How To DIY A Retro Stripe Painted Visor Or Hat
Have you ever used fabric paint to jazz up your clothing? I used fabric paint to DIY a retro stripe painted visor and I love how it turned out. If I can do this craft, you can definitely paint a visor or hat. How do I know? Well, there aren’t many rules. So, most anything goes. This is one of those low pressure, therapeutic crafts that’s also practical because you can wear your creation. Let’s get started. Supplies needed to make a retro stripe painted visor or hat: visor or hat of your choice (mine) fabric paint (this set comes with paintbrushes) paintbrush paint palette or paper plate to mix…
Happy List: #300
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I hope you’ve had a great week and are ready for my weekly dose of ideas and inspiration. This week on the blog I shared our recently wallpapered kitchen alcove. I hope ‘alcove’ sounds fancier than ‘weird hallway’ because I spend a lot of time workshopping that name. Ha! I also shared a post from the archives about Mother’s Day and my own experience being a mom after my mom died having never met my children. I didn’t share it to be a downer. I think it ends on a hopeful note. I shared my story so that anyone else experiencing what I…
From the Archive: Motherhood Without A Mother
Mother’s Day is coming up. It isn’t my favorite holiday. Many people, for a variety of reasons, have complicated feelings about Mother’s Day. Mine stems mainly from the unfortunate fact that my mom died before I became a mom. Navigating motherhood without her, especially at first, was rough. I first wrote about my experience of mothering without a mother in 2015. As I reread this post recently, I thought it would be a good time to share it again in the hopes that it might help someone else feel less alone if they share a similar experience. Here it is… When I was pregnant with my first child, I sat…
Wallpapered Kitchen Alcove With Multiple Uses
I am thrilled to reveal our newly wallpapered kitchen alcove on the blog today! I didn’t know what to call this room, so I’m using the term kitchen alcove because it sounded like something a home that is almost 250 years old would have. However, this not-quite-a-hallway, not-quite-a-room is the ultimate flex space that we use for a variety of purposes. Its functions as a microwave station, a food pantry, a butler’s pantry, shoe storage, a junk drawer, a pool towel holder, a sunscreen station, the place where the lightbulbs go, a hallway to the bathroom, and more. PHEW! That’s a lot of hats for 30 square feet of space…
Happy List: #299
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m delighted you are here. This week on the blog I shared an old house essential with you – my slow cooker for removing paint from door hardware. It’s really amazing what you can accomplish with water, heat, and a little bit of patience. I also wrote about my hunt for a ceiling medallion for our living room and I learned something about the history of ceiling medallions while doing it. Win, win. As always, I love hearing from you. It makes this whole thing more of a dialogue than a monologue. You can always comment on this blog post or send an…
In Praise Of: Ceiling Medallions
It doesn’t matter how decrepit a home is, whenever I see ceiling medallions in a home I think, “Ooh, fancy!” Is that your impulse too? That impulse is spot on. Ceiling medallions peaked in popularity in the mid to late 1800s. (source) This was the Victorian era and folks living then liked to make a bold statement in their homes with everything from elaborate trim to fussy furnishings. There was nothing subtle about the Victorians. If you had a ceiling medallion in the 1800s this meant you likely had a hanging light fixture of some sort and these items were signs of wealth. There’s nothing like your neighbor’s wealth hanging…
Old House Essential: Slower Cooker For Paint Removal
There are house essentials and then there are old house essentials. The essentials might look the same on each list but their purpose can differ vastly. On my list of old house essentials is a slow cooker – not for cooking but for removing paint from door hardware. If you own an old house or any home where someone became overzealous with a paintbrush then a slow cooker will be the MVP when it comes to restoring your door hardware back to its original shine. To make this very clear, I own two slow cookers and I do not confuse the two. One is for making tasty dinners and the…
Happy List: #298
Hello, hello! Welcome to today’s Happy List. I’m delighted you are here. This week on the blog I shared when a brown paint wash can be used to mimic the look of stain. Spoiler – it’s usually when things have gone awry and you need to salvage your DIY project. Ha! I also wrote a sweet and sentimental blog post about Handy Husband. He has a birthday soon and if you’d like to send him a birthday wish, I’ll be sure to pass it on. You can always comment on this blog post or send an email here. You can also connect with us on Instagram or Facebook. Now, here’s the Happy List!…
The Sweetest Thing He Did For Me Recently
Do you ever look at your spouse or partner and think about how lucky you are? Especially now that I’m older and wiser, I know how young and dumb we were when we got married and how easily things could have turned out differently. I was recently reminded, again, how lucky and grateful I am to be sharing this one beautiful life I have with Handy Husband. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we are at the age where routine colonoscopies are a thing now. Yay? Yay. I had my first one last week. After living with me for almost 25 years, Handy Husband knows all…
When To Use A Paint Wash To Mimic The Look Of Stain
Let’s talk about when to use a paint wash (aka diluted paint) instead of stain to finish wood. Under the right circumstances, a brown paint wash can mimic the look of stain. There comes a time in every DIY project when things are not going well and you begin to regret the choices that led you to this point. It’s in this moment of profound clarity when you’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time and money on something that does not look good that you realize you could have bought it on Amazon for a tenth of the price and zero of the headaches. Now you have to decide whether…
