Entryway Makeover with Hanging Wall Planters

 The wall behind our front door has been long overdue for a makeover. Like, it was really bothering me every time I looked at it. The color scheme in our house has gradually been transitioning to a lot of aqua accent colors, so this green/orange/purple combo just wasn't working anymore. And in general I just get bored of things and am always looking for an excuse to make a change.

Step One was to refinish the console table with chalk paint and dark wax, which you can read more about here. As you can see I also did some "shopping" around the house and found some beach-themed decor for the table.

Step Two was finding something to replace the three medallion mirrors. I knew I wanted to incorporate plants somehow (either real or faux), so I began searching Amazon for hanging wall planters. After too much time spent deliberating between all the options and styles, I finally decided to get these unique white ceramic flower planters.

Well, that meant I had to find something to hang them on, as a regular nail wouldn't do the trick. But I also didn't want a big bulky hook. Hello again, Amazon. Another search led me to these gold decorative wall hangers. (They also came with anchors and screws.) I was pleasantly surprised with the quality once they arrived. It was a set of four, even though only three were needed for my purposes.

 

After enlisting hubby's help with installing the hooks, the planters were ready to hang! 

As I'd hoped, the three planters fill out this wall space perfectly. They're not too big, and not too small. The back side is also flat so they don't stick too far out from the wall which was an important consideration. I dig the leather strap and brass screws, don't you?

Surprisingly my existing craft stash didn't include any flowers that worked well for these planters, so a quick trip to Hobby Lobby was in order. (I actually haven't been there in a very long time.) Luckily it happened to be the last day to get 50% off the floral category. Originally I thought I might get some succulents, but in the end I decided on three dahlia (?) stems for a very budget-friendly total of $12. Each large stem had three flowers on it, which I cut and arranged in the planters. Easy peasy.

You could get really creative with floral/succulent arrangements in these planters, but obviously I took the quickest and simplest route for immediate gratification. Also, in case you're wondering, there's no drainage hole in them. But according to the product description, adding a handful of small rocks and or charcoal to the bottom is an easy way to give excess water somewhere to go to prevent live plants from drowning.

Finally, the makeover is complete! All the pieces and parts came together quite nicely. Not only does it look more cohesive, it feels more sophisticated too. (As an added bonus, our front door wreath also ties in well) The overall cost for this entryway makeover was only about $50 for the planters, gold "hooks" and faux flowers. I purposely got flowers that will look appropriate year-round, but it would also be easy to switch them out for Christmas stems or other seasonal decor. Versatility is always a good thing in my book!

Console Table Chalk Paint Makeover - Quick & Easy!

What's a girl to do after she's painted all the things in her house? Start repainting, of course.

This little console table was a $25 thrift find several years ago. When I bought it, it was hunter green with a lighter oak stained top. I repainted it using a white latex paint and gloss finish, along with refinishing the top with a walnut stain. 

Recently I've gotten the itch to change up our entryway wall, so it was the perfect excuse to give this table another facelift. The white's fine and dandy, but I'm just bored with it. And since I've started using chalk paint pretty much exclusively on any cabinets and furniture, I knew this could be a pretty quick project. Mainly because chalk paint requires virtually no prep and dries quickly. So, after wiping the dust off the table, I just painted right over the existing gloss finish.

Normally for larger projects (like our kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets) I opt for the more pricey Annie Sloan chalk paint. But for this small table I just used Buttercream brand Teal Lagoon (because I still had about half a bottle after using it to refinish this small cabinet a couple years ago). It took two coats to get good coverage over the white.

Once the paint dried, I wiped on some clear wax since this that's supposed to help the dark wax apply more evenly. Then, I wiped on dark wax in sections, let it sit about 20 seconds, then wiped it off. The dark wax really tones down the bright paint and gives it an antiqued effect. With this Teal Lagoon color in particular, the wax also seems to bring out more green/aqua tone which I prefer.

Voila! Finished in one evening for immediate gratification, and it's just the look I was wanting. The table ties in nicely now with a few other pieces of "distressed aqua" furniture we have. It wouldn't take someone long after walking into our house to realize that this is one of my favorite colors.

Next I'm going to replace the circle medallion mirrors (another DIY project from way back when we had more of those colors in our decor) with three white wall planters that I just bought off Amazon. Stay tuned for the next phase of this little entryway makeover!

Master Bathroom Makeover: Part I (Lots of painting!)

I'm trying to remind myself that I don't always have to wait until finishing a DIY project to blog about it. I mean, let's face it, it's usually weeks or months from beginning to "end." And for my latest project (our master bathroom makeover) that's certainly the case. With that said, here's a progress update!

Back in July, I started painting all the walls. The old color was Tree Branch by Sherwin Williams (don't ask why I chose this color in the first place).

The new color is Colonnade Gray by SW. Bye bye, brown!

Maneuvering the ladder in the toilet room was one of the worst parts. But it doesn't feel like a dark cave in there anymore!

A few weeks after the walls, I worked up the motivation to start painting our vanity. Chalk painting is my go-to method for transforming cabinets without paying for brand new ones (see our kitchen makeover and hall bathroom makeover). This time, however, I got much more adventurous and ambitious with my technique than past projects. What did I have to lose? Anything would be an improvement over the orange-y oak stain.

My initial goal was to achieve some kind of aqua/turquoise color that would complement the walls and existing tile floor (which I'm not a fan of, but definitely not replacing it). After a great deal of experimenting on scrap wood with color mixing, layering and waxing, I finally came up with a winning combination.

• First, I painted on a layer of Annie Sloan Florence. This color is bold and beautiful. I want to use it again someday for a smaller accent piece, but for this vanity it made a good base color.
• For the second layer, I mixed together French Linen and Provence with some water to create a color wash and lightly brushed that on.
• I distressed the edges by wiping a damp cloth along the edges to remove some of the paint.
• Once everything was dry, I applied clear wax followed by dark wax, which was then wiped off to create an antiqued effect. 

First coat...

Color wash...

Lightly distressed edges...

Antiquing with dark wax...

Of course, these were just the doors and drawers. I also had to do the same thing to the rest of the vanity, which was more tedious with all the taping. As you can see, I was too impatient/lazy to even take out our toiletries.

When this all began, I thought I might end up spray painting or even just replacing the hardware. But once I saw the end result from the chalk painting and waxing, our existing hardware color (an antiqued brass) was actually perfect for this new look. Score!

Since then I've also painted the wood panels of our jetted tub using the same process. And we've ordered a new all-white countertop with integral sinks from Home Depot, as well as two brushed gold faucets that should tie everything together nicely. My hope (at the risk of jinxing something) is that we'll have all that replaced within the next month and can officially check this master bathroom makeover off the list! Stay tuned...

Painting the Master Bedroom, Part II: Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray

Before we get to this reveal, let me just say that it's solely based on the paint transformation alone. So please don't judge based on my bedroom styling skills or the size of our humble master bedroom. :)  

Okay, moving on. So for all of you who like instant gratification, here's our newly painted bedroom featuring Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray! I'm super thrilled with it and when you see the photos of what it looked like before, you'll understand why.

There are some additional before pictures and progress pictures in my previous post, but here's a quick refresher of the chocolate brown walls (actually Tree Branch, an SW color):

Painting the Master Bedroom, Part I: Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray

The last time I painted our master bedroom (and bathroom) walls was six years ago, in the summer of 2014 to be exact. At the time, I do recall being happy with the chocolate-y brown Sherwin Williams Tree Branch and Tavern Taupe colors that we'd chosen. But as the years have gone on, I've become increasingly turned off by the dark walls, especially since we don't have a lot of natural light in the bedroom (and virtually none in the bathroom). I'd rather be eating chocolate than looking it at on the walls.

These pictures were taken a few years ago after I got a new duvet cover, and before I had painted the trim white in the bedroom. But you get the idea of how dark and cave-like cozy the room is, especially with the dark furniture too.

The ceiling had been painted Tavern Taupe, which was slightly lighter than the Tree Branch on the walls.

Last summer, I almost got the motivation to repaint the bedroom (and bathroom) all again. I even painted a few color samples on the walls. Then, I just couldn't make up my mind and eventually lost the motivation altogether. Honestly, the thought of repainting everything again was overwhelming, and I felt too busy with work and other things to deal with it.

Replacing Floor Registers: Small Project, Big Impact!

One thing I've been wanting to do for quite awhile (at least ever since we replaced our flooring a few years ago) is upgrade our floor registers. These utilitarian brown-ish metal ones were big eyesores next to our weathered vinyl plank floor. But despite being an extremely simple "project" to replace the floor registers, it just hasn't ranked very high on our priority list. 

DIY Butcher Block Desk for the Home Office

Sooo, it's been nine months since my last blog post. Although given my track record the past couple years, that should come as no surprise to anyone. But I'm determined to get somewhat caught back up and start sharing projects more regularly here, even if they seem small and insignificant. (Don't hold your breath though.)

That said, I'm going to ease back into this with a look at our latest DIY project: a butcher block desk. Keep reading below for the details!

We've had two very large slabs of oak butcher block sitting in a spare room for several years (yes, years) now. They were left over from our kitchen countertop project, because we originally bought enough for a waterfall-style breakfast bar, which we did not end up doing. 

So anyway, last month we finally came to terms with the fact that we were never going to get around to making a built-in desk for an office downstairs (our original grand plan when we moved into our house)... so the butcher block now seemed like the obvious choice for creating a minimalist standalone desk. And, given that I have been working from home (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) for the past seven weeks using our dining room table as my workspace... I was beyond ready for a real, grown-up desk in an actual dedicated home office.