Butcher block love

Heya! I kinda feel like my head is about to explode this week – the house is a mess (again) – more on that in a bit, the kiddo was sick, I’m trying to tie up presentations for the Haven Conference (NEXT WEEK??) and did I mention we are hosting a party the night before I leave for the conference? Yeah.

I. am. insane.

Anyhoo, when I stress I either curl up in a ball in the corner and rock… or I try to be productive. Right now I’m trying to be more productive and spend less time in the corner. :) I finally finished up a little DIY project for the dining room turned library and it looks gooooood.

As you know if you’ve been around for a while, I’m using butcher block as a base for the bookcases:

I LOOOVE the look of butcher block and I’m planning on using it in a couple of places in the basement soon. We already have it on our kitchen island:

And it’s been surprisingly low maintenance. I love the warmth it brings to our kitchen.

Thankfully all of the butcher we’ve used is pretty inexpensive from IKEA. For both the kitchen island and the bookcases I’ve used the Numerar oak butcher block. Even the largest size they sell is well under $200 and considering the quote I got for our kitchen island years ago, that is fantastic.

I had one piece cut down the middle for the dining room and it was a perfect fit. It sat unfinished for months and it was high time to get that fixed. I left the kitchen island natural with just some Tung oil to protect it, but I wanted this one to be dark like our hardwood floors.

I set up the sawhorses in the garage and pulled out the sander:

I used a 220 grit sandpaper and it was perfect for this project – it only took a couple minutes to get the little bit of finish off.

It is easy to see where it’s not knocked down enough:

You just go over those spots till they are more of a matte finish.

Before I stained I made sure to get all of the sawdust off the block – a tack cloth is good for that but I cannot stand how they feel (kinda sticky) so I just use wet paper towels. Much better. :)

Our floors are a finish called Jacobean but I couldn’t find that, so I just went with walnut, which is very close.

I always use a foam brush to apply my stain – I find it gives great coverage and I barely have to use any stain with it. You want to make sure to leave a “wet edge” when staining, don’t let one section dry as you are applying or you’ll see where you started and stopped:

It barely takes any time at all to stain – it really is super easy!

You can leave it to sit on the surface for a bit to let it really sink in – the longer you leave it (up to about ten minutes), the darker it will be.

Usually I’m pleased with it right away, so I rarely let it sit. I wiped it down immediately with a clean rag:

You need to do this or it will NEVER dry. :)

Isn’t it just gorgeous?? OH my gah, I just love how it shows off all the details of the wood:

This has me SO tempted to stain our kitchen island top as well. It’s just so rich and beautiful!

I finished it off with one coat of polyurethane to protect it and give it a nice finish. I used this clear satin that I used on my vintage rolling crate a couple weeks ago:

Unfortunately I don’t have a great after of the installed butcher block – I thought I had taken a pic, but I guess Dad and I moved too fast on the bookshelves and I didn’t get one.

You can see it installed in this photo:

Those are the start of the bookshelves, which I’ll show you soon! I still have SO much to do on them, but the progress is hampered a bit this week by this:

I tell you what, I move from one mess to another, really. But I welcome this one – the pink(ish) walls that have been in our foyer, living room, hallway, staircase and loft for eight years are FINALLY getting painted. I. AM. THRILLED. I welcome the mess – at least for a few days. After that you’ll find me in the corner. :)

More on that project soon – but by next week I’m hoping the dust will settle around here and I can turn into my normal summer slug. :) For real.

Have you used butcher block in your home? If they are protected well I’ve seen them used successfully around kitchen sinks – I still don’t know if I would have it for every surface in my kitchen, but I do love it as an accent.

DIY orb light fixture

Hello all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! My Dad came down and we got a TON done in the dining room – I am so excited about it! And yesterday I worked on a quick project that I’ve been dreaming up for a while.

I had a light installed over my DIY craft table in the basement so I could have some task lighting when I needed it. I’ve been trying to think of something fun and funky and that I could DIY to put over it, and I found my inspiration in this Ballard Designs orb light:

But yeah, the small version is $400 – I don’t need a $400 light hanging over the craft table. :)

Thing is, I wanted something a little more funky and less pretty anyway. I’m going in a kind of cool, slightly industrial look for the basement and this one doesn’t really fit.

So I came up with a different version that was a lot cheaper and that I think is a little more rustic. I started it last night because I was on the sofa all day with a very sick boy:

:( He’s NEVER sick so it was a rare chance to cuddle on the couch for hours. After he fell asleep I started this project. It was easy and I didn’t have to move off of my booty for most of it. :)

I had gathered my supplies weeks ago, and they really only consisted of embroidery hoops. I got the two biggest sizes I could find – from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I drilled two holes in each one:

The holes are directly across from each other, you’ll see why in a minute. And forgive the pics – they were taken at night with my cell. :)

I should mention I used the inside part of the embroidery hoops, without the hardware on them.

I matched up the holes and created an “orb” shape:

Then I realized it looked more like a pumpkin than the look I was going for – so I put the smaller embroidery hoops I had together in the same way. I put that one orb inside the bigger one and then hunted down a couple long screws to secure them together on both sides:

When I was done I had used five large hoops and four small ones to create my orb:

My vision was coming together. :)

Next I installed the light fixture kit I found at World Market a few weeks ago:

It was $12 and it came in a silver finish, so I spray painted it an oil rubbed bronze (ORB) color and then the hoop contraption ORB as well.

My orb is ORB. Har! (Oh it was begging for it.)

A first I was trying to find an old brass chandelier to put in the middle of it like the Ballard version, but I couldn’t find one and figured in the end I wanted it a little funkier anyway, so I found one of those Edison bulbs at Lowes and my funky, rustic orb light fixture was complete:

Initially I stared at it for what felt like hours to figure out how to get the cord attached to the hoops. I finally decided I was way over thinking it and just sat a couple of the hoops on the actual fixture:

I’d like to have it hang into the center a bit more, but until brilliance strikes I’m happy with how this looks!

You can see it here a bit better:

The fixture doesn’t get hot and the hoops don’t move unless I move them, so it will be fine just as is.

I gotta say, I’m in love with it! I think it’s totally hip and cool and I LOVE the side views:

Isn’t that pretty?

It gives of plenty of light, and the bulb is more of a pretty, subdued light:

I’m hoping the cord straightens out cause that is driving me a little batty, but I know with time it will:

You can see we’ve had a bit more progress with the basement – we have (some) doors. Just a few, cause a couple are on special order. More on that soon.

It’s so funny how a couple doors can make the space feel so finished though – every little update we make feels HUGE.

So my orb ORB light (OK, that never gets old…for me) that measures about 14 inches around was $23 bucks – it’s about ten inches smaller than the Ballard version, but that one was too big for this spot anyway. And at $23 instead of $400, well, I’ll take it. :)

And if I ever feel like changing it out, which is not unusual around here, it won’t be a big deal. I think the orb is cool just on it’s own as an accessory too – I could see it on display somewhere. I dig it!

Giveaway Weekend!

**This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to winner Doreen at House Honeys! (Email me to get your winnings.)

Hey there! Welcome to the weekend! :) I am ready!

I’ve got a lovely giveaway for you all – the folks at Saffron Marigold are back!

Saffron Marigold sells a selection of hand block printed home linens that are just beautiful. I love that they continue the hand block tradition without the aid of mechanization or computerization – these are truly hand made pieces.

So lets check out a few of my favorites first shall we? :)

They sell a number of pillow shams and throws, and you’ll notice I’m a little smitten with this dark blue color:

Actually the one on the right is described as purple, but it looks like a beautiful rich blue to me.

Saffron Marigold also carries a variety of table linens, like tablecloths, napkins and runners:

I thought the blue batik napkins would be perfect for a Fourth of July picnic!:

Stars and stripes – love! :)

They sell a number of colorful shower curtains as well. I thought this one would be just adorable in a girls bathroom:

Orange is making a comeback in a BIG way in decor and I love it paired with that pretty blue.

Their curtains come in two to four different sizes, which is awesome. It can be so hard it is to find 96” and 108” inch lengths!:

Again with the blue, but isn’t it gorgeous?

I loved all of the color, but when I saw their new Vanilla Glace line, I was smitten:

So light and airy and pretty, yes? Love it!

The kind folks at Saffron Marigold are offering one of you $50 to spend as you wish at their online shop!

Here’s how to enter to win $50 to Saffron Marigold:
1. Leave a comment here. What do you have planned this weekend? We’re kicking it off with Madagascar 3 and I’m so excited it’s just stupid.

2. Visit the Saffron Marigold site here. Check out their products and come back to let us know which one you love the most.

3. “Like” them on Facebook here. Come back and comment to let us know you did.

* You can enter one or all three times – it’s up to you! All options are not mandatory to win.

* Remember if you comment anonymously or you have a private blog, please include your email address in each entry, and spell it out with “at” and “dot” to avoid any spammy emails coming your way.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will be open till this Monday, June 11 at noon EST.

Hope you have a lovely, fun weekend!

Months in review and winners!

Well hello! I’m been slacking on the months in review and I know that makes you sad. ;)

Seriously, I just forget to do it, but I like recapping posts every month or so just in case you missed something! This time I’m going through two months so I won’t link to every single one cause I know you have lives.

First, I need to make sure everyone who won recent giveaways gets their winnings! I haven’t heard from a few of you so here we go:

Go here for the Evgie Nev wall art winner 
Go here for the Target winners
Go here for the Lia Sophia winners
(The Canon Rebel winners were emailed.)

Congrats! Email me at simplehomeinteriordesign (at) gmail (dot) com if you see your name or email. :)

OK, let’s get started – first up, more than 515 awesome posts were linked up at the April Before and After Party!

I shared why we’re moving our laundry to the basement here. (Can’t. wait.)

My Dad and bro came to help start the dining room redo:

We used upper cabinets as the bases for (for what will be) a bookcase and then had lights installed above. (It already looks so different since that post!)

Next up, we finally got walls in the basement!:

It’s so fun to look back at pictures – it’s been four months since we started but it seems like FOREVER since the basement was a wide open unfinished space.

I loved the next post – I told you how I wanted to add some glass to our front door and you all shared your thoughts – lots of them!! It was fun to see there are so many front door ninjas like me. (Go here and you’ll understand.)

You all shared 200 gorgeous dining rooms at April Show Us Your House party.

I talked about why we are calling this our forever home for now:

Then I got out outside in the beautiful weather and started sprucing up our new patio:

Remember the to do list I wrote April that I had hoped to finish up by the end of May? Yeah. That didn’t happen. ;)

I walked away from the basement for a while and got into a new DIY project when I redid our kitchen island…again:

Then I talked here about how much hydrangeas hate me. They do. Reeeally. But I’m slowly but surely starting to befriend them. I have ONE bloom people! And I may have squealed out loud (my neighbors think I’m crazy) when I saw it. :)

You all had some great advice in the comments on that post and I will do a follow up post soon.

I showed you how I created a very simple succulent terrarium:

I have been seeing these all over the place, in some very cool glass containers. The sky is the limit with these cute little plants!

There were 500 projects linked up at the May Before and After party – check them out here!

I found a super simple banana bread recipe:

OH my, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I picked up some extra bananas today to make a couple more loaves this weekend – one for us and one for a new neighbor. :)

We showed off nearly 300 kids rooms at the next house party:

You all made me realize I am not alone in (one of) my “collecting” issues – the catalogs and magazines here. Thanks again for that. ;)

A couple weeks ago I showed you the refreshed living room with changes I’ve made  over the past year:

Next up, I tried out a very funky combo and made my first ice cream. It was SO YUMMY:

It was made with avocado and banana and trust me, it’s good. :)

And last week, I finished painting the family room in the basement and shared how I picked out all of the paint colors for the space:

Whew! That’s April and May in a nutshell – did you miss a post? I’ve got SO many projects in mind for the summer that I can’t wait to get moving on! I’m usually a bit of slug in the summer but (so far) I’m psyched to get a few projects started.

Thanks again for coming along for the ride – I appreciate your comments and emails and messages so very much!!

Trying out Annie Sloan paint

Hey there! First of all, have you seen the 400 awesome before and after projects linked up this month? Fantastic! (You can see them here.)

But come back soon cause I want to show you a fun little project. ;)

I was lucky enough to get the chance to attend an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ Workshop a few weeks ago at a fun shop called ReStyled here in central Indiana. I’ve never used this paint and was thrilled to get a chance to try it out!

Sasha at ReStyled was totally thorough and definitely an Annie Sloan expert. This paint is super easy to use, but there are some different techniques and ways of doing things, so the hands on experience was really helpful.

I came home all amped up with plans of painting all kinds of stuff in the house running through my head! And then I couldn’t decide on just the right item to start out with, until I noticed the Goodwill stool that’s been sitting in the garage for a year now:

I decided it would be the perfect item for me to experiment on. Buwhaahahaha.

Taps fingers together, cackles.

OK, it wasn’t really like that, it was more like a squeal, some clapping and a little hop because I was so excited to have finally decided on something. ;)

I kept hearing that you don’t have to do any prep with this paint – no sanding, no priming. It was so hard for me to believe, but I didn’t do anything to this stool other than clean it off.

I wanted to do a little layering of colors, and used the free samples I got from the workshop. I started with the Paris Grey color:

I used a regular paint brush and went to town – and that’s when I realized one of the bonuses of this paint – it goes on so easily and it shows brush marks:

Yes, I said brush marks are a good thing.

So let me tell you, that part was a little hard for me. For years all I’ve done is try to avoid brush marks. So it’s a little hard to get used to and it’s definitely a “look” – if you don’t like this look it may not be for you. I gotta say I loved it in the end, so hang in there if the brush marks are giving you hives. :)

Anyway, I kind of liked that look on a piece like this, because I went into it knowing it didn’t need to be perfect. I just brushed the paint on and didn’t worry about making it super smooth.

Another thing you need to get used to – this paint dries FAST. Really fast. You do need to watch that you get each spot well enough the first time so you don’t have to go back over it – it will “pull” a bit. This is the case for any paint though – you just need to work a bit quicker than with a latex.

I was inspired by another smaller stool I already have, so I cut out a “1” on my Silhouette machine and stuck ‘er on:

I realized later that I was so focused on making sure the number was centered on the top that I didn’t center it on the rungs of the stool. Drats. It’s only slightly off but that’s enough to drive me slightly nutty. :)

I left the stencil on, then painted the whole chair with my second color, Duck Egg Blue – then I peeled off the stencil.

I was left with the grey color showing through, and it was time to sand:

I started with a fine grit sandpaper and ended using a medium grit to really get it distressed. As always, I went for the spots that would normally get some wear and tear:

I went a little lighter on some spots with it so it just brought some of the grey through, instead of down to the wood.

If a piece is going to get any kind of wear, you really need to use the soft wax on it as a final step. A frame would be fine just to paint and hang, but a table, chair, anything like that, should be finished off with a wax:

You can see above that the wax deepens the color, which I liked a lot. It made it the perfect blue color! And of course it deepens the wood grain color coming through the distressing.

You really need to mush that wax into the piece – I just swirled it around all over. The nice thing is you can easily see where it’s covering. It also rocks that you barely have to use any wax:

You want to make sure to not leave a film on the piece – it needs to be wiped down thoroughly. Sasha at ReStyled showed us how if you can run your finger across it and see a mark where you did so, there’s still too much on the item.

If you leave too much on there it will take forever to dry, or may not dry completely. Because of this you don’t have to use much at all -- I barely even touched my wax for this project. I have no doubt the one container of wax will last me years and years.

The wax protects the paint and the surface, much like a poly. I liked the finish when I was done – it’s very smooth to the touch and you can just tell it’s a protective finish by feeling it:

I ADORE this little stool and how it turned out! I love the color, the distressing, the No. 1 on the top:

So darn cute!! You can see what I’m talking about with the brush marks in the pic above. It doesn’t bother me at all on this stool, but I’ll have to see how I feel about it on a bigger piece, like a dresser.

In the end, I loved this paint! I was a little surprised – I’m not sure why. It’s very easy to use. And there’s so many cool looks and techniques possible because of the layering of colors, the way it distresses, the dark wax option…and I LOVE that you can use it on anything without prep work. From what I understand, it can go right on top of oil or latex paint.

The next item I want to use it on is oil-based, so I’ll let you know how that goes. :)

There is the cost issue of this paint though – I used samples for the stool and it is true what I’ve heard, you need to use very little. I did one coat of each color and both covered beautifully. I’ve heard over and over that one quart will paint numerous pieces – so that is a good thing. So…I until I try it out on a bigger item I can’t speak to that. And you can skip primer so that is a cost saver…

Overall? I will be using it again. I’m excited to try it out on a dresser in our bedroom, so I’ll be sure to share more about that project.

I really loved how it transformed a regular stool:

Here’s the before and after:

So fun!!

Have you tried the Annie Sloan paint? What have you used it on? Sasha from ReStyled has offered to answer any questions you might have – so if you want more info on anything, ask away in the comments! Sasha will answer you back there. :)