Mudroom Makeover

I was in the mood to change things up a little in the house but didn't know where to start. There's so much I want to do!! I've been wanting a shiplap look in the mudroom for a loooooong time (that and pretty much every where else in the house!). One TV show Jimmy and I BOTH love is Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines. I want to be friends with them in real life. They seem so down to earth and just awesome. Anyways, Joanna is always doing shiplap in the houses she does and both Jimmy and I love the look. I had found a panel at one of the home improvement stores and the panel was the EXACT length of the wall, all I had to do was get them to cut the height down. I had grand plans to do it by myself, use my parents' nail gun and be done with it. Well, turns out the panel was not what I originally thought it looked like and so I went with plywood! Thankfully they do 4-5 free cuts at the home improvement store and they cut the plywood down to the size I thought would work. Sandra was awesome and brought her saw and nail gun over and helped me put the panels up. Definitely a two person job!! And what's crazy is that all the panels I had cut fit the wall PERFECTLY! We were worried we'd have to narrow one of them which would have been a huge hassle, but amazingly everything fit just right. I filled all the tiny holes (thank goodness we used the pin nails so the holes were nice and small), then painted the panels the color of the wall trim. They need a 3rd coat since they still look a little too bright white, but that shouldn't take too long.

Well, I love it! And of course couldn't stop there! I wanted color in there, and Sandra had sent me the most beautiful greens but Jimmy hates green (sadly, 'cause that's my favorite color!) and so that was out of the question. I had seen the color Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore floating around on Pinterest and thought that would be a fun, bold color to do, and it's blue so I knew Jimmy would like it. When I went to buy the paint it looked almost black. So instead, I went up a shade to Newburyport Blue and I think it looks awesome. I knew I wanted a mirror to put on the wall, and wanted it gold. My mom stopped by to see the painted room and I had a light bulb moment - I remembered we had this awesome mirror we bought off kijiji a few years back that I'd painted red for our last house, but it was now sitting in the basement with no home. I pulled it out and the size was perfect and I loved the detail in it. So I spray painted it using Rustoleum Pure Gold paint and primer, then used a dark brown paint chalk to paint in the grooves and wiped it off the rest of the frame to give it a more antique look. I'm loving it! Now to find some cool cork boards for the right wall, then cabinets above the coat rack and I'll be one happy camper. Ok, I'm already happy with it, it'll just be that much better with those last couple things!

I have so many more projects in the works and ones that I want to do... Wish me luck!!!

Pipe Table DIY

I love DIY projects!! I'm not 100% sure why... Perhaps it's because I know I can do it cheaper than I can buy it in a store. Or maybe it's because I can make it one of a kind. Or maybe I just like being crafty. Who knows, but either way I loved this project!!

I have seen many pipe tables on Pinterest and thought it wouldn't be too hard to do. And it wasn't!! I wanted a table to go against the back wall behind our kitchen table. It was just too plain and empty back there. Jimmy was most definitely not on board for this project but was kind enough to help me out (and now he loves it!).

I knew I wanted a table that was about counter height (36" tall) and roughly 6' long. The first step was to find the right piece of wood. I debated getting 2x4"s and 2x6"s and putting them together but that seemed like a lot of work and I wanted SIMPLE. I went to a place in Bowness and found the most beautiful finished piece of wood that was for a mantle. It had the rough edge of the tree on one side but had been sanded down. It was all finished and ready to go and almost exactly the length I wanted (just a few inches short but not bad at all). This was the most expensive part of the project, at $275, but worth every penny since it was finished and I loved the grain and rough edge it had. There are other options if you're looking to save a bit of money, but again I wanted simple but something that still looked good. This was both.

The next step was to figure out what size of pipes I would need to make it the right height and width, but still provide support for the massive wood. I am NOT good at math, so thankfully Jimmy was able to help me out with this part!

For this project my wood is 9" wide, 58" long, and 3" thick. For the gas pipes I used:
 6 - 3/4" x 24" long black gas pipe
 6 - 3/4" black Ts
 1 - 3/4" black couplers (I bought 5 but didn't need to add any height so I only used 1 for the cross bar in the end)
 4 - 3/4" black floor flanges
 4 - 3/4" silver floor flanges (they were all out in 3 Home Depots and the silver is cheaper so I thought since it's under the wood no one will see it and if it really bugs me I can spray paint it, which I just might...)
 4 - 3/4" close (those are the small threaded pieces)
 4 - 3/4" 4" black nipples (yes that is what those long bars are called)

The total for all the pipes and pieces came to $105 at Home Depot. One of the tutorials on Pinterest said they bought long pipes at Home Depot and had them cut them down and thread it for free. Sadly Home Depots in Calgary don't offer that any more. And don't bother going to Rona for these pieces, they just don't have them. The Home Depot next to Chinook Centre is the best place for the black gas pipe pieces. And if you want a cheaper option you can get the galvanized pipe and paint it. I was being lazy and wanted it black so I paid a little more for the black gas pipe. Be warned that you'll be very dirty after handling the black pipes!!

I washed all the pipes and pieces before using them. I didn't want anyone to bump against the table and be covered in black!

I used 6 of these 24" long pipes - 4 for the legs and 2 for the cross bar, but since I had started building the base in Home Depot I just kept it together hence only 4 in the pic...

  3/4" T bar - this is used vertically to connect the legs and horizontally to connect the cross bar.

3/4" coupler - used to connect 2 - 24" bars to give the table base the length. This isn't necessary if you can get the pipes cut and threaded to your specifications.

3/4" close - because my table is so narrow I needed something small to connect the T-bars together. This was perfect for my dimensions.

3/4" floor flange - I used 4 of these in silver to connect the wood to the legs, and 4 in black to use as a base. There are cap ends you could use to finish the legs off but because the floor flanges are wide they provide more support. I was worried about the stability of the base with the wood being heavy but narrow, so I used the floor flanges instead.

Putting the pieces together is where it becomes a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. If you put certain pieces together first it makes it next to impossible to tighten the bars. I started with one T bar and added a close to either end (if you wanted to make your base wider you'd use a nipple to get the length required). Then I added another T bar to each end of the close so that they were going vertical.

Next, I attached the 4" nipples to the bottom of the vertical T bar and finished with the floor flange.

Add the 24" nipples to the top and you have one side complete. Make sure to tighten all pieces well as it will start to feel loose as you add more.

Repeat with the other T bars but don't add the nipples yet!

Connect 1 - 24" bar to the middle T bar, add the coupler and then connect the 2nd 24" bar.

Next I connected my already made T bar pieces to the end of the cross bar, then finished by adding the 4" nipple bar and floor flanges. From here tighten everything again.

Then add the last 2 legs to the T bar and finish with the floor flanges on top.

Once I had the base completed I stained the wood so that it would match better with the wood colors upstairs. I loved the light wood color and the contrast of the grain, but it was just too light for the kitchen. The base worked great to hold the wood to stain - perfect height and flat surface to work on ;)

24 hours after applying the stain I put a clear varnish on to give it a more finished look, waited the required time and varnished again. It's not super shiny, but it's not matte either. I should have lightly sanded in between but I'm lazy and didn't want to look for the sandpaper (plus I can't stand the feeling of sanding!!).
I love that it looks like it's super expensive. Had I left it unvarnished I don't think it would look as polished, but go for the style that works best for you.

 

Plaster Paint Frame Makeover

I'm trying to get our house looking like we live in it. The walls are so bare and we are still waiting for our furniture for the living room and bonus room. Jimmy wanted to start painting already which I told him to wait on. It's because the walls are so bare that all you see is greige (grey/beige). I don't want to rush decorating because a) it's not cheap, b) I don't want it to look rushed, c) I don't want to regret not waiting for the right art/frames/whatever to put on the wall because I felt rushed. But I was hosting 2 birthday parties in one week and wanted the house to look somewhat put together.

Before we moved, Katelyn and Sean gave us this huge, awesome frame. I wasn't sure where I wanted to put it and knew the art in it would change, but loved the frame! While hunting for decor for our new entertainment unit I found this huge S made of greenery that lights up. I couldn't pass it up and had no idea where it would go, but knew I had to have it! The weekend before the parties Jimmy and I had spent time with the kids out in Nanton and High River looking at antique shops trying to find a vintage window to hang the S from. Everything was crazy expensive and I was getting discouraged, but then we got the idea to use the gold frame. When we got home I immediately had to try it out and the S could not have fit more perfectly. I didn't want to keep the frame gold (even though I'm in love with gold right now) so instead I painted it with the Plaster Paint, waited until the paint was almost dry and then wiped down on the high spots of the frame to make it look worn. I am in love with it! I love that you see it when you walk in to the house. It felt good to have at least one thing on the walls. Now to figure out the rest!

Plaster Paint Chair Overhaul

Jimmy and I have been searching for months for chairs to go with the kitchen table. Everything I wanted was WAY too expensive, or I'd find something and it would be cloth chairs. With the island stools being cloth I didn't want even more to worry about, so I knew they had to be leather seats or all wood. My mom is the best shopper I know and can find deals like no other. On Thursday 2 weeks ago she found a set of 6 matching chairs that are super comfortable at the thrift store for $14.99 per chair. They were a nasty color but I knew we could fix them up!! I headed over first thing Friday morning just hoping that they'd still be there and I'm soooo lucky that they were!! My mom met me there with a 30% off coupon and I snagged 6 solid wood chairs for $60! From the thrift store we headed to Real Deals in Bowness and found Plaster Paint to paint the chairs with. This stuff is awesome - no sanding required, even better!! The ladies there were so helpful and they even said they'd help me with them if I wanted. So sweet, but I knew it'd be easier to take care of it at home.

If you know me you'll know that I can't wait to start a project and it has to be done immediately. I have next to no patience when it comes to projects, especially when it's one I'm really excited about! I washed the chairs up and got all the seats painted with the espresso color before having to get the kids from school. In hind sight I should've painted all the backs and legs first and finished with the seats, but at least I know that for next time, right?

The weekend was crazy busy so I didn't get the chairs finished until Monday (which drove me crazy haha) but we got them done! My mom was awesome and came and helped paint and wax and buff them. I swear the muscles in my arms are bigger now from painting and polishing those chairs! I wanted them to have a more vintage look to them so I sanded down in places to wear the paint a little.  It was more wiping than sanding. Like I said, this Plaster Paint is awesome! The chairs had dried over the weekend and I tried sanding but it just wasn't working, so I took a wet sponge and rubbed down in some areas and the paint came off great! Just the look I was after. I think if I hadn't waited so long to do this antiquing part it would've been a little easier to wipe down.  After the antiquing part came the wax. I still can't place what the wax smells like but it has a real outdoors/natural smell to it which I kind of liked. So they were waxed and then buffed. A small buffing tool would've been handy but we just used a soft cloth and rubbed them like crazy to get them a little shiny.

I'm really pleased with the results!!  Thanks for all your help mom!!

Living Room/Kitchen Makeover

Here is another LONG over due post. Way back in JUNE while Jimmy was in Houston and Austin was on Scout Camp (before the whole hand incident) I decided to redo our living room and the island in the kitchen. Even though we're STILL planning on moving I needed to do something to fix this place up a bit. Sandra was a doll and came over every day to help me. She is a very talented woman!

I knew what I wanted to do, but didn't know how to get it done. Thankfully Sandra had the tools and the know how and we put it together!

 

 

 

Want to know something crazy... The trim color on the LEFT side of the fireplace is the SAME color as the trim on the RIGHT side! Weird, right

For the island we added the bead board, caps to the corners, thicker baseboards, picture frame moulding on the sides and the brackets under the counter. It's unreal the difference it made.

 

On the fireplace we added the picture frame moulding above the mantle and the rectangle trim around the fireplace. Now instead of a floating mantle on a wall it looks like it's SUPPOSED to be there

 

And here is the final product. It looks so clean and fresh and like it belongs. I wish the whole house was the living room color, but we really are moving (one day) and I don't want to have to paint the whole house AGAIN. I would love to have different (and smaller) furniture for in here, put an ashy hardwood floor in and granite counter tops, but again, with the whole one day moving thing it just doesn't make sense. So for now, I'm enjoying it the way it is! Thanks again, Sandra! You're amazing!