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!!

The post The Nugget: Painted Diamond Table Top appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Dudes! We are overhauling a 1972 Bell Travel Trailer! Follow the entire series from the beginning here!

Hooray!! The little Nugs that could is chugging along!

One of the elements that just couldn’t survive the overhaul (besides the blue carpet) was the lime green Formica countertops. In the right place they are AMAZING but the conclusion came about that there could only be a few design stars, and the countertops just didn’t make the cut.

Working within the confines of a trailer makes things different. One of the biggest factors that needs to be considered is adding weight. I knew that I wanted to save my added weight allowance and use it elsewhere (like the floors!!) so I needed something lightweight that had major transformation powers.

A concrete overlay countertop was just the ticket. Now, I know what you might be thinking. Yes it is concrete, but it is only about 1/8” thick. And yes it is durable. (We will get into that in another post!)

For the last year or so blogland has been abuzz with talk of Ardex Feather Finish and its magnificent countertop transforming powers. After doing a little internet sleuthing I found out that Ardex Feather Finish is made by a company called Henry. Do you know what else they make (among other things)? Henry Feather Finish that is sold at Home Depot.

I couldn’t find an exact yes or no answer to if they were the same, so I called Henry and asked. This was their response:

“  Technically, no, they are not the same. As far as using them, and their performance, they are the same. In a blind test, the manufacturer wouldn’t be able to tell you which is which. “

YESSSSS! Best news ever!! While Ardex Feather Finish and Henry Feather Finish aren’t exactly the same their performance is! (You can find it in the flooring isle at HD!)

The process I used is from the original concrete wonder, Miss Kara Paslay. (She has a great FAQ here if you are attempting this project!)

When we bought it, The Nugs had 2 faucets. The one on the left went to the outside water hook up, and the one on the right was connected to the water tank inside the trailer.

They had to go. It was like a faucet fiesta. The blue switch box powers the small electrical pump that pumps water from the tank…that had to go too.

Taking them out left 2 holes that needed to be patched. After securing a piece of wood on the underside of the countertops, we filled the holes with wooden dowel and screwed them down.

We sanded the edges to make sure that they were flush with the countertops.

And drilled a hole for the single handle faucet that we were planning on installing. (This one)  The faucet saga is a whole different blog post, so we will just leave it at …To Be Continued.

The biggest warning that Kara gives when installing concrete overlay countertops is that the surface needs to be SOLID. The situation with our countertops was that they were totally solid, but the top layer that was the actual Formica was loose in a few spots. We used our staple gun to secure it nice and tight.

The countertops also need to be roughed up a lot. I used 40 grit sandpaper and obviously went to town. Making sure to get all of the smooth finish off of them.

After all of the dust is cleaned off the real fun begins. The Feather Finish has the consistency of firm pudding. It was at this point that I tried to do a Bill Cosby impression and Court just gave me a blank stare…so there is that.

We spread the first layer with a trowel and then switched to a plastic putty knife. We liked the putty knife better.

Lay down a few thin layers, sanding down the high spots in between. Get as much of the dust cleaned up as you can between layers.

We found that the more layers we added, the more color variation we got. I am not sure why, but if you want something that isn’t mottled with different shades of gray, you will want to keep that in mind.

Here is the third layer going on:

When it was all said and done I gave it a good sanding with 400 grit sandpaper. It is so smooth, it feels like glass.

Sealing concrete is different than sealing concrete countertops. The most important thing to take into consideration is that because it is countertops, where food will be prepped, the sealer needs to be food safe. Forever ago when I was planning this for my kitchen, (don’t worry, I haven’t left you guys in the dark,  I am still rocking the beige) I ordered Cheng Concrete Sealer and have just been hanging onto it since.

While sealing, I learned a few things. 1. Southern Utah heat + the need to keep the concrete wet the entire time is definitely a 2 person job. One that I didn’t do so well. I can tell where the concrete absorbed the sealer differently in a few spots. Next time I will make sure that Court can help me. Also, the sealer made the concrete significantly darker. Which is fine, but I sort of loved the lighter color better. So keep that in mind too.

All in all, new updated countertops for less than $50 is a huge win!!

The post The Nugget: Refinishing The Countertops appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Remember how I just took another week of? I get the blogger of the summer award. The good news? Summer is just about over,  and then I will be back and handing the award off to someone else.

I have a really simple project to share with you today. So simple in fact that your kids could help you do this! It is a concrete and glass succulent planter,  and it looks about 1000x more expensive than it really is.

The best part is how unique each planter is. Start with varying glass containers. My fave place to buy them is Homegoods,  they always have lots of different options and most will be under $5.

Mix a batch of Quickcrete together. I like using the kind that comes in a bucket. Its a much more manageable amount and you have something to mix it in!

Scoop concrete into your glass container.

With your planter on a towel, gently but firmly hit the bottom of the container against a flat surface. This will make your concrete settle.

Wipe off all of the excess concrete with a wet sponge.

If you are using a planter that you can fit your hand into you can make it so that the edges of your concrete are a little more jagged.

I love when things are imperfect. It makes me feel not so left out.

Scoop out the center so you have a place to plant your succulent

Let your planters cure for at least 36 hours before you plant them.

The fantastic thing about succulents is that they are really hard to kill. You know,  for those of us that are serial plant murderers.

The post Concrete and Glass Succulent Planter Tutorial appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

What do you do when you need to replace carpet and feel like doing that is just not…creative enough? Well my lovelies, if you are  anything like me you paint the concrete subfloor!!

I am going to teach you in 7 easy steps how to prep, paint, and finish concrete floors. And I would like to give a HUGE thank you to Sherwin-Williams for teaming up with me on this post!!

This is the picture that I showed you a few weeks ago of Ivie’s room:

Not so awesome. But I have big plans in store and it all starts with my personal White Box Challenge ala Design Star.

I DID NOT want carpet in Ivie’s room and our hardwood is discontinued (and expensive) so I said to myself “Self. Lets paint the crap out of that floor.” And that is just what happened. You can do the majority of project in a day for less than $150.00.

Painting concrete can be a little daunting. Especially because most of us have never painted a floor before. I was concerned about durability and finish. When I went into my local Sherwin-Williams, Sam the Manager was SO nice and patient and answered every single one of my questions. Twice. Because I am thorough like that.

When you are painting concrete the first thing that needs to be addressed is the carpet glue.

STEP 1:  Remove  Carpet  Glue

Carpet glue is LEGIT. It is one of the strongest adhesives and can be really hard to remove. The best product to use is Lacquer Thinner. BUT it is extremely flammable.    You will want to use a plastic brush and plastic scraper to get the majority of the glue off. Douse the glue with Lacquer Thinner and let it sit until it evaporates, this will soften the glue. Then douse it again. Use your plastic brush to loosen the glue and then scrape it off with your plastic scraper. Once the majority is gone and the lacquer thinner is dry go back over it with a floor scraper to remove any residue left over.

STEP 2:  Remove  Thick  Areas  Of  Paint

Sorry for the awesome picture…you know when its 10:00 and your husband is scraping in a fury just so you will leave him alone and he is not wanting to be a blog model? Ya. Me too.

When the builder built our house they sprayed the walls and baseboard so there was a high concentration of paint right at the base of the walls. THEN when we moved in we sprayed the baseboard too. So there was at least 4 layers of paint and it was thick. We used a floor scraper to remove the thickest areas. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE ALL OF THE PAINT! We scraped off a good chunk of it and the rest we sanded so it blended into the floor and didn’t leave a lip (but we will get into that in a minute)

STEP 3:  Repair  Concrete

This step sounds WAY more daunting than it really is. If you have previously had carpet you will need to patch the holes that the tack strips left behind.

Simply mix some Quickcrete and fill the hole:

Use a metal scraper or putty knife to smooth it out as much as you can.

Then very gently using a damp rag rub the concrete smooth.

Let it cure per box instructions.

STEP 4:  Sanding  and  Clean  UP

This is a really easy step too. If you are painting an extremely large area you might want to rent a sander but for a room that is the size of Ivie’s (approx. 12×12) you wont need to.

All you need is a pole sander. A pole sander is a base that holds the sandpaper and attaches to a painting pole. Use 60 grit paper and go over your floor in this pattern. Sand in one direction, then sand in the opposite direction and then go over it again in the first direction. So you will be sanding the entire floor 3 times. Concentrate on areas with a lot of paint and where you just repaired the concrete.

Unless your floors are greasy you will not need to scrub them down (if they are or have grease spots use TSP). Alternate sweeping and vacuuming 4 different times. It may seem a bit like over kill but it is the BEST way to get all the dust off. If you get your floors wet after this point you will need to wait a minimum of 24 hours to let them dry before you paint!

Step 5: Painting

You never want to use a regular latex based wall paint on a floor. The durability will always come up lacking. To paint a concrete floor you need special floor paint or all your hard work will be in vain. There are a few different options when it comes to floor paint at Sherwin-Williams. They have a line called H&C that is made specifically for concrete. The concrete will basically absorb the paint . You can have it tinted to a variety of colors.

There is also Sherwin-Williams Porch and Floor Enamel that like paint, sits on top of the concrete. It comes in a satin finish. (This is what I used)

You will not need a primer when using the Floor and Deck Enamel because its self priming!! (YEAH!)

The colors I used on Ivie’s floor are Extra White (the whitest base they have) and Gray Clouds.

Ok, now this is where the tutorial may get a little hairy. See, after I painted it the first time I changed my mind and repainted it the opposite way… (and yes I did a trial run but changed my mind after seeing the entire room finished…such is the life of a DIYer.)

So the tutorial for how to paint the faux bois is color backwards. Don’t judge.

Painting the basecoat on the floor is literally the easiest fastest thing I have ever in my life painted. It took me under 10 minutes to do the entire room!

Start in the back corner opposite of the door (you don’t want to paint yourself into a corner!)

You don’t need a paint tray, just dump a small amount of paint onto the floor. You also need to use a roller with a 3/8 nap or shorter because you want the floor to have a smooth finish with as little texture as possible.

Then just start rolling!!

Depending on the color you may need to do a second coat. When I painted the floor gray I did not need one but when I painted the white over the gray I did.

The Floor and Deck paint is latex based so its not super fumy and let me tell you it is MUCH easier rolling a floor than rolling a ceiling.

Once your coat has dried for 4 hours you can start painting your faux bois (fake wood grain). And though this may look impossibly hard you pretty much cant screw it up.

Use a 1’” brush and paint a long slightly squiggly line.

Space our your next line and follow the same squiggle pattern. If you space your lines close together you will have a busier pattern. Where you have deep bends is a great place to add a knot.

Now I know what you are thinking. This is going to take forever! But I did both color options in one day (that included drying time)  Because there is not really a rhyme or reason for this pattern it goes really fast.

Let this cure for a minimum of 4 hours before putting your top coat on.

STEP 7: Topcoat

This is what my floor looked like with and without a top coat:

I liked it before but with a clear topcoat on it it makes an enormous difference don’t you think? And it is so much easier to clean!!

Apply the topcoat the same way that you painted the floor. I did 2 coats of H&C Wet Look Concrete Sealer.

The only way to describe the difference is that it looks professional with the wet look gloss on top. Its SUPER high gloss and really sassy.

Now this is the hard part.

You have to let it cure for 72 hours before you can put anything on it.

This will cure it to the point that you a put things on it without damaging it BUT a full cure for Latex based paint is 30 days. It may feel a teeny bit tacky until that time has passed. This is totally normal,  I would recommend using furniture pads underneath everything at least until the 30 day cure has been achieved.

There are so many decorative options when it comes to doing something like this! You could stencil, stripe, chevron, grid, polka dot the floors in your house and make it truly your own space! Just make sure that when you do you are using THE BEST product on the market. Porch and Floor Enamel and H&C Sealant from Sherwin-Williams. And if you have never ventured into a Sherwin-Williams store DO IT! The staff at the store in St. George are so knowledgeable and nice. They call me by name and check up on my projects. Sometimes when you are venturing into something unknown (like I was when I was painting this floor) all you need is reassurance that it will be as epic in real life as it is in your mind,  so I would like to publicly thank the staff at my local SW for being rock stars!

Knowing what colors you are going to use is half the battle. I am OBSESSED with Chip It!  Want to see some of the colors I am using? With fabric this bold how can I not have a white floor? (I cant wait to tell you all about the fabric next week!)

So what do you guys think? Do you love it?!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

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