How To: DIY Triangle Pattern Kitchen Tabletop

During the Great Hutch Makeover post I mentioned that we polished up the final details on our kitchen table, and now it's ready for reveal! I'm not only revealing it though, I took pics along the way so I could whip up this tutorial. Meet the new love of my life:

Yar, (enter pirate accent) a satisfying before & after she be... (end creepy pirate voice)
I love it when things work out as planned! Remember when I talked about the Kitchen Table Makeover ideas? Well, I stuck to it.  This idea has been floating around in my brain for a month or so now, but it was intimidating! Fear not, after this test run - I feel confident I could repeat this anytime.  Set aside a weekend or so though,

Hutch Makeover Part 2, Done!

Remember Part 1 of the Great Hutch Makeover? Well we're done. That's misleading, the hutch is done except for the handles.  Sadly, they were deemed undeliverable (accidentally didn't change my address in etsy!) and have started roaming from post office to post office, waiting for me to track them down. (wish me luck...) Otherwise, we are DONE!

Those of you with an eye for detail will see the strange putty marks on the front of the picture on the left. The story is, the doors weren't closing because the frame had popped, and the rubber mallet & I decided to tap slam them back together.  In other words, I made a mess & had to do some repairs, but we're all good now!
Let's go back and see what the hutch was in the first place:

What a difference! And surprise,

DIY Wooden Floor Mat

We have a lot of doors to get into our house, by a lot I mean six. Two in the living room, two in the kitchen, one in the bedroom (so random..) and one in the downstairs bedroom.  It makes for quite a process when it's time to lock up! Now that the rain has returned, it got me thinking - we need more entry mats! I saw this project a while ago on the Lowe's website and I would love to make one (or six..):

I love the colors! All those gaps will definitely help catch rain & debris before becoming part of our carpet.  Remember the wood-look tile entryway  we did a bit ago? It's holding up great to the weather,

Thrifty Accessories

We've been doing so much work in the kitchen to make our vision a reality, between the Hutch Makeover and the Kitchen Painting, I'm wiped out!  I get so excited once I start to see it all come together though, and accessorizing the room is one of my favorite parts.  I usually "shop" all around my house first, to see what would go nicely in that room that another room can give up (found a few things for the kitchen!)  After that, I love going to thrift shops and creatively scouring through the shelves for items with interesting colors, texture, shapes & uses. It's tricky, because you have to really think outside of the box.  In this case, I knew I wanted some interesting wall art & hopefully a large white or metallic tray for the table.  I found my items, but they weren't my colors... never underestimate the power of some spray paint!

This is a solid metal wall hanging, that was actually originally gold, I had it painted black for a bit in my living room. Remember I said I shopped at home first? Ding ding! Score. Well I had the spray paint,

Hutch Makeover: Part 1

**UPDATE: The Hutch is done, click here after to see the finished job***

I told you all about how we've been repainting the kitchen, while I love how it came out - it definitely pointed out that the furniture was ready to get a makeover soon too, soon as in should have done this yesterday... I mentioned we had started in on the Hutch, and here's the update. We're almost done!

 I love side by sides. This was midway, and I believe I already showed that.  Anyway, the big dilemma was whether or not to do one of my favorite colors, Beach Towel by Behr (Remember this Beach Towel Bookshelf? Oh yea.. ) or to go with white.  See the teal against the new aqua wall here:

How To: 3-D Paper Wall Art

Said it before, and I'll say it again - I love me some paper projects.  I have no idea why it appeals to me so much, maybe because it's cheap & readily available? Who knows, all I do know is that paper can be transformed into seemingly endless creations, with new ones everyday. I was mulling around the world wide web (remember when it was called that?!) thinking of some possible ideas for a big blank space in our kitchen. I wanted colors, texture, I may have wanted this:

Photo Credit: Shelterness

Cue the Angels singing, isn't it pretty?? I love it, and granted

New String Art: The Owl

I don't know about you, but lately I love owls. It all started when were in San Francisco and I saw these adorable owl Salt & Pepper shakers in Chinatown.  Funny side story there actually, I noticed there was a huge shelf full of different owl themed dinnerware. I asked the shop owner if there was some meaning or significance to the owl, and she smiled and said "No, white people love them".  Ha! I thought that was pretty funny.... anyway.... I recently did this owl tablet for Joel, which he requested for a Christmas gift for someone.  Take a look:

The Kitchen: Painting Progress!

We got surprisingly far on our paint job! Here's the post from last week if you need to catch up. So far in fact, that we're done! I was sort of expecting to hit a few snags and this would last into the coming week, but everything went really well and all 4 walls are painted.  It looks GREAT.. now we do have to put our whole kitchen back together, but it is a great chance to tidy up and tackle some mini projects too. Here's a few before & afters:

Hey, there's Tyler! I didn't notice that on my camera, haha.  I'll have some final photos soon, once we are done getting the furniture back in.  This has definitely jump started

Staghorn Fern Lovies & Kitchen Paint

I love plants, indoors & out.  I have a lot of houseplants, and after this move - some of them are not adjusting so well.  The light is a bit less here, and the daytime temperatures a bit lower, so I sit & wait and see who can tough it out, and who will sadly leave my life.  But, there's not much I can do aside from dramatically altering the house, landscape, and microclimate, I just have to look forward and find some plants who will like our new situation. I immediately thought of, the Staghorn Fern:

Photo Credit: Anythingology

I love these! They are so bold, and wall mount? Yes please! One thing I love about Ferns is how they are  perfectly fine with a low light situation, thank goodness because

How To: DIY "X" Leg Bench

I mentioned at the end of the Tile Entryway post that I was thinking about finding a bench and doing it up in a lime green treatment.  Well I got to thinking, maybe I should just make one? Then I remembered I'd wanted to share this DIY X Leg Bench Tutorial with you a while back. Perfect timing! Take a look:

 

Tile Entryway Project: Part 2 of 2

We did it! For a minute there it looked like this project may have to extend into the weekdays, but it all came together and I'm so glad we didn't have to do any after-work grouting nights this week! Let me fill you in on all the details, here's the Tile Entryway Project: Part 1 if you missed it.

We are pretty proud of ourselves here... only a few snags along the way. This tile was pretty easy to work with, and remember I was worried that the online pictures from Home Depot looked like they didn't use grout? I'm happy to report they do use grout, just a color that is almost the same as the tile -

Tile Entryway Project: Part 1 of 2

So we are completely in the new house. No more back and forth, no more boxes up and down stairs, and especially... no more fast food! Don't get me wrong, fast food is delicious, but when you are so low on time that you are eating it almost (ok, every...) meal? That can do a real number on a body.  But we're getting settled, getting used to the place, and jumping into the projects.  This weekend calls for rain (of course!) so we've decided to tackle a project that one of the cats moved to the top of the to-do list. Meet, Tyler:

Aka T-Bop & T-Bop Shakur, respectively.  Oh, Tyler - look what you've done! Cats have a way of sending you a message, in this case it was let. me. out. Regardless of the 30 degree weather, this spoiled brat wants in and out priveleges, exactly when he wants them.  This does not agree with our carpet,