Charter Your Dream Day at Crab Island with Juicebox Charters

Charter Your Dream Day at Crab Island with Juicebox Charters

(This post contains sponsored links from Juicebox Charters. All thoughts, views and opinions are my own.)

What is Crab Island?

Crab Island is a massive sandbar located on the Emerald Coast in Destin, Florida! It is one of the most popular attractions in all of Destin! With it’s shallow, emerald green waters, dolphin sightings and floating restaurants Crab Island is one of the most favored activities, in the area! Did you know that Crab Island been featured on HGTV and Good Morning America?!

How deep is the water on Crab Island?

On Crab Island, the depth of the water is about 1-4 ft. It’s the perfect place to anchor your boat and enjoy the day! Check out my blog post here to read more about Crab Island and local spots in Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area’s.

My husband and youngest daughter had a blast paddle boarding! My number three daughter and I, relaxed on the 2nd tier of the boat, up top! We also enjoyed walking around on Crab Island, visiting with restaurant vendors and vacationers. These views have blown my mind. I am constantly awe-struck of what an incredible place we live in! It’s absolutely beautiful here on Crab Island!

Floating Restaurants on Crab Island 

There are many floating restaurants on Crab Island! From boiled peanuts, to grilled burgers and pizza or Chick-Fil-A! You won’t go hungry on Crab Island!

The General Store

The General Store on Crab Island has floats, sunscreen, googles, dry bags snacks, drinks and more! I think I even saw that they sold T-shirts!

Gulf Stream Ice Cream & Shaved Ice

Gulf Stream sells ice cream on the water, sort of like a boat ice cream truck! They will drive their boat, right up to your boat, on the water! So fun! They also have shaved ice!

 

Pirate Porky’s Pizza & Grill

For lunch, we did pizza & burgers. We decided to take one of the paddle boards over (included in your charter) to one of the floating restaurants! Such a fun experience!

Reef Burgers

Hungry for a 1/2 pound burger at sea? Reef Burgers did not disappoint!

My husband and I tried a burger a it was great! Their employees are super sweet, too!

Kluge’s Barbecue 

They seek turkey legs, pulled pork barbecue sandwich’s, tacos and more! 

Kick’n Chicken

Kick n’ Chicken sells tenders, sandwich’s, wings, ice cream and boiled peanuts!

Chick-Fil-A

You can even get your favorite chicken out here on Crab Island!!! Chick-Fil-A serves you in a boat and will deliver right up to your boat!!

Juicebox Charters

Sail away to the best sandbar in America with a private pontoon charter, guided by a USCG-licensed captain!

Let’s Plan a Trip

Planning a family outing day, a girls weekend, or a couple’s trip? A cruise through Destin Harbor, is the perfect way to explore the beauty of the Emerald Coast. Book your adventure today and let Captain Justin create a tailored and memorable charter for you!

Why choose Juicebox Charters?

The waters are pristine on the Emerald Coast and with Juicebox Charters, you can experience luxury on the open water. Their expert team is dedicated to providing an unforgettable adventure-whether you’re snorkeling in crystal-clear waters, island hopping, or simply relaxing aboard their comfortable, well-equipped vessels.

With a variety of customizable packages, Captain Justin will cater to your every need, ensuring your time with Juice Box Charters is as seamless, as it is memorable. 

Experience and Affordability 

 With over 5 years experience operating a charter boat, rest assured that they have a track record of success in hosting your group.

Competitive pricing without surprise fees.  The cost of your charter includes a luxurious, modern Harris Solstice double decker slide boat, two paddleboards, a full complement of Bote floats, a large cooler with ice and bottled water, an upgraded Bluetooth sound system, beer pong float, games, snorkel masks, net. You really only need sunscreen and towels! Check out my IG Reel for a complete video of our trip, here.

Beach Weekend Marina

Beach Weekend Marina in Fort Walton, is where you set off for your adventure, to Crab Island! The marina has a wrap around patio, which is an excellent way to enjoy a cold drink and enjoy an Emerald Coast Sunset.

Final Thoughts

Crab Island was a blast with  Captain Justin from Juicebox Charters! The best pricing, which INCLUDES all you need for a trip to Crab Island! The boat is super clean and nice, no worries with being uncomfortable. The team from Juicebox Charters was amazing! Friendly, nice, very accommodating!! Our family loved it so much, we plan to go back again before the summer is over!!

How to Bring Character to Your Home with Modern Rustic Hardware

{“This blog post contains sponsored content. It reflects my personal views and opinions on the products.”}

I am always looking for ways to character to my home. What about you? Hardware is one way to add character to your home and instantly elevate your space! Today, I want to take you through our self-built barndominium (completion date is Dec 2023) and share how we have upgraded our hardware with Ageless Iron. (Front porch and side porch (3) completion date is spring 2024.)

Come on in! Let me share, how these modern, rustic door handles complete our doors and give off a, polished look, in our barndominium.

Your Home’s Style 

Unsure of how to start choosing out your hardware? Just think about your home’s style and look for options that compliment that style. Our double front doors are more of a traditional look but, I knew I wanted to achieve a more modern, rustic look with Ageless Iron’s Keep Long Plate Entry Set with Lance Lever.

I wanted hardware that blends with modern, rustic farmhouse. I fell in love with it’s hand finished iron that reflects it’s unique surface texture. I believe that with the hardware’s sophisticated black color, will remain timeless, season after season. Our hope is that our Great-Grandchildren will be turning the handle on that door someday!

The knob is an oval shape which I find, oh,so timeless. All of these characters work well in our barndo interior details, making a seemless flow, artistically throughout our home.

Mix or Match

I need to admit, I stayed on the “Match” trail for quite some time. Ask my older two (adult) children! It was the nostalgia folks!

These days, I say, “Mix”, to an extent. While I am drawn to keeping things consistent, in this house, I have really enjoyed seeing my artistic abilities come to life!

I chose the Black Iron Barn Door Grip for passages with our barn doors, like our Pantry Door and our Laundry Room Door.


Mixing Finishes 

While the finishes on all door hardware is black, I did choose to mix finishes, such as gold, with other accessories in our home, like lighting or bathroom finishes. In my opinion, I think it is nice to keep door hardware finishes consistent so the home feels cohesive.

Below is the Black Iron Barn Door Pull.


In the photo below, you will find the Black Iron Barn Door Flush Pull.

Thanks For Stopping By

I am so glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoyed seeing our new hardware from Ageless Iron. They have many different styles that you can shop on the site, here.

If you don’t already follow me on social media, follow the links and subscribe so that you don’t miss any upcoming posts!

DIY Barndominium Dollhouse

{“This blog post contains paid and sponsored content. It reflects my personal views and opinions on the products.”}

Only Time Will Tell

If you follow us on IG stories, you have probably already caught a glimpse of our finished barndominium dollhouse! And if you know us well enough, we take awhile to finish a project like this one. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I can say our longevity in this project is partly because we are still building our barndominium. Without further ado, we are so excited to share our DIY Barbie Barndominium Doll House!!

Back Story

The photo below is circa Christmas 2014. Baby number 4 was on the way and you can see a peek of the pink kitchen on your right of the photo.

Back in 2012, we designed and built this kitchen set for our number 3 daughter for Christmas.

The photo below is circa 2015.

It has been carried down to her little sister and it has also been a favorite of all of our nieces, growing up!

The photo above is after I chalk painted the kitchen set and matching table/chairs. This is circa 2018.

A Gift From Our Hearts

I’ve learned that over the years, it has been really meaningful for us, as parents, to spend time, planning and working on a gift for our children. Something that comes from our hearts.

So…the idea came to mind, to turn our daughters kitchen set, along with the matching table/chairs set, into a Barbie Barndominium Doll House!! And best of all?! It was going to look just like our barndominium that we’ve self-built! I was so excited that I was like a kid in a candy shop! I couldn’t wait to see the whole thing come together!

The photo below is Christmas 2021. We had just moved into the barndo! It looks a lot different now!

Over the last couple of years, our youngest daughter has loved Barbie dolls. We first gave her, our oldest three daughter’s Barbie dolls. She enjoyed playing with them so much that she began collecting Barbie’s of her own! I am so grateful it was a family effort!

Doll House Sketch

This is my first drawing of the dollhouse. As we built it, it became slightly different!

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The first step was to design the basic build of the dollhouse. I spent a long time searching all the different blogs of how to diy a dollhouse. I chose to do a simple, 4-foot tall house with six rooms and a loft bedroom.

Dissembling Kitchen Set

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The next step to disassemble the kitchen set carefully, so we could repurpose the wood for the dollhouse!

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Design Time

Next, I began designing and decorating each room. We wanted to keep everything similar to the interior of our barndominium.

Below is the dollhouse during the painting process. Circa January 2022.

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After painting a base coat of white, on the inside and outside, it was time to start on the first room! I thought it would be best to start with the hardest room first-the kitchen feature wall, first on the list. Circa March 2022.

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As I began designing and decorating each room, I knew we wanted to keep everything similar to the interior of our barndominium.

Kitchen

My oldest (adult) daughter was kind enough to add the herringbone shiplap, in the kitchen, for the backsplash! She did a remarkable job!! Thank you baby! It looks just like the one in our house!

Below is when Wes and I had just finished the feature wall in our kitchen, here in the barndo! Circa Fall 2021.


The photo below is a current photo of our barndo kitchen! Circa August 2023.

We used popsicle sticks and cut off the round edges for the wood feature wall. You can check out that blog of how to diy here.

Next, my oldest daughter began working on the lower kitchen cabinets. She used thin sheets of craft wood from Hobby Lobby, that she cut with a knife. She even made an oven, stove top, farmhouse sink and fridge! Painted it all with leftover house paint! I did buy gold craft paint to use, as well.

Master Bedroom 

Next, I began working on the master bedroom wood geometric feature wall! First, I made a “boho” wall hanging, just like the one in our master bedroom!

It was super simple to use balsa wood! Easy to cut and I glued on with wood glue! Painted with left overpaint from the master bedroom.

The bed is from Mountain Grove Timber. It comes unfinished and easy to assemble. I spray painted ours black, to match ours in our master retreat.

Loft

For the upstairs “loft” bedroom, I added a feature wall with leftover wallpaper from the girls room. The doll beds are repurposed from left over wood & mirror are from Melinda Lundberg’s shop, Mountain Grove Timber. She has so many beautiful wood pieces in her shop! The rug is a piece of fabric that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I made all of the bedding, mattress and pillows from a piece of fabric from Hobby Lobby. I also used drop cloth fabric for some of the bedding, curtains, pillow, sofa slip cover and table runner. I bought a piece of foam from Hobby Lobby and cut pillows and mattresses with it.

Living Room

I asked my husband to make a L-shaped sofa like ours from scrap wood.

I made all of the cushions, slip covers and pillows from drop cloth fabric, sponges and furniture foam.


The ceiling in the living room is made to match the ceiling in our living room from Barnwood USA. They carry reclaimed barn wood products! We had a couple left over pieces, so I cut them, then hot glued, to the doll house living room ceiling. I made the ceiling fan from a craft paint top and popscycle sticks then used hot glue to stick all of it together. Hot glued straight to the ceiling, to “hang”!

Bathroom

For the bathroom, I kept it simple, for now. I found the toilet from the Dollar Tree. I found the signs and blanket ladder from Hobby Lobby, at Christmas-time. I made the curtains from drop cloth, twine and barn wood by hot glueing in all the right places.

We built a vanity from balsa wood from Hobby Lobby, then I hot glued everything together, then stained! We added a cut piece of a plumbing pipe, for now, as the sink. The mirror is from Mountain Grove Timber. It came unfinished and I spray painted it black!

I bought the tub from Target. The tub came as a Barbie Doll set.

Laundry Room

I asked my husband to cut me a couple pieces of 2×4’s to Barbie sized washer and dryer. I added “doors” with a cut small piece of barn wood then painted everything to match our Speed Queens! I found the vintage doll laundry items while antiquing with three of my daughters in Waco, TX at Cameron’s Trading. It makes a wonderful addition, if your headed to Magnolia. You can read all about that blog, here.

Dining Room 

I asked my husband to cut a dining room table from a piece of extra wood that I had leftover from Mountain Grove Timber. I used small pieces of scrap wood for the table legs. I painted and stained the pieces then hot glued together. I found the chairs from Hobby Lobby but took out the legs and added my own balsa wood legs. Gave them a quick, spray paint in black! I printed a photo of all four of our girls and made a “frame” from the left over barn wood and “hung” with twine and a mini nail. It looks just like the photo in our dining room! You can peep my IG for all the photos! I even added a barndominium “beam” in our dining room and kitchen area of the doll house.

Exterior Siding, Roof and Windows

The “siding” is just this wood from Home Depot. I nailed these pieces into the doll house.

The roof “shingles” are just these pieces of wood from Amazon. The windows are also made from this wood. I painted the exterior with leftover paint from the build, here in our barndo.

Conclusion 

I really enjoyed being able to repurpose and create a doll house, with the kitchen set and table/chairs set that we built over ten years ago! I want to thank my daughters for all of their help in creating this doll house and making all of our Barbie dreams, come to life! We hope that our family will get use out of this doll house for years to come! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! You can find all of my videos under my highlights tab on IG! You will find out how we transformed this kitchen set into the first ever, Barbie Barndo!

Spring DIY Blog Hop

Spring DIY Blog Hop

Today I’m hosting a Spring Blog Hop with five other bloggers. We can’t wait to share our spring DIY’s with y’all!

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My mom gave me the cutest set of vintage bunny salt and pepper shakers! I believe they were my Mom-Maw’s. I think that the red colored top, stands out, to much for my decor taste, so I decided to paint the pepper shaker’s top to match the color of the salt shaker’s top.

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I started out by painting the top white. I just used some left over SW paint in Eider White. I painted two coats.

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Next I decided to add a light coat of wood filler that I had on hand from the hardware store.

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Next, I decided to use a Semi Transparent Minwax Stain in Red Oak on the white paint, while it was still wet.

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I thought the color needed more of a yellow tone instead of a brown tone, so I added Outrageously Orange craft paint.

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I ended up sort of mixing the paint colors and stain together to make the color, while sanding in between coats for an aged look.

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Here is the final result! I think I got pretty close to the color of the salt shaker’s top! Now my Vintage Bunny Salt and Pepper Shakers are ready to be apart of my spring decor!

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Head on over and checkout the other sweet bloggers to see what they’ve come up with for their Spring DIY’s!

Terrie from Decorating & More with Tip

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Gail from Purple Hues and Me

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Denise from Hoots Hack

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Tammy from Patina and Paint

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Hannah from Baggott Farmhouse

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I hope y’all have enjoyed our Spring DIY Hop! I can’t wait to check out all of the beautiful spring DIY’s!

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Barndominium Custom Built Work and Homeschooling Station

I am excited to share how we built our barndominium desk with ya’ll today! It’s budget friendly too at under $90!!

I’ve teamed up with my sweet friend (host) Terrie from Decorating & More with Tip plus several other blogging buddies! Our goal is to each turn something from Trash to Treasure!

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Background of Our Barndominium Build


Most of ya’ll know that we have been building our barndominium, the past few months! Check out the blog here.

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We basically started with a piece of land that literally was littered with trash and have built our home with own hands! The photo below is where my husband was clearing our land of trees, trash and junk cars.

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We also had to rent several dumpsters to throw away the large amount of trash! The photo below is dumpster number 2.

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Curating Spaces For Our Barndominium Home

Since tax season has rolled around, I knew that I would need a space to work on our taxes, instead of sitting on the concrete floor. I have not had a desk since our move and had been teaching/working at my dining room table! Our youngest two girls needed a space for schoolwork!

A855ECC8-1739-43BF-9D7F-79F38528ABFEOur Vision Coming to Life

I have had this vision of what I wanted this space to look like for the past several months. I enjoy roughly sketching out designs for our home. I want to make sure that every single inch of our almost 1,700 square foot barndominium, to be useful and curated to our family’s specific needs.

Supplies needed:

~2-2x12x12 foot boards

~3-Quarter inch pipes

~3-Quarter inch floor/wall flange  

~Stain- Minwax Semi-Transparent Red Oak (on hand)

~1.5 inch wood screws  (on hand)

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Assembling the Desk

The first item on our agenda was sanding down the wood on all sides. My husband also had to trim one of the boards, as it was uneven.  Next we counter-screwed the boards together.  

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After the boards were counter screwed, we applied a light coat of the stain on either side.  

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Next up was installing the quarter inch pipes and wall flanges to the wall. Measure how far apart you want your “brackets” to be and mark with a pencil.

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Add your 1.5 inch screws to the studs in the quarter inch pipes and your done! Place your desk top on the “brackets” that you’ve installed! Done!

Styling our Work Space

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We still have a check list of items to finish. I need three barn lights to go over each desk area. I also need to build two bottom cabinets for either side of my desk area, which will hold my printer/computer on one side then files/desk items on the other side.

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I’ve bought three white mid century chairs, along with a couple cork boards for the girls wall sides. The middle desk area is mine and I’ve added a vintage crib spring for my memo board. 

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 I am also adding pipe “brackets” to the wall with metal galvanized baskets to hold pencils, crayons, markers and color pencils.  I am loving how it is looking and can’t wait to update y’all with a finished look soon-probably on IG, so be sure to be following along with us on IG as we finish up with this project plus more on our barndominium build! 

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I would love for you to check out my other blogging buddies below and see what item they found from Trash to Treasure! You will never be disappointed with these ladies!

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Decorate and More with Tip

Bluesky at Home

The House House

Purple Hues and Me

Sweet Southern Grace

Baggott Farmhouse

Patina and Paint

The House on Silverado

Pallet and Pantry

Cloches and Lavender

 

How We Built Our Barndominium-With Our Own Hands

During the summer of 2020, my husband and I decided that we would place our house up for sale and move to the beach! The housing market was booming for homeowners and we decided it would be the best time to sell!

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Our home sold within the first week of having it listed and thus began our plan of homeownership via paying cash! We settled on building a pole barn that we would live in temporarily while we built our forever home! The pole barn quickly became our barndominium! We chose to build our barndominium at the size of 30×40!

Researching is Key

Researching is key if you are thinking about undertaking a large project like building your own barndominium. This project has consumed us for months, but it has allowed us to build almost everything ourselves and it has been so worth it! When we would shop for estimates, we shopped until we found a price we liked!

The photo below is the backside of our property and where our barndominium currently sets.

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Finding Land

The very first item on our agenda was the land! We knew a quaint little beach town that we wanted to grow old in and began driving around looking at property in July of 2020.

The photo below is the beach across the street from our property!

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We began looking up owners of properties in the town from the plot map, to begin writing them, asking them if we could purchase their land. We had found a couple pieces of property, when my Father-In-Law reached out to us, who happened to live in the same quant beach town and asked us if we would like his property. We were shocked and so happy! Thus began our dreams of building a Pole Barn with an attatched Guest Suite.

In this photo, my husband had begun clearing our land. This is about two days into it!

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Clearing the Land

Next on the agenda was assessing the property. The property was not in the best shape. In fact, you could hardly see it with all of the overgrown trees.

This is the very first picture that I took of our property. This is the front side of our property.

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There was also a older mobile home, a storage building plus seven junk cars that had been setting on the property for years, along with a boat plus a good amount of trash to clean up.

Below in this photo, my husband was removing the last of the junk cars!!! This was car number seven!

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We knew we needed to rent a tractor to clear the land and make a driveway. I also wanted to learn how to operate a tractor! I actually wanted to learn about anything that my husband was willing to teach me during this process!

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Neither my husband or I had never used a tractor up until this point, but we learned! I think we enjoyed it too!

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It was a lot of sweat equity work with taking out trees, pulling them down and across the road and watching my husband drop trees that stood seventy feet in the air!

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My parents would always be calling, when they saw our stories on Instagram and say to be careful! We also have our own portable sawmill that we plan to mill our pine and oak trees that we saved for wood countertops for our home.

Setting the Posts and Adding Fill Dirt

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The first step was setting the posts! 

We also purchased two dumpsters of fill dirt from a local company. We rented another smaller tractor to help push the dirt out into the pole barn and help keep it evenly spread.

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Leveling Out the Dirt and Adding Posts for Barn Doors

The next step was buying a laser to level out the dirt for the pole barn. We wanted to make sure we had the ground level!

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We also rented a compactor to compact down the dirt. We also added two posts for the barn doors on the front!

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Adding Footers and Rebarb 

Next we added a layer of plastic and the footers and rebarb. We also attached concrete wire to the rebarb. 

Concrete Pour for the Foundation

We did hire out this job because it was such a large job that we did not think we could handle the amount of work on our own.

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Plus, if you happen to mess up concrete, well, its a hard and expensive job to mess up on!!

So glad we hired this one out! Those concrete guys worked so hard! You can watch the video of our concrete pour here

Buying Windows and Doors

My husband wanted to go ahead and buy the windows and doors before framing, so he knew the size of the frames that he would need to be making for the pole barn. We went to Habitat for Huminity to find our windows and doors. We scored big and were able to grab almost everything we needed from Habitat for Humanity! Some of the windows and doors were used but some were new! We spent under $500 for all of our windows and doors! Check out our trip to Habitat for Humanity!

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Framing the First Floor

Framing the first floor went pretty fast.

We were able to get it all done in about two to three days.

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I learned to frame and framed one of the walls on my own! It is always so cool to learn a new trade!

Framing the Second Floor

We second story framing went faster than the first floor. We plan to use the two wings of the barndominium for attic storage and then the middle of the second floor as useable space. My parents came down to help us on a Saturday! Much needed!

Roof

We were able to frame the roof fairly quickly in about two weeks,  then added the galvalume roof.

My parents and my brother came to help for the putting the galvalume roof on! It took about two and a half days for the install on the galvalume roof! Not to bad for two old guys (both of our Dad’s) and two middle aged guys (hubs and bro). No pun intended 🤣

 

My parents and my brother came to help for the putting the galvalume roof on! My mom helped me with cleaning up debris, breaking up a pile of extra concrete and making lunch for our guys! Check out our reel on the installing of the roof! 

After Framing and Roofing

After our barndo was framed,  the next few projects were not nearly as overwhelming. My husband had general construction knowledge and we are both hard workers, willing to do whatever it took to bring our temporary home to life!! Anything we were not knowledgeable on, we turned to You Tube, family or friends that were experts in the subject area.

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I built the exterior barn doors, myself, with the help of a couple assistants to cut and hold wood! Check out that process here!  It is truly amazing what you can learn to do if you have the willingness to learn! You might may some mistakes along the way, but just start over and try again!

 
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Our plan has been to do as much work that we can do on our own, to keep building costs as low as possible. This is a cash build and we had absolutely no plans to get any type of loan for our barndominium build or our forever home build! Our hope was to get the barndominium dried in and basic items checked off then take time to finish the remaining rooms. 

Home Depot Gift Card

We are almost completely done with the building process. Finishing up with sheet rock and paint over the next little bit! Would you like to guess at how much we spent on our Barndominium build? The first person to comment with the correct amount, I wil send you a $100 gift card from Home Depot!

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Instagram Collabs

I have been so blessed to have a job that never feels like work to me! I couldn’t be happier as a blogger and a influencer on IG! I am excited to share in a blog post, soon, our barndomium reveal and which companies I collaborated with! Any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Love~Shae

Antique Pie Safe Makeover



[If you click a affiliate link, I can receive a small commission. It does not affect my opinion as they are all my own.]

Today I’m teaming up with several bloggers to share items that we have found in a thrift shops, estate sales, yard sales or side of the road items and share how we turn them into something beautiful.

44AAEA51-F91F-499F-85C6-73CC4C0E08F3Antique Pie Safe 

I have wanted to find a pie safe for our home for the longest time! I was so grateful when my Father-In-Law offered me one of his pie safe’s! I knew immediately where I wanted to use it in our new DIY Barndominium! I thought it would be gorgeous in our bathroom and we could store towels and linens in it!

Check out our DIY Barndominium here.

Before Photos

We can’t have a diy makeover without the before photos, right?!

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This is the before photo after I’d taken out the shelves and the drawer. The cabinet had several layers of paint, from green to yellow and white primer with a couple layers of really old stain!

Time to Strip & Sand

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I decided to sand the entire piece first, with my orbital sander. Here is a similar one to mine. Next, I used Citri Strip for the entire piece. I like using this stripper better than others as it’s not such a harsh chemical to use and breathe in. Grab it at Home Depot. I stripped the cabinet four times and in between each time, I used my razor to remove the old paint and stain.

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The pie safe also had a sheet of vintage yellow flowered contact paper with  layer of glue on it. It took a lot of tugging but I got it all off! I also decided to remove the old screens from each door. Each screen had a layer of staples that I removed as well.

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The interior side walls were also painted with a bright yellow paint. Here is about 50% through the stripping process on those walls.

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For the shelves, I decided to sand with my orbital sander instead of stripping. Look at those layers of paint and stain.

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On the backside of the shelves, there was an Army printed wording in black writing. It looks like these shelves were made from an old wooden Army shipping crates. It makes me think about all of the families who have owned this pie safe over the years and repairs that were made just like we were doing now!

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The exterior side walls also had a wooden ruler that had been used for trim at one time but was only revealed when the Citri Strip had removed all of the old stain.

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I love being able to think about all of the other people who owned this pie safe before me. It such an honor to have such a beautiful piece!

Time to Seal

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Before I began sealing, I cleaned the pie safe with good ole soap and water! For the wax, I used Minwax Grain Highlighting Finishing Wax.


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I wanted a wax that would highlight the wood’s natural beauty along with give it a slight white matte finish. 

Repair Time

The pie safe drawer needed to replace all three sides of the drawer. It also needed a new drawer bottom. Two of the sides and the bottom were press board.

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I grabbed a 1/4 inch oak craft board and traced the old sides, marked with a pencil and cut with my saw

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I did the same for my drawer bottom. I also traced with a pencil, cut with my saw and used a 1/4 oak craft board.

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My husband made grooves for the drawer sides so that the drawer bottom could slide into.

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Here is a close up of the cut grooves.

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My husband also cut notches out of the bottom exterior of the drawer so that the drawer could slide in and out from the drawer slides.

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He is such a sweetie! ❤️

Finished Piece

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I enjoyed sharing our project of our Antique Pie Safe Makeover with y’all! Did y’all follow along in stories on IG, as I made this piece over? Hop on over and give me a follow, take a look around too! Check out my other fellow bloggers too and see what they’ve come up with for this week’s Thrift Store Challenge!

❤️~Shae

Thrift Store Challenge – Christmas In July

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https://lecultivateur.com/2021/07/15/thrifting-in-July-with-Christmas-in-mind/

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https://www.robynsreverie.com/new-blog/ChristmasInJulyThrift

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https://www.worcesterrun.com/post/whimsical-nursery-decor

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DIY OUTDOOR TABLE for $70

Today I wanted to share how my husband and I made our simple farmhouse diy outdoor table for our new outdoor space! We recently moved so we are starting over from scratch on all of our outdoor spaces!

We needed this outdoor table on our new property! It’s easier than you think to create an outdoor table!

SUPPLIES:

1-4x4x12 for the legs-$18

6-1x6x8’s deck boards for the top-$33

3-2x4x10’s for the frame-$14

2.5 inch exterior screws-$5-Had on hand.

Gloves-$5-Hadon hand.

Paper Towels-$1-Had on hand.

Paint and Stain-$20-Had on hand.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut your 3-2x4x10’s to make into the table frame.

Lay out your six, 1x6x8’s on top of two scrap pieces of wood and begin making your table frame, making sure to attract with screws.

Cut your 4x4x12 into four legs and attach with screws to your frame.

Flip over your table frame and add the 1×6’s to the top and screw into your frame.

Stain-I used Minwax Red Oak in Semi-Transparent.

I did one very light coat of stain. Paint-I used Sherwin Willians Eider White. While the paint was still wet, I immediately went over it with stain.

Paint-I used Sherwin Willians Eider White. While the paint was still wet, I immediately went over it with stain.

While the paint was still wet, I immediately went over it with a light amount of stain.

And your done! Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!! We love having our outdoor table for dining options and especially since we are coastal living now, its warmer here for about ten out of twelve months!

While we are currently living in our RV on our property as we build our barndominium and eventually our forever home, this table is our dining table for now!

I hope ya’ll have enjoyed this DIY Outdoor Table! Please reach out if you have any questions.

Love~Shae


DIY KNOCK OFF LIGHT FIXTURE

I am so excited to team up with several of my blogging buddies for a DIY Knock Off Challenge! My sweet friend, Terrie from Decorating and More with Tip heads us up! The rules were that we had to find a higher end piece and share how we could make our own and on a budget!

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CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

The rules were as follows: We needed to find a piece we loved and be willing to create a similar piece plus make it budget friendly! Challenge accepted! 

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HOME DEPOT LIGHT FIXTURE

Home Depot had this beautiful light fixture, the Windsor 5 Light Antique White Chandelier; however, we did not want to spend $160 on a light fixture that would be outside , hanging in the weather. This light fixture was our inspiration for what we sorta-kinda had invisioned in our minds. 

OUTDOOR “LIGHTING” FOR OUR NEW SPACE

My husband had a fabulous idea to hang a light fixture from this old live oak tree that sits over our new outdoor dining space! Thrift shopping we had to go! And ya don’t have to pull my hand to go! We decided to use one of our Saturday morning’s to go thrifting for this light fixture, instead of working on our pole barn. Heck, we even NEEDED a break from working on our pole barn!  

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THRIFTING WE GO

The first couple of places we went thrifting, we couldn’t find the exact light fixture that we had envisioned in our heads… on the third thrift store, we found a light fixture that we thought might work but it was a little to small for the space.

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We decided to stop at one last thrift shop and we hit the jackpot! We found this light fixture and although I would love it to be a bit larger, we thought it would work for now! At $19, it was definitely a great buy!

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HOME DEPOT & TARGET FOR SUPPLIES

Next, we headed to Home Depot for supplies! I used Rustoleum White Spray Paint in a Hammered finish.  This is my favorite brand of spray paint, evenly coats, no drips when used correctly and under $6!

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TARGET SUPPLIES

I grabbed a 12 count tapered candlesticks from Target for $3.00!

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LET’S GET TO WORK

Head on over to my instagram and you can watch my reel of how I diy’ed our thrifted light fixture! First, I removed the glass globes. Next, I applied two coats of spray paint on all sides, leaving a couple hours drying time, in between.

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Super easy! I just love how it turned out! The hammered finish gives it a rustic farmhouse feel to our outdoor space! 

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I spent $28 total on our diy light fixture! I hope that y’all have found some budget friendly inspiration here and that you will hop on over to the other ladies! I know you will love their DIY Knock Off’s, as well! Head on over to my friend Cindy’s blog at Cloches and Lavender for her DIY!  

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❤️~Shae

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Decorate and More with Tip | Sweet Southern Grace

Cloches and Lavender | Purple Hues and Me

B4 and Afters | Patina and Paint

Blue Sky at Home

Updating your Bathroom on a Budget

Updating your Bathroom on a Budget

Updating Your Bathroom on a Budget: It’s EASY!

[This post contains sponsored links. The items featured and linked, in this post is provided by LNC Home; all opinions and reviews are my own.]

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Bathroom Mini Reno on a Very Small Budget: Make the impossible, possible!

We had one last item to add to this bathroom after a mini bathroom renovation and that was our 3 Light Modern Wall Sconce  .

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The before picture below is the day we purchased our home. It has really come so far on such a low budget!

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Decor Through the Years: Styles can Change!

I would like to say that my decor tastes and styles have changed over the years. Some may believe I am scared of color because most of my home is now neutral but if you look closely, you will see color throughout my home! The photo below is what our bathroom looked like before the mini bathroom reno began. We had a very bright pink in the bathroom along with a black and white accent colors. Paris was the theme that my girls wanted! 

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We decided to have a very small budget when it came to this mini reno, since it was the upstairs bathroom and is rarely used!

Budget Reno Details: DIY’s

For this mini reno, we removed the popcorn ceiling along with patching, painting the ceiling. I painted the walls in Lazy Gray from Sherwin Williams. I also painted all the baseboards, window and door with Ibis White from Sherwin Williams. I had the trim paint on hand.

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I stripped the varnish/black paint off the vanity cabinet and painted the inside and outside with my DIY Chalk Paint. I applied a product called Ardex to the existing countertop, which is similar to concrete countertops. I added three coats of a clear sealer on it as well!  I did purchase new knobs and drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby when they were 50% so they were only $10! I re-used the existing shelf liner to the inside of the drawers and cabinet.

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I purchased small plastics bins to help organizer the inside of the drawers and cabinet form Target. They were very budget friendly at $2 for a four pack!

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My husband made a frame for the existing mirror and I stained it. The wood and stain were items that we had on hand from other various projects!

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We also added new hardware throughout the bathroom! I added a shower curtain and rug from Wal-Mart. I also added several baskets/greenery from Hobby Lobby. Most all of the decor were items that we basically already had on hand. The amber glass dispensers  were only $14 from Amazon. I added the labels with my Silhouette Machine!

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I painted the little table with my diy chalk paint. It was an inherited item from my Mom-Maw. I did purchase a new lamp shade for $8 for the white lamp. I sewed the curtain and added the monogram. (I made the curtain years ago.)  We hung a vintage window that we got for free off of Facebook Marketplace. The wood frames with greenery were a DIY with items we already had on hand. We found the hanging light fixture at a local thrift store for $6, several years back. I spray painted it black with spray paint that we already had on hand.

Budget Friendly Bathroom Light Fixture: 3 Light Modern Wall Sconce

Lighting is a huge part of any room transformation. A well-chosen vanity light becomes a focal point, setting the scene.

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I knew I wanted to replace the existing vanity light because it did not flow with our mini reno. Here is where my friends over at LNC Home into play! I found the  3 Light Modern Wall Sconce and knew it would be perfect for our bathroom!! Plus it was the finishing touch to this mini bathroom reno!

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3 Light Modern Wall Sconce: Farmhouse Style

This vanity light is made of metal with a silver painting finish. The simple lines and colors are full of retro style, creating a great atmosphere for you, which is ideal for your farmhouse style bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, doorways, barns and entryway.

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One of the best things about this light fixture is that it is budget friendly at only $89.99!! We are so happy with how the 3 Light Modern Wall Sconce finished up our mini reno in our girls bathroom!! Please check out LNC Home! They have many decor items for your home at budget friendly prices; from rugs to light fixtures to furniture and cushions! I know you will enjoy browsing their store!

Total Cost: Budget Friendly

Ardex-$30

Clear Sealer for Countertop-$25

Citri Stripe-$0-Had on hand

Cabinet & Table Paint-$0- Had on hand

Lazy Gray SW Wall Paint-$45

Cabinet Knobs/Pulls-$10
Plastic Storage Drawer Bins-$6

New Fixtures/Hardware-$0-Collab with Pfister

Amber Dispensers-$14

Lamp Shade-$8

Shower Curtain, Rug and towel-$50

Other Decor Items-$0-Had on hand

Hanging Light Fixture-$0-Had on hand

3 Light Sconce-$0-Collab with LNC

Total-$193

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our mini bathroom reno on a budget! We are making our home decor dreams come true, one at a time and of course on a small budget!!

❤️~Shae