DIY

🎁 Gift Guide 2017: DIY with Essential Oils!

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ Leave a comment

Well, holiday season is here!  To follow up with my first 2017 Gift Guide, I wanted to provide a DIY version for all my readers who enjoy putting a custom and special touch on their gifts!

Gifts Using Essential Oils!

Essential oils are such powerful gifts.  Imagine giving someone a gift that promotes wellbeing, immunity support, uplifting feelings and a restful night’s sleep? Well you can! Essential oils provide not only a unique gift for your friend + family member, but they can be customized to let that person know you are thinking especially of them!  The only thing you need to keep in mind is the quality of the oil you are giving.  With dōTERRA you don’t have to worry about quality or purity, as each essential oil are Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade.

Essential Oil Gifting Reason 1:  Customization! 

You can give someone a bottle of dōTERRA essential oils and a How-To guide for enjoying it! (I can totally help you create gift flyers like the one below!)  This is perfect because if you know someone is in need of a restful nights sleep, tranquility,  or needs their mood uplifted, you can provide them the power of dōTERRA essential oils!  Just gift the bottle and an info sheet like below!

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Essential Oil Gifting Reason 2: Cost Friendly! 

If you make a scrub like the one below, you can make so many gifts for pennies!  Gifting DIY scrubs, felt car fresheners (literally a piece of felt!) or blends is an awesome way to again show someone you cared enough to make their gift, to think of them and their needs, and share essential oils with them!

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Essential Oil Gifting Reason 3: Thoughtful All-in-One Gifts

You can also give the gift of wellness to someone by starting them with a kit or several essential oils along with a (free!) consultation from me so they can feel ready to use and enjoy their oils!  I am a dōTERRA Wellness Advocate and I LOVE educating people on how they can use oils in their whole lives to see a radical change!

The Emotional Aromatherapy Diffused kit below is an amazingly powerful starter kit and will be a well loved gift!

Screen Shot 2017-11-25 at 8.47.34 PMEmotional Aromatherapy Diffused ($259.93 ONLY $156 until November 30th, 2017)

The Emotional Aromatherapy Diffused Enrollment Kit (above) includes the perfect combination of materials to experience the uplifting and emotion boosting benefits of the aromatherapy system.

This Kit includes – a FREE dōTERRA wholesale membership ($35 value)

FREE private hour essential oil consultation with yours truly!

Lumo Diffuser

doTERRA Emotional Aromatherapy™ System: (5 mL Bottles)

The doTERRA Essentials Booklet

You see? Gifting with essential oils can be super personal, fun, and heartfelt!  If you’d like to find out more about essential oils please contact me! I do weekly education classes as well as custom 1:1s!

xxx

GFK

Snake Dress

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ Leave a comment

Another selfish sew! Look at that face! That’s someone who was super excited about some more new clothes.

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I found this snake fabric on Etsy a month ago and loved it. Only in hindsight I’m sure it’s kids fabric but still I love the colors and and how the design was.  I love the weight of the jersey fabric too – generally jersey is pretty see-thru but this was so thick and not see-thru. Since it was sturdy material I didn’t even use my serger as there was no tension issue.

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This was less than an hour project as I almost got thru 1 hour of the Roosevelt’s Doc from PBS. I love that documentary – I’ve seen it probably 4 times all together. I think I love it because it so radically changed my perspective on so much about that family. I especially love watching it now since our political climate has changed so severely.

I used this Pattern from McCall’s:

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Specs on Time/Cost

  • Total Time: < 1 hour
  • Total Cost:  $1.99 Pattern + $24 for 2 yards of jersey fabric on Etsy

Supplies List

Random Comments about pattern:

  • Have you ever bought the wrong sized pattern? I did here lol whoops! But i just shorted the smallest size by 2inches and aimed for 10-12. I didn’t want this one to be skin tight since I wanted to wear it to work, so I think it worked out perfectly.
  • Pattern was super easy.
  • I’ll be making the V-neck and the long sleeves for sure.
  • I only used 1 3/4 yards of fabric.

 

Bathroom Before & After

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So this is A LONG TIME COMING I’m pretty sure I’ve been promising the before and after here for months…. well it’s FINALLY HERE!

Boy oh Boy was this bathroom a project. When I first started this ‘mini-refresh’ I thought it would be new paint and a shower curtain………

Here’s what I really ended up doing:

  1. Removed shower stall
  2. Re-did all caulking
  3. Restored Window
  4. Restored Medicine Cabinet
  5. Painted walls
  6. Painted vanity
  7. painted heating vent
  8. Replaced toilet
  9. Deep Cleaned
  10. Changed cabinet hardware
  11. Replaced broken soap dish tile
  12. Repaired vanity drawers
  13. Lined vanity drawers

It took ~30 full hours to restore all these items over the course of 4 weeks.  I had to sand and strip almost every surface to remove rust, paint, caulking, and calcium build up from the untreated well. Well enough chit chat – PICTURES!

BEFORE:

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just grimy – shower stall covered in calcium – toilet filled with rust and calcium

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mmm moldy calcuim

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rusted out window in the shower

Please feel free to go shower now after you’ve looked at all of those grimy/nasty pictures.

and now…. drum roll please!

AFTER

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I made the shower curtain from IKEA fabric.

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I chose a light mint green and I love it. 
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this cabinet is one of my favorite things. 
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I worked so hard on this damn rusted window – just need to fix the cracked sill. 

Weekend Wrap Up

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It was a productive weekend here at the Farm House. Last Thursday, I had sinus surgery and well… it knocked me on my ass. Between the anesthesia and the trauma – I was not myself for a better part of a week.  In fact, I think I slept all last weekend 😉

However, this weekend – I got shit done. Here’s some photos of some things that happened.

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the $7 table i got at habitat – painted coral and added some fun fabric i’ve had in my stash for a few years under the glass.
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the garden was planted! read more about it here!
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the soffits and the gutters are done!
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peaches sunbathes
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last weekend with my ‘nurse’ and bandage – NOT productive lol

 

 

Redoing the Hardwoods Part 2

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It has been a LONG week since I first updated about our hardwood redo.  After spending 30 combined hours sanding, I came by the house on Tuesday and realized in the daylight – we had missed some spots under the dust/dark lighting. I wasn’t super bummed, but it was just hard to think through what the next steps would be.  Would we redo the whole floor with the drum sander? That would be okay, but it would mean re-renting all the tools again – $$$$$$.  After asking a flooring friend, we decided the edger was the way to go.

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You can see the varnish still on the corners/sides of the boards. BLAST.

I spent 6ish hours on Thursday edging out any left over varnish that was on the floors.  It was primarily in corners of boards since the boards had been worn to different heights over the 61 years they had been in that house. The edger is a b*tch of a tool to use also because you have to bend over and move your arms back and forth – basically imagine the most awkward position ever and add a high power sanding tool.

The next step was the screen buff. Now I’ll admit, anytime I’ve seen someone running a buffer it looked pretty damn easy. Like just lightly moving it back and forth – no effort. Well, actually using a floor buffer for the first time is pretty much like having a heavy tool jump out of your hands and twirl around like some sort of giant angry cat that is trying to escape your cuddle….. Thankfully, my dad came by just to see if there was anything he could help with – he had to not only run the buff for more than 70% of the time, but he taught me how to run the buffer with control.

I seriously can’t believe how hard it was to control a buffer. Totally surprised.

Anyways after the screen buff (which took much longer than also thought due to the wood filler that I was too liberal with) I had to clean and mop the floors.  Again, Lois swooped in and helped so much to get the final push done.  We had to dust the walls, the door knobs, everything had dust on it. Then we mopped with special ‘pre-oil’ wood cleaner.  It was a long day at the house, but it set me up for success in the next step.

Finally, I get to put oil on my damn floors. I used a paint roller to apply the oil, which had to sit and absorb into the floors for 15-30 minutes. Then I used my good old friend the buffer to first buff the oil into the floors with a red pad.  The final step was using terry cloths on the bottom of the buffer to clean any left over oil.  The results were AMAZING.

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Contrast of bare wood vs. oiled wood.

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I had one of those moments when I was done and could see the oil where I felt like crying, because I was so fucking happy I did this even though for the entire past week I have felt 100% insane. I still have three bedrooms to do, and then apply some white paste as the final ‘coat’ of oil.  It will probably result in a little more ‘milky’ and I’m really excited to see how it comes out in the end.

 

Baby Quilt Fabric

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Since I’m officially losing my mind at the Farm House, I decided to take some time to talk about another hobby I have in the mix.  Baby Quilt or as it shall be used in my home CAT QUILT! I signed up for a class at the end of May with Lois and I am just counting down the days.

I have never taken a class at Fancy Tiger – but they do have a … well, fancy, set up. Here is the class info.

I have been hoarding quilting fabric for years, so I figured starting off simple would give me the motivation and interest to dive into real fabric piecing and traditional quilting.

Here is the fabric I got for my little baby blanket! EEEE PUGS!  Fabricworm is a super cute site with TONS of quilting fabric.  This fabric is high quality and I can’t wait to get started.

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In the past I have also joined a ‘fabric of the month’ club with Pink Castle Fabrics. I really love their ‘Kawaii’ or Japanese fabric.  They have a lot of different ‘fabric of the month clubs’ and they are really well priced.

Here is some past fabric I have received from Pink Castle:

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Anyways!  I can’t wait to get my craft room all set up and start sewing more than just curtains 😉

This is my current state of mind at the house:

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Re-doing the Hardwoods Part 1.

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ 2 Comments

So obviously, if you didn’t know – we are in the midst of what has morphed into a full blown renovation.  During the whole month we’ve owned this house, we have replaced major systems, redone the bathroom, demo-ed two gross bathrooms, painted and generally prepared the house for us. All during this time there has been a little birdie on both the dude’s and I’s shoulder saying ‘you should just redo the floors’.  And by little bird I mean multiple influential people we know.

So, we got super stupid and decided to dive in on the floors. At first, I was totally against it. I was like ‘no that’s insane we can’t afford it’.  We did end up getting a price quote that rang in at $5,000 NOT including fixing the major work that needed to be done in the bedroom where the bathroom was.  So that was depressing. Then the dude started watching too much This Old House and YouTube videos about it. Pretty much we decided if these yokels could do it, we probably could too.

Me, the dude, and my pops all did a bunch of research about what we should do.  It seemed like polyeurathane was really difficult – had the most chance for a eff up.  We stumbled upon ‘oil treating’ hardwoods and the results are really cool looking – without having to do a complex stain and clear coat. Plus, oil for the floors is no-VOC (aka no harmful toxic chemicals).

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notice the subtle sheen – no clear coat 

So once we decided we were going to try to polish our turd floors into some pretty ones – it was game on.   It was REALLY hard to find the oil for the floors. One, in part due to the fact that most stain is oil-based – finding oil vs. oil-based stain is hard and stain can creep into your shopping cart really easily.  I finally found a hardwood company’s website that had a short list of oil manufacturers (mostly European).

I called the hardwood company’s contact and the owner of the business didn’t even know he had that listed on his site…. it also would take him 3 weeks to order/get the oils for us.  I actually called 3 different local flooring stores and none of them sold materials to redo existing floors they all were primarily in the business of new floors.  I found that interesting. Also, didn’t this random owner guy know that we are on a really tight deadline? Oh sorry, my narcissist ‘my house is the center of everyone’s world’ thing flared up again 😉   Anyways, I started looking for how to buy this euro-oil and found a great website www.1877floorguy.com.  It totally sounds like a fake website where I just got $500 of my money stolen from, but it was Google Verified and we just got the supplies so I can attest this site is legit and has great customer service.

I did end up going with WOCA because they had really easy to find/understand/buy items.  I bought the floor prep, the oil, some buffing paste, and the everyday care cleaner.  1877floorguy.com had $30 3-day shipping so it was good!

We did choose to do the grey-oil and then I got some white buffing paste to make it a little ‘lighter.’

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Okay now the fun part – the sanding! So I can probably speak for both of us (since the dude got MAJOR cold feed about doing this the day before we sanded) that it’s terrifying to start sanding your floors. The tools are insane, the idea of ruining your floors can be kind of scary, and honestly it was like ‘what the f*ck are we getting ourselves into?’

We rented a Drum Sander, Square Buff Sander, and an edger from the Home Depot. The sanding paper was somewhat pricey $5-$8 per paper and each one of those would do ~100 sqft.  Our project is ~1,000 sqft so we did end up spending $180 in sandpaper for all the tools. The rentals themselves were between $50-$80 per day. So $420 in total.

The dude was brave enough to start the drum sander first.  I managed the cord and helped to make sure nothing was going wrong while we got used to the giant drum sander. Eventually, we didn’t need to manage the cord anymore so I got to do the 2 other bedrooms while the dude figured out how to perfectly sand with the edger.

 

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before, major wear patterns, and lots of tlc needed.
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after sanding before vacuuming 

The fearless leader starts in the bedroom

Here’s a time lapse of me in the ‘blue bedroom’

Removing the ‘lay-z-boy’ marks from ma and pa hillbilly

Pic of the difference:

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Now we will clean the floors and let them dry – THEN OILING!

 

 

How to Restore a Metal Medicine Cabinet – Before and After

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It’s Friday! Woot! (Well technically I’m writing this on a Thursday, but still the excitement is there!)

Today, I figured I would share another little piece of the bathroom before it’s huge debut.  One of the the things I loved about the bathroom was that it had an original steel medicine cabinet.  However, like EVERYTHING else at my house it had been severely neglected and thus was in pretty poor/gross looking shape.  It was rusted out and just looked like you would not want to put your toiletries anywhere near this thing.

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GROSS

So most things can be saved if they are rusted, unless it’s rusted through – then you’re S.O.L. and have to think about replacing.

Step One – Deciding if your rusted metal can be saved:

One good way to see how extensive your rust damage is, is to get a coarse grit sand paper and gently (at first) start to sand out the rust.  If you see the metal starting to shin through, no clumps of rust deteriorating and no holes, then you should be able to turn a rust situation around.

NOW PUT ON YOUR SAFETY VENTILATION MASK AND GLOVES!

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Step Two – Sanding

Depending on the current finish and extent of the rust damage, you will need to determine how the best way to sand your metal will be. For the cabinet, I hand sanded the entire thing (yes, your arms will be exhausted).  Since the cabinet was pretty delicate I did not want to use power sanders and dremel tools on it. I started with a coarse 60 grit sanding block (easier to grip and get in weird spaces) and sanded the entire cabinet – rusted or not.  I did focus heavily on the rusted areas, buffing out any rust that remained.  Then I used a 100 grit paper to smooth out any transitions from the original paint.

 

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Step Three – Prep Cleaning

This is the MOST important step. You will want to ensure the entire surface of your project is 100% clean.  The best way to do this is to use a dry rag or vacuum to get the larger dust/paint particles out. Once you have done that, get a clean rag very very wet with Denatured Alcohol and wipe the cabinet down until it is so clean you could virtually perform some sort of surgery on there – NO PARTICLES, NO DIRT, NO UNEVEN/WEIRD SURFACES.  If you get to this step and find there is a significant uneven lip or not a smooth transition from paint to metal then you need to go back to Step Two.  Believe me, I know you will be tired and I know you will want to just keep moving forward, but if you don’t ensure your base is smooth and clean you will end up with something you HATE and regret not doing it right.

 

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go ahead and buy the gallon you’re gonna love this shit for all your cleaning needs. 

Step Four – Painting

Now the moment of truth!  You’ll want to tape and cover any surface you don’t want paint on.  That takes the most time.  Then you’ll want to make sure you have a spray paint that is meant to protect and will last.  I would HIGHLY recommend Kilz as a primer (if necessary) and then Rust-oleum for the actual color followed by a clear coat. This process will ensure that with proper cleaning and care, your metal will not start rusting again.  Now thankfully the dude has taught me how to spray paint like a professional in the past- this part can be hard.  The only two things to keep in mind are stay at least 12 inches away and keep moving with long smooth sprays.  Also remember, it doesn’t need to be full coverage the first time – in fact the slower you go and more coats you do the better the end result will be. Just remember to let each coat dry fully.

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first coat – notice it’s not fully covered. 
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getting there! still some uneven color but one/two more coats should do it!

Paint process in general:

  1. apply Kilz or other high quality primer
  2. apply desired Rusto color
  3. apply Rusto clear coat

Are you ready for the official before and after?!

Before!

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After!

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Seriously, can you believe that is the same cabinet?! I’m so excited to start using it.  Also keep in mind you NEED to keep your protective mask on the whole time otherwise you will get high on paint fumes – which is not safe or cute. I bought my ventilation mask from Harbor Freight – it cost $17 and I use it for everything paint related at my house since there IS lead paint in my home. Seriously HUGE DISCLAIMER!! If you have a home older that 1980 you should err on the side of caution and assume there will be lead paint in your house.  People saved/loved that nasty scary shit and it WILL HURT YOU. So don’t be dumb – buy some protective gear and wear it. 

Farm House Update: Week 4

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Well it was a week of highs and lows all around. We lost Vladimir to a stroke on Wednesday, which just put a heavy cloud over the week.  There was a lot of grief and sad painting – I’m happy I kept working though, because now I feel like a lot was accomplished.

The Low:

I need a new main panel. F*&k! The connection tabs on the bus had been roughed up by the former owners and it’s such a severe issue the electrician (now that he’s involved) is going to replace the whole thing.  This will require a permit so because the garage wiring is so bad/not to code we actually have to disconnect the garage and cap it so the inspector does not fail the work. I just keep having flash backs to the listing ‘AS-IS’ – and indeed it is….. The photo below shows MY inspector complaining about a breaker that does not match…. no mention of circled broken tab on bus. I am learning a LOT about electrical work though – pretty fun. Except for the whole spending money part.

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The Highs:

Painting like a mofo –

Got the living/dining room in progress with 1 1/2 coats – still need to do the ceiling and the interesting trim on those cove ceilings.

Finished the bedroom!

Before – rusted windows, major plaster damage on windows, WHITE, wonky window treatments…

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AFTER!

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grey walls and new white trim.

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I again had to refinish another window since it was rusted severely.

Plus the bathroom is 99% done! In the next week or so I’ll post a total before and after on the bathroom. I have done so much work in here – it’s so nice looking now! 🙂

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The water works! You can read that post here.

 

I’ll post a home tour video here tomorrow of the top floor – while it’s in reno status. So stay tuned. We are getting so close!