Fire Pit Area and Benches

The fire-pit area and benches are now complete and ready to enjoy. I am so happy with how it turned out, and know we will be enjoying it for years to come.

TV Frame: Part 2

The "TV above Fireplace" project has gone very well. The wiring was a cinch and the frame painted up beautifully.

Santa's Workshop is Now Open

It's official Santa's little elves are hard at work at the Hutchings home. Jayna loves little play kitchens and since she does not have one of her own to play with at home we decided that is what we would get her for Christmas this year. Shhhh!


Of course you know me I couldn't just go out and buy one...So this is post one of the home-made play kitchen we are making Jayna for Christmas.

Upholstery Reveal!

BEFORE

I got my living-room chairs back awhile ago, but have been trying to wait and show you the whole room makeover, but now that some projects are on hold and the Halloween decorations are up, I decided I can not wait any longer and have to at least share my chairs with you.

Sleeping Beauty

I love love love my new bed! It is everything I could have hoped and dreamed of. I have really bad leg, joint, and hip pains with my medical problems and my new bed has cut that pain down by about 80%. My problem before was that I would already be in pain before going to bed and then because I could not get comfortable in bed all my moving around would just further inflame and agitate my pain. Now I am able to sleep in pretty much the same position all night long. I love it!

The Bed and Breakfast is Now Open

The husband and I have been sleeping terribly lately, and I have been pushing for a new bed for awhile now.  So this past Labor day weekend we went out and made the big purchase for our new King size bed. I am so excited about having a new bed and am crossing me fingers that it will be the solution to our tossing and turning.

Since we upgraded from a Queen to a King I need all new sheets, toppers, comforters, quilts, bedskirts, and a headboard. I thought it would be fun shopping for all these things, but for some reason it stressed me out big time. All those items can add up quick and trying to figure out what I wanted, and need and then matching it to the existing things in the room ( like this new piece of art we picked up at Tuesday Morning for $20) turned out to be a little of a challenge. After two days of searching the entire Salt Lake Valley Jayna and I managed to pull it off some how and we only had to make three trips to Pottery Barn. 

The other thing I have been really excited about with this new purchase was moving our old bed down into the basement guest bedroom. In the past we have had a Queen full size Air mattress down there which has worked out well for guests, but I wanted something a little more long-term setup. So last night we went to work doing moving the bed and I worked on all the bedding and decorating for the guest room. 

Two Down - 5 million to go!!

It is no secret that I have a major chair problem. In-fact the husband has currently banned me from any purchases that involve a raised surface used to sit on. When I see a cute old chair sitting at a thrift store or yard sale with its sad tattered upholstery and worn chipped paint I can not help but rescue it and bring it home to have a warm place to live once again. I am like a cat lady, but with chairs. My whole garage and basement is just full of the little suckers. I keep trying to explain to the Husband that chairs to me represent entertaining and filling my home with places for family and friends to gather and enjoy one another. So far he is not getting it. I have saved us a ton on chairs though.

Annie Get Your Gun!: Gun Cabinet Makeover

I finally finished the gun cabinet! It was not that it was a hard task I just kept piling projects on top of projects and this one ended up at the bottom some how. I loved how it turned out and sincerely thank the old Grandpa or teen wood-shop student for making it for me. Remember how I bought this for only $35.00 at DI awhile back? You have to love having a vision for old things.

Utah Home Remodeling Show

Friday night the husband took me out for a little date night. He knows just what I like to do and took me to a Utah Home Remodeling Show. It was a nice night out, but I wish the show had been better. It was mostly heating and air companies, roofing companies, and randomness. I wish there would have been designers, decor items and ideas, wallpaper, and fixtures etc, but to my disappointment there wasn't. I did run across a few things I loved though.

Like these guys! 

Kids Picnic Bench: Finished and Painted

I finally finished painting Jaynas picnic bench. My husband thought I was crazy to do two coats of paint, antiquing, glazing, staining, and two coats of top coat on an outdoor kids picnic bench, but I love how it turned out.

I am hoping this will be one of those items that Jayna will want to pass down to her kids someday. I built it well enough and treated it well enough that it could be. That is if I can part with it and the memories it will hold by then of her being a little girl playing in my backyard.


For Painting Technique How To Click the Read More Button Below...

Upholstered Coffee Table

Remember this coffee table from a jack pot trip to the thrift store I had? Well I finally got around to finishing it.

Knock Off Wood

If you have not heard of the Blog Knock Off Wood you need to get with it. In my opinion it is the biggest thing to hit the DIY Blogging world in a long time.

Ana of Knock Off Wood an Alaskan mommy and wife to a carpenter handy-man took things into her own hands one day when her husband wasn't getting around to fixing some porch steps, and just fixed them herself. Ana has been doing woodworking ever since and now her passion for knocking off high end furniture lines (hmm hmm Pottery Barn hmm hmm) has spilled over into the blog world and is inspiring everyone. Ana has full how to plans for beds, dressers, dining-room tables, office systems and more available on her blog, for get this... FREE!

My list of things to build off her site is a mile long. Starting with all the furniture for my soon to be craft-room of my dreams. However I did see this cute little kids picnic bench on her site and had to build it for Jayna.

It was a great starter project to get my feet wet, and went fairly well. I only needed the Husbands help to cute four pieces, and am sure that what I learned while doing this project will just make me better on the next. It is all about not underestimating yourself or your abilities, and that could be the single reason why Ana's blog is so popular.

I have already ordered my Milk Paint and Exterior Top-Coat in Buttermilk Yellow for the picnic bench, and with the help of Jayna have already distressed it a little. I didn't know a two year old could do such damage banging an old hinge on wood. Oh-well.

I encourage you to check out her blog, but only if you are ready to triple your to do list.

The Craft Room of My Dreams

condo craft room

I have been really lucky to have always had a craft room in all of our homes. When we were living down by BYU in a little duplex as newlyweds I had one of the two bedrooms to spread out my fabrics and organize my craft nick-nacks. Although small it worked out well for my needs at the time. Then when we moved to our condo were we had three bedrooms of which we turned one into a nursery when Jayna Berry came and the other into an office. We never got it fixed up exactly how I would have wanted, but we had the computer in there and a mini ping pong table that I could get out when I needed to sew or do projects.

When we were looking for a new home after selling the condo it was hard to find a house with everything we wanted, but that is always the struggle when looking for a home. Then we found the house we are currently in. It had everything we wanted and much much more than we ever thought we would get out of a home. It was a home I had found online, and I remember walking into it for the first time. It seemed to good to be true, the first floor was so open and it was fresh looking. I walked past the living room and dining room, and then I turned the corner from the family room to see this space off the kitchen dining area.

"Ahhhhhhhh"(in angelic heavenly voices) is what I must have heard. It was the holy grail of craft room spaces right down to the french doors that adorned its entrance. (ignore the mess in there) I wish I could share it with every crafty women who does not have enough space at home, who is crafting at the kitchen table, or working out of a makeshift closet.

We are going to start slowly working on this room, and this is my inspiration. I have already bought the paint. It is going to be the same color blue as the playroom upstairs that we did for Jayna.

I got one of my craft tables for my birthday and will save up my pennies for the other one.

We are going to be building desks that I will paint black to go around the room similar to these Pottery Barn ones, and we will also have some storage bookcases on one of the walls as-well. I am hoping to also put shelving in white around the top of the room like the picture above.

I have big visions for this room and love that it also has a little door to the backyard off of it. I picture kids doing homework, me sewing drapes, and the husband working on the computer at a corner desk. Here are some other craft room inspirations that I love. I will keep you updated on this room as we go. For now we will all dream together.

Touching-Up Worn Out Furniture

Remember this table I picked up at D. I. a couple posts back. Well today I thought I would show you a little trick I used to fix it up a little.

I could tell when I bought this table that it was originally made to look antiqued, but also had some additional "antiquing" from wear and tear. I liked the table as it was, but after awhile I decided I didn't care for the wear and tear spots around the edges that showed more of the light bare wood. So I figured I would do the same thing to this table that I would do to any piece of furniture that I purposely antique. So I got out my little can of minwax dark walnut stain and went to work.

How To:

1. Take a q-tip and dip it into the stain of your choice.

2. Apply stain on q-tip to spot of bare wood that you desire antiqued.

3. Take a lint free rag and wipe off excess stain from wood. Note- the longer you leave the stain on the darker it will become.

4. Let dry and seal entire surface with top-coat.

Testing...123...Testing...

So after my last trip to D.I. I vowed not to go back until I was done with all my pending projects, but how I ended up at my favorite D.I. in Provo this last weekend was not my fault I swear.

We were driving my brother-in-law who babysat for us Friday night back to his apartment at the Y and decided to drive around and help him look for a new car since his has broken down indefinitely. Ryan and him spotted a potential car at a used car dealership right across from D.I. and it was Ryan's brilliant idea to drop me off with Jayna while they went over and checked it out.

So the fact that we ended up bringing another coffee table home was ridiculous, but not surprising. My justification was that I liked it in the state it was in and that if it didn't work size wise it would be a perfect item to consign. I love it in the front room and it is helping me mentally pull this room together. I have two chairs out in the garage that I am planning on painting white and reupholstering in place of the two wood ones that are currently in there. So right now it looks a little mismatched, but like everything else it is getting there.

This is the first time I have run across the problem of a thrift piece smelling of smoke though. After doing some research online I think I am going to simply put a top-coat on it to seal it up again and hope that does the trick. As for now we have a smoking and non-smoking room I guess. I have to still clean the bottom too, hence the garbage bag underneath it.

I have a cute little story about the accessories on the table too. I wanted to decorate it and see just how much I liked it in the room so I was messing around with different groupings on it. Jayna got so into it! She was grabbing toys she had and placing them on the table and putting fake plants in different things. Then she would ask me "Mom, do you love it?" it was hysterical. As someone who always complains about not having shopping and decorating friends it almost brought me to tears. It was my first glimpse at a mother daughter decorating team. She would even sit on the couch with me and look at the table, and then when I went and got a decorating book to reference some ideas she grabbed her coloring book and joined me. I will always remember that moment as long as I live. The first time we decorated a room together.

So you will have to let me know what you think of this table since I am testing it out. Should I paint it? What are your suggestions? There are pictures of the coffee table I had in there previously in this post.

Let There Be Light

The new kitchen table light is up and I love it. It now feels like there is suppose to be a table there.

I got the light at Ikea and hope to get the matching chairs that I mentioned before sooner than later. I will also most-likely be replacing the black dresser you see in the background with the refurbished gun cabinet which will be painted in the same grey as the table. So it is getting there.

Q: What smells like oranges and is grey and brown all over?

A: Me! After transforming a $75 old wood table from craigslist into the kitchen table of my dreams.

I knew I wanted a round kitchen table in this house before we even signed the papers. Like everything though my dreams exceeded my budget, and my husbands comprehension of what pretty things in this world cost. So I took things into my own hands to assure I got what I wanted. Also when you know you can do things yourself it makes it hard to shell out the dough for someone else's labor. Plus doing things yourself allows you to customize things to your own liking.

I first stripped the table, and to be honest this was the first time I have ever stripped anything. Usually I just rough it up with sandpaper, but since this table will be used on a daily bases and had a factory finish on it I opted to strip it. My dilemma was that I was going to have to strip it indoors since it is too cold in the garage and outside. So finding a stripper that was not harsh with toxic fumes was a must. I came across CitriStrip at my local hardware store. I was hesitant about how well it would work, but I gave it a try. It not only worked fantastic, but it made my whole basement smell like oranges. It is still very messy so you will want to put some plastic down. I also found that the plastic scrappers worked better than the metal scrappers on this project.

After all the stripping was done and the table was cleaned off I lightly sanded any rough areas with a fine sandpaper, and wiped off any dust with a lint free rag. Remember the lower the number the heavier the sandpaper. Then it was time to paint...

I wanted a grey paint and found a really nice color from Benjamin Moore called San Antonio Gray. I always get my Benjamin Moore colors mixed at Home-depot in Behr paint to save a little money. Most the time they have the formulas in their system so you just have to give them the color name. I choose a satin finish for this project. To paint the table I used foam brushes to get the smoothest application, and in-between coats buffed the table with crumbled up brown paper bags. If your bags have print on them make sure you do not use the side with print to buff. I did two coats of paint on my table. If you want it to be more durable you can do up to three coats. It looked great just like that, but I wanted something with a little more character.

So after painting the whole table I roughed up some of the edges and raised portions by sanding them down to the bare wood. This will give it an antiqued look. I also got a small scrap piece of wood and randomly pounded some nails through it and then in select places hit it against my table making little pin holes in the wood. Once I got the desired look I wanted I went on to the next step of glazing...

The glaze color I used is called Van Dyke Brown and is from a local wood furniture store called Wood Connection. They have beautiful furniture and offer both finished and unfinished pieces. They have both a showroom and a factory in Salt Lake (I have only been to the factory though). The people are very helpful and nice and I highly recommend buying from them. They have great how to instructions for different projects, you just have to ask for them. I thinned the glaze with a little water and applied it to the table in sections using a foam brush and then wiped it off immediately with a lint free rag. This process is a lot easier if you get a friend or hubby to help you. That way one of you can apply the glaze and the other can wipe. The glaze looks best if you brush and wipe in long stokes going with the grain of the wood.

Next I applied a stain to the sanded areas of the table. The glaze did not darken the sanded areas like I wanted so this is how got my desired look. I bought a little can of Minwax stain in Dark Walnut and simply applied it to the sanded areas with a q-tip and then wiped it off with a rag. The longer you leave the stain on the darker it will make the wood, but you really need not leave it on for any longer than a minute at the very most. Now my table was ready for the final step.

Last but not least I applied 3 coats of top coat in a satin finish to the entire table. I bought this top coat at the furniture store along with the glaze. It is a self leveling top coat and is also applied with a foam brush. The key to this step is to not over brush, and to use long even overlapping strokes. This top coat process is to not be overlooked. It will make all the difference and give your project a truly professional look. It also makes your paint job and piece that much more durable.

I am so happy with my final product! It is just how I imagined. I was nervous about the paint color and antiquing because my plan all along has been to paint my kitchen cabinets the same as this table. Now I am more excited than ever to one day transform my kitchen with this same color and process.

Soon I will be buying this light to go over the table...

and possibly these chairs.

Now if I could just get rid of that carpet in there. That will not be for a few more years I'm afraid.

Note: Like always if you need help with a project or have questions about this one just send me an email or leave a comment.

Jackpot!

I hit the Jackpot yesterday at D.I.! For those of you who are not familiar with Deseret Industries it is both a nonprofit, vocational rehabilitation facility and a thrift store run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is my favorite place to find treasures, and today was my lucky day.

I found this cute metal chair that I thought would be perfect for my laundry-room desk, but it is a little on the short side. Not to worry though I will find a place somewhere for this little guy, or I will just not put it right at the desk.

Then I also found a great school desk for Jayna Berry. I have always wanted to find one and buy it, and the stars aligned yesterday for me to do so. I am planning on painting it and putting it in the soon to be craft-room of my dreams.

I picked up this rustic looking coffee table that is luckily enough the perfect size for my family-room. It did have glass, but I told the guy helping me to just take it out because I was not planning on using it anyways. My plans for this piece are to upholster a top for it and leave it the raw rustic wood.

I also picked up some cute plates that match my house colors. Almost all my dishes except for my everyday ware are from D.I. That may gross some people out, and it even grosses me out sometimes. That is until I give them a good hot scrub down and a heavy wash in the dishwasher. I do get a little worried now a days about the whole lead thing, but most of them I do not use regularly enough to get too paranoid about it.

I also found these cute little tin buckets that I thought would be great for Jaynas' room when I do it. I am planning on using a similar shade of green for the walls.

Then I found two of these little black baskets that I am sure I will find a use for somewhere.

And this super cute globe. Everyone needs a globe. I will most likely, but this in the craft room too.

I thought this lamp was simple and cute too, so I picked it up. It looked lonely like it wanted to come home with me. I do not even know if it works, but everything is fixable.

I almost forgot about these barstools too. They were a great find, and I think I am going to spray-paint them later. They need to be cut down a little to fit at my island though so that may be a challenge to do.

The biggest diamond in the rough find though was this old gun cabinet. It is way sketchy, and needs a ton of work, but when I look at it I see an all white antiqued cabinet with bead-board-backing, little shelves, cute knobs, a little latch, and whicker baskets in the bottom where the drawers used to be. I had to get it because it was only $35, and usually things with glass like this fixed up are a ton more.

All in all I spent about $95 which may sound like a lot for someone to spend at a thrift store, but if you bought all these things finished at a home store it would cost you way more than that. You for-sure have to be willing to put in some additional money and elbow grease for some of these items, but that is the fun of it all. To see something and see it's potential and then make it happen.

I have to get moving on these projects though. I have a whole corner of the garage full of nothing but these projects. Chairs, more chairs, and night stands etc.

There is going to be a whole lot of stripping going on at my house, and it is not the kind of stripping that has anything to do with a pole.