Some of you may have already seen my post for the DIY Farmhouse X Desk I built about a year ago. This is a great article with lots of color photos but it isn’t detailed enough to actually build the exact same desk. Wait no more because I created free downloadable plans to create this exact DIY Farmhouse X desk!
The farmhouse styled desk is simple to make with a little time and the right tools. It took me a few days to assemble in my free time around the holidays and could easily be completed in a weekend! This farmhouse corner desk fits perfectly in my dining room giving me a ton more space for my work items.
Farmhouse X Desk Plans
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Click below to get your free DIY Farmhouse Desk plans. Just enter your email address and the link will be sent directly to you! If you don’t receive the link to the free diy farmhouse x desk plans within a few minutes check your spam or junk folders. Enjoy and let me know if you like these free plans to make this Farmhouse X desk.
Don’t forget to order your own pocket hole jig, I used the Kreg Jig, but there are other brands out there.
A lot of the projects I write about are around my house. It’s certainly been a work in progress. The half bath upstairs that was renovated fairly recently, so it was clean and somewhat modern but was in need of a refresh. These easy and inexpensive DIY industrial pipe shelves were just what it needed to add some character!
I have seen similar products in pictures and thought that it would match with that space, a bit rustic and a bit modern. I also have brushed iron hardware already in this room so it tied it all together.
What I really like about these is the versatility you can get just by changing the wood color, tone or effect. They look great with light raw wood, dark stained, grey washed or weathered wood. You can use thick slabs of wood or go for a thinner sleek look. Everything looks good!
Installation
At the moment, I’m using 2 pieces of sanded 2×4’s! I intended to darken them and give them a rustic worn finish but I haven’t had the time. I actually plan to make a coordinating wood and hook curtain “rod” to match but I have been waiting to find the perfect piece of free wood 🙂 It’s easier to finish them all together to keep them with a consistent look.
Well there is not much as far as directions for these industrial pipe shelves. Here are some links to the products I ordered. *Disclaimer – these are affiliate links that may earn a small commission if you purchase a product at no additional charge to you.
You will need wall anchors if you are not directly drilling into studs. Make sure you use a level to hang the pipes. I would have a space of 24-48″ between pipes. I cut the wood with about 3″ overhang on each side.
I wanted to share some of my favorite Holiday cookie recipes and this Christmas candy cane cookies recipe is one of my favorites. My mother has been making these cookies since before I was born, and I have the original recipe to prove it 🙂
I do change this recipe a bit, as I don’t use shortening, I substitute butter.
My mother is half Italian and she makes twenty different Christmas cookies, and stores them all in tins. Its been like this for as long as I can remember. I only make a few kinds, including these candy cane cookies, and give them as gifts around the holidays.
Candy Cane Cookies Recipe
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioner sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
red food coloring
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and extracts. Hand mix in the flour and salt just until combined. Split the dough in half and add red food coloring.
candy cane cookie dough
Take 1 teaspoon size balls of dough and roll into 6″ long ropes. You can use flour or confectioners sugar to stop the dough from sticking to your surface.
Twist the red and white ropes and turn the tops down into the shape of a candy cane. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Candy Cane Cookies
Bake 9-10 minutes or until the edges just start to turn golden brown.
Thanks for reading and check out some of my other recipes here.
This simple DIY picture ledge project is super versatile and simply elegant. I made this picture ledge with scrap wood from my Farmhouse X desk project and it now holds my painted mason jar pencil holders.
DIY picture ledge
I used equal length pieces of wood; two 1×6’s and one 1×2. but if you look closely the ledge strip has a mitered corner. The space I needed to fill was about 18″ long, but you can make these in any length. I used my Kreg Jig to screw the back to the bottom along with wood glue. This length needed 2 screws
Then, I glued and hand nailed on the 1×2 with some finish nails.
I wanted this to sit flush on the wall so I routered two hanging holes in the back and anchored screws to the wall using a level.
What I love most about these DIY Picture Ledges is the versatility. I love the look of these in black with a gathering of black and white photos and frames. You can go super rustic with a drift wood look to sleek and modern. Look at these other great images of picture ledges!
I have been making wood slice ornaments for a few years. They are solid, but something easy for kids to make and are nice decorations for the Christmas cookies we give out. This DIY wood slice ornament tutorial is super easy and also inexpensive if you have access to the logs and a saw. I have included links to the products I used and may earn a small commission if you make purchase at no additional expense to you.
Two winters ago damaged my birch trees and they were laying on my roof. Unfortunately, I had to cut them down, but bright side, I have birch logs to make these rounds from with my chop saw. I slice up 2″-3″ logs about 3/8″ thick. Don’t havea woodshop yet? Check out my article for 6 essential tools for your woodshop.
I used white and black chalk paint along with acrylic craft paint to make a first round of paint.
Next was time to put on the details. I would mark lightly in pencil my design or lettering. I’m not great at lettering, so I printed some samples from my computer, and used that to help free hand the outline of the letters on the wood slice. Then I used acrylic paint pens carefully over my design.
Aren’t they so cute?! All that is left is to drill holes in the top and tie them up. I centered the hole over the design and made sure there was enough space from the edge that they didn’t split.
I used a natural jute twine and threaded them this way so that they hang facing out when on the tree.
These DIY wood slice ornaments are a quick project and make really unique gifts and will also look great on your own Christmas Tree.
Furniture makeovers: transform any piece of furniture into a piece you love! I don’t know about you, but I can’t walk around my house and look at the mishmash of furniture I’ve collected over the years without envisioning what I want the piece to look like, as if I bought it at pottery barn or Homegoods. I literally can’t stop myself from all the ideas I have to transform any piece of furniture you have lying around the house (or grab off the curb) into something you love!
When I was younger I was consigned to make what I had work, and never really thought about transforming what I had into a cohesive style for my home or room. I also grew up in a household that never painted furniture. I mean NEVER. Most my furniture projects included stripping paint from old piece to stain and poly the beautiful natural wood. While I have done a lot of transformations myself, like my wicker furniture makeover, mid century modern nightstand makeover, I want to share some of my favorite flips from around the web.
Laminate
This first one is one of my ultimate favorites: The painted hive has an amazing transformation of a laminate piece I still can’t believe it. I want to recreate this on a simple pine piece in my bedroom.
Queen Anne
My next transformation is something so easily found in homes, on the curb or for cheap at a thrift store. Queen Anne pieces, whether end tables, a coffee table, or nightstand are easy to find. Here are a few of my favorite makeovers.
This makeover is not what I usually like, but I have been really into the black and gold or navy and gold look on painted furniture. This piece from Karen Lebere design is beautiful.
Look at this great idea! We all need an ottoman made from a boring old end table for $40! I can’t find who to credit for this image or DIY so if you have the original let me know I will link it!
This is coffee table from Anastasia Vintage is much more my style. I really like the painted legs and contrasting top look. A natural wood top is my favorite, but this gray wash is really nice on this piece and would make a great light coffee table for a french farmhouse inspired room.
Knotty Pine
Knotty pine with a natural oil-based finish is one of my least favorites. It’s yellow-ey and unless I’m in a cabin in the White Mountains, has no place in my decor. However, it’s one of the least expensive solid wood pieces you can find, so it’s easy to have these pieces dragging down your motif. Here are some of my favorite furniture makeovers; transforming knotty pine into something you love.
My first example is the simplest of makeovers, painting a solid pine dresser white by Craving Some Creativity. She used a paint sprayer and several layers, but this dresser would have been a perfect candidate for some white chalk paint and a protective layer to seal it off. Read her full makeover on her website cravingsomecreativity.com.
Virginia Hewgley did an amazing job on this pine nightstand. I love a wood top with painted bottom.
I could spend all day searching and looking at photos of the amazing transformations completed around the world. Pinterest has so many great ideas and tutorials, get creative and find a piece around your house, find your inspiration in photos or tutorials and get to work!
I love anything pumpkin flavored. Moist pumpkin bread, muffins and pie all top my list. Here is my favorite Pumpkin Streusel Muffin recipe!
Pumpkin Muffin Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking spice mix (or 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)
3/4 cup salted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 – 15oz can plain pumpkin puree
Streusel Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 1/2 tablespoons melted salted butter
Directions for the muffins:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray or line 18 muffin tins. Cream the sugar and butter with a mixer on high speed. Mix in the eggs and blend well. Mix in the can of pumpkin puree and mix well on high with a mixer. Combine dry ingredients and hand mix into wet mixture just until all the flour is combined. Spoon into muffin tins.
Directions for the crumb topping:
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix in melted butter to form a crumb consistenancy. Spoon onto muffins before placing in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
This furniture makeover was a really whimsical, fun project. The mid-century nightstand is chalk painted in a rich blue with this classy constellation peel and stick wall paper accent. This was the before:
I saw so many awesome projects other DIYers have completed with mid-century furniture, so even though its not really the style choice in my home, I was really excited to do this makeover. These were the supplies I used.
This wallpaper I purchased from amazon, and is a very nice quality. It was very sticky but I could re-seat the paper easily as needed when applying.
I used 2 layers of chalk paint then I applied a water based semi gloss polyurethane to the entire piece. I actually like the original handle, but I might give it a gold spray update. What do you think?
If you have been following my DIY basement renovation, you know I’m turning my dark, out-dated basement into a cozy family room. One of the things on my list was to expose the joists in the ceiling and paint them white. Its been a lot of work to get to this point, but its starting to come together!
Here is a before picture. Its honestly depressing to spend any time in this space.
Before basement remodel
The prep
I cleared out the space and I went to work taking down the ceiling tiles. They were pretty easy but it was a messy job. There was a lot of dust and rodent droppings. It was disgusting. I wore gloves and a mask and used a heppa filter on the vacuum when cleaning up.
Once the tiles were down and cleaned up, I had rows and rows of strapping to remove. Using my pry-bar and hammer and pulled them down, and also used a saws-all to cut it into more manageable pieces when needed.
Painting
Then I was ready to start painting! I had an airless paint sprayer from Harbor Freight given to me, and I don’t think I would have done this job without a sprayer. It would have been a lot of work to hand paint the joists.
I had already started the German Smear technique (read about that here) on the bricks so I covered everything up and prepared the paint gun. I used Kilz II primer in a 5 gallon bucket and I used at least 3 gallons to spray the ceiling and wood shingles.
What a difference already! I kept moving, changing my point of view to make sure I didn’t have any missed spots. Also I didn’t really cover the carpet since I’m replacing it anyway, but the sprayer has a lot of over-spray that settles on everything, so cover anything you value before starting. I was able to control the spray and gun well, but the paint mist settled everywhere.
The coverage could have been better, you can still see some texture and staining coming through the paint. I want to cut off all those exposed nails and I need to wire in some new canister lights so for a first coat this was perfect.
The reveal
These are the after pictures (so far!) Follow more of my DIY basement renovation as I have to finish the German Smear down the wall. I also plan on painting the shingles in a Ben Moore Pale Oak color. What type of flooring do you think will look good in this space?
I’m always looking for cheap, simple, but also lasting crafts to make with my kids. Anything that doesn’t involve a paper plate, or a bunch of taped together garbage is a win in my book 😉 I pulled out my Halloween decorations from the attic this year and much of what I had was paper based and was not looking so hot after a hot summer in the attic. My kids are still pretty young and making projects I actually want to display for years to come are hard to come by. But this Halloween project is perfect! It didn’t require them to make things perfect, it was made with scrap materials, but will also last in the attic year after year without getting crushed or mangled.
I cut some scrap 2 x 4’s to even heights, about 4″ high and one long piece for the base about 12″ long. I sanded the edges lightly with an electric sander and 220 grit paper. You want the cuts and edges smoothed but I didn’t spend a lot of time sanding the faces of the wood.
From here is was all craft acrylic paint to paint the wood white, orange and green. I’ve seen similar crafts with purple bats or vampires.
Once it was dry I penciled the faces on, then traced with a sharpie. I also printed out the Trick or Treat from my computer and made a stencil by taping packing tape over the print out and cutting out the lettering with an exact-o knife. That’s it! These are such cute Halloween decorations and were so simple to make.
