Away

Well, I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything.  It has a little to do with the fact that my hard drive decided to quit on us after we "improperly" shut down our computer one too many times.  We live in a 100 year old house and as much as we love its unique timeless charm, we HATE the fact that almost everything in this house runs off the same breaker!!!  Needless to say, we turn on one too many things and there goes the power again.  I guess our computer didn't appreciate the abrupt end to its power source.

We're now back in business and I just happen to be leaving today for warmer climates.  First stop, Texas.  Sunday is my mother's wedding and I can't wait to see her start on this new journey in her life.  Next stop, Mexico.  The day after Thanksgiving is my sister-in-law's wedding.  Luckily its on an all inclusive resort and I DO NOT plan to leave it for any reason other than to get to/from the airport.  I also do not plan to drink the tap water.  Mexico may be a sticky situation right now but it's not enough to keep me away from 80 degree weather and sandy beaches while our home in Colorado is seeing snowy 30 degree weather!

I have a few DIY projects that I would like to post soon, unfortunately, they will just have to wait until I get back from all of our wedding festivities!

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving!!  Kate

Beach Cottage Cupboard

The cupboard before and after:

  

First, I mixed my own custom colors with old white paint and some turquoise paint from the ReStore.  I used mason jars to store my newly created colors of paint and they worked perfectly!

Then, begin painting.  We started with a base color, and then painted over it with a new color. 

Then, we went back over with a third tint of turquoise and painted only every other board.

Once all three shades were on the door, we (hubby) sanded it to give it a worn "beachy" look.

The back boards were sanded as well.

Next, the appliques.

Started with a fresh white coat.

 

I watered down my darker color of turquoise and slathered it on.

I immediately blotted it with a dry cloth to remove most of the color, leaving a nice tint.

 

All dry!

And there you have it!  Our beach cottage corner cupboard!

In this photo: decorating with mason jars, pedestal plate stand, & vintage milk glass

The door is my favorite part.  I LOVE how you can see all the colors, even down to the original white!

Happy Weekend!

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DIY Trivets.....Mosaic Style and Granite

First, I would like to share a granite trivet that I made for less than $1.50!  Best of all, I just LOVE that it only took me about 5 min to make! 

First, let me explain why the project began...........

I recently boiled some potatoes preparing to be mashed and without thinking, I placed the hot pot of boiling water and potatoes directly on my wooden kitchen island while I quickly grabbed a colander.  It only took about 10 sec and there it was, a ghost white heat ring.

Luckily, my husband and I have plans to refinish the top of the island in the near future so I didn't get too much grief!  Never-the-less, I decided it was time to create a trivet to sit on my island that would always be there to quickly lay a hot pot on whenever I need.  Especially if we were going to have a nice new refinished island top!

I happened to be rummaging through our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and found this great piece of granite for $0.50!!!!!  Next, I gorilla glued some wooden "feet" to the bottom (wooden dowel buttons from the hardware store). 

I used one of my heavy Physical Therapy text books to help weight the feet while the gorilla glue dried. You know, to keep these book in use and all!

The feet were $1.88 for a pack of 8 and I only used 4 so for this project I only spent $0.94!  This brought my granite trivet to a grand total of $1.44!! (I used the other 4 feet in my next trivet below)

Within 5 min it was done and ready for use!  So easy and I love the look of it!

For those of you who haven't been to a ReStore yet, it is a thrift store with a focus on home improvement goods! I get a lot of my paint and stains from here dirt cheap!  They are a great place for tile too if you're into creating your own mosaic pieces.

After making this simple trivet, I decided I needed an extra one on hand.  My next one I chose to mosaic with broken tiles.

The process is very similar to the DIY MOSAIC MIRROR that I posted about earlier, but I go into a little more detail here.

First, I placed the larger tile pieces onto a mirror that I bought at Hobby Lobby half off for $2.  I didn't use any glue yet, just laid it all out.  I worked from the outside in making sure I had enough edge pieces to make the edges flush.

Then I filled the tight spaces between the larger pieces.  Some pieces I had to keep hammering into smaller pieces in a towel until they were small enough to fit.

Once I had everything placed how I liked it, I began to glue each piece down. 

It was easier to add the glue directly to the backs of the larger pieces with the glue bottle and then lay them, however, it was easier to use a puddle of glue to dip the smaller pieces in and then lay them with tweezers.

Let the glue sit overnight to be sure the pieces wont slide around while grouting.

Now ready for grout!

I prefer grout with sand.  It holds better shape and is easier to work with in my opinion.  Now, I highly recommend using gloves for this part!  I know this but somehow forgot this time around.  I was digging grout out from under my fingernails for days! 

Let it set 5-10 min and then polish the pieces with a damp cloth.

Once everything is dried, flip over and add the feet.  I painted these feet white to match the tile.

And there you have it!!

No more ghost white heat rings in my kitchen!!!

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DIY Vintage Milk Glass

After painting my most recent project (pictures to come), I had some really pretty shades of blue paint left over that I had blended myself.  Since I couldn't poor the little bit that I had left back into the original paint cans, I decided to try my own version of vintage milk glass.

I used leftover glass pieces from my wedding center pieces.  These used to hold tea lights.

Then I added a little bit of paint and swirled it around until the entire inside was coated.  Then, I held it upside down for about a minute to let the rest of the loose paint drip out into the trash.  Finally, I let it dry upside down on a paper plate.

I discovered I could use these as a plate pedestal like in my previous post about PEDESTAL PLATE STANDS.

I thought it looked even cuter with one turned upside down as a PLATE PEDESTAL!

I used my mason jars to hold my custom blended paint.  Once they are just about empty, these too will be my next "vintage" milk glass pieces!

Good night,

Sleep tight,

Wake up bright,

In the morning light,

Do what's right,

With all your might,

Don't let the bed bugs bite!

Good night all!!!!!

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DIY Pedestal Plate Stand

For a long time I have seen so many cute DIY pedestal cake stands and I thought I would create my own version since I have so many random small glass containers left over from our wedding decorations.  I chose not to call my cake stands since I do not plan to use them to hold cakes or desserts.  Mine are just for decoration.

It was fun experimenting with all the different kinds of containers I had on hand.

Don't mind the plates, these are temporary visual aids until I find that perfect little plate during my next thrift store run.

I also found fun little decorations to add in the bases.  I glued the bases on with epoxy.

I added one of my grandmother's handmade doilies that my mom had recently given to me.  I like how this one turned out.

Hope you're having a great fall weekend~

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