The Weekly Croissant: Art Hoes Love A DIY

Or How to Cope with Trump's First Week in Office

Dear Croissants,

I hope everyone is doing well! I returned home to Nashville with a wild energy and an obsession with renovating my house. George and I are moving from our little summer cabin on the river that we’ve been living in for the last 7 years (insulation be damned!) into the bigger house next door which we’ve been renting out.

A month ago, the kitchen looked like this:

We had enough money saved up to hire someone who knew what they were doing to take out that wall, redo the layout, gas line, plumbing, etc, and also to buy some appliances (like the range below which we got off of FB marketplace for $800 hell yeah, thanks Germantown!)

…But then it just sat there! So much potential, so much to do, including figure out a countertop which can be one of the most expensive parts of a kitchen reno. While working on the You, Me, Everybody record in New Zealand, I had my evenings alone in an apartment in Wellington. I spent hours obsessively examining kitchen photos and researching countertop options—

Pretty much everything besides butcher block was out of our budget. Now, I love a good butcher block counter, but this house is FULL of wood. Wood walls, wood floors, wood built-ins, wood trim, etc. I wanted something that could add a bit of contrast, like for example…concrete.

Once I saw on the internet that folks were pouring their own concrete countertops I was a goner… I spent hours watching videos about CONCRETE. When I finally got home, I spent two days in a jet-lagged haze (mainly to make sure I could safety work with power tools) and then was ready to dive in.

I knew from my research that I was out of my depth with this project. Luckily, Nashville is a community of wildly talented freelancers and my friend Josie, who plays fiddle with Haley Whitters, and whose album, Extra, I produced in 2021, is also a talented woodworker with lots of tools, and was available to help me out.

Josie, George, and I spent about four days (give or take a person or two) on this, and although it is the hardest and most terrifying house project I have ever attempted, I am thrilled with the results.

Here are some photos of the process:

AND THE RESULT!!!!

Now we just have to paint cabinets and walls, tile the backsplash, stain the floors, and change out the light fixtures…so much to do, but nothing will be harder than this counter.

My biggest art hoe moment was trying to figure out that curve on the end of the peninsula…what does each curve shape mean? What century does it indicate? Does it lean rounded corners or tilt to oval?

On my recent travels I was inspired by these beautiful curved bars at a hotel in Wellington:

We drew out 5-6 different options and I landed on that one, with lots of constraints for how far we could bring the edge out, etc.

I am so tempted to get a giant light fixture like the one above.

There is something cathartic about completely destroying yourself with a big project, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I usually find myself tearing apart my living space in the midst of a political crisis. It’s the ultimate way to shrink your world, and your anxieties down to one room.

Hope you are all having a great week and finding some good distraction from the news!

-Rachel