Laundry Room

Pinterest and I have a love/hate relationship. I love it because I receive a lot of design inspiration but hate it when I'm mid-project and have to fix 14 different issues with the room I wasn't aware of before continuing my project. Back in July I received a cabinet from a family member remodeling their kitchen. I decided to put it in my laundry room but needed to paint it first. Let's be honest, life happened and my project was postponed. I finally got around to finishing the cabinet and that motivated me to completely tear apart my laundry room and lose my mind. No, but really. I decided late one Saturday night to start ripping out the shelving so naturally it took me a few days to finish. Here are the results. We still have to hang a few things on the opposite wall, but it's 90% complete.

(I apologize for the weird angle. The opposite wall had a shelf I couldn't get under to take a proper photo)

wall color: Dove's Wing

cabinet color: Aspen Bark

clothing rack: self-made

light fixture: Wayfair

Cabinet knobs: Hobby Lobby

Total cost: Under $100 

Repurposed Pallet - curtain rod

I KNOW I've mentioned before that I absolutely LOVE PINTEREST! It's a great place to get ideas, and also to showcase your projects you've worked on! It has meal ideas, treats ideas, clothing, vacation rentals, discount sites, remodeling ideas, everything! SO, I love to try a good project.

My parents put in more sod at the end of the year and I asked for the pallets. My dad gratefully complied with my request and mentioned I could have them as long as I never let them touch his property again. SO, I packed them up (with the help of my strapping young husband). I had absolutely NO clue what I was going to use the pallets for, but I was bound and determined to find a reason to have them!

I came across this FABULOUS project on Pinterest and figured I could probably pull it off. Turns out the project was extremely easy and ANYONE could do it.

See original pin here.

First step, take apart the pallet. HA.

Easier said than done. My pallets had been outside for months and the nails were old, rusty, and crooked. The pallet had slivers at every possible angle. But I was determined to use my pallets I insisted on taking from my dad.

Second Step: SAND, SAND, SAND

As I mentioned above, pallets are basically 2 x 4 pieces of wood, cut and nailed together to move product easier. So, as soon as you get the nails out, you have to do some sanding.

Third Step: Find a project.

This part was easy. I have a million things to do with pallets so I am always eager to start a new project.

NOW FOR THE PROJECT:

1. Gather appropriate tools and materials

-one used pallet board
-six basic hooks (purchased at Home Depot)
-screw driver
-drill bit (sorry guys, can't remember the size)
-2 screws
-measuring tape

2. After the Pallet is sanded, measure equal spacing for basic hooks to be placed.
3. Use drill bit to make placing hooks easier
4. Screw on drill bits
5. Screw pallet onto your wall where you want it placed

SIMPLE ENOUGH!

This project MAYBE took me a total of 30 minutes. Yes, I perfectly measured out the spacing for the hooks, hand sanded the wood and placed the wood EXACTLY in the middle of the window. I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Here is a picture of the finished product. I put this in my spa - I didn't like the fact the neighbors could potentially look into my window while I'm working on a Brazilian.

Anywho, I hope ya'll enjoyed this tutorial! I know it's a bit scatter brained, but you get the idea!

Tinted Mason Jars

I'm a HUGE Pinterest lover. So, when I find something I like, I usually give it a try. I found the mason jars and decided to give it a try because I didn't want to pay a lot for the colored jars.

Start with clean mason jars, a large bottle of mod podge, a plastic cup, and food coloring. 

In a plastic cup, mix the food coloring and about 2 TBSP of water

Put 1 TBSP of mod podge in the mason jar

Mix the food coloring and mod podge together in the mason jar

Swish it around so the entire jar is lightly coated with the food coloring mix

Set the jars upside down for about 1 hour to allow excess food coloring mixture to drip out. 

Place jars upside down in oven set at 225 degrees. Allow them to bake for 10 minutes, then flip them right side up for an additional 25-30 minutes. If they turn out streaky like mine on the right, place them back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes. It will help. 

I repeated this process twice because I liked the darker, brighter colors for my jars, but it you like them light, just use minimal mod podge.

1/2 Bath

 Our most recent project has been the 1/2 bath located next to the garage door in our home. When we started to paint everything before we moved in, we skipped over this room because we didn't have the energy. So, I decided the color, and found a few ideas on PINTEREST to get things moving.
After painting the ceiling and baseboards, I taped the walls to ensure the colored paint stayed in the right area :).

Corners and borders are always the first to be painted

A little better idea of the color

Ah. All painted. It looks white in the photo, but it's more of a beachy/airy blue. Now on to the mirror. 

I found these tiles on sale at Lowe's and decided I was going to cut them into 4 sections and use them to go around my mirror. My original plan was to use them behind the toilet, but after calculating the cost, decided to use them around the mirror instead. This is where my fabulous Ty comes in. I told him what I wanted and let him go to work. We used a silicone base indoor adhesive to glue the tiles to the mirror. As we have had experience in laying tile before, we knew exactly what type of grout and caulk to use afterwards. Since this is more of a 'relaxed' bathroom, we decided to go with white. 

Because the mirror was already in position, we had to place a few tiles, then wait for them to dry before proceeding with the top. Here is a 'mid-project' picture. 

 TADA! All finished! We used a picture Ty had in his apartment from college to make it feel more beachy above the toilet. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now, on to the next project! 

Master Bathroom Toilet :)

I am such a Pinterest junkie. I found this idea and thought it would be perfect for my boring, plain toilet room that is in my Master Bathroom. So, I decided to give it a go. First step, LOWES! Before purchasing the shelves, we read reviews on each product to see what was the best quality. Then, we made our purchase, and I got my husband to work with the drill. 

Ready to start! 

First shelf finished! We simply used the directions on the box :) 

The top shelf looks crooked but I can assure you, it's not. 

We used decorations left over from our Open House in order to dress up the shelves. 

Finished! This has been such a great addition to the bathroom. My husband even likes the tower of toilet paper :) 

Front door makeover

Tyson and I bought a house that was previously owned before we were married. So, we have been working hard to update it and make it the place we call home. Last fall, I decided to paint the door a different color. Our house color blends together, and I wanted to break it up a little. So, I decided to PINTEREST it, and this is how it turned out. When preparing for my project, I GOOGLED 'Faux wood door'. It gave me an idea of the products I would need, so I took myself down to Home Depot for my tools. A few things are very important when using a stain rather than a paint. You need to buy the GEL STAIN. This dries very quickly, and you can work with other tools to achieve the look you want without rubbing the stain off. My stain is in Maxwell Walnut. I also purchased a tool from the Martha Stewart section of the store. This tool is used to make wood grains on doors that are fiberglass like mine. I also had gloves (GEL STAIN is impossible to get off) and an old sock and rag for applying the stain. Now, for the actual project: 

 First, make sure you clean your door really well.  

Tape off anything you don't want to stain/paint. I did this all in one day, so it's not too bad with a door handle off. 

First layer, with some woodgrains added. In the panels, you want to make sure you are making it look like a real wood door. So use the tool to make woodgrains after applying the stain. This is simple to do. With the tool, rock it back and forth while dragging it towards the bottom of the door. If you look at a real wood door, you will notice the grain goes two different ways, horizontal and vertical. Make sure you pay attention and apply the stain in the right direction for the real wood look. 

 Second layer. I only  used the tool for the first layer, considering I just wanted to emphasize the grain shape and make the door darker. Make sure you are doing even coats. 

A little better picture

Starting to turn out! This picture really shows the grain, but I wanted it to be dark like a cherry wood door. So I did a few more layers. 

Fourth layer! I love how the bottom really looks like wood. By giving it strokes, it looks grainy and exactly what I wanted to achieve. 

The finished product. This was a relatively easy project to do once I decided what color and just started. I loved it so much, I started doing my back french doors! Pictures will come soon, considering mother nature had a hand in my project coming to a halt! Please keep in mind, you can also do this with a garage door, which is also on my to-do list!