Helloooooo, ladies!

Happy last day of the month!

What a month it has been here at Beneath My Heart! 

(One for the record books, I believe.)

My BEST DIY Project of November is definitely my kitchen makeover, but it is still going on!

We (I mean Cy) was busy today installing our new farmhouse sink and butcher block counter top.  I’ve been busy the past two days driving back and forth (twice!) to Ikea in Ohio!  (I’ll tell ya that story later.)

But things are coming along, and I am so happy with it so far.

Here’s a sneak peek…

Now I would LOVE to see what you’ve been up to this past month. 

Which project was your BEST?

Here are the party guidelines…

• Your project MUST be about DIY home decor or home improvement.

• Only ONE project per blogger, please.

• Your project needs to be from the month of November.

• Please enjoy visiting other great projects by other bloggers and leave some comment love. 

• Please link back to the party somewhere in your post.  (Only those with a link back to the party will be considered to be featured on my blog.)

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I am so excited to have one of my favorite bloggers here today to help us continue thinking of ways to celebrate a Simple and Inexpensive Christmas!

I subscribe to Diana’s blog, Our Vintage Home Love, through my email, and I love reading each of her posts.  Her decor is simple and beautiful, so I knew she would be perfect for this series.

She is also very talented!  Be sure to read to the end of this post because I have something special I want to share with you!

Welcome, Diana!

Hi there!  Diana here from Our Vintage Home Love.  I am so honored to be guest posting here at Beneath My Heart today.  When Traci asked me, I couldn’t say yes fast enough.  I love her and her blog and always leave it feeling inspired in my home and in my heart.

In our home we keep Christmas decorations simple and inexpensive.  I always try to use things from around the house or from nature.

For our Christmas tree this year, I used some of those left over coffee sacks that I bought back in early fall from our local farm supply store.  I simply cut them into 5 inch strips, attached them with pins and wrapped them around the tree.  Easy and didn’t cost a thing and I love the rustic feel it added to the tree.  The leftover coffee sacks were used for the tree skirt.  I used left over bread board scraps to make squares and stenciled JOY on them to use above the pocket door.

I also like to combine different sizes of round globe ornaments into groups on a string of hemp twine for the tree.  They seem to catch your eye a little more than a single globe.

This year I made our stockings from left over scraps of painters dropcloth canvas.  To give them a little texture, I wrapped the tops with red jute webbing that I always have laying around and just pinned it on the back.

Another tradition in our house is to go out into the woods and find our own greenery.  We clip some to bring back home and I like to add it to the fake stuff to make it look a little more full and a little more real.  This is especially fun to do on the front porch around the door.  The extra I use above doorways and on our ledge here since we don’t have a fireplace.

We have a large collection of vintage post cards, so I picked out my favorites and clipped them to a piece of hemp twine that I hung in the window using mini clothes pins.

And of course at night, we light lots of candles and put on Christmas music for a cozy atmosphere.

Those are just a few things we do around our home for Christmas that don’t cost much at all.  Pretty simple but that’s the way we like it.

Thank you again, Traci for inviting me to guest post!  I truly enjoyed it!  Have a great day everyone!

Thank you, Diana!  Your home looks beautiful, and I am extremely jealous since mine looks more like this…

Sheesh!

Oh well, here is something that makes me smile…

I have been wanting to share Diana’s bread boards with you for a while.  This talented lady makes the most beautiful bread boards by hand and sells them in her Etsy shop.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

These would make GREAT Christmas gifts!  I personally would love the mini bread boards (hint to all my family and friends.)  Here is the link to make it even easier…click HERE!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Best DIY Projects of November linky party!

Have a blessed day!

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Hey friends!

Even though I am knee-deep into a kitchen renovation, I am feeling the need to talk about Christmas.

Since I cannot decorate for Christmas around my home, I thought I could do a little on my blog.

This year, like many of you, I am focusing on a Simple and Inexpensive Christmas.

I want my Christmas gifts, décor, and recipes to be simple.

And inexpensive!

So throughout the next two weeks, I will be sharing some simple and inexpensive ideas with you.

I also have some very special guest posters lined up to share with us, and you are going to love them!

To start us off, I thought I would post a little project that I did for a guest post about a month ago.

I really do love this project. 

It took me less than an hour to make and cost less than $4.00!

(I didn’t have to purchase all the supplies because I had some of them leftover from previous projects.)

First of all, I bought this wooden plaque for 50 cents from Hobby Lobby.

Then I spray painted the plaque with some Krylon Satin Dover White that I had left over from another project.  You could use any off white paint you may have at home.

Then I hammered in some bronze upholstery tacks that I bought from Lowe’s for $1.30.  I  used less than two boxes.

Nailing in the tacks takes some practice.  I had to draw a thin pencil line down the middle of the plaque to help me keep my lines straight.

The tacks are not perfectly lined up, but good enough.

I left a space at the bottom of the tree for my red ribbon.

Then I used my StazOn Ink (that I already had) and stamped “Blessings” at the bottom of the plaque.

I got the “Blessings” stamp a few weeks ago in the dollar bins at Michael’s.

Next, I hot glued some jute string to the top of the plaque so I could hang it on a wall or tree, and I hot glued my red ribbon on.

I loved the way it turned out, but it looked a little too “new” to me.  I love the look of old, vintage types of decorations.

So I used my sanding sponge and sanded down the edges of the plaque.

But since the plaque was pine, you couldn’t really see where I sanded it, and it didn’t have that vintage look I was after.

So I used some Valspar Mocha glaze (that I have had for about two years!), and applied it to the sanded edges with a Q-tip and wiped it off with a paper towel.

It made the plaque look soooo much better!

That’s it!

I took it outside and hung it on a tree because the weather was gorgeous in KY that day!

I love my sweet little plaque!

It is such a great reminder of all the blessings that Christmas holds.

They have smaller plaques at Hobby Lobby if you would like to make a similar smaller ornament, or use it for a gift tag.  I thought you could even do a monogram plaque as a gift!

I want to say a special thank you to Kristin for creating a cute little button for me!

Didn’t she do a great job?

She has a website called Kristin’s Veranda.

On it, you will find links to her blog, her online store, her healthy recipes, and her community page.

Check it out!

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Hello Friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

We visited my husband’s side of the family in Georgia and had a very special time together. 

We were gone from Wednesday to Sunday and enjoyed a much need break from all the work around our house.  But when we got back Sunday, we started back to work. I’ve painted about half of the kitchen and will be sharing the paint color soon.

But first, I wanted to share some information about our hardwood floors.

We are installing hardwood flooring on almost the entire main level of our house, including in the new addition.

So we had to go with a wood that was not too crazy expensive.

In our last home, we had 3/4 inch x 8 inch wide, New England White Pine floors in our kitchen…

and our guest house….

We love the look of pine floors, but the New England White Pine is a very soft wood and shows a lot of wear over time.

So for this home, we decided to go with Yellow Pine Wood which is a little more durable.  We also decided to go with a 3/4 inch x 5 inch wide plank.  We purchased our flooring in both home from Lumber Liquidators.

Cy said we should go with the 5 inch plank because it is easier to get tighter seams if you are working with a board that is a little warped. 

This week, we will be sanding the floor and prepping it for staining.  We are going to put a wood conditioner on the floor first, and then apply Minwax Dark Walnut Oil-based Stain. 

I will share pictures of these steps as we go along.

If you have any more questions about our flooring, just let me know!

Have a blessed week!

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Okay, so I took one day off from posting to enjoy some time with my family for Thanksgiving, and I feel like I haven’t been on my blog in for-eva!

I miss you guys!  (I know, it’s crazy!)

We are taking a couple days off from our kitchen renovation to just relax.  I think we ,(okay mostly my husband), definitely deserve it.

So Today, I just wanted to share with you a couple of great “Black Friday” deals going on with two of my affiliate sponsors.

Canvas People is having

their best offer ever today!

I love this deal because I think these would make great Christmas gifts!

savethecoupons

You take your own picture, upload it to Canvas People, and they will send you a beautiful canvas print of your photo!

Silhouette America

is also having a great deal!

If you have a Silhouette, this is a great opportunity to stock up on some supplies.

Do you have any great Black Friday

deals that I should know about? 

Please share!!!

*As always, I receive a small percentage of the sales that are made through the links from my blog.  So thank you so much!!!

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Hello sweet friends!

Thanksgiving is almost here, and I cannot wait.

I love spending time with my family and stuffing my face until I’m sick!

I had planned on showing you a video update of the addition to our house, but I couldn’t get to it.  There were so many errands to run today, and by the time I got home to film it, it was too dark outside (which was only 5 pm!).  We have had major rain for several days now, and the sky is cloudy and gray.  So by 5:00, is was already too dark to film.  Our addition doesn’t have any electricity in it yet, so I wouldn’t have been able to get a good picture of it.

So I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you about my favorite “new”  blog.

Okay, it’s not really “new.”

But it IS my favorite.

It is my favorite because it is my sweet, sweet sister’s blog!

Walking in Grace and Beauty

She has been blogging as long as I have and her blog has mostly focused on her passions:  faith and ministry.  (She is a pastor’s wife.)

However, it has a little bit of a new look and a new focus as she has started to focus on couple more of her passions…Fashion and Beauty!

For the longest time, she was afraid to talk about fashion (and makeup) on her blog because she was afraid is would seem superficial and materialistic.

That is NOT her heart.  Her heart loves Jesus more than anything in this world.

So she has blogged mostly about her faith over the past two years, with an occasional post on food or decorating.

I understand why she has struggled with talking about fashion on her blog.  I have struggled with talking so much about my home.  I never want my readers to think that my “treasures” are in earthly things.  Jesus is my greatest treasure.

But I know that God is the One who has made me creative, and He has called my to create a haven in my home for my family.  (Okay!  So my home is not much of a haven right now…but it will be after this renovation! )

It is my prayer that I will have readers come to my blog looking for home décor or DIY inspiration, and find MUCH more.  Hopefully, they will see and feel God’s love for them in some way.

My sister hopes to have readers come to her blog looking for fashion and beauty tips and find MUCH more.  She hopes they find where TRUE beauty comes from, and that is in a life rooted in Jesus Christ.

We both pray that God will use the platform He has given us through our blogs to honor and glorify Him.

God has made my sister to love “beauty”.  Ever since I can remember, she has been helping me (and Mom) with our makeup, our hair, and our clothes.  She has a gift!  She is good at what she does, and she loves doing it.

So after talking to many of her blog friends at Relevant, she decided to blog about ALL her passions and changed her blog from…

Walking in His Grace

to…

She is planning on focusing equally on God’s amazing grace in our lives, and how to create your most beautiful self….inside and out!

She has already been writing some great new fashion/beauty posts that I have loved reading.

Some of my favorite are:

Two Amazing Eye Concealers!

Spend Less Money and Still Have Pretty Nails

Fashion for Thanksgiving Day

The Secret to a Beautiful Glow

(My favorite!)

My #1 Beauty Tip for Women Over 40

Cyndi also writes wonderful, encouraging posts that will help you grow in your walk with the Lord.

And I want to warn you…

You will hear her talk a lot about this little guy too…

Her first grandchild!  There is only 4 years between us and yet she became a grandmother this past September!   Crazy, huh?!

I want to encourage you to stop by her blog and take a look around.

Maybe read her personal Testimony of GRACE.

I would love it if you would follow her blog and get to know my precious sister.

I do not know what I would do without her.  She is the “rock” of our family.

I know that you will be blessed by her heart, her faith, and yes…her fashion tips!

Have a blessed day!

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I wanted to show you the progress on our wood floors.

We have decided to go ahead and install the wood floors in our den while the house is upside down.

And from the comments on yesterday’s post, all of you agree that we should “Just Do It!”

Here is a picture of how our kitchen leads into our den….

You can see the paint color I have chosen for the kitchen above the doorway.

I’ll share that soon!

The wall in the picture below is the one we have started to tear down.

Directly behind that wall is our new staircase.

We do not want to take the whole wall down because the addition is not insulated, so Cy just tore out the bottom of the wall to make room for the new flooring.

The door leading into that room will be gone too.  Tearing that part of the wall down will make that space feel soooo much more open!

The door to our bedroom and the door to our bathroom will be taken out and covered with a wall.

See that hole in the wall on the right?

That will section of the wall will be coming down too!

(Of course, neither of these walls are “load bearing” walls.)

I am considering painting our fireplace. 

What do you think about that?!

I am going to see what it looks like first with our new floors and new wall color before I decide.

We’ll see…

Since we have no furniture in the kitchen, and no furniture in our den, it has made eating quite interesting at our house.

Here is what breakfast looked like this morning…

My poor boys. 

As crazy as it may be at our house, life is made of precious moments like these.

I am planning on shooting a video today of our addition.  I will hopefully share it tomorrow!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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I hardly know where to begin. 

Here is what I want you to know, though.

I swear, we are not crazy people! 

I completely understand that if you have followed what we have been up to the past few weeks in the kitchen, that you have enough evidence to prove otherwise.

And now that we have begun ripping up the carpet in the den, you could say it is a cut and dry case.

But I swear, we are not crazy people.

We have been doing this kind of stuff our whole married life.  Now we just get to share the chaos with thousands of people all over the world!

Fun, huh?!

In my defense, I did not tell my husband to start working on the den.  He decided it would be best to get these two rooms finished before the holidays.

We had planned on putting hardwood floors down in these two rooms AFTER we were finished with the addition to our home.

However, since I had already opened up a can of worms in the kitchen, and everything in the house is already upside down, my husband decided it would be best to go ahead and get it done!

Of course, I agreed!

So we cleared all of the furniture out of the den.

You can see in the above picture there is a wall that we will be tearing completely down soon.  Right behind that wall is the staircase to the upstairs in our new addition.  I wanted to be able to see the pretty staircase from the den, so we are getting rid of that wall.

Cy has been working so quickly on the floors, he is just a blur at times… 

I absolutely LOVE this next picture.  I posted it on my blog and my facebook page yesterday and asked you what you thought Cy was thinking in that picture.

You guys cracked me up!

Here are a few:
"That’s the last time I believe her when she says, But I promise….just a little paint!" {Shannon}

"Oh Lord I love this woman, but she’s gonna kill me yet."  {Deborah}

"All I asked for was a foot massage.  She never mentioned how much it was going to cost!" {Gina}

"Do you want me to work, or do you want me to pose?"  {Edwina}

“How did I get here?”  {Joy}

"Oh, crap. My picture’s going on the blog."  {Loribeth}

I have a feeling he was thinking ALL of those things and MORE! 

After we rolled up the carpet we found two things.

1.  A linoleum entryway…  (Just screamin’ the 70’s!!!)

2.  A bump in the subflooring between the kitchen and den.

So Cy had to cut a large section of the subflooring out, fix the floor joists underneath, and add some new subflooring. 

The boys were eating pop tarts in the bedroom while Cy was cutting a hole in the floor.

He went to Lowe’s to get some more materials, and Eli came running through the kitchen into the den and fell right into the hole!  Not kidding!

He was fine.  Just a little scared.

We moved that shop vac in front of the doorway to stop any future runners.

Cy got home and repaired the hole and now the subfloor is completely level.

We already have some wood flooring down, and I am hoping to share that with you soon!

We were hoping to have the floors installed, sanded, stained, and polyurethaned before Thanksgiving, but we’re not so sure that will happen.

Oh well!

We have sooooo much to be thankful for!  I am counting my blessings!

Do you think it was smart to go ahead and finish the den floors, or would you have waited until after the holidays?

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