House – Page 15 – Gray House Studio

DIY Picture Frame Planter Box

If you are looking for a special homemade gift or you just want to build one for your own home, we are sharing how we built picture frame planter boxes. Plus, free PDF of the plans to help you build!

Brent bought me the cutest picture frame planter last year for our anniversary. It had two tiny succulents that were adorable. And wouldn’t you know I killed one right off the bat.

I am just horrible at keeping plants alive, even little succulents. But I would like to make it known that the other one is still hanging in there, it just looks very lonely.

Anyway, I liked that framed planter so much that I wanted two more so I could hang three in our bathroom (the only place I can keep plants alive).

But I could not find the one he bought anywhere. However after looking at it closer we realized that it would be pretty easy and inexpensive to just build them ourselves.

Then it hit me, I enjoyed getting that picture frame planter box so much as a gift last year that I thought it would make for a perfect Mother’s Day gift. Plus, by making them ourselves we can customize them for each mom.

How To Build a Picture Frame Planter Box

SUPPLIES

Picture Frame Planter Box Plans
Free “Love You Mom” Mini Banner PDF
Select Pine
Weathered Gray Stain or Paint/Stain of Choice
Artificial Plant or Plant of Choice
Staple Gun & Staples
Hammer

STEPS

1. First we built the frame. We collected the four pieces of select pine we cut for the frame and pieced it together.

Then using the staple gun we stapled the pieces together at the joints to make the frame. We stapled each corner on both the front and back.

Here is the finished frame.

2. Next, we built the rim of the box. Our staple gun also uses finishing nails so we switched the staple gun over to finishing nails and nailed the sides of the box together.

3. Although the staple gun is easy and convenient, it is not always powerful enough to go all the way through the boards but that is not a problem.

We just came back and used a hammer hammered the nails into the boards. If you are not using a staple gun, you can just hammer finishing nails into the boards.

4. Once we assembled the rim of the box, we got ready to connect it to the frame. We lined up the bottom of the box with the bottom of the frame.

5. We nailed through the face of the frame into the rim of the box close to the inside of the frame.

This is what the assembled frame and rim of the box looks like.

6. Next, we created the back of the box by attaching three thin slats of wood. You can also use one large piece as well.

7. We secured the back slats to the rim of the box with a staple gun.

This is what the completed picture frame planter box looked like.

8. Next, we stained the box. We used a weathered gray stain but the possibilities are endless with what color stain or paint color you can choose depending on the style you are going for.

9. Once the planter box dried, we created our own simple artificial plant arrangement and added it the box. You can add your choice of live or artificial plants both would work great.

We love this planter because it is really versatile. You can set it on a table or attach picture frame hooks to the back and hang it up on a wall.

If you are keeping it for yourself, then you are done! But we took it a step further since we will be giving it as a Mother’s Day gift. We wanted to give it a festive touch so we made a little “Love You Mom” banner.

The picture frame planter box is a really simple project that only take about an hour to put together. It is completely customizable, versatile and chances are you have most of the supplies in your garage.

Whether you are making it for yourself or someone else, they make for an awesome decor piece.

PIN FOR LATER

Love Your Home

House Courtney & Brent

We were asked by Porch.com to share our favorite memories or “happy place” in our home as part of their love your home series (you can follow along at #loveyourhome). If you haven’t heard of Porch.com, it is a really cool home network that helps you find inspiration for your home, find the right professionals and get advice for all things home and DIY. We are so happy to be able to be a part of this series and share what we love about our home.

To us our home is our sanctuary. It is where we relax, recharge and our favorite part of all, create. Brent and I were paired up to work together on design projects as interns in high school and since then we have found that we are at our most happy when we are able to make, build and design things together. So it is no surprise to us that when we look at our home we don’t just see it as four walls where we live or just a place to come home to after work each night. We see it as a blank canvas full of possibilities and one of our favorite things about our home is not a particular piece of furniture or even a room but rather the process of making the house unique to us, making it our own.

Now to be honest one of the main reasons we can so easily see our house as a blank canvas is because it is literally blank and bare. This is our first home and our one bedroom apartment’s worth of stuff didn’t come close to filling it up. Several of our rooms have sat empty for quite awhile now. However, rather than going out and buying a bunch of stuff to fill up the rooms (which we can’t afford to do anyway) we like to brainstorm for awhile on a way that we can make each empty space in our home have a purpose as well as incorporate our personal style. The process of dreaming up ideas for our home, bringing those ideas to life and then enjoying the spaces together is what we love most about our home.

Two of our current favorite spots in our home are areas that were completely empty and had nothing in them for over a year, our reading nook and our breakfast nook. These areas forced us to really put on our thinking caps, dream big and get creative to make the spaces work for us.

Empty Alcove to Reading Nook

When we moved into our home we had an alcove next to our fireplace. There was an electrical outlet and a cable outlet in this area. Basically all signs (outlets) pointed to this being the place intended for the entertainment center and TV. However, we just didn’t like the feeling of the TV being off center so we opted to put it on a different wall. This decision left us with a big empty hole in our living room. We weren’t sure what we were going to do with it so we just left it and had to learn to be content with the void.

After about a year we started to give more thought to what we could do with the space and decided that based on our lack of seating issue in the living room, we could use the space to provide additional seating. One idea led to another and we ultimately came up with the idea of turning the empty alcove into a cozy reading nook. The process included cutting, roughing up, staining and installing the wood plank wall on the back of the niche. Then we built and stained a bench to fit exactly in the space as well as created our own custom cushion to fit the bench since it was not a typical size. Finally, we installed a fun light to really bring the space to life and brighten up a dark corner so it makes for the perfect spot to stretch out and read. This was our first major project in our home and really set the tone for our next projects and established our style.

It is a favorite of ours because teamwork and a lot of laughs helped us to get through that never ending wood plank wall and the finished result has led to many cozy nights curled up reading in this inviting space. That is if the cat doesn’t beat us to it. Plus, it makes us happy when guests fight to sit in the reading nook over sitting on the couch.

Empty Breakfast Nook to Coffee Shop Inspired Dining Area

Another area that sat undecorated and unused for well over a year was our breakfast nook. I would like to say that is because we eat meals in our dining room but that is not true because we turned our dining area into our library. We are at that unglamorous stage of life where we eat most of our meals on the couch. There, I said it out loud. We had a small dining table set but the space it sat in was bare and cold.

We had dreams, big dreams of transforming the breakfast nook into our own private coffee shop. This project was intense. We designed and built a 7-foot wide coffee bar from scratch and built the front of the bar to have the same weathered wood planks as our reading nook to tie the two rooms together. For the top we created concrete countertops and then built a custom framed chalkboard that was also 7-foot wide. We decorated the coffee bar with all sorts of fun jars and bottles. We kept our dining room table but added a rug underneath to define the space and spruced it up with a few little décor items.

This project was one of our favorites because we will have a lot of crazy memories from building it. The whole process of mixing and setting the concrete was a crazy one that did not go perfectly but we are already looking back and laughing about it. The coffee bar really turned the space into a fun, eclectic area and now we find ourselves spending our mornings drinking coffee here together. And evenings eating dinner here are like we are having a date night every night in a private coffee shop!

We have learned that decorating your first home when you are on a budget is not a sprint but a marathon and leaving rooms empty for a while to eventually create spaces that you absolutely love is okay. Because it is the journey to creating our perfect home together that is the fun part. What we love most about our home are the memories we are creating as we dream up ideas, design, and build out our favorite spaces together.

Coffee Bar Build

Furniture, House Courtney & Brent

Inspired by the cozy feel of coffee shops, we designed and built our own large DIY coffee bar to bring the a calming coffee shop atmosphere to our breakfast nook. Below is an outline of how we built our coffee bar base.

Our large coffee bar build turned out to be pretty intense. We designed, built, and decorated the entire massive piece of furniture in just a week. A week of 3AM building sessions, closing down hardware stores, and concrete mixing….well….more like fighting with concrete.

Brent’s DIY coffee bar design really did exceed my expectations. It filled up our long empty wall perfectly and completely transformed the boring space into a warm, eclectic and inviting area.

Interested in building your own DIY coffee bar? Below we outline how we built our coffee bar base.

How We Built Our DIY Coffee Bar Base

materials + tools

FYI: This post contains a few affiliate links to products we used to make this project. Gray House Studio does receive commissions for sales from these links but at no extra cost to you. We appreciate you supporting this site. Read our privacy and disclosure policy. You can also easily shop our recommended products here.

project plans

Get our Coffee Bar Base Plans

When you purchase our coffee bar base plans you get a 17 page PDF with a detailed materials list, a cut list, dimensions for each piece, and building instructions. We appreciate your support of Gray House Studio!

steps

1. The legs of the coffee bar are actually made of wood! This trick saved us a lot of money. To make each leg we combined two 2″x4″ boards by screwing them together.

After we got them all assembled, we realized we could have just bought 4x4s. Duh! After we combined the boards together, we ran the boards through our table saw to square them up.

2. To make the legs appear as if they are steel we wrapped each wooden post in sheet metal.

We didn’t have access to the actual tool to bend sheet metal so it was pretty difficult to get it formed into the right shape to cover the wooden post.

We improvised and made our own version of a sheet metal brake out of some scrap wood and a piece of angle iron. By clamping the sheet metal in between the wood and the angle iron, we could bend it around the edge of the angle iron creating the shape we needed. After we wrapped each leg, we secured it to the wood with a drill and screws.

3. Next we prepped the legs for paint and then spray painted a primer on them.

We let the primer sit over night and then the next day we spray painted them with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

The legs are held together by two pieces of 2″x4″ lumber and they are secured together with pocket screws.

We used our Kreg Jig pocket hole kit to drill the pocket holes.

4. The support structure for the coffee bar base is made of up 2″x4″s. Most furniture does not use 2″x4″s because they would make the piece super heavy.

But for this project it helped us save money. Plus, I’m not sure if in any capacity you could make a 7 foot bar with a concrete countertop light, so the extra weight wasn’t a concern of ours. This thing is not going anywhere.

5. We thought ahead and knew this thing was going to be massive and impossible to move very far so we built the entire thing (concrete top and all) right in place in the breakfast nook.

After we got the main structure put together, we added vertical supports to add strength for the braces that would support the concrete countertop and to frame out the recessed opening and shelf that would go in the front of the coffee bar.

6. Next up was my favorite part, staining! We used our favorite stain, Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Kona.

We wanted to tie the breakfast nook area into the living room area since it is one big open space so we thought bringing in the weathered wood planks from the wall in the reading nook would be the perfect solution.

7. We ran through our whole process of creating weathered wood by varying the degree we would rough up the pieces to alternate shades and patterns. But this time we did it rapid speed.

We cut, roughed up and stained all the boards for the entire bar in a matter of maybe two hours. It was a whirlwind of staining and in the process I managed to get stain all over myself, including on my face and in my hair. I don’t know how that happens. We laid out all the boards on the ground this time so we could easily create a nice pattern of varying colors and lengths.

8. By the time we finished staining all the boards and they dried, it was already getting late. But we were so passionate about this project that we were in the zone!

We pushed on and started attaching the wood planks to the coffee bar structure. To do this we screwed through the 2″x4″s into the wood slats.

9. We added the planks to the bottom, the back of the recessed area and even the sides between the legs to give the allusion that it was wrapping around the entire bar. I love how the sides turned out.

10. Finally Brent built the front of the hidden storage area that opens on a hinge to a shelf where we can store extra coffee supplies and mugs. We then covered that piece with the weathered wood planks as well.

11. To finish the coffee bar base we added more wood planks to the sides of the recessed area to complete the look. Then we attached our concrete shelf.

Brent installed lights below the counter top and I decorated with these cute bottles that I then filled with coffee beans.

The plants are also from Ikea and add a bit of color to a very neutral and industrial design. I think the shelf is my favorite part of the coffee bar. It adds so much depth and interest and we think it really makes the piece look unique.

To get detailed building instructions for our coffee bar, check out our DIY coffee bar plans.

Some of our projects we prepare for months in advance. We draw up plans ahead of time, we set budgets and save to put money aside for the project, we make a list of the supplies we need and then depending on the scope of the project we spend several weekends working on it since we both work during the day.

And then there are some projects, like this one, where we throw all that out the window and just jump in head first with the intention of finishing it in a week. We were so passionate and into this project that we just threw ourselves completely into it which led to some really late nights. But in the end it turned out perfectly, it is very solid and beautiful and is definitely one of our home’s statement pieces that is always a head turner.

Like this project? You might also be interested in how we made the concrete countertop for the DIY coffee bar and made the large DIY framed chalkboard hanging above it.

DIY Metal Hook Towel Rack

Decor, House Courtney & Brent

Our latest DIY project for our guest bathroom was to make a DIY metal hook towel rack by creating our own metal hooks.

Saturday, Brent and I worked on building the last small project in our guest bathroom, a DIY metal hook towel rack. We wanted to replace the generic silver towel bar that was currently in the bathroom with one that has more character and charm and matches our new floating shelves we built and our mirror frames.

We went full DIY on this project down to creating the hooks ourselves by bending metal rods. This was our first time doing anything of the blacksmith nature but we really wanted to have complete control over the look of the hooks. It took a few trial runs before we figured out how to get it to look like we wanted. We finally got a consistent pattern down where we could make each hook look identical. It was a two person job.

Brent did the bending while I held the torch! The metal hooks were definitely the most time consuming part of the project so after we finished shaping the hooks, the rest of the project went super fast. We are really pleased with the finished result. Check out how we made our metal hook towel rack below.

How We Made Our DIY Metal Hook Towel Rack

1. We started out by measuring the length of the piece of metal rod we needed for each hook. Then, Brent used a metal cutting attachment for his drill to cut the rod so we had five equal pieces.

2. To secure the rod before we began bending it, Brent made a jig by drilling a hole in a block of wood and wedged a screw next to the rod to hold it in place. Once it was in place, we used a torch to heat the metal where we intended to bend the rod.

3. When the metal turned orange, we knew it was hot enough to bend. We kept moving the torch around on the rod until we were able to bend it completely around the pipe which formed the first loop.

4. Once we got it to be the shape we wanted, we pulled it off the pipe and dunked it water to cool it off. We used pliers the entire time to handle the metal rod to ensure that no unexpected burns took place.

5. Here are what the five hooks looked like after we finished the first loop. We did each section on all five hooks at one time to keep the look consistent. We laid them all out to compare them and made sure they looked even before moving on to the next step.

6. We continued the process of heating the metal and bending it to form each loop of the hook.

7. For the final bend, where we turned the top and bottom loops into hooks, I held the torch on the metal as Brent used a hammer to bend it around the pipe. The metal sparked as he hammered it which made us feel like real blacksmiths!

The finished metal hooks.

8. To create the bracket that attaches the hook to the board, Brent used offset snips to cut
thin gauge sheet metal into small squares.

9. To shape the metal squares into the correct form for the bracket, we clamped them between two blocks of wood and bent them by hand.

10. We drilled holes on both sides of the metal bracket and then placed the bracket over the metal hook and screwed it to the board.

11. Finally, we screwed the board into the wall. To hide the wall anchors, Brent placed them behind the hook so they would be concealed once the bracket was placed over it. We also cleaned the metal hooks and brackets.

Our finished DIY metal hook towel rack.

Now there are lots of hooks for our guests to hang their towels!

This was our last small project in the guest bathroom and it and the other projects have definitely helped transform this small bathroom into a much more inviting space. I love how all the elements match and flow together. I am really happy with how our guest bathroom is coming along.

PIN THIS PROJECT

[Linked up at Remodelaholic]

Framing Prints (Plus, a free artwork download)

House, Tips + Tricks Courtney & Brent

Our technique for easily and inexpensively framing prints printed from your home printer to make them look high quality. Plus, a free artwork download.

Hello! I hope you all had a fantastic Easter. Brent’s parents came to Houston and we had a great time visiting with them for the long weekend. But just because we had company, didn’t mean the home projects came to a halt, they got in on the action! Brent and his mom worked together on Saturday to build a towel rack for her bathroom. It turned our really nice. Here is the finished product.

We also managed to squeeze in a quick and simple art project yesterday afternoon. Today we are sharing that project as well as an inexpensive technique to frame prints straight from your home printer so you can get an expensive art look on a limited budget.

Brent’s undergraduate degree is in printmaking and when we were framing the print for our guest bathroom, he had a really cool idea to turn a $5 dollar digital print into a high end work of art. We replicated that process with an original watercolor painting that Brent made this weekend to frame in our guest bedroom.

Brent is a talented artist, I can’t draw to save my life. Which is funny because we were in the same art class together in 12th grade. I couldn’t pick up the skill but that may be because I spent most of my time trying to think of ways to “accidentally” kick Brent’s feet under the table to get his attention so he would talk to me.

I threw out ideas of creating a minimal piece that captured our dreamy backyard and Brent made it come to life with watercolors. If you have the artistic ability to paint or draw then the first step would obviously be to create your work of art. If you are like me and not as skilled with watercolors as Brent, then there are lots of really cool prints that are fairly inexpensive on Etsy as digital downloads or you can download this watercolor print Brent made for free at the bottom of this post

Below Brent explains his technique for framing prints.

Framing Prints and Artwork

1. Traditionally, fine art prints are printed on thick 100% cotton paper with a torn edge. I replicated this effect with paper that we found at an arts and crafts store. The typical size of this paper is 19.5″ by 25.5″ so I had to tear it down to size. When tearing the paper down to the size, I measured at least 2 inches in from the edge so I had enough paper to hold on to.

2. Before tearing the paper, I flipped my ruler over so it was upside-down with the metal edge flush against the paper. For a consistent edge all the way around the artwork, I always place the ruler on the paper I plan to use and pull the extra paper. Don’t worry, I know what you are thinking, but you don’t have to have hairy arms to be good at tearing paper it just takes practice.

3. For this project I tore my paper down to legal size 8.5″ x 14″.

4. I scanned my watercolor piece into the computer for the purpose of this project so I could print it. I placed the paper in our home printer and made sure to select the same size paper I tore. I also made sure the paper setting was set to “best” or “photo” quality and “cardstock”.

5. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when I make artwork. A crease in the paper of any fine art is highly frowned upon so I stand and wait to grab the print from the printer to avoid having the printer throw it on the floor when it is finished printing.

6. When printing on legal sized paper there is a lot of white space above and below the image. I never trust the printer to center the image on the paper exactly so this extra space allows me to tear off paper on the top and bottom of the page to center the image.

7. The final size I tore my paper down to is 8.5″ x 11.5″ because the mat opening in the frame is 10″ x 13″. This give some space all the way around the artwork to show off the print’s torn edges. I used an additional piece of the same paper I tore behind the torn piece with the image to fill in the gap between the artwork and the mat.

Here is the finished product. The torn edges and layering two pieces of paper gives the print depth and reflects a more traditional fine art piece. If you are interested in trying out this technique of framing prints and need a print, feel free to download Brent’s watercolor print for FREE!

PIN THIS TUTORIAL

DIY Distressed Mirror Table Top

Furniture, House Courtney & Brent

We created a DIY distressed mirror table top for an outdoor table that we got for free.

Based on our love of the outdoors, we have been inspired to create functional, comfortable and a tad bid whimsical/dreamy spaces outside on our back patio and our front porch where Brent and I can enjoy time outside together eating, reading or in Brent’s case, napping. We have a porch swing on one side of our front porch that is my absolute favorite to sit and swing during Houston rain storms.

On the other side we purchased two adirondack chairs to go with an outdoor coffee table that was give to us. The chairs match the table perfectly and the table is really nice, the only problem was that the glass top had broken and been removed (hence why the table was given to us free of charge).

For almost a year now we have had this table with no top. And a table with no top is not very useful. Which brings us to today’s project, a DIY distressed mirror table top.

We used a piece of left over mirror from our bathroom mirror cutting project as the top (to replace the glass) for our porch table. Brent distressed it to make the mirror appear worn and dull and it turned out so cool!

Here is how we received the table. It was in great condition and all it needed was a piece of glass. Score! That should be easy. Or so we thought. We could not find a piece of 1/4″ plate glass for less than a new table would cost.

Then, while Brent was working on framing the mirrors he had the genius idea to cut a piece of the left over mirror from the bathroom to use as the table top.

We decided to age the mirror because we thought a normal mirror might be a little too “glam” and not fit with the style of the frame of the table and distressing the mirror created a unique look that is be more unified with our other furniture on the porch.

SUPPLIES

MATERIALS

Mirror
Paint Stripper (we used Tuff-Strip)
Chemical resistant rubber gloves (for the muriatic acid)
Muriatic Acid
Empty Spray Bottle
Paper Towels
Scrap Wood
Spray Paint (oil-rubbed bronze, gold, black)
Cardboard

TOOLS

How We Created Our DIY Distressed Mirror Table Top

1. We decided to use some scrap cardboard (old moving box) as our work surface for this messy project. It is thick enough to stop spills from quickly penetrating through to the surface below and cheap enough to recycle/throw away after.

2. The back of mirrors are coated with a layer of paint that protects the mirror finish. To age the mirror we first removed this paint to expose the mirror coating. To do this we liberally coated the surface with paint thinner and let it sit until the paint started to loosen and bubble.

**Brent almost learned an important lesson the hard way when the wind started to pick up and blow the paint stripper. He started the project 3 feet from his relatively new car. The paint stripper we used is unforgiving so we quickly moved somewhere more remote protected from the wind.

3. With gloves on, Brent was able to easily scrape off all the paint with a scrap piece of wood and expose the mirror finish. We learned why old mirrors turn shades of gold when they deteriorate. The back side of the mirror, hidden by paint, was reflective gold instead of silver.

4. With the back side of the mirror clean and dry, Brent put on chemical resistant gloves and loaded the spray bottle with muriatic acid.

NOTE: Always use extreme caution when working with muriatic acid! It can burn you and corrode/destroy a lot of materials. After about 10-20 seconds of sitting on the surface, the areas we sprayed became totally see through. It is easier to spray some areas and then wipe them clean and keep going more until you reach the desired finish.

You can always remove more mirror finish but you can’t put it back.

5. The mirror was now transparent where Brent sprayed the acid.

6. To create a more complex finish, Brent started coating the mirror with an oil-rubbed bronze spray paint and wiped some areas away. We didn’t want the mirror to be gold where it wasn’t silver.

Most antique mirrors we have come seen have had various shades of black, gray, gold and silver. So Brent started with the oil-rubbed bronze and wiped areas clean that helped it have a more authentic look.

7. Once the oil-rubbed bronze had time to dry, Brent coated the entire mirror with gold spray paint. The gold paint is only visible in areas where he wiped away the oil-rubber bronze paint.

8. Finally, Brent coated the back of the mirror with black spray paint to protect the rear of the mirror like the original gray coating. After it dried, he used the existing clips to attach the mirror to the table.

One of my favorite things about our home is our front porch. When we were house shopping and walked up to this house and I saw our front porch for the first time I was pretty much sold on buying the house and I hadn’t even seen the inside yet. I just fell in love with the porch and all the potential I could see it had. This table with a DIY distressed mirror table top is the perfect addition to it.

I loved styling this little area of the patio by adding a rug and a new planter with hydrangeas, my favorite! I love how this space turned out. It makes for the best spot to sit and have long conversations analyzing the latest Survivor episode.

We used this distressed mirror for our table top but we imagine there are tons of applications for this. Have you distressed a mirror? We would love to know how you decorated with it. Please share your ideas in the comments section.