DIY Cerused Oak Secretary

The fall issue of Domino is on news stands now and my latest story is right after cover girl Mindy Kaling's (adorable!) office feature.

I was SO excited to get to share my transformation of this old tiger oak secretary. Remember this old thing?

I had been debating whether or not to change the finish for a while, but after seeing this beautiful cerused side table on 1st Dibs, I knew I could achieve a similar finish with a little research and some elbow grease.

I read about a million different articles about cerusing and liming oak furniture. It turns out that people have been doing basically the same steps for hundreds and hundreds of years! It's not too hard to do and requires absolutely zero artistic ability. You'll just need a piece of oak furniture - it has to be oak. And the more prominent the grain, the better.

The first step is to strip the wood of any stains or varnish. I used a gel stripper and a brass-bristled brush to gently scrub the wood in the direction of the grain. See how the soft brass bristles pull out the little bits of old dark stain from the grain?

If you've done it right, the grain marks will be open and clean and ready to fill with wax.

If you want the wood to be a natural finish, you can go ahead and skip this next step, but if you want the wood stained at all, you'll need to use an aniline dye in lieu of a traditional stain that you can get at the hardware store. Dye will beautifully stain the wood without filling any of the grain. You can buy almost any color of dye online. I used the indigo shade for this project.

I just followed the instructions on the dye container and mixed a few teaspoons of the powder with some denatured alcohol before brushing it on the secretary.

It only takes a coat or two of the dye mixture to get a nice, deep color.

As the stain starts to dry on the wood, it gets lighter and sort of chalky. But the color deepens again when you seal it. I don't have a photo of this step but it's important to seal it with shellac before adding the liming wax. I like Zinsser's shellac because it dries quickly and isn't too thick.

After the shellac dries, the dyed wood will be a dark navy indigo color, and you'll be ready for liming wax. This wax is my favorite.

The actual liming step is super easy - you just wipe the wax on with a soft cloth and then buff off the extra that's sitting on top. You only want the white liming wax to be in the grain and none on top.

This is why it's important to shellac the wood before using the cerusing wax. The wax won't want to stay on the surface of the sealed wood as much, but it will be happy to hang out in the grain. Check out that beautiful pattern!

I really love how this project turned out. I think cerusing is such a fun way to show off the natural wood grain of vintage/antique oak pieces!

And the indigo stain is such a unique look too. I think color stains are perfect for this type of application. The secretary is such a fun statement piece now, sitting up in our landing by the girls rooms.

Don't forget to check out the spread in the new Domino! xo

My Holiday Garland in Domino and A Fireplace Faux Concrete Overlay!

The holiday issue of Domino is on stands now!! Just look for the beautiful face of my talented friend, Paloma, on the cover. :)

And feel free to check out page 78 for my latest DIY column - a piece on using hardy house plants to make an untraditional holiday garland!

I really love how this one turned out! We shot the tutorial in early October, so the garland is long gone now, but I'd love to recreate something similar for our mantle now that it's time to decorate for Christmas. The little clementimes are my favorite part (psst - the trick is to use the smallest, lightest fruit you can find!)

All the pretty details are in the new issue, which should be on news stands every where by now.

Right before we shot the tutorial with my talented photographer friend, Sarah Webb, I decided I wanted to add a layer of concrete to our mantel to lighten things up and add a little texture.

I used the same approach I've done several times now, using Ardex Feather Finish concrete, but this time I mixed the concrete to be a little on the watery side and applied it in many, many coats with a paint brush.

If I had to guess, I probably put on six or seven light coats of the Ardex, with drying time and a sanding block session between each coat.

I also put on two layers of matte natural-look sealer after the concrete was dry, and after a couple months, everything is still looking great!

I love how the concrete looks with the black paint on the surround, but especially with the fossil limestone we added to the firebox.

Thanks again to Sarah Webb for the photos and to Kate for assisting at the shoot, and to the Domino team for always being so great to work with! In case you've missed any of my past stories for Domino, here's my Pax armoire makeover, an upholstered bench DIY, and my house feature.

One Big and One (literally) Tiny Announcement!!

First of all, the fall Domino is out every where now! (Here's an online peek!) Linus is featured, like, three times at least, so it's worth picking up the issue solely for a triple slice of that big, fluffy guy.

I'm so thankful to the wonderful Domino team, especially to Robert Leleux, Domino's Editor-in-Chief, and to Brittany Ambridge, photographer extraordinaire. These two are an epic duo. They work together with such grace and ease. And they are downright hilarious. I love any chance I get to work with them on the magazine as one of the contributing editors, and this two-day shoot of my own house was the tippy of tops. Thanks, Robert and Brittany!

And in even better, more exciting to me news, WE ARE HAVING A BABY! And it's another girl! :)

We could not be a single ounce more happy about her. We've felt for years that we've wanted another (and likely final) child in our family, and after a long road of hardship there, she's finally on her way. I tear up every time I think of how sweet my older girls are being about the idea of having a little sister this January. Nearly every morning they crawl into bed with us and whisper sister secrets and sing little songs to my belly. This is the good stuff, friends. Thanks for being here to share in my joy. xo

Changes in the Music Room with Farrow & Ball

It sounds like some of you have seen our house spread in the fall issue of Domino! Now that the issue is out, I can share some more photos, including one of my favorite spaces - the music room!

I was lucky enough to get to work with Farrow & Ball on behalf of Domino a couple months ago. They had heard that I was picking a F&B color for my music room (I've already mentioned before that Michael and I had decided against the bright cobalt blue), and they offered to send a color expert over to the house for a color consultation.

It was SO FUN to meet Amber, who works out of Farrow & Ball's Chicago showroom. Not only was she an all around delightful person, she had the most amazing eye for color and so many insightful thoughts to share. We showed her our home and talked about our decor plans and our color preferences. I had been leaning toward a great color called Green Blue, and after lots of discussion about lighting and room functionality, Amber and I both agreed the color was the right choice for the music room.

Amber and I loved that the color was sort of a darker version of the green I had ordered for the library curtains.

Amber was really drawn to the watercolor abstract I had been planning to hang in the music room and we both thought that the warm, bluey green would compliment the painting really well.

She and I gushed about how pretty the green color pairs with oranges and wood tones. Since I had already purchased the orange over-dyed rug, and I knew I would want to hang Michael's guitars on the wall (more info on these purchases/projects in posts to come!), I couldn't wait to get this color on the walls!

My favorite part of my meeting with Amber was when we were wrapping up the consultation and she threw out a suggestion to wallpaper the entry. I had been so focused on other spaces that I hadn't even really been looking at the entry. She and I agreed that the space was begging for a pretty pattern, so we spent some additional time browsing her samples. Heaven, I tell you!

I'll be sharing some photos of the wallpapered entry soon, but you already have a sense of what happened in there. :)

I am such a huge fan of Farrow & Ball colors and paints - it was a pleasure to get to learn more about the company and their beautiful products during this color consultation. I truly couldn't be more happy with how the music room turned out. The color is just what I envisioned - cheerful and soothing all at once. :)

A big thanks to the Domino team for letting me be the Farrow & Ball color consultation guinea pig! It was an amazingly helpful service - I'd recommend it for even the most over-confident of decorators. ;)

And thank you to Stacie Lang for the photos of my visit with Amber!