Restoration Hardware's Natural color on PINE & Palazzo Vecchio TOUR

Ever wonder what it looks like inside a Florence castle? This Medici castle doesn’t disappoint! This castle sits in the square right outside of our AirBNN- in the promo tourist area of Florence. We walked by it nearly every day for four months- if you're interested what the inside looks like, check out my post!

Live Edge in Driftwood Gray & Palazzo Vecchio Tower

This is the closest square to our AIrBNB - its Palazzo Vecchio and it houses Palazzo Vecchio. Which means, the old square has the old palace! This was the first museum we went to in Florence on Day 1. But heading to the top of the tower was one of the last things we had planned. The views of Florence were a 10 and we wanted for the perfect sunset to give it a try. 

Chunky Farmhouse Pine Table & Touring Orsanmichelle in Florence

Right behind our AIRBNB in Florence there's the famous OrsanMichelle church. It's most famous for it's exterior stone carvings done by the world famous Donatello. Donatello kicks off the pre-rennaisance in Florence by combining church art with Roman and Greek stone carving techniques. The results are like this St George in the short video we shared to facebook! Take a look!

Getting Restoration Hardware's Antique Gray Color

Ever wonder how Restoration Hardware creates those gorgeous colors! We did too, so we tried to recreate the color on an unfinished maple dresser. The look we were after is from the EMPIRE ROSETTE 8-DRAWER DRESSER and you'll be happy to know, it wasn't a hard color to hack! 

Dramatic Bog Oak Bathroom

Create this beautiful RH Modern black oak finish in 3 easy steps! 

Ironically, all you'll need is...white oak and Reclamation stain. What are you waiting for? Isn't it time you get the RH look at a price you can actually afford?  

Weathering Pine Perfectly for that RH Look

What do you guys have planned for Valentine's Day this year? I need some ideas for Los Angeles! It's our first time living there and I don't know what my options are. Now that we are in LA, it's always been a dream to go on the Price is Right! You know what I mean? But now that Bob is gone, it's just not the same. I guess it's not that a romantic day... unless we win! ;)

Purchasing Unfinished Furniture for Staining Driftwood Gray

If you guys know, Bre from Rooms for Rent, then you know her style is fabulous! So we were thrilled to send her a quart of stain to try out.  Here's what Bre had to say!

Oak Flooring & the Perfect Gray Brown

Hey friends! I hope you're having a fabulous holiday! It's the happiest time of the year and we are spending it in Paris! It's our first time to the city, lost pics to come, I promise!  

Refinished Maple Dresser

Today is Zack and my 18th Anniversary! I can't believe how the time has flown. I feel like no time has passed, except for how our love grows and grows. I think that not having kids, creates this sort of permanent date for he and I. You hardly realize how time is flying until you hang out with your friends' kids. The you remember, you're old! Ha!

Perfect Grey for Any Table

Pine is the easiest wood for DIYers to get, just about anywhere in the USA. But it has prominent wood grain and doesn't always take wood stains evenly. But with reactive stains you can get beautiful color and that grain will look 100%! Check out this pine farmhouse table, the color is totally dreamy and it looks like it's straight out of a Restoration Hardware catalog!

Layering Reactive Stains: How To

Hey guys, it's finally getting chilly in Italy! I can't believe it will be Christmas in no time! They don't celebrate as much in Italy, as Easter is their giant holiday. I've also got a paint update for you guys! We are selecting our final shades for our new paint line launch, so keep your fingers crossed for me! This week's project shows you how easy it is to layer reactive stains! 

Maple Desk and Built-Ins

Weatherwood stains are a great choice for maple! It stains up to be the perfect grey and you can still see the wood grain! You will find maple for cabinets and floors because it's such a hard wood. That's why we choose it for this project and you'll love how easy it was to do!

Recipe for Perfect Gray/Brown Hardwoods

Maple floors are less common now, because maple doesn't take traditional wood stains very well. But they were very common back in the day. You will find old maple floors, with these skinny 2" boards all over in old homes, especially in the east and mid-west. Staining maple is not a problem with our products, as you can see. Just apply stains and let them air dry! So this is a great project for your old maple flooring, to update it and bring it into the 21st century! Not to mention, this is the easiest way to stain your own flooring. Let's get to it!

Layering Reactive Stains Buffet

This week's project comes from the talented Urban Farmhouse! This project is awesome because I've been dying to show you all how you can layer reactive stains! 

Restoration Hardware's "Natural" Color

Let's get to this awesome project. It's my favorite kind of post! Where usually hard to achieve colors are a piece of cake! The inspiration comes from Restoration Harware's "natural" color.  This look is easy to achieve and it's just a subtle aging.

Faux Barnwood Garage Doors

If you're lucky enough to have wood garage doors, this is right up your alley. But the tutorial will also work well for any wood on which you're trying to get this color! These garage doors are cedar and once they were stained, they looked legit like barn wood. Check it out:

Cerused Oak Side Tables

Caio, friends! Hope you're well today! Sharing this super hot look has been for furniture, floors, really any wood surface. The white wood grain is called "ceruse" and it can be done on raw wood or over our stains. But it definetly works best on deep grain wood, like this oak. 

Gray Pine Scrap Table & Sicilian Wedding

We had the incredible opportunity to celebrate our friends, Ginevra and Keean’s, unbelievable Sicilian wedding! 💗💓💘 It was absolutely perfect! Ginevra was a HUGE help to Zack and I when we first moved to Italy. We met just by happen stance. Zack and I were asking a local business for help and we spoke zero Italian when we first arrived. The worker didn't;t speak and English so we went and grabbed his good friend Ginevra. Ginevra is one of the kindest and most helpful individuals I have ever met. We became fast friends and she literally went to the Dr with me to translate!  So when she invited us to her wedding, of course we came down from Florence and went back to Sicily for the event. 

Perfect Vintage Look for Pine Furniture & Road-Tripping in Italy

This week we are traveling from Florence down to Sicily, it's a long trek but we have several stops planned. We rented a teeny tiny taco car and loaded up out gear. We take a lot of Italy for granted because it's our "normal" now, but I thought you guys may want to check out this Italian Travel Stop food! 

And be careful when ordering 4 pieces of pizza that you check how big the slices are first! 😳😋 For projects I have a great one, because EVERYONE is always asking me how to age pine and we have the perfect product for that!! Weatherwood PINING stain will give pine gorgeous mix of grays and browns colors! One of our favorite clients, Chelsea from Apple Blossom Way, created this farmhouse masterpiece and I thought we would enjoy the inspiration. She is ALWAYS sharing free paint and stain tutorials, so you will want to follow her for sure! Check it out-

Materials

• Unstained furniture piece (can be new wood or stripped, this is PINE.)
• Wood Stain: Pining from Weatherwood [Save 10% with code: WELCOME10]

• Weatherwood Stains' Varnish 

Directions

1.] SAND: Begin with either new wood or strip previously finished tabletop. Start with a rough grit with a 120 grit.

2.] STAIN: Brush on 1-2 coats of Weatherwood Pining stain to weather pine. Brush on and allow product to air dry naturally. Pining turns wood a mix of grays and browns. Here's all 5 gorgeous options from the Weatherwood Color Chart.

Weatherwood Pine Color Chart

3.] PROTECT: Seal the table with Weatherwash Polyurethane, we used Dead Flat.

If you'd like to see more furniture makeovers with this color scheme, here's a gorgeous Nautical Desk Makeover! [link]

Piece of pie, piece of cake! You can save 10% on your first Weatherwood order with code: WELCOME10. I hope to see you tomorrow at our party! 

Easy Brown/Gray Floors & Palazza Vecchio

We are staying at the best location in Florence! We are a 5 minute walk from the famous Santa Maria Fiore and Palazza Vecchio is right outside our door. The palazza has near continuous free weekend concerts and is always filled with people and street performers. It is so much fun. We are so close we just listen for the music and head down tot palazza to enjoy the performance. 




The other day we walked outside and there was a large parade with women dressed in incredible gowns, flag throwers, and military. 🇮🇹  I have absolutely no idea what we were celebrating but it was a blast. The parade closed with a real wolf being walked through the streets! 🐺