It’s been two months since our last post but I finally had a few minutes to write this post so you can see one of the cool projects we’ve been working on. We have a wall in our front dining room that needed a little something so Bethany wanted to hang a DIY Farmhouse Art painting similar to the one Haven made for us that is currently positioned over the fireplace in the family room. This post shows how the picture was made and what it looks like mounted in our front room. Continue reading DIY Farmhouse Art – Black Sheep Painting
Category Archives: Interior Design
Homemade Wood Shelf with Crates
We built this homemade wood shelf unit a couple months ago but held off on writing this post as we wanted to finish the crates that go with it first. The shelf was surprisingly simple to make and cost a fraction of what it would if you purchased something similar from a store. The unit is solid wood, nearly 9 feet tall, is anchored to the wall, and stained to match the decor of our house. This post contains the instructions and pictures to build both the homemade wood shelf and the crates. Continue reading Homemade Wood Shelf with Crates
Bathroom Vanities
We are all moved in and enjoying our new home but haven’t found much time for blogging the last few months. Our commitment was to blog the entire process so I decided to go ahead and knock out one more blog post this weekend. In this post are the pictures of the bathroom vanities and links to the instructions to build the vanities yourself. We saved an amazing amount of money by building some of our own vanities. If you like a farmhouse or rustic style then I highly recommend these homemade vanities as an alternative to expensive manufactured vanities. Continue reading Bathroom Vanities
Farmhouse Dining Room Table
I have been busy working down Bethany’s “honey-do” list since we moved into our new home. There were quite a few woodworking projects on the list, including building a long farmhouse dining room table for our large family. When I sat down to start drawing up the plans I asked her to provide me with pictures of tables similar to what she had in mind. Bethany only provided me with one example, a picture from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ website:
The table was made for a couple with 7 children (Allen and Gail Holt) on an episode titled “Fixer Upper: Yours, Mine, Ours, and a Home on the River”. It was built by Clint Harp with Harp Design Co. and met Bethany’s design guidelines of simple, rugged, and LARGE.
Farmhouse Dream Kitchen
As many of you know from our “Designing Kitchen and Cabinet Layouts” post, our whole house was designed around Bethany’s dream kitchen. While we made every effort to save money on other areas of the house, we were much less frugal when it came to the kitchen. Because we are so thrilled with both the aesthetic and functional results, I wanted to take the time to share pictures and explain in detail why Bethany loves her dream kitchen design so much!
This kitchen design is not one that happened by accident. Bethany slaved over the design for many months and mocked up every version and every detail using Home Designer Architectural software. Here is a screenshot Bethany took using the software and then what the kitchen looks like now in real life:
Direct Vent Fireplace
Our family has always enjoyed hanging out in the family room, gathered around the fireplace. We have always had gas fireplaces but we considered having a traditional fireplace in the new house. In fact, I was hoping to have a traditional wood-burning fireplace so we could take advantage of all the free firewood we have on the property. For a variety of reasons, we ended up deciding on installing a direct vent fireplace. Three of the main reasons for this decision were: Continue reading Direct Vent Fireplace
Hardwood Floors Installed and Stained
The hardwood floors were installed a few weeks ago but we held off uploading pictures until the stain was applied. One of the main things Bethany and I both agreed about as a design requirement for the new house was that we would have absolutely zero carpet. We have a lot of kids so carpet always ends up stained, dirty, and gross. We also just love the way hardwood floors look and feel. This post has some pictures of the newly installed wood floors. The final coat of polyurethane has not been applied yet but they shouldn’t look a lot different in the end than they do now. Continue reading Hardwood Floors Installed and Stained
Tile Installed
Its been a few weeks since the tile was installed but I’m finally getting around to uploading some pictures. Like much of the house, Bethany opted for simple colors and styles, mostly different shades of white. She did decide to do a checkered pattern in the utility room and requested to have it installed in a diagonal configuration. Continue reading Tile Installed
SketchUp Tutorial for Woodworking Projects
Last year I completed one of my first “real” woodworking projects, the Ana White 4×4 Truss Beam Table. I was impressed with the quality of the directions Ana provided, especially the images she created using SketchUp. We are currently in the middle of building our dream home and my wife has many woodworking projects in mind for me. For example, she would like me to Continue reading SketchUp Tutorial for Woodworking Projects
Homemade Powder Room Vanity with Vessel Sink
For those that have been following Wholesteading.com for a while, you probably remember my first real woodworking project…the Ana White 4×4 Farmhouse Truss Beam Table. That project was a huge success and has given me the confidence to take on many other woodworking projects. My most recent project was a special request from Bethany for a homemade powder room vanity with vessel sink for use in the new house we are building. Continue reading Homemade Powder Room Vanity with Vessel Sink