DIY Dock Progress - Part 5

Hello, everyone!  I hope y'all's Memorial Day weekend was as good as mine.  It has been a crazy 4 days.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I got my copy of the magazine in the mail!!!!!

The Better Homes and Garden Kitchen and Bath Makeover, Summer 2014 magazine should be available for purchase this week in stores.  I am on the top half of page 23.

DIY Kitchen Reveal Update

January 2016 Update: Visit our new blog www.brianandkaylor.com  


It has been over 7 months since I revealed our kitchen makeover.  It is hard to believe it has been that long and I am speechless about all the opportunities and attention that came with this experience.  I never thought I would be doing anything other than teaching much less having a blog, guest blogging on Remodelaholic and being featured in Better Homes & Gardens Kitchen and Bath Makeover Magazine.  How is this even my life?

When I first revealed the kitchen in October, it was bare bones.  Just finished and barely used.  Naked.  Nothing on the counters, no curtains, nothing.  Now it has some personal touches, curtains and it is definitely more lived in.



To see the first reveal click here.


Here is what I started with.

Here are the updated photos.  Thanks again to Jessica of Ever & Anon Photography for taking the amazing pictures.

Photo Credit:  Ever & Anon Photography

Photo Credit:  Ever & Anon Photography

Dining Room Reveal

January 2016 Update: Visit our new blog www.brianandkaylor.com  


The day is finally here. Eleven months after moving in, I am finally showing you our dining area.

Over the past year, y'all have seen most of the room.  My DIY lantern, DIY dining table and my grandparents' dresser that I now use as a buffet have all been shown in earlier posts.  There have been many sneak peeks in pictures but I have never shown everything.

All of our hard work has paid off and the house has transformed.  The sad, dark, orange-y house we bought a year ago is gone.  It feels bright and airy and comfortable.  We LOVE it!

This is what I started with.

All of these beautiful after shots are the work of Jessica of Ever & Anon Photography.  She did an amazing job!  Thanks again, Jessica.  

And now,  this is what my dining room looks like. 

Photo credit: Ever & Anon Photography

The Better Homes and Gardens Feature

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  My original plan was to do nothing since Blittle was gone on Saturday but I ended up giving the dogs a hair cut and bath,  planted plants in my planter in the front of the house and stained most of the fence.  Sunday we worked on the dock and it is almost ready for stain as well.  Overall, it was a very productive weekend.

I have had an overwhelming amount of questions about the magazine feature lately.  It is supposed to be out next week so I would like to clear up a few things and answer some of the common questions.

I am being featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen and Bath Makeovers Summer 2014 magazine.  Here is the cover of Spring 2014.

DIY Dock Progress - Part 4

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I hope things are going well for all of you.

Personally, I have had one of those weeks.  My phone died on Sunday and I was without for a few days.  It decided to go for a short swim, which it did recover from, but then the charging port broke.  The Apple store opened the phone and saw the water damage and the port problem and said it would be cheaper to go new.  Blah.  I finally got a new phone yesterday and I must say, I love technology.  Especially iCloud.  So grateful for iCloud and automated back ups.  Within a few minutes my new phone was exactly like my old one!

So other than the phone incident, this weekend was full of dock work.  Again.  We ran water and the electrical conduit as well as laid almost all the decking!  Here are some pictures of our progress

DIY Restoration Hardware Planter Tutorial

I know. I know.  This post should have been published on Friday.  It just never happened.  My fault.  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

And here is the tutorial.

Last week, I showed you my DIY Restoration Hardware Planters.

DIY Restoration Hardware Planter

Y'all.  I am tired.  So tired.  DIYed out.  I have so many projects going on that I can't really focus on one and the thought of starting another project makes me want to run away.  Sadly, I am also really cheap and need planters stat.

For Christmas, I bought Brian an avocado tree and I bought myself an orange tree at a local fruit tree sale.  Have y'all been to one?  Within 30 minutes everything was gone and I thought elderly people were going to start throwing bows.  It was intense.  Anyway, this was in January.  Our little trees are growing fast and are desperately in need of a larger home.

Here is the problem.  Planter pots are expensive.  Crazy expensive.  Even large terra cotta pots cost a lot for the size I need, and they are kind of ugly and not really the shape I want.  Attractive, large planters are usually $100+.  I can't.  I can't spend that much money on something that sits outside all day with dirt in it.  I can't.  Plus I need 5 of them.  $500+ for planters....no thank you.  I'd rather get roundtrip tickets to the Caribbean.

Then I found these beauties.  The Reclaimed French Oak Staccato Planters from Restoration Hardware.

DIY Dock Progress - Part 3

There is light at the end of the tunnel!  I can see it!  We are so close!

This weekend we finished up the framing for the dock AND we started putting down deck boards.  Sunday afternoon we ran out of stainless steel screws so we were forced to stop.  It was nice taking the evening off and resting.  After two weekends of work, and I have been working on it some during the week, we are tired.  Can't wait to relax out on the dock!