Dining Room Before and After

The first rooms we tackled in the new house were the living and dining room. They already had laminate floors so we really just needed to paint and adjust some things, instead of worrying about demoing an entire floor.

Our inspiration for the dining room walls came from this picture found here

We wanted to try a different type of wainscoting look than the already made board you can get at any home improvement store. This seemed like a winner!

Here is a before picture of what we were working with:

Our to do list:

• Remove the chair rail
• Remove the existing exterior doors and replace with interior french doors that open on both sides
• Add some  DIY board and batten/ different type of wainscoting
• Replace ceiling fan to a light fixture
• Paint the walls gray
• Window treatments

First we removed the chair rail and the old doors. The doors were an exterior set that use to go to a back deck before my parents added on to the house. Only one side opened. The doors are a nice feature because it blocks a lot of unwanted noise to the front of the house. We liked the idea but wanted a more updated look, and doors that opened on both sides.

That was the only door that opened

puttying the walls to fill in where the old chair rail use to be

Removing the old set of doors

Took some muscle!!

This room was not a "hard" project; it just took a lot of time.Basically the trick to this is that you make it LOOK like wainscoting after you paint it. Really it is just a bunch of 1 x 3's nailed to the wall. We painted the boards and the wall that was left exposed inside each square the same color, separating it from the rest of the wall.

Nailing the boards in place

Making sure they were spaced evenly

The top part completed

then added the bottom

We also added crown molding to the top to give it a better look.

Added the new doors to make sure they fit. Then we took them out to paint them too.

progress!

I had to paint 3 coats on this. 1 coat primer, 2 coats paint. We used Simply White by Benjamin Moore. 

Painting the doors. We could have ordered them already painted but it made the price jump WAY up. No thanks, we'll do it ourselves!

AFTER:

Doors open in the first 2 shots

Doors closed

Doors closed

I know you can see into the living room, don't worry- before and afters are coming for that room too! We love how the dining room turned out!

We aren't completely done yet. Our to-do list has shrunk drastically though :)

• Remove the chair rail
• Remove the existing exterior doors and replace with interior french doors that open on both sides
• Add some  DIY board and batten/ different type of wainscoting
• Replace ceiling fan with a light fixture
• Paint the walls gray
• Window treatments

 Where we got everything:

Table and benches: Antique store
Hutch: antique store
Chevron curtains: I made them
Old tool box,mason jars, old window: antique store
Twine cross: handmade but I sell them on my etsy store
Small grey distressed table: Garden Ridge

James and Hannah

DIY Centerpieces

Another DIY project on the list for Sarah and Nat's wedding was centerpieces. James was more than happy to sit this one out since no cool tools were involved. We used Pinterest for some inspiration, hoping  to keep it inexpensive and something that could be a DIY project. Sarah found some ideas that were very simple to do. For example: 

The main plan was to tie in lace, burlap, and floating candles. I like things in odd numbers though for jars so we had to add another element besides the first two ideas! It worked out perfectly because I ended up tying in some yellow! Keep reading to see!

We needed at least 18 of each set for the tables. We bought the mason jars from WalMart that come in a pack of 12 (super cheap). Nat's mom got me the burlap ribbon in East TN (I believe Hobby Lobby finally sells it now), and the lace came from Hobby Lobby (when ribbon was 50%). I went ahead and made 24 settings just in case we had any mishaps on the drive to Knoxville.

The largest Jar was made for flowers. I made those early so Sarah could get them to the florist a couple weeks before the wedding. All I used was burlap ribbon (a new favorite item), lace ribbon, and a glue gun. That picture is from my phone so sorry about the bad lighting.

Next step were making it a trio. I did the small jars (right) next and tied them with twine (Hobby Lobby), filled them with clear stones, filled with water, and put a floating candle on top. I originally started with brown raffia. I ran out  and went to WalMart to see if they had any. To my surprise, they had YELLOW! It was perfect to tie in to her colors! So I used medium jars (left) and tied them with raffia. Then I tied them with yellow raffia and put a candle in them.

This is what they would look like lit, and imagine flowers in the big jar. Don't mind mom in the back...there was some serious coin rolling going on while I was working away. :)

Don't worry, the bride did help fill the jars with stones :)

And there we have it....

Photo by Sarah Pascutti 

The finished project!!

-Hannah

DIY Cornhole Boards

Last month my sister got married! To get ready for the big day, James and I had a To-Do List for the DIY wedding! Our first project was two pair of cornhole boards. The whole event was outdoors so Sarah and Nat wanted something for people to do in the good weather. James did most of this project and he did a great job! He used the dimensions/plans from here. It was easy to follow and we have some pictures to share of the progress. I don't have the best pictures of each step because he worked on them the nights I was at work. Once he gets his tools in hand there is no stopping for pictures unless I'm stalking him with a camera. So here are some of the shots I did get!

Here the main boards are already cut out and painted with the base colors. He got all the supplies from Lowe's. Their wedding colors were grey and yellow so we coordinated.

 

We taped off the stripes we wanted to keep grey and painted the others yellow.

The finished Chevron and polka dots. I painted the polka dot boards by taking a bowl and tracing a bunch of circles over the boards. I used one of those black sponge brushes to paint the holes in- it kept it streak free.


Here are some pics of the boards at the wedding, they were a big hit!

Photo by Sarah Pascutti

Photo by Sarah Pascutti

Highly recommend for any outdoor event! Happy building :)

-Hannah

Old door into a desk

We have some MAJOR updating to do!! Between our jobs and all our projects it's hard to sit down here and document. I keep telling myself though that we will love to look back on this so I got my butt in gear! To start back up...we have completed an awesome project!! I stumbled upon a really neat old door on one of my many antiquing/thrifting adventures to find this beauty.

Hello beautiful!

From this point on I started trying to figure out how I wanted to use this treasure. We finally decided on a his/her desk for our office/craft room. I explained to James how I wanted it to look and he put his engineercantwaittousemytoolsagain talent to work. He should really be the one to explain how this was transformed...but he's currently in the garage marking some boards for his next project. :)

First things first...we needed some legs!

 

We used a 1x4, cut it to the height we needed. The boards were both glued and nailed together to make sure they would hold

Then we laid them out to stain the legs. We used Rustoleum- dark walnut stain.

We also wanted a little shelving unit in the middle to give that his/hers look. James made that too and we used the same stain.

The frame

Adding the shelf

We were also dog-sitting at the time...such help. Maggie always wants to give me dirty looks

The shelf! We used extra wainscoting for the back because that's all we had! I stained this also before he attached it to the door. This looks like a lot but it really did not take long. We did 2 coats of stain on everything and a clear coat to protect it.

Cute husband securing the legs

and the shelf. We left the hinges and the door knob on the desk to keep it's vintage/antique look

Then we put up some shelves above it. The wall was looking lonely

Making sure it looked straight. Those might be my feet propped up....

Looking better! (The shelves are from Lowes)

Finding the perfect chairs ended up being easier than I thought..

Snagged these from a yard sale like 4 houses down on my way home from work on a Friday morning...exactly what I was looking for!

Then I got to do my favorite part...decorate!

We love how this turned out! James' side (right) will have his computer there when he gets a chance to set up his side

My side (left) has my sewing machine and supplies.

Other details for all you other DIY people:

*Wall color : Honesty (Valspar)

 *Baskets (Walmart)

*3 framed paintings were painted on fabric by my very dear friend Lauren S.! She used muslin fabric, paint, and her talent! I got the frames from target.

*the empty frames are from goodwill..some painted, some kept the way they were.

*the cross and the B I just wrapped in twine.

*the giant close pin was from Joann's on clearance for like a quarter. I modge-podged some scrapbook paper on it a clipped in an old photo booth picture from the zoo

Success for our craft/office room! There is more to be done to this room but like always, it's a work in progress. :)

Hannah