The Barn Workshop-DIY Series – Country Design Home

Aug 9, 2014

Rustic USA Chalkboard Map-DIY!

Remember the time when I built the cupcake tower for the wedding and then it broke apart and toppled over and the cupcakes went tumbling onto the wet grass? No? So that’s just my bad luck…

Well, the one good thing that came of all of it was that I spotted this USA plank map that is proudly hanging in our friend’s log cabin home where we stayed for the wedding weekend.

It is an amazing focal point for their great room! Naturally, when I first admired it, my initial response was “that’s amazing”, quickly followed by “gee, I wonder if I can make that?!” Soooo, here is my version of the Pottery Barn Rustic USA map.

I created it using an old, very large framed print that Coach had picked up at a yard sale, some balsa wood slats, glue, stain and chalkboard paint. Here is the how-it-did-it:

1. I kept the print in place, since it was just a piece of fiberboard that had been printed on and adhered to the frame. Sorry about those creepy flowers, but they just had to go…

…but the frame, however, is gorgeous, so that remained as is!

2. The balsa wood slats came from a bin we purchased at a yard sale last summer. Tons of pieces of wood in various widths and lengths. Love this stuff-super easy to work with! Just mark with a pencil,

cut with scissors,

then glue down. I chose random pieces so it would look more rustic and deconstructed,

rather than just using all the same widths and lengths.

3. Once I had placed the wood into position, I lifted each piece and spread wood glue onto the base, using a foam brush to create a nice even surface.

4. I lifted one slat at a time, then placed the slats back down onto the glued surface, then weighted them down with various cans and bottles I had handy. If you do this, make sure you don’t use anything porous or it will stick to your project!

5. Once dried, I had to decide which stain to use.

Once the color was chosen, I simply followed the stain instructions (for the record, I went with the Minwax). You brush it on,

wait a minute, then wipe off any excess with a soft, clean cloth. Then allow to dry. You see all those little white dots? Apparently, I wasn’t as neat with the glue as I thought! No worries, I am going to dry brush some paint on there anyway, so they won’t be visible : )

6. For the dry-brushing, I taped off the frame edges,

then dry-brushed the surface with two tones of Americana Chalky Paint.

I knew if I just left it stained, the black map itself wouldn’t show up against the dark background.

Dry brushing allows you to see the stained wood underneath.

7. Once that was dry, I needed to add the map. Initially I tried to print out a USA map outline, but of course, the first one was too small and then my printer ran out of ink.

So, I grabbed one of Coach’s USA maps and cut around that. (No worries, this wasn’t one of the antique ones, just one of a few hundred he has hanging around)

8. Traced the map outline onto the prepped surface with a pencil. Then I painted it with three coats of chalkboard paint. This one is from FolkArt by Plaid,

but there are many other manufacturer’s and they all seem to do the trick.

9. Once the chalkboard paint was dry, I “primed” the surface by covering the entire map with chalk. )It needs to be primed so that when you do write on it with chalk, the images will easily wipe off. Otherwise they will leave “ghost images”)

(rub with the side of the chalk)

then wiped it off with a damp cloth.

10. With my mouse sander, I simply roughed up the surface and softened the edges with fine sandpaper to give the entire piece the rustic look.

11. This is the finished piece, proudly displayed on my mantel.

And remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Thanks Pottery Barn for the inspiration! Have an inspired weekend, everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Auctions, Fleas & Fabulous Finds, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Americana Chalky Paint, DIY Chalkboard Map, DIY Rustic Chalkboard Map, Plank Map, pottery barn, Pottery Barn Plank Map, Rustic Framed Chalkboard Map, USA Chalkboard Map

Aug 2, 2014

The Barn at Todd Farm

By countrydesignhome · 5 Comments

Greetings!! Back from my blogging break and ready to start sharing some very exciting news! Beginning Sunday, August 3, Coach and I, along with Lisa from RitaJosVintage will be setting up shop in the Barn at Todd Farm!! Woo Hoo!

Many of you already know about the historic Todd Farm in Rowley, Mass-the amazing Sunday flea markets with hundreds of vendors selling everything under the sun-and even a kitchen sink or two. (to read about our outdoor selling experience, click here)

But what many of you may not know is that the beautiful huge yellow barn

in the center of the property has undergone a restoration and has been transformed from an antique functioning dairy barn

to an antiques co-operative. Inside the barn there are many vendors (with more to come) that have filled each of the old cow stalls with antiques, collectibles, junque and recycled, refurbished and reloved furniture and accessories. So, what will we be selling?? Some of the items you have seen me transform on the blog will be there,

along with an ever-changing stock of old and really old and newly old stuff from our barn (and porch, and yard, and deck, and dining room and living room…) along with Lisa’s vintage kitsch collections. I will be posting pics of new items and stock each week on this blog, but also on my Facebook pages, as well as Craigslist (look under north shore garage and yard sales and just search Todd Farm). For now, we will be open at the crack of dawn on Sundays…or by chance…or by appointment. But, for now I have to sign off-the truck is arriving shortly and the packing and moving begins now! See you at the Farm

just look for the stall with the rusty bedspring arrow marquee : ) xoxox Susan

Filed Under: Auctions, Fleas & Fabulous Finds, Inspiration, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Antiques at Todd Farm, Antiques Rowley Mass, country design home, Flea Market North Shore of Boston, Flea Markets Rowley Mass, Rita Jos Vintage, The Barn at Todd Farm, Todd Farm Flea Market

Jul 18, 2014

Thrifty Kitchen Transformation-Granite Day!

By countrydesignhome · 2 Comments

Yesterday was such an exciting day in the thrifty kitchen transformation process-granite installation day! Thanks to Alpha-Granite in Wakefield, Ma, we secured this gorgeous hunk of granite called Steel Gray at a great price, with great service.

Ten days from choosing the granite to the install, they arrived on time, worked quickly and efficiently and cleaned up before they left. As promised, the truck rolled up at 8am and the process of removing the old formica countertops commenced.

Now, as an avid DIY’er, I like to think that I can pretty much do most everything myself. That is, after all, what DIY means: Do It Yourself. However, I do know my limits, and fabricating and hauling around giant slabs of very heavy granite just was not in my job description for this particular project.

So, here is the before: yucky yellow 1970’s Formica with the over-counter-installed stainless sink which they quickly removed and junked.

And here is the after: shiny black with flecks of grays and browns, which really complements the painted white cabinets and the awesome hardware!

As we’ve continued the work on the kitchen, the one thing mom and I keep noticing is how much lighter and brighter it appears now.

Of course, painting out the dark oak cabinets really helped, but the new, shiny dark gray granite reflects the light as well. LOVE. More importantly, mom is so happy to have gorgeous granite countertops in her kitchen! Next up, the backsplash. You’re not gonna want to miss this one! But that won’t be for another week or so, because I am taking a quick blogging hiatus to upgrade my computer server (this ought to go well) and prepare for our newest junking adventure! So, until August 1, I’ll be seeing you on Facebook and Pinterest and Instagram-so come on over and say hi! Hope you are all having a great summer! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Alpha Granite Wakefield, Granite companies Boston, Granite companies Wakefield, granite countertops kitchen, Gray Steel granite Countertops, MA, MA granite installation

Jul 15, 2014

Coastal Kitchen Cupboard DIY Makeover

By countrydesignhome · 14 Comments

Blogger’s note: NO REAL WOOD WAS HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS CUPBOARD**

This past weekend, I completed a few more projects while awaiting the granite guy’s countertop installation at mom’s house. I have been working on this piece in my kitchen for quite awhile, and am happy to finally have it done! This is the before:

a red cupboard (made of MDF) we purchased a few years back at Jordan’s Furniture Colossal Clearance Center in Avon, Mass (if you haven’t been there, it is so definitely worth the trip! Lots of great furniture at significantly discounted prices!) This piece fits nicely in the narrow passageway between our kitchen and dining room and holds a ton of stuff like paper towels, napkins and several pieces of kitchen equipment that just won’t fit anywhere else. The problem is, since it’s in the highest traffic point of our home, it had been scratched and worn-the finish was like a plastic veneer and scratched off quite easily (and I was tired of the dark red anyway…). Time for a fix, so this is the after: a pretty, light coastal cabinet with a top created from reclaimed window shutters!

Here is the how-I-did-it: Sanded everything down to rough up the shiny veneer plasticy surface, and sanded the edges to round them off a bit.

Nothing says “mass-produced” more than sharp, clean edges on furniture. Primed with my go-to primer: Glidden Gripper (you can find this at Home Depot in the paint dept)

The Americana Chalky paint I planned on using says it doesn’t need a primer, but the before color was so dark, and the new color was so light, I figured I had better just to be safe.

Before I painted the entire piece, I accented the frames around the door panel inserts with the Americana Chalky Paint Called Vintage. It is a soft blue/green color that ties in beautifully with the shutter slats on the top.

Then I applied some wallpaper wainscoting (LOVE this stuff too!) to the inside of the panels to give a more country feel to the piece. (For the DIY how-to on using the wallpaper, click here.

I then painted the entire cupboard, including the inside panels, with two coats of Americana Chalky paint in the color Everlasting-so soft and pretty white.

The more I used this paint, the more I love it. No brush strokes, so easy to apply and clean up. I then sanded the edges to give it a bit of character and contrast.

The final coat was the Americana Ultra Matte Varnish from DecoArt. No shine, protects the white paint from fingerprints.

For the star of this show, the top, I used some old shutter slats that Coach and I had picked up off the side of the road on a drive to Cape Cod. That was one of my very first blog posts, and also one of the first times we trash picked on the side of the road. What a score! The colors are all the original ones-so coastal pretty!!

I have been using parts of them for several projects, including some little hanging chalkboards which I decided to reclaim for this project. As I was arranging the slats on the top, my original plan was to flip the chalkboard ones over and use the reverse side. But then I thought, why not just leave them so I could write cute little sayings on the surface? Fun!

Once I had placed all of the slats, there were a few that hung over the edges, which I quickly remedied with a few jigsaw cuts.

Then sanded the edge smooth with my Black & Decker Mouse sander, which I also picked up at my local Home Depot. Honestly, I spend more time at Home Depot and Home Goods than I do at home!!

While I was sanding, I made sure that I sanded the top edge just a bit so that the cut pieces had the same worn edge as the rest. (this is the area that fits into the frame of the shutters when they are whole).

Once they were cut and sanded, I glued them into place with this strong sticky stuff-didn’t even require any nailing!!

The original knobs were a nice heavy iron, but I wanted something lighter so there wasn’t as much of a contrast. These mercury glass knobs I found at (where else) HomeGoods, but I couldn’t find handles for the doors that I really liked.

So, I grabbed a pair of stainless ones I kept from my old kitchen and painted them with the chalk paint. What, you say?! Painted knobs? But, of course! This week’s Tuesday DIY Tip: you can paint any hardware quickly and easily, especially with this chalk paint! You just paint it on, making sure you get in all the tiny holes and crevices, then wipe it off,

allow to dry and done. Wipe away as much or as little depending on the look you are going for.

The finished cupboard now stands in the space under my incredible driftwood mirror I purchased at (where else) HomeGoods a few months back, along with some other coastal-inspired decor.

Which will all go so nicely in my coastal dream home (if I ever get a coast dream home…) In the meantime, have a dreamy Tuesday, everyone!! Susan

**PS: That disclaimer at the top of this article is for all the wood enthusiasts who think that no wood furniture should ever be painted…

Filed Under: Color Class, My Little Red House, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: #BobVilaNation, Americana Chalky Paint, Americana Chalky Paint Vintage, Americana Ultra-Matte Varnish, coastal inspired kitchen cupboard, DecoArt Americana Chalky Paint, DIY coastal insprired cupboard, Glidden Gripper, Home Depot, HomeGoods, shutter slats for kitchen cupboard top, transforming a cabinet with chalky paint

Jul 11, 2014

Vintage Reclaimed Rules!

By countrydesignhome · 15 Comments

While all of the kitchen reno and vintage shopping has been going on, I’ve been working on quite a few projects at home in the few stolen moments I have available. This week’s project: Vintage Reclaimed Ruler Side Table-my new favorite piece!! Gotta give Coach credit where credit is due. Once I mention that I have something in mind to try to create, he goes all out to find me the proper materials at his yard and estate sales. Little old side table? $3.

Vintage rulers? Not free, but he’s been collecting them for awhile and stands at about 50 & counting!

What I love about these rulers are that they originated from old and defunct local businesses, many of them with original phone numbers-no area codes! Brings a little nostalgia to the piece. How sweet is “Make It Your Rule To Graduate From School??”

So, with Lisa from RitaJosVintage’s assistance, we created this cute little reclaimed side table using nothing more than some paint and varnish, wood glue, a brad nailer, painter’s tape and of course, rulers-some for actually measuring and the remainder for decoration (some Coach wouldn’t even allow us to cut because they were too vintage!) Here is the how-we-did-it: Cleaned the table and of course, noted the large crack in the top.

That was repaired with some wood glue and a couple of nails. It wasn’t going to be visible so no need for fanciness, just security. I painted the table with two coats of this awesome new chalky paint from DecoArt called Americana Chalky Finish that I bought at Michaels (with a coupon, of course : )

This deep graphite gray color is called Relic, which fits in nicely with the piece, don’t you agree? After the paint dried, I sanded it with a damp sponge sander.

I have discovered with this paint that since it is quite chalky, dry sanding results in a very fine dusting of the adjacent surfaces, but the wet sander smoothes the surface and removes the edges cleanly.

I attempted to remove the drawer pull to clean and polish it, but it was fastened in a way that it just kept twirling around but would not budge. So, I did the next best thing: painted it, then sanded it. Gives it an antique, finished look.

For the top, we decided on a design based on an old “Log Cabin Quilt” pattern, one of my favorites. We measured the first length, then cut it and taped it into place. Then repeatedly cut and taped until the entire top was covered.

You know, I gotta say, its a lot easier when someone else is doing the cutting and I am photographing them-thanks Lisa! (So, what’s wrong with this picture?? Lisa is not wearing goggles or glasses-my bad! That is a big no-no when using power tools. After all, if you damage your eyes while using power tools, then you won’t be able to see to use power tools any more. Don’t do this at home!!)

Once the top was completed, we lifted each piece as we went along, added the wood glue and then resecured the piece,

then waited until the glue was dry (which was pretty quick because it was about 95 degrees that day!). After that, the tape was removed

and the edges were sanded to smooth out any imperfections or uneven edges.

Then we secured all of the pieces using a brad nailer. This is the mini version of a nail gun, shoots both staples and tiny little finish nails that you can barely see.

At this point we stopped for the day, as the sun was setting, as evidenced by the blue hue of daylight. Not safe to work in the darkness!

The next day, I added two coats of this Americana Decor Ultra-Matte Varnish from DecoArt

to finish the entire piece, including the top (which I had initially glazed to enhance the colors of the different woods of the yardsticks, but then decided I wanted it to have a matte finish as well). This stuff is simple to use, brush it on, allow to dry, no buffing needed. It leaves a slightly textured, very matte finish that works perfectly on pieces where you want to accent the color but not add any shine. After all, this is a relic, right?

It stands now in my dining room with some simple staging.

A sweet salvaged side table that works as both a decorative piece and a handy tool (how many times do you go looking for a ruler to measure something and can’t find one?! Now it will be at your fingertips-as long as you only need to measure 12 inches or less : ) I hope your Friday rules, everyone-TGIF!! Susan

Filed Under: Auctions, Fleas & Fabulous Finds, Inspiration, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: #BobVilaNation, Americana Chalky Paint Relic, Chalky Paint from Home Depot, DecorArt Americana Chalky FInish, Matte varnish for painted furniture, Ultra Matte Varnish from Americana, using rulers as vintage decorations, vintage rulers, vintage yardsticks

Jul 8, 2014

Thrifty Kitchen Transformation-The Hardware Install

By countrydesignhome · 6 Comments

Hello, everyone! Back with another episode of “As the Kitchen Transforms”. Today’s DIY Tuesday Tip is about making templates for your drawers and door hardware installation. Now, if you have cabinets that already have hardware and you are just replacing or refinishing it, yay for you! In mom’s case, however, there was no hardware, so we had to start from scratch. You know, finding the right hardware isn’t always that simple, especially when you are going for a specific “look”. We did quite a bit of browsing, both online and in the big box stores, searching through all those little bins for just the perfect style and color.

One day, I mentioned to my mom that we had previously purchased some hardware for my daughter’s kitchen from a local Grossman’s Bargain Outlet. They are a smaller version of the big box stores but with awesome discounted prices, so off we went to check it out. We looked around at the typical hardware display bins and were just preparing to leave empty-handed, when I spotted a display of specialty hardware items-you know, the kind you have to order-but these were in stock. And gorgeous! I called mom over to take a look and she just said “SOLD”, without even checking the price! Which, BTW, was incredibly cheap for such beautiful hardware. Reminiscent of the stalks of lavender found in the south of France,

this hardware from Jeffrey Alexander is the perfect style for our French Country Kitchen makeover.

But, and this is a big but, they did not have the matching hinges. Now, the hinges that were already in place were a nice c.1970’s brass, tarnished but in good shape. We decided to spray paint them, rather than purchase all new ones, since they aren’t all that visible anyway. But, since the new hardware was black and silver, the hinges needed to match. I dug out the spray paint I had handy to decide which one would be the closest match. Can you choose which one we chose?

OK, so the hinges were painted

and the doors re-hung, in their original drilled holes, with a couple of corrections. Apparently, when the cabinets were dark brown with no hardware, slightly off-kilter edges were not an issue. However, the hardware, now a very visible dark gray against a white background, must be level!! To make that happen, templates and a level are super important Tuesday’s DIY Tip! For the drawer pulls, I measured the width of the Center to Center Distance (that is the distance between the two mounting holes), in this case 3 inches.

(For a complete chart on all things cabinet hardware related, click here to visit this greatly informative site:

From there, I created a template of the entire drawer face with exact measurements.

Then I taped the template to the drawer and marked the drill holes.

This is important-one millimeter off can mean the difference between a straight line and a tilted mess! Once the holes were marked, I used the level to make sure they were, indeed, level. The same holds true for the door knobs. I created a template (very high-tech stuff. I used a post-it note folded in half and a marker…),

then placed the template on the door at the proper position and marked the spot. Before I drilled the holes, I used the level to ensure that the knobs would be level. I guess that’s why they call it a level. In this case, the adjacent doors were slightly off,

which meant that the knobs, even though they were in the correct position on their respective doors, would appear to be crooked. Disclaimer: I did not install the cabinets originally, so if the doors were slightly off, I’m not taking the hit on that one!! I did actually correct a couple of them, which meant patching and redrilling the holes, then re-installing the hinges. I decided to let the rest go, as long as they weren’t creating a “tilted fun-house” effect and appeared to be pretty even.

And then finally, I drilled all the holes. Make sure you choose a drill bit that is the same size as the bolts you will be using! Too big of a drill bit means a screw loose (so that’s where that saying came from…)

Which was a little scary at first. On a shiny surface, the drill bit sometimes “wanders” when you first start it, so after a couple of near misses, I decided to start with a pilot hole to give the bit something to dig in to.

And sometimes, despite my best efforts in ensuring their straightness, they appeared just a wee bit off…

So I just adjusted it by making the hole a bit bigger and tightening the screw into place. No one will ever know!! Until they go to replace the hardware. Which hopefully they won’t because they are gorgeous! Here are the cabinet doors before:

and here they are now, all painted and glazed and waxed with the pretty awesome new hardware.

Gotta say, that was a lot of tedious work, but well worth it in the end! Next up, the granite and backsplash! Have a Hopefully Not Torrential Downpour or Tornado Warning Tuesday, everyone! Susan

Filed Under: The Barn Workshop-DIY Series · Tagged: choosing kitchen hardware, DIY cabinet makeover, DIY Hardware installation, Grossmans Bargain Outlet, Installing Kitchen Cabinet Hardware, Jeffrey Alexander Kitchen Hardware, making kitchen hardware level

Jul 1, 2014

Thrifty Kitchen Transformation-DIY Series-Wax On!

By countrydesignhome · 10 Comments

The final step of the kitchen cabinet transformation was the finish coat on the doors, drawers and boxes. To this point, we have painted 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint + I coat of tinted glaze to give the cabinets a slightly aged look.

But they still required one last coat of protection-this is a kitchen, and kitchens get messy right? Don’t want some splashing spaghetti sauce messing up my hard work! First, I tried a satin polyurethane, but it was too shiny. I also have a can of absolute matte finish, but I knew that would be too flat. So I decided on a wax finish that would provide protection while adding just a touch of shine. In the past I have used paste waxes that you wipe or stipple brush on, then buff off. They do give a nice finish, but I don’t like the odor and the elbow grease necessary to get the job done. Having recently discovered a new Crème Wax from Americana, I knew this was the perfect solution!

You literally brush this odorless opaque, white creamy liquid on with a foam brush,

allow to dry (about 1/2 hour), then buff it. The more you buff, the brighter the shine. I purchased this product at Michaels Crafts (with a coupon, of course : ), but it is available online at HomeDepot.com as well. Now, this is Tuesday’s DIY Tip: I use my little mouse sander to buff my finishes (if auto detailers can do it, why can’t I??)

Simply remove the velcroed sandpaper, stick on a soft cloth or rag in its place and buff away!

Use a soft flannel or fleece, not terrycloth, as the loops in the cloth will make it a rougher finish. Unless, of course, that is the look you are trying to achieve. The buffed finish is perfect-smooth and with a low satiny shine-the look we had imagined when we first decided to make over mom’s kitchen. The wax finish is essentially colorless, so it doesn’t tint the finish, but it did enhance the glazing color I had already applied. So, this part of the transformation is complete and we’ve gone from this:

to this:

If you are just joining us now, you can check out my Pinterest page with all of the links starting at the beginning here. But we still have a long way to go! Up next, the hardware. Have and buffed and shiny Tuesday everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series · Tagged: #BobVilaNation, Americana Chalky Paints, Americana Creme Wax, DecoArt Wax Creme, finishing kitchen cabients with wax, Home Depot, Michaels, waxing and glazing kitchen cabinets, waxing kitchen cabinets

Jun 30, 2014

Yard/Barn Saturday Sale? Finally, yes!

By countrydesignhome · 2 Comments

Last week, I read a great blog post from Kelly of Eclectically Vintage, who wrote the do’s and don’ts of having a killer yard sale. Lots of great tips and pointers, including “Enlist Friends-the more hoarders the better!” and “Purge-be ruthless”. You can read the blog post in its entirety here:

This past weekend, I made sure we followed all the pointers as we prepped for our barn sale. As you know, I’ve been bugging Coach to clean out the junk which has now spilled out of the barn, into the yard, onto the porch and into my dining room…which is starting to drive me just a little bonkers.

But, I am giving him a pass for now because we are starting an exciting new venture very shortly-for which we need mucho stuff-more about that soon!!! So, over the past couple of months, Coach has been hosting barn sales on intermittent Fridays and Sundays, with some good success, but I kept asking him why he didn’t want to do Saturdays, like all the other thousands of people in our town. Misery loves company, right? Lots of our friends kept saying they wanted to come, but couldn’t because they were working. (Of course, Coach, being a teacher, has a little more spare time to hang out and sell stuff.) He kept saying that it was because he wanted to sell on a day when no one else was, so there was less competition. Hmmm. This past weekend, it finally dawned on me that the real reason he didn’t want to open up shop on Saturdays was so that he could go pickin’ at the thousands of other yard sales to replenish the stuff he sold on Fridays! This past week, when he said he wanted to do another Friday yard sale, I told him I wasn’t going to help because it was dumb. But of course, I did. And he did OK, but the traffic just wasn’t there like it normally is. So, he begrudgingly decided to forgo his Saturday pickin’ and keep selling stuff for another day. FINALLY, I figured that would show him that Saturdays were definitely the way to go when you want to do some serious selling!! Signs in place all over the neighborhood, postings on Craigslist and Facebook (just to let all our friends who said they always wanted to come but couldn’t because they were working…) Up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning, we dragged everything back out into the driveway and waited for the hoards of shoppers.

And waited. Typically, when you post an 8 am start for a yard sale, the serious shoppers start showing up around 6:45-7am (which is what Coach would have been doing if he wasn’t sitting in our driveway awaiting the rush of pickers). And waited. By 8:15, when only ONE person had stopped, I began to notice that not only was there no yard sale traffic, there was actually no street traffic! We live on kind of a busy street, where usually only Sunday mornings are quiet. And waited. Where was everybody?!? Ah…the Saturday of the week of the 4th of July would be a great time to take a family vacation, am I right? Which means that the folks who are normally browsing through junk on a Saturday morning were actually sitting on a beach on the Cape or Maine, enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather and having their first BBQ of the summer.

Woops, didn’t count on that. Well, the good news is that we still managed to sell quite a bit of stuff, and I managed to get in about three hours of gardening to clear the path to the barn that was almost jungle-like. The bad news is that Coach went out on Sunday and found some sales and came home with more stuff. Just can’t win. So, if you’re in the market for a cute kid’s Red Sox table and chairs,

or a vintage robin’s-egg-blue-chalk-painted cabinet with a tin paneled door (painted by me, of course : )

let me know-they’re still available. And, if you’re one of the lucky ones to be sitting on a beach somewhere sipping a margarita, have a great vacation week! And no worries, we will be back in August with yet another yard sale-but most likely on a Friday… Have a sunny Monday, everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Auctions, Fleas & Fabulous Finds, My Little Red House, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: barn sale, Eclectically Vintage, how to have a yard sale, junk dealers, pickers, selling at barn sale, yard sales

Jun 26, 2014

Thrifty Kitchen Transformation-DIY Series-Painting & Glazing

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

As you recall, part one of this series was the cleaning and priming of the cabinets: doors, drawers and boxes. Since the wood was so dark. each required 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint. The paint we chose was a Benjamin Moore Eggshell in a custom color called Design Studio White-very soft and creamy white, but not ecru.

Since the appliances are bright white, the cabinet color needed to be just the right shade of white. Since we wanted the cabinets to appear somewhat aged and glazed, a pure white would have been too stark. However, choosing a beige or a white that was too creamy would have highlighted the difference between the cabinets and the appliances. Here are the painted doors all lined up and ready for glazing! I chose the eggshell finish because I knew I would be finishing the doors with some sore of glazing or waxing, and the matte finish is more porous which may have resulted in too much glaze being absorbed into the paint

The same decision went into the glazing process. Initially my mom wanted to just keep the cabinets white, but I convinced her that glazing them would highlight the door detail that was completely hidden when they were dark oak with the white panel.

Glazing them with a faintly tinted glaze highlights the edges and moldings and creates a nice antique look without darkening the cabinets too much.In this case, I used Martha Stewart Antique Effect Glaze.

I found these in a mark-down bin at Michaels awhile ago and they were so cheap I grabbed a bunch of them! I figured this was the perfect glaze for the cabinets, because it allows you to tint the color and then use as little or as much as you like to create the perfect glaze. I poured all of the little bottles, plus my colors into one large mason jar, ensuring I had enough for the entire kitchen.

For the tint color, we decided on a very light combination of the wall paint, which is a Benjamin Moore Whitestone and some Rustoelum Java Brown Cabinet Glaze I had left over from another project. 1 teaspoon of each went into the quart jar of glaze. You know that old adage, “measure twice, cut once’? Well, that applies to mixing colors as well! I had to know the exact formula, in the event that something catastrophic happened to my jar of mixed glaze so that I could replicate it if need be. (Sooo, remember the time when I was testing out my new paint in the hall and I got distracted and dropped the whole can? No? You can read about that here: The Hall of Shame-Color-Splash!)

So the formula for this jar of glaze is: 1 quart of glaze + 1 teaspoon of Rustoleum Java Brown

+ 1 teaspoon Benjamin Moore Whitestone

Since all three are water-based, they mixed together easily with just a paint stirrer. Yum-looks like mocha swirl!!

Applying the glaze is simple. You simply paint the glaze onto the entire piece, using a foam brush. If you are planning on doing both sides of the cabinet doors, you have to allow each side to dry and cure (approx. 24 hours, depending on the humidity) so they don’t stick to the work surface once you flip them over.

let it sit for a moment, then begin wiping it away with a damp rag. Gloves, people!

The more you leave, the darker the piece. Conversely, the more you remove, the lighter the piece. Once I went over it with the rag, I allowed it to sit for a couple of minutes, allowing the glaze to settle into the corners. Then I wiped away any excess I didn’t want. The final look: a soft white with just a hint of darker glaze in the corners and moldings.

Next up: the finishing wax! We are getting there! Have a great (hopefully not too wet) Thursday, everyone!! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class, The Barn Workshop-DIY Series · Tagged: #BobVilaNation, Benjamin Moore Paint, can I mix glaze and paint, how to mix glaze and paint, how to mix glaze for kitchen cabinets, Martha Stewart Antique Glaze Effects, Rustoleum Kitchen Cabinet Glaze

Jun 5, 2014

Mason Jar 3-Berry Cobblers

By countrydesignhome · 6 Comments

So, you would think that after that whole Cupcake Tower of Terror disaster that I would be staying away from baking for weddings, right? Well, that is the case where cakes are concerned-no more falling frosting fiascos! But, for the same wedding, I created some yummy individual three berry cobblers in little personalized mason jars as favors for the guests to enjoy. Those did NOT fail, or fall for that matter!

The recipe was a tried-and-true favorite from a co-worker (thanks, Krista!) that was adapted for the mini jelly jars, and two batches was enough for 6 dozen jars. Here is the how-I-did-it:

1. Prepare the jars. These are 1/2 pint, wide-mouth Kerr glass jelly jars I purchased from a local Ace Hardware store, ordering them online and picking them up at the store. Despite the fact that they were factory sealed in plastic, I still ran them through the dishwasher to ensure cleanliness.

2. Prepare the crumb topping/crust. This recipe is enough for one 13 x 9 pan of cobbler, or 3 dozen mini jars. So double it for the 6 dozen:

TOPPING/CRUST

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

2 Cups Rolled Oats (I used instant and it didn’t seem to matter at all)

1 1/2 Cups Packed Brown Sugar

1 Tsp Gground Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 1/2 Cups Cold Butter

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl, then cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

3. Prepare the berry filling, literally just mixing the berries and sugar in a large bowl and set aside.

FRESH FRUIT FILLING

1 1/2 Cups Fresh Blueberries

1 1/2 Cups Fresh Blackberries

1 1/2 Cups Raspberries

4 TBLSP Granulated Sugar

I used fresh blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, but you can use any berry combination you would enjoy. This recipe was enough for three dozen jars, so I doubled it to make the 6 dozen. One thing I noted: the large whole raw berries (like the raspberries) take up more space, but once cooked, they collapsed and left extra room in the jar so it didn’t appear as full. Next time (and for these there will be a next time : ) I will slightly chop the larger berries so more fits into each jar prior to baking.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place as many jars that will fit onto a cookie sheet and spray the insides with non-stick cooking spray.

Take 1 TBLSP of the crumble mixture and lightly press down into the bottom of each jar. I used this wooden thing that was in my pastry drawer. Don’t know where it came from, don’t know what it is, but it worked perfectly! Continue until all of the jars have the base crust.

5. Fill each just with the berry mixture, until it is about 1/4 inch from the top. Leave room for the crumble topping!

6. Add 1 TBLSP crumble topping to each jar, pat lightly to secure. You can adjust the crumb topping/crust ratio as you like, but remember to adjust the recipe as well!

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned.

8. Remove from oven and cool. You can serve these warm from the oven with a bit of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, or save them for later. I kept them lightly wrapped, but did not seal the tops on until it was time to assemble them as favors. Which I did with the help of my dear friend-thanks Alice!

9. The personalized labels were purchased on Etsy from Snappy’s Boutique. The owner was great to work with and the labels were beautifully printed on vinyl round stickers, one for the top of each jar.

10. The bamboo wooden spoons I stamped with cute little sayings like “berry happy” and “sweet love”. Of course, you could paint them or decorate them or simply leave them blank.

11. The spoons were attached to the jars with purple raffia ribbon-the wedding color- (and a little scotch tape to keep them from sliding off!)

and then we added a second bow for pretty : ) This was the best tool-a fork stuck in a ribbon reel taped to the counter-to tie the tiny bows with the chiffon-like material. Ah, necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Shark Tank, here we come!

12. I picked up the unfinished crate at Joanns (with a coupon, of course : ).

In order to make it appear somewhat rustic, I “stained” it with paint thinned with water,

then added another coat of blueish-purplish-white paint that I dry-brushed to give it a more rustic look.

13. The little chalkboard was also from Joanns, that I backed with some fringed burlap, then added the chalk graphic.

I used my easy chalkboard transfer method for the Three Berry Cobbler sign. Click the link for the DIY.

14. To safely stack the jars in the crate,

I added separators made from burlap-covered cardboard panels.

Done! Now who doesn’t love a rustic crate filled with pretty jars of yummy three-berry cobbler that is easily and safely transportable?!? Well, this girl does : )