Wallpapered hutch reveal.

If you follow me on Instagram then you know the saga of this hutch & might be a little tired of it (sorry). I bought it, loved it... lived with it wood for a while.

But deep down I had a HUGE desire to paint it. I just wanted it to be right & thought about it for a LONG time. I finally chose Armington Grey by Sherwin Williams mixed in with BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder. 

Painting the outside was a breeze and took barely 2 coats for excellent coverage. The inside was a little more work. I knew I wanted to do a paper on the inside but didn't want to spend a zillion dollars for the back of a hutch, so I sourced this fabulous wrapping paper from Rifle Paper Co. for the back. I used a matte mod podge & it turned out great! The small sheets were easy to work with, and this pattern is forgiving so the seams aren't overly visible.

Here is what it looked like before, pretty, but plain.

And after

I just love how it looks in our front room. It has so much character!

I am mildly in love the paper on the back. I have plans to use some other Rifle Paper Co. prints in some other spaces in our home as well. 

This is what it looked like with just the base grey coat before I sealed it with white wax from Miss Mustard Seed over the top which totally changed the colors and gave it a totally unique finish.

The inside isn't filled with anything precious. Just a collection of yardsale dishes, old books, and some vintage finds.

The whale bookends you can order here. 

I saw them when I did an internship at a design firm this spring, and just HAD to have my own. I absolutely love them! 

This hutch was a labor of love, but I am SO thrilled with how it turned out!

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DIY: Natural Weathered Wood Stain

On our dining nook reveal post I mentioned that I  made a natural wood stain to age the top of the table. I thought I would share the deets today &my honest opinion on the process with the results. 

I got the idea from my friend who did this to her farmhouse console that we built for her. I was so intrigued I had to do it on something of my own. What is a better guinea pig than a free table?

So here is the mix after it has set. Basically I  mixed 1 cup vinegar and a couple pieces of steel wool in a jar. You have to let it set for 24 hours before you can use it. The longer you let it set the darker your wood will get. 

This mix does this weird thing to the wood, it oxidizes and changes the feel COMPLETELY into reclaimed barn wood feel.

It's a little crazy. 

Before I added Polycrylic on top my table was a really pretty light grey, the poly darkened the finish which I was a little bummed about but its totally necessary for a dining table situation to seal the wood. 

I tried it on a new piece of plywood & the results were iffy so I think it's a little unpredictable but totally cool when it does work.

Here is one last shot of the finish on our table. I kinda like that it didn't take to the whole top making it unique and much more vintage looking than it actually is.

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DIY Blanket Ladder.

I thought I would share my quick DIY blanket ladder that I quickly built a little while back.

This was seriously SO easy.

Isn't it funny that the simplest DIY projects tend to be your favorite? 

Honestly, this cost like $4 and took me about 15 minutes to build. 

All I did was buy inexpensive 1x2 stripes of pine from Lowes. 

I totally eyeballed the height...  mine ended up being about 6' tall and each horizontal strip is about 20". 

I simply measured, and screwed the pieces together with long wood screws. 

Stained it Dark Walnut by Minwax & wha-la.

Seriously, anyone can do it.

You can even have Lowes cut the wood to size if you aren't so sure about using a saw. 

I love having our pretty throw blankets on display and it adds a little bit of cozy to our family room. 

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Gallery wall + DIY industrial coffee table.

The formal living room at our house is the poor neglected room while the other spaces evolve. I've finally been giving it a little attention. There are big plans on the horizon, like board and batten, built ins, new window treatments, and a sofa. 

Until those magical mystical things happen I didn't want it to be an eye sore since it is what people see when they walk into my house. yaknowwhatimean? 

I started this gallery wall a few months ago and it has been evolving ever since. Ya know, I walk by something in another room, grab it, and relocate it because clearly it was meant to live on this wall instead. It's really just a bunch of things I had hastily put together & all my other walls might be bare now but... I'll just make some more stuff for them, right?
 Some things I made, some things I bought, and filled in the rest with pictures of cute kids and that darling husband of mine. 

Not too shabby though.

The coffee table started off as just a base that I found on a local yardsale page. It had a weird silvery finish. So I picked up some Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed-Bronze spray paint and gave it a little makeover.

My husband whipped up the top for it out of some pine boards from Lowes, and it is stained Dark Walnut by Minwax. 

The chairs I picked up from Downeast Home, which is a total secret weapon for locals. They sell discounted name brand furniture. These chairs happen to be Pottery Barn originally, but I picked them up for a much smaller price tag from Downeast Home.

The rug is actually from Hobby Lobby. Insane huh?

The pretty linen pillows are from Ikea.

Here is the coffee table before. 

And after

What do you think? 

Linked to Jennifer Rizzo 

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The story of a toy box.

I recently redid a toy box that has been around since my birth or before I'm pretty sure. It was my toy box when I was a kid, and I have many fond memories of my brothers putting me inside and sitting on the top so I couldn't get out. 

The life of the only girl and 3 brothers. 

Enchanting I know. 

It's gone through many face lifts throughout the years, at one point, during the height of the decoupaging rage of the 90's my Mom and I painted it white, and decoupaged some rose tissue paper on it. Anddd it looked a little like this

 What a quality job I know, this might also be from my mom's "shabby chic" + chartreuse phase she went through for a while, but promptly gave up because... well I'm glad she's over that. 

Inspired by all the fabulous ideas on Pinterest a couple months ago I gave it a makeover. 

Now it fits perfectly with my taste + in  my house. 

& it's purpose is to stash my kids toys in our family rooming. 

That is the circle of life come to fruition. 

I love it. 

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Dresser redo with Milk Paint.

I finally got my hands on some really pretty furniture worthy of trying out Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint on. 

I had been aching to try it because her colors are to die for &chippy paint on anything you can count me in! 

The color is French Enamel. It's a really pretty shade of blue.

Here is what the dresser looked like before.

My husband found it somewhere outside of Flagstaff at a random yardsale. He found the other one at the same time, I have BIG plans for that other pretty little dresser.

This dresser didn't chip that much, the wood was so thirsty it just soaked it right up, but I did get a little chippiness.

I was so excited when it started bubbling. Like a kid on Christmas. 

I polished up the brass hardware. I really love the blue & gold together.

I really love this piece. My husband says it might be the best piece I have ever refinished (thanks babe). Though, with how many pieces I've done... I'm not quite sure that's a compliment.

But I'll take it.

Unfortunately, I don't have a home for this one, so it's going to be for sale. 

Kind of breaks my heart a little.

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Big girl room: Confetti Wall.

I fell in love with this image on Pinterest.

I kept looking at it over & over. I just loved how free & flowing it was. So with the help of my favorite vinyl making friend extraordinaire, we cut 144 gold dots out of vinyl. 

All I had to do is stick them on just like stickers, it was pretty awesome. Not to mention inexpensive.

We rent at the moment so I'm always looking for ways I can spice up the walls that isn't damaging or permanent, vinyl is definitely a good solution!

Sorry for the horrible pictures, my daughter's room is super cave-like in it's size &  natural lighting. 

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A new take on coffee filters.

I had this awesome post planned about shopping at the Farmer's Market & planned on taking amazing pictures today at the market... but then it was pouring rain instead of being beautiful Arizona January weather. 

SO that will have to wait until next market.

Instead, I thought I would share with you a wreath I made using coffee filters.

I really love how it turned out. 

To me it looks like a book page & coffee filter wreath made a baby.

Instead of keeping them their white fluffy selves, I dyed them in tea and laid them out flat to dry.

They took forever to dry, I put my oven on warm and let them hang out in there for a few hours. That seemed to work the best.

When gluing them on, I went in a zig-zag pattern & then would go back and fill it in. I wanted it to look random & ruffly.

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Ikea Hack: Children's Table.

I had bought this Ikea children's table from Goodwill a while ago. It looked like this before. 

Boring & zilch amounts of character. Plus mine was a tad more beat up.

So I turned it into this.

I spray painted the table Heirloom White, and the chairs Coral Isle by Krylon.

Then I painted the top of it with chalkboard paint for my artistic toddler. 

I like chalkboard a lot for kids because they can draw to their hearts content & when I have my back turned and she decides to take her art to the wall [of course, I would never leave her unattended like while I craft, sew, or am in the garage riiiiiiiiiight.] But anyways, if something like that would happen then I can just wipe it off with a rag instead of scrubbing. Life saver I'm tellin ya, oh &I don't have to buy coloring books.

Plus it's a lot cuter than scribbled on paper.

Anyways, what do ya think? I really love how it turned out. 

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