Farmhouse Style Coffee Table

I am so excited to share this post with you! This table turned out far better than I even imagined!

I found an old coffee table at a thrift store and had to buy it when I saw the legs; they were so chunky and incredible! My original plan was to tear the legs off the table and use them to build a new custom coffee table. But time has not been something that we have a lot of lately and we are constantly debating if we want a coffee table in our family room while we have young children--they seem to be a hazard! :) 

Anyways... of course I forgot to take a "before" picture, but it was just an old oak finish. I painted the legs bright white, I didn't bother painting the top since I knew I would be covering it.

Once the legs were painted I measured and cut wood to the length I needed, I cut it 1 inch longer than the actual top so it would hang over about a half inch on either side. I used 1x4 finished grade pine from Home Depot (so smooth it hardly took any preparation).

After cutting, I sanded the rough edges. I then moved the wood off the coffee table to stain so I wouldn't drip stain on my freshly painted legs. 

I used Minwax "Classic Gray" Stain and LOVED it!! This was the first time I had seen it at Home Depot and decided to try it. It is hands down the best grey stain I have used, and I have probably tried every gray stain out there......   :) 

After the boards have been stained and are dry you can screw them on to the top of your table.

I started laying the boards from the middle and worked my way out. I measured the middle of my table and marked it on both sides to help line up my first piece. 

Because I have an even number of boards; I had a board on each side of my middle mark. You can barely see the mark in the picture below, I lined the edge of my board up with it. 

Then add your first screw to the middle of this board, making sure to get it close to the edge but through the original table top.

Line up the other end and place a screw on that side so your board is secure, then in the middle if you want a row of screws down the middle of your table as well. Keep going until all your boards are secure :)

Now just do a clear coat! I used a polyurathane. I brushed a thick layer on the top and let that dry all day. Then sprayed the whole table with a coat as well. 

And it is beautiful!!! I cant wait to do more projects with this gray stain!

 I love the feeling these exposed screws give it; just perfect!!

Striped Side Table

Do you remember this table that I refinished??

  

 I love it so much! But the mint color just wasn't working for me so I decided it needed a new look.

I lightly sanded it and spray painted it white. After it had dried for a day I taped off the top for stripes.

I didn't measure but just put the first piece of tape right down the middle and eyed the others so that they were about the same distance apart.

I then taped of the edges.

With  a dark color like black I wanted to make sure to prevent paint from leaking under the tape. To do this, I lightly painted over the tape seams with the same white paint. This seals the edges. Let it dry then you are ready to paint your stripes!

I did two coats of black paint, letting it dry for about 20 minutes in between.

I let it dry for just a moment then take the tape off.

If there is any mistakes, the paint will still be wet so you can quickly wipe it off with a damp cloth. 

I let it dry for a day then did a clear coat over it to protect it.

I LOVE how it turned out! I feel that white and black are so simple and classy. 

DIY: Gold Diamond Wallpaper

Here is another fun, easy, and inexpensive wall accent! This is probably the easiest accent wall I have done. I actually did two adjacent walls this time and it only took a few hours, and about $4!! :)  This idea originated from a tutorial that Mandy from Vintage Revivals did. I loved it! She did triangles and the look was a little more modern than what I was going for. So I simply modified it to be diamonds!

Supplies needed:

• Snap chalk line (like THIS) 
• "Paint" Marker. I found mine at Walmart for $2! I used gold and for both walls I only used 2! Found in their craft section. 
• Yard Stick
• Tape measure

First thing you need to do is mark out your grid. You will need horizontal and vertical lines evenly spaced along your wall. The horizontal lines are wider apart and will determine the height of the diamond. The vertical lines are closer together and will determine the width. 

I went along and just made a small pencil mark every 16in for my vertical lines (mark at the top and bottom of the wall) and every 24in for the horizontal lines. After it is marked off you can snap your chalk line to "draw" a perfectly straight line! Simply line up your marks on the top and bottom of the wall and "snap" the chalk line.  Your wall should look like this when done:

Sorry for the bad lighting in these pictures..I did most of my work after the kiddos went to bed! :) 

I started my measurements, for both walls, from the shared corner and worked my way out. This way, partial diamonds would occur at the end of each wall allowing full diamonds to flow nicely through the shared corner.

Now that you have the grid all marked out, start drawing your diamonds! Use the yard stick for a straight line (you can get one in the paint section at Home Depot for under $1).

In the picture below I tried to highlight where your lines connect: 4 of the rectangles will make ONE diamond. You will draw a diagonal line across each of the small rectangles. The red lines represent my chalk lines that form my grid, the yellow is my paint maker line. 

Just make sure you only do one rectangle at a time! 

Also, when using the paint Markers you will want to shake them regularly to maintain a good flow! I would keep a paper plate with me and whenever the marker seemed to be running low I would press the tip onto the plate to get the paint running again. 

Once the first wall was done I wiped off the chalk with a damp cloth and moved to the next wall. 

Here are some "final" pictures..even though this room is far from being decorated! I love how simple this was! And it added fun character to the room without being overwhelming. 

The Gold is fairly light and hard to capture in a picture, but it is so beautiful in person! 

Sorry for the empty frame.. :) 

If you want something a little more bold, try a black marker! My neighbor did this and it turned out super cute!! 

What do you think??? Is it worth the $4?? :) 

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Homemade Greek Yogurt recipe! It is so good and so easy! All you need is:

1 gallon of milk (we used 2%)
1 small container of yogurt with active cultures--see picture below!
Crock-pot
Cooking thermometer
Cheese cloth (you can find it in the fabric/craft section at Walmart)

Check the back of your yogurt to make sure it has active cultures. We just use vanilla yogurt since its hard to find a plain flavor in a small container, but you wont really taste any flavor.

Lets Begin! 

Dump your gallon of milk into the crock-pot and let it heat up to 180 degrees (to kill the milk bacteria). On high it seems to take around 3 hours, but check it often.

Once it reaches 180 turn off the crock-pot and take off the lid to let it cool down. It needs to get to 115 degrees (to allow the yogurt bacteria to survive); this will usually take 1-2 hours.

Once it has cooled down, whisk in yogurt until well combined.

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Next, place the lid back on and wrap it in a towel to keep it warm. The cool down process needs to be super slow; hence the lid, towel, and oven.

Place in the oven (turned off!!). Now let it sit and do its thing! It takes 8-12 hours, we recommend the full 12 hours.

After the 12 hours, take it out. It should be thick and look like yogurt! You can leave it just like this or go one step further to get "greek" yogurt. 

To get a Greek yogurt you will need to strain it. We place Cheesecloth into a colander and then set the colander in a bowl to catch the whey strained out..see picture below :) 

We usually need to use two different bowls. Cover with saran wrap, put it in the fridge, and let it sit / drain for at least three hours or even a day! The longer you let it sit the thicker your yogurt will be. When it has finished draining you will be able to see the whey in the bottom bowl:

Now scoop out the yogurt and put it into a Tupperware. We use Freezer Jam containers. 

It will store in the fridge for about 3 weeks (about the life of the milk you used). 

This is a "plain" Greek yogurt. We sweeten it with Homemade Jam or honey and enjoying adding nuts, granola, and fresh fruit! We even use it plain instead of sour cream.