I received a lot of questions about my antique dresser turned bathroom vanity, specifically the finish I used to protect the top from water. I stripped the existing finish, because I knew that wouldn’t stand up the way it needed to.  (You can check out my video tutorials on stripping furniture HERE and HERE.)  Once the finish was entirely removed and cleaned.  I applied four coats of Waterlox Original Finish.  This is the same finish I used for my butcher block kitchen counter and I am in love with it.  It has performed so well!  I had some leftover, so I used it for this project. I only finished the top, since the sides and front aren’t exposed to as much water. The downsides of this finish are – it’s about an 11 day process (four coats, 24 hours dry time between each coat and 7 day cure time) the

You know how it is…  Traveling, craziness, busy, not enough sleep, over stimulated, all of that stuff.  Yeah, I’m feeling it.  I just finished Haven and, instead of flying home, I flew into Richmond to help my mom with some family stuff.  So, I’m in for a couple of days of hard work before I can finally go home and crash…and then turn around and go to the Becoming Conference!  Whew!  Given all of that and the late hour at which I am writing this post, I decided to just share a few more pictures from my master bath.  That’s something I can handle when my eyes are heavy and my brain is the consistency of oatmeal.  Of course, I’ll share all of the details of the room and some of my new favorite photo tricks and all about Haven, but we’ll do that another day. Until then, here’s a

Well, I was up until 1:00 in the morning, but it’s finished!  Well, most of it.  If it didn’t need to be in the photo shoot, it didn’t get done.  My motto over the past couple of weeks has been, “I’ll do it in the fall.”  It’s just been a crazy summer, but we’re getting through it.  My freelance articles have been turned in and tomorrow morning I’m off to Haven. So, I have lots of great pictures of our new master bathroom to share, but I’m going to put together a big reveal post with the resources, before & after pictures, etc.  Tonight, I’m just going to share a preview.     I also tried out some new photography tricks and I am thrilled with the results.  I’ll share everything soon… The winner of the National Builder Supply Giveaway is…  Rebecca O. And the winner of Barb Blair’s (autographed)

Last weekend, it was the victory of installing a toilet.  This weekend, it was a faucet.  I am so stinking proud of my husband, who has just picked up plumbing skills along the way as projects required it.  It involved two mid-project trips to the hardware store and he had to rebuild the entire P trap to make everything fit, but he got it done.  The water runs, the drain pipe doesn’t leak and it looks beautiful. The faucet we picked (and by we I mean I picked it and he said okay) was the Moen Weymouth Bathroom Faucet from National Builder Supply.  This was the faucet I had my eye on for a while and I loved the one I got from Moen for my kitchen, so it was perfect timing when National Builder Supply got in touch with me.  They carried the very faucet I wanted at 45% off the

 Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to get my house cleaned and back together post Lucketts.  While cleaning is sometimes a total pain for me and I am a part of the laundry-loathing club, most of the time cleaning is therapeutic in a strange way and gets my creative juices flowing.  I put on some good music, pick up the clutter, vacuum the fur balls (created by my wool rugs) and that almost always leads to rearranging something.  Or several things. When I added the child’s hutch to my desk a couple of weeks ago, that meant rearranging the pictures and plates above. That meant removing one of my favorite family photos and leaning it against a wall until I found a new home for it.  (The little girl with the big bow is my great-grandmother and my mom still has the rocking chair they are sitting in.)