Patio table facelift

Sometime back in May, I bought a patio table and 4 chairs from a friend who was looking into buying something newer. I knew that our back porch would need to be outfitted after all the work was completed. The chairs were sans cushions, so I had to find some that would fit. Also, the top of the table had warped linoleum tiles. I took off the linoleum tiles and discovered that the top was concrete board. So, my daughter and I decided to adhere mosaic and other misc. leftover tiles from our various projects onto the top and use some leftover grout (from her bathroom remodel) onto the top. I wish had a before picture, but I guess I didn’t give it much thought. Here is a picture after we adhered the tiles and the second one is after it was grouted and installed on the porch. Ta-da!

And, as you saw previously, here are the chairs with their new cushions.

Mesh Wreath

Now that my back porch has been completely redone, I am chomping at the bit to decorate. Spring has passed and Summer is about to be gone, so I set to working on Fall decor. Yesterday, I tried my hand at a mesh wreath. It was super easy to make. In fact, I was so pleased, I installed it on the back porch. Soon, I will finish the front porch ones and put them out and make all my neighbors think I’m crazy for decorating for Fall so early! They haven’t seen my pumpkin flag yet…hehe

Here is a tutorial if you are interested in making one. How to make a mesh wreath

***Update: I finished my other two as well.

Kitchen Work

Working on the kitchen again. I really wanted some upper cabinets, so Steven was nice enough to build me some. I scribbled out how I wanted the range hood (poor Steven!) and he took that pathetic drawing of mine and made a gorgeous hood for the kitchen. Below are pictures of how it turned out. The chevrons I made from misc. wood and leftovers stains and paints. It was fun and I love the end result! We are still doing the finishing work and need to install crown molding, but when it is all finished, I will do a massive slide show of before and after.

Th bottom coat on the range hood is Artisan by Behr. The top darker coat is cast bronze by Martha Stewart. The chevron slats are a mixture of leftover paint or stain. The turquoise is a paint I bought long ago for a project that I diluted with mineral spirits to make a semi transparent stain. The light wood color is Golden Oak by Minwax. The dark brown (almost black) stain is Kona by Rustoleum. The metallic one was painted Martha Stewart’s red copper with a top coat of cast bronze. The green semi transparent stain was one I had specially mixed for our study cabinets and it is called Verdi Gris by Rustoleum specialty mixed semi sold stains.

***UPDATE: I finally found the blog with the picture that inspired our range hood design. I looked for it forever. Pretty Handy Girl posted a tutorial on how to make painted, distressed wood panels and I was so excited to the see the range hood. Thanks for posting that!  If anyone would like to view the tutorial and the projects, visit: Pretty Handy Girl: Painted and Distressed Tutorial

Back Porch, just needs a rail

We still need to build and install a rail, but I was able to stain and finish most of the porch work.