Happy Memorial Day weekend!!! Hope y’all are having a safe and enjoyable weekend! As we get ready to enter into the summer months, isn’t it so much fun to be outside, enjoying the warmer weather? I love being outside and working in my yard. I built two raised beds to grow herbs and vegetables in. These are so easy to make and cost less than $100!

I scored the cedar shiplap, to build my boxes, in the clearance wood pile at Home Depot….you should always check there first, it’s 50% off for wood that might be slightly warped, broken or split ends, etc. For this project, I didn’t mind having slightly warped boards, I wanted my garden boxes to have a worn, imperfect, older appearance.

First, I measured and cut all my boards, and supports. For the supports, I used a weather treated 2×4.

I then nailed (using a nail gun and 2 inch finish brads) the shiplap to the supports. Make sure there is a support on the very edge of each side, and two supports in the middle of both the front and back sides.

Then, nail your end pieces to the front and back sides.

To finish the boxes, I stained the boxes with Minwax white wash. Once dry, line the bottom with either cardboard, newspapers, or a weed barrier of some sort. Fill with garden soil and then plant whatever makes your heart happy!!

I can’t wait for everything to grow bigger and fill the boxes!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily

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I love vintage mirrors! Let’s face it, I love almost all vintage things! I am a collector, sometimes even on the verge of being a hoarder.

I have been adding to my collection of mirrors for a couple years now, but never knew what I was going to do with them all, until last week…

My little boy threw a toy at the tv and broke it. My first thought, “now I won’t be able to turn on Mickey Mouse to entertain him while I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen” Then a more positive thought…”now I won’t have to hear Mickey Mouse while I am cooking and cleaning in the kitchen!” After a few days without a tv upstairs, I really started to love it! I have never been huge into watching tv. I took the tv off the wall and started to set my mirrors and some vintage books on the buffet.

For a couple weeks I just looked at all the mirrors and books while trying to decide if I really want to hang them, or put another tv on the wall. One evening my husband said that he was starting to like the layered look of all the mirrors, I knew it was meant to be….he never has an opinion on anything I am doing around our house. He helped me figure out how to hang some of the mirrors in front of the others.

We simply measured how far out the mirrors came from the wall, and then made a wood block to match that thickness. We screwed the wood block to the wall, (if the screws don’t go into a stud, I highly recommend using some anchors to support the weight of the mirror). Then we put a screw at the top of the block to hang the mirror from.

Loving the way it turned out, but I am sure that I will still be tweaking it until it’s perfect to me!

What do you think? Too many mirrors? Too much going on? Or do you like it?

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily

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With Mother’s Day almost here, I wanted to share this quick and easy homemade gift idea, a wooden bud vase holder.

For this project I used a 2×4, a 1×4, wood glue, finish nails, chalk paint, and 5 bud vases.

I cut two 10 inch pieces of the 2×4, and two 10 inch pieces of the 1×4. I then glued the four pieces together, using wood glue. I added finish nails (the pink arrows in the picture below show the placement of the finish nails) in the top and bottom for extra stability. Make sure to place your nails on the edges so they don’t interfere with the holes for the bud vases.

After the glue is dry, paint it, distress it, antique it, stain it, or whatever you think would look best. I painted mine in a white chalk paint and then slightly distressed it.

After it was all painted, I decided that I wanted the sides to be tapered ever so slightly. I set my miter saw to 5 degrees and cut the sides down just a tiny bit.

I then measured for the bud vases. I started by drilling my first circle in the middle, and then drew 1.5 inch circles, each being just 1/2 inch apart.

The bud vases that I used from hobby lobby are just under 1.5 inches in diameter, I used this 1.5 drill bit to make the holes.

I then sanded inside the holes and top just slightly.

I love to have fresh flowers around my house, flowers make me happy!! This little bud vase holder is the perfect solution to add little snippets of flowers from my garden to my house.

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily

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Have you ever wanted to install recessed lighting, but don’t know where to start? I felt the same until I took a walk down the lighting aisle at Home Depot realized just how easy it would be to go from this….to this….

And it took me less than an hour and cost less than $20!!!

What you will need is an “old work” recessed light. It will look like this…

Located on the same aisle, you will also want to get a trim piece for the recessed light as well. There are a lot of trim styles to choose from, I got this one because it matches the other recessed lighting around my house.

The easy to follow instructions on the recessed light make it super simple.

First, and probably the most important part of this project is to turn the power off at the breaker for the particular light that you are working on. Next, disconnect the existing light fixture.

Then trace the instruction sheet, it is a template for the size hole you’ll need to cut out of the ceiling. After you have traced it, make sure there isn’t anything in the ceiling that is going to prevent you from making the cut. Using an awl or a nail, I like to poke small holes in the ceiling to check.

I was originally going to make my cut evenly around the existing light, but after poking through the drywall with an awl, I discovered that there was a beam that would prevent me from putting the light there. I moved the template over and made the cut. After you cut the drywall down, figure out how to get your particular light box down. This one was nailed to the beam, with a little force it was easy to get down.

Now grab the recessed light and with a flat headed screw driver, pop one of the little slots out. This is the hole that you will feed the wire through

Feed the wire from your ceiling into the box, connect the wires…black to black, white to white, and copper to copper (or sometimes green). Now that the wires are all securely fastened, put the box end of the recessed light into the ceiling first and then push the light into place.

Push the little clips inside the light into place, now all you have to do is but you trim piece on and you’re finished!!! Seriously so easy!

In my previous house, I replaced a big florescent light fixture for these recessed lights. It made such a huge difference!!

If you have any questions, I would love to answer them!!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily & Jennie

Check out where we have linked this week…. Blog link list

Hope y’all are having a lovely weekend!!!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily & Jennie

Check out where we have linked this week…. Blog link list

I have always wanted my boys to enjoy reading. I love children’s books, vintage ones, new one, I LOVE books!! Today my youngest two boys and I worked on making a little reading corner in their playroom. I wanted to make it a fun, whimsical place to sit read books and use their sweet imaginations!

I found those two darling children’s chairs a few weeks back for just $6 each!!

These chairs are really quite small, too small for my boys to sit on so I knew that I would hang them on a wall as shelves somewhere. The playroom was a perfect place for them to hang to hold books and toys.

To hang them I simply screwed two eye hooks in the backs of each chair and then attached them to the wall using monkey hooks.

I really like to use unexpected pieces when decorating, like these chairs for shelves! It makes the decor not only uniquely yours but also interested and fun!

Another favorite part of our reading corner is the hanging books!

I have wanted to have hanging books for a while now, but didn’t know where to start. Today while looking through and organizing some books, I came across a stack of small books that I knew would be perfect for hanging. For a more whimsical and fun touch, I started by tucking the pages under each other to make a fan like shape.

Then I made a small hole, using a drill with a small drill bit, through either the cover or the back of each book. I then strung them with fishing line to small command hooks that I had placed on the ceiling.

One of the books was falling apart, so I added the single pages to the fish lines as well.

We also framed some of their art, hung it up, and placed a few sentimental items in a shadow box that we painted navy blue. My little boys were so happy with how it turned out! They were excited to pull the books down from the shelves and start reading…success!!!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily & Jennie

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My oldest son has a love for all things science! Yesterday I finally got around to finishing this desk, this was the desk of my dad when he was a boy! I can just picture my dad sitting at this desk as a young boy doing his homework, and now it is where my son will be doing his homework. I love using things around my home that have sentimental value, those are the things that really make my heart happy!

I stained the desk in “dark walnut”. The chair is painted in Valspar “peek-a-boo blue” in eggshell, and finished with Valspar antiquing glaze.

Loving the vintage ruler that I used as a support frame for the shark teeth!

This vintage microscope was a gift from his nana a few years ago, he was so excited to have it out on his desk!!

Don’t you just love vintage treasures? I sure do!!!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily & Jennie

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I love hydrangeas, they are seriously a favorite flower of mine, but for some reason hydrangeas droop and wilt so quickly for me. Here is a picture of some hydrangeas and ranunculus the first day that I got them. Happy flowers!!

And the very next morning…

To revive these beauties, cut an inch or so off the bottom of the hydrangea stem. Boil some water and place it in a container that you can place the bottom inch of the hydrangea stems in. Leave the stems in the hot water until the water is at room temperature. Then place the flowers back in your arrangement, if they haven’t perked back up after being in the hot water, just be patient. Sometimes my blooms take overnight to perk back up.

For the best results, make sure to try reviving your hydrangeas as soon as you notice your blooms wilting!

Thank you for visiting LeCultivateur!!!

~Emily & Jennie

Check out where we have linked this week…. Blog link list