Fifty-Thousand Page Views Later

50,000 page views. Unbelievable!

When I noticed the blog was approaching this milestone I thought about what I might want to do to celebrate. When I started the blog I would request to go out to dinner for every small milestone. :-) I will probably be doing that for this one too, but I also thought it might be nice to reflect on the projects that have actually made a big impact around the house. We have spent nearly 2 whole years DIYing this house, and some projects have definitely been more important than others (ex: a spray painted napkin holder = low impact). So check them out below, in reverse order, the most life-changing projects on Hems and Haws to date:

See the original posts about each of these by clicking the links.

5. My Office
While this wasn't necessarily one DIY project, it came together pretty quickly after we moved in. This room features a hot pink table for a desk, light pink walls, and molding near the ceiling that serves as a shoe rack. (Latest office post)

4. Painting the Trim
The trim in this house was atrocious. I'm not sure what it is about wood trim that I dislike so much, but everything just feels fresh and clean with white trim. There are houses where wood trim looks nice, but this was not one of them. There are still 2 rooms in the house with wood trim, but I am hoping to tackle those this summer. It is not a quick and easy job to paint trim, but it is worth it!  (Tutorial here)

3. The Bar
The bar is the most functional project we have done. T.J. was a huge help, and we completed the project in just about one weekend. We use the bar every single day and it has really upped the quality of life in our house by providing another surface to work/eat/hang out at. (Bar posts one and two).

2. Five Chandelier Projects
What makes these projects the runners-up is that they make me smile every day. All of these chandeliers cost me $30 or less - one of them I got for as little as $4 at a flea market in Lansing, MI. (Posts: White Kitchen Chandelier, ORB Hall Chandelier & Bedroom Chandelier, Pink Office Chandelier, Pink Closet Chandelier)

1. Painting the Kitchen Cabinets White
We spend a ton of time in the kitchen and as they say - kitchen renovations = big bang for your buck. Here I am not talking literal bucks, although I do hope the improvements we have made in the kitchen will pay off. The whole kitchen feels lighter and brighter with the white cabinets and they are a more recent change (1 year ago). The combination of white cabinets with white trim and white doors just makes everything feel updated, clean, and new. If you are considering this project, do it! Read about my experience here.

Bar Work Day 1

Since before we put an offer in on our house we had plans to make a bar between our kitchen and living room. We have enough dining space for the two of us, but this part of the wall was just screaming for a makeover. T.J. and I originally had very different ideas of what we wanted, but in the end, a combination of the two won out. Plans have been in the works for months, and during our time off for winter break, they have finally had time to be realized.

Here is what we were working with before:

We started with a trip to Menard's for wood and wood stain. We decided a dark wood stain would look best for this countertop/bar. Especially because I am slowly getting rid of anything else wood in the house by painting over it with white. I do think this one piece will look beautiful wood, and will really stand out amongst all the color and white.


Before I stained the wood, I watched this quick video on YouTube and referred to this blog post on Young House Love to educate myself on staining techniques. I always like to check more than one "how-to" and pick the techniques I like best. For example, I decided to use a foam brush like in the YouTube video instead of a regular brush in the blog post.

T.J. headed up all the woodworking on this project... but I managed to snap a few pictures along the way. He first used his Kreg Jig to attach the two boards together. Then he cut them to size to fit our opening. We just used a crow bar to pry the old piece of wood off the half wall - it was interesting to find out what was under there. Nothing surprising I guess, just new to me!

 To deal with the issue of the wood molding under the old piece of wood on the wall, I painted it white (2 coats of primer, 2 coats of white semi-gloss), and on the side we needed to install brackets on, T.J. cut the molding so the brackets would fit. 

T.J. got sanding, then used his router to round both the top and bottom edges of the bar wood - but left the two short ends untouched.

Finally, it was time for me to come in with my new knowledge about staining wood. This part was pretty exciting honestly. I mixed the stain well, donned a stylish blue glove, and spread it on with my foam brush. Wait the recommended amount of time (about 30 min) then wipe off the excess stain. I admittedly forgot about it on the bottom side of the bar and left it there for an hour - so I left the stain on the top on for an hour too for uniformity. No harm done.

 (with the stain still on it - pre-wipe)

(darkness after I wiped the excess stain off)

And there you have it - day one of the bar work. All that in ONE DAY. It is nearly done! Day two work will be coming soon in a subsequent post. Until then - thanks for stopping by!