DIY Barnwood Shelves

Remember when Monica and I used to be obsessed with all things barnwood?  Well, we're going way back in the archives for this post because we never shared how Monica made these DIY Barnwood Shelves last summer! 

Monica and I sort of had a love affair with barn wood, and maybe that's because we have an endless supply (my father-in-law has a barn)! We've put it to good use in our homes. You probably remember some of these projects? 

#1 Barnwood Artwork #2 Wooden Memo Board   #3 Barn Meets Beach Coffee Table  #4 Striped Shore Frame This project could not be any easier, but the affect is so charming and so beach-cottagey. All you need are brackets (ours are from Lowes), screws and a piece of barn wood! 

Monica originally made this shelf for our very first Nate Berkus show challenge, and they've held up amazingly well! Just cut your board to size using a chop saw, make marks on the wall where you want the brackets to go (after leveling, of course!), and screw them into the wall and then into the board.

See? I told you it was a piece of cake! But wait! You don't have barnwood laying around your garage? We've got you covered! We figured out how to recreate that beautiful aged barn wood look with paint, glaze and a sanding block. We shared this technique once before, but it's so awesome that we thought we should share it again! Here's what you'll need to do:   We used a very dry brush to paint Benjamin Moore's Beach Glass on the wood. The key here is not to cover up all of the wood, just brush it on randomly. We are not aiming for perfect coverage here! Then, we wiped on Valspar's Translucent Color Glaze in Mocha, focusing on the cracks, bumps and holes in the wood. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it away. Sand down any thick paint spots and then brush on one coat of a water-based polyurethane. We recommend water-based because it seals the wood and because it doesn't alter the color of the wood. Just to prove it to you, take a look at our fake barn wood next to the real thing:  
Pretty close, wouldn't you say? We wanted it to look a bit more solid colored, but if you want a more rustic look, you can sand it down even more to reveal the wood beneath. So, now you have no excuse not to bring some barn wood- real or not!-into your homes! 

  Design fads come and go, but we're pretty sure that barnwood has something timeless about it, and you'll always find at least some of it in our homes.     Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips

Outdoor Furniture Upcycle

As you all know, my hubs and I have been DIYing a 600 square foot patio. It's been a huge job, but it's 99% done and we're loving it! (We've even put on an addition, but our lights were back ordered so I can't give the full reveal yet-boo!)  

600 square feet is a lot of space to fill and I wasn't about to go out and buy all new furniture for the space.  I've had this old record player hutch (if that's even such a thing) in my basement for about 7 years now- It was just waiting to be upcycled.

Kids Printable Olympic Medal Tracker

Today's the day! The 2012 Summer Olympics are here. The other day I told you about how I've been getting my kids all geared up for the games.  The thing they're most excited about is tracking medals! I made a printable for them and won some major Mom-Points! 

Olympic Crafts for Kids {2012 Olympic Games}

Are you ready for the 2012 Summer Olympics?  Are your kids into it at all?  Hopefully this Olympic craft idea will begin to get them in the spirit of the games!  Do you have time for a short story?  My 4th grade year of school was an Olympic year and my teacher did all kinds of crafts and activities to help us get into the spirit of the Olympics and it rocked! I was SO into the games, the medal counts, and learning about the countries.  So, thanks to Mrs. Hanson, here's our first Olympic Craft Idea! 

5 FREE Home Decor Projects {Free Stylin' Beth)

We have another treat for you today! Meet Beth, from Free Stylin'. She is a girl after our own hearts, since she LOVES decorating with style on a budget, and is pretty darn good at it, too. :) We had the priviledge of meeting her at Haven, and she is so sweet and bubbly! We're sure you'll love her-after reading her post today, and then head on over to her blog to check out the fun stuff she does in her neck of the woods!
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Hey East Coast Creative Fans!! My name is Beth, and I blog over at Free Stylin'. You can find all kinds of posts about "living a stylish life without the expensive pricetag!"

 

I've been big fans of Jess and Monica's since seeing them on The Nate Berkus Show. Those girls have some talent! It was such a blessing to meet them in person last month at Haven. (And yes, they are as sweet and friendly and beautiful in person!!)

Me, Jess, Monica, and our cute friend Jamie

 

How to Make a Pallet Crate {the space between}

Hey everyone! It's your lucky day. While I'm on family vacation this week, we've asked a few of our favorite people to guest post for us! One of the highlights of our trip to Haven was meeting Karah, from the space between. She's super cool, fun, easy to talk to, talented and oh yeah, lives in Curacao. Not fair. We loved hanging out with her while we ate breakfast at McDonalds (don't judge). Anyway, she does some amazing projects (just wait until you get the sneak peek of her rooftop bedroom!), so be sure to give her some
EC2 love!
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Well, hello East Coast Creative readers! How are you?

I'm Karah from the space between and I really can't even tell you how excited I am to be here today.

Ummm, let's not tell the husband I used a photo of our wedding day to try to express my excitement over guest posting for EC2 today. K? Thanks. ;)

I am a total blog stalker of these lovely gals, and when I got to

stalk
meet them in real life ... Holy Caloni, I couldn't help but take random paparazzi like pics.

Stenciled Outdoor Rug

 While Jess has been working on some indoor projects, I've been focused on our patio, and today's tutorial actually had me fist pumping quite a bit while I was doing it. Now, you're getting a sneak peak of the patio, but I'm not doing a real reveal until it's 100% finished (We're waiting on the lights we ordered and we've already started on a little addition!) So, don't focus on the patio, just the DIY project  okay? 

Tie Dye Pennant Banner & Sign

Ok, this is the last thing I'll write about Charlie's 2nd birthday party- I promise! :) We were super excited when we were asked to do a project using the new Tulip Tie Dye Kit. True story: when I first met Monica she wore a lot of tie dye t-shirts. For a Bucks County girl like me, that was really strange, but all that tie dye know-how came in pretty handy for this project!

The World's Best Kettle Corn Recipe

This recipe for kettle corn is hands down the best ever.  I'll be honest, I'm not a big salty & sweet person, I'm pretty much just sweet 24-7 (a bad sweet tooth is a curse!).  However, when my friends Missy and Jay introduced me to their infamous kettle corn, I couldn't be rude and not at least try it... well, let me tell you it was insanely good.  I'm pretty sure I downed a whole batch on my own the first time! I completely give the recipe credit to Jay, he's the kettle corn master, I'm just the one sharing it with the world! 

Digital Scrapbook Paper = Endless Possibilities

First off, if you haven't been using digital scapbook paper: why the heck not?!! You can create completely custom, totally cute and very affordable cards, banners, cupcake toppers, pennant banners, posters, or any sort of printable you want EASILY! I am clearly not the first person to ever post about this, but if I can convince just one of you to give this a try, then I will be a happy woman.

Last week, I showed you the birthday party invite I made using digital scrapbook paper for Charlie's 2nd birthday. You might remember that it looked like this;

Easy DIY Paper Table Runner

The other day I mentioned that my favorite decoration from Charlie's All-American boy party was this super easy paper table runner. It's almost laughable how easy this thing was to make, but I figured that some of you like a simple DIY as much as I do, right? In less than 15 minutes, you can make a completely custom table runner for any occasion- the possibilities are endless with this thing! Plus, a paper runner is perfect for something like a kid's birthday party or an outdoor BBQ because it adds some color to your table, but can be thrown out if it gets messy.

 

EC2 Snail Mail {UPrinting Postcards}

Jess and I have had some pretty cool opportunities in the past 14 months.  We've had a lot of people to say THANK YOU to, and we feel like snail mail is still an awesome way to give a real, heartfelt thanks. We had some old Real Housewives of Bucks County (sniff, sniff) postcards, but those are now part of my kids' scrap paper bin.  We were super excited when Uprinting asked us to try out some of their products.  We immediately knew we wanted to order some new UPrinting Postcards, EC2 style!

All-American Boy Birthday Party

You all know I'm cheap careful with our money, so it should come as no surprise that when I was considering what type of party I should have for my son (Bob the Builder? Veggie Tales?), I decided to go with an All-American Boy party because I could get all the July 4th stuff cheap the day after the holiday (Charlie-man's birthday is the 9th). Even though it was really affordable (yay!), I was really excited about all the cute stuff I got or made for the party. Monica helped me out with a few of the projects and then was there to help set up, so I want to send a big thank you out to her! :)

How To Turn an Old Cabinet into a Planter Box

There's nothing like a good, old-fashion upcycle, is there?  Remember when my hubs and I recently renovated our kitchen and in the process took down some of our cabinets to make room for open shelving? I know I could have sold them, but I love the thrill of coming up with a new use for something rather than having it sit around waiting for a purpose. Planters are soo expensive, and so the thought occurred to me that I could use one cabinet to make a planter box! A virtually free project makes me one happy girl.

Fab Find Friday {Random Pinterest Edition}

Happy Friday! Isn't this week completely WEIRD??  What's up with 4th of July on a Wednesday?!? Thursday morning my hubs came down stairs wearing a polo and jeans and I was like, "are we going on a date or something?"... he was like, "Hello... I work for a living and it's the middle of the week."  Boo! Anyhow, I'm glad that it's finally the real weekend (and we're excited to celebrate Jess' son's birthday on Saturday!).  

I was supposed to write a final Patio post before the big reveal, but all my pictures give too much away, so you're just going to have to wait until the grand reveal.  I'm not 100% sure when it will be because I want to show it with with table, outdoor rug, etc...  Stay Tuned! 
Instead, I'm going totally rando on ya (a gal pal of mine said "rando" the other day and I laughed at her and then said it about 15 minutes later. I'm a nerd like that)... Here are some fab finds and things I've recently Pinned ...

1- Some words of wisdom.

Source: thatonerule.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest

Simple Fireplace Upgrade {Annie Sloan Chalk Paint}

I am totally sold on Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Up until last week, I had read that people fall in love with this paint after trying it out, but we don't have stockist near us, and it never occurred to me to order some online. Then, our pal, Shaunna, opened up her shop and I knew it was time. (Yes, it was just that dramatic).  Did you know that you can paint almost any surface with chalk paint (not chalkboard paint) without prepping? No sanding, no stripping, nothing. And it adheres to everything because it's magic. And awesome. And we're a match made in DIY heaven if I ever saw one. Paint that eliminates all the hard work? Yes, please. I thought I'd give it a whirl on my marble fireplace surround, because I'm crazy like that.  I did not like this marble one bit. It was sort of dirty-looking and leaned toward the peach color family. Yuk. Like I said, it was time for an upgrade.

Happy 4th of July

Why We Need Insurance {Strickler Insurance}

Ok, all you know we loooooove a good deal and saving money, so here's a little story for you. You're familiar with this room, right? It's my basement.

Simple Washi Tape Tray Update

Most likely you've seen washi tape on Pinterest, in home decor magazines, and even in the stationary aisle at Target! There's a full-blown washi tape frenzy going on in America.  So for those of you living under a rock, what is washi tape? It's basically super pretty masking tape that you can use for all kinds of crafts and home decor projects.  Washi tape isn't new to me, actually I spent some time in Japan in high school and fell in love with it WAY back then (yes, high school was a long time ago... side note, I actually served my kids brussel sprouts last night. That was a major Oh my word, I'm old because I'm doing something I vowed never to do moment. Sorry, I digress) When I was in Japan, I feel in love with their awesome paper products including washi tape.  I hadn't bought any since my time in Japan, and I decided it was time to have a little washi fun! 

July 4th Recipe Round-up

Happy Monday, everyone! I'm back from my weekend trip to West Palm Beach, Florida (more on that later!) with a round-up of our favorite summer picnic foods and drinks! Whether you're hosting a big 4th of July party, or taking something to a friend's house, these are the perfect recipes for you!

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I originally shared this recipe a little less than a year ago, but since no one read our blog then, I thought it was worth mentioning again. ;) This recipe is soooo simple, but looks and tastes fantastic!