Maybe it's the impending season change that we are [hopefully] about to have around here, but for whatever reason, I have been really feeling the fabric changes lately. Kinda like a new spring wardrobe. First it was the reupholstery tutorial from last week (which, by the way, you might want to take a gander at if you haven't already. It will give you some good ammo to go into this post with), and now it's this valance. Let me tell you about how much I love a good valence: It's a lot. I love a good valence a lot. And I am going to tell you exactly how to make one ALL. BY. YOURSELF. As I said, last week's post about #reupholstery really lays some ground work for this little diddy. This just goes a couple of steps further. Our kitchen has a giant picture window right over the sink that looks out into the back yard. It brings in a ton of light, and really is beautiful. When we moved in, it had blinds on it, but it didn't take long for me to take those blinds right off. Now it isn't every day that people move into a house and remove the window treatments. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite. But I just couldn't bring myself to cover up this big, beautiful window. So the blinds came down. But then I was left with quite a large window that looked a little naked. So what do I do about it? Well, I'll tell you exactly what I did about it. In true Miss Lizzy fashion, I decided to build a valence... on the morning of my sons's first birthday party (because I wanted it done for the party, duh). Hi, my name is Liz, and I suffer from severe DIY impulsivity. This was another one of those moments when my husband likely wanted to pull his hair out. This time, I was lucky, and happened to have all the necessary ingredients on hand at my house, so there was little prep involved. But, it ended up being a great little #DIY project, and I lived to tell the tale, so all's well that ends well, am I right? The Project Quick and easy valence. I realize that I say that things are "quick and easy" A LOT, but that's because they honest-to-goodness are! There's no way I could do as many projects as I do if I didn't purposefully choose the ones that are quick and easy. This particular window situation made the project super easy because of the way that the walls flanked the window. Literally, all I needed was one piece of wood. The Details Supplies: Long piece of wood (in this case I used a 2x10) Fabric Fabric batting Staple Gun 4 L brackets As I mentioned, I happened to have all the supplies I needed on hand at my house. We sometimes have some extra wood pieces in our garage, and this was exactly one of those times. I measured the 2x10 and cut it to length with our miter saw. I left about a half inch to work with for the fabric. What I mean by that is that I cut the piece of wood to be one half inch shorter than the actual length I needed, so that there was ample room for the batting and fabric. If you don't happen to have wood on hand, it's pretty reasonable, and a big store like Home Depot or Menard's will cut your piece to the desired length if you don't have access to an electric saw. After your wood is cut, you are going to want to attach the batting. The easiest way to do this is to lay the batting down on the ground (I worked on the floor because the wood was so long), lay the wood on top of it, wrap the batting around, and staple away. Depending on how thick you want your finished product to be, feel free to do more than one layer. I only did one layer, and it gave the completed valence a nice soft look with rounded corners. Just what I was looking for. Once your batting is attached, do the same thing with the fabric. I also happened to have enough fabric on hand, and the reason for this likely won't surprise you given my history of impulsivity... remember this little gem? Guys, I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or proud to tell you this, but the fabric that I actually used to cover this valence was an old shower curtain. Yes, a shower curtain. No shame in my DIY game. Here's the deal: I loved this shower curtain that we had at our old place. I loved it so much that I was even a little bummed that our new shower had a glass door, so I couldn't use it at the new house. I loved it so much that I kept it, even though I wasn't using it anymore. And I just have to say that I am so glad that I did, because when the day came that I wanted to impulsively make a valence, I had JUST the fabric to cover it with! To cover the fabric, you will want to use the same strategy as the batting, but there are way more detailed directions in my post from last week. The most important part here is to do a lot of double checking on that the fabric is centered the way you want it on the finished side. Once you have stapled your little heart out, your valence is pretty much finished! All that's left is to hang it. In our case, we (and by "we" I mean my brother and my husband who got swindled into hanging it for me) used 4 L brackets, and screwed directly into the wall, as you can see from the picture. It was super easy to watch them do it too. Only kidding, but it really isn't that difficult. They attached the brackets to the valence with wood screws first, and then attached to the wall. It did take two people to make sure it was level. The entire project took me a couple of hours. So if you've got a window that you aren't sure what to do with, or a shower curtain that's just sitting around waiting to be used, give a #DIYvalence a whirl! It's a great way to bring pattern to a room, and gives any window a finished look without a hefty price tag! I was pretty happy with the finished product. I actually think I like the shower curtain more as a valence than a shower curtain. Actually, kind of makes me want to put valences all over my house... Kidding, dear husband of mine. Kidding.

It's a bit ironic, really. Myself and "change" don't usually get along. Generally, when it comes to life events, I would prefer to run as fast as I can away from big changes. Big move? New job? New family situation? You can pretty much expect me to clam up and FREAK OUT... on the inside at least, and it's usually brief, but can still be unsettling. However, this is not the case when it comes to furniture! I loooove changing furniture up, and one of the easiest ways to do this is by simple #reupholstery. Now, I realize how intimidating and scary that sounds. Most people don't just go around reupholstering things. As you may know by now, I am not most people. I can be a bit impulsive (oh, hey, foyer chandelier). One way to feed this impulsivity is by giving small pieces of furniture a little face lift. Key words here are small pieces of furniture. I do NOT, repeat, do not recommend you go and attempt to reupholster a sofa or arm chair. I mean, do it if you really feel the need. I myself, (as non-Miss Lizzy as it sounds) would gladly leave that to the professionals. But if you want to spice up a small piece, or update it as your taste changes, this is a great option. If you have a piece of furniture that has some sort of fabric covered seat on it (chair, stool, bench), it can likely be reupholstered. Sometimes things just need a little makeover... a little outfit change, if you will. If I didn't believe that wholeheartedly, I would have a lot less clothes in my closet. The Project Quick reupholstery. And I swear it is incredibly easy. In fact, this is one of the easiest DIY tutorials that I will ever give. Take this stool for example. I got this stool from HomeGoods on clearance for about 8 bucks. When purchased, I didn't love the cushion, so I took it home with the full intention of changing it up. As I tend to do, I felt the need to Miss Lizzy that little stool. In fact, the cover that you see there is actually the product of the original recovering job that I did. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my little time lapse of me actually creating this stool earlier this week. If you didn't catch it, I really encourage you to go check it out, because the video shows just how simple this is. As in this case, you don't even need to remove the previous fabric unless you really want to. It really is a great project for DIY newbies. The entire process took me a good 20 minutes. The Details Supplies: Any piece of furniture with a fabric covered seat Staple gun Fabric of your choice Screw driver or Allen wrench (depending on furniture piece) Yes, you sure did read that correctly. That is literally all you need. First and foremost, you are going to want to remove the seat in question. This is usually a pretty easy process, and generally involves simply unscrewing a couple of screws or Allen bolts. Once you have those removed, you have your palette... your blank canvas, if you will. Next, you are going to want to lay the fabric of choice upside down and place the seat on top (also upside down). I recommend leaving about 6 inches of fabric around the outside of the seat to ensure that you have enough fabric. The next steps involve pulling and stapling... pulling and stapling... and some more pulling and stapling. The one and only vital piece of advice that you should follow with this project involves the first couple of staples. It might seem natural to start at a corner and make your way around with the staple gun. However, if you do this, you will inevitably end up with fabric bunching. So, you are going to want to start in the middle. If your seat is a clock, and the clock is in front of you, start with a staple at 6 o'clock. Then, go directly across, pull that fabric as tight as you can, and staple at 12. Then 3, then 9. As long as you pull tightly in these areas to begin with, you should be able to then work your way around the piece and not have much fabric bunching. Another reason to start out this way is to ensure symmetry. For example, with the chair above (which you might remember from this guy), it was important to me that the stripes were centered, so using the clock trick ensured that I had the middle of the stripe lined up with the middle of the seat. If you are working on a piece with corners, save those for last. The best piece of advice that I can give for the corners is to pull TIGHT. And, don't be shy about the staples. The more staples you use, the tighter the fabric will be, and the prettier your product will be in the end. Speaking of pretty, don't be alarmed if the bottom of the finished product is, well, ugly. Most of mine end up that way. But, hey... do you know of a bottom that isn't ugly (Ba-dum-ching)? That's why it's on the bottom. No one needs to see that part unless they want to. After you get your piece all stapled down, go ahead and cut the excess fabric off. Finally, screw or reattach your seat to your piece of furniture. Boom. You just reupholstered a piece of furniture. And you can do it again and again and again if your little heart desires. Told you it was easy.

We all know the feeling: We discover a trend that seems like such a good idea at the time, and just have to do it. We may even love the results. But then the fateful day eventually comes when we want to go back. Or we have to go back. And we discover that actually getting back is a lot more difficult than we would have ever remembered. Take perming your hair, for example. So many of us went down this road back in the day in hopes of achieving those on trend, wild curls. If you were one of those brave hair pioneers, you know what I’m talking about, and you also know how hard it was to get your hair back. Enter Tone on Tone Wall Stripes. For our purposes, let's pretend #ToneonToneWallStripes are the perm hair trend. In the right setting, and in the right room, these textured wall stripes are a great idea. But when the time comes to get your wall back to the way it was originally, a LOT more work is required to fix it. If you follow me on Instagram, you may be familiar with the serene setting that I love to call my new office. I recently moved into this office that was previously my husband’s, and if you recall from this little gem, I wanted to make this office as light, bright, and girly as possible. Easy, right? Not so much. Before I got my grubby little Miss Lizzy hands on this room, it was a quite masculine room- one of the only rooms that we didn’t paint when we moved into our house a few years back. It was a dark, chocolate brown color that the rest of our house originally matched. Before even moving our stuff in, the rest of the house was changed to grey, but we decided to keep this office the way it was. It fit the bill of what my husband needed for his work space. But when my husband started working at home full-time and built himself a primo work space in the basement, I got to move in and make this room mine. First item on the list? Paint that room grey {all neutral everything is kind of my jam}. Now, you might be wondering why an entire DIY blog post Is dedicated to just painting a room. Seems a little unnecessary, right? I mean, painting is pretty transparent, is it not? Well… not in this case. Painting over Tone on Tone Stripes proved to be much more involved than I had hoped. This was made even more evident when we got a hefty quote to get it done professionally…. But why on earth would we pay an insane amount of money to have someone else do a project when I can do it myself (right, frugal hubby)? The Project Those trendy at a time Tone-on-Tone stripes. Again. I love these in certain settings… but I wanted a clean, light slate for my work space, so they had to go. After much research (there is a really great tutorial about this here as well), I quickly knew my fate. So, sand, sand, sand was in my future. If only it was the kind of sand that came with an ocean. The Details Supplies: Electric palm sander (an absolute must) Medium to Fine grit sand paper Plastic covering (lots and lots of plastic covering) Face mask (also an absolute must) Primer and Paint in one (I loved this one from Sherwin Williams) As I mentioned, this project seems pretty self-explanatory, but I am here to share some of the things I learned in hopes that your project will go a bit more smoothly. First things first- cover everything in the plastic covering. I mean everything. After you are done sanding, a powdery paint dust will be left behind. I knew this would happen, so I covered the furniture that had been strategically moved to the center of the room, but I didn’t cover the carpet. This didn’t end up being the end of the world, but it left me with A LOT of vacuuming to be done after. So, spring for the extra plastic covering and cover your floor too. Next, get your muscles and palm sander ready to sand away. I found that a medium (lower end of medium at that) grit sand paper worked the best. You might think that a rougher sand paper will help to achieve results quicker, but don’t go too rough on this. If you use too high a grit of sand paper, as it will tear the drywall. You are then stuck with mudding and more sanding. And nobody has time for that. So, exercise patience and try not to rush it. I personally found that working on each line in a vertical movement (as opposed to circular) was the most efficient. You will have to use a little elbow grease, but it will be worth it in the end to have a nice clean slate to work with. I found that using a thick paint like the Sherwin Williams Paint and Primer and one was helpful in providing full coverage as well. I was so pleased with the results and was more than happy to get rid of the last bit of chocolate brown in our house. And what I was left with was an office that now seems a lot larger, due to both the lighter paint color as well as the removal of the textured lines. So, if this project is something that you see in your future, know that you CAN achieve the results that you desire, albeit a bit of effort required. But sometimes, once you reach the end of the line and see all the work that you put in, it gives you even more satisfaction than you would have expected. Good luck, and as always- never hesitate to reach out with any questions!

The #barndoor trend: I don't know about you, but I am totally in to it. Actually, come to think of it, I might really be a farmhouse gal at heart. I secretly love that we have corn growing in our neighborhood and horse farms down the street from where we live, no matter how much I complain that it takes me 25 minutes to drive to Nordstrom. Thank goodness for online shopping. But I digress... back to the barn door trend. These farmhouse chic accents are popping up everywhere, and people are using them in all sorts of different places in their homes. I have seen them as bathroom doors, pantry doors, and even as a designer's alternative to window treatments. Ever since I first discovered this adorable little design feature, I have been wanting to "Miss Lizzy," a barn door somewhere. Anywhere. I was desperately searching for somewhere in my house that one might fit. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to work with... until I realized that my answer was a lot easier than trying to find somewhere in my house to fit a barn door. All I had to do was build a barn. So build a barn I did. Well, by I, I really mean that I recruited my husband to build a barn (SAINT, remember?) And as much as I would love to have a back yard barn (I mean, can you even imagine all the themed parties I could throw in that bad boy?!), we really don't have the space for that sort of thing. So, we did the next best thing. We built our kids a playhouse under the stairs and painted the outside like a barn. AND... yup, you guessed it- we put a barn door on the playhouse. The Project Said barn door. As you may know by now, I'm all about easy DIY projects that don't take ages to complete (oh, hey, picture plaques). And this project was no different. Surprisingly easy, if I do say so myself. But again, I didn't really do much. I believe that my husband's exact words were, "I can easily do that." Now, I will let you decide if he said it because he could, in fact, easily do that, or if he just didn't want me to go order a pre-made barn door. Something tells me it might be the latter but he swears that it wasn't that hard. The Details Supplies: 4x8 sheet of plywood (he used 1/2inch sheet) table saw (optimal but he just used a circular saw) Pine 1x4s- we used 7 or 8 and cut them down 1 inch drywall screws Wood Stain- we used the color ebony Satin polyurethane Barn Door Hardware Barn Door Track Kit 1. Cut Plywood: According to my husband, you start with the sheet of plywood and cut that to your desired size using a table saw. If you don't have a table saw, a big hardware store like Home Depot or Menard's will do this step for you before you leave the store. As I mentioned above, we used a 1/2 inch sheet, but the pro said he would go with 3/4 inch if he did it again (to prevent future warping). 2. Attach 1x4s: Once the plywood is cut to size, you then attach the pine 1x4s to the plywood with the drywall screws. This step is just for aesthetics, but it is the step that makes the barn door look like an actual barn door. He then measured and cut more 1x4s to make the borders. 3. Cut out Mini-door (optional): As an added bonus (and this detail was all his idea), he used his circular saw to cut out a smaller door for the kids to go through when the main door is latched shut. Super cute! 4. Stain/Poly: Throw on some stain (we did 2 coats) and poly. This step is kind of optional as well. If you like the more natural wood look, then go ahead and leave it bare! 5. Add Hardware: You then want to add your handle (this is the one we used for the big door). We opted for a small slide bolt for the closure of the mini door, and also put the mini door on cute little hinges. Once that is all put together, stained and poly-ed, let your door sit for a day or so to give the stain and poly some time to dry. 6. Door Track Kit: The last piece of the puzzle is the door track. Now, there are all sorts of fancy options for this. We opted for the cheapest option (hello, kids playhouse in an unfinished basement), but you can obviously choose something a little heavier or more detailed if you wish. We have never had any problems with ours though, and it does the job. These track kits should all come with detailed instructions on how to attach to the door and wall, and it was also a pretty easy task. And there you go- barn door in my house- check! Easy as milking a cow on a Sunday morning (I actually have no idea how easy this is but I'm going with the farm theme here). I love it. I love it so much that I am still trying to find somewhere else to put one - watch out, Guest Room, I'm coming for ya! So if you love the barn door trend like myself but don't want to spend the money on one, DIY is totally an option! In case you are anxious to see what's behind the door of the farmhouse playhouse, I will be doing a post on that one as well, so stay tuned!

Ahhh, February. The time of year when the winter blues really start to kick in for those that are turtleneck deep in the chilliest season of the year. The excitement of the new year has officially worn off, and there have been just enough warm days to really tease us, all the while making us wait at least another two or three months until temperatures are truly enjoyable. If you recall from a few posts back, I’m a born and raised Midwesterner, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But let’s be honest, part of the fun of living in the Midwest is getting to complain about how much we hate the winters around here. You know what they say, though- if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So join them we do, and as cold as our toes are during the bleak winter months, the beauty and sense of adventure that can be found in winter in the Midwest is really something special. Our family likes to take advantage of winter in the Northwoods of Wisconsin whenever we can. This past weekend being President’s weekend, we found ourselves lucky enough to be up there once again. We particularly enjoy skiing and snowmobiling while we are up north, and there’s something about being in a cabin in the north woods that gives you all the warm feelings you need. Not to mention that toddlers in snowmobile helmets might just be the funniest thing that anyone in the history of time has ever seen. Cabin life can also leave you with lots of free time, and one particular visit to the Northwoods left me with just that. Now if you have read any of the previous posts, you know my magnetic draw to DIY in times of boredom by now. This particular DIY is really more of a craft project that involves the showcasing of pictures. In this case, incredibly old and special photos particular to the cabin were the main characters. I very easily could have just bought some cool frames for said pictures and called it a day, but that wouldn’t be very Miss Lizzy of me, now would it? The Project Picture plaques, if you will. I decided to take a trip to the craft section of the local store near the cabin and found these awesome wood plaques. Super cabin-esque, no? I also found some Mod Podge, which, by the way, seriously brings me back to my youth. I feel like Mod Podge has really flown under the radar in recent years, but let’s not forget about this super sticky, super useful substance. It's great for all kinds of craft projects, and in this case- great for taking a picture ledge to the next level. That picture ledge, by the way? You guessed it. That’s DIY, but that one was all my husband. I asked him to make me a shelf, and he engineered that bad boy right up. What a guy. The Details Supplies: Pictures Wood plaque or canvas Mod Podge Acrylic paint of your choosing If you find yourself DIY challenged, and even if chalk paint seems a bit too much for you to take on, Mod Podge is seriously a great place to start. It’s basically just glue, people. It comes in different “finishes” though, so in this case, a matte finish worked great. After I painted the plaque and let it dry, I brushed a little Mod Podge on to the back of the pictures, and then added another 2-3 coats over the whole plaque (pictures included). It serves a couple of purposes- the first obviously being adhesive. It also makes it look like the pictures are kind of embedded in the wood itself. Boom. A picture display with a little oomph. There is also a really great tutorial about it here, so check that out too! But really, this is a DIY that’s literally a half hour project and can be enjoyed for way longer than that. So get crafty!

If you follow me on Instagram, you might be familiar with how head over heels in #love I am with my new office. For those of you who don’t know, my husband recently built himself a new office (oh you bet your booty there will be a blog post about that one), and I got to take over his old abode and make it my own. Before this office actually became mine, I would often day dream about what vibe I wanted it to give off, and I knew one thing for sure: there had to be pink. In honor of Valentine’s Day last week, and because, well… who doesn’t love love, I am gonna break down the creation of the Pink Focal Point in my workplace that was, quite obviously, DIY. Most of the projects that I do tend to be spur of the moment. Who am I kidding? Most things that I do in life are spur of the moment. In fact, I could probably be in the running for the most impulsive person in the history of ever. I’m thinking about painting a bathroom? Color will be picked and it will be painted by the end of the week. I want to paint a chandelier? Let’s go rent some scaffolding, shall we? I want a big, beautiful focal piece for my office (which, for the record, didn’t even exist until a year and a half later)? Let’s just see what we can do with an old oil painting on a lovely afternoon. It was the afternoon of our neighborhood rummage sale, to be exact. We live in a very large neighborhood, and every year there is a designated weekend for rummage sales for anyone that wants to participate. On the off chance that I actually get my act together on any given year, I usually stand to make a pretty penny on some of our stuff, so I like to participate when I can. Last year, it was the last day, and as shoppers were dwindling, I just kept staring at this giant oil painting that my mother and father in-law had given me to try to sell a couple years prior (to no avail). It was an OLD oil painting, and at first glance, I actually thought it might be worth something. Unfortunately, after much digging and googling, I had no such luck. So there I am, getting ready to pack up my folding tables and call it a day, and the ole’ gears start grinding. The Project I always loved the frame on the painting [a bit gold obsessed here], and so I went over to the workbench to see what I had to work with. The three cans of spray paint in the colors red, white and gold were calling out to me, so I put some gloves on [super out of character for me to prep like that, so kudos to me on that one], grabbed a couple of paint brushes and the old oil painting, headed over to the grass and removed the painting from the frame. What happened next is difficult to describe because, to be totally honest, I had no plan whatsoever. I didn’t know much besides the fact that red and white made pink, and pink looked good with gold. I went to town and started spraying that bad boy. After a few sprays, I would wipe with the paint brush, and I continued like that until… well, until I ran out of red and white spray paint. Spray, wipe... spray, wipe... spray, wipe. The color that I ended up with tickled me pink [oh I see what you did there]. It was really pretty with that gold frame. I did feel that it needed a little bit extra, so I gently sprayed a few light sprays of the gold and used a smaller paint brush to write the word “love” in the relatively thick product. Finally, just for the sake of cohesiveness, I sprayed the frame the same color as the gold accents that I had added. The Details Supplies: Old oil painting (because who doesn’t have one of those laying around) Canvas (for those of you who don’t have oil paintings lying around) Spray Paint Paint brush or two Honestly, get creative! There truly was not a method to my madness for this one, but I knew that if it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I could just start over! That’s the beauty of low budget, spur of the moment projects. You kind of can’t mess them up… and who doesn’t love that? I would like to add a little apology, directed at my wonderful in-laws, to the end of this post. It occurred to me as I was writing this that I don’t believe I ever actually informed them of what became of their oil painting. so… SURPRISE (insert blonde girl shrugging emoji here)…?! Thanks for both the contribution to my office, and some blog content as well.

It's ALL THE RAGE. The "in" thing... super on trend, and everyone is doing it. Ok, fine. Maybe not everyone. But if you are into DIY, or even if you aren't, you might be familiar with #chalkpaint. I loooove chalk paint. Let me tell you. I would marry it if I could. I love chalk paint that much. And I will tell you why. There are DIY-ers that have all the patience in the world to prep their workspace, and then sand the furniture, and then work super slowly and carefully so as to not make any mistakes. And then there's me. It's actually quite the wonder that I even enjoy DIY at all, because my patience when it comes to projects is pretty slim. Like slim-jim slim. You might recall my husband's love for said patience (or should I say, lack there of). I want most of my projects finished like, yesterday. Hence my fondness for chalk paint. Little to no prep? Check. Ability to jump right into a project and get to the nitty gritty of actually painting? Check. Sign. Me. Up. Now, I can't take all the credit for discovering chalk paint on my own. One of my best friends, Lyndsey, is kind of a chalk paint connoisseur. A closet chalk paint connoisseur, but a connoisseur nonetheless. Lyndsey, who happens to claim that she isn't crafty (LIE), introduced me to the world of chalk paint. Once she explained how easy it was to produce an amazing, gorgeous, refinished piece of furniture, I was on board immediately and started to get to work. And by immediately, I mean that it is very likely that I went home that day and found something to paint. Gotta scratch that itch, am I right? Now, I personally get the DIY itch quite often, so I have used chalk paint on MANY items in my home. I am going to focus on a couple of solid furniture pieces, but I recently used chalk paint to give a chandelier a little makeover. No, not that chandelier. A different one. And I was so pleased with how it turned out that I will dedicate a future post solely to said chandelier. But back to some of the chalk paint projects I've done. As far as furniture goes, there's a bunch of chalk painted pieces in our home, and I have yet to end up with a piece that I wasn't pleased with. For those of you that aren't familiar, I'll give you the little low-down. Basically, chalk paint is a pretty thick, chalky (go figure) paint that covers really well. When you refinish most furniture, sanding is ideal. With chalk paint, sanding is optional. Yep, I told you it was amazing. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAND THE FURNITURE BEFORE YOU PAINT IT. But wait- there is more to why this amazing little miracle in a jar makes me giddy like a little school girl. It dries incredibly quickly. As in, it dries in minutes quickly. "So what does that mean," you might ask. I'll tell you what that means. That means that you can do one coat, and by the time you are finished with coat numero uno, you can almost immediately start on coat number two. No waiting 24 hours, no washing brushes (or wrapping in plastic wrap) in between coats. That, right there, is right up my alley. The Project So what do you need to get started? Well, first, the chalk paint, obvi. There are a few different kinds of chalk paint, and people rave about Annie Sloan. I have actually never used Annie Sloan chalk paint, but I know it does a beautiful job. My friend Lyndsey (the closet chalk paint connoisseur) swears by it. I myself have only used Martha Stewart's Vintage Decor Paint. It is basically the same thing, but Mrs. Stewart just calls it by another name. The other necessity that you are going to want to have is a Finishing Paste/Wax. As I mentioned earlier, chalk paint lives up to its name and is very chalky when you apply. After you complete as many coats as your little DIY heart desires, you are going to want to a) sand briefly around edges in order to give a distressed/antique look OR b) skip the sanding and apply the finishing wax. Annie Sloan has her own line of finishing waxes, but I've always been happy with good ole Minwax. Applying the finishing wax is about as easy as just painting it on. Depending on how thick you want the paste, you may want to use a wax brush (yep, made specifically for this). I have always had luck with just using an old rag or a regular paint brush as well. Like I have mentioned before, I like to use what I have lying around. The Details Supplies: Project piece (furniture, lamp, picture frame...the list goes on and on) Chalk Paint Finishing Paste/wax Paint brushes Old rags/wax paint brush (optional) As I've mentioned, I've done a few projects with this stuff. My first project was an old dresser from my in-laws' cabin that I refinished to go along with my son's nautical themed nursery. Here, I used two different colors of chalk paint in order to give it a little more dimension. Slap some new knobs on that bad boy, and you've got a perfectly adorable dresser. Best part is that you are reusing a piece of furniture that might mean a lot to you and your family. In this case, this dresser has been around for years, and it was fun for the family to see its new facelift. You can see that there was a bit more sanding and antiquing involved in this piece, and that's where the finishing paste/wax really comes into play. If you use a dark wax, you can really change the color of the paint that you originally applied. I played around with this one a little bit, adding more wax as I wanted, but still, the whole project took me an afternoon. So the options really and truly are endless with this little gem of a painting strategy. You can make it really complex and refinish an entire dining set, or you could go as small as giving some candle sticks a new facade. Just add that to the list of reasons why I love that stuff. So if you want to scratch that DIY itch, or dip your toes into DIY in the first place, chalk paint is where it's at.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one am more than ecstatic that we made it through the coldest week in the history of time last week. In honor of that Siberian-esque, "your-eyelashes-freeze-when-you-walk-outside" couple of days that we in the Midwest all experienced, I thought I'd give a little shout out to the one who got me through those days... the one who kept me going when I just didn't know if I could make it one more day: my fireplace. Though we don't have a true, in the flesh, real wood burning fireplace, we do have a working #stone fireplace (gas with fake logs). But let's focus on working. Now I was born and raised in the Midwest, and I love it to my core. But I would be lying like the rug on my office floor if I didn't admit that there have been MANY (and I mean many) times that I have asked the question that I am sure many Midwesterners echo often as well: "Why in the name of Moses do I live in this godforsaken place?" But, I do in fact live here, and though sometimes (ok fine, most times between November and May) fantasize about living somewhere warm and tropical, I do love the seasons, and we are suckers for winter sports in our family. So, like a true Midwestern gal, I do whatever I can to get me through the winter. "Little" projects like this one here help, and so does snuggling up to a nice fire. For real though, the fire was totally necessary to keep our house warm. Let's just say that our furnace last week was about as slow and tired as I was in my first half marathon. Not pretty. The Project I LOVE our fireplace. Now. I love our fireplace now. But like many of the things in my house (oh hey, chandelier), I didn't always love it. In fact, the fireplace has been a bit of a work in progress since the day we moved in 4 years ago. The first night in our house, without much furniture except a couple of folding chairs, I painted the mantle of the fireplace with a skeptical (and probably a bit scared, due to all the future projects that he was likely picturing) husband looking on. You may remember my husband's love (and by love I don't actually mean love) of my little DIY adventures. But nevertheless, the task was completed, and a super small project of painting our oak mantle white to match the rest of the white trim in the house made me feel a little bit more at home that night. Now, I could really go off about why the mantle wasn't white to match the rest of the trim to begin with, but I'll try to keep my eye on the prize here. And so, there our fireplace sat, with a beautiful white mantle, untouched until three years later. Not bad, right? Not bad is right, and this fireplace did us well for a while longer, until I decided that it needed a change. Again. Since I didn't exactly know how to white wash a fireplace, I had to do a little research. So in no time, armed with my recipe from google for white wash (which is as simple as equal parts white latex paint and water), I decided to get to work. Most times, I like to try to just use what I have at home for these little ventures. So I went downstairs to the workroom and... jackpot. Leftover latex ceiling paint. Eh, good enough. "Not perfect, but it will do the trick" are words that cross my mind quite often in these situations. Probably a little too often. It did in fact do the trick, though, and the entire project was finished in a day. The Details Supplies: Fireplace that needs a little refresher White latex paint Grey latex paint Water Large bucket Paint brush Cheesecloth (old dish rags work too) I decided to go with a "baby steps" method, because I didn't know exactly how much white wash I would need. So I made small batches, used them up, filled up again, and so on. I started with a 4 cup water/4 cup paint ratio, and I chose to begin with separate batches of white and grey. I didn't want the stone to be one solid color. Instead, I wanted a little bit more dimension and depth, so I did 2 coats. One grey, one white. The application was super easy, and consisted of nothing more than wetting the brush and painting it on to the stone. Remember that the white wash mixture is not nearly as thick as latex paint, so be sure to have the old dish rags handy to blot any drips. That was honestly pretty much it- dip, paint, blot. Dip, paint, blot. The nice thing about a project like this is that perfection isn't the goal. I found that it actually looked better when I wasn't trying to perfectly paint every little spot. As a third but optional step, I used a damp cloth to "scuff up" parts of the stone so that some of the original color came out. This step is obviously based on personal preference, but to me, it seemed a bit more natural this way. Finally, I left the hearth grey to have it stand out a bit. That was pretty much it- easy peasy. .......................................................................... And there you have it. Finished fireplace in all it's glory. I like to think that it doesn't mind working so hard for us in the winter months, now that it really loves what it's wearing.

Ahhh, one of my favorites. One of the greats, as far as those "Lizisms" that I was referring to go. If you follow along with me on Instagram, you might remember this one too. This particular project really pushed the envelope, and my husband's patience. Have an old #chandelier that desperately needs a #chandeliermakeover ? So did I.... So. Did. I. The Project The chandelier, clearly. When we bought our house, I loved the bones of it. I saw beyond the 90's "charm," and knew that there were many improvements to be made, but was excited about most of them. Most of them. This chandelier was one of those projects that I wanted to tackle the first time that I walked through the house. Now don't get me wrong. The metallic Grecian look that it was originally sporting might be right up some people's alleys. It just wasn't up mine. And by "not up my alley," I mean that it was like down the street, hop on the on-ramp, and take the highway to the next town from my alley. So, I had to change it. Now I have mentioned my husband's "frugalness." Due to said frugality, buying a new chandelier was just not in the cards. So the other option? Paint that shiz. Now it took a few years of living in the house to actually figure out the logistics of getting the job done, but I finally decided to pull the trigger on one fine November afternoon. It just so happened that that afternoon was also the afternoon of my husband's birthday. The man's a saint, but we will get to that more in a bit. My husband works at home, so it's pretty easy for me to go run a couple quick errands during nap time while the two little ones are snoozing. As with most of my projects, I wasn't quite totally committed to the project starting that day. "I'll just head over to the hardware store and see how much it is to rent a scaffolding," I thought to myself. WELL... did you know that scaffolding is incredibly cheap to rent? As in like twenty-ish dollars to rent for a couple of levels, for a couple of days. Well, if you know me, you know I was sold almost immediately. And if you don't know me, well... you will soon come to know my incredible impulsivity and love of a good deal. So I rented it. Now I just had to get it home. My next move was the clear move, if you ask me. I had to get the thing home. So, armed with my half pint of flat black latex paint, I did what any level headed woman would do and rented a truck to get all that metal back home. Now, I would have to say that when you think about it, it's pretty amazing that I rented a scaffolding to paint the chandelier in our 2 story foyer all by myself. I, however, really feel that the most astounding part of the whole story is that I was able to get myself to the hardware store, rent a truck, get the scaffolding home, return the truck, get back home again, and unload all the scaffolding ALL BEFORE THE KIDS WOKE UP FROM NAP. I mean, if that feat doesn't deserve a few clapping hands emojis, I don't know what does. But I can't take all the applause. Remember how I mentioned that my husband is a saint? The reasons for this statement are endless, but in this particular situation, he blew it out of the park. Naturally, he heard the crashing and clanking that was caused by my sole self pulling the metal scaffolding out of the metal truck. Note: NOT quiet. He came outside to his birthday surprise, and like the trooper he is, grabbed the other side and started to hull metal. We quickly got it all inside and set up, and I was climbing up and painting in no time. The entire project took us a day and a half. All in all, it was actually pretty easy. Once I got over the minor shakiness in my legs, I threw on some tunes and painted away. A second set of eyes from below was super helpful, as there were lots of nooks and crannies that I missed at first. Also, The chandelier had to be on, so as you can imagine, I was quickly seeing stars. But two coats did the trick. The Details Supplies: Ugly chandelier Scaffolding 1/2 pint flat black latex paint Small (this is vital to getting all the nooks and crannies) paint brush Drop cloth Honestly, the whole thing is pretty self explanatory, and there really wasn't much to it. I chose to paint it by hand rather than spray it because I didn't want to deal with the black film all over my house that would come along with spray painting a fixture of that size. The one caveat: MAKE SURE YOU GET A TALL ENOUGH SCAFFOLDING. I rented enough to reach the top of the chandelier with no problem. However, reaching the ceiling medallion was another story. Standing on a step ladder... that was being held by my husband... who was also standing on top of a scaffolding was not one of the brighter decisions that we have ever made. Yes, you read that right. He climbed up on to the scaffolding that he didn't even know he was renting on his birthday. Saint. But I got that medallion painted. It was all worth it in the end, because we love our made-over chandelier. So you've got an ugly chandelier? Get out there and rent that scaffolding on your spouse's birthday. You've totally got this. BEFORE AND AFTER. So. Much. Better.

Well, here goes the neighborhood. If you are new to this blog, well... then you and I are in the same boat. So, let me start by introducing myself. I'm Liz. I'm a wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend. All the pretty standard titles around here, though I like to add "chronic DIY-er, creative thinker, and entrepreneur" to the list as well. My husband's choice of words would likely vary a bit. "Chronic modifier of perfectly good furniture and home decor," might be more like it for him, but tomayto, tomahto, am I right? "Miss Lizzy It" So yes, the man may have a point. I tend to have a habit of... customizing things. The way I see it, I might as well make something exactly what I want it. That coupled with my husband's frugalness [to put it politely] has resulted in many little at home projects. We've even kind of coined a term for it when I take a look at something, and the wheels start turning, and I get that look in my eye. That look that makes my husband shake his head and say, "Uh oh. You're gonna 'Miss Lizzy' that, aren't ya?" So that's exactly what this is. An outlet for me to record my #diy projects, and hopefully a space for others to find some inspiration, ideas, and maybe even have a chuckle here and there. So get all the inspiration, ideas and chuckles that you wish right here, and feel free to also follow along with the shenanigans here. Enjoy!