How To Stain Butcher Block

Meet:  Erin from Still Water Story, where she shares her home projects big and small.  Erin and her husband have been making over their kitchen too.  

Before:

Now…wow!
They chose a budget friendly butcher block option for their counter tops and have written up a very thorough and informative tutorial with tips from start to finish! So helpful if this is something you have in mind for your kitchen!
Before
Gorgeous After! Look at that beautiful tone and grain!
For the full how-to, visit Still Water Story at

How to Stain Butcher Block Countertops

Beautiful job, Erin!  I love the new dark rich color!  You’ve done an amazing job on your entire kitchen! Your hard work is reflected in it’s new beautiful transformation!  How does it feel to be done?  I can’t wait until we reach that point!  I bet it’s a big relief! 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hope you’re having a lovely 4th of July! In case you missed it over the weekend, I’ve posted some updates to our kitchen (here).   Happy Birthday America and Happy 1st birthday our little (ragdoll) girl too…
She celebrated with a tasty salmon dinner with plans for a casual evening of napping.

Bamboo Floors and DIY Project Parade

I always tell myself that I’m going to hold off and just wait until the reveal to show you more progress in the kitchen but then I get so excited, I can’t resist sharing some progress pictures. I’m too excited to wait! We still have baseboards, trim, built-in open shelving, decorating and our kitchen island to do but the floors are done! The new bamboo flooring is gorgeous!

And then (while writing this post) we discovered that Cali Bamboo entered our floor into the Project of the month contest. We’d REALLY appreciate your vote (Please, please! You know I can’t resist a contest. Those dreams of winning get me every time.)  Winner gets a gift card for MORE flooring!  We’d like to eventually continue the bamboo throughout the rest of the main floor. Guest bedroom is next on the renovation list and currently has yucky plywood! Winning would be extremely helpful for our budget! 
Update August 2011:

WE WON! 

Kitchen when we bought our house…some potential, right? It’s big and open.

Kitchen now: still in progress but getting there!
 stove area back splash still on the to-do list
(that’s Mr. DIY’s mango salsa on the counter…if I would have known this was the picture they’d use for the contest, I’d have hung a fresher towel and cleared away the clutter!)
looking into the dining room before
See installation and reasons for our choice at GOOD BYE OLD FLOORS!
looking into the dining room now
Antique Java
{distressed fossilized/wide plank}
strand bamboo = durable green product
 This area (below) is getting DIY built-in open shelving.  
The cart/etc. is temporary but functional for now.
 Lalka loves new floors.
The view looking in (Lalka is sitting where the island is planned):
The view looking out (love seeing our grape arbor). 
The patio off the kitchen is convenient for outdoor entertaining and dining too.
Dining room when we bought the hous
e…
Dining room before floors:
(Fuzzy) after of floors.  Looking for new rug and working on some DIY decorative accents. And better quality pictures.  I promise. 
Okay, next time I’ll hold off and wait until the reveal before showing you more.  Nothing like 100s of posts on a kitchen remodel to make you sick and tired of hearing about it, right?  I promise I’m not the type to insist you open your birthday present weeks ahead of time. I love surprises! I do have patience in some areas.  Just not when it comes to showing off! 😉

Thanks in advance for your vote!
http://www.calibamboo.com/
(Project of the Month button on the left. Then vote for #11.)
No signing up, logging in or giving email address…just 1 click vote once. 
Then come back and link up!



Note:  We were not given free product or compensation. The bamboo was purchased by us after our own research and opinion is our own based on our experience. 🙂

What are you up to this weekend?


The DIY Show Off



If you’d like to link YOUR DIY project post to The DIY Show Off Project Parade:



1.You must use the button above (ADD BUTTON HTML CODE FROM SIDE BAR TO YOUR POST) and link to this post to share the linky love.

2.Include your name or blog name and project title. Add your permalink (not your blog url, but your DIY project post url). Feel free to link a Past Post, just invite your readers in a current post with a quick note.

3.Or email your link to thediyshowoff@gmail.com and I will add it for you.

4.If you notice your link has disappeared -please add the link back to The DIY Show Off to your post today, a button or a quick note to your readers about the party and try again! I love when everyone participates and readers check out everyone’s links, but I think the return favor of linking back is the nice thing to do so everyone plays fair and enjoys all of the projects and links. Also – this blog party is for DIY projects only. Links not related to DIY will be deleted.

5.  NOW you can “like” the links!  Most liked link moves to the top of the list!  What a fun idea!  Most liked links may be included in a post of DIY Project Parade highlights later in the week!  🙂


Have a Happy 4th of July, friends
!
Your kindness is making me smile today! 
See the milestone on the right side bar?  You’re awesome!

Don’t forget about I <3 Thrift Day coming up!  See the button on the side bar for more details!

Kitchen Makeover – Beautiful Mess

If you read our blog regularly, you know we have kitchen makeover on the brain.  Seeing beautiful DIY kitchen makeovers pushes us to get ours finished so we can share the reveal (working on a kitchen island next and installing new wide baseboards). So today, we’re thrilled to share a beautiful kitchen transformation with you. 
Kasey from Beautiful Mess started with this…
DIY demo begins the transformation…
Love the new view!  So open now!
Fun wall color, beautiful tall cabinets and awesome backsplash & countertops…
I spy pretty patterned valances too!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
See the details of all that was done at Beautiful Mess Kitchen Reveal. 2 1/2 months of renovation.  What?!  We’re going on month # 8 in our kitchen remodel…better get our butts moving!  Love seeing this motivation!
Wow, Kasey!  So…how does it feel to be done?!  It’s gorgeous!  Thank you so much for sharing your hard work. You’ve created a fresh, bright new kitchen.  I love it!