Category: diy

Justin and I have always loved to entertain, and having a home that worked for hosting friends and family was a big priority for us when we were house shopping. A big part of the reason we fell in love with our current home was the large entertaining space in our basement, which leads to a walk-out patio and pond – our main hangout spot in the summer! It’s been so fun to host friends and family all throughout the year, but we especially love the warm weather months and taking advantage of our outdoor space.

This year, we’ve been slow to get our patio set up but this weekend we finally have some time and I’m itching to start getting things set up. In the past, we’ve just set up a patio table and chairs (which we snagged off Craigslist six years ago) and a small sectional. There is also a small wooden deck down by the pond where we have two lounge chairs next to the sandy beach area. We have plans for a full revamp of our outdoor space in the future, but for this year we’re focused on small, manageable steps to refresh things and make it feel a little more special.

I think it’s important to note that we don’t subscribe to the notion that things have to be perfect to host. We’ve had countless gatherings at our house prior to this – things haven’t looked perfect and our patio hasn’t been 100% the way we’ve wanted but we still invited people over and made some amazing memories. We even just had people over last night despite the fact that our sectional is still not even set up. While we’re excited to make some changes to the space, we’ve also enjoyed this area every step along the way!

That being said, here are some things we hope to do as soon as possible:

Add sand to beach area

Our beach area was looking pretty washed out, so Justin already spent a Saturday getting a couple truckloads of new sand for the beach area.

We were both impressed with how much that improved both the feel of the beach and our kids’ overall enjoyment of it. We also didn’t realize how inexpensive sand is, particularly if you are willing to pick it up and haul it yourself. We’re likely going to get another truckload or two to add a bit more to the beach and the shallowest end of the pond.

DIY an Umbrella Stand for the Deck

There’s a small wooden deck right next to the beach where we have two lounge chairs. There are a few warped boards on the edge I’d like to fix if we can, and I’d also like to add some shade.

I don’t want a permanent canopy, because sometimes we want sun, but I want the option for shade when needed. I bought an umbrella a few days ago and Justin dug out an old umbrella stand the previous owners left behind in our shed. It was SO nice to have shade – Vi even fell asleep two days in a row in the shade while LJ kept swimming and playing! – but the umbrella stand was not sturdy enough to withstand the wind. As you can see in the corner of the picture, we had to weigh it down with some rocks and even then, I had to hold on to it when the wind picked up.

We could spend $400-500 dollars on a large umbrella and stand that would work better against the wind, or I could DIY a solution using the old umbrella stand and $89 umbrella I already bought. It’s probably not shocking to you that I’m going with the DIY version! My plan is to build a planter large enough to fit the base of the umbrella stand, use some concrete mix in the bottom to secure the stand and provide sufficient weight, and then fill the top with soil and plant some flowers around the umbrella. I think it will work – finger’s crossed!

Set up Patio Furniture (with new touches)

We have our table and chairs set up, but we haven’t spend time setting up our sectional yet. This normally tucks into the little corner of our house shown below, and this year, I want to add in an outdoor rug and some small end tables to make it a little cozier and more functional. One thing we already did was have the house powerwashed, which made a huge difference already!

Paint the Porch Ceiling?

I’m debating painting the porch ceiling this year (thinking of going with black!) but that might be a bigger project to save for sometime in the future. We’ll see!

Planter Boxes + String Lights

In our last house, we used barrels with concrete mix in the bottom to secure large posts to hang string lights. I could only find one picture of how we set this up, but we loved how cozy it made the space and want to do something similar at this house.

I’m thinking we might try to DIY the actual planter boxes this time instead of buy barrels. On top of the concrete, we’ll fill with soil and plant flowers like we did at the last house – it adds such a special little touch!

I kind of expect this project to be an “if you give Sarah a paintbrush” situation where I get started and things spiral haha, but this is the list I’m starting out with. We have a lot of plans for hosting this summer so I’m excited to get this patio ready!

It’s been just over one year since I finished up our kitchen renovation so today I wanted to chat a little bit about how everything has held up, where I need some touch-ups, and what small detail I still need to address.

The kitchen is truly the heart of our home, but when we first moved in, it didn’t really reflect our family well. I still dream of a full kitchen remodel, complete with a different layout, but a relatively inexpensive Phase One renovation (coming in right around $1000, not counting the new fridge we had to buy when our old one died) has made a HUGE difference in the meantime.

I still absolutely love so many things about this kitchen. I love the barstools – the wood brings in warmth to the space, they’re comfortable, and easy for the kids to climb up and down. I love the light fixture above the island – it’s about 100x better than the fluorescent light that was there previously! I recently took all the globes off and cleaned the whole fixture since it does collect some dust and it’s looking particularly shiny and new again.

I still love the color of the cabinets and how the blue-green-gray chameleon color plays off the warm tones in the black quartz countertops (which I didn’t originally like but now I think they work well with the other changes in the space!) I love the repurposed bead board backsplash, the warm white walls, the updated can lighting – this room still makes me smile everyday! Even though I know a different layout will work better for our family and we will change things up in the future, this kitchen fits us right now and I know I’ll even be a bit sad to eventually see it go.

So now that it’s been over a year, how has this renovation held up? Let’s chat!

Cabinets

You might notice that every photo makes the cabinet color look slightly different – that’s not an editing trick! This is a true chameleon color and it changes depending on lighting, time of day, and angle of your view. I still love the color (SW Link Gray) and it has mostly held up well on the cabinets. I think choosing a higher-quality paint really made a big difference in this space that gets a ton of traffic and use.

That being said, there are a few cabinets that need touching up around the knobs. These are the most-frequently used cabinets (trash can, silverware, plates and bowls) and over time, the constant friction of fingers and/or nails around the knobs has worn away the paint. Our trash can and silverware drawers (pictured below) are particularly bad because our kids also use these two cabinets and they’re not especially gentle users, ha!

Luckily, this is a super easy fix. Today, I’m going to go through and quick touch up these spots with a roller and they’ll look good as new! The rest of the cabinets have held up well and still look great.

Backsplash

One of my favorite updates to this space was removing the old tile backsplash and replacing it with the bead board paneling that we ripped out of our office. We painted it SW Agreeable Gray and it looks so great in its new home. Bonus that it was free! 😉

There are just a few little spots that need touching up, and again, it’s in the most frequently used space: behind the sink and drying rack. Since this spot is a major player in our daily kitchen use, it obviously gets a ton of use and over time, small nicks in the paint have occurred. Again, it’s an easy fix and today I’ll be going over those spots with a roller and get it back to looking fresh.

Also with the backsplash, I’m going to run another bead of clear acrylic latex caulk along the seam between the bead board and the counter to reinforce the waterproofing behind the sink. We have had no issues over the past year, but I want to keep it that way so I plan to just re-caulk once a year or so in this spot to keep things waterproof.

The Vent

This kitchen may look finished, but it’s actually part of the 95% club. In other words, I got 95% of the way done, hit a point of exhaustion, and didn’t finish the last thing I needed to do to actually make it finished. And that thing is…the vent.

Above the kids’ craft area is a vent that had been painted the same brown color as the walls. I meant to paint this the same color as the white walls (SW Alabaster) but it just . . . never happened. And now it’s been over a year and I am sick and tired of staring at it and thinking “I really need to get that painted” so today is the day! I am going to check this off the list and get this kitchen DONE!

A few other small things I’m going to do in the kitchen today:

1. Paint a second coat underneath the cabinet in the kids’ craft area. I was running low on paint when I first did the cabinets, and this was the very last one I painted. I went sparingly on the underside to conserve paint but I have a small sample jar now and I’m going to give it a good second coat so it looks nicer.
2. Do some thrifting for a different utensil crock. The orange has been fun, but it’s time for something that works better in the space. I might not find one today, but if not it’s going to be on my list of top things to look for in future thrifting trips.
3. Remove the bits of black paint that got on the window while painting. Another small detail that I didn’t take time to address the first time – when I painted the window sashes black, a small bit got on the sides of the window. Since it’s latex paint, it’s easy to take a baby wipe and just scrape it off but I haven’t taken the time to do it. Today is the day to get it done!
4. Tighten up the screws on the barstools. These counter stools were a great find and overall I’ve been pleased with them. They clean easily, still look great, and were a really great price point. That being said, over time, the screws do loosen a bit and the chairs can get wobbly. Probably once every 2-3 months I go through and just re-tighten any loose screws and they’re sturdy once again. It’s not ideal, but it only takes 10-15 minutes and it was honestly worth it to have no other complaints about the chairs and be happy with the price point.

Sources

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Trim + Backsplash Color: Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray

Window Color: Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black

Cabinet Color: Sherwin Williams Link Gray

Light Fixture

Counter Stools 

LED Recessed Lights 

Kitchen Rug (similar here)

Another week of the Spring 2022 One Room Challenge is complete and I made some more progress in the nursery!

First, I updated the window by ripping off the old window trim, painting the window itself Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black, and installing a chunkier window trim like we’re slowly doing to all the windows in the house. I painted the window trim Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog to match the walls for a monochromatic look. and installed a new curtain rod and room darkening curtains.

I love the curtains so much! They’re not marketed as blackout but they work as blackout so I decided to nix blinds for this room. It’s a double win because the room only has one window and doesn’t get direct sunlight so this helps maximize the natural light!

I also started adding in some artwork. I downloaded this gorgeous print as a digital download from Juniper Print Shop – the colors are absolutely perfect for the nursery and I thought it would being a nice organic feel to balance the grid print of the curtains. I like that it doesn’t feel like a traditional nursery print – it elevates the room from feeling too baby-ish and then in the future it will translate well to another part of the house when it’s no longer needed in the nursery. I had it printed through Mpix; the quality is awesome and you have to look really closely to tell it’s a print!

I wanted a substantial size and chose to have it printed in 18″ x 24″. Getting a large size in a quality paper and finish meant the print itself was a splurge so I wanted to save on the frame. Large frames can be pricey so I challenged myself to create a really simple DIY frame by only using materials I already had on hand.

Materials

–digital download print

-large piece of cardboard (flat, no creases)

–spray adhesive

–gorilla glue

–gold spray paint

–Drydex nail hole filler

-scrap pieces of window trim

-tools used: scissors, miter saw; clamps

I cut the cardboard down so there was about 2″ overhang on all four sides of the print (my cardboard piece wasn’t quite wide enough to accommodate the full width of trim all the way around, so there was a little trim overhang, which you can’t see in the finished product). I used the spray adhesive to spray all over the back of the print and pressed it down onto the cardboard, making sure the print was pressed flat and smooth and there were no air bubbles.

As we update all the window trim in our house, we save the old trim and remove the nails so we can use the trim as scrap wood. I took four pieces of old window trim and used the miter saw to cut them down to size for each side of the frame (what length you cut to depends on how much you want the frame to cover the edge of the print). I cut each end to a 45 degree angle and did a dry fit of the pieces to make sure it looked good. I used nail hole filler to fill in any nail holes showing.

Then I sprayed a few light coats of my favorite gold spray paint on each piece of trim.

Once the pieces had dried, I used the spray adhesive again to attach the trim to each side of the cardboard around the print.

There were two trim pieces that had a slight warp, so I added a few daps of gorilla glue on the back for an extra strong hold and that worked well!

There was one small corner that didn’t quite come together flush, so I used the nail hole filler to close the gap, taped off the print with another piece of cardboard, and spray painted over the dried nail hole filler.

I used picture hanging strips to attach the back of the frame to the wall and voila – a beautiful frame that cost me $0!

We’re halfway through the ORC and I have several things left to do: update the nursery dresser/changing table, install book shelves, install thicker baseboards, and possibly add planking to the ceiling. We also are going to be installing new carpet, although I don’t anticipate that will happen before the challenge is over since it’s about a 6-8 week timeframe right now. The room is coming together slowly but surely!

Be sure to check out all the other ORC projects happening here!

I took a complete break from projects over the weekend, which was a wonderful time of gathering with my family and celebrating Easter (my favorite holiday!) I didn’t make any progress on the nursery but I did get some deliveries over the past week that have me excited to dive back in!

Curtains

The blackout curtains I ordered have arrived! I ordered them in two colors because I wanted to see them both in the space before deciding. They’re the same pattern and color palette, but the use of the colors in each makes one panel lighter and one panel darker. I wanted to incorporate some warm earthy browns in the room and I think this will be a great way to do it!

In addition to the curtains, the curtain rod arrived. It’s the same rod I’ve used in the our primary bedroom and kids’ shared bedroom – I got it in gold this time which I think will look great against the green wall color.

Artwork

I ordered two digital download prints from Juniper Print Shop and had them printed at MPix – they just arrived two days ago and I’m in love! I think the bunny print is so darling for a little boy’s nursery and the landscape print is what originally inspired the color palette for the whole room! I had it printed at an 18″ x 24″ size which feels so substantial and will really help elevate the room. It was worth the investment because even when this room is no longer a nursery, I know it’s a print that I’ll use in my home for years to come.

What’s Next

It’s time to address the window. I will be painting the window itself black (specifically, Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black) and removing the old window trim. I’ll update the trim just like we’ve done in other rooms (click here for the tutorial) and then hang the curtain rod, choose a curtain, and install the blackout blind as well. It’s going to totally change the feel of the room!

I actually also have a plan for the old window trim too. Hint: it involves the artwork prints I just got . . .

Be sure to follow along on Instagram for real-time updates, and you can also check out all other One Room Challenge participants here.

We’re officially finished with one week of the Spring 2022 One Room Challenge and I’ve finished one simple but very impactful step: painting the walls!

After choosing Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog for the dresser I painted for my sister, I fell in love with the color and knew it would be perfect in the nursery. I chose a velvet finish and could not love the result more.

No matter how many rooms I paint, I’m always reminded of the power or paint. With no other changes made, fresh paint single-handedly altered the feel of the entire room. What once felt like an airy, albeit plain nursery now feels like a calm and moody retreat. Here’s a little look back at the room’s evolution:

There is only one window in the room and thanks to the position of the house and the path of the sun, it never really gets direct sunlight. The darker color embraces that and creates a cozy little space that I think will be perfect for soothing a little baby.

I did not paint the baseboards because we are looking into replacing the carpet now (it is 20+ years old and in rough shape). Once the new carpet is installed, I plan to replace the baseboards with a thicker option and paint them the same color as the walls.

Looking ahead at this week, my next task is addressing the windows! I plan to paint the windows black, update the window trim, and hopefully install the curtains which are set to arrive Monday!

In the meantime, be sure to check out all the other One Room Challenge projects happening here.

On Friday, I posted that my weekend plans were to wallpaper in the kids’ shared bedroom. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen quite like I expected.

We got one strip up and in place and then realized . . . we only have half the pattern. After checking in with customer service, we found out that there was a glitch in their system that caused the pattern to print twice as large so we only got half of it. We’re sorting out the issue with customer service and figuring out a solution but for now, what we have is unusable and the wallpaper project is on hold.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but there was nothing else I could do about it so I decided to pivot our weekend project to a simpler one. I purchased these sconces for the kids’ room a few weeks ago and had been waiting to hang them above the beds until the curtains were in place. With an unexpectedly free weekend, it felt like the perfect time to knock this project out!

I have talked before about the asymmetrical struggle of this room. The window between the kids bed is not centered on the wall and Vi’s side has four more inches of wall space than LJ’s side. Curtains have helped give the illusion of symmetry – I cheated Vi’s curtain out just a little bit farther so that now the same amount of wall space shows on each side. The dilemma now was: hang the sconces in the middle of the wall space (off-centered above the bed) or hang them above the center of the bed (off-centered on the wall)? Ideally, I would have been able to have perfect symmetry and hang them in the middle of the bed AND the middle of the wall, but that’s just not possible here.

After going back and forth for a long time and weighing pros and cons, I settled on hanging them centered above the beds. In order to balance the off-centered feeling on the wall, I hung small art (a yarn rainbow for Vi, small picture frames for LJ) on the opposite sides of the sconce from the curtains. I think this solution worked well and keeps things feeling visually balanced. Side note: I have to give Justin a huge shoutout for not only putting up with my indecisiveness and patiently holding sconces in various places again and again so I could visualize, but also for getting these installed and working!

The kids both love having lights above their bed. I specifically chose these sconces for a few reasons: I loved the modern black look and subtle gold detail paired with the traditional look of the wooden bed frames. I also wanted plug-in sconces rather than hardwired for ease of install and removal in case we decide to move around the room’s layout someday (they do have the option to be hardwired if we want). I also wanted lights that the kids could easily turn on and off themselves, and these are operated by a dial on the wall plate that is easy for them both to turn. Plus, at just under $100 for the set of two, the price was hard to beat!

It may not have been the progress I had hoped to make this weekend, but I’m glad I was able to check one more thing off the list of things to do before this phase of the kids’ room renovation is complete. Mishaps are just a part of renovations and when they come up, the only thing you can really do is roll with the punches and aim for slow and steady progress. I have just one or two more small things to do right now, then I plan to shift my attention over to the nursery until the wallpaper comes in.

Sources

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Eider White and Nordic Bleu

Bedframes: Vintage

Windowpane Curtains

Blackout Blinds

Curtain Rods

Sconces

Vi’s Sheet Set

LJ’s Sheet Set

Yellow Quilts

Striped Throw Blanket