I came into a broken wine barrel that I couldn’t bare to seen thrown away….. that wouldn’t be very green – would it!?

So I took the metal rings off of it and the pieces that were left are called Wine Staves. I scoured the internet for a “how to decorate a wine stave” and couldn’t find anything. So with some trial & error and some girlfriends to help me out, I have for you a super fun way to repurpose a wine barrel to share with you!

Here is what I started with. The Top & Bottom of the barrel and all the remaining side pieces (staves).

Since whatever I make with these will go inside my house. I wanted to make sure that there were no splinters on them. It will also make a better surface to paint on. I used an 80 grit sand paper and a sanding tool that I picked up at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

As you can you see this barrel must have been for white wine – because the inside of the barrel isn’t stained. So I took some stains that I had in my garage from staining the office floor and tried them out. As you can see, I tried some spray stains, some spray paint and some good old fashion stains that I applied VERY lightly with a dry rag.

I personally settled on a color that looked like my floors. The one on the far left.

I stained the three that I was going to paint the day before and let it dry overnight. I had some girlfriends come over and they only let their stain sit for 45 minutes or so, and it didn’t make the paint run. Then we used WOOD Stain Paint Pens to write fun sayings on them. I tried a Paint Pen that was for all different uses and it ran. Make sure that if you do this project that you spend the extra couple dollars on aWOOD paint or WOOD paint pens.

Here we all are! Painting away on a tarp in my driveway:

After the pain dried I sprayed them with a clear shellac and let them sit for a few minutes.

(I had a photo of this – but it’s a horrible image of me – so just imagine a spraying paint photo here)

Then I flipped them over and nailed in one of these to each of the wine stave backs:

And that was it! Everyone picked their own saying and we had such a fun time! The overall cost per Wine Stave was probably about $10 after you include buying a paint pen and clear shallac.

So Worth It! It was dark by time we finished – but here are all the painted wine staves that will soon be hanging in my friend’s homes!:

I’m on to my next project! Re-Flooring most of my house! I had a Design Remodel Firm come in and help me make a plan. I won’t be doing most of the work this time. But I WILL be flooring everything. Here is going to be my first project. I’m so excited, I just had to share.

Here is the before photo. Before I moved in, before some lender required repairs. This isn’t what it looks like now. But it makes for a more dramatic transition to start at the very beginning.

I’m going to tile the whole area in front of the island with THIS:

Details: It’s a 15- 3/4″ by 15-3/4″ Gray “Pietre 2″ Tile

Style #: UNI 5698 Color Nepi

It is a through body porcelein, has no VOCs emission, It’s 12% Recycled Content, and made by a company that is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. Yipee! I can’t get this product from a ReUse store because I need too much of it. But I think I made a conscience choice that will work well in my upstairs.

The description on the website is: Philosophy of elegance.

After Installing the Window, Laying the Tile, Building the Cabinets, Painting the Room, The Door Installation Fiasco, Getting the Granite Installed, Installing the Radiant Floor Heat, Nailing in the Moulding, Tiling the Backsplash, Cleaning the Bathroom & Updating the fixtures, Installing a Bath Fan and air sealing the CrawlSpace.