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lukerhill · 2 years

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Christmas Decor Shop 2021

How can it be November already? Before we know it we’ll be eating turkey, mashed potatoes and even trimming the tree. We are so looking forward to the holidays in our new home. I actually don’t know yet if we will host any holidays this year (guess we need to figure that out soon!), but [...]

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lukerhill · 2 years

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Big News: Courtney’s Engaged! Telling the Story

Hi friends! It’s Courtney (Melissa’s daughter) here today to share some big news! I know many of you have been following along with The Inspired Room for years and have been so supportive of our family personally. Some of you have started to follow along with me on my own Instagram, too! I’m so excited [...]

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lukerhill · 2 years

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DIY Soft Close Cabinet Doors {With Video!}

How to easily make cabinets doors soft close in just a few minutes.

Tired of your doors slamming shut when the kids are in the kitchen? :) There's an EASY fix for this that only takes a few minutes to install.

Did you know you can switch your basic cabinet doors to soft close cabinets by adding these dampers to your bathroom or kitchen cabinet doors? This is a great way to upgrade basic stock cabinets.

I share an installation video later in this post!

Every time we used to walk through IKEA I would open and shut the cabinet doors to see the magic of the soft close door. I never thought I would have them in our house, because replacing each and every hinge in our home wasn't going to happen.

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You CAN replace all of your compact cabinet door hinges with these soft close hinges instead. These are used on face frame cabinets like ours that have the extra trim around the front of the cabinet:

As long as you know how to use a screwdriver or power drill, this is a really easy update. The new hinges come with a tiny soft close mechanism installed inside.

**You'll want to use a different type of hinge if you have frameless cabinets, that have no front trim. These soft close euro hinges will work for that type of cabinet!

Typically these are a little spendy (although the price has dropped over the years).

If you use these self closing hinges, you'll need to adjust these to make your door spacing/opening uniform across all of your cabinets.

See those little adjustment screws on the left side of the hinge above? You can tighten or loosen those to change the following:

The height of each door (you'll want this to match across all of your cabinets.)

The depth -- so how far you want your cabinet doors to hang away from the frames.

The side to side measurements. You can move your doors to the left or right so they close tighter together or further apart.

It's not difficult to make these adjustments, just a little time consuming and tedious.

If your cabinet doors aren't level, or are hitting each other, try adjusting those screws!

Thankfully there's an easier answer for soft close doors at the hardware store. I was GIDDY the day I first time I came across these years ago!

These are soft close dampers you can buy in a package or individually.

This is what they look like:

They run around $3 each but you can get them in multiples and they cost even less.

The great thing is, you only need one per door, unlike the door hinges.

The installation is SUPER easy. They go inside the cabinet like so, with a bit of the edge hanging over:

There's a hole in the side of the cabinet door damper to slide the screw through for installation.

I recommend predrilling your screw holes with a drill bit first.

This makes installation a lot easier and makes sure the frame doesn’t split. Each soft close adapter only needs one screw.

That's it for the install!

One more thing though, you'll want to try out your door to see how it closes.

If it doesn't close soft enough for your liking, you can move the damper by adjusting the back screw:

You can extend it for heavier doors or make it shorter for lighter doors that need less "damping."

That's the technical term you know. ;)

You may have to play with it a bit till your door closes like you want.

This soft close option have been especially helpful for us because I use stock cabinets for so many of my bookcase builds:

See our giant entertainment center build here!

They are inexpensive and don't come with any of the cool options that more expensive cabinets have.

For my recent pantry project, I used an option from the Rockler store just because I was impatient and didn't want to wait the day for a delivery. 😂

Here’s a quick video on how to install, and you can see how the doors close after installation:

youtube

Those pantry doors are tall and heavy, so I may add one more damper at the bottom of each one. But on standard doors, one is more than enough to create that slow motion.

When you do this it feels so luxurious…all fancy-like. It does take some getting used to – for awhile you'll try to shut the doors. We had to remind ourselves to chilllll and let the damper do it’s job. :)

It's nice because the little pads on our doors are constantly falling off -- I’m always gluing them back on and now there is no need.

The directions just show these for cabinet doors but I’m going to try them out on a drawer to see if it works. If not…there’s always those full extending drawer slides with soft close…someday. ;)

**I tried these dampers on drawers and they do NOT work!

I love sharing little finds like this that work well – have you tried these door dampers in your home?

P.S. You can add soft close drawers as well by installing new slides...I'll be sharing that DIY soon!

See more of our home and shop items in each room here.

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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A Tribute To Burger

We shared some sad news on Instagram Stories last week, but wanted to make sure to post something here too, because Burger was such a huge part of our blog. Last Monday, our sweet chihuahua Burger passed away at the age of 15. It was a long wonderful life, but we miss him so so much. The house is way too quiet without him.

We got him when we were 24 years old. Before we got married, before the blog, before we had kids, before almost every adult experience we had together. He was there through it all.

He was always such a happy boy. We are so grateful for all the years we shared. He seemed to pass away peacefully in his sleep. For a dog that was diagnosed with a severe heart murmur six years ago, we are grateful for all the extra years that he defied the odds after that.

Continue reading A Tribute To Burger at Young House Love.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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DIY Floating and Glowing Witch Hats for the Front Porch

How to make these easy and fun floating witch hats for your front porch or inside!

I've wanted to make these cute DIY "floating" luminary witch hats for our porch for years! They turned out to be a really easy way to add some cute Halloween decorations to our front porch, but you could hang them anywhere for easy decor.

I tried a couple methods of creating these hanging hats with two lighting options, and I'll share both here. Both are very simple, but one is so simple it only take a couple minutes to create each witch hat luminary.

I started with these inexpensive black witch hats:

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This witch hat set came with 12 hats and a bunch of cute plastic bat cutouts as well. (This set has six hats if you don't need as many.)

My first tutorial uses LED votives that operate on a timer -- once you turn them on, they'll run for a certain amount of time. So turn them on in the evening and they'll operate every evening after.

I used fishing line for this project because you want the hats to look as though they're floating around on your porch. :)

How to make your witch hats glow

I tied the line around the "flame" of the votives:

You could also use smaller tea lights that are battery-operated as well.

Because I didn't want the votive to hang in the top of the witch hat, I knew I'd need to prevent the fish line from pulling all the way up.

You'll want your candle to hang down inside the hat, not sit up at the very tip.

To allow for this, I grabbed some spacers and washers I had in my stash. I determined the space I wanted between the top of the hat and where I wanted the candle to hang.

Then I wrapped the fishing line around the spacers:

This allows the washer to pull up into the tip of the hat instead of the candle!

Anything this size will work! The only purpose is to prevent the candle from pulling all the way up in the witch hat.

Next up, the even simpler version!

The votives would be perfect for inside, but for our porch I wanted something that was a bit brighter. I thought about what I had on hand and realized our Christmas window candles would be perfect!

Our particular candles aren't available anymore, but these window candles are very similar. They come with a remote and work on a timer like ours do.

You use the remote to set amount of hours you want them to stay on. They will turn on at the same time every day after that, so you can hang these up high and forget about them!

I was able to tie the fishing line around where the cap at the bottom screws on -- so easy:

Because the candles were hanging upside down, the lit "flame" part was in the middle of the hat already:

So no need to add a washer! If the line pulled the candle up to the top of the hat, that was fine!

How to hang floating witch hats

With either method, you'll want to take a sewing needle and feed your fishing wire through so you can poke the needle through the top of the witch hat:

It goes through the material easily!

Then figure out the height you want the hat to hang and tie a loop at the end of your fishing wire so you can hang your hats. Make sure to knot it a few times so the line doesn't slip.

You can hang them in varying heights from your front porch ceiling, around your front door, or like I did, along the back of the porch beam:

I hung mine from nails I have up for Christmas lights, but you can use small cup hooks to secure them to the ceiling as well.

Using the Christmas candles was the perfect solution! They have the perfect amount of light and operate on a timer or with a remote control.

And when I take these down they will transition to the front windows for the holiday season. :)

I love how the candles sway around inside the hats...it's the exact look I was going for!

These are so fun!! Since I had most of what I needed already, I only spent money on the hats, which I will reuse every year.

Here are some other options for making this easy witch hat decor:

If you don't have the votives or candles, you can use glow sticks! They won't glow forever, but these sticks last 12 hours and are super bright. Perfect for trick or treaters on Halloween night!

You can find most (if not all) of the items you'll need for this project at the dollar store.

If you don't have fishing line, thin thread will work as well. From far away you'll hardly notice it.

These floating hats are so lightweight, you could probably use Command hooks to hang them from the ceiling.

These would be so fun inside too -- a bunch hanging around the fireplace mantel or down a hallway would look GREAT!

I love that our landscape lighting casts witch hat shadows all over our front porch:

If you missed it, check out our fall porch here!

What are some of your favorite Halloween porch decor ideas?

Check out a few of my favorite DIY Halloween decor projects from over the years below:

How to Make Cheesecloth Ghosts

DIY Halloween Mummy Candles

DIY Halloween Mummy Front Door

See more of our home and shop items in each room here.

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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A Guide to Savoring the Holidays

Can you believe the holidays are almost here? If you want to feel not only prepared but more excited to savor this season, I have something so fun to share with you today! Introducing The Holidays at Home Bundle! I teamed up with nine other friends to put together a bundle of holiday preparation must-haves! [...]

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Gifts Ideas for Her 2021

Do you ever find it hard to shop for anyone on your list? Every year on The Inspired Room we scour the interwebs to find the most adorable and wonderful gifts for everyone. We love to share them with you! Some are items we already bought for ourselves or people we love! With shipping delays [...]

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lukerhill · 3 years

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How to Create a Colorful and Welcoming Fall Front Porch!

My colorful fall porch decor with both DIY and store-bought finds. Easy fall front porch ideas you can add today!

We never had much of a front porch until we moved into this home, and I've had a blast dressing it up for the different seasons! It's not huge, but just big enough to add some fun touches.

I think fall decor looks particularly cute on our front porch. :) Decorating for autumn out front always seems to up our curb appeal...it's so welcoming.

I usually go nuts with mums this time of year, but I missed the local sale where I get them for super cheap. So I scaled back on those and added some fun autumn finds from Big Lots instead.

I've been lucky enough to work with Big Lots this year and will continue to share some of their decor items throughout the year. (You can see how I organized our messy coat closet here!)

I tried to pull in more colors beyond the traditional orange and brown this year. I'm loving the green accents I added the fall porch palette. :)

First up, the front door!...

Big Lots had this adorable green and blue pumpkin fall wreath that I thought looked so good on our front door:

It's so pretty! I love that it's a little different from my typical grapevine wreath because it hangs on a brass metal ring. This wreath has the same green and blue tones.

The green coir welcome mat works perfectly with the colors in the wreath:

This mat is only $10, can you believe it? I just plopped it on top of our large welcome mat for a layered look.

The green rug could stay out all year no problem since it doesn't have a specific fall design!

I made these large DIY fall porch signs a few years ago and they still look great!:

We don't get much of the elements on our porch, so if yours is the same these will hold up well. Of course they would look great inside as well!

Big Lots has a TON of cute fall signs, big and small, for your front door or porch.

I LOVED this pretty garland and draped it around the signs.

It is six feet long and I love that it has all of the colors I used in our porch decor. That garland would look SO pretty draped along a fireplace mantel, or in a fall table centerpiece.

My favorite Big Lots finds were these cute ceramic pumpkins lanterns! They are substantial! These guys will hold up well in wind or rain:

They are great quality and I loved that we can put a candle inside to make them glow at night!

As I mentioned, I usually get a ton of mums for $5 at a local nursery, but I missed the sale this year. I went with a few less than usual in the traditional orange and yellow colors.

I thought those colors would look great against our dark gray house -- I love how they pop!

I have inexpensive planters I put them in every year so they don't dry out.

My best buddy came to visit while I was taking pictures:

And I didn't realize till just now that he's in a few more 😂:

I love the colorful heirloom pumpkins! Since they're flatter than the typical pumpkin, it's easy to stack them to create pumpkin topiaries.

I like to change out my little yard flag for the seasons too -- this fall garden flag was perfect!

It all came together to create a cozy and colorful fall front porch:

Most of the year I crave simpler decor, but during fall and the holiday season all that goes out the window!

Believe it or not, this is pretty simple for my typical fall porch. :) I usually add some hay bales and corn stalks, but I went with a little less this year.

But come on...it's FALL. So it's still full of plenty of autumn goodness.

I LOVE all of the textures and color fall decor adds to our home!:

You can see last year's fall porch for more front porch decor ideas! I share our fall window boxes in that post as well.

You can see all of the Big Lots fall decor finds here and their cute Halloween items.

Do you go crazy with the fall decor or keep it minimal? Now we need to add our Halloween touches!

This post sponsored by Big Lots but all opinions are my own.

I only work with companies and products I know, love and would recommend to you.

See more of our home and shop items in each room here.

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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How to Decorate When Your Front Door Opens Into Living Room

If you have a small or non-existent entry (or a front door that enters into your living room!), check out these helpful tips from Kylee!

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Fall: The Most Wonderful Season to Be at Home

We’ve lived in quite a few houses over the years (this is our eighth home since we’ve been married!)! Some homes you move into and you know it will be a long journey to make it yours. That’s exciting in its own way! We’ve had so many homes like that and it’s always been so [...]

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Quickly Organize Messy Drawers With This Easy Solution!

Expandable drawer dividers to easily organize your kitchen and clothing drawers!

This adjustable drawer organizer makes it SUPER easy to organize messy drawers and make the most of your storage space. Use them to create custom organizers in a matter of minutes!

As soon as I got these cool little gadgets, I knew I had to share them with you. I've been reorganizing a few spaces in our kitchen as I work on the new pantry, and I'm loving how much more functional they've become!

I was working on a spice drawer that I'll share in a minute, but noticed that every time I shut the drawer, the organized containers slid all over and got out of order.

YES, I alphabetized them. :)

I thought about using a liner to keep them from moving around, but I've found that it still slides around inside the drawer.

I also wanted to separate some of the spices into sections, so I needed a different solution.

I recently shared a few ways to keep things from sliding around both vertically and horizontally, but none of those worked well for these smaller items.

I was thisclose to making my DIY drawer dividers like I did years ago...but then realized I wanted something adjustable so I could add more to the drawer later.

The perfect solution came to me during an online search for something else. I wasn't even looking for it, and there. it. was.:

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These adjustable drawer dividers are expandable! They're made of bamboo and are spring loaded so they fit tightly inside your drawers.

The ends are soft so they won't scratch anything, and the rubber feet grip to the sides so they don't move around:

These dividers come in different sizes -- these are the 12 to 17 inch versions that would be best for smaller drawers. There's also a 17 to 21 inch option for larger drawers.

If you don't have fully extending drawers, you can use the longer dividers and place them from front to back.

I used them in my problem drawer but also wanted to tackle an even bigger problem spot -- our utensils are always an absolute mess:

I pulled everything out, got rid of a few things we don't use, sorted what was left and then started putting things back in with the inserts.

These adjustable dividers are AWESOME!!:

Installation is easy -- just pull back the skinny side and place it where you want in the drawer. You can create whatever size compartment you want and can easily adjust them.

I think I'm going to order the larger size for our kitchen drawers so they will have a tighter fit. These have worked well so far, but because they're almost fully extended, they don't grip the sides quite as much.

I recommend measuring the width of the inside of your drawer and going with the longer dividers that fit!

These expandable dividers would be useful for so many things!:

Instead of buying a tray for the silverware drawer, you can make sections the right size for your knives, forks, etc.

They would be awesome to organize the clutter in a junk drawer! (And add my favorite plastic bins to corral small things like paperclips and pens.)

Use them in desk drawers to organize office supplies.

They would be SO helpful in dresser drawers as well! You can stack them for larger clothing like shirts or pants.

The dividers would be great for organizing smaller accessories like ties, socks or undergarments. (This plastic version is taller for dressers or closet systems.)

Use them in bathroom drawers to organize cosmetics or toiletries.

If you use dressers to store games or craft supplies, you can use these to sort them in the drawers.

The reason I got these in the first place was for our spice drawer in the pantry.

I started out with our spices all over the place:

I found these adorable glass spice jars that were the perfect height:

All of the other options I found were too tall. The jars include shaker lids so you can easily shake or pour the spices out!

A TON of printed labels come with them as well, plus a bunch you can write on yourself:

There's even a white marker included! :)

Anyway, they're adorable and perfect and when alphabetized, they make it SO much easier to find what we need!:

The drawer dividers keep the glass jars from sliding all over and also allowed me to separate the spices from my baking toppings as well.

Now they all stay put and I can find what I need quickly. Both the jars and the dividers make me happy. 😀

Oh, and I found these dissolvable labels so I can write expiration dates on the bottom of my jars:

They quickly dissolve in water and and don't leave any adhesive on the surface. I've been using them for all of our containers!

They are GREAT -- I had been looking for something like this forever:

All of these items have helped make our kitchen and pantry more functional (while still looking good!).

The DIY dividers are great if you don't need to adjust them later on, but these work great if you'll be adding or removing things over time that will change how you use the storage space.

They'd also be great for renters who don't want to do anything semi-permanent. :)

**These dividers are available in plastic as well!

See more of our home and shop items in each room here.

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Our New Dining Room + Simple Cozy Fall Tablescape

The chill in the air and the turning of the leaves signals it’s time for one of my favorite rituals of fall nesting. EATING SOUP! We eat a lot of soup from fall through winter. Do you? We are still getting all settled in our dining room but it’s feeling quite cozy already. I’ve been [...]

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Simple Halloween Porch + Small Space Seasonal Decorating Tips

Come see the Halloween banner on our porch! Decorate for the seasons with two small space friendly ideas.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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How to Install a Stone Peel and Stick Tile Backsplash

Tips for installing a DIY peel and stick tile backsplash. No mortar or grout needed with this easy installation method!

You can get a fresh look anywhere you want a tile accent with this easy DIY project!

These peel and stick wall tiles I used on our pantry backsplash was a HUGE timesaver. The adhesive on the back of these faux stone tiles make it easy and quick to install.

I've been moving along on the pantry turned "butler's" pantry makeover I shared with you last week! I was annoyed with the piles of stuff from the pantry laying all over our mud/laundry room, so I've been motivated to get this done quicker than usual. :)

I got the cabinets installed first (check out my tips on installing cabinets here) and then installed the butcher block countertop before starting the tile.

You'll want to know where your counter stops before installing the tile, no matter what kind of tile you're using.

If you read my pantry plan post (say that three times fast), you saw that I was going back and forth between two tile options.

The first were traditional ceramic tiles that I'd have to mortar and grout (or use these awesome sticky tile sheets I showed you!) and one was this peel and stick backsplash tile from SimplInstall:

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This particular one is called Aspen White Marble and I found it at Floor and Decor. I liked that it had the look of natural stones.

I decided on this one for a few reasons -- the biggest was that the rest of my family HATED the other tile option that I loved. 😂 Whatever.

I love the look of the star tile, but I can see it may look outdated in a few years. This marble/stone looking option will stand the test of time.

It's a little more modern than I usually go, so I was surprised I liked it so much. But I'm so happy I went with it! It's really beautiful, especially when it's all installed.

Of course, another big reason I went with this stuff is the ease of installation. I knew it would be quicker, and NO grout is needed after installation.

The shape of these make them even easier to install, since they fit together like puzzle pieces:

Before you install peel and stick tile

Start with a clean, dust free wall before installation. If you're starting with bare drywall and it needs to be primed or painted first, I would let it cure for a few days at the least.

When you start out, use a level to make a straight line on the wall above your first tile. Use this as your guide as you start your first line of tile.

If you're working on a large space, it would be helpful to use a laser level or chalk line to mark your level.

Mark the middle of your wall and start your first tile centered on that spot.

This product has a sticky adhesive back -- hold your tile up and determine placement and cuts before peeling the plastic off the back:

How to cut peel and stick tile

There are vinyl "tiles" that are SUPER easy to cut -- just use a utility knife or strong pair of scissors.

This tile has a stone texture, so scissors won't work, but you can use a few options. I used my miter saw for the regular straight cuts:

Wear a mask and eye protection when cutting!

If you need a skinnier piece to finish off a spot, just use scissors to cut in between the tiles:

For areas around light fixtures where you'll need more detailed or rounded cuts, you can use tin snips or a chisel to make those:

How to install peel and stick tile

When I used the sticky tile mats to install the tile in our mud room, there was a little bit of give once I stuck the tile on. If I was quick, I could pull it off or push it around just a bit.

You will not be able to adjust this stuff -- once it's on, it's on! It's scarier than it sounds though. As long as you take your time figure the placement before peeling off the back, you'll be fine.

The great thing about this particular peel and stick tile is you can't tell where one piece starts and the other begins, so you don't really have to have a specific layout as you install.

It's super forgiving and would be a great one to use if you're new at tiling! Even if you're cuts aren't perfect, you won't notice the imperfections:

After sticking each piece to the wall, use your hands and press firmly along the whole piece to make sure it's flat against the wall.

If you have a handheld roller that would work well too, but don't get one just for this project.

If I could do it over I would have started each "tile" on the left, flush against the wall, so there were no gaps at all:

But it's not a big deal, a line of caulk will easily clean that up! You can also install small trim to cover any imperfections.

I marked the line on the right where I wanted the tiles to end -- this is where I'll be building up the pantry cabinets eventually:

Because of the design, you can use scrap pieces to fill in almost anywhere. So you don't need much to fill a space. I used exactly two boxes and they were $60 each.

Note: You can install this tile on textured walls with Liquid Nails glue in addition to the sticky back!

After installing peel and stick tile

If you will be prepping food or cooking near any tile backsplash, sealing is recommended. It doesn't take long and will prevent the tile or grout from staining.

I'm not sure if I'm going to seal this or not -- it can change the look of the tile so I'll probably test a scrap piece to see how it looks.

One of my readers mentioned that since this is stacked dimensional tile, it can be difficult to get switch plates flush.

I have found the same to be true overall, but not with this product:

The covers went back on the wall nice and flush -- no issues there!

I LOVE the look of this stuff. It's not smooth -- it has a rough, stone-like texture. I loved the movement in the design and the colors inspired me to paint the walls in here my favorite deep navy, Cyberspace.

I've used it in our dining room and family room as well, so it ties in nicely here:

This is just a peek at the progress! The sticky tile made for an easy makeover in this spot.

By the way, I tiled to where I wanted to add a shelf, then added the shelf supports to the wall and continued the tile. (Check out the outlet photo above to see what I'm talking about.) You can find my floating wood shelf tutorial here.

That view looked like this until last week:

I loooove how it's all coming together! I'll share more pantry progress soon.

Benefits of peel and stick tile:

It's easier to cut than regular tile -- no wet saw or cutter needed. You can make intricate cuts easily with handheld tools.

They are ready for installation, no need to purchase or use mortar or tile sheets.

NO grout, which is a big one. Grouting isn't that bad, but on a vertical surface it's messy.

It's lightweight -- which makes it easy to work with and there are no worries about using specific backer boards.

It installs quicker than traditional tile.

There are a ton of designs available, even some that look like mosaic tile or a traditional subway tile backsplash.

Cons of this peel and stick tile:

The cost for this was more than the other tile I was looking into, but keep in mind you don't have to purchase a tile cutter, mortar, spacers or grout. I would have used the tile sheets again, so after that and grout the price would have equaled out.

At least this particular peel and stick tile cannot be used near a heat source, like a fireplace. I'm not sure about other sticky options.

The tile I used for our pantry is not made for floors, but you can see how I installed peel and stick vinyl tile on the floor years ago.

This tile is not water resistant since you don't use grout.

This is not a temporary fix -- it will definitely leave some residue if you were to remove it.

If you love the look of stacked stone and want to use the real thing, check out my tutorial on how to install stacked stone around a fireplace:

See more of our home and shop items in each room here.

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Three Best Brass Spray Paints for DIY Makeovers

Comparing six metallic brass and brass spray paints to find the perfect brass finish and my top three picks!

Brass and gold finishes have been back in style in a big way for years. They aren't going anywhere soon!

I'm talking about the warmer, more varied brass tones that look great on light fixtures and accessories by the way, not the super shiny brass that many of us have had on our door knobs or light fixtures over the years. :)

I was on a rampage in our last house to get rid of the shiny brass fixtures. I actually don't mind that look as much now, but the warmer brass tones feel more realistic for sure.

I've wanted to compare some brass and gold spray paints for awhile, so over the past couple of months I've gathered six metallic spray paint options:

From left to right we have:

Rust-oleum Universal Metallic Pure Gold

Rust-oleum Universal Metallic Sunlit Brass

Rust-oleum Metallic Gold in bright and shiny finish

Rust-oleum Metallic Warm Gold

Rust-oleum Metallic Champagne Bronze

Krylon Fusion Metallic Gold

I thought there would be a much bigger selection -- but these were the six I found after numerous trips to a few hardware stores. Both Rust-oleum and Krylon are good quality spray paints with great durability!

Many of these have "gold" in the name, but have what I consider to be more of a brass tone. But I find gold and brass spray paints are pretty interchangeable.

I decided to test them out in a way so you can see the paints next to each other. I think this really shows the slight variation between each spay paint.

I grabbed three types of surfaces -- scrap bare wood, primed wood and metal and taped them off into sections. I didn't use a primer on the bare wood or the metal.

Here are some quick spray paint tips before we get started!

Clean or wipe your item well and let dry before spray painting.

I usually wear inexpensive latex gloves while spraying, just in case the nozzle drips or over sprays a bit.

Numerous quick, thin layers will give you a much better finish compared to heavy, thick coats.

If you get crackling or drips, let them dry fully, then lightly sand that spot and give it a few more light coats.

Lighter coats also allow for quicker drying time!

This spray paint handle will help avoid hand fatigue if you're spraying a large item.

I don't typically use a protective coating on my spray painted items, but if you will use it often, a clear coat isn't a bad idea. It would be helpful on cabinet pulls if your paint doesn't specify that it's not needed.

I wanted to show you the results in both daylight and inside -- remember that your light source will change the colors! Incandescent (regular yellowish color) bulbs will also change the look of the spray paint, just like wall paint.

I sprayed two coats of each paint on the sections.

Here's a look at the spray paints in the same order as above in daylight:

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Wow, look how different these are!

Here's the thing, there's obviously many tones of this metallic color, as there are in real life. For this experiment, I was on the lookout for the most "classic" brass tone.

Look at the difference when I brought them inside, still in natural light:

I found the primed wood showed the variances the best:

Let's start from the left and talk about the colors!

This one is Rust-oleum Universal Metallic Pure Gold and was a lovely, warmer brass/gold tone:

The other Rust-oleum Universal spray paint, Metallic Sunlit Brass, was next and it was more of the traditional brass look, but a bit light:

Side note -- I hate this kind of spray can. I've always found that the nozzle doesn't spray as well, and it's not as comfortable to use.

I also find it more difficult to get a consistent finish with this kind of spray paint.

Next up, the Rust-oleum Metallic Gold in bright and shiny finish was a gorgeous paint that leans more of a brilliant gold finish:

It was a little too bright for the look I was going for, but I loved the color.

Next, one of my favorites! This Rust-oleum Metallic Warm Gold spray paint was a perfect, medium-toned brass finish across all the mediums:

It also went on soooo easily. This nozzle is so much better and the spray paint coated so well.

This next color, Rust-oleum Metallic Champagne Bronze, was another favorite. It leaned to more of a deeper brass tone:

This is a more traditional, darker brass color in my opinion.

And finally, the Krylon Fusion Metallic Gold spray paint was my least favorite:

I loved the nozzle -- the application was super easy! I didn't love how it covered though, and the color was not a gold or brass tone, at least compared to the others.

On it's own it may look great! It's just more of a champagne color in my opinion.

I wanted to test out my top three favorites with a few hanging metal birds I've had laying around forever. I may use them somewhere in my closet redo.

The first was the Metallic Pure Gold all the way on the left:

And the Metallic Warm Gold and Rust-oleum Metallic Champagne Bronze colors were my other two favorites:

Here's a look at the three next to each other:

I liked the pure gold at the bottom, it's my third place finisher. 😀

My two favorites were the two basic metallic colors -- both the champagne bronze and the warm gold:

I think the names are interesting -- I would flip them. :) The champagne name fits the lighter color much better, and the warm gold goes with the darker brass/gold color. It looks more like an antique brass color to me.

My ONE favorite of all six spray paints?

For sure the Rust-oleum Metallic Warm Gold, the spray paint can third from the right in the line of six:

If you look closet, you can see it had variations to it that the others didn't:

It wasn't a flat tone, but instead had some sparkle and nuance that the other two didn't have. It's a gorgeous brass paint color!

This was fun! I hope you found it helpful. Here are the colors I used from left to right if you're interested:

Rust-oleum Metallic Pure Gold

Rust-oleum Metallic Sunlit Brass

Rust-oleum Metallic Gold

Rust-oleum Metallic Warm Gold

Rust-oleum Metallic Champagne Bronze

Krylon Fusion Metallic Gold

Have you found a brass/gold spray paint that you use and love? I'd love to hear about it! I found my go-to in this pretty warm gold.

If you want more of an accent on a piece instead of full coverage, check out my post on how to use Rub 'n Buff:

You can use it to transform large objects, but it's great way to add depth or detail to all kinds of items!

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Quick Ship Design Staples from Serena & Lily: Making This House Our Home

Make your house a home with these design staples!

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lukerhill · 3 years

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Transforming a pantry into functional butler's pantry

Transforming a basic pantry into a butler's pantry with cabinets and tons of storage!

We have a large pantry that I LOVE...the space is a dream after having a tiny pantry for so many years at our old house. Because of the size, we store more than just food in there -- lots of appliance, kitchen towels, paper goods, etc.

Shortly after we moved in a few years ago, I shared how I organized the melamine shelving in our pantry:

You should see how it looked before! Yikes.

I later added a DIY pull out drawer with soft close slides for some of the everyday appliances we use in here:

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We LOVE that thing -- it is so useful and I will be repeating it in this redo!

I've dreamed for years about turning our pantry into more of a butler's pantry -- where most of the food is hidden in the cabinets. We keep the pantry door open 24/7 because our animal's food is in there, and we are in and out all day long.

I have been craving a prettier space, but more importantly, more function! I felt like there was so much wasted with the open bottom under the shelves, and there was a good three feet above the top of them.

This is why I like to live with a room before I spend money or time on it. I think it's so important to live in a space before you make any major renovation or decor decisions.

SO...while I wait on pieces to come back in stock for my closet makeover, I decided to tackle this pantry! And so far I LOVE IT!

I am so excited about this redo. It's turning out so well, but I want to share my renovation plan with you first.

I figured I'd go with IKEA cabinets, since I've been using their products in my closet. I thought they would be less expensive and be easier to find in stock.

I used their layout plan tool, which is awesome! I entered the measurements of our space and started adding the cabinets:

It wasn't exact, because I had about 10 inches of space to fill (more on that in a bit), but it really helped me visualize the layout.

As you can see, I'm only adding cabinets along the back wall, not around the corner like the melamine shelf layout. Since the cabinets are deeper (24"), it was awkward adding a corner cabinet -- it took up way too much space.

On the IKEA site you can click a button and it lists all of the parts and the cost after you're done designing. Turns out it was WAY more than I wanted to spend, and when I saw all of the pieces I'd have to order just to assemble the cabinets, I decided to look elsewhere. :)

Pre-assembled cabinetry it is! Ha!

First I looked into inexpensive, unfinished cabinets like I used in the mud/laundry room:

You can customize these in so many ways!

But I wanted something I could install and it would look good immediately, without much work on the drawer fronts. The pantry redo as a whole is enough work for now. 😀

I ended up ordering in stock cabinets from Home Depot. I chose a light gray option since it would tie in nicely with our kitchen island and vent hood.

I had to play around with my layout, and ended up going with two lower base cabinets, one 18 inch and one 24:

Just like in the mud room, the drawers were a must! I would have a whole kitchen with just drawers if I could do it all over again. They function SO MUCH better in my opinion.

I may add some detail to those cabinet doors later, but for now I'm digging the simpler look.

Because we have plenty of large appliances and bigger stuff like pet food bins, I thought these tall pantry cabinets were the perfect solution:

Overall the only cabinetry I'm using is two base cabinets and two tall pantries.

Here are some of my ideas to add plenty of storage in this small space:

I'm creating a skinny "bookcase" with the remaining ten inches of space we have after the cabinets are installed. I'll use those for baskets with linens and cookbooks.

I won't be hanging upper cabinets anywhere, but instead will build an open cabinet above the pantry units for large serving dishes and decor.

I'm most excited about the counter space we'll have in there -- it's not going to be huge (42 inches), but it's going to add so much function! It will allow us to use some appliances in the pantry, prep food, and keep extras while entertaining...so many things!

I'm adding open shelving above the base cabinets as well. Wood floating shelves are pretty easy to build and they'll add lots of functionality to this space.

We moved on this redo sooner than planned because the electrician could get us in much faster than I thought. If you've ever hired a contractor to work on your house at the end of the year, you know how difficult it is to secure a spot!

The last quarter is always nuts...people (me) want to get projects done before the holidays. :)

To get this space ready for the electrician, I needed to clear out all of the food. I sorted through every single thing and tossed anything that had expired.

I piled the food and items into our mud room and was left with the empty shelves:

They were pretty easy to remove -- I started with all of the shelves, then removed the top and bottom pieces, then the side parts and the wall supports:

I'm reusing the whole melamine system for two projects -- most of it will go to create a closet built in unit for our son.

The rest will be used to create some pull out shelves for our tall pantry cabinets, so no waste!

It's been fun to pick out all of the prettier details for this little space. I picked this brass sconce for above the base cabinets, these butcher block counters (so easy and inexpensive!), and some pretty food storage like these glass jars:

I'm super impressed with them -- the glass is plenty thick and the lid keeps it airtight.

For the tile backsplash above the countertops, I'm trying to decide between two VERY different options.

I absolutely LOVE this blue and gray star tile:

All blue star tile | Gray version | Black stars | White stars

I found this exact tile at Floor and Decor. It's called Adessi Atlas porcelain tile. The links under the photo are similar versions in different colorways.

Since it's such a small space, the price is really good! I love the colors in this and the bold design.

But I also love this peel and stick tile, which surprises me:

This is the SimplInstall Aspen White Marble peel and stick, also from Floor and Decor.

It's been a long time since I've installed peel and stick tile, and that time it was on the floor. It held up beautifully!

I love that it would be easier to install. No grout, no mortar.

My family prefers the more modern faux stone peel and stick, and I'm really drawn to it. But I also love the bold look of the tile. I can't decide!

I purchased both options, so I'll have to get everything installed and put them up against the wall to help me make a decision.

Are you with me? I'm so excited about this pantry redo! When I'm done it will have WAY more storage, but it will be behind closed doors and easily accessible. I'm thrilled about that!

I'll share more of this butler's pantry makeover soon! Planning and decorating small spaces like this is my favorite -- it takes a lot of problem solving but that's fun for me. :)

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