DIY Chalkboard

Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed the post about the rustic box that I made.  Sorry that it has been a while since my last post.  As some of you may know, I work at Verizon Wireless and we are in nightmare holiday season and that leads to long weeks with lots of hours up at the workplace.  So thank you for you patience and hopefully this post will hold you over till the next one.

Amber has asked me for years if we could somehow incorporate a chalkboard into our decor.  When we moved to the new house we were determined that we were going to get a chalkboard in here one way or another.  We looked for something that we could hang but we soon learned that when you have a house with a lot of arches and a lot of windows, that leaves you with one thing...no wall space.  With the valuable wall space we do have, we decided to put other stuff up there instead.  I mean, we love a good chalkboard but not over snapshots of our kiddos.  So we moved on from that and thought "hey what about painting a wall with chalkboard paint maybe that will solve our problem"...false. We also learned that writing with chalk on textured walls was pure utter failure.

Well it just so happened that while Amber was looking for some inspiration for our Christmas card photo (coming soon), she came across what could be a picture of our much needed wanted chalkboard.

First I started out with a 8ft piece of 1x12.  I chose this size because it gave me a lot of vertical space for writing and also because it fits height wise with your counter to cabinet space.

I like to use pine on a majority of my projects because it is a soft wood and looks great when you apply stain to it.  You can cut the length to whatever fits your taste.  I cut mine to about 20 inches because that is what the space allowed.  After cutting the piece of wood I sanded it down to make sure it was really smooth.  The sanding helps to not destroy the chalk and makes it easier to write on.  After sanding I started to apply the stain.  I used a Rust-Oleum stain from Lowe's called Weathered Gray.  I have been obsessed with this stain as of late and you will see many other projects with this stain coming soon. 

Love this stain! Highly recommended.

As you can see when the stain dries, it gives the wood a weathered look, but in a great gray color which is in right now.  When the drying was done (which was more like 30 minutes instead of the hour that it says on the can) I began to tape the border.  I used some painters tape that I had left over from doing Bub's nursery. And it worked out perfectly in this project because the width of the tape was the perfect size since I wanted to show off a little bit more of the gray border because again I am obsessed with the way this gray stain came out.  

No need to worry about taping the sides

When taping make sure to do a good job sealing the edge because you do not want a paint bleed to ruin your project.  After I double checked the edges, the board was ready to be painted.  I used a chalkboard spray paint by Valspar and have been really pleased with the results.  It goes on easy, dries evenly, and erases well.

I did four coats of the chalkboard spray paint because I wanted a very thick canvas that would stand several uses.  Something that I learned the hard way was to not let the paint sit there and dry for too long because it will adhere to the painters tape.  Make sure to apply the spray paint coats quickly one after the other and remove the painters tape immediately after the last coat to avoid "ripping" the chalkboard paint.  After the last coat was applied, I began to pull the painters tape off.

If you went to our wedding you know a little something about that towel underneath.

I made sure to let the chalkboard paint dry really well and after that I applied a thin coat of chalk over the whole board.  This will create a thin barrier between the paint and chalk when you write on the board and make it easier to erase the board.  After all the waiting, Amber was pumped when the chalkboard was finally done.  I am pretty sure she decorated it that night.  

All said and done this project cost me about $15 and I made three of them (one for us, one for our photographer, and one for a friend).  It was simple to make and only took about 1.5 hours including drying time.  I am really happy with the way this project turned out and hope you guys enjoy your chalkboard as much as Amber and I have enjoyed ours.

Julian's Fall Decor

Hello everyone! I would like to welcome you to my first blog post ever!  After all these years of Amber trying to get me to "help out" with the blog, I would find some way of getting my way out of it.  She finally got me interested when she said that I could write about all my DIY projects.  So here it is, my first DIY project blog post.  It's partly a how-to for the DIY project I made, and partly a glimpse into my thought process behind this DIY.

I have always been really big into decorating the house for the holidays.  The season that has given me the most difficult time has been decorating for Halloween/Thanksgiving.  There has always been a fine line as to when is the right time to pull down the witches hat and throw up the pilgrim.  So this year I decided to look for universal things that would show the greatness of the season and not limit it to just one holiday.  While looking on Pinterest, (that's right, I am a man and I am totally addicted to Pinterest. Think what you want but it is your one-stop-shop, you can start by looking at cars and before you know it, you are looking at ideas for your kid's 20th birthday party...I digress),  I was looking for some inspiration and I came across this really nice looking rustic box used as a centerpiece.

So I went outside to take a look at some of the scrap pieces of wood I have collected over the past couple of months.  I narrowed it down to a piece of 1x6 and a piece of 1x4.  I typically like using Pine because it is a soft wood, not that expensive and stains really nicely when trying to get that rustic look.  You can pick up these same pieces at your local store for about $5 a piece.

After I selected the wood I decided to start building.  I decided to use the 1x6 as my bottom piece and the 1x4 as the side pieces.  After much debate negotiating compromise, we decided that it would be best on the buffet and I based my measurements on that.  I cut the 1x6 piece to 17 inches, so that when I added the side pieces, I would get a total size of about 19 inches.  Since I wanted the cut parts of the wood to be visible on the side of the box instead of the front I cut a 4 inch section from the 1x6 to account for the side pieces.  

After doing that on both sides I then took a piece of 1x4 and drew a line with my square to let me know where to cut the 1x4. No need to make things complicated and use a tape measure when just a simple alignment and square will do the trick. 

Now that I have all the pieces of my box cut out I was time to put this baby together.  By using some wood glue and a brad nailer I would be able to create a box that would feel sturdy and last for years to come. 

When the glue dried I wanted to give it that old rustic look so I grabbed some stain that I had picked up at Lowe's.  I picked up a Mission Oak stain by MINWAX that was a stain and polyurethane in one because when applied with a brush it gave it that old world feel...that feel like this box had some cool stories to tell.

After the stain dried, I had one more piece left for this box to be complete and that was some handles.  I mean, if you are making a rustic box, why not throw on some rustic handles as well.  It not only adds functionality but also gives it that sweet kick of personality and charm.  I decided to go with some handles that I got at...wait for it...Lowe's!  They were only about 2 bucks a piece and came with the hardware to make installation a breeze.  

So now that I finished this sweet box, what am I going to put in it? I typically like to look for garlands that have all the things I am looking for.  One reason is they are less expensive than buying the pieces individually, and two, some designer out there thought they looked good together.    Amber and I went to Kirkland's several days later and came across the mailbox garland.  I liked the various colors and it provided me with enough material to have some left over.  

My toes are apparently making their blog debut as well.

Now here comes the best part, this is where the creativity and personalization (is that even a word?!) part come in.  Instead of just shoving the garland in there and calling it a day I like to cut all the pieces of the garland and work with smaller pieces arranging them how I think they will work best.  

From here, you just take some good sized candles to take up a bulk of the space and start getting creative.  After the first couple of leaves and berries everything started falling into place.  (If you start losing vision and just getting frustrated, like I did, take a step back let is sit for a while, and then attack it again.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun!)  When it was all said and done, I added a runner for the buffet to create a separation in color and I am really happy with the way it came out.  

Well that concludes my first blog post! I hope you enjoyed it because I've got more DIYs coming soon!

 

Jillian's Big Girl Room

It was also time for big sister Jilly to get a big girl room!  Along with planning Alex's nursery, we also planned to change Jillian's room a little, too!  We started with her furniture.  We knew that we wanted the furniture in her room to be white, but we didn't want to buy all new stuff.  

Sanding down the old dresser

So Julian took her existing changing table and dresser, sanded them, and painted them white instead.  The changing table would go to Bubs, but the dresser stayed in Jilly's room.  

We also loved Jillian's blue room and the tree decal that we had on her wall.  But the decal never really stayed well because of the texture on the wall so we decided to paint it on instead.  

Here is Jilly at 9 months with the wall decal in her room

We took the image of the old decal, and made a few modifications.  First, we knew that the details on the leaves would be too much to paint so we just stuck to solid colored leaves.  And then we switched out one of the colors to add purple leaves, since this is Jillian's favorite color.  Lastly, instead of birds in the trees, we wanted an owl in the tree instead.

The beginnings of the leaves and owl

All the leaves and the tree stump

While painting the tree, Julian also installed Jillian's new wall bookshelf. Jillian wanted to help, of course!

Daddy's little helper

Ready to read all her books 

And finally, Jilly's tree was complete and the play side of her room was done!

We also got Jillian a new big girl bed.  We got her a full-size bed, and she looks so tiny in that big bed! And it was a little bit of an adjustment to get her used to this new bed.  We had to get her a rail because she fell out a few times.  Also, Jillian never got out of her crib...she never tried to climb out at all.  But she loves the new-found freedom of being able to get in and out as much as she wants.  Let's just say it has lead to some long sleepless nights with lots of adjusting.

Her first night in her new bed

Crazy-haired cutie

It took us a while to find the perfect bedding, but we finally mixed and matched items from Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids, and Target.

Her big girl bedding

All her guys on her bed

Lastly, Julian and his dad put up the curtains and installed the crown molding in Jillian's room. From what Julian says, the molding was pretty difficult to do, but it finishes the room off so well!

Jillian loves her big girl room and we do, too!  

Bubs' Nursery

Let me start this post by saying that I have an amazing husband and Bubby (and Jilly) have an amazing Daddy!  You see, when Julian found out he was having a son, he immediately went into nursery planning mode.  In fact, it was the thing that prompted him to start a Pinterest account.  He developed a vision of what he wanted Bubs' nursery to look like and we got to work on it.

In May, I went to El Paso with Jillian so that he could get started on the rooms.  He was working on Jillian's room (a post of Jilly's big girl room will come soon) and Alex's room at the same time (and working a full-time job, no big deal), and so it took him a few months to get all the details into both of their rooms.  For Alex's room, we decided on an elephant theme using grey and white with pops of navy and yellow.  Julian wanted to add chair rail to the room, and to paint the bottom grey and the top grey and white stripes.  Sounds easy, right?!

First, he painted the room white from top to bottom.  Then he added the chair rail around the room.  

Adding chair rail to the nursery

 Then he painted the bottom part grey and taped off the chair rail to paint it white, like the molding that was already in the room.

Painted grey on bottom and taping to paint chair rail

 And last, he taped off the room to paint the grey and white stripes.  This was no easy feat because the walls are textured so he did lots of research on how to get straight, clean lines.

Panoramic shot of the room taped off for stripes!

I think he did an amazing job!  And here is the final painted room!

This was taken at night so the lighting is a little yellow...but I think it still looks amazing in this light!

We bought Bubs a new crib since it seemed like staining Jillian's old crib to become white seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

We put the crib together maybe 2 days before Alex was born.  We got the crib and all the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I had his name embroidered on his quilt and his initials embroidered on his pillow, just like Jillian.  Jillian could not wait to see her baby in the crib!

Julian worked very hard on staining Jillian's changing table and dresser from the cherry/espresso finish they were to this white finish.  We also took off the door on the right side.

Instead of the door, we added bins from Restoration Hardware Kids and got his initials on one of those too.  

And his amazing wall art was done by my good friend, Meredith, and given to us at our baby shower.  I think it is the perfect addition to his room!

Julian put up the valance in his room to make the room look more finished.

Now all the room needed was a beautiful baby boy to call it his own!  We brought Alex to his nursery the day we brought him home.

His first glimpse of his room

Sweet boy sleeping in his crib

Alex, I hope you know how much your Daddy and I love you, and how hard your Daddy worked to give you the nursery of his dreams!  Your Daddy worked tirelessly for months on giving you (and your sister) a room that any kid would dream of!  Daddy did all the hard labor...Mommy did all the shopping!  But every last detail in your room was hand-picked just for you with love!

DIY: Julian's Centerpiece

I know I am a little behind in posting this, but I wanted to share Julian's DIY from the holidays.  After we put up all our decorations, we could not decide what we wanted to do as our table centerpiece.  After searching at all our go-to decorating shops, Julian instead consulted one of his favorite websites (Brit + Co.) and we scanned an article of ways to make your holiday table festive.  When I saw this one, I immediately fell in love with it.  Julian took one look at it and decided that he could make that himself.   

For anyone who cares, I have detailed exactly how we did this (in case someone wants to replicate this project).  And for anyone who doesn't just scroll to the bottom to see the final product.  

First, we would have to get the wood for the centerpiece.  Julian scouted out a few trees and cut one down. I won't really say where that part came from. =)

Next, he cut the tree down to about the size that we needed for our table.  Our table is 6 feet long and so the log is 3.5 feet.  

Measure twice...cut once!

Here is the final log size.  

Then, Julian took a 1.5 " drill bit and drilled 7 holes for tea lights on to the top.  He measured and spaced those 3 inches from the edge of the log and 6 inches apart.   

Here is the log with the tea lights sitting on our table.  

That was enough work for one day.  We spent the next few days looking for the table runner and the greenery that would go around the log.  We settled on a 108" beige/green runner from World Market (around $17 with our coupon) and I found this greenery at Hobby Lobby. It was only 6 feet of garland and it was the only one they had left.  But I bought it anyway thinking we could make it work.  By the time I got this, Hobby Lobby was selling their Christmas decor at 50% off so we only paid $25 for the garland.   

When I brought the garland home, Julian was a little skeptical about if this would work.  But he had a vision in his head and so he took out a pair of pruning shears.  

I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical at this point too.  I could not see how what he as doing would end up in this centerpiece of our dreams.  But he cut the garland up piece by piece and started to arrange it around the log.  

 The more he went along, the more I was totally into his vision.  And the end result...

The exact Pièce de résistance for our dining room table!

All told, we spent around $50 on supplies (not including the tools we already had) and Julian probably put in about 3 hours of labor on it all.  Totally worth the time and money for us to have the centerpiece that all our house guests have ranted and raved about commented on.  Maybe next year, I can get the place mats, napkins, and fancy plates to finish out our table (hint, hint Julian)!

He did such an amazing job with this DIY project and I am so glad that he loves doing these things.  Julian wants me to blog one DIY project a month of his and at this point, I say keep it coming!  My wish for the next DIY...a bookcase for Jillian's room!