Are We There Yet?

This past week marked the end of Week 5 of Project Kitchen Renovation.  And we're ALMOST there.  ALMOST isn't really any consolation when you've been doing your dishes in the bathtub for 35 days, though.

Because we're getting closer to the end, I don't want to spoil the big reveal with full room pictures at this point, so we'll just do some closeups to tide you over!

First up- the countertops are in!  I worked last week sealing the undersides of the countertops at night after the contractor left for the day.  They stunk up the basement for a few days, but I wanted to make sure that all 6 sides of these beautiful walnut countertops are sealed against the elements as much as possible.  I won't bore you with step by step details on how to seal butcherblock countertops, but here's the link to the best tutorial I found on DIY sealing.  The product I'm using is called Waterlox- I did my research, and found it to be very highly recommended for sealing butcherblock countertops with undermount sinks. 

Umm...amazing, right?

My contractor installed the countertops after the bottoms were sealed, and now I've been working to seal the tops at night to give them ample time to cure before work begins the next morning on other parts of the kitchen.

Sink's in!  Too bad there's still no water hooked up to it.  I got a 10'" deep sink.  Couple that with 2" thick countertops, and one short gal, and you'll probably find me head down, bum up on multiple occasions as I fall into the depths of this beautiful piece of sinkdom.  (Not. Even. A. Word.  Really, though, who cares!?)

Look at all that extra counterspace!!
Think of the smorgasbord of food that can be lined up
in Pinterest worthy shots that will drive everyone mad
with jealousy! (Or not, if you're not into that sort of thing.)

The tile is also in the process of being installed. 

Yes, siree, I asked the contractor to tile behind the entire fridge.
You'll never see it after this picture, but I know it's there.

My open shelves are also starting to get their coats of sealer...look how beautiful they are!!  Quick shoutout to my brother's friend Steve King (yes, that's his real name) for making these beauties for me on super short notice so I could haul them back with me from New York last month.  He's such a gem!

Bottom shelf with one coat of sealer.  Others are still raw walnut.
So pretty!!!

That's all you get, folks.  A few quick snapshots before this project gets wrapped up!!  (And by wrapped up, I mean that my contractor is going on vacation in a few days so the project completion date is getting delayed.  It was supposed to be done before he left.  Sigh.)

Wine. It Does a Body Good.

Please don't sue me for stealing your slogan, Dairy Farmers of America!  Wine is much more fabulous than milk, though, isn't it? (and water. and every other beverage. right?)

Preach it!

My sister had a birthday in August, so it was time to DIY!  For those of you who like to say, "It takes too much time to DIY, I can just go shopping and buy something.", I officially challenge that statement.  All in, which included researching my sister's Pinterest boards for what to make, making the gift, and running it to the post office took a smidge over an hour (in bits and pieces, mind you).  Unless you live directly above a gift shop and your sister lives with you, I doubt you're clocking any less time in buying vs. DIY'ing a gift like this.  Plus, people LOVE homemade gifts.  Unless they don't.  Soooo, there's that, I guess.

Luckily for me, my sister appreciates what I DIY for her.  Either that, or she's just too nice to say otherwise.  I'm sure I've given her a few duds in my DIY days, but hopefully the good projects make up for it.

Today's project is an easy one!  Here's what you need:

Scrap of wood
Paint (the 99cent acrylic variety will do just fine)
Paintbrush
Paper/pattern/sketch (or freehand it, whatevs.)

Here's the plan:

Take your piece of wood that most certainly DID NOT come from the garage attic covered in bird poop, and make sure it's clean and free of rough edges.  (Here's the spot where my sister will pause, never knowing if the above sentence is the truth, or just my way of freaking her out.  She'll live in the dark forever- I'll never tell.)

It's clean, I promise!!
(I used the tacks to hold up the backside of the board for quicker drying time)

Next up, paint the wood with your background color.  I chose to use a mixture of white and graphite paint with a smidge of water- I wanted more of a weathered gray wood look- something slightly opaque, but still rustic looking. 

Let the paint soak in for a  minute, and then wipe it softly
with a rag to let some of the wood grain show through.

While your paint is drying, start making sketches of your wine bottle.  Don't worry if it isn't perfect- it shouldn't be- it's not a photograph!!  When you think you have the template you want, slap it on your DRY wood piece, and trace around it.

I sketched a smaller version of the bottle first,
and then enlarged around it to make the process a bit easier.

Here's where you need to make sure you've got the right paintbrush- no dollar store paint by numbers brush here.  Get yourself a small angled brush- that's what'll work best for painting straight lines with a smart edge.  Use your angled brush to trace the outline of your wine bottle, and then fill it in.  I used the full strength version of my graphite acrylic paint that I mixed up earlier.  You could always use chalkboard paint here, as I was going for a similar look, but I did not feel like busting out and mixing up my pint of chalkboard paint when I wasn't going to use it as a reusable chalkboard. 

Ignore the shadows, please- my basement craft room needs some additional lighting.

While that dries, practice your handwriting.  You need to give it a few goes- work the kinks out!!

Practice makes (almost) perfect!

When you feel that your handwriting is sufficiently less sucky than when you started practicing, use a paint marker on your wood board.

Almost done!

Drill a small hole in the back to use as a hangar of sorts, and voila, you're done!

Easy peazy.

Instant gift!!

Hope you liked it, Jess!!

Finally! My Very Own Gallery Wall.

I spend a lot of time in my living room.  Especially this winter, with the crazy weather we've had...the couch, a quilt, and Netflix have become dear, dear friends of mine.  When I spend a lot of time in one room, my DIY wheels start turning and churning on what I can do to make it better.  Couple that with a trip to Europe and some fantastic art finds, and you're looking at a girl who wanted to create a super amazing gallery wall above her couch.

Yes siree bob, I caught the gallery wall bug.  For months, I've been typing in "gallery walls" into the Pinterest search box just to sigh and yearn over the beautiful walls pictured, hoping for one of my own.  You know what those sites don't tell you about gallery walls, though?  Unless you've got some serious DIY to do, they are E.X.P.E.N.S.I.V.E.  You really need a lot of art to occupy even a smallish wall if you want to have any type of dramatic impact.

You, dear readers, all know by this point that I'm going to create a gallery wall if I decide that I want one.  And I wanted one.  I won't make you read through my step by step process before showing you the finished product.  I'm too excited to wait.  Here it is!!!

BEFORE

AFTER!!!!!

WOW, right?  I'm so in love.  I keep standing in the doorway to the living room, just sighing with love.  If I could hug this wall, I would.  Yay!!

Ok, now for the deets.  Here's how I got this party started:

First, I gathered all of the art I was going to put on the wall.  Several pieces were ones I had just bought at a small antique book/map shop while in Amsterdam.  I had them framed, knowing they would be hung together on my living room wall.  I decided not to frame them in the same frames, as I wanted a look that said, "I've been gathered lovingly over time".  So, I chose frames and mats that complimented each other without matching each other.  

Once I got these home, I began the hunt for other pieces to include on the wall.  I pilfered a piece from the dining room, and replaced it with a new piece of art that deserved its own spot not on the gallery wall.  I also printed off a few snapshots from our travels to Napa Valley and South Korea, and chose one that complimented the rest of the art once it was all grouped together.  I had a plain wooden frame in the basement that got a quick coat of gold paint, and it was ready to go.

Painted gold with charcoal grey underneath.
Pretty much the same process that I did for my travel boxes.

At this point, I only had 6 pieces- I still needed more art.  Off to JoAnn's I went.  Not to buy ready-art, but to buy some canvasses.  All canvasses were already 50% off, and coupled with my 20% off the total coupon, AND the $20 discount I asked for because one canvas was slightly frayed on the edge- I got three deep mount canvasses for less than $20.  The 2'X3' canvas alone was $60 full price!  I don't play when it comes to craft discounts- that's serious business.

Never hurts to ask for a discount!  The most they'll do is say no!

Now, OF COURSE I already had acrylic paints at home- what DIY'er doesn't?  Using a few online pieces as inspiration, I got to work.  At this point, I am willing to straight up admit that I did not just dream up these pieces of art.  I'm creative, but sometimes starting a whole art piece from scratch is too tedious, even for me. There's sketches that have to be done, mock-ups, etc.  I just don't have time for that.  I was on a gallery wall mission. So, I used my inspiration pieces, my paints, and got to work on those canvasses.

Layers...

And layers...

And layers.  Here's where I put down the camera and really got to work.
No more pictures til the finished product.

Sorry, no step by step DIY instructions for this.  If you want some, go to a Painting with a Twist or Paint Party event. They'll let you sip wine and paint a canvas in the adult version of paint by numbers.  This isn't that:)

While my canvasses were in the process of being painted, I began to lay out my frames to see where I wanted them to be hung.  Before doing this, I measured the wall space that they would fill.  Several sites told me that nothing should be hung less than 10" from the top of the couch, so that was my starting point.

In order to keep my frames out of harm's/feets way, I used what little floor space I had in the guest room to lay out my pattern.  I used a few stand-ins for my big canvas, and began moving things around.  It probably took me two hours of moving pieces, walking away, coming back into the room with fresh eyes, moving things around again, etc, before I got everything where I thought I wanted it. 

Now, I needed a way to transfer this jigsaw puzzle of frames onto the wall.  I took a shower curtain and put it under the frames (with some cutting and taping to adjust it to the right gallery wall size).

Frames with a few stand-ins for sizing.

Next, I took a black marker, and traced the outline of each piece onto the plastic, and then hung the plastic on the wall with painters tape.

Be CAREFUL...don't get that marker on the frames!!
If you're wondering, this piece is a child's textbook map insert from Holland.
 It shows, in small picture form, the natural resources of the country:)

Using the black outlines as a guide, I was then able to make nailholes in the appropriate spots in order to hang each piece with minimal fuss.  Even with this step, I still ended up making one or two small changes once everything was up on the wall.  The plastic and outline tarp definitely made things MUCH easier, though.

Can you (barely) see those outlines?

So, here's my wall again.  Isn't it lovely??  I just can't stop staring at it.

Margot is becoming quite the little camera diva.

Sending a special shoutout to my "took five minutes to paint this" canvas of the Detroit skyline!

All of this art were less than $100 total.  The framing I didn't DIY?
Shh...we won't talk about that, alright?  My love for oddly sized pieces apparently knows no bounds.

A little lamp light romantic glow for you...I'm going to go blind from reading in this room in low light!

This is becoming a bad habit to leave you with a picture of Margot, but I'm going to do it anyway...she's my fur baby and I love her!  While she may appear to be giving you, dear readers, a disapproving look, she's actually beaming inside with pride for having had her picture taken in front of such a pretty gallery wall.  Seriously.

Yep, that's a piece of rawhide stuck on her nose.  Not classy, Margot, not classy.