Vintage craft/office makeover

Meet: Shelby from

Honeysuckle blog

She’ll be having a baby in a few short months and to make room for baby, switched around several rooms in her house. One of Shelby’s biggest challenges was to combine her office and craft spaces into one multi-functional, organized splace.

The large L-shaped desk was a DIY project…

vintage craft room/office

Don’t you love the windows, the light and that view?

The rest is creative fun vintage finds turned useful. So many treasures, such clever ideas.

craft room pegboard

wrapping paper roller

gallery wall

vintage office chair

craft room/office French doors

vintage mail sorter

craft supplies

vintage canisters

vintage office/craft room makeover

Shelby shares all of her DIY at

honeysuckle
and vintages treasures in her Etsy shop…

honeysuckle

Ps. Look for her beautiful mud room – gorgeous transformation!
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Family Room Baseboard {DIY installation and caulking tutorial}

The old baseboards in the family room were 2 inches tall and lacked the character displayed in the rest of our home. The family room was a later addition to the house. After the bamboo floor was installed, we decided to go with a taller baseboard. I chose 6 x 1 inch pine.

Before…

baseboard tutorial

I started to the left of the French doors, measured and cut my board to fit the space. I do not miter baseboards. When you see the finished job, I promise you no one is going to notice that the joints/corners are not mitered.

baseboard tutorial

I moved along, placing my next un-cut 8 foot piece into place from the corner.

baseboard tutorial

Moving along to my third piece, I butted it up against the far wall to where it meets the second un-cut piece placed and draw a line where the two boards meet. This is where I’ll cut.

baseboard tutorial

So simple. I cut all of my pieces and ‘framed’ the room. {pardon the old hunter green furniture}

baseboard tutorial

Starting with “A”, I label each board so I know the order they are to be placed around the room. I got up to “K” I think. You can mark the wall too, but just having the boards in order and knowing where you start works.

Next I hauled the boards to the basement and gave each piece of baseboard two coats of paint {Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace in a semi-gloss finish) on three sides.

painting baseboards

My Porter Cable nail gun/compressor makes installing baseboards super easy.

Porter Cable nail gun & compressor

I just a nail every 14 inches near the bottom of the boards and a staggering nail near the top in between the bottom nails.

baseboard tutorial

{bad hair day = hood for pics and if you misplace safety goggles, sunglasses are the next best thing}

Our walls are not plumb. There are gaps where the baseboards gap and don’t sit flush against the wall. But that’s okay.

DAP Dyna Flex and FrogTape

Enter: DAP DynaFlex. DynaFlex is DAP’s most advanced indoor/outdoor premium latex sealant with technology that is both waterproof and paintable. It combines outstanding durability, adhesion and flexibility with easy tooling, paintability, and low odor, while also keeping insects (SPIDERS!) from entering through small gaps and cracks. It is mold and mildew resistant, making DynaFlex ideal for a wide variety of projects such as sealing around windows, doors, siding, trim, molding and baseboards.

I usually leave caulking to Mr. DIY but this time I did it myself. We’ve been really busy with real life things, so this is a task I kept putting off thinking it would be more difficult and take more time than it did. I was wrong! Caulking is the easiest DIY job I’ve ever done. And it took only about an hour.

Seriously the hardest part was learning how to load the caulk gun. Cut the caulk tube on an angle creating a small hole. And insert the tube into the gun.

DAP Dyna Flex

Handle up means “on”. Handle down means off.

caulk gun

Turn the tip of the tube so the flat side of the angled cut will rest in the ‘crack’ where baseboard meets wall.

Turn handle up to “on” (work quickly with a full tube – it pushes itself out!) and push the metal tab to start placing a bead of caulk in where the baseboard meets the wall, move along. Push. Release. Push. to maintain a steady bead. I worked in 4 foot sections. (Tip: With a new tube, be QUICK with turning the gun off an on – it will continue to squeeze out when you aren’t looking!) Remember to turn handle to ‘off’ position when you set down the caulk. As the tube empties, it will require more gripping muscle.

I had a small dish of water, a small waste basket and lots of paper towels on hand.

Dip finger into water and smooth out the bead of caulk (paper towels or rags are necessary). If it gets onto something it shouldn’t, it’s okay. It wipes/washes right off.

It created a beautiful straight flat bead filling in the gap between the wall and baseboard.

how to caulk

At first I even lined the top of the baseboard and the wall where it meets the baseboard with Frog tape to create a straighter line.

caulk installation collage

But found that the extra step wasn’t really necessary. It might be helpful if you had a big contrast between baseboards and walls. But if I made a mess or an ‘oops’, DynaFlex was easy to wipe away/clean when wet.

before

baseboard tutorial

then…{better but yikes!}

DIY baseboard tutorial

now…

DAP Dyna Flex baseboard caulking tutorial

Family room still in progress but these small details are important. DAP Dyna Flex is sandable and paintable! It’s tempting to end at this step because it looks good enough, but painting will help seal everything and give it a uniform look. Next up filling the nail holes, light sanding and paint touch up. What do you think? An easy enough project to do on my own.

DIY baseboard tutorial

Cost:  approx. $100 for wood and caulk (less than two tubes) for an approx. 200 sq. foot room.

This post is sponsored by DAP but opinion, photos and tutorial are my own. 



All things {farmhouse} kitchen

There are two small DIY projects in the kitchen this week that I want to share with you. 🙂

Russ enjoys cooking outside (Big Green Egg is his other love) and we entertain and dine on the patio often when the weather allows.

The dresser stores his BBQ and smoking tools near the door and patio. The numbers will be helpful in reminding him where things are.

farmhouse kitchen

I painted our “microwave cart” dresser a pretty shade of dark distressed red and numbered the drawers. The wood tone shows through…

aged distressed red dresser

I also made a “Farmer’s Market” sign for the bulkhead above the kitchen sink and windows.

farmhouse kitchen

Farmhouse kitchen details:

farmhouse kitchen collage

  1. Cow canvas (wuslu.com)
  2. Area rug (OneKingsLane.com) – with DIY red detail
  3. DIY distressed Farmer’s Market sign (tutorial coming soon)
  4. DIY door clock
  5. Two teacher’s desks create a temporary island/eat in area
  6. DIY lazy Susan spice rack, DIY sliding ladder and antique chicken feeder cook book library 
  7. Numbered red/glazed dresser {microwave cart and storage}

(more links to painting kitchen cabinets, marble subway tile installation and more kitchen DIY at the DIY Show Off home tour)

And since the kitchen’s clean, I couldn’t help sharing some updated pictures:

desks as a kitchen island

Still on our DIY to-do list:

  • baseboard trim
  • stove/range back splash
  • a DIY taller kitchen island with storage and seating
  • work on the pot rack
  • pantry in another area of our home
  • framing a window
  • kitchen curtains

Kitchen when we bought the house:

Kitchen now:

farmhouse kitchen

From all angles…

DIY farmhouse kitchen

farmhouse kitchen

farmhouse kitchen

mail sorter, butler's pantry

farmhouse kitchen

farmhouse kitchen

farmhouse kitchen

farmhouse kitchen

DIY farmhouse kitchen

desks as a kitchen island

farmhouse kitchen

desk island

marble subway tile backsplash

eclectic kitchen

I’m entering the contest at WhisperWood Cottage!

Funky Junk's Sat Nite Special