Restoration Hardware Trestle Inspired Table

You know I love to get that Restoration Hardware color, especially for this Salvage Trestle Wood Table. You know what they say, "good things come to those who wait." Any ways, I wanted RH, but with their tables are too stinking expensive! It did take me forever to plan the project, find the table, and get the time to do it, but I fought the law and guess what... I won!

Barnwood-Looking Cabinets Tutorial

I have a heavy heart. Zack and I have been married 15 (wow!) years and have not been able to have kids. But we do have this 14 year old cat. He is the most wonderful feline, in a class of his own. He's a big, fat, orange tabby. And though he's not the prettiest kitty, he is the most loving animal you will ever find. We first got him when we were married less than a year. He was a stray kitten that we found in Hawaii. He walked right up to the doorstep of the first apartment we'd lived in. And he was purring his little, fluffy brains out. Zack and I were still in undergrad then, so Zack picks up the fluff ball and tells him, "If you're here after my full day, I'll keep you." So Zack is gone at school for about 12 hours. When he gets home, sure enough, there's our cat on the doorstep waiting. We took him inside and gave him a flea bath and that cat purred the entire time! Through a bath! I have begged God a million times to let that kitty live until Zack and I are blessed with a child. Well, our kitty had a stroke tonight. He's still with us, and I hope he can pull out of it, but not looking good. I know many of you are animal lovers and can relate. 

Sliding Reclaimed Gray Doors

Hey guys- you're gonna love what I have for you this week. This tutorial can save you major bucks, if you want to buy a door stained like this, it would cost you around 2-3K! I'll show you how to turn any alder, sliding barndoor from Home Depot into a gorgeous, custom masterpiece.

Rustic Beam Makeover

When Zack and I were in our MBA program, one of our teachers mentored us. So our teacher bought himself a phat (ginormous) mansion on Newport Beach, but it was a bit dated. He was able to use my product for several applications, but one of them was this rad ceiling. This tutorial is to help you turn existing stained wood into a weathered-looking awesomeness!

Rustic Modern Cherry Fireplace

The metal frame for this gorgeous fireplace was custom fabricated, but I can tell you how to get this incredible color! This fireplace was made from the hardwood, cherry. You can use cherry for anything from hardwood floors, to furniture, to accent pieces like this. It was more commonly used several decades ago, so this post would be great for your old hardwood floors. 

DIY [Almost] Barnwood Wall

This tutorial is to help you turn a boring corner of your home into an amazing rustic, barnwood wall. You only need inexpensive, raw cedar from any big box store and we'll turn it into a weathered looking ones. These boards cost 2 bucks each, so you can do this wall for $150, including stain!

Rustic Brown "Barnwood" Siding Tutorial

Hey! This is a new stain I'm showcasing today! You're going to love the softer colors it achieves and the warmer barnwood tones. This year you'll notice that the trend moves towards gray/browns, or warmer grays. This product is perfect for that! I mean, just look at this ceiling!

DIY EBONIZED White Oak Floors

The other afternoon I was sitting on the beach reading the Spring issue of Magnolia Journal. I came across an article that struck me to my core and I thought I'd share with you. There was a story about a woman who decided to purchase a ranch rather than retire from her normal job to a life of leisure. She was not a "rancher" so she had a lot to learn. On her first day of horse back riding lessons, the horse was spooked and when it jolted, the reins were wrapped around her fingers, pulling off the tips of two of them. She rushed to the hospital but the finger tips were lost. She became doubtful and fearful of her decision to start a new "ranching career." How many of us can relate? I know when I started the MBA I had similar doubts that I was making the right choices and that I was cut out for the program. And again, starting as an entrepreneur, I had those doubts and risked our income anyway. Well, the woman's daughter writes her a letter, and I'm paraphrasing, "If you continue to live by Fear, the world will get smaller and smaller." I can tell you for a surety that this is true. Live by faith, live with joy, and love failure, because it teaches you something. Let's commit to live without fear, the best we can- ok?

DIY Rustic Brown Bar Top

How do we define freedom? For me, its in being an artist. I'm not the kind of artist that paints portraits, but I wish I was. I don't sculpt and I don't really care to. I don't do pottery and when I do, it doesn't feel like art. Most people don't even recognize what I do as art until they experience one of my pieces. Here's what I do. I invent colors and I design furniture. For me, when I'm creating and beautifying a piece of furniture its as simple as taking a breath. The only sensation I can compare it to is that feeling you get when you're sitting on an airplane and the jet takes off and you suddenly find yourself giddy, breathless, excited,  and high above the clouds. Thats when the vision becomes clear in my minds eye. I take that breath and hold it till I can't hold it anymore. Then when I release the vision into the reality of this world for your physical eyes to see, something magical happens. 

Oak Kitchen Makeover: Strip & Stain

Now that I've kind of told you guys the business side of my invention, I'd like to tell you about a few books I think will help you. I highly recommend reading, "Lean Start Up," by Eric Ries. I would actually read that book one chapter at a time and alternate between that and Steve Jobs biography. The reason I would do this is because the rules you learn from Lean Startup are all the rules Jobs breaks and how it gives him a lot of obstacles. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but Jobs was kicked out of his own company. Of course he makes a come back, but that's mostly because he learns how to follow these rules. 

Country Dresser Upcycle

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Hello dear friends. Zack and I have just arrived in the Florida Keys and it's windy and cold, well it's 68 degrees! I hope you're staying cozy and warm during this insane cold front. It hasn't been nice to our stain deliveries, that's for sure. I think you'll like the country dresser makeover. It's just precious. 

 To achieve this look you'll start with a piece of cherry furniture. 

Driftwood Gray Shiplap Tutorial

Hull-oh everybody! I just read Peter & Wendy by J.M. Barrie. It was such a magical and amazing story! The thing that sticks out to me the most is the way they say, "Hello." "Hull-oh." So anyways, I've been thinking happy thoughts lately and I can feel myself getting covered in the pixie dust that makes imaginations fly. But don't forget, you must think of a "happy thought" to fly. So get ready for my happy thought. 

DIY Driftwood Hardwood Floors

Hey party people! Our work up North is completed and we are driving down to Florida as you read this. It's been a crazy year so far and now I should have some more time to work on the RV Makeover! I am so excited to tackle that. In the meantime, I have this amazing  floor tutorial for you. It makes your floors easy enough for you to DIY them!

DIY Anthro Box Set Book Shelf

Happy Thanksgiving week! I am guessing most of you will be with your family this holiday. Zack and I are still on the road and decided to spend the holiday alone rather than send our pets to a boarder so we could travel to be with family. We have decided to spend the holiday in Williamsburg- in the area where the first Thanksgiving took place. I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for this blogging community. For the first year+ I started my business, this was the only thing each week I would do for myself. Now things are more manageable, but you all have been there through the ups and downs, thick and thin and I am grateful for it. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

[Faux] Reclaimed Timbers Strip + Stain-

This tutorial is to help you turn an existing cedar wood wall or ceiling into a weathered looking one. If you need instructions on applying wood to a wall or ceiling, check out this tutorial on installing DIY Barnwood Shiplap Wall.

Custom White Oak Kitchen

This wraps up our 2 out of 4 weeks in Boston and it's gone so quickly! Although my family no longer lives here, it has been delightful to see old friends. It's funny how with some friends, no matter the time that passes, it feels like yesterday when you last saw each other. 

Faux-Barnwood DIY Box Beams

We have spent our first weekend in NYC and it was tons of fun! Yesterday we saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Museum. Then we saw the Museum of Modern Art, Times Square, 5th Ave, and Central Park. We have Hamilton tickets this week, so I am totally freaking out excited about it!

With wood walls and ceilings being so popular, wood beams go along with it. When you see gorgeous wood beams in homes, a lot of times it's a faux box beam rather than a real beam to save major money. 

DIY Barnwood [Looking] Cedar Wall

Oh man, we are driving back from Virginia Beach right now. We just had the best weekend- a romantic getaway before our month long trip to NYC. We got a good day and a half of beach time in    The beach is totally my happy place. It doesn't matter how stressed I feel, when I get to the beach I feel like I can breathe. I wish we had a chance to godown to the board walk though. Since we had our yorkies with us we stuck to North VB where pups are allowed. I think with the Fixer Upper craze and the crazy trend of Barnwood and industrial styling, this project will be perfect.  

[Faux] Barnwood Coffered Ceiling

When Zack and I were in our MBA program, one of our teachers mentored us. So our teacher bought himself a phat (ginormous) mansion on Newport Beach, but it was a bit dated. He was able to use my product for several applications, but one of them was this rad ceiling. This tutorial is to help you turn an existing wood wall or ceiling into a weathered looking one. If you need instructions on applying wood to a wall or ceiling, check out this tutorial on installing DIY Barnwood Shiplap Wall.

How to Stain Hardwood Floors

It's a funny thing, when you own a wood stain & coatings company, people expect you to be the expert on that product. Well, that means I needed to tackle flooring in a hurry! I already knew how my stains worked in a flooring line, in fact, I blogged about it two years ago, here. But a UV flooring line and finishing a wood floor that's already installed are not even close to the same thing!