by Wendy Scheel | Jan 10, 2017 | DIY
Thanks for checking in today to see the reveal of our backsplash tiling project.
As I said in part one, this project was a lot easier and more fun than doing the whole kitchen.
But let’s jump to the chase.
Here’s the before:
And here’s the after:
One thing I should explain is our reasoning for extending the tile beyond the cabinet and the desktop.
The logical thing to do was end the tile at the same place as the desk, or the cabinet above, and we thought about doing that. But the light switch on the left extended beyond both those borders, so that was really the only logical place to end the tiling. It would have looked really wonky to have half of the light switch plate sticking out from the tiling, don’t you think?
Then, to avoid an unfinished look, we added decorative edge tiles along the border.
Do you like the area tiled? Or would you have left the area alone?
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Jan 8, 2017 | DIY
Having my husband home during his vacation between Christmas and New Years allowed us to spend some down time together and get a few projects tackled.
We did a big project this summer where we tiled our kitchen backsplash. Neither of us had tiled before so when I say this was a big project, I mean this was a BIG project, from beginning to end. If you want to know more, or review how that experience went, you can read about it here, here and here.
If you want the super quick version, here are the before and after pictures:
Notice the desk area on the left of the after picture? The area behind the yellow flowers?
We decided at the time not to tile this area because we were tiled…I mean tired! We had planned on finishing it, but we wanted to live without it for a while to make sure it that was something the kitchen really needed.
And it did.
This time around the previous tiling experience helped us get the project done a lot faster.
The planning and painting of the edges with a dark paint was faster.
Mixing mortar and placing tiles was faster.
Grouting was faster, but still the most painstaking part of the process.
Even the sealing of the tile and daily clean-up. The whole process was easier and faster, and we are very happy with the result.
I guess what they say about practice is true. 🙂 Come back Wednesday to see the result!
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Dec 13, 2016 | DIY
Is it just me or are guys difficult to buy Christmas presents for?
Samantha is super easy to buy for. Clothes, shoes, cute home decorations and she is done. When it comes to my son and future son-in-law, I struggle. Yes, they have a list, but like most parents, we like to keep the gift amount even between the three kids. After checking off every thing from the guys lists, I still need some little extras.
This past week, I have sold several of these pillow covers from my Etsy shop.
All of the names they were shipped to were traditional male names. And that got me thinking that maybe other people are filling out their last-minute Christmas purchases with some little extras also?
As I was making these covers today to get those orders into the mail, I thought, why not share with you this easy stenciled BINGO pillow.
I learned the hard way that I need to put down a double layer of craft paper to avoid paint leakage onto my cutting board. (I bought this huge roll from Home Depot.)
From here I cut a 17 square inch of fabric. (I sell a white twill or burlap fabric for these covers.) The BINGO stencil is from Funky Junk Interiors and comes in two different sizes. Mine is the 14 inch square with a finished size of 17 square.
Now the fun part, the actual stenciling. I mixed about two tablespoons of black acrylic paint with one tablespoon of fabric medium. Don’t forget the fabric medium, it keeps the paint from flaking off.
Using a stencil brush, a simple tamping motion is enough to apply the paint to the fabric. The more paint on your brush and the harder you press, the darker the finished product.
A little something for those hard to buy for guys in your life. 🙂
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Dec 11, 2016 | DIY
This wall has seen a lot of action lately. For a long time I had this chest of drawers against the shiplap wallpaper wall.
Then the dresser went upstairs to the guest bedroom and the area remained void of anything except a colorful gel Merry Christmas under the clock. (You know the kind of gel I am talking about. Those sticky rubbery letter thingees that are supposed to go on windows or mirrors.)
These gel window thingees lasted about two weeks before I changed up the area again by removing the clock from the large metal hook, replaced it with this NOEL stained glass sign and shared the reveal of the upcycled dresser……
…and then soon after replaced the stained glass with a drop cloth wreath.
So, where am I going with this you might be wondering?
That sign and the wreath are strategically placed because underneath the sign, I have this nightmare.
When I removed the gel letters, they had stained my wallpaper!
I almost cried.
Not water, a magic eraser or Soft Scrub would get that off of my wallpaper. 🙁
I wanted to put the clock back onto the hook and the NOEL stained glass back on the window, so I needed some kind of “something” to cover my nightmare.
I have a stack of old milking barn shiplap that is naturally distressed with white paint sitting in the garage that Nikki and I bought when we went to an estate sale this summer.
Lucky for me Wade was out in the garage cutting up some other things I needed, so I asked if he would cut off two 20″ sections of shiplap for me.
From there I traced the “merry” wood sign I bought from Target onto the board and with a gold paint pen, filled in the lines.
Putting the clock back on the oversized hook and tapping a nail into the wall to hang the sign, no one would ever guess the nightmare that lurks underneath.
Has this every happened to anyone? Anyone?
Did you get the stain off the paper?
My only saving grace is that I like change… this wallpaper probably wouldn’t have lasted until Spring anyway. 🙂
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Dec 9, 2016 | DIY
We’ve all seen the products that are from “As Seen On TV”. (Weird fact, there is a store in the Mall Of America named “As Seen On TV”. Who knew?) Plus, who hasn’t tried to re-create an idea they have seen on Pinterest?
So that got me thinking. I am going to start a blog series where I follow a post by various bloggers and try to make what they made. Kind of a “As Seen On A Blog” if you will. Some projects will be easy, and some will be hard, but the best part is that some will be disasters. 🙂
Today’s post comes from the rock star blogger KariAnne at Thistlewood Farms. Her post can be found
here.
Here is the how the wreath looks at KariAnne’s house. Beautiful.
Following KariAnne’s instructions here is what I did.
Gather supplies:
Grapevine wreath
Drop cloth fabric
Farmhouse fabric
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
I had all of these things already lying around, so it was quick and free to grab everything and get started. If you don’t have these lying around, you can find everything at your local craft store or even Walmart.
I followed KariAnnes eloquently written tutorial. But glump along with me as I state what I did.
First I cut out over 80 leaves. KariAnne used about 50. My grapevine wreath is 18” wide, so I would guess that her wire wreath form was smaller. Don’t sweat the shape of your leaves, they will be great.
The one step of this project that you do not want to skip is the adding of a drop of hot glue at the base of you leaf, and pinching it together. This is what gives the wreath life.
From here glue the leaves all around the wreath making sure they all face the same direction by placing another dot of hot glue on the backside, opposite of the pinched section. You don’t want to glue them all in a line, and as KariAnne said try to stagger on the grapevine.
Once you are all of the way around, you can always add a leaf here and there if you feel you have a blank spot.
Here we have the finished product. Thanks for a great tutorial KariAnne.
Wrap Up:
Degree of Difficulty: Easy, except the part where I got a blister on my thumb from the hot glue.
Cost: Free (to me)
Time Involved: One episode of The Price is Right and 15 minutes into The Young and The Restless.
What do you think?
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Dec 7, 2016 | DIY
Even before I was blogging, I enjoyed painting furniture, painting walls and decorating. But I have never enjoyed or been sooo happy with a piece as I am with this one.
If any of you are like me, you just want to see the finished product. It’s kind of like reading the last page of a book to see what happens.
Wait, what? No one besides me when starting a new book reads the last page first? 🙂
If you aren’t a last page reader, then skip this picture, I’ll build back up to it.
Let’s jump back to yesterday. Here’s where we left off.
Today, I once again heated up the garage and got to work brushing on a second coat of paint. When it had dried, I added the four casters to the legs before setting it upright.
Then, one by one, I stained the fronts of each remaining drawer and once the stain dried, I added the new pulls.
The top drawer needed the holes moved so all of the pulls were lined up. (Sometimes I can be a little OCD…okay a lot of times I can be a little OCD.)
It was getting late in the day, so I brought the dresser into the house to get better light. The dresser I had in this spot before is now up in the guest room, so I had a nice blank slate to work with.
The more pictures I took the more I fell in love with this dresser.
My first intention was to sell it, but I love it here! It’s staying…..for now…..until I find my next dresser project to work on.
~Wendy
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