Faux Cement Tile DIY

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Hello friends! 

Hope you are having a wonderful day! As warmer weather approaches I like to add more touches of blue throughout my home. One thing I enjoy doing is looking at high end home decor stores to gather inspiration and I happen to come across some cement tile prints on Ballard Design’s website. 

I love cement tile, but I never pay for the real deal which is why I painted my laundry room floors in my last house to mimic them. Ahhh, I miss those floors. 

Don’t worry, this project is not that huge…. 

I had some small wood squares from Plaid so I thought I would create some faux cement tiles for to display and add a pop of color around my home. 

The first thing I did was paint the middle section with my favorite white chalk paint, White Adirondack. 

Next, I used my Folkart Aged Glaze to stain the border frame. 

Then I uploaded 3 different stencil patterns to my Cricut Design Studio and made some stencils using Cricut’s  stencil vinyl. 

I used my weeding tool to remove the small pieces from the stencils and then used some inexpensive clear contact paper as transfer tape to adhere it onto the small frames. 

Once I got the placement right I used some Folkart Chalk Paint in the color Nautical to fill in the stencil. 

I waited a little bit and then once the paint was a little dry I removed the stencil vinyl. 

And that was it! These were so simple to make. And the best part is that you can choose the color and the design and it will cost so much less than the real thing! 

You know I am always down for that! 

I even love how they coordinate with my thrifted tray that I transformed and my Goodwill candleholders.  I feel Spring fast approaching already. 

What do you think? Would you make some of these yourself? I love that they are not only super simple to make, but that they still have a high end look without the expense! 

If you like these, then you will love the rest of the projects in my latest video as well! Check it out below! 

 I hope you enjoyed this simple DIY!

As always don’t forget to share with your friends and I will see you back here next time!

Until then… adios! 

DIY Farmhouse Rustic Plate Rack

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Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well! I am so happy that Fall is finally here and the weather in Georgia has been amazing these past few days. Lows in the 5’s0 and highs in the low 70’s. Perfect weather! 

Today I am sharing the latest dupe in my Look for Less Challenge. If you are not familiar with what it is, it is a challenge I host every month on my Youtube channel with a different co-host. It’s an open invite where other creators can join in and add their videos to my playlist so that we all can inspire to create high end items for our home without the cost.

You can check out the playlist for this month here. 

My kitchen renovation  is pretty much wrapped up and what I am doing now is adding decor pieces to the space. I have a ton of updates coming at you in the next few days sharing everything it took to get it to where it is today. I feel like this kitchen has taken us most of this year. 

Anyways, I needed a piece to go on the blank wall behind my new island and since I have been wanting a plate rack (those amazing ones you see in farmhouses like all the time ?) I thought it was finally the time to make one for myself. 

I searched online and found this beauty on Etsy. It’s a made-to-order piece and if you are interested you can definitely check out the shop here. There are some gorgeous items in the shop!!!This piece, even though it was beautiful was out of my price range. At $349 it was more than I wanted to spend.

Don’t get me wrong, handmade items are worth the money. The time and effort it takes to make these things is serious and it should be compensated accordingly, but I am a handy person and I have a handy hubby and I knew we could knock this out for a fraction of the cost. 

So off to our garage we went to check our scrap wood stash. We actually had to purchase one board at Home Depot because we didn’t have one long enough for the sides but everything else we had. 

Using our inspiration piece as a reference, we took note and began to work. 

With our table saw, we began to rip our boards to our desired size. 

If you are interested in making one yourself here are the measurements.

We did make a couple of adjustments to the original size and we also removed the lowest shelf where the small pitchers were displayed. I have small kids and I did not see that as a practical way to display my pieces at all. Yikes! I could see the disasters now. 

Here are our plans: 

One more thing I did was round off the tops of the two sides to give it a soft more “cottagey” look. ? I traced a round edge and used my jigsaw for this. 

Next, it was time to assemble the shelves. We started with the two inner shelves. 

We used wood glue and nails for this and used our nail gun to attach them. 

You will need to did this to both shelves. Then, we measured where we wanted them to go.

We measured 12 inches from the top of the bottom shelf to the bottom of the next shelf above. Then, we marked the area and nailed the shelves in from the outside. 

The bottom shelf does not need a bottom support and the top is just the back support, no shelf. 

After the shelves and supports were nailed in place, then came the dowels. We measured 2 inches above the shelf to get our desired location. 

Here is where we messed up* –

We were following the inspiration piece and it had no groove lines in the shelves that we could make out so we assumed that the dowel was enough to hold the plates in place. HOWEVER, this is not the case and we didn’t find this out until AFTER we had finished the piece completely!  

It is too late to make a groove now so we will add another dowel to the bottom center of the shelf to basically act a “stop” and function like the groove would have. I will share an update on the rack when that happens… but until then… let’s move on. 

I didn’t want the stain to been to dark so I chose this one in the color Early American. 

Next, I used Debi Design Diary’s clear wax to seal it. I used a wax brush to apply it. You are supposed to leave it overnight to cure and the next day you buff it with a lint-free cloth. Easy peasy! 

Finally, we (and by we I mean, the Latino Engineer did it while I photographed?) installed the hardware to hang it up. 

Besides the fact that I was freaking out that my plates would slip (I had put painters tape on the back of them for this shoot) and that I really didn’t have many blue and white dishes to display, I LOVE IT!

I seriously will be adding those dowels soon and will share how it looks when I do, but for now this is it! 

I love the color and the little notches give it that rustic touch. Yet it still feels “cottagey” (there’s that word again? ).

Don’t those curved tops look better? I feel it softens the look.

I need more blue and white plates, gah!

And I am already working on some DIYs for either side of it to fill up even more space on that wall. All in all I am so happy! 

So how did we do? I think we did alright! We spent only $12 versus the original price of $349! 

Woot woot!! 

And even with the minor adjustments I think it’s worth just as much. 

So, let me know what you think! And don’t forget to pin and share with your friends! 

I will see you in the next one. Until then, adios! 

*Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information please see full disclosure*

Hello and Happy Friday! 

It has been another full week here. This week was all about paperwork, tax paperwork that is! It’s one of those processes that can be painful leading up to it and then once you’re done, it’s like a huge weight has been lifted off and you can breathe again! 

FYI… if you are still struggling or haven’t even started with your taxes, I have a $25 off code to use at H&R Block if you decide to have them handle it. We went there last year and it was so good to have someone do it for us.

Coupon Code: 51392 

We plan on going there again and will be sharing more about our experience in a future post. 

For this post, however, we are doing a little DIY to get us in the Spring mood. 

During my last Look for Less Challenge, I gave everyone 3 projects to vote on for my monthly project. The most votes was for the tray I previously shared, but the wall planter was a close second so I decided to give it a go as well since so many people were intrigued by it.

Below is the inspiration piece.  

It wasn’t that expensive but I knew I could do better. 

Here are a few of the things I used.

• Early American Stain by Varathane 
• Mini Miter Kit  
• 2 x 4
• Silhouette Cameo 
• Black Adhesive Vinyl
• Clamps
• Gray Wire Baskets
• Wood Glue
• Screws

We had some leftover 2 x 4’s at home and I got my hubby to trim off the edges to make them more square. I had him cut 2 of them at 36″ in length and the other 2 at 11 1/8″ so that they be slightly larger than the wire baskets. 

I stained them with Early American and I added wood glue to the ends and help them with clamps until dry. 

These baskets were from Hobby Lobby and you can get them as low as $3.50 with the 50% discount. 

After the wood glue was dry, I drilled some countersink holes so that I could screw the wood together for a stronger hold. 

Then I laid the baskets evenly throughout the frame leaving a little bit more space above the top basket. 

Here is how I spaced them out. 

MEASUREMENTS OVERVIEW:

• Vertical 2 x 4’s = 36″
• Horizontal 2 x 4’s = 11 1/8″
• The first basket rests on the bottom shelf but is still attached by screws.
• The next wire basket up is set at 13 1/2″ and the top wire basket is set at 23 1/2″

I marked them with tape to know where to screw them in. 

My hubby took over at this point so I could take photos. He just took some screws we already had and screwed them through the top holes of the wire baskets, doing 2 on each side. 

You want to screw them in like this. 

Don’t worry about the ugly yellow screws – we will address that later.

Of course, if anything confuses you by the process you can always watch the tutorial as well.

DIY Farmhouse Wall Planter 

Next, I took my Cameo and made some “herb” decals. I actually made one in English and one in Spanish. 

Stay tuned, cause these will be available in my shop! 

I have had the Cameo for a while and only regret not using it sooner. It’s so much fun! 

Eek! I just love making decals! 

For the decals, I made a cute frame out of dowels which I cut with my cute mini miter saw kit. 

Then I took this new product by PLAID called Treasure Gold in Antique Silver to paint the dowels. I wanted them to match the wire baskets since I already had stained wood on my frame. 

I used this same paint to paint over those yellow screws we used to attach the baskets. 

I glued the decal onto the frame and then I attached the small sign with command strips. I didn’t want to make it permanent in case I even want to use this sign for another purpose. 

What’s cool is that the larger Dollar Tree terra-cotta pots fit on the wire baskets perfectly! 

Psssst…. those aren’t real plants, but I plan on actually planting some for this piece. 

I just couldn’t share pots with dirt (wouldn’t look as pretty ?).

It looks perfect in the sunroom too! 

And unlike the inspiration piece this one has 3 tiers! 

I love it! What do you think? 

This cost me about $10.50 to make. And while most people don’t have heavy duty wood cutting equipment, Home Depot can cut a 2 x 4 for you with the measurements I shared above. 

So you can totally do this! 

If you were inspired by this, don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends! 

Wishing you all a great weekend! Until next week, adios! 

Hello dear friends! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far. Things were a little crazy over the weekend since we were painting and moving some furniture pieces around the house so we can continue removing the popcorn ceiling in the remaining areas. 

Popcorn ceilings are the worst! Ugh! 

The good news is that we have a good process now that makes it easy for anyone to tackle this themselves and I cannot wait to share the tips and tricks we have for that, so stay tuned! 

In addition, I have my Look for Less Challenge invitation for February up and my co-host for this month is Kat with According to Kat. If you plan on participating make sure to check out the rules in this previous post. This month’s Look for Less projects are due on February the 19th. 

Now for today! I thought I would bring you some inspiration in time for Spring with these Farmhouse Inspired Spring Decor DIY’s. I love seeing what other creative bloggers come up with and some of these ideas are just darling! 

So here we go…

This first DIY is from Kati over at Houseful of Handmade. Aren’t these precious!? And guess what, they aren’t real metal. They are faux metal wall planters and she shares exactly how to make them on her blog. Check out how easy these are to make. 

The second Spring Decor Inspiration piece is from Melissa over at Create and Find. I LOVE this idea! These stripes are perfect and that sweet burlap is the perfect touch. You won’t believe how easy this was to make and how much it looks liker her inspiration piece. 

The third inspiration piece is from my dear friend Michelle over at Our Crafty Mom. If you don’t like to spend too much time on an arrangement, this is the piece for you. It took her less than 15 minutes to make and it’s full of farmhouse touch. Sometimes the prettiest things can be so simple. 

Now, if you wish to give your hands a little more action and want to take on something a little harder, then try your hand at these DIY plant hangers. Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone is both a blogger/youtuber and she’s been one of my all time favorites! She makes these look so easy too! 

And it’s so easy to learn since she offers a blog post and video as well. 

Looking for a simple table setting that looks elegant yet farmhouse chic? Then you will love this beautiful table setting from Roxanne over at The Honeycomb Home. Ferns, terra-cotta pots and a neutral palette. It’s so calm yet so Spring! I need to try this in my home. 

Of course, there is no Spring decor without a wreath and I have two versions to share! 

The first is a simple Eucalyptus wreath made from real greenery from the grocery store no less. It really doesn’t take much to add some greenery to your space! This too came from Roxanne over at The Honeycomb Home. 

The second wreath is from Carmen over at Living Letter Home. The colors in the wreath are perfect! Not too soft and not too strong and I love the large scale of this and the addition of the “hello”. Plus, she coordinates this wreath with more Spring decor and everything comes together beautifully. 

The following piece is one from yours truly. I made these sweet floral mason jar sconces with fairy lights and they were easier than you would think. I love how the softness of the flowers meet the rustic hook and wood board to create a perfect sconce for any farmhouse wall. Definitely one of my favorite DIY’s. 

The next Spring decor inspiration is from Marianne at the Songbird Blog. These terra-cotta planters with a little bit of pastel colors, paired with the perfect flowers in pink and blue are darling! Another simple DIY with such a powerful impact that showcases exactly what Spring is about. 

Of course, if terra-cotta pots aren’t your thing, then try something a little more unexpected.

Maria from Simple Decor Nature Blog uses rusty old diary containers and I couldn’t be more in love with these. It’s the perfect combination of old along with youthful blooming flowers. She shares several versions as well on her post!  

Lastly, here is another DIY piece from me. If you aren’t into flowers (and that’s totally okay) but would still like ideas for “out of the box” thinking then perhaps you might want to try using something like split peas as a vase filler.

The peas bring the right touch of green, but very subtly. Those rustic hurricanes were a Dollar Tree DIY and you can find out how to create that rustic finish right here. 

I hope you enjoyed this sweet little round up! I cannot wait for Spring weather now, can you? 

Don’t forget to PIN and share this with your friends. 

I will see you in the next one. Until then… adios! 

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

*Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here*

Happy Monday everyone! 

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was super busy trying to get everything I needed to get done before the kids went back to school from winter vacation today. I love my kiddos, but boy it’s nice to be back to our regular routine again. 

It has been rainy and cold here and since all of the Christmas decor is put away and things are looking a little bare, I thought I would create some winter decor in order to liven things up at home…. and I decided to use leftover wrapping paper. 

Is it me or do you always have a ton left over? 

Well, I figuredI should put it to good use, especially since some of it is actually really pretty. 

I don’t have all of my crafting supplies unpacked yet so I really tried to get as creative as I could with the random items I could find throughout the home and here is what I came up with… 

First, I took this glass vase from Dollar Tree, it’s same kind I used for this winter DIY a few years back. 

I wiped it down with alcohol to make sure it was super clean and then I measured the outside. 

I cut some wrapping to fit around it – you can make this as wide or narrow as you like.

I used  a paper cutter to create clean lines (they are so inexpensive and totally worth it if you need straight cuts). Here is a similar one. 

And then I added Mod Podge all over the vase. I normally use matte mod podge, but since he paper was glossy I wanted to keep the sheen consistent. 

I wrapped the paper around the vase and then applied more Mod Podge on top of the paper to seal it. Once dry I added some navy ribbon to finish off the design. I used a thin line of E6000 to properly secure it on top and on bottom. 

And here is how it turned out! 

I am currently using it as a candleholder – I used one of those battery operated Dollar Tree ones, but it would also look stunning as a vase with pretty winter greenery inside. 

Of course I didn’t stop there…. there’s more DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

Next, I took this really sad frame that I bought at Hobby Lobby for 80% off. I started to do something to it but never finished. 

I took some Java Home Decor chalk paint and I painted the frame. 

Then I painted over the inside with White Adirondack. 

Then I printed this free winter printable I found here and I cut it down to size (the print is much larger but I wanted it to be smaller inside the frame for this project. 

I glued it to poster board to give it more stability and weight. 

Next I cut out some more wrapping paper to fit inside the frame. I added poster board to the back of it as well. 

I glued it to the frame with regular school glue. 

Once dry I took these dots from Dollar Tree’s new craft section and add them back to the floral print in order to attached it to the wrapping paper frame. 

And that’s it for this one! 

I love the contrast between the “flannel” paper and the pretty printable. 

I did also make 2 other winter DIY’s as well. 

This snowflake wood sign is one of them… 

As well as this cute tag to hang on a wreath…

I love how they are all different yet coordinate so well together. 

You can check out how to make the 2 snowflake DIY’s on my video since I didn’t want this post to be too long with so many images. The wood sign was made from scratch with a snowflake from Dollar Tree. 

And the cute tag is also a Dollar Tree piece as well. 

Check the other 2 DIY’s below!  

Snowflake Timestamp: 3:10

Snowflake Tag Timestamp: 9:22 

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

I hope you enjoyed these DIY’s and I will see you soon! 

Don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends! 

*Some of the links below are affiliate links for your convenience. For full disclosure please go here*

Hello friends! We had a wonderful start to this Memorial Day weekend as we spent most of the day at the pool. It was our kids’ last week of school and we were definitely ready to be having fun in the sun.

I am also excited because I had time to create a DIY Patriotic Wreath and update my front porch decor just in time for Memorial Day.

I will  be honest, my front porch sucked. The only thing I ever did to it since moving in was decorate it for Christmas… other than that, it was plain Jane.

I thought this weekend would be perfect to spruce it up! I have wanted to have a patriotic wreath for a while now, but they are pretty expensive, so I decided to visit my local Dollar Tree since they have so many patriotic things this year to see what I could find.

I lucked out since they had red, white and blue rose bushes and I was able to create this beauty!

It only cost me a total of $10 including the wire wreath that I also got from Dollar Tree. If you want to see how easy it was to make, check out my video below! It was super easy and quick to make!

…and remember you can keep it around for the 4th of July as well! 

DIY Patriotic Wreath & Front Porch Decor

Since my doormat was small and often got “lost” in all the brick, I decided to layer it and purchase a larger black and white rug to place underneath it. I purchased mine and my local At Home store and I love how it turned out!

For similar looks check out these options below:

In addition, since the left side of the entrance has a little more space, I wanted to create a seating nook so I added a black metal chair with a red cushion for the patriotic theme and a small side table.

Other similar looks like this:

I also added greenery, so I placed the two planters that I had brought with me when we moved from our previous home and added annuals.

One of my favorite plants is the light green sweet potato vine. It gives visual interest because not only is it a light color, but it grows so fast and easily cascades off the side of any planter. I cannot wait they grow longer.

And that’s pretty much all I did! But I am so glad how it all came together.

I hope you liked this quick little makeover and I hope you have a blessed Memorial Day weekend!

Yami

Your Latina Next Door