Sometimes I get recognized when I am out and about. That’s always fun! Still. Not that cool. But in the past few months, with moving and having a million boys running around, it hasn’t been fun. It’s become a bit of a chore. And not a fun chore, like laundry. Wait, what? Laundry isn’t fun. Maybe it got to be like laundry…..

I am not quitting. I am retiring. My first retirement. I may come out of retirement at a later date. People do it all the time, right?!

WHITE BUTTERFLY FURNITURE will still continue. You will just have to find me on Facebook and in local occasional shops. Maybe one day I’ll have a shop of my own!

For now, I am going to relax. Right. Relax. I am going to enjoy a few projects without having to worry about the crappy pictures I take and spend some quality time with my family.

I guarantee though, this isn’t the last you’ll see of me. So, if you follow here, and still want to know what is going on in our world, go to https://www.facebook.com/WhiteButterflyFurniture, I’m also still on Instagram @kirstythor and Pinterest (Kirsten Thor) and Twitter @kirstythor. You’ll be able to see lots of bits of our projects and lives!

I’m fairly certain that you won’t be able to access this website after we shut her down. So, if you’ve been holding onto something that you’d like to say, better get it out now! Good or bad. Just say it in the comments!

Until the next time….

28h x 29 1/2w x 14 1/2d

$125

Our half bath in the mudroom is teeny tiny. You may remember that I recently painted the entire thing in chalkboard paint and then trimmed it with some fancy schmancy moulding. First, I caulked all the moulding and it looks great! Second, the door is always in the way. Always.

Tom wanted to put in a pocket door, I wanted a barn door….my fix did not include ripping down a brand new wall and rebuilding it…guess who won?! However, I wanted to do the pipe with eye hooks method and he wanted a quieter method that included a barn door track….guess where we spent Saturday night looking at barn track?! Fleet Farm!

My friend Aimee from The Vintage Estate (we’re totally friends now, right Aimee?!) had a door sitting in her garage and it was perfect for this little project. Thanks for the door Aimee!

Isn’t it fabulous?!

It’s actually quite simple to install, but our process was a little more elaborate, as it would be. Because it’s us. You attach the wheel brackets to the door:

Then the track to the wall:

There’s some math and cutting involved, but it’s pretty straightforward. Cut the track the length you want it, find the studs, attach the brackets and the track, attach the door and adjust the door height as needed with the bolts and nuts provided.

We needed to make sure that the door would be out away from the trim, so we added the trim right away and then put a long piece of header trim on the top to support the track.

We needed to hang the brackets a little higher then the trim so we put some pieces above that fixed that problem.

I’m thinking about extending all the pieces to make it look like board and batten. We’ll see.

Our bathroom is pretty tiny, so we had to attach the brackets to the track and then hang the bracket and track. If you have enough room, you could hang the brackets then slide the track through.

Then all you have to do is attach the door. We had to put the wheels on the track then attach the door to those, as we don’t have enough room on either end to slide it in. No big deal though!

I’m going to finish up the baseboard trim in here and we’ll have one room finished!

I absolutely love it. It is perfect for this space and brings in the much needed light into this bathroom, it gives the area some character and is just plain fun.

That is all. Happy day.

I had the egg brooder there, but one day my FIL opened it and had to do some fancy footwork to catch it and a glass bottle of Old Crow (the only Whiskey allowed in our house). So the egg brooder needed to find a new home in another part of our home.

I skim several blogs and last week I saw that Decor Chick put a little desk in her kitchen when they added their new counters and such, so I thought that would be perfect for our little spot!

You can see the brooder over by the fridge….

I was going to pick up some oak butcher block from Ikea to match the rest of the counters, but when I got there, I was walking around and happened to see a desktop that was butcher block but in beech…but get this it was only $60 instead of $129. Wrap it up, I’ll take it.

It sat for all of one day before I decided to take matters into my own hands and cut the piece and router it myself. I watched Tom router the other counters and was pretty sure I could figure it out on my own. People often ask how I have the nerve to do it. All I can say is: you can’t be afraid to make a mistake, you can’t be afraid of power tools and you can’t be afraid to get dirty.

Always wear your eye protection people. If you want a small tutorial on routering, go here.

I grabbed some L-brackets from Ikea to put the table top on, that was the hardest part of the whole project! The holes weren’t lining up properly and so I had to re-drill the holes.

Please use a level and make sure everything is level and square. You will be a much happier person if you do. I added a few pieces of  1×2 to make sure there was enough support for the top.

We also had to notch out a tiny little piece of the table top because of the trim on the refrigerator wall. In addition to attaching the top to the L-brackets, we also attached the top to the fridge wall. Just for some extra support.

Apparently I have some paint touch up to do.

I’m going to drill a hole in the back for cords and such. Hopefully it gets used as a homework and drawing station and not a “collecting all the crap” station! I absolutely love it. And I loved routering! It was so fun. Except for the wood shavings on my clothes and in my hair and mouth and stuff, but small price to pay…

Happy Monday!

I needed a fun solution, so I wouldn’t have to worry about scuff marks and things. So, I had a couple of these tin (fake) tiles around and decided to see what they looked like. The instructions are simple. Either use adhesive or the super powerful double stick tape. Easy enough.

This wasn’t the cheapest DIY project ever, but the end result is so beautiful, I think it’s totally worth it.

First I laid out all the tiles and read the directions. I’m a directions kind of gal. I got the corner pieces to put on the bottom as a finish trim and the end pieces for, well, the ends. It says to cut the corners of two of them when you lay them out so they overlap easily. Sure. If you can cut an exact 1/2 inch out of them. But, no big deal.

The directions say to start at the bottom left and work right or up. I went right….

But the tape kept sticking where I didn’t want it to, I was getting hot and sweaty and annoyed, so I switched to adhesive and that was worse than the tape. It didn’t stick and I wanted to throw it all away. Except that I spent a crap-load of money on these darn things and I wanted them up.

I went back to the tape for as many of them as I could…I ran out of tape. Because I kept ruining it and having to redo it. Had I not messed up the first couple times, I would have had enough.

I had to cut the top pieces of tile a bit, the first piece, I did wrong, of course, then corrected myself the remainder of the tiles. All you need is a tin snip or a sharp blade and a straight edge. So easy to cut. I may put a finish piece under it when we redo the countertop, but for now, I’m not messing with it.

What I resorted to next was not pretty. It is not the recommended method, but gosh darn, if you come over to my house and look that closely at the island, I will kick you out right on your tush without a glass of wine.

I used some resources I had on hand (E6000 and teeny, tiny flat head nails). And I knocked this thing out. Amazing. It looks great. Everything is up and if it ever falls down, I’ll think of some other way to get those things on there permanently. I swear I will.

Can you tell where I messed up? Exactly.

All in all, I think it turned out great!

One kid thinks so too…

I love it. LOVE!

Now. Tomorrow, or next week, whenever I get a chance to breathe, I’ll show you what I did with a router today!

It has to do with this:

Then I ripped out the counters and they sat without counters for a little while. Then we cut the counters and they looked great! But I had more plans for them.

I pinned a picture of some routered counters that I thought made the countertops look absolutely gorgeous. And I wanted that. So, my Father-in-law and husband delivered!

My FIL brought down a router for us and the boys picked up an ogee bit to practice with.

You can router one of two ways. By dropping the bit all the way down and moving across the piece of wood in increments or by dropping the bit down in increments. We chose to do it by dropping the bit down. So we made about 6 drops, around 1/8 each time.

This was our practice piece. It was left over butcher block from the counters. This is just a basic bit. I, of course, needed a little more drama, so wanted the Roman Ogee Bit.

They had to go to a wood-working store 45 minutes away to get the bit. Love them for that!

There it is. Isn’t it beautiful?!

In order for the end not to get eaten up and split we clamped a straight edge (in this case the inside of a cabinet door) just off the end so the router could keep going off the edge. Trust me, it worked.

One thing you have to remember is to go fast enough so the bit doesn’t burn the wood, but slow enough that it doesn’t cause rivets and splits in the wood. Also, don’t take too much off at a time. Even though making many passes leaves a ton of dust, it’s important to do so, because the butcher block can split and then it’s a pain in the butt.

All of these pictures make it look like Tom did all of the work, but I really did the hardest part:

I decided to leave the counters natural colored but I wanted them to wipe clean easily. Now. Before you freak out. Don’t freak out. I did a ton of internet searches and did the right research. I used my trusty Howard’s Feed and Wax, wiped on, wiped off. Then put 4 coats of Polycrylic in Gloss on top. I used Polycrylic for several reasons: 1. It is food safe. Not cutting board food safe, but if you happen to set a sandwich on top and then eat it, you will not die. Sometimes you put crackers on your dining room table, right?! We do. And I put poly on that. Okay, well, on our old table I did. I haven’t done this table yet! 2. We aren’t using it as a cutting board. So I don’t have to worry about any of those issues. 3. Polycrylic doesn’t yellow. Polyurethane yellows, not just over time either, sometimes, in the right conditions, it happens right away.

After each coat, except the last, I lightly sanded with a 220 grit sanding block. Just make sure you get all of the dust off after each time so you don’t make cookies and stare at the dust or a piece of hair underneath a layer of the poly. Because that would be enough to drive a person batty.

Obviously there is some touch up painting to do and a backsplash to put in, but I’m not one for big dramatic reveals all at once. I like to show you the process along the way. It makes it more real. And we’re all about keeping it real around here…..like the pile of dishes in the sink and the 4 loads of laundry I need to fold, real.

Happy Friday!

First we started out by routering a cabinet. We knew that it could be done this way. It would take a little practice, but we could do it, so we grabbed the router and did one. I nearly had a panic attack. I was so nervous about messing it up.

It worked great. And would have worked just fine for all the cabinet doors. But then we started thinking. Of course, that always gets us in trouble, because we always have to buy a new tool.

The boys went out and brought this bad boy home:

The Dremel Saw-Max. It’s great because it can be used to cut tile, wood, drywall, metal. It will be a great tool to have.

We set the dremel measurement to just short of what the router was set to for the first cut, just to make sure we didn’t go through the front trim piece.

I placed the glass on the cabinet door and traced it. You can see a little of the marker towards the bottom of the next picture. Then we set up a straight edge to make sure it was done exactly right.

It worked perfectly and quickly. Piece of cake. The centers just pop out with the back pieces that are cut out from the frame.

I like this way better because you can get a very close cut and you don’t have to take out extra framing. In the router method you have to router out until you get to the edges of the cabinet face (the insert).  And that can leave a lot of extra space for the glass, unless you have the glass cut after you router the cabinets….that’s not what we did. Because I have no patience. But in any case, I feel the more wood supporting the frame and glass the better.

After these were cut and painted, I lined the edges with clear kitchen and bath caulk and dropped the glass in. The glass and the caulk provide a suction and seal it. No nails or staples needed.

Then, the doors went back up. We’re nearly finished with the kitchen! The concrete counter will get done when it gets warm out!

I still need to finish painting the bases of the cabinets and I’m trying to decide if I want to paint the inside of the cabinets yet. What do you think? Paint them? No paint?

This weekend Tom put up the shower door in our bathroom, which makes us happy, because it makes the shower feel so much bigger! And then we did lots of lounging around. I did however make something really fun for the kids that I wanted to share with you.

I got the idea from this blog right here. The Handmade Home. I just found her this weekend from The Nester. I did mine just a little different though, but same concept.

I had some left over 1x2x8 from our closet makeovers, so that worked perfectly. I wasn’t sure if I would have enough scrap fabric, but I had the exact right amount. Exactly. Like it was meant to be.

I started by drilling a hole 1 foot from the end of each piece, and then strung them all together and tied them up. We wrapped twine around the top about 100 times to secure it. Now, it doesn’t secure it perfectly, but don’t worry about that. If you’d like, you can drill another hole towards the bottom of each piece and then string twine connecting each piece on the bottom, but you don’t have to do that.

After I put them together we spread them out, then I started taking pieces of fabric and I glued them to the wood. I lined it up, put a dab of hot glue down and then pulled the rest of the fabric tight and glued it. Then cut off the excess. It is not fancy, nor is it pretty. But I have to say, it was super easy to do. I love the patchwork fabric look and I got to use up all of my scraps!

It worked out great. Make sure that you leave the bigger (wider) pieces for the bottom. I also glued the fabric between the pieces to each other. Not hard at all.

The boys saw it and started playing in it right away. We had a picnic in there for lunch and they immediately started pretending the pillows were islands and the teepee was safety.

Yes, that is a moving box garbage can. EVERYONE should have one. It seems to fit right in there in the middle of the living room…ehem.

I love pajama days. We moved it to the corner of the room and it seems to fit perfectly, according to me. Maybe we’ll move it to the basement, maybe it will stay right here until the spring, who knows. But I think it’s great.

Here’s the story. The boys love to write on chalkboard. And so I figured, what better place to draw than in the bathroom!?

Of course I want to do something creative and artsy, like this chalkboard that I just did, (and by the way, one three year old has already ruined), but I’m sure, the bathroom will get volcanos, traced bodies, practicing letters and numbers, and trucks drawn all over it, BUT that is a-okay. I’m thinking guests will love to leave messages…you will won’t you?!

So, I was trying to be inspirational….boys under 7 don’t “do” inspirational. Apparently.

Onto the bathroom…it’s the only room in the house that has something other than white. And that’s how it’s going to stay. For now.

I had the guys at Home Depot mix up the Rustoleum Tintable Chalkboard Paint in a dark gray. Now. It’s not an option on the box. You have to ask and get a really brave employee to help you out. I told him I wanted a dark gray, not black, not light gray…and I think it is perfect!

Before:

Does anyone else think regular doors in half bathrooms are ridiculous? There is no room to move! You have to walk in, turn around, move your body and shut the door. We will be changing that door to a slider as soon as I can find one!

It took three coats to finish. And I had some help from several individuals under 4 feet tall…..

And so you wonder….why didn’t she paint to the top?! My thought was crown moulding. I was determined to learn how to do it.

I tried. Then I cried. Then I found these little gems:

You can get them at Home Depot or Lowes. They are just a box, really. AND they are AWESOME. It means that you can just do a straight cut on your moulding without crying.

And who needs tears when your bathroom looks like this?!

I thought about tin tile, but at $20 for one, and I needed 8, I didn’t think this little bathroom needed that much drama.

I still have to caulk the edges, and we have to finish the trim in here….and the rest of the house….but I think the drama in this bathroom is awesome. I love it.

What about you?! Any interest in an entire room full of chalkboard?!

We’ve had some progress on the kitchen!

I took out the countertops one day….that was painful. This is what they looked like before. I love them now!

I went to Ikea and grabbed the oak butcher block. I think the total for two pieces that I needed was around $250. Not bad. We finally got around to cutting them. Remember….measure twice, cut once. And if you cut too long and need to go back, that’s okay. It’s not okay to cut it too short, because there is no going back after that….ehem.

I’m nearly finished with the upper cabinets as well. I took a little break because I ran out of paint, and I’m also waiting for our router to get here this weekend to finish up the cabinets and router the counters. I have the glass already for the cabs, so the next part will go quickly!

While I was waiting for paint/router, I received all of our drawer pulls and knobs. Aren’t they fab?!

I just love the brass. It’s not for everyone, but I think it looks so cool. And with the stainless appliances….yummy. BTW – does anyone have any hints to cleaning stainless steel? I have no idea what to use.

I should have another update on the kitchen next week!!

Oh, so far I’ve used 1 1/2 cans of ASCP in pure white and 1/4 can of ASCP in paris gray. Not too bad! I’ve also waxed the island and the base cabinets and only used about 1/5 of a can of wax.

I love how bright the kitchen is getting!