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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Wood Countertop, Bathroom DIY

I always knew this 80's countertop in my bathroom wouldn't be here forever, I just had other projects that were higher on my list of priorities! Well, it finally happened, I decided I couldn't look at this counter for 1 more day.

DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree

A few years ago, we took a weekend to give this downstairs bathroom a tiny face lift. We framed the builder grade mirror, painted the cabinet and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. I never liked this countertop, but I could live with it until we finished other stuff in the house.


Like a lot of projects I do, I saw this on Pinterest! I figured this would be a fast and easy project, just pop off the old counter, touch up the paint and spend a couple hours putting together the new countertop...NOPE!
  • Pop off the old countertop 
  • Build new countertop, stain, add a billion coats of poly 
  • Buy a new sink because all the sinks toilets and tubs in this house are bone colored and I already changed out this toilet to white
  • Apply knockdown plaster on the wall behind toilet where the counter was attached 
  • Realize that the color of the stain and the tile back splash I chose clashes with the cabinet and wall color
  • Repaint walls and cabinet
  • Touch up the molding paint
  • Touch up black molding around mirror
  • Notice with the new, lighter wall color, the ceiling isn't really white and now looks horrible and needs to be painted as well
  • Install the countertop and tile back splash
  • Even though the counter is exactly what I wanted, the new wall color I chose is way lighter than I thought it was and now I want to paint the walls again and maybe the cabinet too...
Home DIY is never as fast and simple as we think it will be. Oh well, what can you do?!

I don't have a detailed tutorial for this countertop, but you can pretty much see how it was done from the photos. Everyone might need a slightly different method depending on what you're replacing and your existing fixtures. After I stained, I applied several layers of polyurethane. The sink was attached and sealed in place with clear silicone caulk and I used the same caulk to seal the gaps between the three pieces of wood.


DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree

DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree

DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree

DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree

DIY Wood Bathroom Countertop, Over The Apple Tree



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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

My Product Photography

I see it all the time, people posting bad photos of their awesome products!

Product Photography, Over The Apple Tree

Whether it's for your blog, your shop, or you just want to share your latest product on social media, you should have good photos. You spent a lot of time on your projects and you're proud of them, nothing wrong with that! Make sure your photos are the best representation of your work that they can be.

I'm not a professional photographer. 
You and I might not be professionals, but we know if something looks bad in a photo, we probably won't buy it. Same goes for the people looking at our products. I spend a lot of time on my crochet items and I want them to look the best they can and as close as possible to real life. When a person orders something from my Etsy shop, I want them to know exactly what they're getting. Photos are important. My photos aren't perfect, but over the last 4 years I've taken a LOT of pictures and I've found some things that work for me and they might help you if you find yourself stuck on where to start.

*I mostly shoots pics of my crochet projects, but these tips could be used for lots of different products. Here's a peek at my photos, supplies and some behind the scenes shots.

You can read 1,000 articles on how to improve your photos but they won't get better until you PRACTICE and try different things to see what works for you.