One of the first things we did when we moved into our house was UNDO the teal sponge-painting job in the dining room. At the time, we didn’t really have a design vision for our home yet, we just knew the sponge-painting had to go. Like yesterday. We went with this lovely ‘celery’ shade, and it served us well for several years. Since then, we removed the wall between the living room and dining ... [ Read More ]
Scrolly Scalloped Mirror Tutorial
Now that I’m pregnant (omg I still can’t TRULY wrap my mind around that) there are a lot of things I can’t do DIY-wise. Fumes are no-bueno for this mama, so that means no painting, staining, polying, adhesive-ing, etc. ‘Sooooo what does that leave’… you ask? Well sewing, but… for the most part: NO THANKS. Although I did make these adorable wrap-around blouses for the girls that I’m pretty darn ... [ Read More ]
Shading with Stain {A Video Tutorial}
Ahhhhhhh! I’m so excited to finally be writing this post! It’s been a long time coming. Recall for a moment my granny’s dining table that she so generously passed down to me. *this post contains affiliate links* The yellow is… charming. But not the look we’re going for in our home. And the top surface was in pretty bad shape. Scratches up the wazoo. The finish was so old and deteriorated that it ... [ Read More ]
Thoughts on my painted linoleum area rug
A few weeks ago, we posted a tutorial on painting a remnant of linoleum to look like an area rug for our dining room. We couldn’t believe how popular this post was! It has been SO ideal for us because having an actual area rug under our dining table is impractical with two toddlers… but I love how a rug really grounds the room. I thought since it’s been almost a month, I should do an update on ... [ Read More ]
Patching & matching hardwood floors
Remember that time that we had a wall separating our dining room and living room? I hardly remember either. Even though it’s been less than two years, it’s still hard to remember the room being that closed off. Nick did an AMAZING JOB putting up the load-bearing beam, re-routing the duct-work, framing in the arches and pillar, dry-walling, and mudding. This had been such a long/messy project ... [ Read More ]
DIY Dining Room Area Rug {Painted Linoleum!}
Dear friends... do you want to see something gross? What you’re looking at is the grody cracks in our 114-year-old hardwood floors. I’m not sure if our forefathers installed them with spaces between them because that was a popular home décor trend in the late 1800’s, or if the wood has shriveled and shrank over the centuries. I could probably do a quick google search and find out... but I ... [ Read More ]
Refoaming & Reupholstering
After I wrote yesterday’s post, I just hung my head in shame. How did my life become so out of control that I felt the need to spew my negativity all over the interwebs? Maybe I’m a little toooooo transparent. It was a selfish move... but you guys were so sweet and encouraging. THANK YOU. Since I have a quiet moment (and because writing is therapeutic for me), I’m going to show you a little ... [ Read More ]
Our ‘new’ vintage heirloom dining set
As you know, we sold our dining set in anticipation for my sweet Grandma’s antique heirloom dining set that she wants me to have! It’s quite a haul to Dubuque from here, so we’ve been waiting until we planned to travel there anyways for her 95th birthday party this past weekend. Isn’t she a dish? I’m pretty sure she has a little crush on Nick. And who wouldn’t with his new fu-manchu mustache ... [ Read More ]
A Facelift for the Credenza
If you don’t already, you should subscribe to our blog so you get an email every time we publish a new blog post (not more than 2 times a week… TOPS)! You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram so you don’t miss ANY of this madness! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’re not knocking out furniture projects like we used to... I’m sorry what was that? You’re wondering WHY NOT? Have ... [ Read More ]