Ok friends, we are rapidly approaching the holiday fest that is December and I have some seriously life changing news to share with you, but we will get to that in a second!
If you aren’t familiar with Keep left me give you the run down, Keep is an app and a website (Keep.com) that is essentially a curation of the best things that you can buy online. Think of Pinterest but only things to buy (no mason jar crafts here!), The retailer and price are displayed, as well as ways to Keep something (similar to pinning) with the option to Like it, Keep it, or Buy it.
ANYTHING on the internet that is for sale can be Kept. Etsy, Home Depot, Target, Brickyard Buffalo, basically ALL of the things.
So for the last few weeks I have been cruising the interwebs for treasures of the holiday sort. And I have some serious finds for you!!
As if Keep wasn’t amazing in and of itself, there is something even more amazing that they have that I am SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT I HAVE TO SHOUT! OneCart.
Have you ever been shopping for mounds of things online and wished that you had a magic genie that would enter all of your shipping and payment info for you? Or are you a big dreamer type that just wished that you only had to check out ONCE for 97 items on your list from 97 different stores?
Um. Welcome to Heaven folks. That is what OneCart does. You Keep the items that you want to buy from every corner of the internet (massive retailers like Amazon, all the way down to little teeny shops. If there is a check out, you can Keep it and check out with OneCart.
Life Changing RIGHT?! Any product from Any store with ONE checkout!!
So the real question then becomes, what are you waiting for!? Download Keep right now on your smart phone or visit Keep.com and start feeling super prepared about the holiday festivities, because you are so on top of this!! And for a whole slew of ideas, check out my gift guides here!
*This post is indeed sponsored by Keep. I love teaming up with companies who offer exceptional services and sharing it with you guys!!
You guys. There are many cool things that come with blogging territory, but one of the coolest has got to be this moment. When my friends at Sherwin-Williams asked if I would be interested in announcing their Color of the Year for 2015 it was one of those look around the room just to make sure they were talking to the right person moments! Man, they are the best.
When I learned what the color was, I was a little surprised. I was expecting something totally different like Rust or Olive or a deep grayish blue. But I actually LOVE the color and quickly warmed up to the idea of doing something different with it.
Want to know what it is?!
The Sherwin-Williams 2015 color of the year is Coral Reef!!
Coral Reef is such a versatile color. It goes with everything under the sun! Navy? Check. Cantaloupe? Check. Spearmint Green? Check. Blush Pink? Check Check Check!!
Acid Yellow? Obviously!! (No mint and chevron pairings here my friends!)
Lately I have been craving warm colors (Nugget I am looking at you). They just bring so much life into a space. Coral Reef is pretty much the queen of that little situation. I just haaad to come up with a way to show how current and wonderful it is. This basic wall treatment has been kicking around the ol’ creativity center for a bit. Painting an entire accent wall is great, but this project is simple and special. The conclusion is that a thick vertical stripe is absolutely stunning. Paired with Coral Reef it just cant be stopped.
So here is how to recreate this project.
Start by painting your wall white. I use High Hide white (if your local Sherwin-Williams doesn’t know what that is it is an extra white base with 3 oz of white pigment added. It is my favorite white and I use it EVERYWHERE.)
Using a level, draw 2 vertical lines 2.5 feet apart. Then using painter’s tape, tape on the outside of the lines.
The trick to getting perfect paint lines EVERY TIME is to bleed your wall color before you paint your accent color. That way, the wall color fills the grooves and valleys in your wall texture instead of the accent color. To do this just paint along the edge of your tape line.
When your paint is dry, it is finally time to put the Coral Reef up!!
It is crazy how painting a stripe like this makes the ceiling look like it is miles away, and who doesn’t want taller ceilings?! Its like saying you don’t want to have a lifetime supply of Nutella. Or a cape for the man in your life after seeing Taylor Swift’s Blank Space video. Its just not a thing.
I love how this wall turned out. It adds just the perfect amount of color without overtaking your life. And I am SO excited to see all of the places that Coral Reef is going to pop up!!
So what do you think? Are you excited about their pick?
*I teamed up with my favorite paint company in all the land (Sherwin-Williams) to collaborate on this project. All opinions are my own!
Finding a way to bring plants into The Nugget, and being able to take them out for normal day to day care is the problem on the chopping block today. I knew that I wanted plants. Because hello. But there were a few things logistically that needed to be worked out.
I wanted a lot of them. As many as I could fit, because plants just bring so much life to a space. The problem was that I didn’t want to have to pack/secure them separately for each trip. 1 or 2 in the sink isn’t a big deal but an entire box full of just plants seemed a little unnecessary. So that meant that I needed to give them a permanent home that they could travel in and be safe.
The cool thing about this project is that it can totally translate into a plant shelf for your kitchen window, Just add a few L brackets on the ends that connect into your window sill and you are good to go!
There is just one special thing that you need to do this DIY. A 4” Hole Saw. It is this really large and in charge drill bit that basically makes a giant circle in your wood (the same type of Hole Saw that we used to drill the holes for the door knob!) Its not the cheapest of finds ($19.97 at Home Depot) BUT it was SIMPLE to use and sure beat the heck out of jigging all of the holes out.
I decided that the back window would be the best place to put the shelf because we already had a board across the back (to break up the white wall) but it turned into this super functional savior for this project!
I started by measuring the width of the shelf. There was one spot that we needed to trim down because of the other shelf, but it was a really easy fix.
Next I decided how many planters I wanted and evenly marked and measured their distances.
Then we positioned the Hole Saw and let er rip! This was a great project for Court to do (he is the best!) because the teeth on the Hole Saw are really grabby and sometimes they grab and want to spin the drill (and your arm) instead of cutting through the wood. It is kind of one of those things that as you are doing the project you will get a feel for it.
The girls had a blast playing with the circle scraps, so it was sort of a win win on the project front.
After all of the holes were drilled we took it inside to make sure that it looked right. Turns out the notch on the side needed to be a little deeper….
The next step was to put wood glue (Titebond III) on the top of the piece that was already mounted to the wall and then put the planter piece in.
Then we used a combo of nails from the nail gun and screws to secure it to that piece and to the side of the other shelf.
I was convinced that we would need to put a bracket on the left side but after seeing what a tight fit and the combo of glue and nails did, that thing isn’t going anywhere.
We painted basic terra cotta planters with a bunch of tester paint from The Home Depot and gave them a coat of clear gloss spray paint.
I could not wait to get the plants inside.
I wanted plants that wouldn’t die at the word go. Most of the plants that I have are Cacti and Succulents. I did add a fern for pictures because they are so big and beautiful but I have a hard time keeping them alive, so i don’t know if we’ll keep it there long term.
The really great thing about this project is that it gave me a place to subtly tie all of the colors together.
It seems that with the Nugget, even the most well intentioned projects have gone awry. And OF COURSE that is the case with the door. Could we have just painted it to match the trailer? Sure. How about adding an accent color with it? Obviously. How about figuring out how to replace the aluminum with wood panels? Errrrr.
That was plan #1. From what we could tell, the door frame was in 2 pieces, an outer frame (that you could see) and then an inner piece that pushed the aluminum flush to the outer frame. So I thought it would be a great idea to take the door apart and find out. (Do you know where this is going?)
Its going here.
And here.
And here.
Oh, and of course here.
And then it took severe left turn into a brick wall and exploded.
The frame was in fact not 2 pieces, just 1.
So we figured that we were this far into it. We might as well try to use the table saw to cut a bigger groove in it (in hopes of fitting 1/8” ply inside) which just might have worked if Court didn’t accidentally cut through the entire lower 1/3 of the frame.
That was fun. Its not everyday that you get to ruin something irreplaceable.
In hindsight I would totally have just taken the door off and sold it on Ebay. But you know. Sometimes you just have to try and see if what you have in your mind is even possible. You know?
Now that we weren’t working in the parameters of the old door, and could truly do whatever, I decided that a mid century esq door would be just the ticket.
The original plan (well…the second original plan) was to make a Dutch door because that would be FREAKING AMAZING. But it was not to be. The hinges were built into the actual door frame and that was not something that we were willing to replace. So a simple single door was the winner! (But mark my words. A Dutch door IS in my future.)
Before we go any further lets chat about weight, because that is the biggest factor that you have working against you while you are working on a trailer. The original door was surprisingly heavy because of the thick glass window. (We decided to use light weight plexi for our windows) but we still wanted to make the door as lightweight as possible, so we made it hollow-ish.
To start we measured the width that the door needed to be, and subtracted 1/2” to compensate for the 2 pieces of 1/4” ply that make up the face and back of the door.
We started by building the inside frame
And then added cross pieces that made up the top and bottom of the window. We put in the small vertical pieces that makes up the other side of the window.
Last we put an extra piece where the door knob and lock goes so that it is really solid in that spot.
Then we measured and marked the pieces of 1/4” ply and used a jigsaw to cut the window holes out. This is our jigsaw. It is basically the 3rd member of our marriage.
(When you are doing a project like that and you want the wood to look nice I would recommend seeing of your local Home Depot carries Purebond Plywood, it is beautiful!!)
We decided that instead of nailing it on we would try our hand and gluing and that way, if it needs to be attached tighter then we could nail it. Good news, the glue is AWESOME. We used Titebond III because it is waterproof and has amazing reviews.
We glued one side and let it sit for 24 hours before we flipped it over and glued the other side.
Once everything was dry, we measured and cut the plexi for the windows with a fine blade on the jigsaw.
The last step was to add the window trim that actually holds the plexi in place and finishes it off.
I debated on using white PVC as trim….
But ultimately decided that even though wood would be WAY more expensive, that it was the better choice.
We measured and cut all of the pieces at 45 degrees. While we were putting the windows in we realized that we had to trim one side of the window trim down the width of a saw blade, so we really quickly (and very carefully!) ran them it through the table saw.
Before assembly we put a few coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane on the door and trim pieces. Spar Urethane is ideal for outdoor pieces and has UV protectant in it. It is really easy to work with too, so that was a bonus!
When you are working with Spar Urethane, you will want to lightly sand between coats with extra fine steel wool, and then wipe it down with a tack cloth. We did 3 coats on our door.
After everything was dry we assembled it and glued with Titebond 3.
I was SO grateful to learn that Home Depot sells a door hole drilling kit. Unfortunately because the front of the door has a 2” overhang we weren’t able to use it the way that it is intended. BUT we still used all of the parts and saved a bunch of $ buying it as a kit.
After deciding exactly where we wanted the knob, we drilled a pilot hole to get started. Then we used a 2 1/8” hole saw to bore the hole into the door.
We did this on both sides so that it didn’t tear through the back end and splinter the wood.
Then we used a 1” spade bit to drill the hole into the side of the door for the locking mechanism.
I am SO thrilled with how this door turned out! WAAAAAAAY better than the one that I had imagined originally.
I seriously want to do this on a bigger scale for my front door. I LOVE how it turned out!!
If you have been wondering if the diamond theme continues throughout the Nugget. Rest assured my friends, right now Diamonds are the only constant thing in my crazy life!!
When we started out, the table in the Nugs was a lovely shade of lime green. We updated it with concrete overlay when we did the countertops. (Tutorial for that here!)
This cute project can be duplicated just about anywhere. Walls, floors, art, pillows, rugs. It is an extremely easy pattern to replicate, you just have to know the secret.
Start by marking the dead center of your diamonds. You can draw on the entire length of your piece (a tabletop in my case) and it will be covered. Then add painters tape (ScotchBlue Delicate was perfect for this project!) that mark the width of your diamonds.
I used a white colored pencil for this project because a normal pencil was the exact color of the concrete overlay.
Next step was deciding the size of the diamonds. I decided that 1” was just about right. So I started by marking every inch up the side of the tape (make sure that you are making parallel marks on each piece of tape, or your diamonds will be a total wonkfest.)
Then you are going to mark every 1” up the center line BUT make sure that it is sitting at the center of your tape marks. So you will start marking it at 1/2” and then every inch after that. This will give you a diamond shape vs.. just a straight line.
Connect every other diamond with painters tape. (you will have to do the painting in 2 rounds to get them all!)
Make sure that your painters tape is sealed so that you don’t get any bleeding and paint the inside of your diamonds!
Once you have full coverage (after a couple of coats) gently peel off your painters tape.
When your paint is nice and dry you can go back and paint the other diamonds.
Follow the same steps of taping, sealing and painting.
I followed up with a light sanding because I had some pretty noticeable paint lines. Then we installed the table.
The Nugs is pretty teensy, but after taking the bunk and upper cabinet out it was feeling mighty spacious…until the table moved back in. It takes up approximately 83% of the floor space. Fun. But it looks adorable and it is more than just a table, it is the bed too, so its sort of important. (Also, we had a little bit of spilled dirt if you couldn’t tell.)
This table just makes my heart so happy. It was such a simple inexpensive fix and I cant wait to try this pattern somewhere else!!
Hey guys!! Just wanted to pop in and let you know that we made the crazy deadline! The Nugs is 93% completed and in Salt Lake for Pinners!!
The drive up was a puckerfest to say the least. I don’t think I exhaled completely until we stopped about 2 hours in and I checked to see how everything (mostly the tile) was doing. I did a jig/exhale/hallelujah shout right there in the gas station parking lot when it was all intact.
I learned a ton about exterior painting that I cant wait to share with you (good, and heartbreaking of course).
We haven’t had a chance to take it to a weigh station to find out the total weight yet, but it pulled like a dream. Court said that felt really tight. (Whatever that means.) All I know is that from the deadlock reflection that I had on it in the side mirror that it looked good.
I am a firm believer that most things in life (especially projects!!) will cost you 1 of 2 things. Time or money. If you dont have money, then you put time in. If you dont have time then you pay with money. Looking at the project list for the Nugget there were a few things that I knew I didnt have the time/skills/equipment for. Most everything could be DIYed, but there were a few things that I left to the pros.
First thing on the list was powder coating the stove top. The green, while it is a great color, just wasnt what I was going for. It was just so heavy.
I have been itching to use cantaloupe somewhere and this just seemed like the best place. Now. Let me be super clear on this. You CAN DIY a new stove top color. ish. Rustoleum makes high heat spray paint that will absolutely work in this situation. The colors are limited but they do have white and a really good copper (this was my backup plan).
Talking to the powder coater on the phone I was feeling extremely confident that I would be able to find the color that I wanted. (“We have all of the colors!”) When I went in I was a lot less confident. Just a heads up, all of the colors are extremely saturated, light colors just dont really exist unless you custom match them ($$$$) so I picked the lightest yellow-y orange that they had (I wanted it to be more orange, but I left pretty convinced that it was just going to be yellow, like a yield sign. Fun.)
I was pleasantly suprised when I picked it up and it was the perfect shade of cantaloupe. When I put it in (with the old green tile) it was horrifying. But the problem wasnt the stove, it was the tile. Now that the tile is white I LOVE it. It has this charmingness that just makes the entire space.
We also had them powdercoat the new step. It was an awesome shade of boring and we painted it white. Which in and of itself isnt the most fun color, but it looks SO good with the outside paint job. Total cost for powder coating was $79.00
The second thing that we hired out was the cushion reupholstery. It was just not something that I could convince myself to do. Sewing box cushions with thick vinyl and leather would have done me and my sewing machine in.
I found the perfect shade of pink naugahyde from diyupholsterysupply.com.(they were a dream to work with!!) and had it piped with couch leather. (Because no Vintage Revivals project would be complete without it.)
