Wooden Drawer Hamper

The domino effect is hurting my building schedule, but so is the fact that I glued and nailed in the longer pieces of 1x2s instead of the shorter ones I had cut by mistake, causing me to schedule disassembling this project, rather than finishing it today:

At least the photo above gives an idea of how our hamper will cover the un-tiled section of wall and nearly triple our hamper space. It bothers me to fall behind in my own plans, but a day's delay due to a power glitch a few weeks ago, has had an effect on every project I've done since.

But, I did get something done today, and that's the Pirate Cove Trunk I built based on JoanneS' Pirate Treasure Trunk Plans. I'll post updates on our drawer hamper by Tuesday, but hopefully sooner!

Pirate's Cove Trunk

Ahoy, me hearties! We be putting ar bath t' ship-shape, known the one sea over as th' waterfall caverrrn, or "th' cave. First mate JoanneS posted this here beauty o' a Treasure Trunk, arr on the ship o' cap'n Ana White. Imaginin' how fun 'twould be t' have a mini pirate's treasure chest of me own, for t' purpose o' havin' a yo ho ho, I'm callin' mine a Pirate's Cove Trunk. Scope yer goggles on how First Mate JoanneS finished 'er trunk three ways. A weather'd trunk, as if wash'd ashore, one bone-shaded and leathered, dainty for a Lady, and, yo, ho, a dark stained pair: for double the booty!

In honor of Thursday, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, her is my $7 mini trunk for our bathroom cove:

Herringbone Bathroom Bins

I've been thinking about storage bins on our floating bathroom shelves for many moons nows. I wanted our storage bins to have textural interest like our pebble backsplash, trim tile, and mirror and lo and behold, I came across Ashley of naptimediy.com's gorgeous herringbone storage box tutorial using shims. The herringbone pattern that I love + texture from the angled shims = Win! :)

The best news? They were a simple 10 steps to make from start to finish!

"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.

Squared2 Dining Chair x2

See the first dining chair I built

We now have two of Ana White's Squared2 Dining Chairs, a "Knock-Off-Wood" rendition of West Elm's overlapping squares chairs, in our eat-in kitchen.  The chairs I built are slightly modified from Ana's plans, adding 1" to the back legs and the chair back pattern to accommodate a 1" seat cushion I have yet to make.  See my previous notes about that here.

For building plans, please visit Ana White's Squared2 Dining Chair post.

Keep reading for my informal notes about how I built our second chair.  And in grand movie theater preview style:

The following are poor photos of our two Squared2 Dining Chairs.

Viewer discretion is somewhat advised.  :)

Building Kitchen Ledge Shelves

A few months after making the floating shelves in our bathroom, I decided to make ledged shelves in our kitchen, so glass items would not fall and plummet to their doom (or mine).  This was when I found Ana White's $10 ledges for the first time, the same plan that inspired the 1x2-thin toddler book ledges I built for my daughter's room more recently.

 We store our glasses on the little shelf next to our refrigerator and our magnetic measurement organizers. I chose the 4 glasses, my daughter has the 4 stainless steel glasses, and my husband selected two deep blue handblown glasses and 2 crystal drink glasses.  The tile work is mostly done, except for the area that hugs around our window sills and the trim I need to install around the edges.  I also need to purchase and screw in the outlet cover behind our tea pot.

Building these shelves did not take long, although choosing the color that would go best did.  I painted them teal, like the inside of our cabinet frames.  I let the teal sit for a month or two, so they were teal when we moved upstairs.  The shadows were not very forgiving for the teal, so I tried silver spray paint on the underside with teal on the top.  Then our kitchen screamed "DINER!" somehow.

I caved in and painted them a black-indigo color called Napoleon, the same paint on our Canvas Floor Cloth, C End Table, and Reclaimed Top Media Console.  :)  I didn't seal the Napoleon in case we changed our mind again, and I've dinged it a few times, letting silvery distressed flecks shine through.  =D We'll keep it!

Magnetic Measurement Organizers

Yesterday was my last day of summer vacation as well as my husband and my wedding anniversary.  We celebrated with a scrambled egg sandwich with fresh homemade mayo breakfast, haha.  We're broke and desperately need to go grocery shopping.  Along with our sandwiches, we awaited the arrival of Flossie, who sent to our apartment 30 seconds of drizzling and a full day of oppressive humidity.  What a way to end my summer.  =D

Speaking of hard times, when we moved upstairs in April of this year, we had four shelves in a kitchen cabinet and counter space to use as storage.  No drawers, no doors to our shelves.  We  needed a place to store our cooking measurement tools so we could find them and use them readily, so I made two simple and inexpensive organizers.

I finished this project in a couple of hours, just as the sun started to set as I snapped this photo.

Reveal: Entryway, July 2013

Building our entry door has completed our simple, thrifted, and handmade entryway.

First stop on this virtual tour, our small hallway, with only one item currently:

When we floored the living room in January, I had to replace a section of subfloor that was soft.  I removed the subfloor and while I painted our canvas floorcloth, my daughter painted on the scrap subfloor cutout, and turned it into art.  :)

Right around the corner is our console table:

It's simple, and we haven't "styled" it, yet.  We have plans for some of the items, and things may move around with time.

This area was empty before.  Now it's functional, costing me $90 out of pocket, including a splurge item.  :) I guess that's not too bad.

See the white vase and photo frame that reads $0? The white vase is from the family storage area downstairs.  The item inside is actually an old walis ting ting (Philippine broom) that was falling apart.  I washed it, turned it upside down and stuck it in the vase.  It reminds me of Pensacola Beach.

Like the grass growing through the white sand in this photo of me and my 34 week old (in gestation) daughter.  Did you notice my tangled hair too?  Haha!  :)  Mrs. Carrie Keigley took these photos for me at no cost.  It was part of her service to Safe Harbor Women's Resource Center in Pensacola, Florida.  :)  Bless you, Mrs. Keigley and blessings to Safe Harbor!

The black and white photo of my daughter was taken by Mrs. Keigley at no cost to me again, as a documentation of my first Mother's Day, when my daughter was 4 months (out of the womb).  =D  She printed this one for me and I framed it in this frame my mom bought for a project I started when I was 12.

My favorite of Mrs. Keigley's photos from that day:

Seeing these photos again make me miss Pensacola.  I loved living there for one year of my life, and 6 months of my daughter's.  :)

This little guy was a gift with a $20 splurge purchase I made at our local Farmer's Market.  At the time, the farmer's market was a 5 minute walk across the street from our home, to the only high school in the nation that is situated partly on a beach.

My splurge was for this locally handmade shell inlayed with mother of pearl and wood pieces (on the outside).  It looked so pretty on the table and agreed with my "Sea Garden" idea, so I traded a 20 for it.  My husband puts his loose change in here.  The larger coins my daughter deposits into her piggy bank.  :)

I saw this mail holder in family storage as well, so it was free for me.  I've said this once before when talking about the mellow yellow side table, but I must reiterate, family storage is my favorite place to shop.

I keep mail I need to read or that needs to go out the door in here, a pen (with a lost cap) and my little notebook with my To Do list, shopping list, and ideas.

The beautiful purple blooms that were on this orchid plant fell a few months ago, so we are expecting blooms to return again soon.  The last time it bloomed, the flowers stayed for over 2 months.  :)  I water the orchid with ice cubes as part of an experiment testing information from Paiko Hawai'i.  :)  So far, so good.

A testament to real life functionality, I keep all sorts of random things in this bin.  My original plan was to put magazines from the mail, or larger items we need to take outside (like bags, umbrellas, etc), but right now it's storing a leftover wood dowel, batteries, a picture frame I need photos for, and even a broken belt that I wanted to re-purpose.  It's my "visual to do box" for now and even my "leftovers" bin for little projects.

Lastly, I built the herringbone top console, one of my husband's favorite pieces of furniture in our apartment, and the entry door, one of my favorites.  :)

Thank you for visiting with me on a brief reveal tour of our entry way and part of our small hall.  It's funny how the smallest of spaces can be so personal; a reflection of the hands that have curated the things within.

Link Party @
Handy Man, Crafty Woman // Polkadots on Parade // The Style Sisters // The Blissful Bee // Artsy, Fartsy Mama // A Glimpse Inside // A Handful of Everything  // Jelli Bean Journals // Live, Laugh, Rowe // Remodelaholic  //  If It's Not Baroque // Too Much Time

Building an Entry Door, Part 3 of 3

See how I started building this door
See how I frosted plexiglass and added trim

It is partly because I built it with my hands that I love our entry door.  Having day dreamed of the design sketched on paper and now seeing it every day is surreal.  We do so appreciate it.  The best part is, it was not difficult to do.  You can build your own front entry door too!

After filling the holes, sanding, glazing and caulking the plexiglass in place, we painted our door deep purple with the gallon of leftover paint we used to paint our small end tables, our painted canvas floorcloth, and rear media console. 

Before the door could be complete, I glazed the plexiglass to the timbron I used as stops, added glazier points and more trim to keep the glass in place and waited 3 days, per the instructions on the glazing compound, before it was time to caulk and paint.

Building an Entry Door, Part 2 of 3

See how I started building this door

Our stairwell has a tiny window at the very bottom of the steps.  The rest of the stairwell is a fairly dark, narrow space that I've not touched with a paint brush yet.  We wanted a glass insert in our door to allow light into our dark stairwell and to increase a feeling of openness when climbing the 12 steps to the top.

We couldn't find a large piece of plexiglass that was the size we wanted, so we used a 24" x 48" pane, frosted it, and added trim around it with a panel below.

Building an Entry Door, Part 1 of 3

After removing the old kitchen tile and installing thicker Allure Ultra flooring, our old jalousie entry door needed to be planed to fit.  Our new floor gave us a wonderful excuse to set our old door aside, currently residing in our garage for a potential future project.  However, this meant that we've been without a door for quite some time... I know.

It's been convenient to walk right into our home and not have to fumble with keys or even turn a knob.  Remember how lazy I can be?  It's left our dark, nearly windowless stairwell a little more open, breathable.  However, it's been inconvenient when visitors have to walk right in and little 3 year old daughters walk right out.  And so, we started to design and build our own entry door.

Spending a couple hours over two days, I worked on installing the door frame with hardware so it would be ready to hang when we were totally finished.