Coffee Station (Contributor Post)

In our home, coffee is the beverage of choice.  We were given “children’s coffee” as soon as we were old enough to drink from a cup.  It always made us feel pretty special to sit with Mummu drinking out of our own little demitasse cups. Mummu always said we weren’t really Finnish if we didn’t drink coffee. 

I had a cute little coffee station in my kitchen that I made with a fairly rustic, shabby chic dresser that I used for a bazaar display one year.  I loved the fact that I could put all of my k-cups, coffee beans and espresso beans, as well as other coffee making supplies in the drawers. 

Here is a picture of my original coffee station, before the re-do.

Cute, but I couldn’t fit all that I wanted into one spot, and it didn’t quite fill the space as I envisioned.  I still had my espresso machine on the counter, and wanted everything centrally located. I searched for a couple of years to find “the perfect piece” ~ at the right price.

I found this piece on our local Facebook Yard Sale site.  I was second in line, and it sold before I could get it.  I tried to forget about it, but knowing it was exactly what I had in my mind, it was difficult! I’m sure you know that feeling!  A few days later I got a private message on Facebook from the person that purchased it.  They had decided they didn’t want to take the time to restore it, and I could buy it from them.  I was so excited!

After a quick coat of paint and some new knobs, I was ready to put it in place.  I decided to make a chalkboard background for above the station.  I used the back side of a piece of paneling with chalk paint that I purchased at Lowe’s. My husband has a stack of reclaimed antique beams in our back yard, and I knew exactly how to use one of them.  He cut it in half for me, and planed the top, and then created two shelves.  I love the look of these old beams! They were take from an 1800’s farmhouse that he was asked to demolish.  I think they add so much character to my kitchen.  My latte sauces and syrups can go nicely on the shelves and all of my coffee fits nicely into the drawers.  Here are a couple of the drawers of prepared pods ~ 

I am still so thrilled with the finished product, and to me it looks like it just “belongs” there.

Thanks for viewing my post! I hope that it can give you a little bit of inspiration for your own favorite spaces. 

Blessings from Kim ~ "With Jesus in her heart, and coffee in her cup.” ~ 

"Hi! I'm Kim ~ Blessed wife of Eric, mom of four and Nonnie to a sweet little grand daughter with another expected in January!  I'm a coffee enthusiast, baker, organizer and DIYer. My home style tends to lean towards traditional but, I must say, I can be a bit eclectic. Anything that makes me smile. Surround yourself with your favorite things and be sure you use the good dishes! Always look for extraordinary in what may seem ordinary. ~ Blessings to you and yours!" 

DIY Fall Centerpiece (Contributor Post)

Floral arrangements are so intimidating to me! Every time I pick out a bouquet that catches my attention at the grocery store, I have absolutely no idea what to do with it when I get home. No matter how much time I spend obsessing over each flower, it always looks like I just haphazardly tossed them in a vase!

So naturally, I decided to create DIY pumpkin floral centerpieces for my sister-in-law’s baby shower. Maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had considering my lack of experience, but I felt like I needed to just dive in and get my hands dirty. Literally! And, truth be told, my main motivation for doing it myself was to save money. I had an image of what I wanted in my mind, and knew that I would be paying big bucks to get that from a local flower shop.  

Spoiler alert…they turned out even better than I could have hoped for (whew!), and everyone commented on how gorgeous they looked.  As an added bonus, they were beyond easy to make! So today, I want to share my process to encourage those of you that are intimidated in the same way that I was.

​The first item on your agenda is to find the perfect pumpkin. I assumed Home Depot would still have some, but I was told that they had given them all away after Halloween. Thankfully, a local garden center came to the rescue, and I found two beautiful muted orange colored pumpkins for $5 each.

Trader Joe’s had a large assortment of fall colored flowers, so I picked up three bunches for a total of $15.

Gorgeous, right?

Once you have the pumpkin and flowers, you are ready to start assembling your centerpiece. First, cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin a little larger than the vase you are planning on using. I used my vase (a plastic cup) as a template and marked around it with a sharpie. Cut around your mark, remove the top, and scoop out all of the seeds and pulp.

*Tip: Be sure to scoop out as much of the pulp as you can to delay the rotting process. From what I have read, you can use bleach or apple cider vinegar to sterilize and preserve the pumpkin at this point. I try to stay away from bleach and other harsh chemicals, and apple cider vinegar can attract bugs, so I suggest peppermint castile soap as a safe and effective alternative. Cleaning the inside of the pumpkin with this will slow the decomposition process and should extend the life of your pumpkin. 

Follow the directions on the package of floral foam you choose to use, and place it in your vase. Now you are ready to start arranging the flowers. My biggest piece of advice for this part of the process is to start with a few of your larger flowers, and then fill in any empty space with your filler flowers.  As you can see below, I started with roses and lilies and began filling in with mums and whatever I had left over.

It will look a little naked in the beginning, but the more you play with the arrangement and fill in the spots that look bare, it really starts to come together and look more complete. Be sure to look at it from all angles to make sure your filler flowers hide the vase and your arrangement looks symmetrical. The good thing about this is that it’s basically foolproof! If you don’t like the way it looks, start over and try again.  Just try to relax and have fun with it!

I spent a total of $25 dollars and completed two centerpieces in less than an hour. A week later, and they still look good! If you decide to make these for Thanksgiving or a specific event, you can store them in the refrigerator to keep everything looking fresh until you are ready to display them.

I truly believe that if I can do it, anyone can. I would love to see your finished product if you decide to make one for the upcoming holidays. If you have Instagram, take a picture and tag me @kristindboyd so I can see it!

Hi! I'm Kristin from The Orderly Home.  I love all things organization and I'm a sucker for pretty storage solutions and anything that makes life easier for me and my family. A little about me: I'm 27, married to my best friend, and mama to a precious little boy. I'm a Texas girl who enjoys cooking and baking, spending time outdoors, and barre workouts. My idea of fun involves an iced coffee, some good music, and a label maker. My style has evolved over the years, and currently I am gravitating towards anything simple, clean, and neutral. 

 

Table Redo (Contributor Post)

Last year, I bought a matching table and hutch from a yard sale for eighty dollars. I knew it had potential and I couldn't wait to refinish it. We were living in a rental house at the time and we didn't have adequate space to work on projects. Every time I brought up the daunting task, my husband would say, "Lets just wait until we have a house with a garage". Well, we ended up needing to leave the rental house sooner than we had anticipated and instead of renting again, we decided to build a small starter home with a one car garage. Little did Tyler know just how many projects I had planned for us once we had that little garage and no excuses... (I can see him shaking his head right now). Once we got into our house, this was one of the first projects I wanted to start on.   

Here are the before photo's:

I browsed Pinterest to gather insight on the best methods for my table overhaul. My vision was a dark table top with rustic cream chairs and legs. My inspiration came from this blogger's table redo, and I followed her steps with a few modifications (or mess ups) along the way. 

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To say this project went smoothly would be lying, but I did learn a lot in the process. (And that has to count for something, right?) To begin, I used a random orbital sander to strip the stain from the table top. I know from previous experience that in order for stain to take evenly, it is essential to sand until there is absolutely no stain left in the wood. 

My husband stained the table top with two coats of Miniwax Dark Walnut. We then applied two coats of Miniwax Polycrylic (water based, satin finish.)  I thought buying an electric paint sprayer for the chairs and legs would be the easiest option. The primer came out uneven and bubbly, but dried smooth. We should've stopped at this point, but I was in a hurry and I figured the paint would dry smooth too. That wasn't the case and we were left with four bubbled, and what I thought to be ruined, chairs. We spent hours sanding them down and there may have been a few tears involved in this process (it's never a good idea to do big projects while pregnant). My brother, who is a painter for a construction company, came over and resprayed them with his professional sprayer. Once it dried, I went over the chairs and legs one more time with a paint brush to get any missed spots. Originally I had wanted to add dark brown water based stain to all the spindles and legs for a rustic look. I didn't love the way it turned out when I tried it on one leg, so I left it clean and simple. Overall, I learned with this project that you will not always create exactly what you had envisioned. Sometimes it can evolve into it's own style and that's the beauty of DIY projects. I love the bright, fresh look it brings to my kitchen!

Here are the after photo's:

Do you have a table that you've been wanting to refinish? Give it a try, it's a rewarding experience that you will not regret!

"Hello! My name is Jodi from The Whispering Pines.  I love to decorate, refurbish old furniture, create small crafts and come up with unique party ideas. I also have a knack for organizing and enjoy experimenting with new recipes. My style is rustic with a touch of farmhouse. If you ask my husband, I could live in antique shops and home decor stores. I love being inspired by others and hope, you too, can gather a little inspiration for your home!" 

DIY: Beaded Light Fixture (Contributor Post)

When decorating my young daughter’s bedroom, I knew I wanted a fun light fixture to really tie everything together. The criteria? Nothing sparkly and small, in both price and size. I fell in love with this light from Restoration Hardware months ago and couldn’t get it out of my head, even though there was no way I was spending $300+ on a kid’s fixture.

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I searched for wooden beads to make it myself for the longest time and finally found some at Michael’s. I grabbed a bunch ($40 worth) in various sizes and hoped for the best, knowing full well that it could very likely be a “nailed it” moment (if you’re on Pinterest then you know what I mean). This is what I started with:

I went into this blindly, haphazardly stringing beads onto fishing line and tying them onto the plastic dome that was in her bedroom since we purchased the house. About halfway through, I began to doubt that it would even stay on the ceiling…I never took into account the weight of all of the beads! Thankfully, it wasn’t too heavy but unfortunately, I tied the strings too tight and they didn’t drape ‘just so’. So, I painstakingly re-beaded each strand and started again. Learn from my mistakes and do a few test strands before rushing into things. I would also recommend using a thin wire instead of fishing line to make it more heat resistant.

I picked up some leather lace (also from Michael’s) and crafted a tassel to attach to the bottom. A little white spray paint on the base and I was done!

I love the final product and I'm already scheming up other fixtures for our house. Let us know if you give it a shot!

Ashley

"Hello, I'm Ashley from Three Wooden Spoons, a blog featuring my adventures in the kitchen and following our renovation of a 1940's farmhouse in Minnesota. I love to cook and bake, write, explore thrift and antiques stores, drink strong coffee, and dabble in home design. I would describe my style as simple and classic, but also eclectic. I love finding second-hand furniture and home decor, as well as antiques from various eras, and making it all come together for a cohesive interior."