DIY

Farmhouse Table….New Kids Desk

Posted by

14

one thing I love about all the wonderful people blogging out there is that there is no shortage of amazing inspiration and the generosity of the same people sharing the how-to’s for said inspirations.  Once again I fell victim to a must create over at Anna White’s Site.  This narrow farmhouse table here, sent me into the garage once again to recreate the table.  I even had a place for it!!  Under the windows in the office, a perfect place for the kids to do homework and e near Jon and I when we are working in the office.

We made the legs out of reclaimed pallet wood, the top we bought the top and side boards.  I sanded the crap out of the top to make it look as much like a solid piece as possible.

I stained the top and put 3 clear coats over the stain.

I painted the legs white, then I distressed the paint with a hand sander.

I did a top coat of Trewax mahogany wood wax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Markers, colored pencils, a small light, plain paper, lilacs and lillies out the window, bring your imagination to this table and put it on the paper kids:

I do have chairs for the table that are in teh process of being reinvented…I will add a post about them when they are home….but here are a few more shots of the table:

Growth Chart…Done!!

Posted by

1

Let me just say that as often as I think…oh I can do that….often it takes a lot more work to  make something than a person would think.  I am proud to say that from start to finish RAiven and I completed this DIY growth chart by ourselves.  I posted about our start here and yes just the girls with our power tools, oil based stains, paint, brushes and girls abilities completed this project.

I had the board in the garage from another project,  I bought a vinyl tree decal from Target, but thought it was too heavy so I painted an outline round the vinyl, then we stained the whole board in our chosen green stain.  after the stain had set but not completely dried we peeled the stickers off.

Then we added the numbers and lattering….we distressed the stain and hand painting a bit and then did an all over clear coat.

To hand it I did the pop tab hangers, I saw this on pinterest and thought it was a great way to reuse and the price was perfect…free!

So now we have it hung on the wall and everyone measured!!

The black splotch is where I took out our last name..it does not really look like that.

I have updates coming on the fireplace and the garden plot.  Plus I am working on a narrow farmhouse table inspired by Anna White , so I will post pictures when I am done.

L Shape Garden Complete

Posted by

1

It took longer than I hoped to post about our completed L-Shape garden, that I originally posted about here , we completed the garden and have it planted, it was actually a fairly quick project.  Here is the before picture again:

We decided to move all of the garden but not the little square strawberry patch that you see on the right side of the picture.  I did not want to risk losing a strawberry crop this year, so we will move them in the fall.

Here is what is in the space that WAS the garden:

I just love this new space, I can see the kids in the backyard, on the trampoline, and in the sand box. The limestone rocks we retrieved from an empty excavated area in our development.  The tree was the largest investment..about $147, we transplanted some purple coneflowers from another flower bed, I had no idea how much these flowers multiplied.  The lilacs on each end we purchased for $19.99 a piece they will be
white.  I can’t wait until next spring to cut some blooms and bring them in the house….mmmm lilacs smell the best!

Here is the new L-Shpae garden that we originally posted about here:

We have romaine lettuce, onions (red and white), cucumbers, peas, and sweet potatoes in a bucket. WE also moved the compost bin to the corner of the garden, we had it on the side of the house but it was not getting enough sun to “cook” properly.  Plus now we can just spread the ready compost into the garden.

So glad we decided not to move the strawberries, I can’t wait untill all these ripen!!

A new L shaped garden

Posted by

3

I posted a little while ago that we have a city garden plot.  Our hope is that we can still grown and enjoy our  own vegetables and maybe reclaim some of our small yard to give our 4 kids and large dog a bit  more space to stretch out in.  Our last frost was last week, and today it is 80+ with major humidity! WElcome summer, with that we have begun the project of moving our existing garden space which was somewhat of a back row on the property to a corner L shape…I think we are going to end up with more actual garden pace this way.

Here is the garden space as it was…

In the corner of the L I am going to move our compost bin that we now have on the west side of the house next to the A/C unit, it does not get enough sun to get “hot” so it is really just more of an organic matter holder, not what I had in mind.  I am going to put a little pea gravel walkway up to it, this will also give us a way to weed and work with the plants on each side.

Where are garden was, we are going to plant a Dwarf Albert Colorado Spruce tree, it will get to be 15-18 feet high and 12-15 feet wide.  On each side of the pine we are going to put a white lilac plant.  This will provide a bit of a natural privacy fence you can see is needed.

We framed it in old railroad ties, these are $6.99 for 8 feet at our local do-it-all store note that none of these are uniform or even so we had to make each space unique and level to the board and land.  These are also VERY heavy!!

Here is where we are so far.  It proceeded to rain so we gathered all our tools and quickly got inside.

You can see the finished garden here.

Corner Redo…DIY Fireplace

Posted by

9

When we put a wall up along an alcove area in our basement, to make an actual office space in our garganteuos basement living room we left rough ins for a fireplace in the corner.  Our house is a split level home that we built just over 4 years ago and I was honestly surprised at how it can be a little chilly in the winter downstairs.  I guess I thought since it was so new and efficient this would not be the case, but when part of your house in the dirt, I guess this is bound to happen.

So here is a snippet of the star of our fireplace DIY…the plan is to have stone up to the ceiling with a wooden mantle, inspired somewhat by this photo (hopefully a little less cabin-y):

We are slowly adding more details and characteristic to our house, although we built it with some extra touches that we feel added more character than a standard build we have found we are still missing that “us” feel, I am hoping this fireplace will give the basement some warmth and character.

First step….get a permit to complete this project!!  I was fanatical about this, especially since this will be a gas fireplace, I do not want this to be done improperly and jeopardize anything or anyone, plus if we decide to sell and there are no permits on record we could have to pay to have it all redone, don’t skip this step, it is very important.

Second once we knew what was code for the fireplace we bought we went ahead and framed out the spot in 2 X 4’s.  Jon made the openings in the wall and ceiling  and then we called for a gas line hook-up and inspection this line.  The gas line was the only part of this project that we hired out.  again we had no intention of taking any chances when it came to safety.  The total cost was $164.00 not to bad for safety!

Midway update here

Making a Growth Chart…Girls with Tools

Posted by

1

Yep, we are those kind of girls, we get our hands dirty, we grill, and we use power tools.  I have had it in mind for quite some time to make a growth chart of some type that is more than a door or piece for trim that is part of our house.  We are not positive that this is our “forever” house and so I wanted to make a growth chart that was almost like a piece of art to hang on the wall that we could easily take with us if/when we move.

What better project than this for my 6 year old to help me with, we used a square and power saw to cut the board to the proper length…6 feet.  Then I showed her briefly how to use the power wander and she went right to work, and did a great job.

Now we are deciding on a color/pattern/look that we like. Below are some ideas that I like, I will post ours when we finish it!

This one is from growingupvintage on Etsy

This one from growingupvintage on etsy

There are always cute one from Pottery Barn kids…..but I am sure I can beat the price with my DIY skills.

 Super cute, but $129.00!!!

You can check out our finished DIY growth chart here.