Thursday, June 16, 2016
black + gold
A full week of DIY projects are flooding the blog this week. I’m not sure if this is our form of nesting, but we’re trying to get as many home projects done as possible. The month of June is always a busy month as well with several birthdays and our anniversary all within days of each other. It’s a good thing we tend to celebrate all month long.
I am so excited to finally share how this secretary desk came out. In early December we spent an afternoon hitting our local consignment shops to see if we could find a new piece for the house. Mike loves old secretary desks, but I really don't care for a roll up top. It's too decorative for my taste, but while we were in one shop, Mike found this simple secretary desk which has a pull down hinge top.
When we brought it home we found the perfect spot in our entryway hall to use as a drop zone for our keys, sunglasses and mail, but more importantly it was time to design.
After trying a couple different stains we had on hand, I decided to go with a rich, black stain and brass hardware. Once everything was sanded down we decided to take out the bottom two drawers because they weren't in the best shape and this made us finish the inside and trim everything out where the drawers use to be in order for it to look finished. We took off the decorative trim on the bottom due to the wood being old and splitting, and added feet to raise it up so the desk didn't look clunky and heavy. Having movement through the bottom allows flow and makes it seem more light and airy to the eye.
Together, we chose the gorgeous Prismatic Gem Knob from Anthropology for the pull down top. We had a difficult time finding the rest of the hardware. We ordered and returned two different times because the size was slightly off and drill holes were wrong. I really thought brass hardware was going to be the end of me because the third time we ordered the dang color didn’t match. We said screw it because there was no way I was searching for yet another knob to match our drawer pulls. All in all it worked out just fine!
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
board + batten diy reveal
The past two weeks we’ve been a little MIA as we’ve been working on house projects. We spent the last several weekends pulling paint chips and buying paint samples to really overhaul the paint in the house. Our Sherwin Williams Functional Gray is too dark so we wanted to lighten everything up with a lighter shade of gray. Picking a color can be the biggest headache. Back in October I began painting our entryway hall a lighter shade to help lighten up our original color, I never finished it and ended up living with half painted walls for the last seven months. It paid off because after looking at it day in and day out I began to see more green tones during certain times and although it was lighter than our original color, it still didn't bring in enough light. So I went back to the drawing board, hit up Pinterest for the best grays and read endless blogposts about what has worked and what hasn't. I decided to try Benjamin Moore's Classic Gray. When I first put it up on the walls it looked nearly white and it scared me. After painting a few different spots and seeing it in different lighting throughout the day, it began to pop even more and we decided to run with it.
We started by painting the top two-thirds of the entryway hall, all the while adding a little character with board and batten. We've been discussing adding this for over a year now and I can't even say what made us finally make a decision to move forward with it, but I'm glad we did because not only did it add more light in this dark hallway, it changed the entire design. We don't have a full tutorial we followed, but we can share what we did and the steps we took along the way to make it our own.
Although I love the contrast of the dark rich tones of paint against our white trim, everything seemed really dark because our house faces south and the majority of our windows face north, leaving us feeling like we lived in a dungeon.
Supplies & Tools Needed
Table saw, miter saw, nail gun, wood filler, hand sander, caulk, sponge & choice of paint.
1X4 pine boards (base board, top rail and vertical rails)
1X3 pine boards (vertical rails in corners)
1X2 pine boards (top ledge)
We started by measuring how high we wanted our top rail. We based our decision on the light switch since we wanted it to blend in with the trim rather than above and stick out against the gray paint. Mike began cutting our 1x4 inch boards and used a nail gun to secure them to the wall at each stud. When a board would meet another board he cut each board at a 45 degree angle in order to fit them together smoothly. He also cut each corner down to a 45 degree angle to remove the sharp corner point and to give the board and batten a more finished and professional design. Then he did similar cuts for installing the 1x2 inch board on top of our 1x4 board, again securing it with a nail gun. Once all the top rails were in place we filled each nail hole, knot and blemish, allowed it to dry and sanded it down.
Next, we removed all the baseboards and installed our new 1x4 boards on the bottom and decided where we wanted to place each vertical board. This is entirely a personal choice. We went for a more simple and chunky design and spaced our 1x4 vertical boards on every other stud (32 inches apart). When we came to smaller sections of the wall and corners we changed it up and put in 1x3 inch boards in order for our design to look consistent to the eye. After all our boards were attached and in place, filled and sanded, we began caulking each seam to hide any and all imperfections. This also helped fill in small spaces between a board and a wall that weren't quite flush against each other. Caulking can be a little tricky and takes a few times to get the right angle. We did purchase a smoothing tool, but it just made the whole process more difficult and we ended up just using my finger to smooth the caulk in each seam and wiped the excess away with a wet sponge.
**When buying your caulk, be sure to purchase the one that is colored white and can be painted**
**When buying your caulk, be sure to purchase the one that is colored white and can be painted**
Once everything was dried and set we began painting our primer. It took a good two coats of primer with sanding in-between and cleaning up all the dust before painting. This was a mess especially with two kids running around wanting to ‘help’. Kensi and Finn ended up watching a lot of movies while Mike and I worked on this project.
We painted the entire board and batten with Benjamin Moore Super White in a semi-gloss finish. This took three coats of paint with plenty of dry time in-between. We do recommend applying the semi-gloss paint with a spray gun, but if you’re like us with kids and don’t want to bother taping and lining everything you’re not painting with plastic drop cloths you can use a brush and roller. The combination of the semi-gloss and the brush will show your imperfections. We’re not professionals by any means and we took our time painting each coat being very careful with runs and drips. There are a few imperfections that show, but we just call it added character (wink-wink).
Here’s the final product! We love the brightness the Classic Gray brings to our home and it definitely has removed the dark gloomy vibe we've been dealing with for over two years and makes this halfway feel larger. There’s so much more character in this space and we are so happy with the results. Plus a little bonus info for our readers...our family and friends know we are major budget-ers and love doing projects ourselves even if it requires some hard labor. This whole hallway cost us $200 with materials and paint. Not bad for completely changing the design of our home.
We painted the entire board and batten with Benjamin Moore Super White in a semi-gloss finish. This took three coats of paint with plenty of dry time in-between. We do recommend applying the semi-gloss paint with a spray gun, but if you’re like us with kids and don’t want to bother taping and lining everything you’re not painting with plastic drop cloths you can use a brush and roller. The combination of the semi-gloss and the brush will show your imperfections. We’re not professionals by any means and we took our time painting each coat being very careful with runs and drips. There are a few imperfections that show, but we just call it added character (wink-wink).
Here’s the final product! We love the brightness the Classic Gray brings to our home and it definitely has removed the dark gloomy vibe we've been dealing with for over two years and makes this halfway feel larger. There’s so much more character in this space and we are so happy with the results. Plus a little bonus info for our readers...our family and friends know we are major budget-ers and love doing projects ourselves even if it requires some hard labor. This whole hallway cost us $200 with materials and paint. Not bad for completely changing the design of our home.
Before I finish this post let me just end with talking about Benjamin Moore's paint. This was our first experience using this particular brand as we've always gone with different brands found at the home improvement stores. We are so impressed with the high quality of BM's paint compared to everything we've used previously. It's smooth and we can feel the quality difference just by touch. Mike and I highly recommend trying Benjamin Moore for your next painting adventure.
Now it's time to work on painting the rest of rooms on our main level which will probably take place wall by wall and finding some fun decor to add to our newly designed space.
Friday, June 3, 2016
playing it cool: watermelon lemonade slushies
We're almost ready to share our summer bucket list with our readers and one of the items that's become high priority this year is homemade ice cream. With so many fun frozen treats to make I'll be sharing our favorites throughout the summer here on the blog so be sure to swing back by to get all the recipes and follow us on Instagram @rachbraden for more updates about our festive summer adventures.
Kensi and Finn love helping out in the kitchen especially when it comes to sweet treats. I asked Kensi to choose two flavors of ice cream to make this summer and she came up with chocolate-chocolate and sprinkles. These two little monsters love their ice cream, it doesn't matter if it's in a cone or in a bowl, smashed between cookies or layers of cake, my babes don't care they eat it all ways.
To make our ice cream I use the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker. I've had it for several years now and love the machine so much. It's easy to use and makes the perfect portion of ice cream. I also have an extra bowl to make more than one flavor at a time, but this sweet treat making machine isn’t just for ice cream. Another fun favorite to make are slushies! They’re pretty simple to make in the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker and you can pretty much make them using any one of your favorite drinks {except diet sodas} and let it run just until it becomes icey. Some favorites include lemonade, fruit juice and iced tea. Mike and I are huge Arnold Palmer fans so we love mixing the tangy lemonade with unsweetened tea. We could sip on this any time of the year and the slushie version is all the more perfect on our hot summer days.
We’re kicking off our summer by making Watermelon Lemonade Slushies. The sweetness of the watermelon perfectly balances the tart lemonade and we kept going back for more. I used pre-made lemonade from Chick-Fil-A because it's one of my favorites and I didn't have to fuss with making it from scratch. They sell it by the gallon along with their tea if you wanted to make an easy Arnold Palmer version.
3 parts Pureed Watermelon
1 part Lemonade
(adjust quantities based on your preference of tartness)
1 part Lemonade
(adjust quantities based on your preference of tartness)
Mix ingredients in a pitcher and pour into prepared (frozen) ice cream bowl. Place bowl in machine and top with lid. Turn machine on and let it mix for about 15 minutes or until it reaches your desired slushy consistency. Serve it in your favorite summer glass and garnish with sliced lemon and watermelon wedge.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
memorial weekend
Happy June! Our Memorial weekend was busy and filled to the rim with activities along with so much rain from the tropical depression. We started our weekend off with Kensi’s last dance class and her first dance recital. All the sweet girls in her class put on an incredible performance for it being their first time on the big stage in the bright lights. The girls remembered most of their steps and kept beautiful smiles on their faces. As soon as they came off the stage from their finale I swear a switch was flipped and the tired-crankiness came bouldering through. Kensi in particular was so exhausted especially after coming off our vacation earlier in the week and she wanted nothing to do with pictures. She was so ready for a nap, but luckily we were able to snap a few good ones to capture her big day.
It rained all weekend and it’s still raining today. On Sunday we let Kensi and Finn play in the rain for the afternoon. Finn found the mulch and dirt and we just let him have at it. They filled their buckets and cups up with water and splashed in their baby pool. It wasn’t the ideal weather to kick off summer, but we made due with what we had and they still found a way to have fun. 
To finish our busy weekend, Finn decided to take a beautiful red colored crayon and draw a mural across our new white sofa. (Yes we bought white, yes everyone thought/thinks we’re crazy, yes we still went for it and yes we love it). He drew on the outside of one arm, around and across the entire back and around to the other arm. When Mike first noticed it I thought he was kidding. After lots of tears, Mike trying to calm everyone down and me spending an hour and a half with my Norwex cloth, toothbrush and mixture of warm water and a few drops of White Ivory Soap it all came out! I told the hubby we needed to buy stock in Ivory and Norwex. I’m so thankful for these products as they’ve made mammin so much easier with all the messes and accidents that tend to happen with kids. I’m also thankful Pottery Barn makes an awesome products that’s durable with kiddos, even when it’s white and it meets a red crayon.
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