Vintage Coastal Farmhouse Advent Calendar

November 20, 2019November 19, 201910 Comments

Good morning! I’ve lost track of what day we are on, but I do know I am sharing my advent calendar with you and I love how it turned out! But first, go here to go back to the 50 Christmas Ideas and see what the other hosts are sharing. Also, don’t forget the Inlinkz and the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

First, a little history about advent. I got my information from a wonderful blogger, Yvonne over at Stonegable. She is an excellent writer and designer! Please head over to see her site. She explains advent wonderfully. Anyways, the meaning of advent is ‘the coming.’ For Christians, ‘the coming’ is the coming of Christ. His first coming was over 2000 years ago as a baby in a manger. When he was a man, he died on the cross to save us from our sins. His second coming will be when he takes all those who believe and ask forgiveness, to heaven with him to live forever.

Most symbols of advent are a wreath with 4 candles and each candle is a symbol-for hope, peace, love and joy. Advent is a time to reflect on all of our blessings and to remind ourselves about the true meaning of Christmas.

Learning all this information about advent, I decided my calendar would have just 4 bags, one to represent each symbol-hope, peace, love and joy. The wonderful little bags I used were graciously given to me by BurlapFabric. The linen material is so beautiful! But I am getting ahead of myself!

I started out with this cupboard door. I don’t even remember where it came from! But I knew how I wanted to transform it. I started by removing the hinges and then spray-painted the whole door with Rustoleum 2X Satin Heirloom White. I didn’t worry about the patched holes in the middle because I knew I was going to be covering them.

Once the door was dry, I cut out a piece of pretty fabric scrap I had to fit in the middle. I love the crocheted lace going through the fabric.

I pinned it to the right size and then ironed the edges.

I hot-glued the fabric onto the middle section of the door.

Next I cut a small piece of burlap that I wanted to center on top of the crocheted fabric.

I frayed a little bit of the edges of the burlap, then I stitched around the edge to make sure it didn’t keep fraying any further. I pulled out a few extras that were beyond the stitching after finishing the edge.

I ironed the burlap onto the shiny side of freezer paper.

I created the quote in the font I wanted on PicMonkey. I saved it onto my computer. I loaded the freezer paper into the printer and then printed out my quote. I couldn’t believe how well it worked!

I used spray adhesive to attach the burlap to the crocheted fabric.

I found this cute white pom-pom trim at Walmart and knew it would look great on here. It reminds me of little snowballs! I hot glued it around the inner edge of the cupboard door.

I found these knobs at Hobby Lobby on clearance. Look at the price! I knew as soon as I saw them they would be perfect for this.

I measured out the bottom edge of the door and penciled in even marks to drill holes for the knobs. I drilled the holes and then placed the knobs in.

On these cute little muslin bags I received from Burlap Fabric, I decided to stencil numbers 1 through 4 on them. I used black fabric paint.

I hardly put any paint on my brush and dabbed it over the fabric.

I love the vintage look of the bags!

I filled the bags with little special items and hung them from the knobs. I don’t have any little children at home or I would have filled them with little toys or candy.

I hung my calendar right by my table, so if I was reading an advent story on one of the 4 Sundays, the bags would be right there. They make such a great reminder of the real reason for the season.

I’m excited to have this calendar to put up each year!

This project took me a little bit to get done, but I’m so happy with the results! Do you celebrate Advent? I would love to hear how you and your family celebrate!

Here is the inlinkz! Let’s see what the other hosts have created!

And don’t forget the giveaway! One of the prizes is from Burlap Fabric which sponsored this post.

MEET OUR SPONSORS who have generously donated fabulous prizes for the Big Christmas Giveaway!

DecoArt winner will receive a prize package valued at $100!

Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar winner will receive a Keurig Coffee Maker valued at $100!

Oriental Trading winner will receive an OrientalTrading.com gift card valued at $200!

Cabot Cheese winner will receive a gift basket of Cabot products valued at $75!

Burlap Fabric winner will receive a prize pack of products valued at $50!

Zulay Kitchens winner will receive one Milk Frother and a Lemon Squeezer valued at $21

It’s Home To You winner will receive one wooden Santa sign valued at $65

Giveaway begins Nov. 8, 2019 and ends Dec. 6, 2019. Winners will be notified by December 13, 2019. Sponsors will ship each prize to the winner. There will be a total of seven winners, one for each prize. Drawing is by random selection using the Rafflecopter widget.

Must be 18 to win. Open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Step Stool Makeover with Stencils

October 16, 2019October 15, 20192 Comments

Good morning! I’m a little late this week, but I finally made it here! I had several small paint projects I worked on this weekend and I thought I would share this one with you. It’s just a simple little update.

I picked up this sturdy little stool awhile ago. It was already white, it just needed a little freshening up. I used a creamy color white to spray paint it, but wanted to add a little bit more to it. I remembered I had these stencils (Designer Stencils and the design is Jaipur Damask) from my entryway floor and decided to use the smaller one here.

I pulled out 2 different paints from what I had to try them out. I tried the Glidden Quiet Rain first, but it was too light, so turquoise it is!

I measured to find the center of the step and then taped my stencil on to keep it in place.

I used a foam dauber and just lightly dipped it into the paint. I try not to get too much paint on the brush, but if I do, I just daub some off before I put it on the stencil.

Lightly pounce all over the design. You don’t want to press too hard, unless you are wanting a very distinct design.

I painted both the top of the stool and the step.

I carefully lifted off the stencil and then let the paint dry. This didn’t take too long, since there wasn’t much paint. I lightly sanded over the design once it was dry.

I added a couple of pumpkins and a cozy throw and it’s all ready for fall!

Lauren and I are busy getting some Christmas posts ready for all of you! We have a lot coming your way, starting in November! Can’t wait to share it with you!

Entryway Reveal-Before and After

April 25, 2017April 24, 201711 Comments

Happy Tuesday morning! No post yesterday, which hasn’t happened for awhile, but I was gone this weekend with Haley looking at a college. It was a great visit, but a long, very warm day, and then a long drive home. Needless to say, the blog post didn’t get finished. But it’s here now! I finally have the entryway to show you!

Here are a couple of before pictures. There was a closet right inside the door when you first walked in. I took the doors off and then Steve took off the door jambs and finished off the walls. We also removed the old linoleum floors. One thing I really like, is the cement floors underneath all the floors. I really am not sure what I want on the floor right now, so the easiest thing to do was to paint it! Really!

I found a great tutorial over at Vintage Revivals. She gives step by step instructions on how to do it. The first thing I did was buy the Porch and Floor paint. I found Gliddon paint at Walmart and it was on clearance for $11.00 #cheapskate. It was light gray, but I added little bit of darker gray from Haley’s room to darken it. I just poured it right on the floor and rolled it on! I used a brush to go around the edges. We waited to put on the baseboards until after I painted the floor so I didn’t have to be too careful. I love how it turned out. I think the kitchen is next!

I decided it was a little plain, so I found a stencil at Hobby Lobby that I liked and decided to try it out. If I didn’t like it, I could always repaint the floor. The stencil is by Designer Stencils and the design is Jaipur Damask. Oops blurry… I used chalk paint and a sponge blotter .

I chose to paint a random pattern on the floor. I laid the stencil where I wanted it. I dipped the sponge in the paint and then blotted most of it off on a paper towel. After most of the paint was off, I sponged over the design. I didn’t want the design to be too dark.

Once the paint was dry, I lightly sanded over the top. I wanted a bit of a worn look.

See, this is what I put up with! “Watcha doing, huh?” I’m lucky I ever get a picture without them in it!

After everything was done and clean, I added a black and white striped rug.

This is the area where the closet used to be. Doesn’t this look so much better?! Here is the post where we made the Old Door Table.

This is the area behind the door. I had an old piece of wood I covered with the same wall paper I used the living room. I added some hooks and hung a straw hat and a Ca. tote bag with some flowers. The sign came from Hobby Lobby. Here is a similar one.

I still want to put a coat of gloss over the floor to protect it. I will get that done when I paint the kitchen. Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope you have a great week!

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Pallet Project Update-Kitchen Plate Rack

April 11, 2016April 9, 201619 Comments

I’m finally back with a project today!! I’m sure you are all thrilled! 🙂

Steve cut out this pallet rack for me several years ago, so I don’t have a tutorial for that part, but you can find them on Pinterest. Lauren, a friend and I did some craft shows a few years ago, and I had made pallet racks to hold books. This one had never sold and had been just waiting for me to come up with a project for it. Finally inspiration struck!

I spray painted black over the letters first.

While it was drying, I picked out the phrase I wanted to put on it and found the fonts and size on Microsoft Word. I printed them out and then cut them down to make them easier to work with.

To transfer the lettering to the wood, I rub pencil on the back of the paper. Then I turn the paper over, place it where I want it to go and trace the letters. When you are done, there should be a faint outline of the words. You can see how I did this for another sign too.

Once my tracing was on the board, I painted it in with white chalk paint. I used a really stiff brush to fill in each letter. After it was dry, I sanded it down a bit to look more worn. The last step was to go over it with a clear varnish. I knew I was going to hang it in the kitchen, so it needed to be protected.

(please don’t look too hard at the kitchen, ugh! It really needs a make-over. BADLY!!!)

So here it is hanging over the stove. The perfect place to store some platters, plates, and cutting boards.

After looking at the pictures, I realized it was kind of bare on the wall above it. I was roaming through my local Goodwill and found this little cow head. Perfect! Her name is Amelia. She is a little small for the space, so I mounted her on some old boards we had. I didn’t even know I had the one with writing on it. Love it!