Lovely Crafty Home: Rachael Evans Shows You How

Rachael Evans, local blogger and owner/operator of www.LovelyCraftyHome.com, a DIY home improvement blog, has been selected as one of a dozen nationwide to participate in The Home Depot Foundation Celebration of Service. The Foundation is pledging $50 million to veterans’ nonprofits over the next three years in an effort to ensure every veteran has a safe place to call home.

 

Evans will be joining thousands of The Home Depot volunteers who will be repairing and renovating 100 veterans’ homes in 13 cities, including Asheville. Repair projects will include mobility modifications to create safer living environments for disabled veterans and energy efficient upgrades to help reduce home operating costs, among others.

 

She was also featured in Natural Home & Garden’s May/June 2012 issue with an article titled “Fab Floors,” that focuses on Rachael’s beautiful, unique and environmentally friendly paper bag flooring technique. The floors are created by gluing and staining plain paper grocery bags to the floor and then covering them with a layer of polyurethane. What sounds like an unusual process yields stunning results and is as easy on the eye as it is on the budget.  The cost is approximately $1 per square foot.  (To see a complete tutorial, visit the blog at www.lovelycraftyhome.com.)

 

According to Evans, “These floors are eco-friendly, beautiful, and more durable than you might think.” Just to pique your curiosity, here is an excerpt from her blog: Keep in mind this is the method I have done in my house over plywood subfloors. There are other methods out there, but I can only tell you what has worked for me. If you have cement/concrete subfloor, these instructions as written may not work. I also HIGHLY recommend getting a piece of scrap wood and testing the technique with your stain and poly of choice. I get a lot of people asking for help after they’ve done the whole room because the paper isn’t sticking, the stain isn’t even, or the poly is cloudy. At this point, it is very difficult for me to help. The way I developed my method was by getting a piece of plywood and trying it out. Yes it is extra work, but it is worth it to know exactly how the floor will look.

 

Evans is a 20-something DIY-er who loves doing household projects, crafty things, and entertaining friends. She grew up in Asheville, attended college in Washington, DC. She returned to Asheville in 2007 when she and her husband, Mike, purchased their first home where they now live with her brother Ryan, Boxer dog Millie, and three cats: Malcolm, Magic, and Lily.

 

“The house was still being built when we made an offer. Consequently, we did get to make a few choices when it came to lighting, appliances, and carpet. I started experimenting with bold paint colors right away, but I didn’t know much about overall decorating. I’m still discovering my style, but I love constantly trying new things.”

 

In addition to paper flooring, Lovely Crafty Home features other popular projects and tutorials such as painted kitchen cabinets, tiled back splash, refinished furniture and decorative items created with everything from coffee filters to thrift store junk.   Lovely Crafty Home has been online since 2010 and receives an average of 150,000 page views and 77,000 unique visitors per month.  

 

For more information, contact  Rachael Evans at  [email protected].