Made by Kely & Dave

I don’t have many issues with the diy/interior design blogosphere…usually.  One issue I do have and have often though (and one huge reason why I blog), is seeing these beautiful rooms and then finding out that hundreds, and many times, thousands of dollars went into the before to make it the after.  While that’s all great and grand, it leaves budgeting folk like me hanging.  I mean, I have lots of before’s I’d love to stamp after’s but I definitely don’t have hundreds much less thousands of dollars to do so.

That’s why I love love love so very very much when I see beautiful rooms made beautiful on a dime (or a few…but you get my point).  It’s also why I tried not to sound too please-please-please when I asked my college friend Kely if I could share her recent makeover on the blog.  She and her husband, Dave, recently redid their daughters’ room for their eldest’s birthday and they did it on a budget…and it’s gorgeous!

Look!
   
On. A. Budget.  You can pick your jaw up off the table/floor now.

Here’s what the room looked like before:
 
Maybe you could argue that it had a ombre vibe going with the light blue paint meets blue sponge paint meets blue carpet but maybe you’d be arguing from the 1990’s.  Painting the walls was an easy and cheap update but swapping out that blue carpet was out of the question so Kely and Dave just worked with it; incorporating it into the room to make it feel like it belonged by adding some other, more 2015-ish blue accents.

 

And let’s talk about what I think might be my favorite part, the chandelier!  This is the boring fixture that was:

But Kely spray painted a chandelier, up it went, and boom!  Amazing!


Before:


They also painted the long dresser and hung a gallery wall of sweet little frames over it.
Inside the frames are pieces of the blue fabric that Kely used in making the bed pillows…yes, she did.  She sewed the pillow covers and curtains.  She’s good.


Before:


Their daughter loves Edgar Degas’ work so one of his prints went up on the wall opposite the beds.

Before:
 

After:
       

Are you as amazed as me?  Seriously, I couldn’t stop looking at the after pictures when she sent them to me.  Beauty can be attained on a budget and here is some serious proof!

Let’s take a gander one more time because it’s just that good.

*heart-eyed emoji*

:)

Made by Lisa

You guys.  I’m up to my eyeballs in a mini-redecorating sesh in the living room.  While I’m having so much fun scheming and planning and making ideas come to life, it’s taking me f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
Here’s a sneak peek at the progress:
  

So, while I’m busy painting and sewing during every free moment (nap and bedtimes!), let me share with you this sweet nursery that Lisa whipped up for a special family she knows. 

She emailed me to tell me about the nursery and how little she spent putting it together a few months ago.  By using things she already had, a few gifts, and shopping with a thrifty mindset, she got away with only spending about $55 total!  She’s a girl after my own heart!  You don’t have to spend a lot to get a whole lot of cute!  Proof:
  
The mobile in the corner is made of small birdhouses that Lisa had and painted bright colors.  A friend of hers made the mobile by stringing them onto an embroidery hoop.
 
Some of the frames above the dresser were new, some were thrifted, and some were already owned.  The art in the frames were all printables she found for free online.  The three poufs hanging from the ceiling corner were made from tissue paper she already had on hand.

Lisa made the window valance with her new sewing machine and followed an online tutorial to do so.  The fabric was some she had from a project that never came to fruition.  I love the color it adds to the room!  The lamp was something meant for another project that didn’t happen.  For the nursery, she spray painted it pink and added green pom pom trim to the shade.  The bunting on the wall above the bassinet is made of colorful cardstock hot glued to a strand of pom pom trim.  The letter above it was found at Hobby Lobby on sale.  The rocking chair was one Lisa and her husband had gotten for free so they gave it to this family and Lisa used an old pillow that she had spiced up with a new cover to add to the chair.
 
The floor lamp was a steal at $15 and the dresser was one the family already had.

The best part about this whole little makeover was that it was a surprise and the family that received it was a family in need.  I love seeing beautiful people do beautiful things like this.  Thank you so much for sharing Lisa!  :)

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I hope you’re all having a fantastic Monday!

Oh, and Happy belated St. Valentine’s Day!  I hope yours was full of lots of love!  We stayed home and Anthony  made the most amazing dinner – teriyaki steak shish kabobs with warm red potato salad and strawberry crepes after.  It was the best dinner I’ve had in a long time; packed with a ton of flavor and a ton of love and I tried so hard to savor every bite but I think ‘gobbled it up’ would be a better description of the way it went down my hatch.  So, so good…just like my personal cook.  He’s so, so good and while I’d rather Valentine’s Day sentiments were shared everyday around the world, it was a sweet day to remind each other how much we love and value one another.  ‘Bean in love’ is what we’re all about anyway, right?  :)    

Faux Marble Countertops

So I have this friend.  Her name is Jesse.  She’s really awesome.  I might’ve mentioned her before…like here and here.  Before we were “friends”, I used to see her at church and I thought “that girl is so pretty.”  Case in point (don’t kill me Jesse!):
 
[This is around about when we first met...and this pic was totally stolen from Facebook.]
  She has this amazing short hair that only a few people can pull off which automatically makes you really cool and a semi-shy person like me very in awe and slightly intimidated, not wanting to risk a “Hi, I’m Sheena!” for fear that I could creep her out.  Thankfully, we started talking one night whilst our husbands had a meeting together and a budding friendship began.  She’s an avid DIY-er like me and this is the story of her kitchen countertops, previously (and technically, still) laminate gone marble of the faux variety.
 
   

You can see her whole kitchen transformation here but today, we’re focusing on those gorgeous countertops.  As you can see from the ‘before’ photo, her tops used to be a not-so-wonderful shade of boring cream with a matching backsplash.  Before painting, Jesse ripped off the backsplash, saying hasta la vista for good.  Then she gave the countertops a light sanding and rolled on two coats of Zinsser primer with a foam roller.  When that was dry, she rolled on a dark charcoal latex paint as her base color.
 

To achieve the faux marble look, she followed this tutorial by Danika Herrick at Gorgeous Shiny Things.  For the veining, Jesse used Folk Art acrylic paint (black, white, and a few shades of gray) she got at Walmart and added Floetrol to it to extend it’s drying time. 

This was a really important step.  Acrylic paint tends to dry really fast so by adding the Floetrol, she had more time to work with it, change parts she didn’t like, move it around more, etc…

Here are some in-process shots: 

 

After all the marbling was done and dry, Jesse poured EnviroTex Lite over all the counters to seal them and add that amazing shine.
 

Here’s Jesse to explain that part:

Let’s talk Envirotex Lite. This stuff is sticky & messy, kinda like tree sap, but oilier & more fluid. I recommend having a partner, a timer, lots of disposable stir sticks, foam brushes, latex gloves, disposable mixing containers, and lots of newspaper lying around to set sticky items on. The directions recommend using a small piece of stiff paper to facilitate the spreading of the epoxy once it is poured. I’d recommend a small piece of stiff plastic instead. Paper quickly soaks up the epoxy & becomes flimsy & useless.

First, I spread newspaper on the floor & taped it over the lower cabinets, under the countertop ledge to catch drips.  I still got a couple of drips on the cabinets - do your prep work.  It makes the process so much easier, especially once the stuff starts dripping everywhere!

What I did wrong:  I started with the largest counter space (2x6) & didn’t mix enough epoxy to cover the whole thing. So, instead of letting it self-level, I was trying to stretch it too thin (which left it uneven & drying too fast), spreading with a piece of floppy paper (did not work), then mixing another batch as fast as I could to cover all the bad spots. When I poured the new mixture next to the partly dry mixture, it created striations in the final effect, and slight ridges. Also, since I was dealing with a limited amount of epoxy, it wasn’t dripping over the edges in abundance, so it was harder to coat them. I think one 32 oz. size of epoxy is good for a 2x4 space.

Lesson:  Start with a small area (2x2) first, to get the feel of the stuff. Also—don’t panic! You have more working time than you think to push it where it needs to go - just make sure you’ve mixed enough!

To do it right, pour your epoxy on your space.  I poured in a spiral, so it was already over the whole space.  Hand off the empty container to your partner & get your spreader in one hand and a foam brush in the other.  Then, just move it around with your plastic spreader until there are no dry spots. You want it thick so don’t scrape it across the counter - more like skim over the top.  As it drips over the edges, try to catch the drips with the foam brush & spread it sideways to cover the counter edges.  The edges will not be as thick & pretty as the top surface, just make sure there are no dry spots.  As the epoxy dries, you can wipe/scrape off the drips from under the edge.

Ideally, I would have set up something over the counters to help keep dust from settling into the drying epoxy, but I didn’t want the hassle.  As it got tacky, I got a straight pin & picked out some noticeable dust particles.  I used a hair dryer on low to gently get trapped bubbles out.  This part was like magic!  And I blew my breath onto some particularly stubborn bubbles.

All in all, the epoxy is VERY Forgiving!  It does level itself out over the 3-day drying period.  And any striations/bubbles/dust particles that were left behind only added to the ‘real stone’ effect.  A more mottled design helps hide these thing also.

Daily use:  The epoxy scratches fairly easily - fine shallow scratches. So, don't slide heavy things around on it for fun (like full plastic pitchers of water).  Again, my design is mottled enough that I think these scratches add to the charm. The directions say if you want a satin finish, you can sand the whole surface with superfine sandpaper. I may do that one day if I feel my surface is looking shabby.  Or I could just pour a new coat on and voila, brand new shine!  The epoxy is very hard & durable, yet also remains slightly moveable.  Heavy or sharp items leave indentations in the surface, if left in one place too long.  I keep a pad under my coffee maker, so its little feet don't sink in.  If you get an indentation, don't fret, it will also settle out with time.  And I think it's needless to say, but don't put hot things on it, or chop on it - same as with regular laminate.

And that’s it!  Look how amazing her countertops look! 

I promise you in person they look even more amazing and unless you’d read this blog post or were some sort of marble connoisseur, you’d never know they weren’t real.

The countertops in our guest bathroom/kids’ bathroom are a lovely cream laminate and I’m dying to use this technique to paint them…and I will…one of these days! 

So, last but not least, Jesse’s cost breakdown -->
Primer:  $0 (had it)
Base color paint:  $0 (had it)
Acrylic paint:  $5 (Walmart)
Glaze:  $0 (had it)
Floetrol:  $0 (had it)
Brushes and rollers:  $0 (had them)
EnviroTex:  $45 (2 big and 1 small carton with a 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby)
Grand total Jesse spent:  $50
Grand total you’d spend if you had to buy everything:  about $105

If you have any questions about Jesse’s countertops or the process she used to paint them, feel free to leave them in the comments below and I’ll get with her and back to you asap!  If you marble-ize your countertops or anything else, let us know!  We’d love to see!

TGIF!

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If you liked it then you shoulda put a (digital) pin in it!

Hello Gorgeous

I don’t even know where to start with this post…what to say.  Maybe that’s because all three of our kids have the kind of colds that turn your nose into a faucet.  Imagine following your sick toddler/baby around so you can wipe his/her nose before it gets wiped on anything but a tissue and then multiply that by three.  Yes.  Glory days over here.  Anyway, really that’s just an excuse for my lack of words because in reality, your jaw will drop like mine when you see how amazing this kitchen is and speech will evade you.  Backtrack, shall we?  I clued you in on Monday that I’d be sharing my friend Jesse’s gorgeous kitchen here on the blog.  She diy-ed herself from start to finish and only shelled out $425 at that.  I KNOW!  Crazy, right?  I’ll share the show-stopping before’s and after’s today along with a few details and then in the next few weeks, I’ll share details on individual projects in her kitchen while she walks me through.  Stay tuned for that.  But, until then, feast your eyes my friends…

This is her kitchen a few months ago:
 
Originally, the cabinets were white but gross, gross, gross complete with peeling paint, grease, cigarette fumes, and lots of other things you probably don’t want to know about.  Jesse washed, sanded, primed, and repainted them – the bottoms were colored-matched to Curry Green by Eddie Bauer Home (the matching yielded a paint a tad lighter than the swatch) and on the uppers is Crème Fraiche by Valspar.

Presently:

Along with the cabinets, she also mixed a few colors of leftover paint she had on hand to get that amazing color on the walls…and then, like a good friend, she gave me a swatch because she’s awesome like that.  It’s always hard to view the true hue of a paint color via computer/phone/device but it’s light gray/greige-ish (I mean, how do you explain a color in words?)

Her diy-ed runner:

Her runner is actually two Nate Berkus for Target rugs sewn together.  You’d never know it wasn’t one rug.

Before (but after cabinet painting):


After:

The sink area before:


After:

And those gorgeous marble countertops?  DIYed!!!! 
They look even more amazing in person, trust me.

She also put in the subway tile backsplash herself.  She became my new hero the day she told me she was going to do that on her own.

And the little things count too.  Like that concrete planter in the above picture – she made it.

A view from the other direction:

Here’s the other side of her galley kitchen a few months ago:

And here’s the same side now:

Her fridge/freezer used to be off-white but she took some chalkboard paint to it.  It looks superb, no?  Also, out of view, is the previously white range hood that she spray painted black to match the rest of the appliances.



Let’s move further on down the galley, shall we?  Take a gander at this way-before and after:

Jesse replaced the armoire with a small dresser found at a consignment store that she painted the same color as the lower cabinets and made that gorgeous round mirror that hangs above it.  Details on that coming soon. 

An in-process shot:

After:

And to the dining area we gaze:

I couldn’t pick a favorite shot so, another:

Here’s what it used to look like:

Inhabited by the one and onlies, Levi, Abel, and Vera.

And now:

The roman shades hail from Overstock.com.

Jesse gave the base of her round table a coat of white and sanded the top down to it’s natural wood grain.  (Note:  after sanding down the top, she added a wax finish to it that apparently looked awful.  But, while I was at her house taking pictures, she rubbed coconut oil over it and said it’s looked great ever since!)  She found the chairs ‘round it on Craigslist.  Aren’t they awesome?
 

The large frame on the wall was thrifted (for $1!) and she painted the nun symbol inside it with the help of her boys.

And last but not least, turn your eyes skyward to the light.  It too is painted – Faded Seafoam by Valspar.

And that’s it!  I don’t know about yours, but my kitchen’s lower cabinets are screaming for color now and my stainless fridge is longing to get friendly with some chalk.  Next house…

Thank you to Jesse for letting me plaster her kitchen onto this here blog post!  No kitchen this beautiful should be hidden from the virtual world, right?

Stay tuned for project details from Jesse and Jeremy’s kitchen in the coming weeks!  Oh, and ps, say a prayer (or 3955) for us because we’re going to potty train next week again.  Last time things went a little south, only just not where they were supposed to…  

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Bonus pic of what our kids were ransacking while we moms styled and shot:

Levi Spiderman entertaining the twins in the front row, Abel and Vera in the nose bleeds, and Sebastian in his own little world.  :)