Mt Etna is this smoking, gurgling, gusting volcano on the island of Sicily, in Italy. Locals call is "volcano bueno" even though it's constantly active and has wiped out town after town, over the last few recorded centuries. The nickname comes from the slow moving lava, which allows locals to completely clean out their homes before the lava flows, even to the point of removing windows and doors!
Sooo, let me know if vacation pictures are boring, because I just want to share, share, share everything we've been up to! We spent most of our first two weeks getting set up, since we're here to live not for a vacation. Buuut we did get to sight-see at the coolest spot, the Valle of the Templi, in Agrigento IT.
Hey friends! Well, somehow we made it to Rome. The trip took 18 hours due to some delays along the way, but no worries- we're in one piece and look at this place! We are in Rome for only three days and then we will be moving to the southern Italy. This Air BNB has a double rooftop terrace, one on each side, both are long and this one is also wide.
Yup! We are on our way to ITALY! Can you believe it? We plan to spend the year traveling the country bottom to top- and I hope to speak fluent Italian when it's all said and done. What an incredible experience and I hope you guys will cheer me on. We start our journey for 3 days in Rome, just to get adjusted, then we will travel via train to Catania where we'll be for a few weeks.
Happy Halloween! Zack and I have been bouncing between San Fran and Fresno for our last month before Italy. We had Zack's first book reading for Harvest Moon and it was such a blast! Now we fly to Florida this weekend and we will be there a week before blasting off for a year in Italy Nov 8th!
These old oak pedestal tables are a timeless shape with classic appeal. They're also often real wood and refinish beautifully.
Back to the basics. I know you all love is what I've been doing with my stain. How much do we love the colors of your favorite vintage farmhouse? Well, you can finally have them. Easy peasy, just apply to wood and watch the magic happen! You're going to love this tutorial to easily achieve the Chip and Joanna farmhouse look.
For this project any old piece of furniture made from real wood will work.
1.] STRIP: First you'll want to apply a thick layer of Citristrip to the table. Citristrip has a tendency to dry out before it can eat away at all the layers of stain and lacquer. So covering the wet stripper with a garbage bag helps keep the moisture in while it works.
2.] SCRAPE: When the stripper turns white, it's ready to be scraper off. Remove the bags and scrape as much of the mixture off, as you can. You'll want to try and get down ti the raw wood if you can. But being careful not to scrape or damage the wood itself.
3.] CLEAN: You will want to wipe the table down with mineral spirits and a rag to remove any existing residue. This should remove any sticky residue from the tabletop.
4.] SAND: Here's the labor portion. You want to use a palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper to make sure the wood is completely down to raw.
5.] STAIN: Weatherwood released a new stain that can turn oak into a beautiful driftwood gray, called Light Oaking. This product can work on any wood, so it's less complicated than some of their other products. You can layer this product for the perfect gray! Just wait 30 minutes between coats.
6.] PROTECT: Seal with 2-3 coats of Weatherwood Varnish topcoat.
You're going to love our newest stain. The Light Oaking is simply gorgeous and so easy to use. I'd love to see your Weatherwood projects. And please don't forget to give me your feedback about paint. This is going to be an amazing year!
Hello friends- Fall is fast upon us and Zack and I are less than a month away from our Italy departure. It feels like time has become this vacuum towards our IT departure and I'm just trying to hold on for dear life. I thought I'd answer one of your most asked questions today. Everyone always asks what my favorite Weatherwood product is for refinished furniture, in particular. No, it's not my original formula, the Reclamation stain. It's a no-fail gray perfect for weathering any wood type. It's called Light Oaking and it's gorgeous on this gorgeous walnut piece from Cathy!
Zack and I launched another product in Forks, Wa few weeks ago. You guys know that's one of our favorite spots in the US and we get there about yearly. This time we launched a book Zack wrote, It's called Harvest Moon. For those of you who like to keep up with us- here's the link.
T-minus 5 days before lift off to Italy! This week we are in Florida- one last hoorah before 12 months abroad. I am currently trying to get my life whittled down to one 44 lbs bag. I know- I know! It's gonna be tough and it's giving me some angst. It's not even the clothes & shoes, but more the every day objects that make like life easier, like a heat pack! ha!
Pine is the most common wood out there. It's usually what pallet wood is made from and it will be your most cost effective wood type. You know this because it's frequently found at home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowes. If you're planning a wood project and your's like instant barnwood, here's the project for you!
Hey guys, this weekend we were in Forks, WA, launching yet another new product! lol Zack wrote a sort of prequel to the Twilight Saga and it was received super well at "Twilight Forever in Forks." You can check out the craziness in our Insta. We just flew back to Cali and are in the six week crunch before we move to Italy for a year! Life couldn't be more full and wonderful- speaking of wonderful, this farmhouse table is the bomb!
It's my favorite kind of project! A Restoration Hardware inspired piece! I loving getting that look at an affordable price, don't you? Let's turn an old garage sale find into a RH masterpiece!
We got this old mahogany dresser, but this project will work on any wood type. Here's our inspiration, let's get started...
We have spent most of the summer in Fresno, though that was not the original plan! It's been so sad to see the smoke filled air and know northern Cali is suffering. This project comes from Fresno - so i't's the perfect time to share it. Now if you're like me, you would be skeptical to stain your own cabinets. But you can see my husband stained these while we were at a trade show!
Maple floors and millwork are less common now, because maple doesn't take traditional wood stains very well. But they were super common back in the day. You will find maple millwork and floors, in older homes, especially in the east and mid-west.
Fortunately, staining maple is no longer a problem if you use reactive stains. I mean, just look at this millwork! This is a great project for old and new wood. Not to mention, reactive stains are super easy to use.
Everyone looks that weathered wood look and live edge furniture is all the rage, why not combine the two? I've seen tons of live edge tables with a natural, oiled finish. But very few look like this! Weatherwood stains are a great choice for live edge because you can still see the wood grain, but the wood is not gray! You'll love how easy it was to do!
This post has been sitting in draft form in my archives for 4 years, I think it's ready for its debut considering I no longer own any of the items in these photos, or even the cat in the impromptu shot far below. It seems like life changes so quickly these days and we have just announced we're going to Italy for a year! We've travelled the US for the last three years and I can't imagine slowing down. So it's full steam ahead to Europe for us. We plan to spend 12 months travel the whole of Italy. I really need your help and advice, because I am terrible at planning trips!
Hope you had a super great 4th of July! We spent ours in Eugene, Oregon, at their local parade, rodeo and fireworks. Amongst all the strangers I had a peculiar feeling, a feeling if familiarity and belonging. It made me stop. I looked all around me and saw my fellow Americans...And then in my mind's eye I could see Americans all over the country, gathered together, to give thanks for our independence and the freedom it represents.
Happy 4th of July to my American friends! We are celebrating in Florence, Oregon- running a 5K, hitting up the parade, and of course, fireworks! How about you?
Today's post is pretty exciting. See back in the day, Europeans started ammonia smoking their oak floors to get gorgeous wood floor shades that were impossible to achieve otherwise. People hardly do this anymore because ammonia smoking floors is super toxic and dangerous. Ammonia fumes can kill you and folks used to seal up their whole house to allow the fumes to interact with the tannin in the wood.
Hey friends! This week we are in Eugene, Oregon. The northwest is finally warming up, guys! I am one happy camper. We live so much of our lives outside, traveling around the US like this, so the warm weather gives us our playground back. Back to projects! Yay! We launched a new wood stain color a while back, but I finally have some photos to share! This stain is Restoration and it will turn most wood types a warm, rustic brown.
Hey guys! Here's a few promised photos of our time in the Olympic Peninsula! It is a truly magical part of the country, including Forks, WA. Annnd it's where the Twilight Series "happened" if you remember those books; we walked La Push, First, Second, & Third beaches. This week we were in Portland, WA hanging with old friends and it's been a blast!
