Wednesday Whimsy: Kitchen Towels

This post for cute kitchen towels contains affiliate links. I make a small percentage when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

If your kitchen is like mine, you have designated cute kitchen towels on your oven door...not for use, mind you, but for pretty (children and spouses should steer clear of these). Below, not only am I sharing a big selection of cute kitchen towels below, I have a few that double as working kitchen towels, too!

If it's time for a towel refresh in your kitchen, check out all of these whimsical cute towels below.

Spring Conversion Chart Printables

This post for free printable kitchen conversion charts contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

These new "springified" conversion charts are a great addition to your spring and kitchen decor. Not only are they attractive, they're also super handy for quick reference. Download your favorite format for these free printable kitchen conversion charts below.

Goodness, I LOVE a good kitchen conversion chart...and this one has loads of my favorites: watercolors, florals, and a faint buffalo check in the background. It'll make converting your measurements a breeze! Download yours below.

Vintage Kitchen Decor Printables

These four Vintage Kitchen Decor Printables have completely stolen my heart. I actually own quite a few of the bowls and dishes depicted in these vintage kitchen decor prints...so it was so fun to see them come to life on paper. I hope they bring a smile to your face and some vintage charm to your walls. They're available below in 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 sizes in our Premium Line.

Where are my Pyrex and Fire King fans? These four Vintage Kitchen Decor designs were inspired by my cabinet-full of these pieces. I collect them whenever I spy them at the thrift or antique shops that I frequent. They're just...fantastic. And I had to figure out a way to get them onto printables...ready to decorate your home! These prints are all bundled together...AND all in your favorite sizes 4x6", 5x7", and 8x10". They're available in both PDF and JPEG formats (your choice...or download all of the things!). The 8x10" is only in a PDF format. 

Grab this entire bundle of Vintage Kitchen Decor Printables here in the shop for $5. Or check out the individual designs below.

Free Butcher Beef Cuts Print

This free Free Butcher Beef Cuts Print is the perfect touch for any kitchen. Because, let's face it...do you really know where all of the cuts of beef are located on your cow? This print is a little bit vintage and a whole lot beefy (and well, my readers have also been calling it farmhouse, which I know a lot of you love). Download your free Butcher Beef Cuts Print below. It's available in three size options and multiple formats.

Seriously, y'all, I've always wanted a Butcher Beef Cuts Print...with the ol' cow all chalked-lined into her cuts and labeled nicely. It also makes me feel like a rockstar knowing where a sirloin or shank is. I can really be a real show-off with this kind of beefalicious knowledge at hand. Plus, these make for perfectly practical kitchen decor that's kind of a no-brainer. Grab your own free Butcher Beef Cuts Print below in your favorite size.

Buffet Reveal: Distressing Painted Furniture with Stain

I finished my {new-to-me} antique buffet. Using my fail-proof method of distressing painted furniture with stain, this came together beautifully...

and it's a piece I'm super proud of.

I've been looking on {actually, stalking} Craigslist for the last two years looking for an antique buffet. The problem was...most of the ones on there were already refinished {where's the fun in that?} or way out of my budget...or only sold with an elaborate dining set. 

And then I came across Ashley's ad. We met and instantly hit it off. She showed me her grandmother's antique 100+ year old buffet and my heart went pitter-patter. She was so kind and gave me a good deal on the piece...and even separated it from the dining set it was listed with. And now...she reads this crazy blog of mine {hiiiiiii, Ashley!}.  


She was very quick to point out a few flaws in the finish when I looked at the piece...I wanted to let her know up front that I planned to refinish it. Sometimes Craigslisters may not love the fact that you're taking a beloved piece of theirs and completely changing it up, but she was super excited about it. She was so kind and told me several times that she was happy it was going to someone who really wanted it.

And, I really wanted it. Like a two-year itch, I did. 

The gang's all here. These are all of the products I used to refinish this. The red is Valspar's Fabulous Red...and it totally lived up to its name. 

I love to use a spray stripper. I feel like I have more control that way. And I'm a *slight* control freak. I use the scraper to pull the previous finish off, after the stripper had sat for about five minutes.

No stripper jokes today, friends...I think I stretched that out a bit too much in the last furniture refinishing post and made my mom's friends all blush and call each other. 

I digress...

I have to be honest, the stripping product didn't work as fabulously on this piece as on previous ones. So, it was back to basics. Or semi-basics, I suppose, I pulled out the sander. I started with 150 grit sandpaper and worked my way to 300 sanding the top down.

It took over two hours to sand the top of it down. But, man...it was worth it. 

I got it down to the bare wood and it was so soft and perfect to the touch.

It soaked the stain in beautifully. B-E-A-utifully.

I use the staining pad when just straight-staining a part of a piece. And I still love this look of a stained top and a painted bottom. To be clear, I'm referencing furniture here.

I did four coats of stain on top. {Sometimes I just can't leave well enough alone}.

I sanded with 400 grit paper between the first two coats of stain 

{I also left room for plenty of drying time in between staining and sanding}. 

Instead of stripping the bottom, too, I used the Zinsser primer that is designed to cover anything {because I wasn't 100% sure what the original finish was, as in oil based or not?} This primer really works...I painted a mirror with it, for crying out loud.

Then it was on to the red. It took three coats. Three. But, I persevered.

Truthfully, it could have probably taken a fourth coat, too. But that would have sent me to the looney bin. Each coat took 24 hours to dry...so the three coats took three full days. And I'm just not a patient person.

After letting the last coat dry overnight, I went at the painted areas with the sander.

So many of you have chatted with me about this method, so I made a video just for YOU with the step-by-step process:

You can watch it here. 

Again, to see the complete "aging with stain" process, 

watch my video on this piece, here.

After the aging, I went over the entire piece with satin polyurethane {I did the top twice and sanded lightly with 400 grit sandpaper in between coats}.

I opted to leave the hardware in the original state. I thought about using some Brass-O to clean it, but I decided the aged bronze was a bit more true to the shabby finish I gave her. And truly, I've never redone a piece in which the original hardware was in such great shape that I could use it on the refinished piece. This was a very well-cared for piece!

The only other thing I may go back and do later is mod-podge a pretty patterned paper into the cabinets and drawers {just on the inside}. 

I love how it turned out. 

The stained top with all of its marble-y goodness is my fave.

I can't wait to get her into my kitchen and really enjoy the heck out of her. Can you imagine how pretty all of the Thanksgiving pies will look displayed on this? I'm giddy. 

Do you have any furniture projects on your summer to-do list?

{I still have three more pieces in my garage awaiting refinishing...another day!}

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and at Coastal Charm and Savvy Southern Style

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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How to Build a Simple Crate

This post for How to Build a Simple Crate contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

A simple crate is the perfect way to organize in style and on a budget. They're great for pantries, toy boxes, closet storage and more (it's a stylish alternative to storage baskets). We've taken storage bins to a whole new level. This is a beginner-level project. See how to build a simple crate below.

If you've been around here much, you know when my dad helps out on a project, it always goes swimmingly. He's at it again today, sharing how to build a simple crate with step-by-step instructions. See all of the fun below.

Pantry Overhaul

 

In the spirit of continuing on our kitchen redo, I tackled the pantry over the last two weeks {I didn't have huge chunks of time, so I spread it out...which left my kitchen quite chaotic the entire time}.
You may remember, I was going to stencil the walls, however our walls proved way too textured to handle stencils. Bummer.

This was the before....not awful, but not great. It had certainly gotten messy since the original organization over four years ago.

The small boxes my oils and stuff were in weren't practical...they weren't deep enough, so I used so many of them...making it look super crowded.

Oh, ack. This was the baking area...along with the bento stuff in the baskets that attached to the shelves. You can see they didn't fit and spilled onto the shelf above.

Started with paint...kind of rough since the shelves weren't removable.

I used my same "Oops Blue" that you've seen allover lots of projects in my home. 

I also painted the shelves white and used a laminate shelf lining to cover them for extra protection.

My dad and I built crates {six for less than $30}. Click here to see the full tutorial. This is a project anyone could tackle!

I also painted and weathered them. 

I labeled the crates. You can download these same labels for free here.

After the crates were in place, I reorganized and refilled the pantry.
The above two crates were full of Bento items. I use them so much that I wanted them easily accessible.

I used empty Crystal Light containers for all of my cutters and other Bento supplies.

On the floor, my baskets have larger items and overflow Ziplocs/wrap stuff.
The bottom shelf houses baking and breakfast supplies.

The baking supplies are in the crate, while my flours {coconut & almond} are behind the Oatmeal and bars. {Along with marshmallows and bulk oats}.

Besides the crates, most of the items I used to organize I already had on hand. Those little baskets for the breakfast bars and oatmeal were purchased years ago from Southern Living at Home. They make it nice to instantly see what we need.

I did purchase the clear cereal boxes for this makeover. I bought the ones from Walmart that were less than $4 each. That little basket on the left with pancake stuff {along with its matching companion one on another shelf holding pasta} were from Gooseberry Patch, about ten years ago.


The "Biscuits" container holds overflow bars....we LOVE Trader Joe's, but the nearest one is 2 1/2 hours away in Fort Worth, so we stock up when we go! Those Peanut Butter & Oat Bars are my boys' favorites!
The container itself has been with me for nearly 12 years...that and the "Bread" ones were both from Restoration Hardware {I think they were purchased at their first store that opened in Austin}.

Canned goods on shelf risers from Dollar Tree! So cheap and so functional.

Since the risers were from Dollar Tree, I doubled them to make sure they withstood the weight of all of those cans!

I kept my snack containers in the same ones from before...it's a system that works for us. These were purchased over four years ago, also at Dollar Tree.
The longer crate at the top is for chips and snack overflow.

Another new addition is the two Lazy Susans. LOVE these!! They're perfect for all of my bottled items. I bought the BIG ones over at Bed, Bath & Beyond {they're the 18" ones}.

The "Bread" box at the top holds all of my paper goods.

At the very top, towards the right are my crock pot and ice cream maker. I moved the cookbooks to the spare bedroom's closet {with the diet we're on, I don't use too many of those anymore...no point in keeping them there}.

So far, this is functioning great for us!

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Stencilled Bar Stool

Last weekend, I got the chance to work with my super fun stencil kit from Cutting Edge Stencils. It did not disappoint! I gave my barstools a 10-minute mini makeover with BIG impact!

This was my stencil. I ended up doing a reverse design...and didn't treat it as an all-over stencil. I only used the foam roller...I didn't even need the brush. 

These were the befores of the bar stools. They were fine...but the finish on them left them difficult to keep clean. I was excited that the stencil would help change up the finish and make them easier to keep clean.

I taped my stencil to the chair with painter's tape.

I simply rolled on white acrylic paint. It couldn't have been easier. No seeping, so crooked lines...perfection!

Come back Sunday night to our Mop It Up Monday party to find out how to win a $50 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils.

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Using Vinyl Flooring for Crafts

As you may or may not know, a few months ago, we were blessed to work with the wonderful people from Metroflor. They installed these AmAzInG new floors in several areas of my home:

{If you'd like to see all of the awesome flooring photos and details, click here...it was way FUN!}

I ended up with three extra boxes of the flooring leftover after the install was complete. I just knew I'd use it for something so I've held onto it. When we re-painted the kitchen last month, a lot of my old decor, felt a bit....errr, out of place, once we were done.

Those three canvas-like pieces in the above photo {called "the Tuscan Trio"} were from the days when I was a Southern Living at Home consultant {the job where I spent more than I made...weird, no idea how that happened}. I still liked them, but they just didn't go with the {year long} modernization process that the kitchen is smack-dab in the middle of.

So I pulled the good ol' Tuscan Trio down and repurposed them with some of my leftover vinyl & painted letters. This vinyl is a stinkin' breeze to work with...it's AWESOME {in your head, you need to say the word 'AWESOME' in your best, highest-pitched Barney Stinson singing-voice...please and thank you}.

I scored the vinyl to the length I needed with a utility knife (box cutter).

Then I simply bent it and it broke {very cleanly} in two pieces. Easy-smeazy. I cut & trimmed enough to fit on top of all three art pieces. Then I used Liquid Nails to glue the vinyl to the top of the art {this is a floating flooring, so if you're using it on actual floors, please consult the owner's manual...it wouldn't require Liquid Nails...that was just for this craft}.

Then I weighted the pieces with a bunch of books and let them dry overnight.

I purchased three cardboard letters from HobLob {this was my only out-of-pocket expense for this whole project}. I painted them red with some acrylic paint.

After they were dry, I used Liquid Nails to attach them to the front of my art pieces. I let them dry overnight again. The Liquid Nails worked fabulously....I know this since I witnessed my husband carrying the "T" by the actual letter as he took it to the kitchen to hang it for me {hand to forehead in shock}.

So much more fitting with the new look! Really loving how modern and fun they are. Also love that it adds another texture to the kitchen.

The possibilities with the vinyl flooring are endless...I'm thinking of making a cool new headboard for my youngest son with some more of my leftover pieces.

For more information on Metroflor vinyl flooring, click here.

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