More wood grain stained concrete!

Weathered grey wide plank wood floor? Look again - it is STAINED CONCRETE! after the feather finish I used the same base color stain. Valspar semi transparent concrete stain, driftwood is the color. Then I measured out my planks and used a straight edge and oil based paint pen to draw the lines. They are 10 inches wide and 10 feet long. I offset every other one by 10 inches. Then I used the same paint pen to draw circles at the ends of the planks for nail heads. I used a much darker color grey of the same stain and mixed it with clear mixing glaze and added in a little bit of minwax wood stain in ebony to darken it up and a little bit of concrete stain in vaquero to make it a bit warmer. I brushed it on one plank at a time and I used a graining tool to pull the mix and give it a grain effect.

Lesson learned the hard way: write down your mix proportions when you get it how you want it the first time because as much as you believe that you will remember - you may not remember..... then it's trial and error to get it the right consistency and shade again.

Retiring the Recessed Florescent Light

It's been a while since I posted anything - maybe because I haven't been finishing many projects now that I don't have a deadline anymore post housewarming/birthday party..... I have been bouncing around from project to project not really getting very far on anything. This is the last project we completed about a month ago. I love it so much! It is really hard to take a picture of a light fixture where you can see it for the 4 super intense light bulbs when you have to have the light on to see it in the first place! Anyhow, here it is. 

finished kitchen recessed light

Here is the back story on this light.  The ceiling already had the recessed 4 ft by 4 ft light box (I guess you call it) with 2 florescent lights inside. Whoever put it in did a good job. The sheet rock was completely finished and textured with that oh so lovely glitter popcorn throughout. When we started talking about what to do with it the guys (David and Shipp) asked me if we were just going to cover it with sheet rock and go on with our lives. This is what it looked like before:

First of all I knew there was no way I could make the new drywall match the rest of the ceiling and even though we are going to remove the popcorn texture at some point we are not ready to do it now (because we would have to do the kitchen, dinning and living room at the same time - there is no threshold between these rooms) and I could not live with the ceiling not all matching. I also had a feeling I could find something cool to do here. I did some Pinterest searching and found this awesome trimmed out-tin tile-can light thing. I thought it would add some really cool detail to just a regular light fixture without adding a crazy light fixture. 

David did all of the work on this besides the painting. Bless his heart, he worked in the attic cutting through studs and beams for the can lights and wiring them in for a little over a day! Then the trim...... It was a doozy to say the least. The vertical walls of the recessed area were not square to the horizontal parts. He had to shim the base layer of trim so the corners would work without a case of caulk. We ended up using 1 inch thick pine lining the vertical side walls with 5 inch base first, then crown molding on the inside corners, then a decorative outside corner piece.  I got the tiles from Wayfair for super cheap. They are faux copper finish which will go really well with the chandelier that I found for above the sink - one day when it gets put in...... David did a great job and I just love it so much!  

A bathroom for the Princesses

     I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to post the final results of the girl's bathroom. We actually just got back from vacation at the lake - much needed after the house warming party and 2 1/5 months of non stop remodeling. Here it is! The vanity is the dresser I started on when I first bought the house and I just couldn't wait to get to work on it.  It belonged to my parents and my dad's mother before that. The sit down vanity in the 'vanity knook' is from my bedroom at mine and Jonas's old house. 
     I used Valspar oil based porch and floor paint on the floor and a stencil with oil based high gloss bright white, then DuraSheen gloss floor sealer.  I absolutely love the stencils from Royal Design Studio. Their stencils are so durable and beautiful.  The oil based floor paint soaked into the concrete beautifully. This is the first time I had used it on concrete and I couldn't be happier with the results.
     I trimmed out the tub enclosure with some narrow window trim and attached it using pre-drilled holes and tub and tile caulk.  **My first solo trim job! Took me a little longer than I anticipated, but I got it! The outside wall of the enclosure where the trim is attached is practically impossible to nail through and since the tub has a curved shape I had to use more than just adhesive caulk.
       The shelves are original - I thought the polyurethane wood gave the room a more rustic look.