rustic love: January 2021

Gallery walls

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Gallery walls are a good way to group items you love and display your family photos.

Here you can get matching frames to get started

Make sure you start out with similar frames and do all your images in the same color. If you want black and white do them all in black in white.

Its pretty easy now with Walgreens website you can just send them to the store in the color and size you want printed and pick them up when they are finished.

First make sure to lay out your frames on the floor in the design you like the best. Make sure your four corner pictures of your gallery line up in a straight line. You can place any metal pieces, shelves or whatever else you want to add to your gallery on the floor as well.

Your finished product will be one big piece of art.

At this point I take a sheet of paper and make a template of each picture, making sure to mark where the hanging clip is. This way you can hang the paper on the wall and nail right threw the paper.

I then will tape each sheet to the wall, so I can play with the different sizes to make sure its the grouping that works for me.

Just make sure each sheet of paper lines up and is level with the next one, hammer your nail wear the hanging clip would be.

Once you take each sheet down you can now replace it with the actual framed picture.

The biggest mistake in decorating is hanging your pictures too high. Make sure the middle of your gallery is at eye level.

I did shelves in our new home and just lean the photos against the wall. This way I can change them up as the seasons change. Or add Santa, Halloween, Easter, or which ever fun signs you like.

These shelves are perfect in the hallway.

I am able to change them out as I please.

Here you can order white ones in 60 inches

Here you can order black ones in 48 inches

I hope this helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Don't let fear of trying something hold you back. It's okay to make mistakes along the way, that's how we learn what we don't like.

When I use a product I do try to link it for you and if you decide to purchase the product I am affiliated with some of those companies. Its the only way to offset the time it takes building my how tos for decorating and DIY.

I am in no way asking you to click and purchase any items but it makes it easier for all the info to be on one site. Many different stores carry the products I use. But the links I provide is where I had purchased.

I hope that helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

DIY reclaimed wood , farmhouse kitchen

Vinegar stain. Best aged wood look ever.

Monday, January 25, 2021

Supplies

1-quart Mason jar and lid

Extra-fine steel wool

Distilled white vinegar

Fine strainer

Paintbrush

Making your vinegar stain

Put the steel wool pad into a Mason jar then add vinegar, fill about 3/4 full. I prefer to not cover the mixture (the mixture will give off gases), set aside for at least 3 days. The longer it sits, the darker the stain will become.
Stir and then strain the mixture through a fine-meshed strainer, some people also use a coffee filter to get any left over particles. I have not.
Now stain your pieces as you normally would. You can sand the wood first to get a stronger grained effect. (Always do a test piece first before staining)
As the stain dries it will darken. Once the stain has fully dried, seal with a wax or polyurethane finish. They say you can keep the stain for a few months, but I always dispose of any leftover, because I am not sure of the reaction of its shelf life,

Here is a before and after of vinegar stain on new common wood.

You brush on the vinegar stain and watch it change colors and bring out all the grain and detail as it dries.

I am a big fan of aged wood and this is the best finish I have found for turning new wood into reclaimed looking wood.

One you brush the wood And cover the entire section you will see it starts changing colors, keep moving with the stain to make sure it blends evenly. Once you have brushed the entire piece with the stain. give it a good wipe down with a cotton cloth to remove any excess stain. Let completely dry before you wax or polyurethane.

If your ever dare to strip a piece, I prefer to sand it. It is way less messy and for some reason therapeutic to me.

I did use a furniture stripper on this one.

What a mess. But I’m sure there are better techniques it was just my first time. I always just hit furniture with my orbit sander.

Once you get all the original color off and your down to the raw wood. You will then apply the steel wool and vinegar. You have to make it up a few days before, there are lots of different recipes out there. But I just add a fine grit steel wool pad and fill a jar with vinegar. Mason jars work the best. I don’t cover it but I know some do. I will build up gases, I just did a mixture in Tupperware and within an hour it blew the top off. Leave it for a few days and you'll have the perfect grey stain.
I love the finish more than when I have used the stains with the grey color added to them. This stain is a more natural aged look.

The stain will look different on different woods. As you can see the table I applied it to was made from 3 different types of wood, so I had to apply more on certain parts. I didn’t mind the uneven look on this project. But remember each wood type will take differently just like any other stain.

Steel wool and vinegar stain gives your wood a natural weathered or aged grey finish.

Depending on the type of wood you are staining, steel wool and vinegar stain can produce anywhere from warm reds to an aged grey finish

This sofa table had three different types of wood, so in some spots I purposefully went heavy. Stain takes differently on different woods. So make sure and test a spot to see the color you will achieve. Once the wood was completely dry I then applied white wax over the entire piece. I wanted to have the restoration hardware type of finish with layers. You can achieve this with applying either white wax or dark wax, depending on your preference. You can seal it with polyurethane as well.

There are all sorts of waxes on the market. This is the one I choose to use. The link below has info on how to apply the wax and how to purchase.

Here

Also to apply the wax you need a stiff brush which you can find here

Here is a close up of the finished sofa table. You can see the wax in the corners, the wax brings out any details and grains in the wood.

I hope this helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Don't let fear of trying something hold you back. It's okay to make mistakes along the way, that's how we learn what we don't like.

I hope that helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Sunday, January 24, 2021

I found this little farmhouse table a few years back at good will for 4.99. I think it must of been one of the old K-mart tables with the green legs and the maple top. So at that point I painted the entire thing black.

Fast forward to 2020. I stripped the entire thing and vinegar stained it! Love the finish and matches so much of my current decor. I will do the chair legs once spring hits.

You can find out how to achieve this look Here

black sink , diy painted utility sink , painted sink , rust-oleum paint

Painted utility tub

So this isn’t really what this product is for and I have no idea if it will last....but my sink was stained with rust water and I thought why not! You can get the paint I used here

I did not remove the sink or faucet to paint. I just taped around the entire sink and faucet.

First I cleaned and dried the entire sink.

Then take a plastic bag and wrap it around the faucet, use a rubber band wrapping it around the faucet to make it tight.

Tape around the sink and faucet.

Then added a thin layer of paint with a foam roller here

It took two coats and I did use the glaze that came with the kit over it. I Just used a foam roller and applied it. No polyurethane at this point.

It really is an amazing transformation. I figured if the paint is made to stick to ceramic tiles, that get wet. Why wouldn't it work on a sink?

Apply the glaze with a mini roller. It goes on thin and you don't need a lot.

I left it to cure for 3 days before I attempted to use it. So far so good! no chipping the finish is hard and I'm really happy with the look.

I hope this easy and inexpensive project inspires you to do something new. Don't let fear stop you. It's really just paint. If we mess up we can paint over it!

I hope this helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Don't let fear of trying something hold you back. It's okay to make mistakes along the way, that's how we learn what we don't like.

I hope that helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Saturday, January 23, 2021

After months of waiting we finally got our new furniture from Ashley! Everything has been delayed because of covid. But it’s finally all here!

Friday, January 22, 2021

Before and After Painted Laundry room....

We painted the cabinets, floors, and our sink. 😍

My Laundry room was okay before, but it really needed something. The cabinets were just plain laminate white with no real detail. Once we finished painting the cabinets we added these pulls.

We added the pulls in 8 inch you can get them here

The lady at home depot convinced me to purchase this paint. She said it was the strongest finish out there. So I figured I would give it a try! The paint is very thick and It took a lot to cover the white laminate , it went on much faster on the wood cabinets I also painted in our basement.

the color wasn't quite black but dark secret from Behr.

The link for the handles are here

My sink was stained from our hard water so I was really being brave here.

I used the floor paint on the utility tub, so far so good!

You can see the process here

We painted the floor, for more on that you can view it here

I love my new laundry room. It was super easy and inexpensive to transform it with paint.

Hope this inspires you to do the same with yours. Laundry isn't so bad anymore.

I hope this helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

Don't let fear of trying something hold you back. It's okay to make mistakes along the way, that's how we learn what we don't like.

I hope that helps you make your home more personal and gives you the confidence to try something new.

We purchased our new home in 2020. What else could you do this year anyways? With all the lock downs and very little places to go, we spent the entire year working at home on projects.

I like to fill my home with pieces from different sources. I am a hardcore goodwill shopper, so I'm always adding and changing things in my spaces.

Our Living room is barn-wood shelving, with grays and blues .

Recliners and tables from lazy boy.

My favorite Ashley Furniture buy my wooden horse....

Magnolia homes from target two tiered shelf

These are so popular this year, so fun to change them up thru the seasons...

Gallery walls are a fun way to display your family photos. I added shelving for this one, so I can change out my pictures to enjoy new memories throughout the year.

Here is some ideas on more gallery walls.

I love boxwood. I would incorporate these in every room if I could.

These are mine

Breakfast room

kitchen table goodwill find refinished and vinegar stained.

two different ways

Breakfast room

Entry

Dinning room

DIY family sign you can find here

Oh and these another way to add farmhouse to your home

Master bath

Blue candles sticks and fleur are from goodwill

Blue candles sticks are from goodwill

Master bedroom all our bedroom furniture came from Ashley.

This bench came from salvation army. I was so excited to find it and how well it matches our headboard.

This pillow is my new favorite you can find it here

Who doesn’t love a boxwood wreath, these are a great price on Amazon here

Laundry room we completely redid this entire room. It wasn’t in the budget this year to replace the flooring or cabinets, and they were actually fine just had no character. Now I love doing laundry