Farmhouse Dreams

I may love living "in town" as we used to call it, but I'm a country girl at heart. I love the city and suburban life, but I also crave those wide-open spaces and rustic farmhouses. So instead of packing up and moving into the boonies, I took the more practical approach of bringing the farmhouse feeling to our little home.

It only takes half a minute on Pinterest to know that farmhouse tables are in. And I mean really in. My husband and I both have big families, so we wanted a table that seats at least 8 for those crazy holiday gatherings. The farmhouse table was the perfect solution. But being on a beans and rice budget means that we were not about to drop two grand on a table (seriously, look up how much these tables cost at Pottery Barn!). That meant another DIY project was in the works.

Thankfully, there are lovely people on the internet who have already done this project so we didn't have to invent the wheel. In fact, Ana White has a detailed, wonderful farmhouse table plan that we used. Aside from changing dimensions to fit our dining room better, we used her plan as our project blueprint. And we completed the whole thing for probably less than $200 (way better than $2k!).

Although our dining room is still due for a makeover (more to come on that soon!), it can now comfortable seat either of our families.

Table Legs: check! 

Frame: check!

Table top: check!

Stain, round one. We used Antique Walnut first. It turned out beautifully, but a bit lighter than we were hoping for. 

So we added another layer of Dark Walnut stain (one of my personal favorites!)

This gave it the darker, richer wood color we were looking for. 

After two coats of satin polyurethane, the table was ready for use and has been a great addition to the dining room! 

Bathroom Makeover: Part I

As many of you have probably discovered with home projects, they take about twice as long and cost twice as much as you think they will (bummer!). But man, when one gets done, it's a great feeling! We had this sigh of relief recently with our first home makeover project in the new house - the master bathroom.

The master bathroom definitely left a little to be desired when we started. First of all, the sink and vanity area was completely open to the bedroom. Such a staple of 80s houses.

View walking into the master bedroom. 

To the left is the toilet/shower & to the right is the closet. 

Toilet and shower area (the left). 

Don't mind our messy closet! (the right)

Ugly mirror, ugly cabinets, and ancient vent and light switch. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. We started off by fixing the little things. 

New light switch

and new vent/light combo!

Turns out, electrical wiring is a mystery meant only for geniuses and definitely not for us. Good thing Dad knows a lot about wiring! The late night frantic phone call went something like this:

Me: "Okay, there are 3 black wires and 1 white wire coming out of the wall and we have a red, blue, yellow and black one on the switch. HELP." 

 And somehow he knew exactly what to do. Genius! With only minor frustration, we got the new vent and light switch in. Oh, and some minor surgery on the opening in the ceiling.

Next, that mirror. Nothing can ruin a bathroom like an ugly mirror and I hate the plain Jane mirrors with no character. Especially when they are cemented to the wall. After reading some tutorials on how to remove a mirror without shattering it and inevitable getting speared with breaking glass, we were ready to go. 

Tape on mirror to prevent shattering? Check. Protective eye wear? Check. Then we pried and prayed it wouldn't break. And with some luck, it came off the wall in one piece. Who knew they used so much glue to hold up a mirror?! It even took some of the texture and drywall off with it. Good grief. 

Next came paint, which was fairly easy. In place of the sandy brown/tan/pinkish/yellowish terrible color, the bathroom is now a pleasant light blue (pic above on the right). 

The next big issue was to somehow make the bathroom not completely open to the bedroom. And you probably won't believe me when I tell you what we did. Stay tuned for part 2 and updated pictures. That is, if we make it out alive!