Category: DIY

  • Easy to Assemble Faux Orchid Arrangement

    Easy to Assemble Faux Orchid Arrangement

    When it comes to home decor, I love to deconstruct trends and figure out how to make them myself. It’s something my mom taught me how to do growing up.

    When I spotted this bowl in the kitchen aisle at Home Goods, I knew immediately that I wanted to make an orchid arrangement. A friend had a similar arrangement and I always admired it! Secondly, I wanted to try my hand at using realistic florals made out of latex. How real do they look, well Josh had to ask twice (and he helped me cut the orchid stems).

    With the bowl in hand and an Amazon order (linked here) on the way, I headed to Hobby Lobby for the rest of the supplies! I picked up some styrofoam circles and a bag of moss and then we were ready to go!

    First, you are going to want to cut down your styrofoam circle (if needed). Since the bowl is an organic shape, I cut and filled in the spaces and secured the styrofoam together with low temp hot glue. I was careful not to glue any styrofoam to the bowl as I wanted it to be sturdy, but removable in case I want to use the bowl for something else in the future.

    Next, you are going to want to cut your orchids to size (we trimmed 3″-4″ off the bottoms). Stick in the styrofoam and secure with hot glue. I then took the acrylic dowels and hot glued them to the hot-glue base and secured to the stem with clear clips. Everything about this process is “fake it till ya make it.” Then, you are going to want to place the orchid leaves near the stems. I used 3, depite having 4 flowers, since the base looked over crowded with all of them in there. Now, you are going to want to cover the entire base with the decorative moss. Make sure to glue it down to the styrofoam to keep it anchored to the styrofoam.

    I just love how the arrangement looks in this space! It really gives a luxe feel and it didn’t cost me hundreds to make!

    Loving the fresh update to our living room.

  • Curate an expensive looking gallery wall on the cheap!

    Curate an expensive looking gallery wall on the cheap!

    Many years ago, I purchased an old Audubon print from Etsy. When I took it in to have it framed, the associate made a comment on how expensive these prints were and how they were beautiful investments. Fast forward 10 years and they are digitally available and the most popular prints are available through Pottery Barn.

    When we repainted our home in 2020, I knew that I wanted an on trend and symetrical gallery wall. One that would make a statement on this large wall without investing a ton of money. Another challenge was finding artwork for the frames, I wanted something beautiful and subtle in a variety of colors. Something that would be timeless and coordinate with my ever evolving throw pillow rotation.

    I wanted artwork in this space since our family photo wall is right behind this one.

    I chose these 16×20 frames that are $20 and invested in a massive book of Audubon prints. Best budget artwork/decorating hack! I found mine for under $20 and have it linked below. I selected my favorites from the book and created the gallery wall above. The hardest part of the process was making sure the pictures were hung straight and level.

    I loved this wall so much, that I created another one in our guest room with animal prints from the same book. I still had hundreds of prints left over, so I gave the book to a friend for her to create her gallery wall!

    I love how the framed book prints elevate my home. I am always getting compliments on both spaces and it is literally as simple as taking an old book of prints, placing them in a simple matted frame, and giving your wall decor an elevated makeover that you curated yourself!

  • How to Paint Your Cabinets Like a Professional

    How to Paint Your Cabinets Like a Professional

    It all started when a reels challenge ended up with a viral reel. Never in a million years did I expect almost 4 million people to view a silly video that I coerced Josh to film with me. So many people chimed in on whether or not we should paint our cabinets. I took a chance and priced out this project as soon as Josh agreed that the internet had spoken and it was time to lighten up the kitchen!

    Now, when we first moved into this home, I loved the cabinets but hated that they were paired with the dark granite. We both agreed that we would replace the granite when we built our outdoor kitchen. However, we started to realize that the finish on our cabinets was looking worn and it was time to tackle this project.

    I knew I wanted light cabinets, however, I didnt want bright white. Due to the neutral backsplash and warm whites already on our walls (details here), finding a complimentary color for the cabinets was a little bit of a challenge (but not impossible). My first choice was Benjamin Moore Creamy White or Natural White. Those blended in with our BM Navajo White walls and SW Navajo White moulding. I made several trips into our local Benjamin Moore PDS Paint Center to grab paint samples. We ended up going with the color Clay Beige and I am in love with how it turned out!

    The Process:

    1. We took off all of the cabinet and drawer fronts and wiped down every surface with a TSP Substitute and Scotch Brite Pads. You want to remove any dirt/grease along with creating a rough surface. We ended up doing this step twice to make sure that we didn’t have any issues down the road. Sand down any imperfections and drips in between coats.
    2. Next we taped off the cabinets, floors and created a paint booth around our room. This was probably the MOST TEDIOUS part of the entire project. It took us a solid week of evenings to tackle this part and make sure that the insides of the cabinets, floors, granite and ceilings were covered to prevent any over spray.
    3. It’s time to spray primer! We opted to invest in this airless spray system since we have several other big projects that will require one. If this is your only project, renting one may be the most cost effective. You are going to need a paint suit + respirator for painting. Trust me, we had to toss our paint clothes and had over spray in our hair for a week before we made a trip to Lowe’s for paint suits! Lesson learned! As for the primer, we opted for a fast drying alkyd resin primer (Insl-x Prime Lock Plus) for its durability and smooth finish. With the spray gun, we only had to apply one even coat of primer.
    4. Paint! After allowing the primer to dry/cure for 24 hours, it was time to spray our cabinets! We opted for a water-based paint for the fast drying/curing time. Once our interior was sprayed and we were able to access our kitchen again, we opened our kitchen back up for business and created a paint booth in our garage to tackle our cabinet and drawer fronts. This part took the longest! We had to work around our work schedules, weather and humidity.
    5. Install hardware! I wanted this investment to have a timeless and traditional feel. I opted for an aged brass finish and went with a classic ball cabinet knob and a 6″ pull for the drawers and love the traditional feel that this hardware gives to the space.

    Was doing this project worth it? Absolutely! Despite the extra time it took us to complete by tackling the project in our free time, we saved a ton of money! Even after splurging on higher end pulls/hardware, we still came in thousands under budget vs. the estimate we received for a professional to do it for us. Josh and I both love how it turned out and how much happier we feel when we walk into the room!

    “Hallelujah! Holy S*!*, Where’s the Tylenol” So glad this project is finished!
  • Weekend Project: Bleaching Furniture

    Weekend Project: Bleaching Furniture

    Refreshing our home has been a mission of mine since we locked down in March 2020. Over the last 18 months, Josh and I have refreshed our home and are digging it out of it’s early 00’s rut! At this point of our refresh, neither one of us is shocked to walk into a full blown project. (Selecting Paint Colors, Powder Bath, Dining room decor, and Guest Bath projects linked here!)

    Josh will tell you that I am the queen of online garage sale pages and resale stores. I love the thrill of taking something old and solid, and turning it into a custom piece for our space! When I picked this table for $80, I saw potential. I was also 8.5 months pregnant and preparing to move into our current home. As soon as we were mostily unpacked, Josh re-stained the table for me using my favorite stain (Java by General Finishes). While I loved it, we also picked up these black chairs (fo-free!) from a neighbor, and we needed to pivot and find a way to update the table so that the chairs stood out!

    Our Before

    I knew paint was not an option, I’m so over the chalk painted trend. While this paint has a purpose in other places in my home, it just wasn’t an option as I am going for a more transitional style in our main living space. After a trusty Pinterest and Google search, I knew I wanted to strip the table and bleach it for a more modern feel!

    So I did what I do best, I started my project when Josh was at work! I started off by stripping off the old top coat and as much stain as I could. I knew it would be a feat considering that I was going from dark to light! After removing as much of it as I could, I broke out our mouse sander and got to sanding (we used 400 & 220 grit)! A mouse sander will help you to get in all of the nooks and crannies to sand down to the natural wood.

    Now here is the fun part! Make sure you are wearing old clothes because you will be working with bleach! Take a natural bristle brush and a cup of bleach and paint it onto the wood in a consistent motion and avoid drips. You can do this process in a well ventilated area, but if its sunny out, you are going to want to work in the sun because it helps to lighten it faster! I applied 6 coats of bleach to get this effect. The bleach will pull the old stain to the surface and out of the wood. As you can see, we still had a lot of dark stain in the grain of the wood, but I decided to embrace those imperfections as they would compliment our chairs.

    During the bleach process

    **There are 2 part furniture bleaching kits out there (linked below), and I believe that they may be a tad more effective, but with the delays of 2021, they were over priced or sold out at the time of this project. (I already have another piece in mind for a DIY when I can locate one of these kits at a good price)!

    Lastly, we decided to seal our table with a non yellowing polyurythane. I wanted this table to maintain it’s bleached coloring and not turn yellow after my hard work. We decided to go with Minwax Polycrylic and applied with a foam brush.

    We love how this space turned out. It cost us a whopping $20 as we already had most of the materials and tools on hand! And with the money that we saved, we added a rug and a new fixture and STILL saved a ton of money! I’ve linked everything (except the clorox) below! Let me know what you think!

    -Mitzi (and Josh)

    • Finished Product
    • Still have some previous stain detail, but we were going from super dark to light. We knew this was a possibility but stil love the lighter wood and character of the grain.