Interior Design

My Pantry Makeover

January 15, 2019 by Elizabeth 2 Comments

My pantry is a living nightmare of crap. I have collected spices that I’m certain are older than my youngest brother (he’s fifteen). And I’m pretty sure I found several spice jars I’ve had since college, which was an alarmingly long time ago. January seems to be the best time to get rid of things, so I decided it was time to finally tackle the pantry. These may not be my best photo moments. I had a light go out in the pantry that needs to be repaired, and I went to Home Depot three times. It’s still not fixed, but it’s more about the journey than how great my photos are.

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Painting the Den Paneling and Some Tips!

June 14, 2017 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Painting Paneling - Tastemaker Blog

I did it! I caved and painted the den paneling white in the music room. This is just the progress, so don’t get too excited, but it looks a thousand times better than before. The carpet has to go and the baseboard heater removed, but hardwood flooring is expensive! So it may be a few months before that happens. This color is Snowbound from Sherwin Williams. It’s a great bright white if you’re looking for a good color. Also please excuse the curtain length and the bendy curtain rod (I ordered the wrong size).

For those of you that know about cabinet painting, this is a bit easier. But on a difficulty scale of one to ten, I give this project a solid 7. Cabinets are easily a 10 and will ruin your life. I guess because I’ve done this, painting paneling seemed like cake, but for the inexperienced, it’s a huge undertaking.

Here are some tips for you if you plan on doing this at home!

1. Buy the expensive paint and primer. It will save you time and money in the end. I went to Sherwin Williams and used the oil-based ProBlock primer. It is a beast to paint on. Like the worst thing you’ll ever do. It is thick as molasses and looks very brushy when you paint it on, but that’s not a huge deal. You absolutely have to use oil based primer. I also bought Sherwin Williams Duration paint. It’s got a great consistency and when I painted the guest room walls, I used this and only needed one coat. You’ll need two for paneling, but that’s just life. For this project I used one gallon of primer and one gallon of satin paint. Plus I got a gallon of semi-gloss for the windows and trim.

2. Fill the cracks with wood putty, not spackle. This was a mistake I made, but it’s not the end of the world. Just takes longer for a lot of it to dry.

3. Brush the grooves and edges first then roll on the paint with a roller. If you have a sprayer for paint, by all means use it! But you probably shouldn’t use it for the primer… If you have experience spraying on the oil-based primer, I’d like to hear about it!

4. Wear a mask while priming. The whole time. Last time I painted cabinets, I got a horrible wheezing cough from not wearing a mask. That stuff smells so fumey! But wearing a mask helped immensely. Make sure you open some windows as well to keep the area ventilated.

5. Choose the right finish for your space. I originally thought high gloss would be amazing, but I realized after a lot of googling that this may be a bad look. So I went with a satin finish. To me, it’s the perfect finish for paneling, because the surface is wood and you want it to have some sheen like you would when painting a piece of wood furniture.

Good luck painting! If you have any other tips, please leave them in the comments!

Pressed Fern DIY

January 12, 2017 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Pressed Fern DIY - Tastemaker Blog

Some of my posts just tend to fall in my lap. This DIY was definitely one of those. I was walking into Publix, and I saw this little bitty fern frond in the parking lot. It was in the middle of the road, so of course I ran to pick it up off the ground, embarrassing myself while the shoppers wondered why I was chasing a leaf. But it was a good leaf! And inspiration struck me. My friend Julia sent me this frame years ago with a little Renaissance painting inside. It has held many things over the years, but this project seemed perfect.

Pressed Fern DIY - Tastemaker Blog

I’ve been eyeing some really expensive pressed ferns framed at an antique store I frequent. But it’s such an easy project to do yourself, and it gets you out of the house and on a nature walk to search for just the right plant. Or in my case, chasing a leaf around the Publix parking lot. This all goes to say that we all need to slow down and put down our phones for awhile. We need to enjoy nature and be still for once. I am the worst at being still. Just ask Sam. I spend most of my time with my eyeballs glued to Instagram or running around the house finding new “projects” for us to do. And by us I mean him. He says he just looks at the pictures on the blog so I feel fine saying this, haha!

Even if you have to go buy a frame, you’ll have most of the items for this DIY laying around the house. It’s a great rainy day project. Go on a nature hike searching for leaves and then press them for a lovely wall hanging. If you want to get really fancy, cut out an old page from a book instead of a piece of white paper to glue your leaf in. I hope this DIY gets you out in nature and unplugged for awhile 🙂

PRESSED FERN DIY

Supplies:

Fern or other leaf or flower to press

A stack of heavy books

A piece of paper large enough to fit your fern

A frame large enough to fit your fern

Rubber Cement glue

Scissors

A pencil

Instructions:

Once you have your fern, place it in the back cover of a heavy book (maybe something you don’t mind getting a little dirty, since this may wrinkle the pages). Close the book and stack the other heavy books on top. Leave like this for a week, until your plant has been pressed completely and is dried.

Remove from the book carefully. Using the frame backing, trace the paper to the size of the frame and cut to size. Decide how you’d like to arrange your fern and dab rubber cement on the back of the fern, making sure not to use too much. Press onto the paper as desired. Wipe any excess glue with a paper towel. Let the fern dry.

Once your fern is dry, place it in the frame and put the backing on. Now you have a beautiful homemade art piece!

DIY Succulent Centerpiece

January 9, 2017 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

DIY Succulent Centerpiece - Tastemaker Blog

Hi Friends! While the snow is falling outside, I’ve been cooking up a new DIY project. I’ve been thinking lately about how to brighten up my dining room. Things get dreary during the winter. And on all these dark days that end at 4:00 (why God, why?!) there’s nothing better than a little greenery to spruce up the table and remind us of the imminent spring!

I’m a plant lady, and over the years I have discovered that I have a green thumb. I have several plants that I’ve had for over 5 years… a miracle really. I used to be a plant killer. I attribute this to way too much love. I would water those succulents daily, which is a big no no. But once I discovered a secret or two about caring for plants, like only water your aloe plant once a month, I started accumulating plants rapidly. By the way, if you use aloe and you overwater, you’ll notice the leaves turn purple and mushy. You can just trim the affected limbs and it’ll regenerate. Amazing!

One of my favorite weekend activities is to go plant shopping. There’s a few really great places to go here in Nashville. My favorite is Gardens of Babylon at the Nashville Farmers Market in Germantown. I found a little fiddle leaf fig there for $25 and it has grown a foot since I bought it three months ago! If you’re looking for a rare plant or something you won’t find just anywhere, that’s the spot.

DIY Succulent Centerpiece - Tastemaker Blog

This centerpiece is a really easy project. You’ll need three succulents, some quick draining or moisture control soil, rocks for the bottom of your pot if it doesn’t have a hole, or you can put rocks on top for decoration. Then you’ll need a shallow 10 inch wide planter and a vintage plate or terra cotta drainage plate underneath.

Choosing the right plants for the centerpiece is important. You’ll want a nice variety, so I think a good rule of thumb is one large floral one, a sedum or something with more of a spray look, and something with texture. I chose a sedum pork and beans… A hilarious name I know. That’s the one with the reddish tips that look like beans. They’re drought tolerant, which is great. My flower-looking plant is an Echeveria “Frosty” which has that nice violet color. My little fuzzy guy I believe is a Echeveria “Green Velvet.” This is what I used for a little texture. Another good one to use would be Haworthia, the little aloe plants with the zigzagged white texture.

The first step is to put a layer of soil on the bottom of the pot just high enough so that your plants can sit on top and the base of the plant is the height of the pot’s rim. If you have a pot with no drainage hole, make sure you add a one inch layer of rocks to the bottom of the pot before putting in the soil. Arrange your plants in a triangle on top of the layer of soil. Then pour soil around the edges of each, pressing down to pack, making sure that the soil comes to the base of the plant. Add a few rocks to the surface. Place a vintage plate or a drainage plate underneath. Voila!

DIY Succulent Centerpiece - Tastemaker Blog

One of my favorite secrets to keeping plants healthy is to dust them off with a paintbrush. The paintbrush is a gentle way to keep the leaves looking good and capable of absorbing enough light, which is very important! Dust prevents this from happening, so dust them frequently.

DIY Succulent Centerpiece - Tastemaker Blog