Stop The Abuse....Of Your Hardwood Floors

I know, I know....Hardwood floors. Boooorinnnngggg.
Not a subject that we talk about frequently, but one that needs attention from time to time just like an orchid. 

But if you don't fall into the category of having hardwood floors, getting hardwood floors in your future or are a guru of home cleaning tips, you must know someone who has hardwoods and would benefit from this information. And if hardwoods still don't excite you,(for shame) perhaps my Spring Inspiration Board on Pinterest would here.

Back to exciting floors.  For the record I am not a flooring professional nor did I take flooring 101 in college, or am I being endorsed for my thoughts, but being the rightful owner and installer ( well actually my better half did the installation) of a house full in lots of sq feet of hardwood, I think I am qualified to share an opinion or two. 

I love my hardwood floors. I actually have 5 inch  #2 oak planks, which means they are in the second run when being processed through the mill. I wanted the #2 wood. I wanted them to have the knots, the holes and all the imperfections, but over the years they have lost a bit of their luster and shine.

With pink big wheels and roller skates buzzing around on these floors,  I will from time to time freshen them up with a product called reviver. I wanted to share  a quick demonstration of how it works so you can stop abusing your hardwoods too!

First clean your floors with whatever method you use. I generally vacuum and then use my Shark Steamer/Vacuum to clean the floors. 
BTW- another great product if you are in the market for a floor steamer. It omits just enough steam to NOT leave a wet residue on your floor surface.

After your floors are dry and you are ready to use your reviver product, you will also need a soft lambs wool floor applicator.  I picked the reviver product and brush up at Home Depot in the flooring section. I attached the applicator to a broom handle that I already had. 

You can follow the very small you may need a magnifier instructions on the back of the bottle or simply spread the product in a "S" shape on the floor and mop into your wood. It is important to use smooth even coats in the same direction when applying to your floors.

After my first coat dried I applied a second coat using the same process. Here's a pic of the finished floor with two coats of reviver.

At some point I will have to think about re-sanding and re-staining but for now, I am totally satisfied and love the renewed luster and shine 

 and this little girl buzzing around on her Pink Big Wheel.

Grateful for~

A wonderful mini vaca with the kids and my husband in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Lots of love, lots of fun and lots of memories.

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Between Naps on The Porch
Twelve O Eight
Savvy Southern Style
French County Cottage

Weekly Wow's

Happy Saturday. I must start off with a secret... I have never paid attention to NASCAR racing until this week. How exciting for a female to take 1st in the pole position. And it's not like I knew what "pole position" was either...had to Google it. What I do know is my eyes will be on the race for the first time this year. Yours too?
My wow's this week range from a delicious treat, to the birds and I am most certain that you will gain some inspiration for your next project.

Okay.... Can I get a YUM!!!  Back for Seconds  shares an amazing recipe for a Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. My two favorites combined into one sinful dessert.

Design Dining and Diapers gets us in the mood for Easter with this cute pallet bunny art. I know ... but it's right around the corner.

Kristin from Simply Klassic Home wows us with her DIY headboard.

and Home is Where the Boat is does an awesome job with re purposing a chandelier into a bird feeder. 

So, whatever you choose to do today I hope it's something you love or with the people you love. Have a great weekend!

PS- I would love it if you followed me on Pinterest here for all my latest pins of inspiration.

or

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When My Paint Brush Takes Me To A New Level

Ever since my latest paint project here  my confidence with my paint brush is soaring to try new things, to be bold, to be daring, to go places I have never been before.

So I took a chance with my built in shelves in my breakfast area and painted them to "lighten" up the space. This was a fairly daunting project for me, because unlike a piece of furniture that you paint and don't like the way it turns out, I couldn't just put a blanket over it and stick it in storage. 

This was a 'no turning back now' event and I was making my move during the course of several long days, sweaty palms, contingency planning and the occasional raised eyebrow from my husband . 

And what a move it turned out to be. It turned out better then I expected and created just the look that I had envisioned for this space.

A move I have no regrets making, and would make again if presented with the same situation.

and to hopefully have the same outcome.

Hmmm....... I wonder what's next?
Click here for the full room reveal.

Are you a risk taker with painting movable furniture or with permanent pieces?

PS- Just for the record. This was the largest piece of "fixed" furniture that I have ever painted and I am sure it will not be the last!
PPS- for this project I used ASCP in Old White ( 2 coats)  and clear wax.

Grateful for~

A good life 

Lunch with Girlfriends

Sharing with:
StoneGable
Savvy Southern Style
Homestories AtoZ
French Country Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed

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Weekly Wow's

Happy Weekend Friends! You made it through another week.
This week as I am preparing for my son's birthday party I am reflecting quite a bit. 
Before  my children were born I couldn't fully grasp the comments that people made related to children growing up so fast. Comments like "don't blink, they'll grow so fast" and "they will be out of the house before you know it", I thought to myself how fast could they grow- we don't!  But now it is all making way too much sense and the reality of  my first born turning 7 this week  just doesn't seem right. I wonder, did I blink to much ?  And as much as I want him to grow up to be a loving, caring man, I also want him to be the little man that just loves on his mama and is not to embarrassed to say "I love you Mom" when he get's out of the car everyday at school or holds my hand walking through Target.
 I think I will slow down the blinking.... just a bit.
Speaking of love, it's all over the place  and I just adore these cute creations that are screaming I LOVE YOU!

Confessions of a plate addict  shares her Pottery Barn Inspired Love Pillow tutorial. I just LOVE her projects.

LilikoiJoy  doesn't have to twist my arm to try her white truffle cupcakes. You may also want to stop by to look at some of her other mouth watering treats.

For all you coffee and hot tea drinkers, how about this sweet little cup sleeve from Setting for Four.

Valentine Pancakes anyone? How awesome to express your love with breakfast this weekend. The Lily Pad shares how simple it is to create this and other cute sentiments.

I hope you have a great weekend and whether your working on a project you love or spending time with the people you love, I hope it's a good one!

Grateful for~
The same BFF for 32 years. 
This is us in 2007.

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Weekly Wow's

Happy Saturday, good for you making it through another week. My wow's this week are a bit random just like the weather as been. You may have seen here that I am not the biggest fan of Winter and the jacket- no jacket thing has to change.  Spring like one day, sleet the next. I actually got some poison ivy on my hands and arms while doing some outdoor yard work last weekend. Don't know about you but I thought when a plant is dormant, it's dormant. 
But....not poison ivy, just ask my arms.

Here's a few wow's to get you inspired.

Dimples and Tangles completely transforms her china cabinet into a Green goddess and you will want to see how she created some of the knobs. Amazing!

City Farmhouse shares a "simple" pleated slipcover for her ottoman.

Simplicity in the South  shares a tutorial on how to make this lovely driftwood heart. This is so pretty.

Our Prairie Home Blog shares her daughters "grown up" room and how she created it on a budget. It's a  beautiful transformation.

In case you missed it this week, you can click here for a chance to win a $1000 visa gift card and get a dance lesson while you are there. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. 
See you next week, hopefully I am not still itching!

Grateful for~

The chance to meet up with 2 wonderful friends today, Kim from Savvy Southern Style and Shirley from Housepitality Designs and we are heading to Rhoda's from Southern Hospitality today.

 Should be a great day.

Cottage Kitchen Renovation on Dog House Lane

Part of the dream my husband and I had when we purchased our property in the country, was building a guest cottage for extended stays for our family and friends.  The Cottage sits on 'Dog House Lane'  and got it's name just in case hubby gets out of hand, I wanted him to have a comfortable place to sleep! honey if you are reading this, just kidding!

While our house was being built we actually spent 10 glorious months in the cottage and when we moved into the house the cottage was used by parents, family and friends. Some visits ended up being a tad bit longer then the intended 'long weekend', so we needed to make adjustments to the weekend concept and turn it into a functional everyday kitchen.

This is the renovated space. The space that I lived in for 10 months was red, had a small counter surface, a dorm sized refrigerator and playhouse sized stove. Which if you recall, I am not much of a cook so it completely met my needs, but those "long weekenders" began to complain, so the renovations began.

The first thing we did after painting the entire cottage and painting the floor here, was to gut the original kitchen space and redesign the space into an L- Shaped formation. 

Since this is an open concept cottage with knee walls, this allowed me to maximize my counter space and to fit a full size oven. For a pantry, we use an over sized armoire that we picked up several years ago at Garden Ridge Pottery. To blend with the colors in the kitchen, I color washed to lighten it up.

The unpainted cabinets were stocked cabinets from Home Depot. They got primed and painted in a semi gloss color called Wasabi by Behr.

 We used bead board for a backsplash over the sink and for the  wall where the oven is. It was painted in a semi gloss color called White Wheat by Duron, which is the same color as the rest of the trim in the cottage. 
The wall color is called Dried Plantain by Behr.

 Because we were limited on wall space, the full size refrigerator sits next to the "pantry", which makes putting the grocery's away real easy. Refrig or Pantry?

It took a couple of months for us to complete the renovation, excluding the time it took to refinish the floors. We just love the new space and so do the "long weekenders".

I am also happy to report, that hubby has not had to sleep on Dog House Lane since I named it!

To see more of our Guest Cottage click here.

Grateful for~

Family and friends that come to visit and being able to provide them a kitchen that THEY can cook in.

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Sharing at: Jennifer Rizzo It's Overflowing French Country Cottage Between naps on the Porch Cozy Little House Stonegable Savvy Southern Style

A Risk Worth Taking

The house was calm and quiet. Kids and husband were outside. 

If I was going to make my move, this was the time. 

                                    This was the moment.

My heart was racing, sweat was dripping from my brow and my hands were shaking....terribly

With my favorite paint brush by my side and a class of crystal light fruit punch to calm my nerves, I stared directly at it.      

What should I do?

What will my husband say? 

What will my friends think?

I was about to make a decision to do something that I had never done before.

I didn't have this problem with the thrift store find (here), or my dumpster rescue (here), or even my painted floors (here). But this was different. This was committing myself to the success or failure of the outcome and living with it everyday and never hearing the end of it from your husband if it didn't turn out.

It only took one look to know that I had not made a mistake. That the risk was worth taken. That a piece of furniture that I paid a really good sum of money for, had been transformed. That hubby would be proud and that my friends would say good job, but still chuckle that I had painted that piece.

I would only have to remind them though, of what the piece use to look like, before they realized that it was the right thing to do.

 And then they may just stop laughing.

What risks have you taken lately?

Grateful for~

Risking Taking

Sharing at: Savvy Southern Style Jennifer Rizzo  Between Naps on The Porch Uncommon Slice of Suburbia Craftberry Bush

Miss Mustard Seed

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