DIY Rustic X Console Table

This post contains affiliate links.

About a year ago, my mom made a big change and decided to move closer to me. She built a house from scratch in a beautiful area of our town. The only problem? She moved from a house full of character to a builder grade home...one in hundreds, instead of one of one. I promised her that we will build character into her new house. So, slowly, I've been building pieces and adding character over these past several months. We have lots more to do and many rooms to finish, but it's happening. That being said, I'll be sharing lots of projects going on in her house with you. The first of which is this DIY wood x console table for her entry way...which was actually a surprise present I made for her birthday. It was so much fun having her walk in and see it.

Cathedral Mirror Window: Similar      Baskets: Similar   Striped Blanket: Link     Rug: Link

 The hallway for her entry is so long and crazy wide. I thought of multiple ways to furnish it, but ultimately came up with this 8' long and 17" wide table. She was in desperate need of storage spaces. With this open concept plan, and quite a bit smaller house, she lost storage space along with storage pieces she once used. So, my requirement was to build something to take up this space that offers storage and adds character.

I decided to go with this plan from Ana White(full tutorial here). I made the length a little bit longer, but the steps are all the same. I'll share below with how I got the white wash weathered wood finish.

First step in building this table was to create the frame. Using 2x2s and 2x4s, I attached them together using pocket hole screws.

The next step was to secure the bottom and middle shelves. These are 1x12 boards.

 They were secured to one frame first using wood glue and pocket hole screws.

Then I secured to the other frame in the same manner. This is a look at it upside down. I added the supports with the 2x4s on the top and bottom of each side, and a 2x2 along the middle shelves to the supporting 2x4 legs.

 Next was adding the "X". If I told you this part was easy, I'd be lying. It took me longer to make sure these were correct than it took me to build the entire piece. After many....many attempts, I settled. :) I think they turned out alright in the end.

 I then added the top using 2x6 at 8' long.

 Now for the finish. This is probably one of my favorite finishes out of all of the pieces I have done. I white washed the wood using interior latex paint in satin. The exact paint is Swiss Coffee by Behr. I made sure to keep a lot of the wood grain showing and only did one light coat. I did make it heavier in some areas and not as much in others.

 I then took Minwax's Classic Grey and went over the entire piece using some old cloths. If it was heavier in areas that I wished, I quickly wiped it away to let the white show through a little more. At the end, I then wiped it entirely down with a clean cloth, making sure to get up any unabsorbed stain.

 And that's it! It gave it a beautiful natural looking weathered look.

 I think the "X" and the weathered look gave this piece the perfect character for this space.

Lamp: Link

 You can see here how long the entryway is....and I'm not even out the door in this picture. There's still a lot of space behind me. We have lots of plans for these walls, which include.....board and batten. Who would have guessed? Ha!

 Styling this was fun...and easy! I knew we needed storage, hidden storage. That came in the form of these baskets from Home Goods.

We found this beautiful mirror from Home Goods also and flanked the sides with the blue glass vase and lamp. Added extra height to the left side with the candlesticks from Hobby Lobby. And of course, I added my go to faux plants and books! 

 I am so excited to get going on this floor to ceiling board and batten. I think it's really going to add such an impact in here! 

Here's a good view of this space before she moved in. We decided to go with all white walls to save on cost...mainly knowing we for sure wanted the ceilings to be white and in order to make the ceilings white, either all the walls also needed to be white or we needed to pay for 3 tone paint. I figured white was the way to go. You can always go and add simple accent walls of colors. That's a whole lot easier than trying to paint an entire house's ceiling :) 

Here's the after of this area one more time....and kind of the before too since this will all be changing with the walls in the coming months :) 

These floors are interesting too. They look dirty, but they aren't. They have a mix of grey in with the brown that tend to reflect the light. They are beautiful and have a great mix of colors which easily match greys and beiges. 

The next project I'll be sharing in here is a HUGE one! It made all the difference in her house. I'll be sharing that with you next week! 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Bathroom Decorating Ideas (Spring Refresh!)

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I'm not one to change my bathroom decor often, but ever since I redecorated it for Christmas I have the urge to do so. And why not, right? It's just another area to decorate and have fun with. I do have to admit though, once I took all the decor from Christmas down in here, it was in shambles for weeks...or maybe a couple of months :) It just got neglected, so having it refreshed is ...well...refreshing! 

White ruffle curtains: Link

 There have been just a few updates in here since I put these shelves in (tutorial). First, being the new sign on the shelf. I found this at Michaels a couple of weeks back and new it would be perfect in here. 

Floating Shelves Tutorial Click Here 

I mean, seriously....how cute is this?! It was the perfect thing to add a little height to the shelf. I also moved some things around, and edited out a couple of things that were on here for years. 

Another addition, was this little wood caddie. It is simply a 1x8 cut about 10 inches wider than my bathtub. I stained it with Dark Walnut from Minwax. That's it! Added a book for reading and candles for relaxing. 

The shelves used to be my favorite part of my bathroom, but now it has tough competition with this side. I shared a little bit of this side of the tub a few months ago when I posted the tutorial on my faux shiplap wall (tutorial). 

 I had originally painted a motif with a stencil in between the molding years ago in order to break up the beige on my wall. It was busy and I always hated it. I wanted to add some shiplap for awhile just to give it a pop and some added texture. I never did simply because of laziness. I didn't want to have to re-cut some molding to fit around the shiplap. I know, I know. Dumb. But it totally happens more than not! 

 So, instead of having to cut all the extra wood, I used a marker :) You can see the full tutorial about how to do this on this post (click here). It was super quick and made a great impact in just minutes! 

 Another great addition that I'll share more about in an upcoming post is this pendant light. I've been wanting some sort of hanging light in here for years, and found this one for a steal. I initially had it in my kitchen, but my husband wasn't a fan. Then I found a new one that I loved even more for the kitchen, and moved this in here. It fits like it belonged all along! 

Pendant Light: Link

Isn't it great how a few small changes can help freshen up a space? I have always said it and will continue to say it...if you stop cleaning a space and pretty much ignore it for too long, it's time for a refresh! Trust me...it'll keep you wanting to keep it nice and clean...at least for a little bit :) This may just be from laziness...or the craziness of my life,but I let spaces go to the dogs too often. The minute I redecorate, I keep them looking good! It gives me motivation :) 


Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

Kitchen Decor and Updates (Embracing What I Have)

This post contains affiliate links. See full disclosure below.

Sometimes you have to embrace things, and not change things. My kitchen is one of those tales. I rarely show it on my blog, mainly because it's not my aesthetic and it's the one area in my house I'm not necessarily proud of. It's the one area that I truthfully don't feel good putting my stamp on it either. I don't know why, it just makes me sick to think about painting these beautiful cabinets. Yes, I would love a kitchen full of white beautiful cabinets and amazing quartz counter tops. But, would I paint these to achieve that look? Well, if the answer was yes, that would have happened years ago. Believe me, it's a thought that has crossed my mind on way too many occasions to count. I just can't do it. 

There was a time in my home that I wanted to paint all the knotty alder. Every. Single. Piece. I hated it. Luckily, I didn't. I have come to love my banister and my mantel along with my doors. I'm just still not sold on the cabinets :) 

So, I'm going to share with you today how I'm embracing what I have and not changing something beautiful into something more my style. I'm also going to share with you at the bottom of the post some concepts on what I'm thinking about doing to update my kitchen without painting the cabinets. 

See, since I'm not a big fan of my kitchen, I have not spent much thought on decorating it. I mean...it's a kitchen. What's there to decorate? And, I think that was my biggest mistake. I just used it. I was in and out. Cleaned it and left it. Hated it. I never put my mark on it. I realized this of course 10 years into living here. I know! I seriously have lived with it for that long :) ha! So, without any big changes (like the ones I'm thinking about below), I made steps in the right direction to start loving this area. 

Here is the way before of my kitchen. Before I touched a thing. The cabinets, wall color and tile were all in the same hue....I called it a peach bomb. Serious, with the lights on at night, it looked like a huge peach bomb blew up in my kitchen. 

Years ago, I realized that the knotty alder looks great against white, so I painted all the walls and ceiling white. This helped tame the peach bomb a tad....just a tad.

I then updated the island last year to help break up the peach. That helped a lot and let me put my stamp on this kitchen without painting all the cabinets. 

I have lived with it like that ever since. Didn't really decorate. I mean, I did in odd little random ways. Like, oh, this needs a place. Let's put it in my kitchen. Other things had just been on my counters for years so I just left them there. No rhyme or reason. 

My first step was to change out the curtains for something lighter and frilly...you know, to match the rest of the ruffles in my house :) I also switched out the light. This was a big step in the right direction. (sorry, the light is killing the view of my frills :) )

White ruffle cafe curtain: Link              Pendant Light: Similar

Next, clearing off my counters and starting from scratch. I added new things and old things and moved them around until they worked for me. 

 I got this sign as a gift from a sweet friend. I added my favorite little plant stand stool with a napkin draped over it along with some dipping bowls. I had to add some green with this faux potted plant. I then used two cutting boards out of my hoard....I mean collection....to finish it off :)

 In this corner, I cleaned up the space by corralling all my wood utensils into two Rae Dunn canisters. I use this two tiered stand for fruits and veggies, but decided to decorate it a bit too with some faux greens.

 I've been playing around with the placement of the stuff on my island. It usually sits in the middle, but I wanted to see how it would look on the corner, and I think I like it. It's great to have all that space on the island back. And it doesn't look too cluttered in the corner. 

 This little vignette is a collection of items on a tray. 

I also added these amazing architectural piece I found from Hobby Lobby to the side of my cabinet by the sink. I think it adds a lot of character to the area.

In addition to this area of my kitchen, I have updated my only blank wall. We are in desperate need of a pantry...thank goodness my family is pretty small and we don't need that much room...yet. So, I bought this hutch to act as an extra little area for storage of food in the bottom and my collection on top. 

 It's my little mix of Rae Dunn and Hearth and Hand by Magnolia. 

 I love this view looking out of my kitchen into my living room.

Okay. Now are your ready for my ideas? And I would like you to weigh in with your opinion! I have three thoughts. 

Here's my first idea. The simplest. What do you think about adding subway tile to this entire wall? ...oh, and look! You can totally see my curtains better with the mockup :) This curtain is totally a mockup too, but it's really what it looks like!

White ruffle cafe curtain: Link              Pendant Light: Similar

My second idea. Keep the subway tile, take out a cabinet, and add these floating shelves. These shelves would then house my white dishes. 

 Third option, ditch the subway tile and use faux white brick. 

In my opinion....I would like the 2nd option. My husband loathes subway tile...like seriously can't stand it. So, yeah. That's an uphill battle. He loves the brick idea, but don't you think cleaning brick would be a nightmare? Especially in the kitchen with all the grease, etc. And of course, the first one is so easy and would be quick to do with big impact! I am torn. Ha! What do you all like the best? Let me know in the comments below :) 


Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”