Concrete Floating Shelves
I have a friend who is a general contractor, and has mad concrete skills, so… He built these: Yep. No need to check your vision, those are bona fide, 100% awesome, true-blue floating concrete shelves. Pinch me! B-b-b-but, where are the brackets? I know. Seriously genius. They’re in the walls. And they’re in the shelves. Man, oh man. Once I decided on concrete kitchen counter tops, I wanted matching concrete floating shelves. Without brackets. I wanted that clean, unified look of a shelf just floating on the wall. Turns out, that’s quite a feat if you have concrete shelves. I don’t know, something about concrete being heavy… But, like I…
Concrete Kitchen Countertops
My counter tops used to give me the heebie-jeebies. No lie. When we bought this house, the counter tops were made of 4” tumbled marble tiles with the occasional hand-painted Nemoesque fish. Sounds cute, but it wasn’t really. For the record, tumbled marble is pretty porous as a surface. Yes, you can seal it. Of course you can. I’m pretty sure you can seal any surface. But whoever sealed these counter tops, didn’t do a fantastic job. And I don’t know if they used a food-grade quality sealer either. Anyway, the sealant had peeled away in places, and worn away in others. This led to moisture getting locked in the tile…
Hand Painted With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
What do you do when you have a house that’s filled with furniture that feels…meh? Why, you just start painting the crap out of it. That’s what! I started compiling a post of things I’ve painted in my home using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP). That’s when I realized that I may come across as a little bit obsessed because there’s a LOT. This whole craze started when I researched non-toxic options for painting my kitchen cabinets. But I ended up painting my floors first, then a couple furniture pieces with the help of my best friend and fellow paint enthusiast, Sitka. She painted some of these pieces herself,…
My Whole House Makeover
I never meant to give my whole downstairs a makeover. It just sort of snuck up on me. After I tore up my water damaged hardwood floors and then painted them, other things popped up that needed to be sorted. Like, my kitchen. It was literally falling apart and made food prep a nightmare. You can see a glimpse of it below. So, I gutted my kitchen, and created this instead: Yep. Those are concrete floating shelves and a concrete counter top. You can read about my kitchen remodel and reveal and see more photos here, but you get the idea. So, now I loved my kitchen and I loved my floors. But I…
Breakfast Nook Makeover
I have no idea why we never created a use for this space in the 7 years or so that we lived here, but we didn’t. Actually, that’s not true. I do know why; it’s because I never really considered how I use spaces in my home before. We just moved in, unpacked, and started living here. Sure, I hung pictures up and I painted walls, but that was it. Well, that was all about to change. I wanted a cozy, yummy breakfast nook so that I could enjoy a more intimate breakfast with my husband. First, I needed a dining set. I figured out what I wanted (a 30″ round…
My Cozy Reading Nook
After I painted my floors, and we were putting the living room back together, I had a conversation with my husband that went like this: G: “What are you planning on doing with this alcove? You’re not going to put that crappy armoire back there again, are you?” Me: “Crappy?” G: (Looking abashed) “Well, no. It’s not really crappy. But the floors are so beautiful and I feel like you should do something amazing with that space instead of just putting a boring old piece of furniture in it.” Me: “I see. Like what did you have in mind?” G: “I don’t know. You’re the creative one. Make something beautiful.”…
My Organized Kitchen
This post should really be called: How I rethunk my kitchen and made it easy to use and AWESOME. I used to think I was doomed to be a slob. Turns out I was just hopelessly disorganized. When I returned from a two month trip to Germany, I had a chance to look at my kitchen with a brand new set of eyes: it was a mess, disorganized, falling apart, and I hated doing anything in it. Out of necessity, I needed to eat healthy, home-cooked foods. My life literally depended on it. But I didn’t want to cook, and I definitely didn’t want to cook anything in THAT kitchen. That’s…
My Hand Painted Checkered Floors
I can hardly believe I painted my own floors. Crazy, right? With Annie Sloan Chalk Paint actually. It was surprisingly easy once we wrapped our wits around it. This is the traditional way that most DIYers will share on how to paint checkered floors, but I have to confess that my husband had a quicker way that we ended up using when we painted checkered squares in the kitchen which actually took 4 hours from taping the floor to the first coat of polyurethane. But this post doesn’t cover that method. You can find that one here. The main difference between these two methods is the taping process. Supplies & Materials:…
Hand Painted Wide Stripe Floors
Wow! I painted my floors myself! And you know what? It was surprisingly easy. Creating wide stripes is super easy and creates a casual elegance that is just plain yummy. Here’s what you’ll need to get started: Supplies & Materials Pencil T-Square Scotch Brand 3M Painter’s Tape 9″ Paint Rollers Painter’s Trays Padco Floor Trim Pads (Floor Sealer Applicator) Annie Sloan Decorative Chalk Paint (Old White and French Linen) Varathane High Traffic Floor Finish in Satin Finish So, here you go. A nice blank canvas, and a lovely idea of how you want those floors to look. Step 1: Paint the Base Coat Color I painted the floor a base…
My DIY Hand Painted Floors
What do you do when you have a small budget and 1100 square feet that need new flooring? Why, you paint them, of course. That wasn’t my original plan, but I’m so happy I did! When I had my hardwood floors pulled up, my intent was to restore the terrazzo underneath. However, it turns out that walls were removed at one point, and the floor beneath was unsalvageable. I needed a Plan B, and it needed to be inexpensive, non-toxic, eco-friendly and durable. I’d been spending a ridiculous amount of time on Pinterest finding inspiration and ideas for my kitchen and floors, and my creative side was churning through possibilities. I’d…
Be awesome. Every. Single. Day.
