Happy List: #218
Welcome to this week’s Happy List! This week on the blog was all about the upcoming 4th of July in the U.S. I shared a cellophane faux sparkler craft, which I think would also work smashingly well for New Year’s Eve decor. I also shared our patriotic front porch. If you’d like to see what we are up to this weekend, please follow along on Instagram or Facebook stories. I don’t actually know what we are doing, so I will be just as surprised as you. If you have a project you’d like to share with me, please tag me on social media too. I’d love to see what you…
Patriotic Front Porch for our Colonial Farmhouse
If ever there was a home that needed a patriotic front porch, it is our Colonial Farmhouse. While this colonial farmhouse did not exist for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was built shortly thereafter. That means it witnessed the growing pains of a newly formed nation and there were plenty! It bore witness to the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War. Those are just the major wars of the 1800s. At the risk of stating the obvious, that’s a lot of bloodshed. I’m sure this Colonial Farmhouse has bore witness to the warm fuzzies in American history as well. Right?!?! While…
DIY Cellophane Faux Sparklers (Mega Frill Picks)
Time to get festive, folks! Let’s DIY cellophane faux sparklers. These could also be called mega frill picks. What are frill picks? Those fancy toothpicks restaurants stick in your sandwich. I wasn’t fancy enough to know that term until I Googled it, so I’m calling these faux sparklers. Tomato, tomat-oh. Either way, they are easy to make and so stinkin’ awesome to decorate with for the 4th of July or any holiday, really. New Year’s Eve, I’m thinking about you! All you need to make these cellophane faux sparklers or mega frill picks are wood skewers, cellophane in your desired colors, scissors, and tape. Here’s the tutorial: DIY Cellophane Faux…
Start of Summer Break
The start of our summer break is finally here! I may be more excited about school being finished than my kids are! It has been a rollercoaster of a school year. It started out as a train wreck, but something beautiful came out of all of that chaos in terms of my children’s resilience, independence, and overall mental and emotional well-being. Basically, we ended the year in a much better place than when we started. The next school year will present an entirely new set of opportunities and challenges and I hope what my kids learned this year will give them the tools to handle and embrace anything that comes…
Happy List: #217
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List! What am I doing today? I’m so glad you asked. I’m cleaning out all of this year’s remote school materials. Today is the last day of school and WE SURVIVED. I daresay the kids might have thrived at the end too, which is an added blessing. This week on the blog I shared a house anniversary post. We’ve lived in this Colonial Farmhouse for two years now! I also shared a shed makeover using black stain. It is so much more satisfying to stain something than to paint it, perhaps because I find stain to be more forgiving. If you’ve done a project…
Shed Makeover and Tip for Picking Black Paint
I have the most satisfying shed makeover to share with you today. It is satisfying because nothing fancy happened. All we did was finish someone else’s project (it happens) and address the neglect that had occurred over time. The makeover occurred on the little shed that houses our pool pump and equipment. It’s tiny. We can’t even stand up fully inside of it. We aren’t sure when the shed was built, but the back side of it and the cupola were missing the cedar shake siding. Our best guess is the previous owner ran out of supplies and never finished the project. The last 5% of any project is the…
Colonial Farmhouse Two Year Anniversary
Put on your party hats, people! Today is our Colonial Farmhouse Two Year Anniversary! It feels like we’ve lived here for only a minute and also forever, but in reality it has been exactly two years. Two years is actually a long time for us to live in any one place. It is usually a little before the two year mark that I get the itch to move. I get antsy for change. Ready for a new adventure. I’m not saying I don’t have that itch now, but that antsy feeling is tempered by our life stage and changing priorities. Plus, I have plenty to keep me busy around here!…
Happy List: #216
Hello! Welcome to the Happy List! This week on the blog I shared how we are updating our home with antique hardware. The words updating and antique don’t always go together in the same sentence, but it works in our situation. I also finally shared how we built the bathroom vanity for our upstairs bathroom. We converted a console sink to a regular vanity base and it will be my favorite thing until the next favorite thing! If you have been DIYing or doing something fun with your home, please share it with me on social media. I’d love to see what you are up to! The best part about…
How to Add a Console Sink to a Vanity
Is it possible to add a console sink to a vanity? Yes it is! By doing so you get the style of a console sink or other wall-mounted sink without sacrificing storage. Whether you build a custom vanity like we did or retrofit an existing vanity, we will show you how to attach a console sink to a vanity so that it looks good. Spoiler: It’s all in the transition from sink to vanity. Add a Console Sink to a Vanity Step #1: Figure out what you are working with. Carefully flip the console sink or wall-mounted sink over so you can see the underside of the sink. We set…
Updating Our Home With Antique Hardware
We have been replacing “modern” door and cabinet hardware with antique hardware in our Colonial Farmhouse and it is surprising how big of a difference it makes to the overall look and style of our home. I’m using the term modern very loosely. In a house that is 240 years old, anything in the last 100 years could be considered modern. Most of the hardware we’ve replaced is probably 20 – 30 years old. I doubt it was installed as a style statement, but more of a practical response to a “this cabinet door no longer stays closed” situation. This modern hardware didn’t look bad. It didn’t look good. It…
