DIY Update

Welcome back! I have not posted anything since the board & batten wall, but I have been busy!

For starters, we finally decided to tackle repainting our living room. We live in an open floor plan home. The dining area, kitchen, and living room are all open. And on top of that, we have a two story living room and foyer so the walls are MASSIVE. We can't paint the big walls by ourselves and we are too cheap to hire painters (or we have been too cheap up to this point). When we moved in, everything was white. Or off-white. It's not a crisp white. Ugh. So three or four years ago, we painted one long wall a tan color because I thought I loved warm Earth tones for my house. My husband We picked Sherwin Williams Bagel. And it was not good. I don't want to say terrible, because we certainly could've done worse. But it wasn't what we were hoping for. In some lights, it was fine, but in others, it looked like a Florida Summer home with peach undertones. AH!

I think I see a recurring theme that as first time homeowners, we weren't very good at picking out paint colors...

Anyway, I think we tried to adjust to this paint color instead of just realizing it was not what we wanted and starting over. So it's been that color ever since. And very recently, I realized that gray and white and light and bright and airy is my jam! So after painting the master bedroom Behr Dark Pewter and totally LOVING it, we really wanted rid of that Bagel. And we did it! It was so hard to pick a gray. The first two samples we brought home were so similar, you could hardly tell a difference and we didn't love either one. So we went back for two more and finally picked Glidden Pebble Gray. But we had it mixed in Behr Premium Plus Ultra because it's amazing and we are never going to use another kind of paint! We started painting last weekend, but then I caught a cold from Charli and was down for the count. We painted a little more this past weekend, but have one big wall to go so I will post some before and after pics when we wrap that up this week/weekend.

In other news, I repaired two toilets. All by myself! A while ago, I noticed our toilet kept making a gurgling sound and would take forever to stop running. I consulted with my dad and he said it was probably the refill valve. He bought a replacement, but we didn't have time to repair it that day. Then I got my water bill. And it was HIGH! I decided to try it myself and see how it went. Worse case scenario: Steven and I would be using the half bath when we needed to go. Turns out, it was super simple and took no time!! The key was really just following directions very carefully.

Next thing I know, I'm upstairs and notice THIS toilet making gurgling sounds and seeming to run for a long time. When I lifted the tank lid, it was just slowly trickling water down the over-flow pipe....That is totally efficient. :-| So we got another refill valve kit and I replaced that one this weekend. It's a super easy fix and I really hope to see a big difference in my water bill this month!

And lastly, I learned that not all faucet replacements are equal. I started my faucet replacements with mine, that way if I messed it up, Steven's sink was still in working order until my dad could come down and straighten out my mess. But other than a cross-threaded nut from the previous faucet, it went perfectly! That cross-threaded nut really took it out of me though so I waited a few days before doing Steven's sink. When I felt refreshed, I tackled it with enthusiasm! Thinking, this will be easy-peasy and I'll be done in no time. But it leaked! And no matter how much I tightened everything, it kept leaking! So following advice from my dad, I applied some extra silicone to the rubber ring under the sink around the drain pipe. 30 minutes late, we were leak free!! But I'll tell ya....I am not jumping up to replace any more faucets any time soon.

That's it for this update...stay patient with me as we start the first week of school with students and we are dog tired. We will eventually finish painting our main living area and I will post some pictures. :) Come back soon!

~Kasey

How To: Board & Batten Wall!

Welcome back! I am seriously so excited about this project. I consulted my dad from a distance, but I did this one MOSTLY BY MYSELF! I have always loved the look of board & batten so once we re-purposed the clock from our master bathroom, I had a blank wall and the perfect space to do it!

Here is my before picture:

 

 Please don't judge my bad application of frosted glass film. It was my first time ever doing it and besides, I warned you I'm not a perfectionist!

Supplies you will need:

• Lattice strips (can also use 1x2 boards, but I didn't want my battens to stick out far from the wall since it's over the bathtub)
• 1x3x8 board (This is the top ledge. You could definitely use something fancier/larger/smaller depending on your budget or your style.)
• Liquid Nails
• Wood screws
• Drill
• Staple gun
• Studfinder
• Rulers/Measuring tape
• Level
• Some type of cutting tool. I used a miter box with a handsaw, but there are tons of options for this. (You also could have the wood pieces cut at the hardware store if you are prepared and know all of your measurements. I was not. And later, I was thankful I didn't have all my lattice pieces cut to the same size!)
• Painters tape or something else to temporarily hold the lattice in place while you decide what looks best to you.
• Sandpaper
• Caulk
• Spackle
• Paint

It seems like a lot of supplies, but I only had to purchase the lattice strips, the 1x3 board, and the liquid nails. I had the rest of the supplies already so I completed this project for about $30 including the white paint.

Step 1. Measure the length for your top board.

I was only doing a small section over the bath tub, so I started by measuring the length of this area and cutting my 1x3 to fit snugly, but still have room for expansion. If you are doing a longer space and need more than one 1x3, make sure you leave a small gap between boards. If you butt them together tightly, they will buckle eventually!

Step 2. Locate studs. 

I am using the top board as a new towel holder so I wanted it in studs to make sure it could withstand the weight of towel hooks and wet towels or robes.

Step 3. Determine how high you want your top board. 

This seems to be personal preference to everyone. I have seen some board & batten walls with really high top boards, and some that weren't so high. I just had an idea in my head of about where I wanted it so I held the board up, made sure it was level, and screwed it into the studs.

Step 4. Determine the location for each batten.

This was the most time consuming part for me. I really wanted my battens in the studs as well so I could just use my staple gun to attach them to the wall and call it a day. However, I am learning in all my projects, that studs are rarely where you want them to be. Ours seemed to be spaced awkwardly so if I put my battens in the studs, they would be closer to the window than the shower. I am extremely OCD about being centered and square so this bothered me. I ended up dividing out my total length of area by 4 (because I was using 3 battens and wanted 4 equal spaces between shower and window) and marking those spaces evenly. Then I marked the center of each lattice strip width wise and lined that center mark with the marks on the wall. After lining the pieces up, make sure they are level vertically, and attach them to the wall with painter's tape. This allows you to step back and make sure you love the way it looks before you commit to anything permanently.

As you can tell in the picture, the battens were not evenly spaced. I took this picture when I had the battens lined up with the studs, which obviously would've driven me crazy had I left it this way.

Step 5. Attach the battens.

Since I couldn't just attach them to the studs, I ended up using interior Liquid Nails. You simply use a caulk gun to apply a thin line of glue to the back of the batten. The glue does not set right away so once you apply it to the wall, you have a little bit of wiggle room to make sure you are lined up correctly and level. To hold the battens in place until the glue set, I put about 4 staples into each one. I pressed my battens firmly to the wall and used a damp paper towel to wipe up any glue that squeezed out from the edges.

Step 6. Caulk and spackle.

I caulked all the seams where the boards joined the wall and each other. I did not caulk the top seam of the top board because it will not be visible to anyone at its height, but if you are doing a lower wall, you will need to caulk there, as well. Caulking all the seams makes it look like a uniform piece and a lot more professional. Spackle over all the screws and staples to ensure a smooth finish.

I forgot to take a picture of this step. Sorry!

Step 7. Sand.

Sand your boards nice and smooth and sand any spackling smooth.

Step 8. Paint!

I used Behr Premium Plus paint + primer in one in Ultra Pure White so I did not prime my boards before painting, but that is an option if you would like to do so. Hubby did 3 coats of paint for me. He's the best! :)

One coat of paint down, it took a total of FOUR coats! Stupid, shiny, blue paint. It has got. to. go.

Step 9. Step back and enjoy your handiwork!

I just love the new wall. I really like the way it looks and the way it updates the bathroom!

And see, I covered up my bad frosted film with a roman bamboo shade so you can't even see it. From the inside. :)

So thanks for stopping by! Come back soon because we are not done with the master bathroom yet! Yesterday I learned how to change out a faucet. It nearly whooped me, but I conquered it. One more faucet, changing out the light fixture, and covering up the blue paint are all that's left! :)

~Kasey

ps. pin this post on pinterest so you can find it later!

Be Still

So where does "Be Still" come from? Well, it's only one of my favorite parts of the Bible. You can see it more than once, but for me, it's this verse specifically:

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." -Exodus 14:14

What a relief to know we don't really have to do anything! Beyond prayer and petition; God knows our struggles, our pain, our desires and He will help us with them! This is not to say that everything will be easy. Even though Charli is only 2, I am already trying to make sure she doesn't fall into the misconception that having God in your life means everything will always be hunky-dory and we won't ever have to worry about anything. It simply means you are not alone. You have someone to lean on, someone who is strong enough to bear the weight of your struggles when you feel like you can't possibly do it anymore. Just cry out to Jesus. It makes me feel relief just thinking about it, even in a time of no struggles. Just knowing that God is there for me, God will fight for me, wow!, that makes my heart so light! 

My birthday is coming up this weekend so I plan on spending it working on the master bath! A shipment of items will be arriving today, and I'm planning a trip to Home Depot in the near future! Come back soon and see how it turns out!

~Kasey

Master Bath Update

I am SOOO excited about our plans for our master bath update. We moved into our house 5 years ago, and really never did much to the master bathroom. We painted it and added a storage cabinet over the toilet, but that was about it. And really, we were disappointed with the paint outcome. It was too bright blue and overly shiny, but painting a bathroom is a HUGE pain and we were not willing to undertake that challenge for a second time.

Well, recently, I've gotten the itch to update pretty much everything in our entire house. I blame it on "nesting." And we are doing ALL of it under a tight budget. (Also this is the first Summer in 4 years of marriage that we have had any extra money so we are kind of excited about it.)

During this bathroom "remodel," we are going to do the following things:

• Refinish vanity - completed
• Add cabinet hardware - completed
• Add bamboo shades (This bathroom is from 1997. For some unknown reason, the window is totally clear! No frosted glass or anything! When we moved in, it came with lovely white vertical blinds. I removed them and put up frosted window film pretty much immediately, but think the bamboo shades will just add a pretty element.)
• Repaint - my dear MIL is going to do this for us because she enjoys painting!
• Replace hollywood lights - vanity lights are SO expensive. We are going to be making our own with the help of my extreme-handyman-dad! Estimated cost under $30!!!
• Add a board & batten-esque wall with towel hooks
• Replace sink faucets
• Replace or spray paint existing hand towel holders

WOW! It's going to look like a totally new bathroom when we are finished, without having to truly remodel it. I was itching to replace the shower because it is all 3x3 white tiles and the grout was old and annoying, but my dad helped me regrout it and I don't hate it anymore! Yay! (Side note: I plan on regrouting the upstairs shower eventually so I will do a How To post on that...) 

There are a few things that I would like to do, if we don't run out of money first!

• New rugs and new towels to match our new color scheme (this is lowest on the priority list as it's not super important to achieve the look)
• Get rid of our 1997 medicine cabinet and turn it into a little nook to put decorative glasses & bathroom supplies
• Replace the flooring (Hubby would like to do this ASAP, but I'm nervous)
• Replace our bathroom fan with a light & fan combo. When I remove the hollywood lights from the vanity, I anticipate this making it a little bit darker in the bathroom so we can add a little light by changing out the bathroom fan. However, those things are like $50 minimum so we will just see how the new light looks before I commit to this one.

My goal is to complete this remodel with less than $300. Below is a nice before picture to pique your interest! Come back soon to see progress and find out if we can do it under budget! :)

Yes, this picture is from 2010, and although we have changed a few small things, it still basically looked like this until a few weeks ago when Steven refinished the cabinets.

~Kasey

How To: Install Cabinet Hardware

Welcome back! Over the last two weeks, my hubby refinished our master bathroom vanity and I installed new cabinet hardware. There has never been any  hardware on the cabinets so there weren't any pre-drilled holes. When I started, I thought it was going to be easy-peasy, but it didn't quite work out that way! I learned a few things along the way by trial & error, and by talking to my dad (an expert), and some maintenance guys at my work (also probably considered experts). I'm going to write a post on how to refinish the cabinets, but I wanted to go ahead and post a few tips on how to install cabinet hardware. Hopefully they will save you some strife and help you out!

Supplies you will need:

• drill
• drill bit for pilot holes
• screwdrivers - type depends on your hardware
• painters or masking tape
• level
• long, flat ruler

I didn't install any knobs so that made my job a little harder. I used matte chrome pulls on the cabinets and matte chrome cup pulls on the drawers so I needed to drill 2 holes for every piece of hardware (14 total). 

Step 1. Make sure your cabinet doors and drawers are all level and even. In our case, 2 of the drawers were not level and 1 set of doors were not matching up. Thanks, builders! It doesn't matter how perfectly you install your hardware if the other things are crooked!

Step 2. Decide where you want to put the hardware. For our doors, I put them at the top, but if you are doing kitchen cabinets, maybe you need them at the bottom. And we decided to put the drawer pulls in the center of each drawer.

Step 3. Put a piece of painters tape or masking tape in the general area of where you want to drill your holes. You will use this to mark your holes with a pencil and not worry about scratching/marking up your cabinets. 

Step 4. For drawers - find your center. If you have drawers in a row, like 3 in the middle of your bathroom vanity, mark your vertical center on the top or bottom drawer and then use your long, flat ruler to mark the same center on each drawer going up or down. This way, even if the fronts of your drawers are off by a little, your drawer pulls will all be centered and take the focus. Also find the horizontal center of each drawer; unfortunately, there's no shortcut for this one. :)

Step 5. Measure the distance between the holes on your hardware. Mine were 2.5".

Step 6. Measure and mark where the holes should be on your tape. You want to mark the holes on your horizontal center. You will use the vertical center to measure where the holes should be. 2.5" divided by 2 is 1.25" so I measured 1.25" from my vertical center on each side. Measure twice, drill once. Be sure you are measuring correctly! You don't want to drill holes in the wrong spot (I know from experience, womp womp). Plugging holes is not hard, but making it blend in with the rest of your cabinet might be!

Step 7. Use a pilot drill bit for best results. Make sure you use a drill bit that is about the same size as your screw for your hardware. You do not want to make a bigger hole than your screw , and a smaller hole will just be more work for you. Drill, baby, drill.

Step 8. Carefully remove your tape. There is a small chance that you will mess up your finish if you aren't careful here. I did make some small places, but we were able to touch them up with a furniture marker, and the new hardware covered it up.

Step 9. Put your screws through your holes and see if they line up with your hardware! If they do, you are amazing! I rarely got it right the first time. Most of mine were only off by the tiniest bit so all I had to do was use a drill bit to make my hole just the smallest bit bigger.

Step 10. Step back and admire your work. :)

Adding hardware to cabinets does make them look more finished and can totally change up the look. Our vanity definitely looks more dressed up now, but I don't know if that's the new fancy finish or the new fancy hardware.

Come back soon to see my post on how to refinish your cabinets!

~Kasey

How To: Applique with Blanket Stitch, Part II

Welcome back! Let's get right down to it and finish our applique!

This close up, mine is definitely not perfect. But, this blanket is for a newborn so I doubt he will mind much. :) That's what I mean about doing things yourself. People are not going to notice the tiny imperfections, they will just be happy that you put time & effort into something just for them!

After the last post, you should've ended with your letters ironed onto your blanket and ready to start the blanket stitch. It's pretty hard to just explain how to do a blanket stitch so there will be lots of pictures.

To start, you will need to thread your needle. I liked the thickness of two strands of the embroidery thread, so I threaded my needle with an arm span of the embroidery thread and tied the ends together with a knot.

When you are ready to start stitching, pick the place on your letter that you want to start. I started in the middle of a flat side because I thought that would be easiest. You will start with Stitch A shown in the photo below.

You come from the back and insert your needle straight up. Pull your thread all the way through until your knot catches on the back of your work.

Your next move is to insert the needle at an angle into Stitch B and exit your work at Stitch C shown above. As you pull your thread through your work, make sure the loop created by stitches A and B is underneath your needle as shown below.

In this picture, you can also see where I tried my first idea, which was to sew the letters on with my sewing machine. Fail. But I'm happy it didn't work because the blanket stitch is so much cuter!

Now, on your first stitch, you do not want to pull your loop all the way tight as you will use it to finish off once you've gone all the way around the letter. This part was hard for me because I couldn't determine how loose to leave it, but you get better with each letter you finish. I would suggest pulling it mostly tight, but not too tight. Very helpful, I know. :)

So now you will just keep repeating those steps. The length between stitches is totally up to you. On a larger piece of work, more space between the stitches would be fine, but I thought with the smaller letters, too much space between the stitches might look funny. As for your tension, you will pull the stitches pretty tight, but not so tight that your embroidery thread disappears behind your letters or pulls up on top of your letters. You will know how tight to pull it once you get started.

As long as you are going in a straight line, it's pretty simple! When you get to a corner, it's a little different because you want to make sure it stays lined up with the right angle. It's a simple little trick that will hold your corner in place.

When you get to the corner, you will insert your needle in your stitch B so that stitch C will come out directly at the corner. I somehow forgot to take a picture of this part, but just as an illustration, you will want your needle to follow the line in the picture below.

You will pull it tight just as you have on your other stitches. Then, to hold this stitch in place, you will want to do a tiny stitch over the loop. So basically, insert your needle going down into your work, very near to the blanket stitch loop. This stitch will be "pinning down" your corner so it can't move.

This is not a great picture, but it shows how closely you want to insert your needle. When you pull this stitch tight, you really won't even be able to see it.

Now your needle should be under your work. The next thing you need to do it get it back on top so you can continue in your ABC stitch pattern. Insert your needle up through you work in a manner that will "sneak" it back into the blanket stitch loop.

I tried not to catch any of the fleece letter when I sneaked back into my loop. Once you pull up all the way, you should be able to continue as normal.

When it's time to do an "inside corner," like in the letter K above, you will do something a little different. This was harder for me because the letters are so small, you don't have much room to work with. And for the inside corner, you want to line up three stitches so that they all come out lined up with the center of the "inside corner."

Stitch One

Stitch Two

Stitch Three

Whew, we have covered a lot of ground. You should be pretty set on how to blanket stitch now, we just need to learn how to finish off!

When you get close to the end of your letter, you need to look at spacing and make sure the last few stitches will be spaced evenly. Your last stitch will technically be the next-to-last stitch because your very last step to finish the letter will be to just loop your needle through. AGAIN, I am terrible, and I forgot to take a picture of this very important step! So, I borrowed one I found on google. 

See how you loop your needle under the first stitch you made? This is why you don't pull the first stitch all the way tight. After you loop it under that stitch, you insert your needle down through your work at the edge of your letter. Clip your thread and tie a knot! Voila!

You can see my blanket stitch on the back of my blanket. I think it looks cool so I am not worried about covering it up, but I am wondering how the knots will hold up over time since they are exposed. An option to fix this problem before it arises would be to applique the blanket before you hem it. Then you could put a backing on the blanket and your stitches on the back would be hidden from view.  I'm just going to roll with mine how it is and if it needs touching up over the years (or weeks if he's not a kid that's attached to his blankie), then I will just fix it as needed.

Thanks for coming back to view the rest of the tutorial! Please comment any questions or suggestions! :) And don't forget to pin it so you can save it for later!

~Kasey

How To: Applique with Blanket Stitch, Part I

I really enjoy being able to make things for my family. It's like a love language for me. Being able to say, "I made this just for you!" feels like I'm telling them just how much they mean to me.

So what can you make for a boy? When I was pregnant with Charli, I made her a quilt for her crib. It was the first quilt I ever made, and although it wasn't a total bust, it's not my favorite thing I've ever sewn.

I, for some reason, can't find a picture once it was complete, but you get the idea.

I knew I had some fabric that I had purchased before we knew what baby #1 was (I used to be way less conservative with my spending!). My original plan was to maybe make a receiving blanket and burp cloth,  but once I measured the fabric, I realized it was really only enough for a receiving blanket. I don't like the 30x30 blankets, I think they are way too small, so this blanket is somewhere around 36x44.

All I did was iron the fabric, square up the edges, and hem them all the way around. It's a nice blanket, but just didn't feel personalized enough. I decided I wanted to monogram it, but I don't have an embroidery machine, and I'm cheap so I'm not paying $10+ to have his name stitched into a receiving blanket. So I got to thinking...maybe, just maybe, I could applique his name onto the blanket! My MIL gave me a sewing bible a while ago (I don't know the exact name of it), but I looked through there to see if they had any directions on applique. They weren't great, but it reminded me of a stitch I have always loved on an old Holly Hobby quilt - blanket stitch! And so, the idea was born.

Supplies you need:

• felt or fleece to cut out the letters (I used fleece because it's softer)
• soft fuse
• iron
• embroidery thread (I used Valdani Pearl Cotton Size 8)
• embroidery needle (I didn't have one - I just used a larger gauge needle I already had)

The first thing I did was sketch out the name in block letters. I tried to find images of embroidery fonts or just regular fonts in Word, but decided to just go with my own handwriting. This doesn't need to be perfect because unless you have very precise cutting skills, the letters will look a little different in your fabric. Use a dark marker that will bleed through so your letters are visible on the back of your paper.

Next, I flipped my sketch paper over and traced it onto my soft fuse paper. Just kidding!! First, I didn't flip it over and messed it up because DUH when you cut out the letters on your fabric, they need to be backwards so the soft fuse glue is on the correct side. 

Luckily, U is universal and I didn't have to redo that one letter. ;)

Next, I ironed the soft fuse to my fleece fabric. I bought mine from a sewing store and it didn't come with directions, so I just used the hottest setting on my iron and went over it a few times. Afterwards, it was kind of easy to peel the letters up so I think it needed more time or something. Try to follow the directions with yours. :)

After it cools, cut out all your letters from the fleece fabric. When you're ready to lay your letters out, peel off the paper backing from the soft fuse, and arrange the letters on your blanket.

Iron them onto your blanket according to your soft fuse directions. The purpose of this soft fuse is to hold the letters in place and help make the applique more durable, but the blanket stitch will really be doing a lot of the work.

I think I'll make this a part I and part II tutorial since this post is already pretty long. Come back soon for part II! :)

~Kasey

ps. pin this on pinterest so you can find it later!!