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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The one in which I profess my undying love.

Remember when everyone was into painting all. the. things. I was part of that movement. I wanted white dressers for you. and you get a white dresser. and you. and you. and you. 

I am happy to report that I am in recession.

I've been apologizing to natural wood ever since.

I swooped up these wood cubbies from my friend, Nikki from Grand Design Co., if you're local & love old stuff she has a knack for finding and building the most awesome stuff. She sells most of it on her instagram. 

It takes pretty much zero effort to make it look awesome. I just threw some favorite summery things on it for now. 

The cubbies. The 100 cubbies. The aged wood. 

Love it all. 

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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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Vintage Lockers.

I finally found a set of vintage lockers that I love! 

My husband does not understand the love. However I am glad he came along with me to pick them up because BOY they are heavy.

We had to make a stop on the way home from the pickup & I was so worried that someone was going to steal them out of the back of his truck. Paranoid much? No wonder why lottery winners end up making themselves crazy.

Yes, I just compared to finding a set of vintage lockers to winning the lottery.

It was really hard to get a picture of them because they are in a funny nook in our family room at the moment. Filled with lots of books & toys.
Talk about an awesome storage solution.

&those locker plate numbers. I die.

I want to find a little side upholstered chair to put in front of them and then & family room will be complete. 

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Craft room organizer redo.

I just finished this cute little organizer that I picked up. I knew it could be way cute and perfect organization for a craft room.

To be completely honest, I just have a weakness for jars of any sort. I pretend if I have lots of pretty containers to hold my things... I'll be organized.

It doesn't always work out that way but a girl can pretend.

This is what it looked like before

A new coat of white paint with some distressing, and some paint and vinyl on the cans totally transformed it! It's totally vintage chic now. 

The color I used for the jars was Pistachio by Krylon, the white is Swiss Coffee, and the numbers were made by me on my Silhouette.

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It would have been a shame...

When I go thrifting, I am always looking for things I can refinish and change to make them prettier. 

I kind of thought the same thing when I found this gold frame. But once I brought it home and looked at it for a few days I started to really love the vintage gold.

So I kept it as is and I am not kidding I kind of love it. 

Who says you have to paint EVERYTHING.

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So I painted an old mailbox...

I found this old mailbox and it was so random, I knew I impulsively grabbed it and knew I wanted to do something to it.

Though I didn't know quite what yet, I was SO excited to take it home.

This is how it turned out.

Not going to lie, I kind of love it.
The color is called Sea Glass by Martha Stewart. It's kind of my favorite color ever.

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Finials, crates, and mailboxes [oh my!]

I've been totally scoring lately finding the most AWESOME things in the most random places.

These finials were a curb side pick up in my neighborhood. I gave them a quick white wash and am in total love! The possibilities are literally endless in my mind. I put them on my bookshelf, and fell even deeper in love. They are so architectural and pretty. 

 I had almost given up at Goodwill when I stumbled across the ugliest, plainest looking wood crate. It was old, and kind of gross. My love for anything crate-y told me that I had to buy it. So I took it home, cleaned it up, painted it white [of course] and distressed it. 

 This mailbox was another score. It was kind of boring and grey before, I painted it my favorite aqua color Sea Glass by Martha Stewart. After seeing these photos I definitely want to paint the hardware white & add words on the side. 

The cosmo's have aligned for me. I NEVER get this much good stuff in so little time. I'm just going to go with it and hope it lasts! 

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Vintage finds & tips on shopping vintage.

Continuing from my post yesterday on Salvage Shopping, I thought I would show you the few things I picked up & give you maybe a few tips that will help you on your vintage quests. A few of you have asked how I keep my head on straight when surrounded by SO many things I love. Well, when I'm on pretty things overload, there are 3 major things I try to remember when deciding whether or not that pretty thing belongs in my house or not.

1. Remember your budget. Before I go shopping I usually figure out how much I have to spend that day. It's important to do that before because when you see that amazing rare antique fill in the blank here that you always wanted with the price tag of $300, it's SO easy to get wrapped up in the moment and just BUY it. 

2. Look for statement pieces. Know what style you are going for, whether it be found, shabby chic, or industrial, and look for large pieces that really bring out that style. Bunches of little things are pretty, but you would be amazed how much a vintage metal or wood crate, or big graphic art piece will impact the room and bring the look you desire. I try to look for things that will bring visual and textural interest most and then fill in with other things later.

3. Know where it's going before you take it home. Clutter gives me hives, having things lying around that don't have a home do too, so when I see something I really love I always figure out where it's going to go before I buy it so I can control my hive breakouts if ya know what I mean. I am a sucker for pretty chairs, well worn wood crates, and dang vintage aqua mason jars but if I don't have a specific purpose for them I let them go. They are really easy to find anyways and they will be around next time I'm looking for them.

Keep those things in mind and you'll be golden. 

Here are the things I picked up yesterday that I REALLY love.

Vintage stop sign. I loved the color and had NEVER seen one grey & white before. 

Antique dining chairs. 

My new breakfast nook table that I picked up at a flea market a few weeks ago is dainty and the legs on it are my favorite part so I didn't want to hide them with chunky chairs. I found these two sweet chairs that happen to be the perfect wood shade in my opinion. For the other side of the table I think I'm going to build a farmhouse style bench in the near future.

Vintage wrought iron stand. 

I really don't know what this was meant for originally, or if it was always meant to be a jewelry stand, but I saw it and knew I NEEDED it. I could never find a jewelry stand tall enough for the long necklaces I think every one has these days. It's perfect and all my necklaces are untangled and SO happy.

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Salvage shopping.

Today my friend Nikki, from Grand Design Co., and I headed off for a shopping kidless day [with 5 kids between the 2 of us that is quite the feat.] I've learned that once you become a mom, the few and far between chances you get to go shopping kidless you definitely NEVER pass up.

I forget how fun and relaxing it can be.

My favorite stop of the day was Sweet Salvage, and Not Too Shabby.

One word. AMAZING.

So many pretty things to look at. All the rusty, chippy, vintage loveliness was INSANE. I kept thinking to myself, how on earth its taken me SO long to get my vintage loving self to shops like these. Seriously, I thought HomeGoods was a HUGE thing when I started shopping there... turns out their stuff mostly sucks in my world now.

Ok, I still love HomeGoods... and I'll stop talking and just show you the pictures I snapped.

 A few things managed to make it home with me, I can't wait to show you them. I am EXTREMELY excited about one of them in particular.

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