"nourish" Crate

I had 1x3 scraps leftover from building our dining table frame and unused storage space above our petite 10 square foot refrigerator.  I built a storage crate based on Ana White's Chalkboard Produce Crate and Joanne's mini crate from her 1-Board Cedar Desk Accessory Set.

Now I have a place to store bulk foods without taking up my already spoken for shelf and drawer space.  :)

I used old drawer pulls I saved from our previous kitchen cabinets and then, screwed both ends in crooked.  I'm just talented like that, I suppose.  Hah!

I free-handed the word "nourish" with the same paint used on our dining chairs and console table and then I distressed it and stained over it to soften it.

Squared2 Dining Table, Patterned Glass Support

On Wednesday, I prepared myself for an afternoon of dining table top building.  I measured my first two boards twice, clamped them on the miter saw, and turned to the left to see my husband, who said, "We just lost power."  It seems a power pole was on fire in front of our city mall, and our power consoles were registering 80 instead of the usual 120.  Some fans turned extra slowly, while other things would not turn on at all, like my saw.
Now, 6 days later than planned, we finally traded our deteriorating particle board computer desk for our own dining table!  I still have to fill and paint the inside frame and the underside of the pattern, but otherwise, it's ready to use.  =D

I added glazier points in the corners due to the large areas without 2x2 support.

Katja, of Shift Ctrl Art, set a word for August, which happened to be my Kitchen Basics month.  That word is:

This dining table was inspired by several sources.  The legs were inspired by the spur of the moment furniture I've built for our house: our Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table and our Modern Scrap Wood End Tables.  I just found on Katja's blog that she made the exact same table leg design before our design came into fruition, although I had no idea!  (How interesting!) The table top was made to coordinate with our Squared2 Dining Chairs, which is based on a design by west elm, and brought to life via plans by Ana White.  Inspiration, I find, allows for our own unique perspective to shine through, while "standing on the shoulders of giants."  

I must heartily thank my good friend Joanne for patiently encouraging me, for sharing ideas for building in kind, and for even checking my measurements so that this process went smoother than it could have gone otherwise.  Joanne is an amazing builder.  Since I've known her, she's been working on building or planning to build something nearly everyday with a consistency that can only underlie passion.  I've absolutely been inspired by you, Joanne!

Squared2 Dining Table, Legs and Frame

I love designing our spaces with my husband.  He brings to the fore ideas I would not have considered, or inspires me to think of things that he might find "spiffy." Together, we designed our dining table to be slight in frame, to mimic the modern "closed leg" look of our scrap wood end tables and reclaimed wood coffee table, that would frame a "peek-a-boo" Squared2 pattern topped with glass.

It has been months since that initial design phase, but it is time to put our deteriorating computer desk dining table aside and take the risky plunge of bringing a concept to life.

I don't normally make plans.  I measure spaces, draw a sketch, cut wood, assemble and modify as I go.  For the precision required for this build however, I made a plan in PowerPoint (inspired by my friend Joanne) to demonstrate what was in my head.  The overall table frame is 30" wide by 48" long, which would seat 4 wide Squared2 dining chairs.

Living Room: $500 Furnishing Challenge

Furnishing a nearly empty room with $500

Remember the living room progress we've made?

In January 2013, I set a goal of furnishing our living room for $500, what was left of a $10,000 loan I took out in May 2012 to afford renovation materials for the bedrooms, our gutted bathroom, and our gutted kitchen (which took the bulk of the money).  We kept our electronics budget separate, thankfully, which includes the home theater, software, fans, air purifier, and various discs (CDs, DVDs, blu rays, Games). 

To honor my husband's 3-item dream home list, I knew I had to purchase a papasan chair first for the living room, which used nearly half our furniture budget.  We knew that if we wanted furniture, we needed to build our own.

It has been a 6 month furniture building journey, and I've loved every piece -- knowing we built and designed them, knowing building has saved us money, and knowing that we could custom create pieces we wanted. Using reclaimed wood, scrap pieces, and wood already in the garage, and using the same 3 paints for furniture and 1 container of stain has helped cut down costs, but also coordinate the looks in the living room.

We've kept a list of every piece of furniture we've purchased or made for our living room to help keep us on track with our $500 goal.

Our living room furniture budget (costs rounded up to the next dollar):

• Purchased Papasan chair:  $223 Purchase
• Hand-painted floor cloth:  $40 Project
• 2 - 120" curtain rods:  $32 Purchase
• 2 - Small end tables: $5 Project
• 3 - Hanging Wood Lanterns: $25 Project
• Wooden Lantern Tree: $4 Project
• Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table:  $5 Project
• Reclaimed 1x6 Topped Media Console: $29 Project
• 2x4 and Jalousie Rear Console: $10 Project
• C End Table: $1 Project

$126 left for repairing and slipcovering those sofas!  Then I can crunch numbers for a living room decor budget.  I have pillows to sew, plants to nurse, and second-hand decor for which to hunt.  =D  Admittedly, this is also the part for which I'll need the most help.  Here's to soon turning another new leaf, old living room.

C End Table, Papasan's Helper

My summer will end in a few weeks, but I'm not returning to 10 hour days on campus.  I made a decision to favor time at home with my family and will halve the pay I bring home.  My principal graciously allowed me to be a half-time teacher this upcoming school year, a position without a homeroom, which meant that while I moved in to our upstairs home in April, I was moving out at work in May.  Our upstairs home.  It's amazing that I can say that now.  :)

Back in April, my husband made his first furniture request.  He asked for an end table that could tuck into his papasan chair.  Here's what we came up with, complete with my daughter lounging in the chair:

I originally had photos of each part of the building process, including a few changes we made to make the height just right, but those photos were deleted when I had to format my SD card.  :(

Until I learn how to make 3-D models, here's a brief written overview of how I built this table:

1. Using 2x2s and pocket hole screws, I built the bottom rectangle first.  
2. Then, I attached 2x2 pieces for the height of the table.  
3. Next, I attached two 1x6s together to make the table top.  
4. I attached the table top to the height pieces of the 2x2s.  
5. Finally, since the papasan chair base touches the floor, we attached 2x2 squares to act as feet.  I simply drilled screws up through the middle until it attached to the base.

This chair was built using reclaimed 2x2s from Re-Use Hawai'i, my newest go-to building material source.  The 2x2s had paint on them already, so painting it Napoleon, instead of staining it, worked out well both for my husband and for me. :)

Link Party @ Mocking Bird Hill Cottage

2x4 Rear Console Finishing and Glazing

See how I built the console

Our house is full of old jalousie windows; it is pretty standard where I live.  So spare jalousies are like a pest problem, because they are usually only imagined as glass louvers.  When they are no longer needed as louvers, they hang around in stacks in garages, like mine.  It struck me that our jalousies are sturdy, perhaps tempered, glass panes that could become a free glass accent for our rear console.

After two days of building, I worked over the period of 3 days to finish the console while making the bracelet display for Humble Ride Apparel.  This console marks the first time I had worked with glass and glazing compound, and now have our first mixed material furnishing: