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Anyways – i do have the most awesome project to show you guys!!  If you follow me on Facebook you will know what i have been up to.  There are lots of pics – so i am going to break it down into 2 posts.  We started working on this about a month 1/2 ago and it took 3 weekends to be completely done.  We have been having fun with it and using it for a few weeks now.

A couple years ago my husband Santi decided to build a waterfall.  I dont have a good “before we started ripping it out pic” because it never really looked good (plus this pic was taken at the beginning of spring and the yard looks like crapola) and we always had lots of problems with it leaking (Santi is the type to just start throwing things together with no research and pre-planning) he tried really hard to make it work and even ripped out and started over a few times!

So we decided last fall, that coming this spring the waterfall would be gone!  I was beyond excited, even though we didnt have an exact plan on what we were going to replace it with.  We had lots of ideas, but hadnt decided for sure.

One day Santi came home, started ripping out the surrounding rocks and then went to Home Depot and rented a jack hammer – the flat rocks for the waterfall were cemented in.  Happy Day :)

Santi actually look a lot of the smaller rocks and buried them in the pond part!

After getting rid of TONS of large rocks (my sis in law took them for her yard) and taking out lots and lots of dirt – we leveled the area to get ready for our new outdoor fireplace!  Once things were cleared out we could finally visualize what we wanted in the space – we were just going to do a firepit, but this was a perfect spot for a focal point and we decided to just go for it.  Go big or go home as they say…

After leveling, doing some research on fireplaces, buying a fireplace kit and making up some plans – we poured a cement pad.  Clearly we are not pro cement layers!  We built a box, added in some rebar and poured in cement – Santi didnt buy the right size boards the 1st time for the form, so we ended up doing this two times as the cement pad is supposed to be 4-6 inches thick.  After this 1st pad dried for a few days, we poured another pad on top making it the proper thickness – the right way?  probably not!

In this pic – you can see the 2 layers of the pad.  By the way, the pad was about 3×5.

While we were waiting for the pad to cure for a few days, we used the leftover flat rock from the waterfall to make a patio for in front of the fireplace.  Might as well use what ya got right?

We ended up purchasing an outdoor fireplace kit from Interstate Brick in West Jordan Utah.  We looked everywhere for one in our area and were thinking that we were going to have to have one shipped in (an extra $700) – but we finally found these guys right down the street after talking with the manufacturer!!

This is basically what the kit looks like – it comes in about 20 pieces, sorta like putting together legos.    Its made from a special fireproof cement and the chimney is made in a way that is ideal for the smoke to  escape.  And yes, you can build your own fireplace rather than buying a kit – but this made things SO EASY.

(image via Firerock)

The fireplace kit actually fit in the back of our truck – this is us picking up :)

We decided that we wanted to build our fireplace up and out – up to have a place for wood storage underneath and out because we wanted to bulk it up a little.

The 1st step was to build a base for the fireplace – in this opening is where the firewood would be stored.  We measured the kit and then built a base out of cinder block.  We only went two high – we figured this would most aesthetically pleasing, plus it would make the base of the fireplace the right height for when we were standing next to it.

After building the base, we started laying the fireplace kit on top of it.  Before doing this, we dry stacked the kit to make sure we knew exactly how to put it together.  The kit also came with great instructions – super easy to follow.

We had to use a special mortar on the kit itself to join all the pieces – apparently its a fire safe mortar.  The mortar came in bags and we had to mix it – again, really easy.

Stacking the chimney was the hardest part – just because it was up so high and the pieces are heavy.  My thumb got smashed, swelled up 3 times its size and turned black in about 10 seconds and is still numb!!

After building the kit, it was time to build out the sides.  All we did to do this, was to stack cinder block all the way up until where the chimney starts to slant.

After completing the actual fireplace part, we were on to the fun stuff.  Next up was bricking the inside.  We had to use fire safe brick on the 3 sides and bottom – this was also set in place with the fire safe mortar.  To cut the bricks, we just used a tile saw and a grinder – these were really easy to cut.

After we got all the bricks cut to size, we back buttered the bricks and set them in.  Just like laying tile.

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K – thats all i am going to show you today – there are tons of pics and its too long for one post!  Next up is covering the cement base and wood storage in cedar, making a mantle and then adding the stacked stone.

We love the way it turned out and are having tons of fun with it!  Come back tomorrow to see the finished product as well as a price breakdown – that was one of the biggest things we were looking for online when we were researching and couldnt find much.

See ya tomorrow!  

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Vintage Shutter Cabinet

Vintage Sewing Cabinet/Side Table

Fun Accent Chair

Traditional Coffee Table

Set of 2 Teak Barstools

Waterfall Desk

Vintage Cabinet

Antique Side Table

Antique Dresser

A few weeks ago, i scheduled a much needed week of no custom orders.  In some ways i love customs, but it does limit me as far as trying out new paints, techniques, products, etc.  Sometimes i just have to be free of deadlines and trying to give people exactly what they envision so i can do my own thing and play around a little :)

Ive used milk paint in the past and really like it (i posted a cute sofa table here, its actually the same color that i used on this desk).  Im not a fan of chalk paint, but i love milk paint.  Its very unpredictable and hopefully it gives me the chippy look that i love so much.  I will do a post another day about my thoughts about milk paint vs chalk paint.

Anyways – i got this solid wood heavy duty roll top about a month ago.  I really like roll tops, and this one is in great shape.  And the little drawers and cubbies inside are so cute!

This is the best before pic that i had…

The best thing about milk paint, is that there is no prep work, i did not sand before painting.   In this case the desk had a clear coat on it, but it wasnt super shiny and i knew that the paint would stick to the wood.  If you are working with a super smooth, shiny piece of furniture you can add ultra bond to your paint and that will help with adhesion (you can find info about that here on the Old Fashioned Milk Paints website).

I just mixed up some milk paint in a plastic cup – the paint comes in a powder form and you have to mix it.  I find it best to mix it with hot water, it seems to be the best to keep the lumps out.  And you will have to stir it while using, sometimes the paint  can start to thicken and settle at the bottom.

For this desk, i just did one coat of paint – and its brushed on (my sprayer doesnt spray it well).  After letting it dry, i just took a sanding block and went over the entire desk.  Some parts had already began chipping – thats my favorite part.  You never know what its going to do, some parts stuck really well, some you cant even scrape off.

After sanding the desk, i lightly glazed it.  I mixed up some SW glaze in van dyke brown (talked about here) with mineral spirits and went over the whole thing.  With milk paint, you have to make sure and sand 1st before putting on the glaze – its so porous and flat and if you dont, the glaze will just be sucked up by the paint and will be splotchy.

The last step after sanding down and staining the top was to seal with a water based poly to protect the finish.  Milk paint is super durable and doesnt need to be sealed, but i find that it just gives it a little more depth and i like the little but of shine over distressed pieces.

And the after…

The 411

Paint – Sea Green Old Fashioned Milk Paint

Glaze – SW Van Dyke Brown

Stain Color for top of desk – Diluted Kona by Rustoleum

Clear Coat – SW Woodclassics in a gloss

So you got that visual in your head!?!  I know, i know….i would love to be able to find a pic to show ya what i mean….

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Anyways, ive had this old pine dresser for a while now and have always wanted to do something different to it.  The entire dresser had a rough hewn finish, so it was already very rustic.

I was at a clients house a few weeks ago and was reminded of this awesome paint finish because she had the coolest dresser with something kind of similar to what i had seen years ago – that inspired me to get out my dresser and start experimenting with it :)

So, i started playing around with a metal putty knife and some paint to start adding layers of paint to the dresser.  But, that didnt work out.  The paint was just too thin and didnt really go anywhere, because the dresser was so textured, the paint just sat in a glob and just kinda smeared.

After trying that for a bit, i decided that my paint needed a little substance if this idea was going to work.  So i took some spackling paste and mixed it with some paint (about 4 parts paste to 1 part paint) – just mix it really good until the paste is the same color as your paint and there are no more lumps.

I found the best method to trowel on the paint was a cheap plastic putty knife that had some give in it.  The metal one was too stiff.  Also the bigger the putty knife, the more surface you could cover – and i think that covering more surface would look best rather than having tiny little paint splotches everywhere.

After i mixed up my 1st color, i just started my grabbing some paint/spackling paste on my putty knife and just kind of randomly smeared it on the dresser.  I wasnt careful at all – just put it here and there, wherever.  And i didnt smooth out the paste, i was going for really textured.

See the lines?  Thats what i was going for, thats how the other piece was that i saw years ago and what i really liked about it – and the putty knife was perfect for getting that look.

After my 1st color was done, i mixed up a second and then a 3rd and just kept piling on the paste.

In the end i decided to stop at 3 colors – blue, green and white.  But, i did have yellow on my paint brush from that table you can see in the above pic and decided just to brush on a little here and there.

Ready for this scary pic!!!  So at this point i was ready to give up!  It looked beyond crapola.  I hated it and it was clearly NOT the look i was going for!!  It looked like a drunk cheetah puked up skittles on it or something – yuck.

BUT, i decided to keep going and took my orbital sander to it and see what would happen with the paint toned down a bit (wait until the paste/paint has fully dried before sanding, about 2 hours i think).

That did the trick and after that i really liked it.  If you follow me on Facebook, you know that i posted this pic of my new painting technique and was excited to show you guys :)  At this point i was ok for the most part and was ready to keep sanding.

After sanding for a bit to tone down the whole look i was happy with the final outcome.  I really think the rough hewn wood played a big part in getting this finish because the wood already had lines in it that the paste/paint was able to get into.  I am excited to try out this technique on a regular flat surface and see how it goes.

I kept going back and forth to take off more paint or to leave it.  In real life the look is a lot more subtle than it looks in pictures – in person it doesnt look so contrasting and has a much softer look to it.  I was also considering glazing it to tone it down even more but i didnt on this one.  In the end i just sealed it with tung oil.  I also think leaving the drawers just natural it helped it not be so overwhelming.

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In the end i am really happy with how it turned out and it went to a good home.  This was a fun technique to try and will most definitely being playing around with it more in the future!  I think there are a lot of possibilities here!

**And dont ask me what colors i used – i have no idea!!**

The FB page is basically an online boutique that only the members are able to post items for sale, but anyone can “like” the page and purchase items (remember though, that everyone listing items for sale are in Utah and not everyone ships).

Even if you arent interested in purchasing any of the items, its a great place to go for more furniture inspiration :)  Click here to like the page.

The Reclaimologists are hosting a boutique next weekend – it will be filled with tons of local crafters and you will be able to find tons of fun stuff from furniture, home decor, vintage goodies and lots of upcycled stuff!    So if you are in Utah, then you should def try and make it out :)  Unfortunately i wont be able to make the boutique this time, but i am planning for the fall one.

Also – the Reclaimologists group has started a blog, each of us takes a turn at posting so there is a good variety of info – go here to follow along.

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And lastly, i listed a couple new furniture pieces today – go to my FB page for more info.  They will be listed on my shop page this weekend.

Go here for more info

Go here for more info – sorry that pic is so fuzzy?!

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I will be back with the before and afters of those pieces soon!

My dad found me this sweet little bench a couple weeks ago.  It was one of those that i loved right away and couldnt wait to get it painted.  I loved the lines of the bench and that the paint was already really flaky – flaky finishes are perfect for getting an ultra chippy, distressed, weathered look.

I gave it a good sanding with my orbital sander to get all the loose paint off.  Then, i skipped the primer since the bench already had a lot of texture and i knew that my paint wood stick.  Plus i was going for a highly distressed, chippy paint look anyways – so i didnt need the primer.

After giving it one heavy coat of paint, i let it dry and then took my orbital sander to it to give it a heavily distressed finish – my favorite finish of all :)

After distressing i gave it a coat of poly to seal in all the chippy goodness…

The 411

Paint = Sherwin Williams Dill

Clear Coat = Varathane water based poly in a gloss

Distressing technique = orbital sander, post found here

I think its the sweetest bed and would be perfect in a room filled with white furniture and white ruffly bedding filled with vintage pillows – wouldnt it be fun to paint a room full of furniture, add in bedding and decor and then sell it as a whole set…. :)

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Anyways, i got this bed a few years ago and worked on it at one point but then got busy with other projects and never finished it up.

I finally painted it about a year ago with plans to get it finished, but once again got busy with other painting projects and it sat painted for about a year.  At the time i remember painting it with an oops paint that i picked up from lowes.

So finally, a few days ago i pulled it out to get it finished up.  I didnt repaint it from being painted a year ago, i just distressed it.    To distress this one  i took my orbital sander to it, talked about doing that here.

After distressing, i glazed it using the method that i talked about here.   The last step was to clear coat.

And the after…

Love the cute little applique details…

Love that the glaze brings out all the details..

The 411

Paint color – i dont know the exact color since i bought a $5 mistint, but it closely matches Ben Moore Warm Springs (the glaze changes the color a lot so beware)

Glaze – SW VanDyke Brown, posted about here

Clear coat – Varathane water based poly in a gloss

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This sweet bed is for sale!  See my Shop Page for more details :)

Sometimes i am super motivated to blog and sometimes not so much…

Right now, it has been a little of lack of motivation as well as just being busy.  There hasnt been one thing in particular keeping me busy, just a bunch of everything.  Santi has been out of town a lot lately and normally those are my times to get some projects done, but the last couple times that he has left for a few weeks i have just been taking it easy for the most part.

And now that the weather is starting to get better, we have been working like crazy in our yard.  I really like yard work so i dont mind that at all :)  Plus we are doing some fun things in the yard this year and its always more fun to work when you get something awesome at the end.

SO – these are just lots of random pics, i think all from my phone (so not the best quality) – its just a hodgepodge of whats going on with me lately :)  I just wanted to check in and let ya’ll know that i am still alive.

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First up is our front yard, sadly we have really neglected the front flower beds for a couple years while we were working in the backyard.  This year we spent a couple weekends and ripped out lots of plants that we didnt like and then a few bushes.  We have added all new mulch,ripped out a bunch of grass and added in a new flower bed on the left side with a few new trees, and are just waiting for everything to start growing again.  We plan to add in some more bushes/plants in about a month.  We need some color up front, so i cant wait to buy some flowers because its looking pretty bare right now!

We just started a new project in the backyard last weekend.  If you follow me on Facebook, you will know that we just started ripping out our waterfall.  Im so glad!  It never really looked good because we never really got it finished and it always leaked, plus the maintenance on the pond part is a lot of work.

Santi rented a jack hammer and got to work ripping out all the cemented in rocks – lots of work and it was a mess!  We had to fill in the old pond area and get rid of a lot of rocks.

This is basically what i looks like now…

And to go in the waterfalls place – an outdoor fireplace!!  Im am SO EXCITED about this and cant wait until its done.  I think we will use it all the time because we use our backyard tons.  Plus i have always wanted a firepit, and this will be even better :)  This is basically what it will look like except we will build ours with stacked stone and a big chunky wooden mantle.

Then for the inside, not much has really been going on it seems like.  We did move Santi’s office downstairs and will be using his old office for the kids office (we need a quiet space for homework) – this room is right off the front door so it needs to look cute.  I have lots of ideas on how i want it to come together, but its not 1st on the list right now.

I did get all the walls painted as well as hired someone to move in our new (to me) piano.  Oh – did i tell you that i got an old piano for basically free!!  Well, if you follow me on Facebook i posted about it a while back.  (the piano is going in the kids office)

I still need to get it all put back together, but here it is…

Oh, and remember my entry drama from a while back?  Well, it still hasnt come very far.  Basically i painted the old cupboard that i had and hung it up.  Still not feeling it and thats why its just been sitting like this for a couple of months…

I started to put together a spring mantle, but not feeling that either so its all coming down when i get something that i am so excited about on wednesday – cant wait to get it in my hands and use it for my mantle decor :)  I will be sure to post about that as soon as its done.

The rest of the house from my “Great Clean Out of 2013” has pretty much been put back together – i still have lots of smaller stuff though left in the basement that i need to decide what to do with..i have sold tons of knick knack stuff but the rest is stuff that i really like but basically dont have homes for right now.

My craft room is a giant wreck from looking for some fabric a couple weeks ago.  Tonights project is to get it cleaned up because i have a sewing project i want to do.

Ummm, i cleaned out my fridge and this is what we have going on…milk for cereal and fresh salsa – those are the staples right?!  When Santi is out of town those are my free nights and normally i dont cook – clearly he is out of town this week :)

I promise you my kids arent starving!  Normally we go to the store each day and just buy fresh veggies and meat for dinner so we dont keep a lot in the fridge anyways :)

As for whats going on in the shop.  I have been doing lots of customs lately so thats why i havent been posting too much furniture stuff.  I have made a good dent though on my own stuff and this is what i am down too, pretty good considering just a few months ago i had a 40 ft connex filled to the brim with furniture!

I tried out something on a piece of furniture the other day and it didnt turn out as planned.  I wanted the raised parts of the dresser to look like an antiqued mirror so i sprayed them with a chrome/metallic type spray paint and then hand painted the rest of the drawer.  As soon as i glazed the drawer, the glaze took off all the spray paint!  Bummer…i was really excited about this one.  Oh well, gotta try new things to see what does and doesnt work!

And all the while when i am working on projects and Zailee isnt playing outside, she is torturing the dog!  Poor dog gets dressed up in so many outfits and carried back and forth from crib to stroller – its too funny!  But Charley puts up with it :)

SO thats basically whats going on around her lately!  I have so many things to post about, so many emails to return and questions to answer, so im trying to somewhat manage my time better and get to some of these things sooner rather than later :)

If you follow me on Facebook, you will know that last week i finally started my little project :)

 (check out my growing collection of old watering cans, cant get enough of those!)

I love the mismatched fabrics and the fun colors – plus its unique and you can bring in colors and fabrics that will match your home.  And the fabrics can easily be changed out.  You could even add in fabrics for different holidays/seasons.

I waited for a while before finally doing my wall because i really wanted to hang curtain panels on all the windows on my back wall to soften up the lines.  But, with the bay window it was tricky, and it blocked a lot of light that comes through.  Plus, i wanted to put the yellow dresser back where it was, and the dresser would be in front of the curtain which i dont know if i would of liked.

So – last week i finally decided i was over the curtain idea and decided just to get the hoops done :)

I used my small collection of vintage hoops, as well as some i found @ goodwill (those in the pic, its so funny how decorating changes over the years, im sure 10-15 years ago these were pretty cool!) and then the majority of the hoops came from hobby lobby and joanns.  The larger hoops new were about $2 and the smaller ones $1.

Then i gathered up lots of fabric, some i already had, a couple vintage and then the rest new.  I found the fabric @ Joanns and Hobby Lobby (Joanns had a way better selection just so you know).

I laid out the hoops and fabric…

(after i took this pic, i knew that i needed more so i added about 10 more hoops)

Then i just put the fabric in the hoop, tightened it (almost all my hoops had the metal tightner screws) and then cut away all the fabric in the back.  I didnt take a pic after i cut it, but i cut the fabric all the way down to the hoop.

After i got all the hoops filled, i laid out the hoops on the floor.  I measured my space on the wall that i had to fill and then just used those measurements when laying out the hoops.

Lastly i just started from the bottom and worked my way to the top – for the most part i kept the same layout as was on the floor, but when i got to the top i added in a few more hoops to slightly go over each side.

To hang the hoops, i just used a small nail for each one.

And the after…can you spot the little girl?  I told Zailee to get out of the way for pics, and thats where she went :)

411

Hoops – Joanns, Hobby Lobby, Goodwill and some vintage ones i already had.  I think i used 32 hoops total

Fabric – Joanns, Hobby Lobby and some i already had

Total cost – about $65.  Of course i got lots more fabric than what i needed for this project, so i am planning one day to make a quilt with all my fabric scraps :)

I only repeated one fabric twice

Tip – i would recommend buying extra of the small hoops, i used about 5 of those that i wasnt planning to fill in holes here and there