the end result.

I decided to head to the ReStore and purchased some crown there to play around with on my miter saw. So glad I did this first. 

Since I wasn't ripping off the existing door casing and starting from scratch, I wanted to add a tiny bit of trim to "beef" it up a tad, so I used some base cap along the sides. A large piece of MDF that I had in my garage was added across the top of the existing trim. I then added a 1x4 piece of MDF and secured it to the top of the large piece of MDF. I then attached the crown and covered a seam with a strip of shoe trim. I think this is backwards from what I've seen, but with the length being pretty long, I had to do it this way. Most tutorials suggest building the crown/cornice "box" and then securing it. 

All I have to say is thank GOODNESS for caulk + paint. It's amazing how it can conceal imperfections. And OMGosh...I have plenty!

Paxton is pretending to be as excited as his mama...! :)

One of my good friends moved a few months ago and was looking to pop in some turquoise into her main level 1/2 bath. We worked on a collage and some wall art design, but were missing a big piece. I looked on Pinterest and found this as an inspiration from My Altered State. I just LOVED it, thought it was so cool and thought I could maybe try to make something similar, but with colors to suit her bathroom decor & colors. 

Here's what I came up with! What do you think? It was fun and quite a process, but so worth it. It's very rustic & textured and features ebony stain, chalk paint in various shades, some metallic gold paint and reclaimed wood scraps I had in my garage. I think my girlfriend loves it too, which is all that matters! :)