New Etsy Listing: “Gather” Sign

New sign design in our Etsy shop!  And I think this makes for the third new listing/design in the last week!  (I have a been a busy bee, haha.)  This farmhouse-inspired "gather" sign would make the perfect finishing touch to any gathering spot in your home!  Shop this design and our others at our Etsy shop:  

New Etsy Listing: Custom “Established” Signs

New sign design in our Etsy shop!  This one is for a Custom Last Name Established sign - perfect for a wedding, anniversary, or housewarming gift!  This rustic sign is made on a wide grey-stained board with crisp permanent white vinyl lettering.  Shop this sign and more in our Etsy shop:  

Coming Soon: Signs!

Coming (soon I hope) to the Etsy shop - signs!

I've been wanting to add signs to the shop for forever but ornaments have been keeping me too busy.  For now I'll be listing an occasional sign in the shop here and there, but after the Christmas ornament rush you can expect to see a lot more!  Designs will mostly be New England-inspired and some nursery/children's room designs (like the one pictured).  

Porch and Garden Farmhouse Finds on Amazon

I don't know about you, but I'm obsessed with HGTV's Fixer Upper and Joanna Gaines' Industrial Farmhouse Style.  Summer has me dreaming about redoing our outdoor spaces so I thought I'd put together a collection of great Amazon finds to bring you some farmhouse inspiration on a budget.  | This post contains affiliate links |

My Porch + Garden Farmhouse Picks

Click text for direct link to item on Amazon

| Westinghouse Watts Creek Wall Lantern | Mason Jar Wild Bird Waterer | Coca Cola Bottle Opener |
| Zinc Pitcher | White Porch Rocker |
| Red Enamelware Mug | Rustic Tin Planters |
| English Garden Trowel | Country Church Birdhouse | Rustic Wooden Crates |
| Game of Horseshoes |
| Chicken Wire Jar Lantern | Galvanized Beverage Tub | Trellis Panel |

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First Trip to IKEA

Today was my first time going to IKEA and let me tell you, it was ah-mazing!  

We live about 3 hours away from the nearest IKEA, and that's probably a good thing because I liked way too many of the things they have there.  What blew me away most was how beautiful, sturdy, and reasonably-priced the furniture was.  

We left with "big girl" furniture for our daughter's new room since she'll be transitioning out of her crib soon (eek) and moving into what was my craft room.  We got her the small Hemnes dresser and Hemnes twin bed (full review and room makeover will be on the blog soon).  And since my craft room will become her room, we decided to bite the bullet and get the Hemnes sideboard to hold all my displaced craft supplies.  I just loved the Hemnes line from IKEA, can't you tell?  We also picked up a cute (and cheap!) wooden train set for her.  

I was expecting IKEA to be a lot of modern furniture and accessories, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they had a lot of great "farmhouse-inspired" pieces that fit with our New England style.  

I should have taken more pictures for the blog while we were there, but I was just too busy browsing and shopping!  ;)

Closet Turned into Mudroom for Cheap!

Okay, so I struggled for a bit whether to blog about this little DIY closet makeover.  I really loved the project and I think it came out great, but it was just SO impossible to photograph.  This closet is at the end of a narrow hallway with no natural light, and there's no way to photograph the whole thing in a single picture.  So please forgive me for the poor photos - they aren't to the standard I like to try to keep for the blog but the project and message were just too good not to share.  | This post contains affiliate links |

When we moved into our home we quickly realized we needed a "drop zone" by the back door.  It was really the only door we used and we needed a place to put all our stuff as we came and went.  Thankfully there was an under-utilized pantry here and while we can always use more storage, for us it was more important have a mudroom/drop zone.  After surfing Pinterest we decided to turn it into a mini mudroom complete with beadboard, a shelf, hooks, a built-in bench with metal baskets underneath for shoes, mail organizer - the works.  And so within weeks of moving in we took the door off the pantry and it became our temporary drop zone while we planned... and there it stayed for three years (yikes).  

Embarrassing, right?

You see, our dream mini mudroom would have cost big bucks and we kept sidelining it for other, more important things (furnace fixes, putting in a vegetable garden, repairing the driveway..).  And then we got a puppy.  And then we had a baby.  And then spending big bucks on a teeny mudroom was just absurd.  And the closet stayed the way it was, and just looked ugly and cluttered.  

Then we realized:  it's great to dream big for make-overs and remodels but what's more important is to assess what's realistic now.  Realistically we couldn't afford now what we wanted to do originally but we still needed a mudroom - so the design got cut to the very basics.  We needed a shelf, hooks, and mail/key organizer; the beadboard, bench, baskets, and accessories would have to wait.  

The first step was removing the Closet Maid shelving system. To do this, I used a flat head screwdriver and needle nose pliers to pull out the pins and drywall anchors that held the shelves and supports in place. We saved all the shelves and supports in case we want to add more shelving to another closet down the road. We were left with a ton of holes to fill, but some drywall patch and light sanding filled the holes in fine. 

Afterwards I repainted the walls of the closet with some white ceiling paint we had in the basement. My goal was to use as much materials as we had already and I didn't want to buy a new can of paint just to do this little area. The ceiling paint covered great and it only needed one coat. 

Then I marked the studs with painters tape and cut a 1x12 (given to us by my father-in-law who had scrap boards in his basement) down to the length of the back of the closet, attaching it into the studs with long screws.  

I cut the angled side supports down and cut another board to make the top shelf (all cuts were made with just a chopsaw).  Everything was glued, screwed, and nailed into place so it was nice and sturdy.  Then I patched all the screw holes and lightly sanded before painting the shelf with trim paint, which we already had on-hand.

Once the paint was dry, I added the hardware - the only items we actually had to buy for this project!  The four coat hooks were from Lowes and cost about $4 each, the two accessory hooks were also from Lowes and were less than $1.50 each, and the mail/key organizer was from Amazon and cost about $10.  All-in-all since we reused paint and wood we already had we spent around $30 for everything!  Someday I'd still like to add a bench, baskets, and cover the textured walls with beadboard but in the meantime we have a functional, simple, efficient mudroom which is what we really needed from the beginning.  I'm kicking myself for living with the messy old closet for so long when doing a simplified mudroom was so achievable this whole time! 

Ta-da!

The coatrack and mail/key organizer.

The small accessory hooks on the opposite wall for hats and leashes.

Totally unstyled, real-life photo right here. Definitely not magazine-worthy, but perfect and functional for our family.

Lesson learned:  sometimes settling for less is best. 

Product Links:  
|  Coat Hooks  |  Accessory Hooks  |  Mail + Key Organizer  |

Milk Can House Number - Add some country flair to your curb appeal!

My parents-in-law gave us an awesome old milk can and it took me a little while to decide what I could do with it.  After some thought I decided to use it as a country-inspired house number display.  | This post contains affiliate links |

The milk can had already been re-painted at one point and while the green paint and the rust spots definitely gave it a nice patina, I decided to clean it up and repaint it to make it a little cleaner and kid-friendly.  

First step was to clean up all the loose paint.  I used a wire brush, metal scraper, and rough-grit sandpaper to clean it up and make a good base for the new paint.  

Once it was ready I used Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Protective Enamel in matte black and gave it two coats, letting dry about 24 hours between coats.  For the stencil I made a point to choose a font and size that looked like it belonged there - that maybe the farmer numbered all his milk cans and this was just one in the lineup.  The stencils I used were from the Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set, trimming the letters down and taping them together with painters tape.  I had used the "o" previously for another project.. hence why it's brown.  

I used white acrylic paint to stencil it and filled the gaps in the stencil with a small brush after.  I think the milk can came out pretty cute and adds the perfect country touch!

Product Links
|  Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set  |