Friday, February 14, 2014

Master Bath - Bringing It All Together With Artwork And Accessories


After building and installing the Chunky Floating Shelves and the Between the Studs Storage the rest of the bathroom needed a little help to get up to the same standard. So we updated it with some new artwork, decorative hooks, a few accessories and a plush mat. Most of the items we already had around the house. There were a couple purchases made from Marshalls that helped tie it all together.


Artwork:
To balance the left side of the vanity with the right side I decided it needed a little pizzaz and thought some brown frames would do the trick. I found the two prints at Marshalls and fell in love with them almost instantly. I knew this is what the bathroom needed!



< Side Note: Jonathan probably wouldn't agree with the word "needed"
but they couldn't be more perfect for the space - don't you agree? >

 

I think they do a good job of making the Between the Studs Storage work in the space and I am finally starting to fall in love with the new unit.


We had the frame below. I added some bright family photos from the pool and beach because I seem to love either 1. naked 2. bathing suit or 3. beach photos in bathrooms. I am not sure why, but they just seem appropriate in bathrooms? Is this just me?


The hooks below the photo were found also at Marshalls for $6. They fit in the space behind the bathroom door so well. It is a small wall but you can see the reflection of it in the mirror when you enter the bathroom.  It is fun to know there is something fun to welcome you when you enter the bathroom and turn around to look at the opposite wall.

Accessories:



We had the tray, mirror and bird bowl. I found the mercury glass soap dispenser at Target.


I love combining things into groups to make an impact. They add a little sparkle to the countertop and it is great because they are now the only things on the counter since we built the storage unit into the wall.


We also already had this towel bar (it is actually a toilet paper holder) and I hung it to the right of the sink. It is nice to have a place to dry hands - for some reason we didn't have a place for a hand towel in the bathroom and I was always reaching for a bath towel to dry my hands.


This plush bath mat (below) makes stepping into the bathroom feel wonderful in the mornings.




There is one vent in the bathroom. It sits below the window. So we hung a towel bar below the window and call it our towel warmer ;-). Probably the cheapest towel warmer on the market, but it actually works! You just have to time your shower around when the furnace decides to kick on...



So that's it!  The master bath ensuite is just about finished.  There is only one thing left and that is to update the brass shower fixtures to chrome.  I have them ordered and they should arrive in about two weeks.  Other than that we have an updated master bath!  I love coming into it now in the mornings and evenings.  It isn't big but it has just enough touch of luxury that it makes it feel special.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

How We [Kinda] Got The Look Of A Large Rug For A Smaller Price




We love the original hardwood floors in our home.  It is one of the many reasons we fell in love with this house - for its character.  We were fortunate to find these floors under the carpet shortly after moving in.  What we didn't anticipate was the price of purchasing area rugs for every room of the house.  They are hundreds to thousands of dollars!  So some rooms got outfitted with hand-me-down rugs and for others we got creative.  


For the nursery, I found these two rugs at Kohl's on sale for $15/piece.  A great deal!!!  And while they do not match each other perfectly, they coordinate well enough to sit side by side and create the illusion of a larger rug in the room.

Good Morning Sunshing!  I took these photos right after Eliana woke up one morning.
I like that they are separated by a few inches, but I could have pushed them right up next to each other to really make it look like a bigger rug.



The next area of the house we plan to put a rug is on the stairs.  While we love the hardwood stairs, we have had 1 too many people fall down them while wearing socks.  We are planning on using a runner and I have had my eyes on a store in Pittsburgh that sells carpet remnants for hopefully the perfect piece. We'll see if I find one soon!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Did You Know That Leeks Float!? {Super Easy Way To Clean Leeks}


I love using leeks.  I think they are a great alternative to onions.  Don't get me wrong...I love onions too - especially when caramelized - but leeks add a refreshingly new flavor to a food or recipe.  Anyway... I love leeks, but I don't love cleaning them... they can be gritty if not cleaned really well.





Recently I came across a recipe in Smitten Kitchen and she recommended dumping them in water after cutting to clean them.  I figured I would give it a try and was so excited when I let them go into the tub of water and they floated back up to the top!  Woo-hoo!  The grit sunk to the bottom and the the leeks rose to the top!

Did anyone else know this special trick?  If you did, then why didn't you share it with me!?!?  Any other special tricks I should know?  I felt almost foolish as I dunked them in the water thinking I would have to fish them back up from the bottom.  As they came to the top I am sure a beaming smile spread on my face.  It was such a pleasant surprise!


So next time you have a recipe that calls for leeks cut them and then dunk them up and down in a big bowl of water as you pull the layers apart.  The sand and dirt will fall to the bottom and the leeks will float on the top.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Bake a Valentine Heart (Birthday) Cake for your Sweetie

My Hubbie's birthday was last weekend.  Unfortunately (and fortunately :-) I was away on my sister's bachelorette destination weekend in Nashville.  Of course I wish I could have celebrated with him on the real day, but we made do and celebrated last night!



Eliana's favorite shape right now is a heart.  Her favorite color is red.  So Jonathan ended up with a Pink Heart Cake for his birthday...     Since it is so close to Valentine's Day it would also be the perfect cake for your Valentine!  Jonathan is of course my and Eliana's Valentine (and hopefully will be both our valentine's for years and years to come).  So, even though it is not the most masculine cake, he is deserving of a heart cake coming from his two girls whether it be for his birthday or Valentine's Day!


How We (Eliana and I) Did It:

1. Bake your favorite cake in a 9" round and 9" square pan.

2. Cut the 9" round cake into two half circles.

3. Turn your 9" square into a diamond (turn it) and place both half circles on two adjoining sides.


4. Make your favorite icing.  Spread it over your heart cake.

Here it is all together in 1 picture showing the steps:


Note: This ends up being a very large cake.  I didn't have a platter that would hold it so we opted for a very large cutting board to serve it on.  It worked out great because it was really easy to cut the cake since it was already on a cutting board!

This cake was inspired from a pinterest post I found last year.  The owner of the pin is: Katie Brown Home Workshop and her heart looks much better than mine so make sure you check out her post too!

The Story Behind The Recipes We Used:

Jonathan loves yellow cake with white icing.  He is a simple man.  I found two recipes that looked very promising and put them together - 1 recipe for the cake and 1 recipe for the icing.  The cake recipe we used was from The Smitten Kitchen - Best Birthday Cake.  The icing recipe we used was found on the Pioneer Woman's site but originally came from Tasty Kitchen - That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had

The icing was very good.  I would make it again.  The cake I am sure would have been good if I had used the right flour :-/   Note to others:  When the cake recipe calls for "Cake Flour" do not use "Pastry Flour".  I went out and looked specifically for Cake Flour and couldn't find it.  So I found Pastry Flour and assumed they were the same thing (a cake is a type of pastry, right?).  So, I am going to give this recipe another try and use any flour that doesn't state "self-rising".  The cake was still good, just not great.  It had a bit of a cornmeal taste to it...  Sorry honey!  Maybe I will make this again on Valentine's Day with the right flour!  

Happy Birthday Jonathan! I love you!

For other Valentine inspired crafts check out last year's post: DIY Valentine Pillow and Tutorial!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Between the Studs Storage - A Tutorial



This tutorial will provide you with the steps to build your own Between the Studs Storage Unit.  Exact dimensions are not provided because the purpose of a DIY project is to customize it for your specific needs.  So build the unit to the dimensions that your studs and space will allow. :-)



10 Steps to a Between the Studs Storage Unit:

1. Location:  Find a place in a wall where you would like storage.  For me, it was on the left wall of our bathroom sink/vanity.  The above photo shows the wall with just a a couple shelves on it - I decided I didn't want the shelves to stick out into the room and take up space - hence the Between the Studs Unit.

Drill a hole in the wall and stick your fingers into the hole - feel around for wires or other things in the wall.  If you don't feel anything than start making the hole bigger.  I drilled two holes and then used a drywall knife to cut between the two holes:


I then drilled two more holes and cut a square into the wall.  The square was big enough for me to get my arm into and reach around in the wall to make sure I was not close to any wires.  You won't want to rewire if you don't have to!


2. Find your Studs and Cut your Drywall:  You want the sides of your box to sit against a stud (this is how you will fasten the unit to the wall so that it stays put).  You can cut your hole as large as you want as long as you stay between the studs.  My hole:


 You can see the right side of my built in will sit against the stud below.  That way it will sit firmly against the stud and be supported.  You want it to sit between two studs if possible so if you can cut your hole the width between your two studs then your box will be sturdy.

I ran into a metal electrical box as I as cutting my hole.  The electrical box wasn't coming out without replacing the whole outlet on the other side of the stud so I decided I would work around it and put an outlet inside this built-in for electric toothbrushes or shavers or what not.  This project would be a lot easier without the electrical component!  If you don't understand electrical then hire someone or skip this part.


3. (Optional - Add an Outlet):  Because I had an outlet just on the other side of the stud, I decided to drill a hole through the stud and jump a new outlet off of it.  You can see the hole in the stud above drilled so that I could run a wire from the old outlet into a new outlet (see wire is run through the hole in photo below).


4. Build your Box: I used leftover 3/4" plywood from another project to build my box.  You can use plywood or buy boards at a home improvement store and have them cut to the right lengths for you.  In my experience home improvement stores will cut boards for you, but will not rip boards for you.  This means that if you buy a 1x6" board that is 8' long.  They will cut it to a specific length - they won't change the width.


Use wood glue and glue the joints together.  Then screw the bottom and top boards into the side boards.  I used corner clamps (seen in photo above) to make sure my box stayed square.

5. Add Shelves: I wanted four shelves total so I added three horizontal boards into the square box.  Place the shelves where you want them and then screw them into place or nail them into place.


6. Add a Back: I used 1/4" plywood for the back.  Cut it to the size of your box and nail it onto the back of your box.

View from back before nailing it into place.

Views front the front of the box with the back nailed into place (above and below).


7. Hang the Built-In Box: Insert the box into the hole you made in your drywall.  Nail or screw the box into place by attaching it to the studs in the wall.  I nailed mine and it feels very sturdy.  If you decide to screw it into place I recommend using a countersink drill bit so that the end of your screw sits into the wood.  It will be easier to add wood putty and cover the hole the screw makes by doing this.  I used and talked about a countersink drill bit when building the Chunky Floating Shelves in the bathroom.


Nail from the inside of the box through the sides and into the studs in several locations.  Make sure it is sitting firmly against at least one of the studs.  (I had space between the left stud and the side of my built-in so I placed a spacer block between the two so that I could still attach my box on both sides - you can see one of the spacers in the photo below on the bottom left).


8. Add Trim: To finish your box you need to add trim work.  This will cover the part of the box that is exposed and the drywall where you cut.  Use finish nails to attach your trim to the unit.  I added trim around the outside of the box and then also put 1x2" trim to cover the edge of the shelves (I then changed the trim on the shelves later and you can see them in the final photos).


I also wired in my second outlet after adding the trim around the outside and made a box for it so that it would sit against the inside wall of the built-in.


9. Stain/Finish:  This is the part that I struggled with and spoke about in an earlier post.  I couldn't decide if I wanted the built-in stained, painted white like trim or painted the same color as the wall so that it would blend in...  I still don't know what I want and am not sure if I am in love with the finished product.  I love the built-in, I am just still playing with ways to change the trim work on it.  Don't forget to seal all of your joints with caulk so that they look "seamless" - this makes a huge difference!

Caulk added at the seams and will soon be painted over so that it look as though the transition from trim to wall is seamless.
10. Admire your Work:  As always, admire your handiwork!  And remember "perfect" is sometimes perfectly imperfect.

To see the finished piece, inspirations found on Pinterest and Houzz and how I struggled to pick the right trim work check out these posts:

Using Stair Tread Nosing as Finishing Trim on Built-in Shelves


and


Monday, February 3, 2014

Using Stair Tread Nosing as Finishing Trim on Built-in Shelves


I was so excited about the "DIY - Between the Studs Storage" until it was finished and I didn't love the end product... there was something missing in the trimwork.  I couldn't decide on wood trim, wood accents, white trim or painted trim to match the room...



While perusing through the trim isle at Lowe's for inspiration, I came across stair treads.  I decided to give them a try.  The wood boards from the above photo came off and the stair treads were stained and put on as seen in the photos below.


BEFORE STAIR TREAD NOSING ADDED:

AFTER STAIR TREAD NOSING ATTACHED:

It coordinates well with the sink base cabinet below without becoming an overpowering brown hole in the wall.  I like it now... I still don't LOVE it...


The stair treads were purchased at Lowe's for about $6/piece:


I finished them the same I way I finished our Chunky Floating Shelves:


I stained them with Red Mahogany Rust-Oleum stain in satin first.  And then I put a layer of PolyShades over them to darken them a bit more and tone down the wood grain a bit while also polyurethaning them.


While waiting for the stain and Polyshades to dry I took down the light hanging above the sink and spray painted it "Chrome" to attempt to match the other metals in the bathroom.  I will post before and after photos of the light fixture soon, but you can see parts of the finished light fixture in the photos above.

For a tutorial on how to make this wall unit yourself check out: Between the Studs Storage - A Tutorial





Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Between The Studs Storage - Adding More Storage to the Master Bathroom


Our vanity sits between two walls.  It is not a large vanity for a master bath, but we really don't need more than what we have.  I wanted some extra storage on the wall, but didn't want it to take up too much space or stick out too far.  So a between the studs storage unit seemed exactly what we needed.

This is what we had: two glass shelves mounted on the wall.  They worked well, but they impeded on space by sticking out into the room.



I have been looking at "between the studs" storage for awhile and think it is a great use of space.  I still haven't decided if I love it, but I think that is more a matter of me tweaking the trim work I put on it rather than the storage unit itself....at least I hope so because I don't want to regret it all together and put the drywall and shelves back up!

Here it is now finished and in use: It looks like there are two built-ins because of the mirror.


And here it is again:


What do you think?  I haven't fallen in love with it yet.  I am hoping it is a matter of tweaking the trim work that is surrounding it and not the unit itself...

What do you think it needs?  I have already played with the trim work and can't figure out how I want it.

Example #1: I first stained the entire unit - big mistake - it looked like a big brown blob in the room. In this picture it it doesn't look half bad, but when you walked in the bathroom it was the first place yours eyes (maybe just  my eyes) went - I felt like it stuck out like a sore thumb.  Maybe because in the mirror (which is straight ahead when you walk in) makes it look twice as big.


Example #2: I painted it white (the whole thing).  And then quickly realized I didn't like that either and started stripping it before I took a real photo of it all white.  I probably made my decision too quickly here.  I wish I would have left the outside trim white and painted the inside the color of the walls before I started stripping, just to see what it would have looked like.   Because now I am wondering...


Example #3: I realized I liked other built-ins when they blended in more with the surrounding with a little pop of color in the trim (white or stain).  So I painted the entire inside the same color as the walls and decided to do something else with the trim.  So I ripped off most of the trim and started over...



Current: I replaced the side trim with smaller pieces and painted them the color of the walls so that the unit would almost disappear into the wall.


I still don't know if I love it...   :-(

#4: An option I haven't tried yet:  Paint the trim work white and leave the inside painted the wall color.  or stain the trim around the sides the same color as the shelves and leave only the inside painted the wall color.

My Inspirations (+ many more on Pinterest):

Inspiration A: diyhomepin.com
I liked how these shelves float and are not too bulky looking
Inspiration B: bhg.com
I liked how the shelves coordinate with the other wood elements in the room
Inspiration C: manditremayne.blogspot.com
I liked the trim on this and how it is bright white along with the spacing of the shelves
 Inspiration D: awesomehomepins.com
I like how the wall units coordinated with the cabinet below (I also have a wood cabinet below)

I have several more "Bathroom" inspirations pinned on Pinterest:  Check them out here - I like all the images for different reasons.

So what should I do?  Help and suggestions are appreciated!  How can I make myself love this unit?  What does it need?

I would HATE realizing that it was a mistake and taking it out and replacing it with drywall/shelves again.  Mostly because of the work it would take - I despise repairing drywall - it is so hard to make it look perfect again...


Learn to Build a Storage Unit like this:  Here is the Tutorial!