River Rock Fireplace

While the kitchen has been hogging up all my brain time, string art & the rest of my life have put the progress at a standstill.  The weather has suddenly decided that yes, fall is actually here, and it's getting chilly! So other projects have taken precedence, like gutter cleaning, wall building (ugh!), and heater buying (totally caved...).  So today I want to share a quick update we gave our fireplace recently. This is a really easy, non-permanent update you can do in a weekend, and I haven't really seen it anywhere else.  Perfect for renters!

When we white-washed the fireplace I mentioned this idea, and finally one Sunday afternoon we just went for it. When I say it's easy, I mean.. really easy. The hardest part is rinsing the rocks. Which, was easy. Rocks, being naturally non-flammable, should hold up to the heat that the stove gives off.  The bricks around the stove are never really HOT in the winter, so I'm not worried.  The rocks don't go UNDER.... just around.

Here's how easily you can throw this together, you need:

• Rocks. Your choice of style. We chose Mexican river pebbles.
• Wood, for the border. We used 1" x 4" 
• Stain & Poly (or use the Vinegar & Tea recipe)
• Miter saw, or miter box, to cut 45 degree angles.

We started with our stove sitting in this brick area, which, if you look closely, is pretty beat up...

The front right corner there. Seems the last owner chopped wood (and missed..) non stop on that area, and has totally broken up the bricks. Replacement at this time wasn't in the forecast, so covering it was the next best thing.  First, a border had to be placed, since we didn't want stones all over the carpet.

Whoah, blurry photo! Ah well, you know how it goes.  All we did here was measure the area, mark that on one side of the wood, and cut at 45 degrees inward (meaning, the measurement will be on the LONG side), and set it in place.  The fit was perfect, and didn't need any securing.  If yours does, I suggest a little super strength double sided tape. That should hold it still.

Meanwhile, we washed our rocks by putting a few hand fulls in a bucket full of water, and placing them on towels in the sun after.  That took forever, but was necessary.  Look at our clever way of bringing them in, it's like a little hammock!

So that's it really, you just start spreading your rocks around.  Super complicated, huh? I know...

A large part of me wanted to stray from the original plan to stain the border, and keep it natural. But being on the floor, I figured it's better to have some protection on it. (side note, anyone know how to fix that ever growing crack in the ceiling? It's like, the drywall tape or something...)  Here's the stain:

Much better! I did the Tea & Vinegar stain technique from the antique crate post, I just love that trick. Then I coated in a semi-gloss Minwax Polycrylic, one of my favorites.

I cleaned the glass, but the inside was pretty dirty, and now in plain view. So for the summer I just adhered a little wrapping paper in there, which, of course, will NOT be there once we start using this bad boy. (duh!) You probably noticed the back isn't filled in with stones. Yep - we didn't listen to the guy at the store when he recommended an amount for this size area, and we had to go back. Boo....

But you get the idea. Isn't that neat? I've always loved rocks, especially river rocks.  Just another way to bring the outdoors in, and add a little texture in here.  It actually feels really good to walk across these, like a little massage.. ahh....

All done!  Just for fun here's what we started with, less than a year ago, before the whitewash:

Yea, so nothing terribly tricky, or tutorial worthy... pretty much just cut a frame, popped it in & filled it up. When winter comes (right around the friggin corner!) I am thinking of putting one round concrete stepping stone near the door (on the right side) so I can split kindling. Something the last owner did NOT think of. 

That's about it... 

What do you think? Before you say it - someone already asked "how on earth will you clean that?!" and someone else suggested using the vacuum with the brush attachment. Problem solved! Perfect too, because I had NOT even thought about cleaning.  Thanks guys! 

Enjoy your day, get something pumpkin-ey, because it's October, so everything is pumpkin.  Shouldn't be hard. Seriously, yesterday I saw pumpkin bagels... who knew?

-Jesse

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Related Posts:

• How To: White Wash the Brick Fireplace
• DIY Black & White Brushstroke Art (on the sides of the brick)
• Painting the Living Room Green
• DIY Black Tea & Vinegar Stain Recipe

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Flashback to October 2012

Happy October! Sometimes on the first of the month, like the first of the year, I get the urge to look back and see what was going on around here a year ago.  Luckily having a blog makes that extremely easy (click of a button!) - which is how I spent my morning caffeine session today.  Here's what I found, a year ago we were still house shopping, and apparently just putting offers on our current place.  Here's the post, but just look at this living room during the sale:

Wow... I remember thinking, how in the world will we arrange furniture in here?! Just for fun, here it is now, use the door to line things up in your brain:

Yea.. little different..

So we were still living in Santa Cruz, I still had my major workshop set up in the back, and furniture was churning out nicely... I had the Chevron night stands, which quickly found a home:

I wanted to keep those but had NO room.. plus, getting prepped for a move? I shed things like crazy.. I did get to keep this stool from the Color Block Stool Tutorial:

And some of my favorite how-to's of the time were this Origami Star Lantern, that I still haven't made, but really really want to:

Photo Credits: How About Orange & Passengers on a little spaceship

And my flat marble light fixtures.. I can't believe this was only a year ago! I'll have to do another tutorial on these, I've experimented a lot more with the process. For now, here's the original tutorial.

Or this great under-bed storage project, that I completely forgot about! I need to do this one for sure...

Photo Source

And I was grossing you all out with this pretty nasty & somewhat cruel cockroach jewelry, that actually exists...

Sources: Mapping the Marvelous, Black Chandelier

I still think that looks like Jonny Depp... haha.. you can watch the video & read more from a year ago, here.

And of course, my super cheesy pumpkin:

I hope you get the joke!

That's just a glimpse of what was going on last October.. what about you? Do you ever take a look back at a year ago to see how much has changed?  I'm always surprised to realize things that feel like a super long time ago, were only a year ago..  Kind of slows things down a little bit to remember how much has actually been crammed into just one year.

Happy October! I want chili.  Cincinnati Chili...

-Jesse

Up Next: Adding some River Rock around our fireplace.... easy!

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Painting the Kitchen Cabinets: Part 2

Do you ever have those weeks, where your day job says to you "Yea, this is all you'll be doing this entire week, including evenings"? That's me this week, it's my turn.  I haven't had a spare moment aside from working, eating & sleeping - crazy! But I found time to sneak in a post, since I felt so guilty being postless all week.... Last week I posted Part 1 of Painting the kitchen cabinets, and this week I'm so excited to show the rest:

Aaaaah! Fresh & Clean.... this time we used the sprayer, which is pretty self explanatory, maybe I'll do a post on it someday though.  But as you know, we DID do the white ones by hand, or roller... (full directions in Part 1).  Also - we decided to add a few coats of minwax polycrylic on this set, in semi gloss.  Being the bottom half, they'll be more likely to get beat up so.. better safe than chipped, right?

Before I show the close-ups, the color is Glidden's Blue-Grey Slate.  Paint & Primer in one (a must!), in Interior Semi-Gloss. Here is a link to the color.  Always tell your paint person what you need the paint for, as they will have the best advice for your finish.

Like I said, I'm sneaking in this post before work, so let's get to the good stuff:

It's an interesting color! I love it - sometimes it has a blue tint, other times  a dark grey... and at sunset it gives off a blue purple.  Hooray... color changing cabinets!

Things are starting to come together. Yes, those are rainbow knives! Ha I know.. typical of me, right?  Many of you asked about them - they are called Pure Komachi, and they're the best knives I've ever used, so sharp.... (find them here on amazon - they have tons more too).  Rather than use a knife block, we used IKEA magnetic knife strips to keep the counterspace pretty free.

This area is to the right of that stove, across an entryway.  I love that blue-grey slate!

Hello new rug! (Ikea.... lovely!)

Oops! Bad photographer moment... Surprise appearance by Sir Brown Paper Bag, who in our part of the country, is becoming a rarity...

Oh, I grouted that round marble lamp in the top corner there, I'll be sharing that soon - came out great.

There we go! I love this angle.. really shows off that stove.  What do you think of our newish cabinets? Eventually the counter-tops will be hopefully butcher block, but cement would be amazing too.  We'll see how the wallet feels when the time comes.  All in all, painting the cabinets was the affordable upgrade we needed, to hold us over until we redesign the kitchen all together.  But honestly? They came out so good I wouldn't mind them sticking around...

What about you, any cabinet transformations in your future?

Back to work... wish me luck...   ;)

Have a fantastic weekend!
     -Jesse

Related Posts in-case you missed it:

• Painting the Cabinets: Part 1 + A tutorial
• 7 Kitchen Buffet Ideas
• The Great (soon to be late) Kitchen Hutch Makeover

And one last time, here's the paint color link, Glidden's Blue Grey Slate:

• Paint color link @ Home Depot

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets: Part 1

Well we did it! We painted our kitchen cabinets, finally. They weren't horrible to begin with luckily, just not what we were going for.  Our kitchen has a lot of wood going on, and while I love it - I love bright and light a bit more.  Before & After reveal, of the top half:

What a difference, right?! Let me just say, this is something you can definitely do.  It's pretty easy, just time consuming! I made a major boo-boo in when we did this top half.  Ha... let me explain.  We did the top by hand, using high density foam rollers - the works, ya know? It came out great BUT on the LAST coat I realized...  I HAVE A HVLP Sprayer!!! Why in the world didn't we spray them??  Oh well... at least now I can verify that it CAN be done by hand, if you don't have a sprayer.  Stop me, I'm rambling- Here's a better shot of our cabinets before.

Pretty standard, nice cabinets.   I was just happy to have this many cabinets in the first place, though you can never have enough. So one brave weekend, we took to the job. I referenced East Coast Creative's awesome tutorials, which you can find here and here.  It looked relatively simple...Here's a quick run down:

First we removed the cabinets & hardware:

With all that food & junk we definitely won't be going with the open shelves look... haha...

Quick tip: To remove these cabinets you take the screws out of the hinge portion on the cabinet door. This also leaves the settings on those crazy hinges intact, and makes them a lot easier to re-install. Here's a crappy photo that sort of shows what I mean:

The hinges remain.... see? But ya know, do what you like, it's probably fine either way.

Side note, many of you asked about our stove from the Entryway Command Center Posts... here's a full frontal:

Isn't it perdy.. in pretty good shape too. When we first moved in we considered getting rid of it, but a combination of everyone saying we were insane & then falling in love with cooking on it, it's decided to stay. Someone said it was from the 1940's, but I forgot where I heard that. I might have made it up.

Ok, cabinets! After the hardware was removed, we did a simple steel wool job to remove the glossy finish. We'll be using Paint & Primer in one (best stuff ever) so I'm confident in how it will adhere. Even still, steel wool is an extra step that will really bump up your cabinets durability rating.

Just run over the fronts to scratch them up a bit, I'm using the coarse - paint removing steel wool. In person you can see scratches in the glossy finish, and that's how you know you're good to go.  Be sure to get the sides and in those grooves too, as best you can.

Then start painting! We started by doing the details by hand, notice we propped the cabinets up on some old wood scraps so they didn't stick to that gorgeous blanket:

And finished up with a high density foam roller. These foam rollers are different than your average paint roller, as they leave a very-very smooth finish that looks clean & professional.  The rollers are smaller, about 6" wide, to see it on HomeDepot.com, click here.

Yum....The paint color we used is just white. Semi-gloss white, Paint & primer in one.  There were SO MANY whites to choose from so I walked up to the counter and said "Don't  you have just...ya know... white?" And they did. And now we do.

After about 3 coats we were happy, and let them dry completely.  Working backwards we just installed our hardware, and popped the cabinets back up. Just in time for dinner. 

Surprise! I have a gif for you..

Ha! Get it? A Gif?!? Ok, bad joke...

So that's it! We're done with the top half. The Paint & Primer in one paint, in semi gloss, adhered wonderfully to the cabinets & provide an excellent finish.  If you want to be extra safe, you could slap a few coats of semi-gloss minwax polycrylic on these babies.  I had every intention to do so, but got hungry and forgot.  I would have gone back and done it by hand, but in my dreams there are new cabinets with glass fronts anyway... so who cares.

Let's see some finished photos that aren't as difficult to look at as that crazy gif:

Don't mind that wild white cord, the lighting in here was just ONE of those little boob lights, so we had to improvise. I'll get to it someday, I swear....

Hey did you guys notice that weird yellow animal on top of our cabinets? I have NO IDEA what it is! But it was yellow & cute in it's own weird way, and $3... so it came home:

A blow-fish? A pig? An artichoke?  I just craved a little yellow up there, and I couldn't stop staring at this thing.  Hey, good conversation starter...

So that's that. Cabinets done in white, and I love 'em. What do you think? Have you painted cabinets? What tips & tricks can you share?  Up next we are conquering the bottom half... and there are twice as many. Break out that sprayer!

Enjoy your day please. (One time at the end of a phone call, the person said to me "You have a nice long day, Jess"....what the!?)

-Jesse

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Hey - here's some older posts about Kitchens:

• 7 Kitchen Buffet Ideas that I want, ASAP.
• Installing a new faucet, all by our lonesome
• Cheap & Easy Kitchen Cart
• DIY Triangle Pattern Table Top
• The Hutch Makeover

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7 Kitchen Buffet Ideas

For some weird reason, I've become obsessed with getting rid of our Kitchen Hutch.  I don't know what happened, I love that hutch! But something about it, cute as it is, just isn't me (You can catch up here, if you're new)  I've started leaning more towards the modern / vintage / geometric look, and our old country beauty just couldn't fit. But I'm always up for a challenge, and I do like change - so maybe it was perfect timing.  This time however, I'd like to go more towards a Buffet vs. a Hutch...

That's right, it's time for a good old fashioned brainstorm - with the help of the lovely Pinterest.  You know why I'm leaning to a buffet? I like the height.  They are low... can be minimal, a streamlined surface offering plenty of storage & serving space, without needing to be a giant presence in the room.

So today, I want to share with you my Pinterest findings - Seven lovely buffets that are giving me all sorts of ideas..... here we go!

As a reminder, with all my round-ups, the source links are underneath each photo, mmk? First we'll start with my dream buffet...

Source

Yea... look at that wood! And geometric paneling? Yes please! This would be perfect. If I can find it, I'll snag it - but in the meantime, it's great inspiration.  Around here furniture like this doesn't last - people are on top of it.

Source

So the photo above isn't exactly a buffet, but this is what I'm going for. Wonderful, abundant storage in the space underneath the counter - with cute floating storage on the walls.  Don't you love those cubes? I'm seriously reconsidering my plans and swapping to cube-age...

Source

Aside from the Christmas-ey motif, this buffet has a lot going on! Major wine storage (huge plus) with ample cabinets and drawers. Again, the floating shelves are ideal for displaying your kitchen favorites that don't deserve the hidden cupboard life.

Source

I probably wouldn't put the green/pink combo in my own home (too muppet-y), it IS cuper cute. I WILL however take that buffet! Seriously, have you ever been to a thrift store? Buffets & Dressers that can be EASILY converted to buffets are a dime a dozen.  A coat of white paint and maybe an architectural alteration here and there.... you're in buffet heaven.

Source

OK - favorite alert! The buffet above is what I'd love to aim for. I like the simplicity of the piece, and the floating shelves are exactly what I have in mind.  Storage on the walls that also serves as decorative. Now we're onto something!  You can see in photo #2 that they added wine glass holders... so smart!

Source

Pumpkins ahoy! Did you notice that? Must have been around this time of year when they shot this photo.. What I love here is the all black.  This seems like it was a dresser in a former life, but by going solid black (like the chairs & table) with hardware to match, you have a gorgeous matching buffet. Hello red lampshade!

Source

Yea - the caption in the photo proves this isn't a buffet per say.. but man, couldn't it be? I'm totally considering ditching the subtle color thing and going to a fun teal. I know I always do that, but I cant' help it! I'm considering painting all of the bottom cabinets in our kitchen a subtle color... so maybe we can afford a little teal here & there.  Or is that more turquoise?

These are only seven of the thousands of possibilities. What I really like here is how these looks were achieved by using easily attainable furniture, or better yet - furniture you already have.  A coat of paint, or the addition of some wall shelves, makes a buffet storage solution that doesn't have to be built in.

What's your opinion, are you pro-hutch or are you a buffet believer?

Wish me luck on my hunt....I know something perfect is out there, I can FEEL it..

-Jesse

Full Kitchen Ideas Pin-Board HERE.

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