February FREE Printable

This is one of the most traditional Valentine’s Day phrases and also one of my favorites! You can’t see these two simple words without thinking of this love-filled holiday; it’s the perfect representation of Valentine’s Day. 

Click here to download the February print as a PDF  file

*printable created by Jennifer Reed of @thesisterstudioig

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Whimsygirldesign Interview!

Happy Friday!

If you love the amazingly talented Lindsay you'll definitely want to stay tuned for our February issue this Monday night!

We get up close & personal with Lindsay as she shares her inspiration, favorite projects & design rules. Her interview is a fun look into her life as a designer answering questions YOU want to know ❤️

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Seeing Green

Happy "almost" weekend!

After posting this photo on Instagram today, I realized that besides clearly being addicted to the color green, I am pretty much a creature of habit.........are you?

You know the type......you find yourself doing the same things over and over again, but do you stop and think why? I took a little bit of time today to ponder this notion and came to the conclusion that I repeat things over and over again because:  A) I like it..... B) it's easy.... C) it just works.

In comes my "green addiction". Maybe it's because I love decorating with neutral decor and love a pretty complimenting color....heaven knows in 2015 I pretty much painted over all of my "builder beige" walls for an updated new crisp white.

Green for me, is not only an addiction, it's a sign of Spring. Living in Michigan this time of year, I really need some Spring inspiration....STAT.

I recently added some new items to my Painted Fox Curated Collection and you can surely bet there are vibrant green decor pieces that will instantly brighten up your winter home!

Adding green to your home decor offers you additional choices for some interesting items you may not have thought to use. Why not grab some pretty fresh herbs from your local fruit market and add them to mason jars for a unique display?
I love how these fresh herbs compliment this rustic farmhouse NO 1. tin.  Not only do the green colors work well together, the entire house smelled amazing with the wafting herb scent! Add in a farm fresh screened dish towel and your vignette is complete.

Proof positive......I lay green items all around my house! No table, surface or even chair is safe!

What's not to love about a gorgeous boxwood wreath? I love the look of boxwoods so much that I replaced all of my landscaping this past summer and added tons of boxwood bushes to my patio area! They truly are breathtaking, no matter where they are planted or hung! This boxwood wreath is the perfect color contrast to my DIY plank wall piece on my fireplace mantle. This wreath will never go out of style and I think it will be displayed here for a VERY long time.........

I never pass up the opportunity to add green decor pieces to my vignettes. How pretty are these green apples, moss balls and mini pears stacked on one of my favorite wood three tiered trays? I use this tray in my entryway, kitchen island and on my dining table. It's made its way to each room of my house! SOOO pretty and fun to decorate with...farmhouse, industrial and rustic styles all rolled into one beautiful piece!

There was no way I could pass up adding these unique artichoke hearts and twig moss balls to my Painted Fox Curated Collection.
I'm a sucker for texture and these pieces SCREAM "bring me home to decorate with".
These pieces easily fill baskets, trays, bowls and just about anywhere that you want interesting color and textures.....you can never have enough in my book!

Painted Fox is offering 20% off their entire website this week including all the beauties I have shown you here......throw in FREE SHIPPING and it sounds like a perfect shopping trip made in heaven.

Which new Painted Fox items have you swooning over?

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Oak Kitchen Nightmare Turned Beautiful

When we purchased the home it was last remodeled in the 1980's and it showed.  The worst being the yellow oak cabinets.  But of course, it being real wood my husband absolutely would NOT let me paint them.  What it is it with men and not being able to paint wood??!  Well I had to figure something out.  I was never going to get my dream white kitchen.

I learned with this house remodel, sometimes you just have to pick your battles.  And this was one of them.  This leads me to my next DIY.  How to turn your yellow oak cabinets into something beautiful!

Here is just before we started.  (Sorry for the mess, I am terrible about doing good before photos- I just want it done!)

Where to begin..  Lucky for me my dad is very handy and knowledgeable about wood working and led the way.  I was nervous how they would turn out, but I learned you have a lot of control with staining.  First off, the old finish needs to be removed.  Not stripped, just scuffed up enough for the new stain to penetrate the wood.

To do this, the first step is to take 220 sand paper and lightly sand the cabinets.  Remember with sandpaper also to go with the grain.  Next we took a Scotch Brite scouring pad to further scuff up the old finish.  These come in packs and are less than 5$ at the store.  I used a Heavy Duty Scotch Brite.  After a few hours of scrubbing each door and cabinet, a rag was used to clean off leftover dust and dirt.  With a clean and dry surface, we were ready to stain!

Now, here can be the tricky part.  Being that the cabinets were not stripped, whatever stain you pick, the cabinets will not be that exact color.  Also to note, depending on the stain and how long you let the stain penetrate, this will ultimately affect the finish look.  I recommend practicing on a place that won't be easily seen as a test area. I ended up choosing a Dark Walnut Minwax stain.  As I said earlier, the longer you let it sit the darker the finish.

 

After applying the stain with either a rag or a sponge brush, use a clean rag to rub off the stain.

I added this last picture to show what the cabinets looked like after just applying the stain before wiping.  Don't let this dark look scare you if this is your first time staining.  Most of it wipes off, but the grain in the wood turns darker.

Well, I am not the best picture taker but hopefully you can see the difference!  Oil based Polyurethane as it ages tends to turn wood a yellowish color. Because of this, most choose to go with a water base poly, BUT I will say from my experience water base polyurethane does not hold up as well, and in time and requires more maintenance. For this reason, and being that the kitchen cabinets take a great deal of abuse, I chose again to apply the finish coat with an oil based polyurethane satin finish.  I believe the oil base polyurethane brings out the grains of the wood.  Yes, there is much debate on what to use and which one is better, but ultimately it is a personal preference :)

Thank you for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions!  

Have a great day! :)

**Blog post courtesy of Morgan at The White Farmhouse Blog. Head over to her blog for more inspiration! 

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