FREE St. Patrick's Day Prints

I've been celebrating St. Patrick's Day since I was born, AKA, that is my birthday. 

I'm kinda super sick of getting shamrock themed things for my birthday, but I have a special place in my heart for them. 😏

I created some simple print to help brighten up your home this March! Each print is listed below with a link for the PNG image and also a PDF file of each. They are 5x7 size. 

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DIY: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I mentioned on my instagram stories that I had painted my kitchen cabinets. Builder grade cabinets are basically the ugliest, so in the midst of fall break I broke out the paint and started.

I finished the upper cabinets in 2 days and now am working on the bottom ones, which will take more time, but should be done quickly. Even just the top ones done it make a world of difference for the kitchen. The kitchen is instantly brighter and it makes me so much happier to be in there. The last time I painted cabinets was 6 years ago: oh my heck, awesome  Has it really been that long!? Crazy.

Okay, lets get to it.

Here are the items I used and some instructions on how I went about it.


Primer:

Brushes: angled brush, foam brushes, and foam roller brush

Paint: Glidden semi-gloss paint (it doesn't make it too shiny, and cleans well) color I used is called White on White

First thing in painting cabinets is to prep. Scrub/clean the cabinets, you can try sanding but if you have builder grade cabinets like myself, it won't do ya much good, but it can't hurt the process if you'd like to. It does help remove tough residue on the cabinets above the microwave.

After you've cleaned the cabinets, remove the cabinet doors. You can paint with them still hung but you'll probably have to take them off to fix mistakes(a lesson learned) so just take them down and save yourself some time. I used food storage cans(#10 cans) underneath the cabinet doors when painting to keep them off the ground and easier to paint all around them. Give better height and stability then regular smaller cans.

Prime prime prime! I do at least 2-3 coats of primer letting each coat dry at least 2 hrs.
I start with the inside then work out.

I use a brush to paint the inside and outside edges and then the foam paint roller to paint the flat surfaces.

While the doors are drying I paint the base cabinets. Using the roller and paint brush to get everything. Same with any drawers. I just set it off the edge of the counters so I have room around all sides to reach.

Again everything needs at least 2-3 coats of primer. If you have any drip lines or drops just lightly sand them out and you'll be good to go on the next coat.

Top coat will probably be another 2 coats, and if you primed well then things should go smoothly. 

Painting cabinets can be intimidating, but it's really simple and what's great is if you mess up just sand and paint over! If you miss a spot when your done (I've found many spots where I missed) just paint it. 

I hope this was helpful! Seriously though just go buy paint and do it! 

DIY: FOUR POST BED

We needed a new bed frame desperately.  When we moved we quickly bought a spring bed frame that wasn't too expensive so we wouldn't be sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We always said it would just be temporary and almost four years later and I was so over it! I needed a place to hang my halo and a four post bed was the only thing I could do that with. 

We've had pallet board wood pilling up in our garage for a good year or so and enough was enough. It was cooling off, sorta, and we needed to clear space for other big project and we had been putting it off for too long. 

We went from a simple drawing of plans

to actually seeing it become a reality

...to completion. What felt like forever and a day, really wasn't that long. We worked on it on weekends, and ended up being about 3 weekend but the man hours was probably about 2 days worth. I sanded and stained after Chris assembled, then Chris polyurethane'd it to perfection! Since it weighed a ton and we knew we couldn't fit it up the stairs assembled Chris took an afternoon set it all up. Lots of screws and pockets screws later we have an amazing bed that we love and will basically come with the home if we ever move. Its a beast! But that's what we wanted! Its perfect! 

The head board and foot board panels are made from the pallet boards and the rest was lumber from home depot. Hey, home depot wanna collaborate on our next project?? We love the depot! 

DIY Wood Feature Wall

We love watching home improvement shows. Chris and I always end up discussing different ideas we like or it give us ideas we would maybe someday (but never will actually happen) to our house.

One wall in particular in our home has bugged me since the day we moved in.  It's been my nemesis and I've constantly changed it up in hopes that I'd find just the right thing for it.  A lot of homes in my neighborhood with the same floor plan have cabinets with like a little desk area, so I've contemplated putting a desk or something there,but didn't want to make the space feel claustrophobic.

Seriously, I've lost sleep thinking about this dang wall.

See ^^^ confusion. I seriously could not figure it out.

One night we were watching property brothers, or maybe it was fixer upper, and we talked about some design element and we both mentioned our ideas of if we ever put wood on the walls it would look a certain way.  

I mentioned that I'd prefer a natural wood finish. None of this paint over good looking wood fad. Apparently, those were the magic words cause the next weekend Chris was at home depot getting something else and came home with 50 of the most beautiful wood boards(which smell amazing too) and was ready to make my dream a reality! 

WHAT WE USED:

1in x 6in x 6ft Better Blue Stain Ponderosa Pine tongue & grooved boards.(< link if for 8ft lenght, they have 6ft boards in store)
Deckmate screws

We measured, cut and then drilled the boards directly into the studs in the wall.
Basic carpentry skills are all you need to do this. It's that easy.
I recommend getting a tongue & grooved boards if your are thinking about doing something like this
1.) it hides gaps between the boards
2.) since the connect you can place your board and not worry about it falling off the wall or needing extra hands to hold it up.

total time around 6 hours
total cost around $210

we all drew funny pictures, wrote words and different things on the walls before we boarded them up. It was a lot of fun and got the kids involved in the project too. 

Now that one thing is done, we're in like ultra planning mode for other things.  Hopefully will happen sooner rather than later, but one thing at a time.

I'm working on the cabinets next. So stay tuned for that.