NEW PAIR OF WINGS

Hello! Well we made it through week number 6 of the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge and its time for our Family Room and Kitchen REVEAL!

But first, I wanted to thank the host of the One Room Challenge, Linda!  The ORC, as always, was so much fun and it always helps us get a lot of projects done!  There are so many absolutely gorgeous reveals out there this week!  Please be sure to stop by oneroomchallenge.com and check out the week 6 reveals of the 17 Featured Designers and over 200 guest participants! And check out ORCs partner sponsor Better Homes and Gardens for their One Room Challenge news too!

This challenge has been the toughest for us yet!  I was still recovering from the flu for week 1, then weeks 2 and 3 I was on the road with travel delays in New York, but we all made it home safe and sound!  Week 4 was about reconnaissance and supplies and week 5 was about building the cutting board and HVAC and electrical drama.  Which like the flu and travel delays, we also survived and triumphed over with alot of answered prayers!  Week 6 has been about finishing up projects, a little more electrical drama and a whole lotta beeswax!!

Building the counter sized cutting board was by far the single biggest project for this challenge.  The builder grade red oak was so rough and damaged that a full half of the wood really wasn’t usable, but we managed to choose pieces that could be pieced in like a puzzle. Bad parts cut off, knots that went all the way through filled up with wood fill, and the missing tongue pieces we used on the outer edge, so that the end result has so much character and natural beauty.

I spent one whole day sanding the counter, getting it as smooth as I could, so there would be no splinters.

The conditioning beeswax and mineral oil mix we used just made it shine and glow from within!  I think mum fell in love with it when the first coat went on and it just got more beautiful with the next 3 coats. We’ve been using it for the past 3 days and it’s just gotten better each day!

Would I use the rough builders grade for a project like this again?  It depends on the size of the project and budget.  If budget was more important than time, then YES I probably would, but if I really needed to get it done quickly and with high quality, then NO.  There was so much unusable and damaged product, it was harder to work with, and went beyond the 20% extra they predicted I would need.  So if I was making something larger, I might have needed to go buy more product and that would have been time consuming and not budget friendly either. I guess each person would have to decide what was best for their project and purchase for their needs.

The next project was staining and recovering the old bar stools.  I used a Minwax spray stain finish in Provincial.  I really, really like the color!  It’s not yellowy, but has warm browns and just a little bit of grey tone, so it’s very pleasing to the eye and goes very nicely with the blue and oatmeal, buffalo check, linen weave fabric that we found to cover the seat cushions.  These old stools look new again!

The spray stain was thinner and more liquidy than I’d anticipated, so it made for a mad dash looking for a disposable paint brush to even it all out, but once I found one and started using it, I wasn’t mad at all. The brushing made stries in the finish which made it look like wood grain and I was very pleased with how the finish turned out!

The next project was wallpapering the backsplash.  It actually went really well!  I hadn’t finalized a plan for adhering it to the tile.  I knew I could do the water and paste version, but I didn’t want to see the mosaic tile lines come through from underneath, and I thought about doublesided tape, but that seemed kind of flimsy for long term.  I had ordered some spray adhesive to fix the loose insole in one of my shoes, and when it arrived, the wheels in my head started cranking away!

(I had chosen the prepasted wallpaper because it was so budget friendly.  $22 and 33 feet x 22 inches wide, versus $29 and 16 feet 22 inches wide, for self stick wallpaper, but I would have had to buy 2 rolls at more than double the cost of prepasted.)

My head decided that I could make my own self stick wallpaper using the spray adhesive and that’s what we did!  I cut each piece to fit a section of the back splash, (the largest was 9 feet long) and then took it outside, being careful not to let it roll back up on itself, and sprayed the back thoroughly with the adhesive, focusing on corners and edges, and then fit it into place on the backsplash, smoothing it with my hands, and trimming it with a utility knife like I would with pasted wallpaper.  It took about 2 hours all together, mostly because I was tired and decided to just take it slow and pace myself.  It turned out to be so easy and it’s amazing how the pretty new wallpaper brightened up the whole kitchen!  I would definitely use this spray adhesive, DIY self stick wallpaper technique again!

We thinned out some old decor things and brought in some “new” decor things.  New rugs that coordinate well with our existing blue and white ware, new wallpaper, and they all continue the decor flow from the livingroom and diningroom.

Most of the smaller decor items we already had.  I reused a thrifted blue and white tequila bottle adding in a pour stopper on top for our olive oil.  Our existing cutting boards and utensil crocks fit in nicely.  I did find a “new” to us, little glass cake stand at the thrift store that’s just perfect for holding croissants and pastries.

Our family room adjoins the kitchen and I love this view looking from the kitchen into the family room!

These old leather chairs are my favorite thrifted finds from years ago.  They were in rough shape when we found them, we cleaned, repaired and condition them then, but over time they are becoming kind of fragile and I wanted to make some cushion covers and do a deep conditioning treatment on the leather backs and arms.  I ran out of ORC time to do the makeover on these chairs, but they’re on my real life project list, so hopefully I can get them done in the next week or two.

Our home is filled with family!  Our furbabies are definitely like children to us and we all enjoy the comforts of home.  The fabrics, flooring and furniture all need to be pet proof and easy to clean.  Almost all of the furniture and decor in this room has been garage saled, craigslisted, and thrifted except for the bar stools and those are about 14 years old now, and the rugs which we do change out every couple of years or so due to wear and tear.

There are a couple more projects that we weren’t able to finish this time:  I would have loved to put on the cabinet knobs and drawer pulls, and we have a beautiful huge needlework piece that I would like to use as art over the sofa. And we still need to wallpaper the small counter area, that’s to the right side of the kitchen near the refrigerator.  It’s our cat feeding area (out of dogs reach), so we don’t photograph it much, but it’s still a part of the kitchen and we won’t be done until it’s done too.

I’m looking forward to taking a deep breath and a little rest from projects this weekend.  We have plans for going to dinner and music with friends, getting my nails and toes done in some pretty spring color, and giving back with ministry and sharing in worship.

Thank you friends for dropping by and letting us share our DIY adventures!  We hope all y’all have enjoyed this little makeover and that maybe it has inspired you, made you laugh at our antics or uplifted you in some other way. We’re just two old ladies and if we can do it, anybody can do it!

Have a great spring!  Hope the weather is lovely, warm and gentle wherever you are!  Have fun and be good friends!

Much love from Mum and M, oxo