Showing posts with label wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wood. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2011

Girls Bed

Searching we found this bed  we <3. Previously We had a hand-me-down queen sized bed given to us by our in-laws. It was huge, and uncomfortable and not nearly as cute. Pottery Barn is wonderful to look at but until I win the lottery there's no way I'm spending $1700 on a bed for a 4 year old. This is where Ana white steps in we found a tutorial to build that very bed. We made a few small tweaks to make it our style, and allowed Daniel to play with his newest toy.




 You start by making 2 boxes. We used MDF since it is going to be painted white, Instead of buying 1x12" which is hard to find and pricey



 We trimmed it out with 1x2" (ripped down from 2x3") the cheapest options.


We used Plywood for the head and foot board and stained it with left overs from redoing the hardwood.


Time to assemble. Isn't my Puppy cute?
 We used left over pieces of 1x6 left over from our deck for the slats.



Then Clamped and screwed the head and foot board on.
We left these screws exposed incase we need to disassemble it. They're hidden behind trim so they're not visible.
ET VOILA!
Now we're working on one for Annalilia.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I kind of like this little Shit box- The Story of my House Part II

Well Guys, I'm actually starting to like this little House. Yes, We're up to our ears in Debt. Yes, We've just barely started the renovations. Yes, It's half the size I wish it were. But I'm not hating it. I'm actually quite proud of what we've done in our spare time with a small amount of money.
This is a Sort of Before picture. We were so enthused when we bought the house we forgot to take pictures before we started ripping wall paper off. That is the actual colour our kitchen was, not because It's a bad picture, it had something to do with the orange nicotine stained walls, in combination with the light fixture globe, that was stained brown, and orange from the smoke and grease build up. Don'tcha just love it. 
The Cupboards, which were wall papered, and had 8+ different paint colours layered on, 3 layers of Mac Tac, on the shelves, and cigarette burns. Were also missing knobs.

This is what my kitchen looked like for the first few months we were in the house. Yeah... It was, uh, Fun? But notice my new fridge, and stove, and the portable dishwasher on the right, A hand-me-down from my sister Michelle. Do you like my counter top accessories? doesn't everyone have drills charging in the kitchen? and to the left along the wall is where the drywall, and wood was stored. :-D
Now That's some lovely carpet on the Kitchen floor, isn't it?
We found a "clean" clean piece for comparison, What do you think? My favourite part was when the floor got wet, and your sock would turn brown if you stepped on it. Also the huge spot on the floor in front of the stove where I May, or May Not have spilled half a can of primer on the floor... Hehee.

 
 So after nearly two years of living with that kitchen floor, and of wearing slippers in our house 24/7 We just didn't know what to do. The carpet was glued directly to the linoleum underneath, The linoleum underneath which was chalk full of asbestos was glued directly to the wood underneath it. We didn't want to rip it all up, and tile the floor. We want to redo the kitchen and move everything around, cutting out walls, rearranging all. Tiling would just be a waste of money. We couldn't just glue lino on top of the carpet, on top of the linoleum, on top of the wood. We contemplated just throwing down plywood, it seemed like the best option. Then a brainstorm hit. We cut plywood into 3" strips, and nailed it to the floor. Three sheets of plywood Some left over stain and varnish, a heck of a lot of nails, and voila


Not to shabby, Hey Guys? Well I happen to love it, and It's a heck of a lot better than it was before. We chose Plywood boards with awesome Grain details. I think it's Gorg! The walls are also painted blue around the cabinets, and Grey on the other two walls.

And the Cupboards. The top ones are just open, We will get around to it one day, but it's a lot of work to sand 60 years worth of paint off of a piece of wood. What do you think? It's all just temporary, in a few years we will gut it and change it around, but for now I'm enjoying my "ghetto Hardwood", and having a kitchen table and chairs, (also a hand me down from my sis Michelle), a functioning work space, NO TOOLS on my counter.  I've found that Owning this home has changed me, A Lot! I'm so appreciative of the small things, I don't expect things to be perfect, or to have a place, or to be dust free in a straight line.

It's definitely not perfect, It's Not Ideal, But it is my Home!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Dolly Cribs

Well, they're 1 part Doll Crib, and 1 part Toy boxes because at the end of the night 4 dolls, and a bunch of teddy bears get piled in them.
 What I used.
2- 2x10x 12"
4- 2x6x 17"
2- 6" scraps of door jamb; or any scrap of wood 1" thick, 6" long

I decided to make the crib 17" long in case we ever get into American girl, or any full sized dollys



 I topped it off with a little pillow, and mattress pad I made from some cotton batting. It's used everyday. Annalilia likes to sit inside it. Sophia likes to play mommy to her baby horse; it's kind of creepy!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Crate Shelf

BEFORE
What we wanted was to lift our  printer up out of reach of little sticky fingers. We have found legos, bottles, licorice babies, Raisins (that were inserted as grapes) and more in our printer. Plus we want to get rid of the broken old filing cabinet that it's been sitting on.Our first stop was to check out a great website Ana-white.com. If you ever want to build some furniture than you must have her website bookmarked. We decided on a wooden pallet shelf, and changed it a bit to fit on our narrow wall, and didn't want it to be too tall since it's just going to hold our paper  Check out this Pottery Barn version. Since we just finished our deck we have about 40 pieces of approximately 1x6x 24" boards so it was perfect. You can make this out of a recycled pallet! It's rustically adorable. The total cost for us was $8 for a can of stain/varathane, as everything else was on hand.












AFTER
What we needed:
4 - 1x6x 12"
6 - 1x6x 17"
4 - 1x2x 12"
Approx 60 1" finishing nails
16 - 1" screws
 8 - 2" dry wall or wood screws
electric drill with bit
hammer
wood glue
countersink punch

Cut and Sanded

We used Minwax Bombay Mahogany

Apply 2 coats with a light sanding in between.


PreDrill your nail holes to prevent cracking

Wood Glue all seams

Countersink finishing nails with a punch

Build two squares, Add boards to back panel
Add 1x2 supports to attach the two squares together  using the 1" screws




Use the 8 - 2" screws to attach to the wall into a stud.

If you decide to tackle this project Please Please Please send me pictures.