Simple DIY: Rusty Fire Pit Turned Plant Stand

I've got a simple DIY project to share with you today (okay, so I actually completed this project almost a year ago, but hey, better late than never). 

This fire pit was given to us as a gift many years ago, and while we did use it a few times at first, it eventually became too much of a hassle to deal with (side note: we've recently gotten this fire table with propane tank, which is much easier to use and enjoy). 

Anyway, we didn't ever throw the old fire pit out, but just stashed it away outside with some other stuff. As you might guess, it started to rust... badly. However, I didn't want to send it to the landfill and felt there was surely a way to repurpose it. After some brainstorming I finally decided to turn it into a plant stand to put on our newly rebuilt deck. 

The first task was to clean it off as much as possible with a wire brush, then just wipe all the pieces down thoroughly. After going out to purchase some Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer, it was time to start the transformation. 

I laid all the pieces out in the yard on a large piece of painter's plastic, then started spraying my little heart out. I can't remember if it took two or three (or four?) coats, but it did require a bit of patience until a uniform finish was achieved. Also, as with any spray paint project, it's ideal to do this on a day with little to no wind -- which, fun fact, is virtually impossible here in Kansas. 

After the Rust Reformer was applied, I finished it off with a couple coats of Rust-Oleum Matte Clear Enamel. And voila! The fire pit was looking pretty sharp now compared to the old rusty version. 

My original idea was to use the fire pit as an actual planter and fill it with dirt and some flowers (or possibly succulents). But I never got ambitious enough, so currently it's just used as a plant stand for a potted plant. The bright green of this ice plant really popped against the new black finish!

So there you have it. Nothing fancy, just a good ol' spray paint transformation. Have you ever used the Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer to bring something back to life?

Finishing the Basement Bathroom: Part II (The Reveal)

After more than 14 years of living in this house, I was truly beginning to think we would never have a bathroom in our basement. We had long since gotten used to going upstairs every time we needed to use the bathroom (extra exercise!). But a few months ago, we finally settled on a contractor to do the job for us and got on their schedule in October. It took them a couple weeks, which was really nothing if you consider how long it would have taken us to DIY it. 

As a reminder, here's what stage it was at when we turned things over to the contractor. For more before pictures (and a brief history of how we had to reconfigure this bathroom layout early on to make the space more efficient), check out my previous post. 

But let's be honest, you're just here for the "After" photos (don't blame ya), so keep scrolling to feast your eyes on our shiny new bathroom! At the end of this post, I've included a list of the various materials/fixtures we used. 

It's always a bit challenging to envision how an unfinished space will look once everything you've selected is all put together, but honestly I'm super pleased with how this turned out. It may be the smallest bathroom in our house, but ironically it's the nicest.

We still plan to add a couple floating shelves (either glass or wood) above the toilet. I just don't want anything that feels too heavy or obtrusive in this small space.

The finished shower space is about 36" x 42". The niche provides storage space, and I also wanted to include a foot rest to make leg shaving easier.

The oak butcher block was part of a slab that we already had on hand from our kitchen renovation. We left the color natural and simply applied several clear poly coats for a nice, smooth, water-resistant finish.

Because the bathroom is so small and there's not much counter space, we utilized the space between wall studs for a built-in niche that coordinates with the one in the shower.

The mirror we chose is simple and frameless, so as not to detract from the picket tile wall and pendant light  which are the main focal points.

We chose to add a towel bar on the vanity drawer because we didn't want a towel hanging on the wall next to the sink. It just seems like a cleaner look this way (plus the bar doubles as the drawer pull).

So if anyone needs me now and can't find me upstairs, I'll just be down here in our bathroom gawking in disbelief and delight.

MATERIALS/FIXTURES/COLORS

Sink 
Kingston Brass Parisian White Vitreous China Vessel Sink

Wall mount faucet
Pfister Kenzo Wall Mount Bathroom Faucet (Brushed Nickel)

Shower faucet
Pfister Kenzo Tub & Shower Trim Kit (Brushed Nickel)

Shower wall tile
Carrara 12x24" Polished Porcelain Stone Look Tile

Shower floor tile

Carrara 10x12" Ceramic Hexagon Mosaic Tile

Mosaic picket tile

Cienega Springs Mixed Glass Mosaic Tile

Pendant light fixture

James Allen Tyrell Single Light 9-1/4" Mini Pendant w/ Glass Shade

Mirror

Frameless Oval Beveled Edge Bathroom Vanity Mirror

Towel bars, etc.

Pfister Kenzo 24" Towel Bar

Pfister Kenzo 18" Towel Bar

Pfister Kenzo Toilet Tissue Holder
Pfister Kenzo Robe Hook

Wall color
Sherwin-Williams Alpaca

Vanity color

Behr Delicate Mist

Master Bathroom Makeover Part II: The Reveal

I thought this day might never come, but I'm finally ready to share the official "reveal" of our DIY master bathroom makeover. It's been months in the making — a weekend here, a weekend there, you know how it goes. The polished chrome towel bars still haven't been switched out yet, but who knows if I'll ever get to that.

So, is this my dream bathroom now? Well... no. But, it's a vast improvement and much-needed freshening up. All in all, we achieved a big transformation with a fairly small budget (I think we stayed under $1,500).

Keep on scrolling for all the photos and more details!

Before: Dark & Drab

After: Lighter & Fresher!

To be honest, it all looks much better in person. There's no natural light and our bulbs are on the warm side, so it's challenging to get great photos. And, my camera phone was struggling to focus and capture the detail on the distressed cabinets. (Excuses, excuses...) Anyway, here's a brief rundown of the updates which have taken place over the past few months:

Painting all the trim white

Painting the walls Colonnade Gray by Sherwin Williams

Chalk painting the vanity and soaker tub panels

Tearing out the old grouted tile countertop and backsplash

(and destroying some drywall in the process)

Patching the drywall, spraying the texture and repainting

Installing a new solid white countertop with integral sinks

(73" Camilla Cultured White Vanity Top with Double Basin)

Installing new faucets

(Kraus Arlo Bathroom Faucet in brushed gold)

Though it was a fairly tedious project, painting the vanity instead of getting a brand new one saved us a good chunk of money. Another cost-saving decision was keeping our existing mirrors, light fixtures and cabinet hardware, since they mostly still coordinated with the new updates. Also, we obviously didn't replace the flooring either — that was just way more than we wanted to get into at this point.

Neither one of us was too familiar with the Kraus brand before this, but it turns out these faucets are really beautiful and high-quality. The brushed gold is almost more of a champagne color.

This shelf has been here for years, but now the vases and canvas print stand out much more against the light gray walls. 

I'd love to hear what you think about the new paint colors and other updates! If it were your bathroom, how would you have transformed it on a budget?

New Floating Shelves in the Kitchen!

Hello and happy new year, friends! (Yes, it's already February, but I haven't posted here since December, soo...) You might remember that last time I shared some photos of our almost-complete kitchen, minus the floating shelves on either side of the microwave. Well I'm happy to say that we've made some good progress lately, and the shelves are finally installed! 

First of all, let me backtrack a bit before the reveal. The brackets we used were the Aksel shelf hardware from Shelfology. These things are pretty heavy-duty, so we could rest easy about the weight of the shelves and what we put on them. We installed the brackets prior to the backsplash - I'm not sure if there's actually a recommended method there, but to us it seemed easier than adding them after the backsplash. (Although it probably caused some frustration for the guy we hired to install the backsplash.)

Our Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover... almost complete!

Happy December! I don't know how it got here so fast, but then again I say that every year. My morning was spent doing some laundry and general cleaning, then running a couple errands in the blustery weather. Thrilling, I know. Now I'm trying to warm up in the basement with a Christmas movie on in the background as I fill you in on the latest developments 'round here. Which brings me to the big announcement:

Ladies and gentlemen: We. Have. A. Backsplash! I think I'm still in disbelief. It's no exaggeration when I say I thought this day might never come. It felt like ages that we were backsplash-less as we trudged through the multiple layers of our DIY kitchen renovation. In reality, it's been about two and a half years since it all really started in this room (summer 2016).

First, let's take a look at what our kitchen looked like wayyy back when we moved in (circa 2008). Because the end result is always much more impactful if you know what it looked like before!

(These were obviously taken in different lighting, but the paint color's the same in both.)

50 shades of beige, gold and orange, amiright? Then a few years ago I painted all our walls gray, which was a much-needed improvement.

Coming Soon... New Kitchen Backsplash!

I can't believe the day has finally come. After months (and months) of slowly chipping away at our kitchen renovation the DIY way (tearing out old backsplash and countertops, painting cabinets, custom-building a new breakfast bar, installing a new sink and butcher block counters, and adding floating shelf brackets)... We are finally having someone come to install our backsplash tomorrow. Eventually you come to a point where you realize you just don't have enough hours in the day to do it all yourself, and that's where we're at right now. 

In fact it's been such a long process thus far that I don't think I'll actually believe it's happening until I see the backsplash up with my own eyes. We bought these boxes at Menards long ago, and the mosaic tiles inside have just been waiting for their time to shine. 

Mohawk Grand Terrace Metallic Medley

Here are some photos of our kitchen I just took tonight, in anticipation for the "before and after" pictures of course. But I figured I might as well share this quick update now, since I've been slacking with regular blog updates about all the other aforementioned projects. 

Cabinet Makeover: Chalk Paint with Antique Wax

As you may know if you've read some of my recent posts, I'm no stranger to chalk paint. I've painted all our kitchen cabinets, plus a coffee table and a couple other small pieces of furniture with various brands of chalk paint (aka miracle paint). However, up until now I've only used clear wax to protect said pieces. 

This past weekend, however, that all changed. *cue dramatic music* On a whim, I decided to paint a small cabinet in our dining room which holds all our kitchen towels and such. Several years ago I had actually re-stained the cabinet a dark espresso brown. But since then we've installed new flooring (also very dark brown), so this little corner was feeling pretty heavy and monotone. And to be honest, I was feeling antsy and in need of a smallish, weekend DIY project to feel productive.

For those of you that need immediate gratification (trust me, I get it), I'm just going to show a "before & after" right now. Of course, hopefully you'll still read the rest of this post to see the whole process and more pictures of the final result!

Initially I thought of painting the cabinet Annie Sloan Graphite to match our lower kitchen cabinets. But that just seemed too matchy-matchy, plus we just have a lot of gray shades happening in our house already. No, it needed to be a color with a bit more punch — yet still tie in to our other decor. Digging through my stash of chalk paint, I pulled out a bottle called Teal Lagoon, which seemed like a solid choice given we have some other teal accents. 

New Year, New [Old] Table: A Shabby Chic Chalk Paint Makeover

On a whim this weekend, I decided to tackle another chalk paint project, albeit a small one. That's the great thing about chalk paint -- once you make up your mind on what you want to do, you can just get right to it (as long as you have the paint and brushes, of course). No prep work required, other than maybe a little cleaning of whatever surface you want to paint! 

For those of you out there who like immediate gratification, this Before & After is just for you. Keep reading on for all the details!

So the subject of this latest transformation is a little end table we've had forever (I'm pretty sure it was a hand-me-down from my sister). In fact, it already underwent a basic black makeover several years ago. But the gloss black just wasn't doing it for me anymore, especially since most of our furniture is now matte and distressed.