New kitchen nook, complete!

Hello there! I’m back! Last week was crazy – I flew across the country to Salt Lake City to speak at the SNAP! Conference and then hurried home after my session (I was there for about 36 hours) to get home in time for an event honoring my hubs Friday morning.

And then…it was cancelled. You gotta be kidding me.

We had SO much rain last week and the school had flooding so it was postponed. I was glad to be back home though, so all was OK in the end.

I’m back with the full picture of how the kitchen nook turned out. I first showed you how I transformed an IKEA table into a farmhouse table here. Thanks SO much for all the lovely comments by the way! They make my day!

Well, the next phase was new chairs. We have had the black chairs in there (from Garden Ridge) for about seven years now – they’ve held up OK. A few scratches but mostly OK. But the thing that bothers me about them is that the legs become loose ALL the dang time. I am tightening the bolts on them at least once a week.

I had fallen in love with a different chair too – and for months I was dreamin’ about it:

(1/2 sources)

I ADORE these x-backed chairs. The pretty curves, the warm wood. LOVE. But these were way more than I wanted to spend. (One was $150, the other $200.)

So I watched for months and stalked Home Goods and never found anything. And then it hit me to check out World Market. Yes, again. I love that place:

I got them on sale so they were wayyyy cheaper than the other two versions and I only got two because I had a plan for the other side of the table.

Many of you guessed it – a bench. I mean, it’s practically begging for it, right? We’ve had one for years that I used to use at the round table we had in here. It’s been sitting in our mud room for a while now, so I pulled it out, primed it, then gave it a fun color:

That color is apple green by Valspar by the way –- I was trying to use a color I had on hand. It was brighter than I first wanted. When I asked hubby what he thought he mentioned how well it went with the boxwood wreath on the pantry door, the island chairs, the flowers on the table…the man is good:

I love the pop of color – this nook has had no color for so long, I’m happy to bring some in. And the best part about spray paint – it will take me 15 minutes to change it up if I ever want to.

Someday when the budget allows (and they are on sale again) I’ll pick up a couple more of those chairs to have for when we need more seating. For now this set up works great for just us.

The last change to this space was a new light, also from World Market. I had been eyeing it for months but was afraid I wouldn’t like the leafy things on it:

I went to see it in the store and it was GORGEOUS.

I’ve changed the light over this table at least five times now – the rest of the lights in our house have never been changed or replaced once. This spot…I don’t know what it is.

But I finally feel like this is the perfect combo – the size and look of the table and the pretty chandelier – it works now. I promise not to change it out again for at least a year. ;) I have a plan for our other light that was there – once I can find someone to climb 20 feet to install it. (Not it!)

Of course all of these changes happened over the course of a couple months – and I did my research on everything for six months to a year beforehand. (YES, I take forever.) Once I decided what I wanted I picked up different pieces as the budget allowed.

I’m SO thrilled to have a big table to use again. And yes, to decorate:

I may have to do a spring tablescape just to celebrate. And can I just mention I am OBSESSED with ranunculus. I love these flowers!

Someday I’ll learn how to properly take pictures so the light streaming in the windows does not blind us:

But today is not that day. ;)

I ADORE these chairs – they are really sturdy and the wood that makes up the “X” is too – I tried out some that were really flimsy and way more expensive:

I especially love this spot with the light on a dimmer in the evening:

It’s just so much more open and bright now! I cannot even believe the difference, I really can’t.

We all love this table – the size and shape just works so much better for this space. It’s so much easier to spread out on the computer, for homework – all that stuff too:

The round table felt so cramped in comparison.

And now that this spot is transformed, the budget is frozen for a while. This was happening while I took pictures this morning:

More water issues. The disposal stopped working and (gross) water was POURING out of the disposal. Didn’t know that could happen? Me either. Fantastic!

There are a few more changes coming to the little kitchen nook – and many more coming in the kitchen (someday). But for now I have a pretty table that I love. :)

 

**For more info on the chalkboard wall, go here.
**For more on the pantry (with the glass door), go here.
**And to find out how NOT to paint your glass atrium door, go here.

DIY craftsman door trim

Hey there! I’m off at the SNAP Conference today and flying home tonight – whirlwind trip I tell ya! It’s funny --  the older I get the harder it is for me to leave home. I’m such a homebody in my old age. ;)

Anyway, earlier this week I made teensy bit of progress on the powder room. Don’t get too excited, it’s nothing major. But still…progress. Let’s just enjoy little bits, eh?

It was actually not even a project I had planned on doing, but before I installed the planks along the wall near the door I thought I would at least try it out.

I figured it was as good a time as any (well, really the ONLY time – after the planks are installed it probably couldn’t have happened) to try and replace the door trim.

I’ve been dreaming for YEARS about replacing our thin builder door casing to something like this:

(source)

I’ve seen this same look with crown at the top, but this simpler version has always appealed to me. (In white of course.)

The only reason I haven’t attempted it by now is my fear of removing the trim in our house – it’s IMPOSSIBLE. Seriously – I removed the baseboards in one room something like six years ago and it still has me afraid to this day. It was SO. dang. hard. to get them off.

I had our contractor guys take them off in the powder room so the hardwoods could go down and even they commented on how tough it was.

Told you. I’m no wus. It’s hard. :)

So anyway, I’ve always assumed the door trim was the same supersonic stuff. But I got a wild hair the other night and decided to try removing it. I took a razor and cut along where the trim met up with the door frame (along the caulk) and then did the same on the caulk line by the wall.

I used my crow bar to get under the trim and starting working at it and I'LL BE – it was coming off! I couldn’t believe it!:

I had to pull out a few lingering staples but that was it. And I don’t have any pictures of all of those steps because I was so sure it wasn’t going to work I didn’t even pull out the camera.

I should not use my camera more often. ;)

So anyway, I ended up with a trimless door and I was giddy:

Seriously. I did a giddy dance.

I could tell from the pics how I wanted to put the new trim up – it’s pretty self explanatory when you look at them. I started with two 1 by 4’s cut to the height of the door frame:

And then it was time for the “topper.” Again, pretty obvious from the pics on how to do it, but I had also read this post a couple weeks ago and liked how they put the topper together before they installed – that did help:

I put it together using wood glue and the nail gun. It’s made up of a 1 by 2 on top, a piece of the 1 by 4 in the middle and a piece of lattice (1/4 by 2) on the bottom.

I just nailed that whole piece up when I was done:

I couldn’t believe how easy it was! Installing the trim took all of about 15 minutes I think?

So crazy fast!:

I still need to paint but I was so excited about it all I just had to show you. ;) This has awoken a beast though – I cannot wait to do the rest of the doors! 

New trim and paint them all black. It’s going to take forever. But at least one is kinda sorta on it’s way:

I love it!

A few tips:

- I used my razor blade to get the caulk line off the area to the right where it met the paint. This was just so the new trim would lay flush against the wall.

- I sanded the door frame before I installed the new trim to knock down the caulk/paint that was there.

- I had to cut down the light switch plate a bit to make the new trim work. No biggie – just did it with the saw. :)

- I caulked up all the visible gaps in preparation for paint. (Using this awesome tool.)

- I used pine in here just in case we ever have a water issues, but will probably use mdf in other rooms. I’ll try both and see how the mdf holds up.

I found this image on Pinterest that shows what I did, and the window frame version as well (ohhhh, how I hope our window sills come off as easy!):

(source)

It’s really so easy – it took me longer to take off the trim and sand everything down than it did to install the new stuff!

So, there you go! You know how you avoid something for years because you think it will be so hard and then it’s totally easy? Yeah, never happens to me either. Except for this time. ;)

Indy girls

Hello all! First of all, I am sending out love and prayers to those in Boston this week. I am at a loss for words regarding what happened – I just don’t understand the evil.

I’m glued to the TV as I prepare for my presentation at the SNAP! Conference in Utah this week – I’m looking forward to meeting some of my west coast blogging friends while I’m there! (I’m only there for a day so I can get home to an event Friday morning – flying all night long Thursday night!)

The conference got me thinking – there are SO many talented bloggers in Utah, it’s crazy. Up till a few years ago I felt like there’s only a handful of bloggers here in Indiana, but now you are coming out of the woodwork and I LOVE it!

Today I decided I would show off a few of the Indiana bloggers I know of – I’m sure I’m missing some. Give props to my fellow Hoosiers, yo.

First up is Laurie at Laurie Jones Home. Her house is just beautiful, I especially loved her recent dining room update: 

Isn’t that gorgeous? Looks like a magazine! I love that deep color on the walls.

Chelsea at Two Twenty One is an IU girl (I’m a fan by osmosis – I’m a Ball State grad but my sis, bff and hubby are IU alums) and her recent home office makeover is one of my favorites:

So darn pretty and bright! Love it!

Of course, I have to include my girl Beckie – we met years ago and have been friends since. She’s a crafty goddess and her new craft room is fantastic:

All that storage is glorious! Did I mention she built it herself?

Jessie at Imperfectly Polished shares some great projects but I think her foyer is my favorite:

It’s unusual that you see color on the trim and white walls – it’s exactly what I’m planning for the mud room and I love it!

Prepare yourself for the gorgeous master bath over at Sweet Chaos:

I met Carolyn and her friend Valerie years ago at Home Goods – she tells the story well here. ;) Turns out we go way back and didn’t realize it, and the weirdness keeps happening cause one of her friends is now the Bub’s teacher. We were MEANT to connect, obviously.

I met Kerry at Home Crush Blog a few weeks ago at the vintage mart meet up – it’s SO nice to meet local bloggers and readers! She does an amazing job at accessorizing – check out her beautiful built ins:

She also shares some really yummy recipes here.

Liz from Hoosier Homemade is the queen of beautiful cupcakes:

She makes me want to bake, seriously. Look at how adorable they are!

I met Julia at Sunbeam Yellow at the vintage mart too – she’s taking a break from blogging right now but I loved her video makeup reviews. She shares some DIY and crafty goodness too!

I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of Hoosier bloggers, so if you are one, feel free to share a link in the comments! I apologize if I missed you! I’m off to try to finish up a DIY project before I start packing (at midnight tonight – procrastinate is my middle name.)

IKEA table turned farmhouse table

Hello hello! Hope you had a lovely weekend! I’m back today with a DIY project that I’ve been SO excited to show you! It was a LONG time coming – it took me a few weeks to finish and a couple years to even make happen.

So here’s the thing. I love our kitchen but the table area has been a thorn in my side for years:

It looks innocent, I know. :) But it was so cramped. I mean, our kitchen isn’t huge by any stretch, and the spot for the table always felt too small for me. And we added the bay window when we built, which made it even bigger.

The problem was, even with the chairs pushed in (which they hardly ever were, all at the same time), we kind of had to schooch through next to the island, over by the pantry and when we went outside we had to make sure the chair was pushed in to open the door.

I was always, constantly, numerous times a day PUSHING IN CHAIRS.

I was so tired of it, really, I mean, total first world problem here, but it was driving me crazy.

So I came up with a solution in my head. One I never even mentioned to the hubby because it involved knocking out a wall and expanding the kitchen. I had it perfectly planned out. You see why I didn’t mention it to the husband though. ;)

Obviously that wasn’t going to happen, so about a year ago I came up with a new plan – ditch the round table.

I love that table (it’s an antique but not a family antique) but once I did some measuring I realized the round shape was ALL wrong for that spot. But the size for the new table I was looking for needed to be less than 60 inches long and do you KNOW how hard it is to find a kitchen table that size?

I guess I should mention I had a “look” in mind that I wanted. And Dad and I did consider making something, maybe even using the base of the table I already had, but when I showed him tutorials online we determined we didn’t have the tools needed.

So for months and months and did I mention months? I looked on Craigslist. Then I tried places like World Market, even Walmart – just looking for something I could change up if needed. No one had a smaller table with the look I wanted.

And then, one night it came to me.

IKEA. Duh. Duh duh duh!

I found exactly what I wanted:

Well the shape and size and mostly the look I wanted. It is the Norden kitchen table and it’s something like 35 by 59 inches. Perfect.

So I planned a trip to IKEA (it’s a two hour trip one way so I picked up some other stuff). I met up with these cuties:

That would be Beckie and Traci doncha know. ;) We got to spend the day shopping and chatting and goofing off in IKEA, it was SO nice. When we found the table the girls solidified my ideas and thought it would work.

It wasn’t till a week later that I finally put the table together. I was crossing my fingers the size would work – sweating a little bit actually. ;) But it fit GREAT. I was SO stinking excited.

So originally I had planned on building a new top for the table, to make it more farmhouse looking. But once I got it together I was kind of hoping for an easy fix, so I tried sanding the top to see if it would take a stain. (It comes with a leaf to expand it so I experimented on that.)

The top is supposed to be real wood and I still think it is, but man, they put some supersonic protective stuff on there. It would NOT sand off. So I got a wild hair and just tried staining over it to see what would happen.

I was really, really pleased with it actually – the stain actually took and turned it a lovely grayish brown color:

I was so excited that maybe this would work with less work on my part than anticipated. I still didn’t know why that finish took the stain like it did – it was so odd. (Do you sense the foreboding here?)

It wasn’t the look I had originally planned on, but I liked it OK. I did the rest of the table and it still wasn’t my ideal, but it was pretty!

I went ahead with the rest of my plan to paint the base white – originally it was that blond wood color:

I got busy with some white chalk paint:

I used that simply because I didn’t want to have to sand down all the legs and everything. I was able to just put it right on which saved me a ton of time.

So everything was almost done, and like I said, I liked the top just fine. But then, later on the same day, after I had put a coat of poly on (that had dried) I put something on the table and heard a sound I know all to well – the sound of a finish being scratched off. You just KNOW it after a while. ;)

UGH.

Yep. I knew it was weird that that stain seemed to take so well. It didn’t. :) It scratched right off. I mean, it took some effort, but I could do it with my finger nail and some force.

Sooooooo…my plan A that became plan B became plan A again. It was time to build a new tabletop.

I’ll let you pause here to grab a snack, I know this is a long post.

Get some Doritos for me.

OK, it was time to make a new top. I gathered some wood and had plywood base cut down to the size of the original table top, then started figuring out my cuts:

I went with the same design as the small end table I did for the basement.

I used wood glue, my nail gun and a clamp – starting at one end and gluing, clamping and nailing as I went across:

Some of the boards were slightly warped so I used hand weights to put some pressure on them. And even though I clamped as I went (a good, patient carpenter would have clamped them together with numerous clamps and let each row set before moving on. I am not a patient carpenter.) there were still some small gaps between the boards.

Because I didn’t want to worry about food or liquid falling down in there, I used a stainable filler and filled in ALL the cracks and holes:

And then I sanded and sanded and sanded. I’m sure my neighbors were like, WOMAN! It’s smooth! I sanded so much. And then some more.

But I wanted to make sure I got the putty residue off (turns out I could have sanded even more) and the sanding was knocking down any of the warping issues too – when I was done it was SO stinking smooth.

I’ll show you more about my new sander soon:

It made this part SO easy! I love this thing!

Just before dark we brought it in and set it on top of the table:

I stained it two times with the same dark stain (Rustoleum Kona) I used here. Then I gave it two coats of a gloss poly:

And in the end it turned out JUST as I had imagined for all those months:

I am SO proud of this piece, I just can’t even tell you. I think it turned out so beautifully:

To hide the plywood base of the table top and to finish it off a little more, I added another “apron” around it – it’s glued and nailed into the plywood base. (I went with a thicker plywood knowing I would do this.)

I needed something thin (I made the tabletop just slightly bigger than the IKEA top so we didn’t lose any space in here) to trim that out, so I ended up using door framing trim. I love how it looks!:

I have zero patience so didn’t wait as long as I should have to stain after doing the putty (I’m five years old, I swear). You can see a couple spots where I didn’t sand well enough and the stain didn’t take as well at the end:

But I don’t mind it – I didn’t want it to look perfectly perfect. The wood is just pine – I went with the slightly more expensive kind that doesn’t have knots – and it stained up just beautifully!

The table is way bigger than our old one, but the shape works SO much better. SO. MUCH. With the table and chairs and the rug before it was taking up a space about 70 inches around. This way works because the ends where we saw the most traffic don’t have chairs:

And I know, there’s no chairs in the pics – those are for another post. This one will continue. The light is a surprise too. ;)

I think it is one of the smartest changes I’ve made in our house. I seriously don’t know what took me so long. We LOVE it. Loveity love lurve:

I’ll show you the seating soon (I’m still tweaking).

I gotta say, I’m a little excited to have a pretty table to decorate for holidays again too. When we got rid of the table in the dining room I figured I would miss that part and I did. It’s not the reason for the new table obviously, but it’s a nice little bonus. ;)

The great thing is, I made this so the top can be lifted off. So the one or two times a year we need a large table we can pull that off, put the leaf in the table and then seat eight easily (six at the table and two on the ends).

I am SO thrilled with it! All together it cost about $350 -- $270 for the table and about $70 for the wood. Worth it for a custom piece that fits our kitchen just right! 

So there you go, phase one of three, where plan A was B than A again…but it’s done. I’ll show you the rest soon!

Antique Farm House (giveaway!)

**This giveaway is now closed. The winner has been notified via email.

Hello hello! The weekend is here! Whooooo!

The impromptu little things party was SO fun – you can see nearly 200 inspiring links on this post. Love it! If you’d still like to link up you have till next Wednesday to do so.

Today I’m kicking off the weekend with a fun giveaway from one of my favorite sites – Antique Farm House:

They are no strangers to TDC and it’s because I love their products and their fun site! They are pretty awesome to work with too. :)

Let’s take a look at some of the pretty pieces they offer, shall we? These metal numbered signs are always a big hit:

I love those for a mud room, lined up with hooks. :)

I was just talking about boxwoods for spring and looky here:

I love the big fluffy ball! Oh, how fun!

There’s usually some textiles too, like this Union Jack pillow:

And I love this big roman numeral clock:

I’m still trying to figure out the right spot in our house for a big round clock…I’ve wanted one for years!

I LOVE this whole section on the site – the signs and trays are so pretty!:

All of it is perfect for spring and summer!

I think this standing chalkboard is my favorite:

How fun to use for parties – you could write out the menu or leave it outside to welcome guests! Adorable.

Soooo, the awesome news is that the folks at Antique Farm House are offering $100 to one of you to spend as you wish on their site! Awww yeah.

Here’s how to win $100 to Antique Farm House:

1. Leave a comment here. EASY. Any fun plans this weekend?

2. Visit the Antique Farm House site here and take a look around. Find an item you love and come back to let us know what it is.

3. Go to the Antique Farm House Facebook page and “like” it here. Let us know you did in another comment. (If you already do, just let us know!)

4. If you’d like to get the up-to-date info on new sales, sign up for the AFH newsletter here, then let us know you did. (Or if you’re already signed up!)

* You can enter using one, two or all methods – it’s up to you! All options are not mandatory to win.

* Remember if you comment anonymously or you have a private blog, please include your email address in each entry, and spell it out with “at” and “dot” to avoid any spammy emails coming your way. (I have turned anonymous comments back on for this giveaway!)

This giveaway is open to the US only. It will close this Monday, April 15 at 9 a.m. EST.

Have fun and have a GREAT weekend Squeezies!