DIY Towel Rack

Hey Y'all.......Charlie here.  It"s been awhile since I've had the chance to give you guys some step by step instructions on our latest DIY project.  As most of you have seen, we have been really busy lately.  We spent a couple days working in the bathroom while the Spring weather has been nasty. If you haven't had a chance to see our Bathroom Remodel (on a budget) take a second to check it out.  I'm just going out on a limb here but I'm pretty sure Emily is extremely happy, as am I, with how it turned out.  After we finished the wall we went shopping trying to find a hand towel holder that would fit with the theme of our bathroom.  We looked everywhere......but only found the same old boring circle holder.  This is when I get voted by Emily to figure out a way to make our own.  So seeing how I got the computer for a little bit today, I will walk you through how to build your own custom towel rack like the one we installed.

First off, I used my favorite building material Barnwood.  If you happen to have some old barnwood laying around, Great!!! If not no big deal.  After building ours, I decided to go to our local lumber yard to see what they had for materials (to help the not so fortunate ones with no barnwood).  If you are wanting that barnwood look, get yourself:

1) 2x6 Cedar Board       Measurements for sides    2x6x4
1) 1x6 Ceder Board       Measurements for top      1x6x20
1) 3/4 Wood Dowel       Measurements for rack    11 inches
1) Kreg Mini Tool Kit 

The cedar wood looks awesome when stained and will hold up well in the wet/humid area of your bathroom.    Purchasing the Kreg Tool will help you attach the rack to the wall with ease, but is not a must have.  When your all said and done your materials will cost you less then $20.  Not to bad when an average ring rack costs the same.  Okay enough rambling, lets get to building.....

To start, we need to get our two sides for the rack,  Do this by cutting your 2x6 at 4 inches two times.  Next, find the center of your board and using a 3/4 paddle drill bit, drill a hole 1/2 deep.  Do this on both boards.  Also, cut your wooden dowel to 11 inches.

***I measured a hand towel as if it would be folded on the towel rack.  It measured 6 inches wide.  If your towels are larger or you are wanting to make this as a bath towel rack, measure accordingly.  I figured the dowel to measure 10 inches to allow for room on both sides of the towel.  Cutting the dowel at 11 inches allows for 1/2 inch of the dowel to go into each hole you drilled in your sides.*******

Now we can attach our 2 sides and dowel to the wall.  This is where the Kreg tool comes into play.  If you have been keeping up with our blog you have seen me use this tool before.  If not, check out our DIY Photo Frame .  If you do not own a Kreg tool you can get away with pre-drilling your sides and toe-nailing a screw through the top.  Now, attach one of your sides.

Place your dowel into the hole in the side attached to the wall and then slide into your remaining side.  Now with the use of a level, attach your other side. (But wait I'm not using a level..... If you have a plank wall like ours you can use the plank behind to make both sides level) I used my Kreg tool to drill out both the top and bottom of my sides.

We decided that we liked the look of an overhang for our shelf.  With the hand towel rack being 10 inches, we determined that 20 inches worked the best for us.  I used a smaller width board for our top to give it some dimension.  This is where your 1x6 board is used.  I then centered the board with equal space on each side and with the use of a air-nailer and 1 1/2 brad nails I secured the shelf board.   

So what do ya think?  Pretty simple and it adds a bunch more to your bathroom then those old boring towel rings.  Plus, you get a shelf to display your family photos or even a cool vintage fan (that I surprised Emily with).  Make sure you guys stay tuned, I'm going to have a lot of DIY tips & tutorials coming up! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up:

Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Home Stories A to Z

Finally Friday {Take 4}

Happy Friday!  What have you guys been up to this week?  It seems like this week has flown by for us!  We  finished up our bathroom renovation, had a couple of meetings, a jewelry party, Girl's Night, doctor appointments and now it's Finally Friday and we have NO PLANS! Woo Hoo!!!  You know how that goes though.  We are having a yard sale in a few weeks so we're planning to spend all weekend Spring {<--- I wish. More like 'It's March and freezing cold and snowing') Cleaning the house and pricing!  I plan on relaxing a little bit in there somewhere! 

Here's our Friday Five's for y'all:

Emily

1)  The highlight of my entire week was spending all day Sunday at my Nana's house learning to use my new sewing machine.  We made this adorable little dress for Paisley.  I call that a successful lesson!

2)  We have a festival every September in our little town called the Apple Festival.  My Dad leads a large team of people, almost all year round to organize, plan and put on this huge event.  He convinced me to join the team this year and I attended my first meeting on Tuesday.  It's exciting to be a part of this amazing group of people and I can't wait until September!  

3)  As I was typing my number 2 ^.... Charlie was loading the dishwasher and decided to remove Paisley's high chair cover and throw it in the washer.  Let's just say I won't be showing you a picture of the stock pile our little squirrel had hiding under there.  Yikes.  Ewwww.  Please tell me this happens at your house, too???? PLEASE!

4)  I was able to close a large sale at work this week and it's such a great feeling when you work so hard, and spend so much time on something, and it works out for your in the end.  It makes it all worth it.

5)  Seriously, someone tell me how to turn up the SPRING around here!  I follow a few bloggers on my Instagram and one of them posted a picture wearing a tank top!  I'm still scraping my car windows every morning and this girls sportin' a cute tank!!! UUUGGGHHHH!  

Charlie

1) I've been trying to set a goal for myself to accomplish everyday around the house.  Now when I say goal, I use the term lightly....sometimes they are very small tasks like force myself to load the dishwasher.  So far, this has been working out awesome.  Tonight, I cleaned the wash machine.....Crazy?!?!? (that's what I was thinking too) try it, you'll be very surprised. 1 Cup of white vinegar soaked in hot cycle for about an hour. 

2) Sometimes I think Doctors like to see their patients squirm in pain.  I told you where it hurts, you don't have to poke it with your finger and bend it the opposite way of what it normally would go before it was hurt.   

3) Have you seen the show "Flea Market Flip" on HGTV?  Pretty cool show, where they give two different groups money to purchase items at a flea market, refurbish them, and re-sell them.  Whoever makes the most wins.  All I got to say is sign us up!!!!

4)  I'm pretty sure Emily is jealous of all you other bloggers who are at Blissdom right now...I'm just jealous that it's in Texas and it's warm there.  I've never been to Texas but it's definitely on the bucket list.

5)  I'm glad the bathroom is complete!!!!!! It felt like we flash backed to when we were building the house while trying to live in it at the same time.  Remodels always seem like they take longer than expected and give you that feeling of "what have we done!?"  But in the end it is all worth it.





So, we've been showing you these awesome recipes the past few weeks in our Finally Friday series.  Are you ready to see this week's???

Yep, that's right.  We had pizza from our favorite local pizza joint.  Then this pic ^ is from the following day before we heated it up for leftovers.  We're far from over-achievers folks.  People are busy these days.  That's why they have Pizza Pick-Up.  Sometimes there's not enough time for awesome Pinterest-Blog-Worthy Recipe's.  Right!?!?

We did, however, post our Bathroom Remodel {on a budget} and got to guest post over at Love of Family and Home.  If you haven't checked them out, make sure you do!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  We'll be back next week to show you our first of the DIY bathroom projects!

Have a great weekend!

Guest post and a little Blissdom jealousy

Hey y'all! Happy Thursday!  Hope you had a chance to check out our major bathroom renovation yesterday!  If not, make sure you take a look!

So, we're sitting here in freezing ol' Southern Illinois and the majority of blog world is in Dallas hanging out at Blissdom for the weekend!  Can you say "JEALOUS"!!!!!  I'll be staying closely connected to my Twitter and Instagram feeds for photo's and updates!

Despite my jealousy, my friend Tonya over at Love of Family & Home asked me to guest post for her on her blog while she was gone!  This definitely brightened my mood!  I've followed Tonya's blog since day one and am always so inspired by her amazing work!  So obviously being ask to take over her blog for a day was a huge honor! Thank you so much Tonya!  Hope you're having a blast in Dallas!  

Here's the project we shared on Love of Family & Home:

There's a complete tutorial on her blog so make sure you head on over and check it out!

Check back in tomorrow for our Finally Friday Post!

Linking Up:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Bathroom Remodel {on a budget}

Hey, Hey, Hey y'all!  I'm so excited to be writing this post right now!  We've been telling you about this huge bathroom remodel for days now and the time has finally come!  You know how you can work and work and work on a space, but always feel like there's something else that needs to be done, or one last touch it needs?  

Time for a confession ------->>>>  I feel like this a lot!

It's hard for me to step back and agree that a project is complete!  But, Charlie and I decided that the time was NOW for this bathroom renovation! We've worked so hard on this project and I'm sure I'll make some changes here and there, but hey, that's just how it goes in this house.  Anyone with me!?!?

Let's start out with some before pics, shall we?

We've used the same bathroom decor since first moving in together.  That was 7 years ago.  And 3 houses ago.  Yikes.  Maybe that's why my sign was broken?

The goal was to give our ONE AND ONLY bathroom a huge face lift, using a small amount of money.  This means a whole heck of a lot of DIY, y'all!  

It was time for a change....a BIG change.

Are you ready!?!?

The AFTER...

A multi-colored plank wall took this bathroom to all new levels!

This is the first of many DIY projects going on in here.  We made this rustic ladder towel storage.

The picture of Miss Paisley is one of the ones I told you about in THIS POST.  These little photo's are what brought on this whole makeover!

Charlie also handcrafted this towel holder/shelf.

We used our favorite DIY material {barn wood} and whipped up this one-of-a-kind vanity light.

And, used one of our flea market window frames to give our vanity mirror a new look!

You wouldn't believe what our tooth brush holder was before!

Go ahead and scroll back up and take a look at what this vanity looked like before!  Charlie worked his magic on these doors!

This was already here.  But I still love it.  More use of windows and old barnwood.  {Big surprise, right?}

Our new towel holder.  Plus, a new built in shelf unit in the corner.

Ok, I think I've showed you every angle possible!  What did you think???

BIG change, right??

I love so many aspects of this makeover.  Mostly because almost every thing in it, we made ourselves.  And, that just makes it a little bit more special. :)  That's why I love DIY. A lot.

There are about 10 projects here for us to show you.  That means, you better stay tuned!  We'll be walking you through each project over the next few weeks and telling you how we did each one one on a low budget!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you enjoyed our bathroom makeover.  And, I really hope you stop by again so we can show you each project!  Have a great day friends!

Linking up:

Coastal Charm
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
A Stroll Through Life
DIY Showoff
Skip to my Lou
Home Stories A to Z
Love of Family & Home
Crafty Scrappy Happy
Mom 4 Real

Finally Friday {Take 3}

Happy Friday y'all!  How's your week been?  It's supposed to be around 70 degrees today and that alone is enough to make me jump for joy!  I'm beyond tired of this gloomy, cold weather!  Bring on the sunshine!!!  I'm sure in about 4 months we'll all be complaining about the heat, but oh well!

So, welcome to the third edition of FINALLY FRIDAY!

  

Emily

1)  Charlie brought it to my attention this week that our sweet baby girl will be ONE in 6 short weeks!  Where in the world did the past year go!?!?  No one told me time would fly this fast! (ok, technically I guess they did.  People say that all the time. I thought it was just a saying?? - apparently not!)

2)  Ever since I saw this post on my friend Tonya's blog, I just had to find myself a little vintage fan for our bathroom makeover.  We were lucky enough to find one last weekend at a St. Louis antique mall!  It was even the perfect color!  (pictures to come soon in the big reveal post!)

3)  I bought a new camera bag from my friend Chelsi, my favorite 31 rep. :)  It holds all of my lenses and accessories safely and it is just so darn cute!  Follow me on Instagram to see the picture!    (bonfiresandwine)

4)  The time change is so hard to adjust to, but it's great for a blogger that works full time!  Coming home at 5:00 in the pitch black does not make for pretty pictures :(  Coming home at 5:00 when the sun is still shining is wonderful!  

5)  Did I mention I'm ready for spring!?!? Because, I am!!!

Charlie

1)  I have joined the majority of the world with my love of coffee......well I guess its not exactly coffee its cappuccino, but I almost feel like I'm not ready for the day to start without a cup first thing in the morning.

2) Some people should not be allowed to be on Facebook. (that is all)

3) My wisdom teeth are deciding to come in...Ouch!!! Now I know why Paisley gets fussy when her teeth start to come in.

4)  I love it when an idea for a project comes together like you imagined it would.....I know Emily keeps hinting about the bathroom reveal but trust me, its pretty awesome.

5) Knock Knock......Who's there??? Aida......Aida who?  Aida sandwich for lunch today..........Haha, anyways..... have a good weekend and if you are looking for some good tunes to check out, try Mumford and Sons - I Will Wait and Kenny Chesney - Pirate Flag.  

Did you see our weekly recipe picture on our FACEBOOK page the other day?  Using our Pinterest Menu Planning method, we made this Buffalo Chicken & Potatoes recipe and it was pretty darn good!  It's straight from the Pillsbury website.  

Even though it says "buffalo" in the name, it's not overly spicy at all!  

You can find the recipe right here!  Let us know if you try it out! 

That's it for us today, guys!  Hope you have a great weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Using Pinterest to Meal Plan

Happy Wednesday friends!  We finally had a sunshine filled day yesterday!  Can't wait for spring!  While we wait for that to slowly arrive, let's talk about food! OK?

Raise your hand if you use PINTEREST.  If you have a board dedicated to food and recipes.  If you constantly find yourself searching through your food board for that one recipe you're looking for.  I'm raising three hands over here...how bout you????

We're going to show you how we use Pinterest to Meal Plan.

I wanted to attempt (keyword - attempt) to meal plan at our house.  This attempt is intended to help streamline our grocery shopping, our budget, and the cooking process in general.  As you've seen here and here, I'm not alone in the kitchen!  Charlie loves to cook and create and I kinda love that about him.  So sometimes we cook together, sometimes I cook, and sometimes he cooks.  Using this method, we are able to plan ahead by always having the ingredients needed for each recipe and narrow down the process of deciding what to fix no matter who is doing the cooking!  

Let me just start by admitting that I strongly considered making one of those adorable DIY Menu Planning Boards to display oh-so-cutely in the kitchen.

But let's get real here people.  I'm not even going to pretend like I have the patience and organizational skills to actually follow through with this plan.  Mine would end up saying "potato soup - Monday" every single Monday because it would never get changed.  Which means DIY project - FAIL!!!

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!

(hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!)

Anyways...

So, I have this board on Pinterest.  It's called "FOOD FOR THE SOUL".

It's 336 pins strong and growing by the minute...

Which means looking for that one recipe takes about 336 minutes!!!!

Here's where the Pinterest Meal Planning comes into play.  Have you heard of a little thing called "secret boards"?  If you haven't you're really missing out.  It was a great day in Pinterest History when this little addition was announced.  I have several.  But, they're secret. So we'll leave it at that.  

Except for this one...let's talk about this one...

I created this secret board called "It's what's for dinner..." and I invited Charlie to pin to it also.  Every Friday or Saturday I go through my "Food for the Soul" board and browse the popular recipes to pick out some recipe's I want to try the following week.  Then, I repin them onto my Secret Board.  Then, I open each recipe and make my shopping list for any items I know I don't have at home already.  I typically find myself at the grocery store once a week anyways, so this isn't an "extra trip" for me.  You could easily turn this into a bi-weekly or monthly planning method if that works better for you.  But, as I mentioned earlier, I am not the most organized and patient person so working with a shorter time frame works best for me!!!

So here's what my Pinterest Meal Planning - Secret Board looked like this past week!

Recognize anything!?!?  We made the Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice and the Italian Beef and shared it with you guys!  

So, each day, whoever was cooking, would visit our secret board and pick a recipe (or two) for that night's dinner.  Then, you don't have the paper recipe's laying around everywhere and junking up your counter tops and the recipes are always available to both myself and Charlie.

At the end of the week, when I start the process over, I delete the recipe's from the secret board.

YIKES!!

What?

DELETE????

Don't worry! Remember, you RE-PINNED them from your other food board.  There still safely stored there for repeat usage!  Then, your weekly Pinterest Meal Planning Board won't be chucked full of recipes for you to search through every day!  Voila!  Meal Planning via Pinterest.  It's that easy folks.  Even I can do it!  Seriously, what isn't Pinterest good for!?!?  Remind me again, what we did before Pinterest? 

There, you have it!  The B&W Pinterest Meal Planning Method!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have an amazing rest of the week and don't forget to check back on Friday for FINALLY FRIDAY {Take 3}!!!



Linking up:

Semi-Homomade Mom
Someday Crafts
Lil Luna
Savy Southern Style
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Thrifty Home
Crafty Scrappy Happy
The Shabby Nest
Love Of Family & Home

Free Easter Printables

Hey y'all!  How was your weekend?  Is it me or do they go way too fast!?!?  It seems like we post our FINALLY FRIDAY post, we blink and it's Sunday night already!

 

We're getting really, really close to a big reveal.  I'll give you a hint.  It's our bathroom.  When I say reveal, I mean REVEAL!  We did a major overhaul on our one and only bathroom.  I just want to say that it's all our photographer's fault.  That's right.  Nichole, I hope you're reading this.... :) 

 

 She took these WAY TOO CUTE pictures of Miss Paisley at her 9 month photo shoot.  I came home and decided that they had to go in the bathroom.  The new bathroom.   {this is when I informed Charlie that he would be renovating it} He reluctantly agreed.  As soon as we're done...I'll show you every aspect. I promise. 

 

Onto today's post!  It's almost time for Easter!  And, since we're working on the bathroom and it's taken up all of our free time, we don't have a new project to show you just yet.  However, I wanted to remind you about our Year of Printables Christmas Gift post.  Remember it?  Take a look for a little refresher.

 

Since it's almost Easter, we're re-posting the links for the Easter printables that we provided in that post.  They're just too darn cute to forget about!  And nothing beats FREE! Am I right or am I right!?!?

 

Click on the picture to take you to your free download! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you guys can put these to use with your Easter decor!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!


Linking up:

Love of Family & Home

Finally Friday {Take 2}

Hey guys!  It's FINALLY FRIDAY!!!  And that means it's time for the second round of our new series!  Did you see last week's?

Ready?  Let's go..

Emily

1)  Paisley is 10 1/2 months old now and I swear she's doing new, cute, adorable things everyday.  This past week she started dancing.  She sits there and bounces and shakes her head up and down.  She really likes Eric Church.  That's ok with me :)

2)  I'm looking for some paint sample card projects.  I recently inherited an outdated collection from our local hardware store and I can't wait to see what we can throw together.  If you've got any ideas for me, please let me know!!!

3)  Last night while trying to quickly fix a small sign I grabbed some super glue and thought I could make it work and not have to spend more than a minute on the repair.  I. WAS. WRONG.  I might have gotten more super glue on my hands than on the sign.  I am not happy about it.  I do not like super glue.  Not at all. 

4)  A few weekends ago, my friend Chelsi and I got together to do some crafting.  One project turned out fine.  The other project DID NOT.  They looked like Kid's Bible School Projects gone wrong.  Way wrong.  I would have taken some pictures if we hadn't spent all our time laughing and tearing it apart.  Not all projects are blog-worthy friends :)

5)  I think Charlie spends all of his alone time with Paisley teaching her how to only say "mama" when she's crying.  She says "dada" all day long.  Like, all day long.  Only time that sweet little girl says "mama" is at bedtime when she wants me to get her out of her crib.  Charlie thinks it funny...

Charlie

 

1)  Last weekend we went to St. Louis and I got to spend some quality time with my two girls.  We decided to get Paisley's ears pierced.  Some how Emily got out of holding her so Dad got to be the bad man.  She handled it like a champ and didn't even shed a real tear.

 

2)  I'm ready for some warmer weather so there will be more auctions and yard sales to go to.

 

3)  I hate it when things don't seem to work like they are supposed to.  I had a couple projects this week that seemed to fight me the whole way through.

 

4)  I love Milk.....I drink about a gallon a day. Is that a bad thing? If it is I don't really care cause its too damn good.

 

5)  I can't wait til we decide to build a bigger house.  I'm going to dedicate a room (it can even be the biggest room) to Emily and her crafts.  The amount of stuff needed to make the awesome stuff she does is endless.  I like to think we own our own store just like hobby lobby.

 

(Emily - Side Note:  Everyone read that up there right????  ^^^^^^  When we build the next house, I get a craft room which is the largest room in the whole entire house.  I'm beyond excited that this has been documented...)

 

 

 

Did you see our Facebook post last night!?!? That awesome looking Italian Beef!?  Seriously, best ever. 

 

 

 

This recipe is so amazing and I can't take an ounce of credit for it!  I found it on Pinterest and decided we'd throw it in the crock pot yesterday morning.  I love Italian Beef anyways, but this recipe took that to an all new level.  When I got home the house smelled amazing, it fell to pieces when I started shredding it, and the flavor was amazing!  We used a London Broil roast (recommendation by my mama) and Charlie used our regular seasoning salts plus added about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  The recipe is from Kristi at I Should Be Mopping the Floor.  You can find the recipe HERE!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Make sure you stay tuned for a big room makeover COMING SOON!

 

Have an awesome weekend friends!

 

 

 

 

Pet Food Container Makeover

Hey there friends!  Hope y'all had a great weekend!  Charlie, Paisley and I took a trip to St. Louis and did a little shopping!  We went to Garden Ridge, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory, Home Goods, Target, the mall, and Gordman's!  We are finishing up a big makeover {blog post coming soon} at the house, and we were looking for some finishing touches.  We didn't find everything we were looking for but we did score some great deals and it was nice to get away for a day just the three of us! 

Today we're talking about our little four legged friends.  If you didn't know this already, we're kind of animal freaks.  I'm a total push over when it comes to furry little adorable creatures.  And, Charlie's not far behind me.  I've been known to bring home a few strays...or twelve.  Just kidding...{maybe}.

Anyways, we have this little guy named Hank.  Based on convenience, his container of food has always sat right next to his food bowls.  Right there.  Smack dab in the middle of the kitchen floor.  It's quite cute don't ya think???

  

Ugghhhhhh, not so much!  You'd think we were sponsored by Deli-Cat or something by the way we so proudly have it displayed!  Not for long, my friends!  The convenience was still a necessity.  And, we hate buying the bagged cat food.  It's so nice to have it sealed and secure.  (Hank likes to help himself to bagged food)  So, the container really couldn't go either.  That means it was time for a makeover.  I knew this plastic container could handle a little face lift.

We started with a nice coat of spray paint.

We made sure to use a spray paint that worked on plastic.

Then, I grabbed one of my favorite craft items....JUTE!  A little hot glue and a roll of jute and I was on my way...

Then, I used my Cricut Machine to make a little banner.

After attaching my banner with some ribbon, my container was still lacking something.  So Hank's new container got a little girly and I added a cute little felt flower.  As long as his food bowl stays full, I don't think he'll mind!

So before we see the final project, let's take a look at the before shall we?

 And after...

One last look at the before and after!

 There's our pet food container makeover!  I'm much happier with how it looks now!  What do you think!?!?

Hope y'all have a great day!  Thank you so much for stopping by and don't forget to come back on Friday for our "Finally Friday {Take 2}!!!!!

Linking Up:

The Better Mom
Hope Studios
Not Just A Housewife
Lil Luna
Love of Family & Home
The Shabby Nest