DIY Kitchen {EAT} Sign

Hey guys!  Are you so pumped about the 3 day weekend?  I can't wait.  It's funny how sleeping is the thing I am looking forward to most.  My poor husband misses "summer Leslie" who could stay up late.  

Alright, it is time for me to be honest.  I hate above kitchen cabinet decorating.  If I could have cabinets to the ceiling I would {and I will someday, gosh dang it}.  With that being said, I can't change our apartment kitchen so I am doing my best.  Here is my fancy tutorial:

1.  We got some old fence wood from Tall Tan Man's Gpa's house {don't worry, it wasn't being used}.  Then TTM cut the wood and screwed everything together for me.  

2.  I used wooden letters and chalk from Joann's to stencil on the wood, and then filled in the letters with blue painters tape.  

 3.  Now I made a white wash paint by mixing white paint and water together until I got a consistency I was happy with.  I am sorry that is not an exact recipe, but that's what I did.   

4.  I white washed over the letters making sure I did not have too much paint on the brush and brushed away from the letters.  I needed two coats for the letters to really stand out.  

BAM!

I hope you have a happy Friday and enjoy your long weekend.  Oh and...

{LJ}

Craft Cabinet Upgrade

 Hello!  You are lookin' at my first Craig's List project!  I have always wanted to update a piece of furniture from Craig's List, and I finally got the chance a couple weeks ago.  In our office/guest room/craft room/storage area we have to take advantage of the space we have.  In my last place I had a bunch of room for all my craft stuff and not so much in our new place.  We have plenty of closet space but not cabinet space {Tall Tan Man thinks we have plenty and I don't :) }.  This makes organizing smaller things difficult.  I had been trolling Denver Craig's List for weeks and I think Tall Tan Man was starting to worry about my obsession.  Don't you hate when you have exactly what you want in mind but can't find it?  Well, when I saw this beauty I knew I had found it...

This cabinet was only $30, woo hoo!  When I went to pick it up my first thought was "oh crap, that's bigger than I thought...I might be in trouble."  Needless to say, I carried that bad boy up two flights of stairs all by myself so TTM could see how perfectly it fit.  haha I'm weird. 

Alright let's get to how I updated this cabinet:

1.  I removed {and disposed} of all the hardware, and I took off the doors and drawers.  Unfortunately, I had to get a new door cut because one of them was warped badly...

2.  We filled all the random holes with wood filler.

3.  Gave the cabinet a good sanding.  

4.  Then I followed my directions {here} on how to paint it. I used Behr Dark Granite.

5.  Put the doors back on and added the hardware.  

In total this project took just a few days, and the only hard part was being patient and letting the paint dry.  I added a little pzazz by modpodging some wrapping paper in the drawers.  

 Here is the cost break down:

Cabinet: $30

Paint and brushes: $17

Hardware: $18

New Wood for door: $13

Wrapping Paper: $4

Total Cost: $82

 

This is waaay cheaper than all the cabinets I was looking to buy that were brand new.  I am super pumped that I just checked "criag's list upgrade" off my DIY bucket list. Now I am on to fixing up my old desk and chair. 

 These projects might take a while... football starts next weekend, aka priorities change.  Speaking of football, I updated our chalkboard!

I love Oklahoma football and our day bed from World Market {not equally of course, football is way more important}.  Hope y'all have a great week, and I hope that teaching and crossfitting don't dominate me like they did last week!

{LJ}

Finished {DIY} Coffee Table

Have a mentioned before how talented my husband is?  He is pretty stinkin' awesome.  Little did I know when we got married I was marrying a craftsman.  Tall Tan Man made this coffee table because mine was a little too frilly for him.  Here is the before picture:

We found the plans for the coffee table on Ana White website {here}.   I still want to add metal brackets on corners, but I have not found ones that work yet. We got these screws at the Home Depot and spray painted them with Oil Rubbed Bronze. 

Tall Tan Man stained the table with Minwax Weathered Oak {2 coats}. 

I am still looking for a metal or wire tray to go on top.  It needs to be really big because this coffee table is far from small.  For the time being we have our wedding books we ordered from My Publisher.  I got a groupon for them and I am so happy how they turned out!

Hope y'all have a great week!  :)

{LJ}

DIY Modern Artwork

Happy Saturday to you!  I am happy to say I survived my first week back at work.  You can ask any teacher, in-service days can be brutal!  This is not because of anything the school is doing, we are just ready to have kids in our classroom.  I am getting really anxious about meeting my new little {freshman and junior} learners.  Tall Tan Man and I have really settled into our little home.  Last weekend we were out of town at a wedding and for the first time I missed our home.  Pretty nice feeling.  As far as decorating goes we have most of the big stuff done, but I have about three projects per room to finish.  Our bedroom is slowly coming together and we had been debating what to put on this wall:

Can you already see the "issue" were going to have?  Yep, that fire alarm is like a nasty zit on the wall {sorry, that was gross but I couldn't think of another analogy}.  We debated a big mirror, picture collage, and then finally decided on a piece of art.  With Tall Tan Man pretty much graduating with an art degree, I decided this project could be his.  We searched around online for inspiration and found {this piece of art} from Dans Le Townhouse.  TTM somewhat followed the tutorial she provided.  We used paint color Rich Navy by Glidden {from Home Depot}.

Good job, baby!

This artwork is a little more modern than I would of picked if I were still living alone.  But I am happy to say I really love it!  This is and good example of designing for the sexes {yes, my man has opinions I am working with them}.  Now, I need to decide how to decorate the top of the dresser.  The gap between the art and the dresser is a little bigger than I would of picked, but the zit fire alarm didn't give us much choice.  Let me know if you have any brilliant ideas!  

{LJ}

p.s.  I just got home from my first session of CrossFit and I am not sure if I can get up off the couch...

New Wedding Page!

Hey there!  Hope you are having a great Saturday. :)  I am in Burlington, Colorado for the wedding of this good looking couple:

Since this weekend is putting me in the wedding mood and Tall Tan Man is busy with best man stuff I decided to make a wedding link page.

This {page} contains all my wedding post from the past couple months.  I have a few more posts in mind so be on the look out {if you are a wedding junky like me :) }. 

Alright, I better go do something with myself for this wedding!  I might of got stuck watching Lord of Rings and haven't gotten out of bed...

HAPPY WEDDING DAY 

AMBER & BLEU!!!

{LJ}