IH ::Before + After Painted China Cabinet

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Ok, tell me I'm not alone. You're in a antique market and a piece catches your eye.  This piece is a one-of-a-kind with the price to match.  You LOVEE this piece, but #1 it's out of budget and #2, you want to end up painting it ....

Now, how to explain your thought process + "need to have this" to the hubs.... insert [bat the eyes, ask pretty please, and construe confidence].  Now, if your hubs is anything like my hubs ... doing these things [no matter the order] does not get me what I want. It usually has the opposite affect, which is why I was so blown away that he was totally into this piece.  Maybe not the painting part, but he fell in love with the rolled cabinets just like I did, and on a whim ... we bought it. 

So basically this is a replica, made to look distressed, french bread cabinet.  I've looked them up and couldn't find anything similar, even remotely close by.  We had space for it, but I knew it would take up ALL the space we had.  And with the black color and deep brown inside, I felt like it would draw in all the positive light energy and look like a big dark hole consuming our dining room.  I know, call me crazy!  After bringing this beauty home, I quickly got to work giving it the face-lift it needed.  Once completed, I was in love all over again!

Okay, so here is the beautiful piece pre-paint ...


This cabinet is huge and just felt so dark, so I knew I needed to lighten it up to go with our existing home color scheme.  I used the Shiplap Paint Color by Magnolia Home in flat.  I was instantly giddy when I started putting on the first coat.  [Ok, maybe I was a littler nervous and saying over and over to myself, "Please don't mess this up, please don't mess this up."



This was about 2 coats in when it really started to take shape.  At this pointed I hadn't touched the rolled cabinets yet.


But I am SO thrilled with the overall product!  It took me 3 - 4 coats total and worth every last minute I spent painting it!  It looks like it belongs now and was made for the space, almost as if it was built in.






One of my favorite parts of this whole process was designing + staging the items inside.  So many of these precious hold special memories from our family.  Our wedding china, toasting glasses from our wedding day, my parents pie dish they received as a wedding gift, and our cake stand collection. It's all beautifully displayed, as opposed to stashing under cabinets in the kitchen.  To continue to marry the equestrian theme in our dining area, I incorporated some of the horse photos I had taken this year inside as well in tiny Kate Spade silver frames.  I purchased mine at Bed Bath and Beyond a few years back.




It's amazing what a little paint can do!  Welcome Home French Bread Cabinet!

#imhoffhomestead #imhoffhome #imhoffreveal #diy #magnoliapaint #shiplappaint #diningroom #windsorchairs #restorationhardware #potterybarn #bedbathbeyond





Imhoff Homesteads :: Easy + Cheap Grout Cleaner

Monday, February 5, 2018

Tell me I am not alone!  But seriously, how does grout get SO DIRTY - soooo fast?!  If you're like me, those high traffic areas on your tile are HARD to keep clean.  Especially when you have kids and dogs.  It's almost impossible!  

We are huge fans of using a professional to come in twice a year and REALLY clean all our tile floors [kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, etc.], but in between those times, our tile gets just plain gross! It's not easy keeping a clean house 24/7, but when it comes to grout, we have by far found the easiest and cheapest way to keep our floors looking brand spakin' new!

With a little it of elbow grease, you're tile floors can look like they did they day you moved in! I've put together a small tutorial below to show you step-by-step how easy it is to clean your grout!

Here's a before and after of our tile floors ... embarrassing!  But cleaning this grout only took me 20 mins total in my kitchen!  It's incredibly fast results is what this 'un-patient' mom prefers!


Our kitchen floors took nothing!  20 mins flat, so with all our extra time, I thought I would start on our bathroom floors!  Who knew this was SO easy?!



Tips:

1.  Make sure to TEST a spot.  I would hate for you to try this product and it NOT work.  Don't blame me ... I told you to test first! :)
2.  Select small areas at a time. It's easy with this Gel to just keep on filling in the grout ... DON'T.  This is still a strong blue gel, and if left on too long, could stain.  Do you really want blue grout?!  So start small.  I did mine in sections and didn't have a problem.
3.  Don't leave the gel on too long.  As soon as I applied to the grout, I filled a bowl with water and got started.  I only gave the gel about a minute to work. Any longer and I would have gotten nervous it could stain.
4.  Don't skip the water and brush step #4 .. just saying :)
5.  Allow to dry for a few hours before you really examine the tile.  For me, my tile took about 2.5 hours to really dry and look clean. You will freak out for a moment when it's drying and say "what have I done, it looks worse."  If you followed these steps AND tested, you will be super pleased with the outcome!

My title grout looked so good, when the hubs got home, he noticed it RIGHT away!  That's right ladies ... it's that good!

** I have real stone tile and grey-ish grout.  It did not stain or harm my floor in anyway.

Share your own photos ... I would love to see how it worked for you!!!


Hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to clean your grout!  Let us know how your grout turns out!

#imhoffhomestead #imhoffhome #diy #groutcleaner









 
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