Build

Styled Hall Bench

January 7, 2018 Leave a Comment

The last few weeks Glen has been off work. Money is tight when he’s working full time, but him being off for three weeks has been quite stressful. In order to help us stay afloat, I’ve made it my goal to try to sell off as many of my projects and refinished projects around the home. I posted my beloved pew last week and we found a buyer. ( Insert all the tears )

See, I waited for years for a real pew, then I finally got one and now only a short 8 months after getting It, I’m having to sell it. I knew that if I had to sell this pew, we had to put something in its place. But it couldn’t be expensive to make but it would still have to be just as amazing as my pew so I wouldn’t be too sad. See how I negotiate with myself?

About a year ago one of my favourite designers DIY’d this entrance hall bench and although I absolutely loved it, it looked expensive. The carved front legs, the amazing Corbels, the sconces.. everything about it screamed dolla-dolla bills. Yet, I took it on myself to create something similar that would be under 50.00 in materials. Keep in mind, we had all the 1×6’s and 1×4’s in our garage already, so the only thing we actually had to purchase was the wainscotting. The 6×4′ piece cost us 39.99, and in the states I’m sure it’s way cheaper. Everything is inflated up here in Canada. If you had to purchase the lumber, I’m sure it would be around 50-70 dollars.

As for the corbels, we DIY’d them and guys, I’m so excited to blog about it. We found a pattern online, traced them out and Glen made them for me. All from using scraps in our garage. Win-Win!

I really wanted a unique sconce light for this project too, but I’ve come to the realization that the light can wait for now. But wow, I’m loving the completed piece. It literally took my husband about 3 hours to build and then me another 3 hours to paint. I put 3 coats on to give it extra good coverage. We also put a sealant on the bench part as I know that with my kids crawling up and down off the bench, it will get marked up in no time!

Funny thing is, we had some leftover “Pure White” paint in our garage. I was so happy, because that meant that I didn’t have to buy paint. I started painting my hall bench and then after about an hour, I stood back and realized it was all grey! The paint can was completely marked wrong. So we have a light grey hall bench, so someday the walls behind this bench will have to be painted white as I’m not loving the green country walls behind it.

Hope you guys enjoyed this DIY. The pictures do not do this hall bench justice, it is absolutely stunning! Our entrance way is so dark and so I had to edit the photos slightly so they weren’t dark. But you get the gist.

As always, sharing is caring and I would love for you to share!

Morris Farmhouse Dining Room

March 30, 2017 3 Comments

Guys, I literally have no patience. At all. I often think that if I were to have more patience maybe I would have a better blog. But C’est la vie!

Today I’m excited to blog about my half completed dining room. We have the sideboard area completed, our Stikwood wall up, our white table set completed and now we’re just waiting on our rug to come and me to finish my DIY beaded light fixture. But for the most part, it is completed. I always find a light fixture and rug “make” the space, so it will be cool to so how it will look when completely done, but I just couldn’t wait! The sun is streaming through my windows and since our dining room is in the middle of our home, it’s often hard to photograph because of the darkness.. so I opened up the door wide and snapped away! I cannot wait to start planting & working outside when it warms up a bit.

Of course, below I will have all the sources to this room so you can replicate it. I will also tag my light fixture and rug that will complete the space.

I’ll forever be grateful for Stikwood sending this wall to us. We will mostly likely leave it in the space when we move as it easily comes off, but sadly, most boards break in two when you pull it off. Isn’t it so pretty though? Stikwood is amazing because it doesn’t put ONE hole in your wall.

Also, can we take a second to talk about these pillows? I bought the pillow cases for 14.99 for the set, and then I sewed them to fit my pillows. It literally took 10 minutes and they are one of my favourite things in this dining room! I’ll have a tutorial up for it soon!

I wanted this space to feel comfortable as we spend a lot of time in our dining room sharing meals, playing settlers with our favourite few and beyond even spending time in it, it’s one of the first spaces you see when you walk into my house. Our downstairs is an open layout and I wanted it to be the focal point.

Above is the view from my front door. It looks a lot closer than it actually is as my lens is very tight. I also wanted it to be a really white and bright space as it’s a dark space and our floors are so orange. Gotta off set them somehow!

It’s funny, I try to be more modern and had this bench painted in solid white and finally I just couldn’t take it, took it into our workshop and distressed it like mad. Now it’s totally my cup of tea and suits the space so well.

Hope y’all loved seeing a peek into our Farmhouse Dining Room. It’s been my joy to decorate our home and I love how it’s turning out. I spend so much time in our home as I work from it and so I really wanted to create a space that spoke to me and made me feel even more creative!

Below are link to shop my exact pieces, I will also be finding look a like table and console as we built those.

Love you all & thank you for all your support on the daily!

Toddler House Bed [ DiY ]

February 14, 2017 2 Comments

I feel like I’ve done way too much DIY’s lately. I mean, do you guys mind? It’s just, this is how we do our homes. Our homes are made up of 80% Rustic Hand built Furniture by Glen, 10% thrifted, salvaged & cheap decor finds and 10% DIY. So naturally, I have to post what we’re doing in our home. Because honestly friends, a pretty home doesn’t have to be expensive. You just have to be willing to use your hands & want to learn.

Today on the blog I want to share our daughters super adorable toddler house bed. It took us only 2 hours to built & sand. It took me another few hours to paint it. End result is super fun & it makes her bedroom feel the much more magical.

The only thing I would change about this bed and we will most likely add is, a headboard. I know these bed typically do not have them. but since the top of her bed isn’t against a wall, it makes it awkward because she falls out of her bed. So I will most likely update the photos once we get the headboard on.

Here is the tutorial for this toddler house bed. We did a few alterations to her plans.

Want to know where we purchased everything in her room? Shopable links are posted below!

DIY Bed Desk

January 5, 2017 Leave a Comment

Hey friends.. I’ve missed you. I truly feel so incredibly blessed when you take the time to comment, message and email me! It makes me feel like I’m talking to someone out there in a round a bout way.

So lately I’ve blogged about this place that has a ton of Farmhouse Decor that I love. I saw this Bed Desk that I wanted but I thought hmmm… Glen can totally build that & it’s true, he built it in like 30 minutes. I sanded, stained & varnished it. It was the easiest thing ever and is pretty handy if you work from home, or just like facebooking, eating or vegging out in bed. Helllooooo, that’s me!

If you literally cannot build and have no desire to, check out this adorable tray from Threshold. Pretty dang cheap and serves the same purpose.

Alright, so back to my ultra adorable little bed desk. it’s super easy friends. At the very bottom of this blog I’ll have a link to the step-by-step tutorial. Obviously our version looks a little different as Glen didn’t follow a tutorial.

On my Bed Desk I used a mix of Sunbleached Oak & Early American from Minwax. You can get it at any hardware store.

It’s actually my favourite to look at. The color looks so vintage. Sunbleached oak is a very creamy grey color.

Super adorable, right? I like how it’s so functional and I will probably use it a lot as I like to work in bed. But it’s so hard on your back as you’re hunched over as your laptop is on your lap. Problem solved.

If wanting to build this adorable bed desk, head on over to 100 Things To Do for the plans.

I don’t know about you, but in my neck of the woods, it’s supposed to snow tonight, tomorrow and all weekend – yipeee. My favourite!

Have an awesome night

Oh Dear Dining Room

December 1, 2016 Leave a Comment

I have really nothing other to post this week than my Christmas spaces. It makes me so super happy to be able to go hard core on the Christmas decorations since it’s now December 1st. For the last two years we had the literally ugliest dining room ever. It was a 5×8 little cove in our kitchen and we hated eating in there. The heater was broken ( as was everything in that stupid house ) and so we never had working heat in there. It was dingy and cold because it was painted aquarium blue, which we finally changed 1.5 years after living there to a cozy ‘greige’ color. But it was so small, so our family was always so squished in it and we still somehow always ate in our living room.

Finally when we moved to our new home we saw the light at the end of the tunnel! It is all open concept and we adore it. The only problem with open concept is that you can’t over crowd it with decorations so we’re selling off a lot of our old decor.

Our space isn’t 100% completed, but this is what I’ve come up with so far. Eventually someday when we aren’t broke we would love to get new upholstered chairs, a sheepskin rug for our bench and a new buffet that Glen plans to build me when he isn’t so busy. But for now, I’m loving the space.

This isn’t our normal bench with the table. This one is on our stairs, our other bench is the exact as the table. Beachwood top and white legs. I just love love love the distressed farmhouse feel of the bench.

I’m still learning how to shoot my camera in manual mode. I literally need a tripod so so badly. Since our home is so low light ( not that you can tell in these photos ) I have to have the shutter speed at 1/5 and the ISO cranked to 800. It makes the photos look grainy and not sharp… so sad!

These dishes are from Stokes Stores and I LOVE THEM TO DEATH. I was given them for a collaboration that I did last summer and they are distressed so look vintage. They’re my favourite and super cheap. For one entire set they were 54.99

I love everything beat up with a touch of modern decor to even the rough out. That’s my jam.

Thanks for heading over to the blog today. Just thought I’d hop on & post our dining room before I start my work for the day.

The Distressed Media Stand ( That We Almost Threw Out )

November 14, 2016 2 Comments

I just had to jump on to share my new favourite piece in my home. My Printers Cabinet. This piece has been through a lot. We actually had a client who purchased it and when it was being loaded into a truck with a landing that was 6′ off the ground, it was dropped ( not by us.. ) and the piece was completely ruined.

Not only did it dent the side, but the doors are now off kilter and it wasn’t able to fixed or sold. I loved this piece, and the thought of taking it to the dump was so upsetting.

Here’s the media stand pre-paint:

Glen really wanted to take it to the dump, but I wanted to save it.

In my mind, I had wanted to paint it white and heavily distress it for MONTHS. Literally, five months. But Glen and everyone kept telling me it would look awful. Finally, I mustered up the courage to paint it white and I’m literally drooling over it.

We had to put new hinges on the piece, which sort of affects the look – but I still love it.

I mean, are you in love?

Is white your jam? I totally love it. It looks super banged up, and the white brings out how “vintage” it looks. I just loved old country things, and it is hard to find them. So when I can sort of replicate them, my heart is full of happiness!

Here’s the media stand pre hinges. You can see the gaps on the doors are large.

and after with the hinges. Do you think they’re too much?

That’s all I’ve got for today. Hope you are all having a great week so far

Farmhouse Living Room & Where To Buy

July 30, 2016 3 Comments

This post has been a long time coming. I feel like I’ve received hundreds of requests to have our full living room up on the blog as for so long you have seen bits and pieces of it.

We recently changed up the layout of our living room and sectioned it off a bit more and we couldn’t be more happy with it. We even had a guest say “This is by far the best your living room has looked”.

So… without further elaboration, let me show you! I will be tagging where we bought our key pieces in our living room so you can go out and purchase the same thing.

I have to start off with my most prized possession in this room, something you will probably have a good laugh at.. but it’s my 15.00 Quilt. I have this love relationship with quilts. The only thing is, I don’t know anyone who quilts. Four years ago we were garage saling and I found this giant king sized hand made quilt and the owner was selling it for 15.00. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I obviously snatched it before anyone else could and gave her 20 bucks for it. If you have any idea how much quilts go for, you will know how happy this made my heart.

This quilt has seen SO much love. I use it often to watch movies and all the kids pile under it. Or often during colder months it’s my morning coffee blanket. I have this whole ordeal in the morning where I have to get cozy, start reading my facebook updates and Glen brings me my morning coffee. This has been a tradition for probably all of our marriage. He’s my prince and we joke that he is training to be a stay-at-home-dad when my blog & oil business take off.

Our living room is seriously always changing because I work in this room. So I often get tired of the same layout, but HEY. If you’re one of those who also loves changing your decor/layout, get Command Strips. I’ve used them for so many years as we are in rentals. They basically make it so your walls stay hole-less and perfect. So, get them!

Next up is the gallery wall I just made behind our sofa. Honestly, just go into your junk cupboard, room or drawer and find odd pieces that don’t fit into your decor and then command strip them on your wall with your favorite photos.

& Sign: Target

Vintage Looking Clock: Homesense/Homegoods

Painted Rustic Antlers: Target

Morris Est Sign: Moi

Count Your Blessings Photo: Etsy

Pom Pillow: Rugs Studio

Mud Cloth Pillow: Townsend Rowe Vintage

Our Nest Pillow: Primitives By Kathy

I spend a lot of time in my living room. I work in here & it’s always important to me to love the space and have it be SUPER cozy. I love mixing modern pieces with our rustic decor.

As you can tell, we have a modern style sofa, but it was super important to us to have a big comfy couch. I mean, a living room isn’t a living room without a deep, comfy sofa.

Sofa: Annmarcos Furniture ( Rio )

Hanging Mirror: Homesense/Homegoods

Chairs: Lampsplus

Side Table: Homesense/Homegoods

Fur Blanket: Indigo

Mud Pillows: Townsend Rowe Vintage

Map: Global Gallery

Grey Shag Rug: Costco

and I don’t think I’ve ever photographed our view, but the land behind and beside us is home to cows & horses. It’s so beautiful and best yet? We don’t have to take care of them, because trust you me, it’s a ton of work!

This is our beloved media stand ( knock off Restoration Hardware that we built ) we actually ended up selling it to a client and then as the freight company came to pick it up, it was dropped and the doors and siding were damaged. So the doors don’t really function anymore, but it still looks beautiful. See tutorial here.

Lamp: Target

Diffuser: Young Living – I’m a distributor

X Lantern: Marshalls

Faux Aloe Vera Plants: Superstore

Ladder: We made it & have plans here

Lamp: Target

Magnolia Wreath: Home Hardware

The photo above our TV was made for us by a dear friend, check out “Barn Door Decor” She ships!

Pretty much everything in this photo was built by us. Plans for the plant box can be seen here.

Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree: Homesense/Homegoods

Glass Vases: Walmart 2015

Two Toned “M”: Homesense/Homegoods

Vintage Box: Heritage ( Real Deal )

Mini Fig Tree On Books: Homesense/Homegoods

Sofa Table: The Rugged Rooster

Map – handmade frame : Global Gallery

There you have it! Our entire living room in one blog and where to buy mostly everything. Our Coffee Table, ladder, Media Stand, Sofa Table and Plant Box were all built by Glen, who is amazing.

Hope you’re all enjoying your long weekend!

Build A { DIY } Plant Box

July 27, 2016 Leave a Comment

If you’ve been following my blog for more than a few weeks, you’ve probably heard me mention my precious fiddle leaf fig tree. Truth be told, it’s fake and I bought it from Homesense, ( insert rolling eyes ). Homesense is like Homegoods for all of my US readers.

Anyways, I was on a big hunt for a fiddle leaf fig. I couldn’t find anywhere on the entire island that carried real fig trees so I finally settled for this fake tree – 49.99. Hello!

I’m sure if I had of found a real fig tree, it would be dead by now so I do love my fake fig tree. I dust the leaves and kind of treat it better than most of my kids… JUST JOKES.

I had the tree sitting in a basket for a long time, but it always looked so weird having this thin little rooted tree in a big basket. So I researched pinterest for a box I could make it & nothing came up so I drew up the easiest plans ever so you and I can have our own plant box, for under 20 bucks!

DIY | Faux Metal Coffee Table

July 20, 2016 2 Comments

The last couple of weeks and months have been a whirlwind of orders, endless emails, decision making and stress. We finally decided yesterday morning that we will be closing our Rugged Rooster business indefinitely.

If you’re new to our blog, we’ve built rustic furniture from scratch for three years now. We’ve been blessed to have had amazing clients and built over 1700 pieces but there has to come a time in life when you need to say no to stress. We’ve been so incredibly blessed to stay home with our kids, even if it had us working 10 – 14 hour days with the rare day off.

One of our customers asked if we would be putting up tutorials of our pieces, so you can start to build them, and the answer is YES. So I’m here today to post a how to build a faux metal coffee table.

Since we do not have the resources to make the drawings and edited versions I’ll be sending you over to Ana White. It’s a super easy, straight forward project. The only thing I would recommend, if you would like to do a really good sand on your table top, is leave a slight 1/2″ overhang on all sides. It also makes it way easier to paint the base & stain the top.

We sanded down the top, and then took a chain to beat it up, see method here. We then took Sunbleached Oak, by Minwax and applied one light coat to the top. You want to let it sink in for about 5 minutes. Wipe off in one continuous direction until no stain comes off when you wipe. We let our pieces sit for about 3-5 hours ( depending on the humidity in the air ) and then we apply two coats of matte polyurethane.

For the base we purchased a fine tip paint brush and a can of matte black paint. You can also spray paint the base as well, but you need to make sure you completely wrap the top before doing so. I love the look of the black paint as it goes on a bit thicker than spray paint so it looks like true metal.

You can also plane all your boards down so that it has a more seamless look, but we wanted the top to look a bit more rustic as it has a very modern base.

Head on over to AnaWhite to check out her take on this fun Faux Metal Coffee Table. We made our version before Ana came out with hers ( replicating a Restoration Hardware coffee table ), but since it’s practically the same, you do the same steps.

Ana does an amazing job, as per usual, but she uses skinny 1×3 planks instead of the thicker 2×8 planks that we use. Keep in mind when buying wood from a store, it is always less than the marked dimension. So 2×8’s are 1.5″ x 7 1/4″. So you need to keep that in mind when you are building you base.

I hope you liked this tutorial on how to make a faux metal coffee table. If you have any additional questions, pop a question below and I would love to answer. We’ve built over 30 of these coffee tables for our clients and so we can tell you what will and wont work.

Have an absolutely fantastic week!

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