Craft Studio Ceiling Makeover

Kim,

I stumbled upon your post today of the (craft studio) ceiling makeover and loved your idea for the skylights. I have the exact same situation in my master bedroom right now as our skylights were leaking so we took them out and replaced roof over them and have plywood staring at us now. I would love to implement your idea, could you give specific instructions as to what was done? Did you buy windows that matched the measurements? And did you just paint directly over the plywood? I'd love to know the specifics on how you accomplished it.

Thanks so much,
A.

Good morning, A. It took me a good long while to figure out what in the world we were going to do about the plywood "holes" that were left in my craft room when we removed our old skylights. Yes, I just painted directly on the plywood, priming first. To get the faux sky effect, I used a base coat of "bridal" blue (a very light blue), and then on top of that, I painted on robin's egg blue mixed with a bit of glaze. Lastly, I stippled on the clouds using white paint mixed with glaze, blending it into the blue a bit. It took a few layers of the white glaze.

The next step were the "windows". We didn't buy actual windows, but we made them ourselves. There is no glass. We just lined the perimeter of each square hole with trim pieces (4 total, cut to fit). You can also add another layer of slightly narrower trim right on top of the first layer to create a bit of a recess and to beef up the frame a bit.

Next we added the grid. Only three pieces of trim created the grid - one long piece attached vertically and then two smaller pieces placed horizontally at the center.

We primed and painted all of the trim pieces before nailing them in place because I didn't want to risk getting a lot of white paint on the faux sky. After the trim pieces were nailed in place, we caulked the seams, puttied the holes, and carefully painted a final coat of white.

For us, there was already some moulding around the outside edge of the window (the old skylight) itself, so we just left it and didn't have to add anymore, but you certainly could if you don't already have it.

Here is where we began:



And the result:

Cabinet Moulding

Where did you get those amazing moldings on your cabinets?! I'm totally inspired!!!

~E.

E., all of the moulding /trim pieces on our cabinets came from either Lowes or Home Depot. It took a bit of trial and error to add them as we had never done carpentry work like this before, but I think it was well worth the effort - much cheaper than replacing the cabinets! I think that if anyone doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars to replace their cabinets but doesn't feel comfortable adding trimwork themselves, they would still save tons of money by hiring a carpenter to do the work. (I think at one point I was wishing we had just hired someone, hehe!)

We started out with plain oak cabinets like this:



We added beadboard to the sides of the cabinets and then various moulding / trim pieces to the top and bottom:



This is what the cabinets looked like after during the priming stage:



And finally painted red:

Brick Paver Backsplash

Hi,
You'll never believe this, but the reason I came across your site was because I was looking for these exact pavers that you purchased at Lowes. I have had my eye on those for a couple of years to use when we remodled our bathroom. They were exactly what I was looking for and the price was great. Much to my disappointment, I went back to Lowes on Friday and to a different Lowes today only to find out that they no longer carry them. Even asked the sales associate if they had the name of the vender, no record of them left. So, I came home to begin my search on the internet - even checking Lowes web site to see if there might be some remaining trace of origin. I gave up hope and started checking site after site after site, and Lowe and behold I found your site. Can you imagine my surprise? You are my very last shred of hope. Can you tell me the name of the company that makes those pavers, do you remember? If you do, could you please get back to me and let me know. I would really appreciate it. ~T.

T. - I wish I could help you here. After our brick paver backsplash project was completed, I took the unused bricks back to Lowes. I poked around my garage today to see if I could find one of the empty brick boxes, but I must have thrown those out long ago. I haven't been to my local Lowes in a while but the next time I'm there, I'll check and see if maybe they still carry this line of reproduction brick pavers here. If so, I'll let you know what company makes them. If anyone else has any info about these bricks, please feel free to let us know. When I bought mine back in 2007, they were about .53 each.

Kitchen Furniture and Inspiration

Hi there,

Just discovered your blog today and love, love, love your beautiful kitchen. Where did you get that fantastic island? Where did you find all your beautiful inspiration pictures for your kitchen. You have done an excellent job in creating the feeling that those pictures invoke. Thank you.

M.G

Thanks, M.G!

We bought our kitchen island, dining room table, and a few other furniture pieces at the Nashville Flea Market from Fuzzot Furniture. They make their furniture from old architectural and house parts from 80-140 years old. The tops of my island and dining table were once was flooring! Fuzzot is out of Alabama but travels monthly to various flea markets to sell their creations.

As far as the kitchen inspiration photos (below), if you click on any of the photos, you will either be taken to the source of the photo or a link to the photo will appear.

I find inspiration in general from just about anywhere and everywhere! I love the Cottage Living, Country Living, and Country Home magazines as well as visiting inspirational cottage style blogs. I particularly love the romantic and simple style of some Swedish bloggers such as this one (my favorite!).

~Kim