I want that room...

mirrors / lamp / chandelier / drapes / bottle / sheets / bedding / flowers / pots

Build This: Open Shelving

I have been dying to redo my kitchen, I mean with all of the Pinterest inspiration who wouldnt?! But we aren't planning on staying in our house for much longer so it isnt really practical for us to put the money into a complete overhaul. Craig and I tend to be the king and queen of compromise, so we were able to come up with a pretty simple and inexpensive alternative. We took out one of our cabinets and put up some inexpensive shelving to show off our pretty dishes and vintage canisters. Here's the step by step on what we did....

Step 1: Take Off Existing Cabinet

One of the major differences between me and Craig is that he is the kind of person who so politely takes the cabinet off the wall with out damaging it just in case the next home owner wants to put it back up; and I showed up in the kitchen with a hammer and protective eye wear ready to demo this sucker. No go. 

Step 2: Spackel

You will more than likely have holes in the wall that you'll need to patch up when you remove your current cabinet. We had many.  We used the fancy kind of spackel that starts out purple and turns white when you're ready to paint  - Speaking of painting...we had to paint the wall where the cabinet was. You may or may not need to do this depending on if you've painted your kitchen already. 

Step 3: Measure

Before you do anything else you'll need to measure out where your brackets are going to be, and make sure that they'll be level. Look at those mad leveling skills up there! Craigy let me do this part. 

Step 4: Paint Shelves

I, luckily, had extra paint from when we painted our cabinets before. I was thinking about staining these, but wanted the kitchen to be uniform so we painted.  

*Tip: If you go to Home Depot you can pick out your wood and they'll cut it to the exact measurements for free. Whoop! That saved us a lot of time. 

Step 5: Hang those suckers

I usually put more holes in the wall than necessary when I try to hang things, and since we worked so hard on our spackeling already Craig thought it was best to take on this part. Okay, lets be honest...this is really a Craig DIY, its cool. We decided to use 3 brackets instead of 2 for extra support, and I am really happy with how it turned out.Next: Decorate

I used pretty bowls, vintage canisters, and some of my favorite cook books. I planted herbs in the canitsters - I can't wait for them to start growing!
I am so happy with how my shelving turned out - It is exactly what I wanted.

Make This: Burlap Runner

I had been on the hunt for a new runner for our kitchen table for a while. It was surprisingly hard to find the right size and color. None of the patterns that I saw matched the rest of the house and all of the solids were just too boring! So, obviously, the only thing to do was make my own...and a big mess :)

Here's how I did it....

Supplies: Light color burlap, Fabric dye, Liquid Stitch, Scissors (not shown), Iron (not shown)

Step 1: Soak!

I used my kitchen sink for this, however, it's probably a better idea to use some sort of large container.  If you do use your sink make sure to rinse it out with soap and water immediately afterwards. Simply follow the directions on the back of your dye box - I love how the color possibilities are endless! The longer you soak the deeper the color. I found that this burlap immediately latched on to the color and I didn't need to soak for more than 5 minutes.

Step 2. Cut

I made the mistake of putting my entire 2 yards of fabric in the sink...hello! So, if you're buying more fabric than you need for this specific project I would recommend that you cut your fabric first to ensure an even color.

Step 3. Fray

This step is slightly tedious. Make sure that you take your time to keep your fabric from looking too distressed. If you try this, you'll know what I mean. I measured out 10 inches for my fray.

Step 4. Iron

I definitely recommend this step to keep your ends looking crisp and even.

Step 5. "Stitch"

There are two ways that you can finish off your runner. The first is to use Liquid Stitch, which just so happens to be a little messy (and really, its not a complete DIY with out a little mess). If you choose to go this route make sure to put something 'disposable' under your project - I used a brown paper bag. -OR- you can get fancy and make the stitch with your sewing machine. I chose against this option because I didn't want to be able to see the seam. It is a total preference.

Step 6. Fringe

This was my favorite part. Basically you just tie your knot at the top of your fringe. I liked the chunky look, so I only made 6 strands. You can make as many as you please :)

It's so satisfying to make something yourself. There's really nothing better than someone complimenting something in your home and being able to say "Thanks, I made it" - am I right?!