Silly me....

I totally spaced out to tell you to go vote over at Sew Dang Cute for Crafting with the Stars!!

Thank you so much!!

-Make your life beautiful!!

Crazy Amazing Play Kitchen for CWS

Woohoo!!  I made it to round 3!!  

The theme for round 2 was Upcycle and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I had seen so many amazing play kitchens out in blogland, that I decided to finally make one for the girls.  Morgan and Hayley actually play with it, Audrey likes to open the cabinet and sit inside the play kitchen!

My sister in law donated her old entertainment center for the cause!  She has 2 super active boys and the entertainment center had seen better days.  Mr. TSL picked it up and brought it home for me....it wasn't in as bad a shape as I had thought.  It was solid oak!  Mr. TSL almost wouldn't let me paint it.  What is is with men and wanting wood to be au natural...no painting nice wood (in my best caveman voice). Just kidding Mr. TSL, I still need some help with other projects and I'm not burning that bridge!

Now for the boring how we did it.

1.  Took off old hardware and primed in with spray Kilz (already had this for my dining room chair project...now I need more)

2. I painted the silver first, it was just a can of silver spray paint that Mr. TSL has in a cabinet in his man garage.  Apparently, he is a collector of all things spray paint.  Our poor children will grow to be spray paint hoarders, just like their mommy and daddy :)

3.  I taped off the edges of the flat top range and the oven windows, then painted the white countertop and black cabinet base.  The black took 2 coats and the white took 3.  (the black was from painting our own kitchen cabinets, but I used it for my Nate Berkus rug from last week and I also painted my front door with it the other day, more on that later.  The white paint is the trim paint for the living room trim!)

4.  I decided, I was sick of taping off stuff...last week the rug, this week the kitchen...so I took one of those stinky fat permanent markers and a ruler and made the top of the stove like that....soooooo much easier!  

5.  The handles for the cabinets and drawer were for my grandmothers antique Hoosier cabinet that is in my kitchen...they didn't fit, so they have been in the darwer for 2 years and the Hoosier cabinet still has no handles...so they weren't a new cost either.

6.  I decided to paint a faux carrera marble counter...that didn't work. it was terrible.  So, I painted over it a few times with some more white paint.  

7.  Mr. TSL cut the hole for the sink with a jigsaw and we dropped in a cheap pie pan I picked up at Wal-Mart for $0.97...first cost for the project.

8.  The chalkboard was leftover wood from when I took apart a home made bed frame the previous owners left in the rafters of Mr. TSL's man garage.  We tried to use it in Hayley's room, it was too big and she and I suffered serious injuries from the bed.  Okay fine, we both hit our shins, but that puppy left big bruises and I might have been rolling on the floor in pain.  I just painted it with some paint we had and the leftover chalkboard paint from the pantry door project.  

9.  The little pendant flags are cut up paint swatches from Lowe's 

10. The knobs for the stove are made from baby food lids that I spray painted black and the hot glued tile spacers on!!  :)   

11.  Last, but not least is the item that made the whole kitchen....the faucet and handles.  Mr. TSL made this in his welding class.  That's right he made that for me,er the girls!  He stayed after school and forged this thing for the kitchen....it is amazing!!  I cannot even describe to you how awesome it is!!  He brought it home and I wanted to make out with him!!  

So, there it is!  My Round 2 Upcycle Project for Crafting with the Stars!

Next Week is.....

I am kind of freaking out....I do not have mad sewing skills. 

 I have already gone postal on my project once this week.  :)

-Make your life beautiful!!

SUNDAY: 
The Girl Creative ,The DIY Showoff ,Sisters of the Wild West ,The Tattered Tag ,Flamingo Toes, Under the Table and Dreaming , I Heart Nap Time 

 MONDAY:

Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Dittle Dattle, Between Naps On the Porch, Homemaker on a Dime,  Making the World Cuter

TUESDAY:

Tip Junkie, Type A, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Today's Creative Blog, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Strictly Homemade, A Diamond in the Stuff, All Thingz Related, Handmade Tuesday,
WEDNESDAY:
Blue Cricket Design, Not Just A Housewife, Someday Crafts, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Organize Your Stuff Now, Seven Thirty Three, Sugar and Dots The Mommy Club  

THURSDAY:

My Repurposed Life, Paisley Passions, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, 

FRIDAY:
Remodelaholic, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Miss Mustard Seed, Chic on a Shoestring, Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Little Lucy Lu, My Simple Home Life

Whipperberry, 

SATURDAY:

Funky Junk Interiors, be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Young and Crafty

Round 2 Voting: Crafting with the Stars

Don't forget to go vote today over @ Sew Dang Cute!!!

-Make your life beautiful!!

Nate Berkus Knock Off Rug for CWS

Round one of Crafting with the stars was Knock Off.  The projects were uh-mazing.  As soon as the post went up for voting, I may have been slightly neuroticly worried.....I like a good knock off and I picked Nate Berkus's NY Apartment Rug.  I believe Ikea makes a cheaper version, but I like Nate's space!

My only cost was the painters tape which was $5-ish....I bought a lot of groceries that day and don't remember exactly.

I had the rug from Dollar General that I paid $10 for last year.  I bought it to lay over the NASTY crapet (yep, I meant crapet)  Got it home and of course it was about 1 inch too wide.  Suckola!  I then put it on the porch to catch the sand and dirt from tracking in the house....it still does, but not as much.

The rug when I started was filthy, dirt and sand galore.  I didn't wash it.  I vac'd it like 5 times and it still has sand in it!  Which is fine because it went right back out on the porch.  It's not big enough to warrant keeping it in the house.  Plus, we have very plush/shaggy 80's crapet, so rugs won't lay right.

It's like a light brown color.

Then I started painting and painting.  The paint is just regular house paint.  The white is marshmallow white from glidden and the black is an oops can Mr. TSL picked up for $5 to paint the kitchen cabinets from Lowe's.  Kitchen Cabinet paint no more.  I used it for this project and for next weeks project and I may paint the front door :)  It bubbles anyway, so it wouldn't make good cabinet paint.

After 2 coats of black paint, it was decently covered....remember this is going on the porch and is currently dirty from being there now.

it is actually covered better, but seemed to show brush marks in the crappy pic.

 I measured and divided by 4, so I could make the sections.  Then, I measured and marked it with white chalk...so I wouldn't have to wash it off!

Then I started taping and taping and taping.  After 2 coats of white paint, it looked like this:

• Sherry of Young House Love 
• Ana of Ana-white.com
• Katie of Bower Power
• Erin of House of Earnest 

Now, I need your opinion on something.......

We scored this amazing door at Habitat for Humanity for $10.  Mr. TSL hung it and I love love it! It's like adding another window in a room with little light!

It's wood on the side facing to dining room and white facing the sunporch.

I plan to either paint it candy apple red or black....what to do?

Here are my inspiration pics.:

RED

or

BLACK

Nate's rugs and inspiration doors via my Pinterest

-Make your life beautiful!!

SUNDAY: 
The Girl Creative ,The DIY Showoff ,Sisters of the Wild West ,The Tattered Tag ,Flamingo Toes, Under the Table and Dreaming , I Heart Nap Time 

 MONDAY:

Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick, C.R.A.F.T., Sew Can Do, Dittle Dattle, Between Naps On the Porch, Homemaker on a Dime,  Making the World Cuter

TUESDAY:

Tip Junkie, Type A, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Today's Creative Blog, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Strictly Homemade, A Diamond in the Stuff, All Thingz Related, Handmade Tuesday,
WEDNESDAY:
Blue Cricket Design, Not Just A Housewife, Someday Crafts, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Sew Much Ado, Organize Your Stuff Now, Seven Thirty Three, Sugar and Dots The Mommy Club  

THURSDAY:

My Repurposed Life, Paisley Passions, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, 

FRIDAY:
Remodelaholic, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Miss Mustard Seed, Chic on a Shoestring, Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Little Lucy Lu, My Simple Home Life

Whipperberry, 

SATURDAY:

Funky Junk Interiors, be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Young and Crafty

Round 2 of Crafting with the Stars

So, I made it to round 2!  I am super excited.  But, out of 12, I was 9th.  The bottom 3 were eliminated.  Yes, mathematicians...I was last out of those moving on. {wiping a bead of sweat from my brow...} So, that means I need to step it up a bit.  I take sucky pictures...I do.  Mr. TSL takes fan-freakin-tastic pictures...he may be in charge of my pics this time.  :)


The next round is Upcycle, my project is almost done!

So, if you've been following CWS I made the Nate Berkus Knock Off Rug.  I'll be writing a post for that when I am done with this one!


-Make your life beautiful!!
 

My Dream Home from House Beautiful!

Long before I started this blog, I dreamed of beautiful spaces.  Lusted after them really.  I think I have always been an interior designer, not by trade of course...at least not yet.  :)  When I was growing up, my parents graduated from college and we were going to make a big move.  We were going to move to Oregon or Arizona from Kansas.  I am remembering this as a 10 year old and not someone who actually knew what was going on, so my details are what I remember.

I remember if we moved to Oregon, we were going to have a hot tub and if we moved to Arizona we were going to have a pool!  We had home design plans for like 6 different houses in a suburb in AZ.  I stared at those plans for hours.  Which house would we choose, how I would pace the furniture, the colors that would be on the walls....yes, I was 10.

We ended up staying in Kansas, but we had a jetted bathtub, sauna and pool!!  I believe in the 15 years my parents owned our home, I got in the sauna 3 times.  Apparently I hate being hot and sweating. I sweat like a dude, not like the hot girl at the gym.

Skip to years later and countless design ideas-some good, some WTF's :)  I got my first magazine subscription to House Beautiful.  I always awaited it's arrival and liked the pictures.  Until, I came across this house.  I LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!  Like a crack head loves crack.  Like a fat kid loves cookies.  Like a want to be designer loves well this house....

I read that issue probably 100 times.  I took it to my mom's and showed her.  I showed it to Mr. TSL.  I carried it on trips with me.  I tore the pages out and look at them regularly.  Then, I am spending way to much time perusing Pinterest and there it is....only one pic, but I know it's my dream home and I must find it to pin ALL the pics from the article...so that's what I did this morning!

It is my DREAM HOME!!  I love every bit of it.  There is not one space that I look at and say, "Well, I would have done this."  No way, no ma'am.  It's absolutely perfect for me.  Industrial, barn wood, a little splash of red, lived in, fire place ---Every bit of this place is me!!!

I think I am going to start re-designing to simulate this house....Mr. TSL will love that! jk

Well, after all that droning on...here it is!

 

Here is the article that is on House Beautiful, so you can read it too!!

CHRISTINE PITTEL: This looks like sleepaway camp for grown-ups, right in the middle of Napa Valley wine country. Where's my bunk?

KEN FULK: Take your pick. There's the original 1940 rancher's cottage. My partner, Kurt Wootton, and I didn't have the heart to tear it down, despite everyone's advice. Then there's the big huge barn we put up, thinking we'd eventually move out of the cottage and live there. But it's more fun to play in it — like a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movie. And up on an oak-wooded knoll overlooking the whole valley are two tent bungalows, terribly romantic, with big fluffy feather beds. That may be your spot.

Sounds great, so long as I can cozy up in front of your fireplace. How big is that living room? Seems like you've packed a lot into a very small space.

Truly, there's not that much stuff — just a sofa, two chairs, a large round table, and a big island, as opposed to lots of small, precious things. When we renovated the cottage, we took down walls to open it up but kept the size the same. We didn't want to lose the simple charm that had attracted us in the first place. Any changes we made were strategic. We removed the ceiling so you can see right up to the rafters and added a series of skylights that flood the room with light. Even though the living area is only about 650 square feet, the extra volume makes it feel much larger, which is important since it serves multiple functions — living, dining, cooking. Two bedrooms, a big bathroom, a sleeping loft, and a new screened-in porch make up another 600 square feet. One of our smartest moves was adding that big porch across the front, which greatly increased the living area with minimal impact on the house.

There's a nice balance between fresh white paint and battered wood, so nothing feels too pristine. And I like the improvised quality. What were those stools originally?

Giant springs, literally taken off a truck. I saw them at a salvage yard and thought they would look great by the island, which is made from an old falling-down fence on the property. We recycled the beat-up wood instead of throwing it away. Most people would probably not have done such a big island in a small room, but I knew it was going to be the social hub of the house. Besides, I like large, substantial pieces. They make a small space feel more solid and important.

What are those lights hanging over the island? They've got that tough industrial look — an interesting contrast to all the old wood.

In a way, they keep it from getting too sentimental. I found them in Paris and hung them here, even though they're way overscale. But that's what makes it dramatic.

This rustic little place is actually very sophisticated. Part of that comes from the palette. Why did you limit it to black and white, with touches of red?

It got established on the outside. Everything is painted Ralph Lauren Picket Fence White, which unifies a diverse group of buildings, and then it just moved inside. It felt wrong when we tried to mix it up. There was a purity which happened with restraint. It added a serenity and calmness to the place. Black and white just seemed natural, and then I threw in a little red once in a while — on the big red gate, the front door of the cottage, the red mohair-covered chairs in front of the fire. I didn't really go out and shop for the house. I'm lucky to have a couple of warehouses full of furniture. I already owned the chairs and the sofa covered in black-and-white ticking. The dining table, which I painted black, used to be a display table in a department store. Now it's usually piled with books, so friends can just grab one to read. There's no TV at the ranch. Sometimes we actually clear it off and have dinner there.

Bluestone is an unexpected, almost modern touch on the floors. Why did you choose it?

Low maintenance, and my dogs love the coolness. I wanted something that could go inside and out and knit everything together. The bluestone sweeps right through my bedroom to the bath and out to the back patio. All I have to do is slide open a big barn-style door and I feel as if I'm showering outside. My neighbor's cows often wander up to watch. I have a large shower, very practical when you have three muddy golden retrievers. They come in that door and I wash them all down.

Are those your dogs in the portrait?

They are. The one on the far left is Durham, our first golden retriever and the noblest creature we have known — man or beast. That's who the ranch is named after. Then there's Baxter and Claire.

Dogs, cows, friends — and a good bottle of wine. Sounds idyllic. But you're a designer, and by definition obsessive. How do you design a house that feels relaxed?

First of all, we stayed true to what was already here. I didn't want to create one of those year-in-Provence, Tuscan-sun moments. Napa is already too full of that. In restoring the property, we wanted to pay tribute to the classic California ranch. Everything is white and stark against the ever-changing landscape. Who could compete with those majestic hundred-year-old oak trees? This is a weekend house, and I wanted it to be easy and livable. No precious materials, no sweet little lace doilies. You don't have to ask if it's okay to sit in this chair or worry about what's on your feet when you walk inside. In the past, I used to feel more relaxed when I rented a house on vacation, because I didn't have to fuss over it or apologize for it. I vowed not to let that happen here. I just loosen up, and let myself breathe.

INTERIOR DESIGN BY KEN FULK

INTERVIEW BY CHRISTINE PITTEL

PHOTOGRAPHS BY VICTORIA PEARSON

PRODUCED BY MARY EMMERLING

 -Make your life beautiful!!!