cementing a little change...

I like cement.  I like its industrial nature.  I like its natural grey tone.  I have always been intrigued by cement counters and cement floors.  I picked up a couple of these little cement planters at Target recently and thought, "There. Design itch satisfied".  But it wasn't.

I haven't loved our coffee table ever.  It was supposed to be somewhat temporary, but it's a good size and the dogs can sort of sneak under it if they need to get up, and its height is generally enough to miss the sweep of puppy tails.  But it's not good.  The shape is good and the style is good, but the wood on top was not wood but some sort of laminate.  Yech. It was inexpensive, so I can't blame it (just myself).

Kinda like this (but not at all due to the laminate):

via West Elm

And then it hit me: cover the thing in cement!  I loved what Jenny at Little Green Notebook did in her laundry room, so why not?!

First, I tried locating the Ardex Feather Finish, but I couldn't find it locally and immediately.  Home Depot stocks something called Henry Feather Finish with Ardex technology, so why not?  Off I went...

I picked up the cement mix, a putty knife, a drywall taping knife (basically a giant putty knife), and a drywall mud pan.  I already had sandpaper in 120 and 180, so I set off for home to get started.

I'm a dingdong and didn't take a "before" before I removed the top of the table from the base.  But I did take a photo before I started covering it up with cement:

Bad/fake wood grain

First step was to rough up the wood.  I sanded all visible sides with heavy duty sandpaper. 

Then I mixed up my first batch.  I didn't want to use anything that I would want to use again, so I measured using a solo cup and mixed it with a plastic spoon.  Classy.  Basically, the consistency is kind of like a paste.  The directions called for a 2/1 ratio of cement to water which I tried to follow:

I then started the "slathering".  As other tutorials suggest, build up the edges a bit. 

This is partway dry.  I scraped the little ridges down a bit and let dry overnight.

The next morning, I sanded (with 120 grit) and then put on another layer.  I let dry, sanded again, and put on another layer.

Once dry, I sanded the whole thing down pretty well and applied a layer of Valspar's Natural Look Waterproofer, let dry, and another layer of sealer.  Seeing a pattern here?

All told I did 3 layers of cement (though it could have stood to get 4) and two layers of the sealer.

Once completely dry, I screwed the top back on the table and... voila!

I'm completely happy with this project.  It took a super cheap piece of furniture and actually added value, in my eyes.
Now, I could have done a better job on the corners, but I honestly don't think it's a huge deal. Because the concrete has such visual texture (despite being smooth and flat), it's not noticeable at all.  Next project (and you better believe I'm gonna cover something else in concrete!), I'll build up any corners and shave them down versus trying to be so careful and type-a.  

wood showing thru on the corner

Great texture in the concrete

 Oh, you want to see the whole thing again?  Boom.

LOVE IT.

Mason Jar Madness

Raise your hand if you DON'T love mason jars?  Anyone?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  They're just the most multipurpose vessel out there.  Canning?  Obvi.  Juice glass?  Duh.  Sewing kit?  Made one 10 years ago for college. Cocktail shaker?  Now that's one I hadn't heard of yet... and of course I want one now.

Knob Reveal (Hob Knob Update)

I'm sure you've been on tenterhooks waiting to find out what knobs I chose.  I'm sure.  Anyway, I chose option number 5...

Brainerd 1-inch Bedford Nickel Rectangular Cabinet Knob

My choice was part style, part price, and part laziness.  These (and the matching handles were in stock at Lowes (a mile from my house).

Once home with all my goodies, I set to work installing.  MAJOR ERROR on the first try.  You know how they say, "test in an inconspicuous place" about all sorts of home improvement DIY type things?  Do that.  There's a reason.  I chose to drill my first hole in a very obvious place and my placement didn't work.  Little tidbit - do NOT try to put your hardware on the joint where two pieces of trim come together (red circle) below.

 
I know a little about woodworking and thought there might be a biscuit (a small piece of wood that serves as a sort of puzzle piece to hold the two trim pieces together).  Never did I imagine that the biscuit would be metal and impossible to drill thru.  So nevertheless, I got to do some patching and staining of my hole.  Rarg.

Once I figured out an alternate location, I decided to make an easy to follow template for the single hole knobs.  I'm no genius but it worked just fine.  I took a piece note card, matched it to the two edges of the trim and marked the spot where I wanted the knob.  I then cut it and marked a single dot (with a metallic sharpie) of where to drill.  Voila:

Because my knobs had only one hole, things went along pretty swimmingly.  I got a little flummoxed when it came to starting on the matching handles which required two holes.  I had seen, on Pinterest, the idea of photocopying the item to be hung and using the copy as a template and decided to give it a try.  I practiced on a piece of scrap first, and it seemed to work as long as I was very precise.

Photocopies

I marked the middle of the handle template (the little plus sign below) and marked to the middle of the drawer front.  Then, I used a level to make sure that I was pretty close to perfect and taped the template to the drawer.  I then marked the hole and set about to drilling.

One thing to note: because my drawers were a little wonky (not very high quality - somewhat misaligned), I did the first drawer and realized that I needed to actually NOT use the middle of the drawer but instead needed to just line all the handles with the first one.  I used a big ruler and the level to make sure they were aligned, and it worked.  They're not all 100% centered, but they're in line with one another, and I think that's a better visual. 

We're pretty thrilled now that we have handles and knobs.  I have absolutely no idea why we waited so long.  We got out of this for about $100, and it makes the kitchen more comfortable to use.  Project success!

Hob Knob

When we bought our house, the flippers had installed (kind of sloppily, I might add) some kitchen cabinets that I DO NOT love.  I'm 4'10" small (that's 58" for those of you that don't like math), and they intalled the counters at 37.5".  That's not even normal!  So if you do that math (ok, I'll do it), my head hovers a mere, 20.5" above the counter top.  Take into consideration that my shoulders are lower than the top of my head and you start to get the picture.  I want them replaced not only because they were sloppily stained/installed but because it's actually uncomfortable for me to work in the kitchen.  And I do 99.9% of the cooking.

Anyway, I've been living with it because we've had other money-sucking projects like a new main line (unexpected but necessary) and a new roof.  However, and this is where it gets embarrassing, the flippers didn't install knobs on the cabinets, and we've just been living with it.  Annoying.

So with no kitchen reno in sight, I think it's time I bite the bullet and get some knobs.  Even if they're just temporary until we do fix the kitchen.

Here's a little knob round-up:

 L - R 

1                   2                   3                   4                   5                   6       

Gripe

Normally, I wouldn't use this space to complain about something, but I'm hoping maybe there's someone out there who can explain this to me...

WHY IS LIGHTING SO EXPENSIVE?

I have been dying to replace our tacky ceiling lights in the two extra bedrooms, the hall, and the entryway.  I look and I look and I look, and I come up with options that are just way to expensive for what they are, in my opinion.  I just want something semi-plain and not tacky at a good price - something under $50 would be nice since I have so many to replace.  I mean, it's a few wires and a little glass or metal?  Why so pricey?

Because our ceilings are regular height and these are for high traffic areas (versus over the dining table), I need flush mount, semi-flush mount or something that has a very adjustable pendant length and won't look too stupid hung close to the ceiling.

This isn't awful, but it doesn't have very good reviews, and it's a little traditional for our taste:

This is okay, but it's larger than I want, and I feel like it just needs the edison bulb, and I would prefer to use the long-lasting CFLs...

Ohmigosh.

Searching the home improvement and lighting sites is just depressing - there's so many awful options and they're so expensive that I feel like I should stand in the lighting section and just warn people off.

"Stop - that is horribly tacky!  Don't do it! Don't waste your hard-earned money on something that no one under the age of 92 would think looks good!"

The DIY Not Taken (yet)...

We bought a flipped house.  

I say that like a confession.  My name is Sarah and we bought a flipped house.  Sometimes I feel like we cheated, but as first time homebuyers who were planning a wedding and trying to buy in time for a tax deduction, we just couldn't handle the big stuff.  Like kitchens.  Or bathrooms.  We wanted something we could live comfortably in while taking on projects when we had the time, energy, and cash.

The flippers installed super cheap, ugly overhead lights, so I've been slowly replacing them when the inspiration strikes.

A while back, I bought this light kit to replace the ugly hall light, and it's been sitting on my desk in the office since October...of 2011.  Embarrassing.  My plan was to find some kind of interestingly vessel (basket, etc) to use as the shade.  I was hoping for vintage (or just old), but I just hadn't gotten inspired by anything I saw.

While cruising Target yesterday, I found a great option for a shade.  And at $12.99, it's price just right!  

Except then I got struck by indecicion.  Will it shed enough light?  Is it too ornate?  Ooph.  So I couldn't help myself and went searching the world wide webs.  I loooooove (with many more o's than appropriate to type here) Schoolhouse Electric, but their prices are hard for me to swallow for a house we don't see staying in forever.  So...

How about this instead??

Their version:

Fixture: $119
Shade: $35   
             $154

Or my version:

Fixture: $15
Shade: $35   
             $50

The DIY Not Taken (yet)...

I'm embarrassingly overeager when it comes to DIY.  I like big, splashy projects.  That said, I panic when it comes to accomplishing them.  Even little DIY projects sometimes take me forever to finish.

So here's a little project I think could be undertaken without multiple trips to the store, fist-shaking, or tears:

It's a lovely wood framed mirror hung by a chain from Anthropologie.  At the bargain price of $224 on sale.  Yeesh.  

How about this instead:

Home Depot mirror set (you could make multiple!): $14.96

A couple screws: $.50

Two feet of chain:  $4.98

Total cost: $20.46

a 19 hour day...

Saturday turned out to be a 19 hour day in the Clark household.  After an early morning 6 mile run, we started prepping to have friends over for a movie night on the lawn.  I did a super simple menu (green salad, potato salad, corn on the grill), and we ask friends to bring their main to grill.  Much easier than trying to cater to the vegetarian, lacto intolerant, gluten intolerant friends that we have!  For the movie, we made a bunch of popcorn, and I bought a ton of "movie candy" (the movie size individual boxes) at the grocery store on sale.  Went off without a hitch and I think all in all, a great day!

In amongst the prep, I decided to pull together a few jars of refrigerator pickles from Smitten Kitchen's recipes.  New to me, spicy sugar snap peas.  Can't wait to try them when they're ready in a few weeks!

Get Well

With the bake sale that I did for my friends and their son, I raised $1000!  I figured I should probably send them a special card and what's more special than homemade?  I turned to Jordan at Oh Happy Day and her contributor's DIY pop-up card tutorial.  Definitely a bit time consuming but a cute result!

Smoosh

I have an addiction to smooshed pennies. Yeah, seriously.  I'm a grown woman, and I squeal with delight when I find a penny smoosher.  I love them so much that Rush even had a special smooshed penny made for our wedding that he surprised me and the guests with.  If I didn't know the depths of his love before, the wedding smooshed penny was the icing on the cake. 

So when I saw this post in Before/After on Design Sponge, I was instantly sold.  It's a great way to turn my fascination into a conversation with our friends/family.