We’re back from California and ready to get things going in the house project department. First on my to do list, a quick and easy 1-hour project to curb some of my gold-loving cravings. I’ve really had a thing for gold lately. Gold jewelry, gold accents, gold nail polish, gold table lamps and even those cool phone handsets for iPhones… if it’s gold, I pretty much love it.

First, let’s rewind a bit. When I saw this little guy in the dollar section at Target, I thought he was so stinking cute. I think I literally said, “Hey, little guuuuuy!” out loud… and I’m pretty sure the shoppers around me probably thought I was nuts. Even though he looked like he belonged in a play room, I wanted to bring him home, so I did. I let him hang out in the “future project stash” in my office for a while until I came up with an idea for him. My first thought was a few coats of bright spray paint. Spray paint can so easily transform just about anything, and has the ability to cover a multitude of sins. That was a little too expected, though. I wanted to try out something different. Then it dawned on me… gold leaf! I have a thing for gold, the “little guy” only cost one dollar, I had some gold leaf on hand stashed away in my office… so why not?

I gathered my supplies: Gold leaf, gloves or “gilding gloves” (not a necessity, but really nice to have), a small container of gilding size, sealer and a few natural bristle brushes. If you buy all of these things separately, it might total to around $20-$28. However, you can commonly find gold leaf kits for about $12 that will have everything you need.

I started off by brushing a thin layer of gilding size all over our little bulldog. I tried to make sure there weren’t any puddles, but with all of the creases, it was bound to happen in a few places. After all of the surfaces were coated. I let him sit for 20 minutes.

The time you have to wait depends on the brand of gilding size you’re using, but to see if it’s ready, just lightly touch the surface with the back of your finger to see if it’s tacky. Tacky = good to go. Sticky or gooey = not yet. Also, the gilding size should go from a milky white to clear when it’s ready to go.

Once the size was set, I put on my cotton gloves and took out the first piece of gold leaf and lightly patted it down with my gloved hands.

Now, here’s what I love about this stuff: it’s so forgiving. Obviously, the first piece of gold leaf didn’t cover the entire thing. All I had to do was put another sheet over the area that didn’t get covered, and there was no way to tell where one sheet ended and the other began.

This “little guy” has soooo many grooves and hard-to-get-to areas – something I didn’t take into consideration before I started this – so it took a good amount of time to get everything completely covered. I’m sure it would be a lot easier on a smooth surface, and if I decide to gild anything else in the future, it will definitely be smooth. Oh, and it’s worth noting that a clean brush came in very handy when brushing off the excess gold leaf hear and there.

Once everything was completely covered with gold leaf, it was time for the sealer. Using another brush, I brushed a thin layer on and let it sit for about 24 hours. In the end, it turned out well, and now I have a cute little gold puppy…

I’m sure I’ll end up moving him from room to room until I find the perfect place. But for now, he’s hanging out in the guest room.

It’s a nice little way to curb my gold cravings while adding a little additional personality to the house.

While the bulldog was drying, I was standing there looking at the left over gold leaf and knew I just had to leaf something else, so I grabbed one of the left over “milk bottles” from our winter brunch and went to town.

A few minutes later, I had a cute little rustic glam milk bottle vase for my office. Oh, I figured out that if you “sloppily” apply the gilding size (like in the photo of the unfinished bottle above), you’ll get a “rustic glam” look on a smooth surface.

PS As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we have a new and improved design coming your way soon! Our plan was to have the new look published a few days later, but with life, our vacation and such, we had to push it back a little. We didn’t want to publish everything until every last pixel was in place. We’re hoping to have the new changes up by this coming weekend, so stay tuned!

Today we’ve got an extra special treat for you all, hailing from one of my favorite countries, Australia. We don’t usually have “guest bloggers” here, but knowing that we were going to be on vacation for a few weeks, we called on one of our blogger friends, Serena from Pretty Fluffy, to share a DIY project for you.

Serena Faber Nelson is the gal behind Pretty Fluffy, a guide for the modern dog owner. A television producer, writer and fluffy dog owner, Serena’s work has been featured on award-winning shows such as RPA, Selling Houses Australia, Harry’s Practice and What’s Good for You. She’s a passionate spokesperson for animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, and has been featured on MamaMia.com.au, Hope 103.2 Radio and in Dog’s Life Magazine. In other words, if you’re a dog lover, as we are, you need to be checking in on her corner of the Internet… right after you read this awesome DIY project she has in store for today’s post. Now I’ll hand it over to Serena!

As a big fan of 7th House, I’m so happy to be here today sharing my most favourite project of late with you all.

For years, I’ve been an inspiration board junkie. Planning a party? Lets make a mood board. Thinking of a career change? Up goes the motivational board. I won’t even start on how many inspiration boards I made in the lead up to my wedding!

And I’m not alone. You only have to click around Pinterest for a few minutes – ok hours, no one spends a few minutes on Pinterest – to see all of us collectively pinning our wants, hopes and dreams to our virtual pin boards.

Now while these inspiration boards are brilliant for motivation, cohesion, goal setting and aspiration; but I couldn’t help but start thinking if I was always looking to the future I was losing the good things I had in my life in the present.

Enter the Gratitude Board.

Instead of filling a pin board with images of the things you want to be, start pinning up mementos to remind you of the great things in your life you already have.

Some ides for your board could include:

• Photos of treasured memories and people
• Ticket stubs
• Old Invitations
• Thank you notes
• Gift cards
• Party decorations
• Ribbons from gifts
• Love notes
• Magazine and News Clippings

…You’re pretty much limited only by your imagination.

For those moments where you don’t have something to remember them by I’ve created these free printable ‘Gratitude Postcards’ (Download your free Gratitude Postcards HERE).

A co-worker might congratulate you on a job well done, a stranger might come to your aid, a child may brighten your day with a simple observation…For all of these times, simply print out postcard, jot down your experience and pin it to your board.

As your board grows it becomes your ultimate pick-me-up. Whenever you’re feeling blue, uninspired, beaten or frustrated, your Gratitude Board is there with a physical collection of everything good in your life.

At the end of each year, you can take a photo of your board, package up the contents and start again. Before long, you have a treasure trove of good memories to look back on that may have otherwise been forgotten.

Here are some more ways to bring the Gratitude Board into your life:

• If you have children, start a family Gratitude Board. It’s a great way to record the special moments.
• If you struggle at work, create a Gratitude Board at the office. Use pictures of holidays you’ve been on, experiences you’ve had and memories you keep all because you work to afford them.
• If you’re working on a particular project, such as a home renovation, include your favourite ‘Wins’ so far. That way when you’re in the thick of it, you can look at where you came from and be happy with what you’ve achieved.
• Too Busy for a real board? Try a virtual Gratitude Board on Pinterest.

So there you have it. A new spin on inspiration boards, where happiness comes guaranteed. Thanks so much to Ashley + Greg for having me today. This moment will definitely be going on this year’s Gratitude Board! Do you use inspiration boards? What would you put on your Gratitude Board?

Things have been pretty busy around the house lately. Greg has been occupied with his “day job”, I’ve been doing busy with graphic design clients, and we’ve both been pretty focused on Christmas shopping and gearing up for our Christmas party in a few weeks. Despite our busy schedule, we managed to squeeze in a quick and simple project before all of the cooking, hustle and bustle and tablescaping begins.

Here’s the deal… I hate clutter. Scratch that… I loathe clutter. Yes, we’re human, and our house gets messy every now and then. Though, I love having a place for everything. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re working toward the goal of “a place for everything heaven”. The thought of it totally makes my heart go pitter patter. One of my pet peeves about the laundry room has been that the chest of drawers constantly has “stuff” on it. Though I’ve yet to “decorate” it, it’s perfect for mail and keys, but every now and then we wind up putting our jackets on top of it when we walk in the back door. We have a coat closet in the front foyer where we keep our not-worn-that-often coats and hang guests’ coats, so long term coat/jacket storage is good to go. Basically, we desperately needed a place to hang everyday jackets, the farmer’s market bag, my purse, etc. The problem is unused wall space in the laundry room near the door is limited, so behind the door seemed like the perfect place. It’s out of the way and still convenient enough to grab a jacket while heading out the door in a hurry.

By the way, we hung the roman shade on the door months ago and totally forgot to mention it here on the blog. At the time, it just seemed too small of an update to make a whole post about. Regardless, here it is now! We’re actually planning on replacing it sometime soon because we don’t care for the rod used to roll it up and down. We’ve realized after living with it for a while that we prefer something with a cord. We’re still waiting for the roman shade for the kitchen to come in (I guess custom orders take a while), so we’re waiting to see if we like that one before we order a new one for this door, the half bath and the window over the washer and dryer. But anyway… back to the project at hand!

First and foremost, we wanted something practical – three hooks would do. We also wanted something rustic to bring in some warmth and tie in with the whole “modern rustic” vibe we are gearing toward. We thought that just hanging hooks in a line on the wall alone would look a little too simple, so Greg came up with the idea to mount some hooks on a board then hang the board on the wall – kind of like this (which I LOVE). We needed it to be half the size as the one in the link and if it was a fraction of the price, we wouldn’t complain.

First, the board. We went to Lowe’s and bought a 1″ x 8″ board and had it cut down to 24″ long. We ended up with three pieces, which gave us some security in case things went wrong and we had to start over. We’re baby DIY’ers. We also picked up two small cans of stain – Minwax’s Special Walnut and Dark Walnut.

Now the hooks. In my head, a “catchall hook” had three requirements… 1) Extra sturdy to hold a lot of “stuff”. 2) Oil-rubbed bronze or black to stand out from the board and tie in with the door hardware. 3) Something with a bit of personality. Then, I saw these hooks at Pottery Barn. They are made of cast iron and have a painted schoolhouse-style number on each hook. Score!

To take the wood from shiny and new to rustic and distressed, we started out by simply beating it with a hammer. Then we scuffed it up on the brick wall in the carport. At one point, Greg even tossed the board across the asphalt on the driveway. He also sanded all of the corners to make them look worn down from years of use. It still wasn’t rustic looking enough for me, though, so I beat the edges of the board with a hammer in a few places.

Once we thought the board was beaten up enough, Greg began the staining process. We weren’t going for perfection. After all, we wanted a rustic, worn look, so Greg just used an old flour sack cloth to put the stain on.

The board soaked up the stain pretty fast, but as soon as Greg wiped the stain on the board, he immediately rubbed it right back off. We actually ended up using only the Special Walnut because we liked the color so much. To make sure all of the new dents and crevices were stained well, I went behind him with a tiny paint brush. I also added a little extra stain in some places to make it darker.

The sun was shining full force in this photo, so the board looks lighter than it actually was. After the first coat of stain, I still didn’t think the board looked old enough. Greg had the bright idea of using his drill to drive a screw through the edge of the board to splinter it and create a couple of gouges on the front. I also ended up using the claw side of the hammer to make some interesting marks. There’s no rhyme or reason to this process. Just beat it up until you think it looks good.

After the final dents had been made, we touched up the stain with a very light coat, then we let it dry for two days. This was mainly due to the fact that we were really busy, but it also gave the board time to dry completely. We decided to skip the polyurethane because we thought it would make the board look too new. We rubbed our hands and some cloth on the board to make sure stain wouldn’t come off on our coats, and it seems like we’re in the clear.

The second round of distressing with the drill and the hammer really paid off and made a big difference. I love, love, love the way it turned out – especially the drill action on the edges. It definitely came a long way form the nice new board of wood.

Now, time for hanging. I love large purses and tend to carry around a lot of stuff, so these hooks needed to be able to carry a pretty considerable amount of weight. After going through a bunch of scenarios in our heads, we decided the best option was to screw the board directly to the wall. Since we’re going for the whole “rustic” look with this, we didn’t mind the idea of possibly seeing the screws. Plus, the board is dark in color, so the chances of noticing them were slim anyway. If we decide to take it down or move it down the road, we can just patch up the holes. We’re pretty handy with drywall mud at this point, haha.

To hang the board, we simply leveled it out on the wall, then Greg put a screw in each corner of the board. Since we weren’t able to hit a stud with the screw placement we came up with, Greg drove four drywall anchors into the wall, then reattached the board. They’re rated for 79 lbs apiece, so we’re pretty sure they’ll stand up to anything we throw up there.

I love the rustic wood and the fun numbers on each hook. Even though it’s such a small addition to the laundry room, it definitely cuts down on the clutter at the back door – which makes me a very happy camper.

The details in the “faux distressed” wood are great, and they go perfectly with the schoolhouse-style numbered hooks. I’m a big fan. And so is Greg, so that makes me happy.

Now, as for the rest of the laundry room… ugh…

The laundry room would be an easy room to put on our “done list” if we just had a plan for it, but we don’t actually have one yet. Something keeps blocking me from being able to come up with a plan of action, and I think it might be the wall color. I love the blue – I really do! -but I’m wondering if a moody neutral gray would look more refined. There’s a lot of sunlight in here, so we could even get away with a dark moody neutral gray. Honestly, I think I could be perfectly happy if every room in our house were a different shade of gray. Gray is sophisticated and modern, and it lets you get creative when it comes to using color in the room’s decor – which is something we’re aiming towards in the long run. Adding topic to list of things to blog about later. BUT I could go in another direction entirely…? Maybe I’m just looking at it too hard. I’m pretty certain that’s Greg’s opinion. But, painting isn’t his favorite thing to do, haha. What do you guys think? To paint or not to paint?!