Congratulations Judy S!

Congrats, Judy S!  You are the lucky winner of our give-away!  Check your in-box for an email from us.

We'd love to see what you do with your card. :)

Thanks to everyone who entered - we appreciate your support.

We're working on a new coffee table project, and getting Joey's office ready for a new venture. 

There's always something going on around here...

Give-Away: Let's Go Shopping at Home Depot!

It's time for a Give-away!

source

We love a good project, and chances are you do too.  Even though we're still pretty new, we've shown you a few easy (and not-so-easy) home improvement ideas.

Now it's your turn.  We're giving away a $25 Home Depot gift-card, so you can tackle a project at your house.  We're using Rafflecopter to keep up with the entries, so follow their easy directions below and enter.  The give-away ends next Friday, July 27.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

She’s Ready For Her Close-Up

Remember the island?  She's all finished!
Here she is, topless and without her drawers.  (You didn't know this is one of THOSE blogs, did you?!)



It wasn't long after this that she was in the garage, prepped and ready for surgery.  We added a 1x6, turned on its side and cut to fit, to build up the base to counter-top height.

Plywood and a sheet of Hardie Backer Board formed the top and sides.  Here's Joey, aka Mr. Wonderful, checking to make sure the top is centered over the base.



Once the top was attached, we were ready to move inside and install the tile (Step One).  After letting the adhesive cure for 24 hours, we applied a pre-mixed grout from Home Depot (Step Two).



The 1x6 was painted to match (sorry, no pics!) and when the paint had cured we installed the copper railing around the top of the island.  Confession:  I love working with copper.  I love the patina it takes on as it ages.  We've used copper pipe in the kitchen to make pot racks, towel holders, a utensil/herb drying rack, and even a small quilt rack for the breakfast room.

To attach the pipe assembly to the island, Joey used end caps and drilled a hole through them.  Have your assistant, in this case - me, wrap the cap in paper towel and hold it with a pair of vice grips. Put the cap on a piece of wood and slowly drill a hole in the center of the cap.  Use a sheet of newspaper to catch the copper shavings.



Joey screwed the caps to the island, flat side against the wood.  Then it was simply a matter of cutting the pipe to length. attaching the "T" connectors and elbows, and adding 2" pieces of pipe to fit into the caps.  It sounds much more complicated than it is - really!  It's kinda like Lincoln Logs/Legos/Erector Sets for grown-ups.



Here's a close-up of the pipe detail - you can see how it all connects.  Easy peasy!

As if that weren't enough copper (can you ever have too much of a good thing?), Joey added seven pieces to the bottom to replace the wooden slats.  We cut them to length and capped each end, and attached them to the side rails with copper strapping and stainless steel screws.



There you have it - my little red island, complete with high heels and jewelry.


 







































Tomorrow, we’re paying a visit to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, in search of an interior French door.  Keep your fingers crossed!


Don't forget to enter our give-away for a $25 Home Depot Gift Card!

Linking up with:

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
One Creative Weekend #2 at One Creative Mommy
July Craft Challenge at Dragonflies@Dawn
Joy2Journey - The Sunday Stop
Whimsy Wednesday at The NY Melrose Family

The Pinterest Challenge - Silver Shells

Welcome to Paintbrush & Screwdriver, and thanks for stopping by to visit!

I'm really excited to participate in the Pinterest Challenge.  My project is Silver Shells, inspired by Young House Love.  My decision was based on three criteria:

1)  I already had a bag of shells and silver spray paint on hand.  (We also have 20 or so other colors of spray paint lurking in the garage, but that's another post).

2)  Spray painting a pile of shells is pretty quick and painless.  Especially when you're preparing for a surprise visit from your in-laws.

3)  It involved a small amount of time outside.  The heat index this weekend topped out around 100, and the A/C called my name.  A lot.

I'm thrilled with how pretty they look.  They're piled up in a bowl on the sofa table, and from a distance they look like Hershey's Kisses.  Now I have pretty silver shells and a craving for chocolate.

I'm sure there's a good chocolate recipe somewhere on Pinterest...

Thanks for stopping by - come back later for more DIY fun :)  To see more of what inspires me, look for us on Pinterest here 

Linking up with:
Young House Love - Summer Pinterest Challenge Paint Party 
Bower Power - Summer Pinterest Challenge
Centsational Girl - Summer Pinterest Challenge
TenJune Blog - Summer Pinterest Challenge
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Serenity Now - Weekend Bloggy Reading

Rule Britannia

We're a few days late and a few pounds short to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, but we finished our Union Jack project.

Joey used AutoCAD to lay out the flag design, and transferred the measurements to the top of the trunk.  Had I been in charge of this step, the end result would have been atrocious!

After masking it off with painter's tape, I was ready to go.  Painter's tape, like dimmer switches, is one of your best friends.  It made this project so much easier, and the lines are super sharp and crisp.

I used my favorite Valspar Classic Red for the sides of the trunk.  For the top, I used regular acrylic/stencil paint from Hobby Lobby.  The red and blue took 4-5 coats, and the white took 3.  After it was dry, we took it outside and sprayed some matte sealer on top to protect the design.

This was my biggest decorative painting project, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Linking up with:

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Potpourri Friday at 2805
Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now 
Cedar Hill Ranch:  Cowgirl Up!
Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking

Can You See Me Now?

Break out your sunglasses - I'm turning the lights on.

Don't you love it?

And it only took us five years!  The light fixture that came with the house was awful and we swapped it out after a year or so for a glorified version of the "boob light."  But it was only slightly better than the original, and I never truly loved it.

Joey thought it might be a good idea to put in a row of spotlights, so that we could direct the light where it needed to go.  The new fixture is so much brighter than the old one that we ended up putting a dimmer switch on it.  Dimmer switches are now my new best friend.

We were so pleased with how this fixture came out that we went back and bought two single fixtures for the living room (and another dimmer switch!).

The existing track was white, so Joey took them down and used some matte black spray paint to give them a quick, and cheap, update.  After a few minutes drying time, they were back up in the ceiling with the new lights attached.

And last, but not least, we updated our living room ceiling fan. While the old one was only a few years old, it really was too small for the size of our living/dining room and didn't move a lot of air.  In its defense, it was free (and brand new) when it was given to us, so up it went.  

The nice folks at Lowe's sent us an ad with a coupon for 20% off any in-stock ceiling fan, so we decided to boost the local economy and picked out a larger model.  The old fan was re-located to Joey's office, which was sporting an 80s era model.  

Now we can cross a few more things off the list!