Faux Brick Backsplash

Phase one of our kitchen project is to get it feeling clean and less dated while we save our pennies for the kitchen renovation project we want to do next year.  This phase includes painting the cabinets, ripping out the plastic tile backsplash and installing a faux brick backsplash, switching up the lighting and freshening up the walls with a cool-warm gray.
We painted the cabinets.  I'm not going to go into extreme detail on that because there are so many tutorials out there.  To make a long story short, we cleaned them, lightly sanded them and painted them in a cabinet paint. Darker lowers, one shade lighter uppers.  So far they are holding up pretty decent.  We painted the inside edges and I've noticed that some of them are peeling, but it's not the end of the world.  *Make sure to keep all the hardware for each cabinet together, mixing them up can cause major headaches when trying to reattach them.* We labeled all of the bags and had coordinating letters from bag to cabinet.

The *faux brick* backsplash I've seen floating around on Pinterest.  I wanted something that was not going to be hugely labor intensive, relatively inexpensive, but would make a difference.


This did the trick.

I was a little nervous at this point, but figured "what the hell" and continued on.  Anything can be fixed with a little *lot* of caulk...

and a boat load of paint.

 

We had this light over our sink.

I wasn't a fan, so I found this one.

and ended with this:

Nursery Wall Decor

I bought these on Etsy, from here and am in love with them!

It was easy to put together once I figured it out.  The numbers on these types of pieces...

Coordinate with the same number on the larger pieces and slide in. 

After they are all in, viola!

and here they are above each of the boys' cribs.

They have a variety of awesome cardboard mounts in different colors.  Check them out!

Bathroom Shower Tile

So months and months and many more months ago, when I was pregnant I knew that before the boys arrived I would want to retile the bathroom.  We had this plastic surround that would always get grimy and gross, so I wanted something fresh and clean.  This is what we started with:

and after some tile, a little grout and a new shower head:

We bought the subway tile from Menards, got the tile for the niche, along with two preformed niches from The Tile Shop and bought the shower head set from Home Depot.  I'm in LOVE!

We did our usual thing and wrote inside the wall to mark the occasion and memory.

Once the walls were up we started tiling.  Getting the niche done first, followed by the subway tile.

Followed by grout.

We ended up with a decent size gap between the top piece of tile and the ceiling. 

Like the three little bears it was too small for tile, to big for grout so....

We added a piece of quarter round to the top, caulked and painted it the same color as the ceiling.

Just perfect.

We love the showerhead, but it didn't come with a handheld attachment so we bough this one and it works great for giving the boys and the dogs baths and matches great with the showerhead kit we bought..

With all of our other bathroom projects, we always wanted to do a niche to have a place to store all of our things, but when it came down to it we never did, thinking it would be too much work or too expensive.  It did cost a little more, and take a little extra time, but it was SO worth it.

I found this little guy at Steins last fall.  It is called an "air plant" and literally you do NOTHING to it.  Set it and forget it.  No water, no dirt, nothing.  I found the little pot at Steins too, plopped the plant inside and put it in our bathroom.  The steam from showers helps it and I have not watered it at all!  Maybe I've found a plant that I can actually keep alive.

DIY Curtain Rods + Burlap Curtains

So we have this theme sprinkled throughout our house, and to make the nursery feel a little more "boy like" we did similar projects here, here and here, and DIY'd some industrial curtain rods for their room.

 

And for the tie backs we used kitchen twine....nice touch and we had it on hand!

We added some burlap curtains that I bought from here.

**Word of advice**  I researched the best way to prepare the burlap curtains for hanging, since they are not a normal fabric and it was recommended to wash and dry them.  DON'T!

Two Reasons Why:

1.  They shrink when they dry.  I bought 96 inch curtains, we adjusted the curtain rod to the height we wanted *before washing and drying* and now they are wondering where the flood is.  Not the end of the world, but having the curtain rods already in made it difficult to switch things around.

ALSO....

2. They wrinkle and I despise ironing.  I hate it, and if there is a hell, and I end up there, then ironing ALL day is what I will do.  No amount of dryer balls, taking them out before the dryer is done, happy dancing, or praying would help them.  Just lots of steam, spritzing with water and the dreadful ironing did the trick.

It took me hours.  Hours and hours to iron three curtain panels, and while they didn't turn out perfect, they are a LOT better then they were.  

It didn't take very long for the hubby to get them installed and the curtains and the curtain rod really transform the room!

Needless to say lesson learned, but I love how they turned out!

Dresser Makeover

The hubby and I painted a dresser we had inherited from his mom a few weeks back and I love how it turned out!

This is what we started out with and while it is pretty, it wouldn't work with what we have planned for the boy's room:

We had already taken the hardware off and started to empty the drawers at this point.

And after three coats of  Pittsburgh Paint's Airy Mint (N233) in a semigloss and a few coats of semi gloss Navy Blue spray paint on the hardware this is our finished product:

Fixing a Broken Capiz Light

I have been watching this light at World Market forever, well not forever but a few years now.  Waiting for a sale or for it to go down in price.  Normally it does not work out and the item is either discontinued or snatched up by someone else.  Not this time.

The hubby and I were at World Market and I noticed the large pendant light had a price tag on it for $69.99.  Knowing that the original price on it $149.99, I was cautiously, but with rabid urgency trying to find one in a box....and couldn't.  Finding an employee I was told that they only had the display in stock but they could order one, so I took a "rain check" and got it ordered.  I must have asked the guy FIVE times if I would be honored the displayed price, worried that they would try to tell me it wouldn't be honored, which he probably thought I was crazy but got it ordered.

I got a call a week later that it was in, and rushed up there, to find that the one they ordered was a different one. BAHHHHH!  After speaking with a manger she said I could take the display.  I again confirmed with her THREE times that I would get the price on the tag attached.  I'm sure she thought I was crazy because my husband kept asking me why I was so persistent about THAT light.  If you know me I'm usually really shy when it comes to standing my ground.  She took it down, brought us up to the register and after coupons and gift cards, we paid $13.00 for it!!! Cha-ching!

Since it was a display there was no box, and I never was more afraid of breaking something in my entire life.

We brought our new "baby" home and got it hooked up with this hardwire kit. 

Can you see the problem that we had with this?  Since it was a display, at one point or another one of the capiz petals broke, leaving the metal frame empty.

 But with a little elbow grease....I mean some parchment paper, a hot glue gun and some scissors you cannot even tell.

I have seen faux capiz lighting made with either plastic milk cartons or parchment paper, so I figured I'd give it a shot to fill in the broken piece.  I cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the metal frame and hot glued it on the side of the frame to the parchment paper.

It blends so well it took the hubby a while to figure out which one was the "broken" one.

 

Although I really loved how things were taking shape, it needed a little more.

So I bought this chandelier cord cover from Etsy and finally have my "ah-hah" feeling!

In Emily fashion I wanted to put it up right away, the hubby not so much.  So while he was sitting comfortably on the couch relaxing after a long day, I hopped up on the chair, and made an attempt to put it on.  Easy installation because it just Velcro's together over the cord.  The hubby was not a fan of his pregnant wife being on a chair, so he jumped in and took care of it.  He's great!

I am so proud of myself for the amount of patience it took for me to wait as long as I did to get this baby!

 

Every time I walk by I can't help but smile :)