Oops, I did it again.  I played with your heart.  Got lost in the games. Oh baby, baby.

Oh I’m sorry, I got carried away with that a little bit…I’m so embarrassed.  Back in my day, Britney was not crazy and still had her hair.  Of course, NSYNC will always have my heart and I liked Christina better.  And my friends and I watched the Spice Girls movie like every weekend at sleepovers.  I was Sporty Spice, but I got to rap all the Scary Spice parts in the songs when we sang them.  Oh the early 2000’s.  Those were the days.

But, anyway, I did do it again.  I built sliding doors number two.  Remember the first ones I made?  They go to my newly remodeled laundry room.  They are my fav.  Even more than the Spice Girls 🙂

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It’s me again.  Long time no see–uh, I mean write??  I said on my first blog post of this year that my goal was to be more consistent this year with posting.  Obviously I don’t do very well with new year’s resolutions.  Let’s just pretend the last two weeks hasn’t been post-less, okay?  They sure haven’t been project-less.  I promise 🙂

Before we move on, let me remind you about the big news from the last post.  I’M A FINALIST IN THE MRS. MEYER’S HOMEMAKER HUNT!!!! Like what?!  Yes, and I need your help.  You can vote for me–Shara M (here)–and my video every day until Feb 15th.  That’s only 2 more weeks!  I’m the underdog in this competition (all other finalists have TONS more followers than me) so I could use all the votes I can get.  If I win, you will be seeing more of my DIY projects on their blog as well.  Which, for real, that would be AMAZING, right?

So anyway, back to business…way back when (I think it was in December), I was searching for “geometric tables” on Pinterest, just out of curiosity.  I’m such a math nerd.  I like to try to figure out how they make all the weird angles.  Hey, it passes the time…

So while I was searching, I came across this weird looking table/cube thingy.  NOTE: People get their panties in a wad when you “steal” their pictures, so I am not even going to go there and copy and paste the original picture from Pinterest to show you all.  But here is my finished product, and I really don’t mean to brag, but it looks exactly like the original, only a different stain color.  Of course, you can search “geometric table” on Pinterest and find the original idea.

So what do you think?  Yay or nay?  I’m a fan of the geo stuff.  I can’t help it.  I want to be a single “style” and stick with the country/rustic thing, but I have a soft spot for modern/geo shapes.

Okay, so I’m going to attempt to tell you how I did this, but be forewarned.  I made A LOT of mistakes.  Well, I made two mistakes.  The word “a lot” is relative.  I have saved you the trouble of finding the angles.  They are weird.  Don’t ask how I got them, just trust me.  They’re right.  I can show you my doodle papers if needed 🙂

Let’s get started.  The following directions will give you a table that is about 17″ tall.

First, I glued two 1x4s and a 1×6 board all a little over 6 ft long together and clamped it.  These will become your squares.  For this table, you will need 6 identical squares and 8 identical triangles.

Once the glue dries, set up your table saw to a bevel of 35.2 degrees.  Unless you have a SUPER accurate table saw, you’ll just have to eyeball the 0.2 part.  I have an old hand-me-down table saw from my grandpa, so it’s not that accurate.  We are working with wood–it’s never going to be PERFECT unless it’s fake.  I could write a book…Life lessons Learned Through Woodworking 101:  Nothing is ever perfect unless it is fake.

Set up your rip fence/guide so that the distance between it and the tip of the blade is 12″.  You want your squares to be 12″ long on all sides from the longest points.

Run the 6ft boards you glued together through the table saw so that you have six identical squares 12″x12″ on top and ALL sides beveled toward the center on the bottom.  See pictures below.

Here is where I “messed up” the first time.  If I could do it over, I would screw all these pieces together so it would be more sturdy.  But, I didn’t.  I nailed them.  I’ll show you what I did–and it works okay.  But the next time I make one, I will not assemble until I have all the pieces cut, then I would screw them together piece by piece.

I measured the diagonal of one of the squares and subtracted 1.5″ and cut four 2x4s this length.  I drilled pocket holes on each end of the 2x4s and attached two squares with the pocket holes and screws like the picture shows below.  I put the 2x4s in each corner, but not overlapping the bevel.

Then I nailed the four remaining squares on like the picture below.  I tried my best to match up the corners, but if they aren’t perfect, it’ll line up better once you get the triangles in.  This is another reason I should have screwed everything instead of nail.

Do you like my sneaks?  I know…I’m so weird.  I’m a big fan of Rocket Dog shoes.  Google them 🙂

Orange Baby (our orange kitty) thought this was his new hiding place.  How adorable 🙂

Now, you need to make your 8 triangles.  This is where I messed up the second time.  I tried to save lumber so I would make less scrap.  Hello, my name is Shara and I’m cheap.  I screwed up a bunch of wooden triangles because I didn’t want to scrap wood.  That’s dumb.  Don’t be like me.

I glued two 1×6 boards together so that I could cut out 8 triangles and not waste hardly any wood.

DON’T do that.  Cut your boards about 9 ft (this will give you a little extra) and glue them together.  Once the glue is dry, cut that board into pieces about 13″ wide (you really only need 12″, but this will give you a little extra).  You’ll need 8 of these pieces.

If you cut your squares from earlier exactly 12×12, then your triangles should be 10.4″ tall (from center of base to the tip).  Have you ever tried to find 10.4 on your tape measure?  It’s not there.  You’ll have to guesstimate it haha.  Set up your table saw to bevel 19.6 ish degrees and set your rip fence to about 10.4″ from the tip of the blade.

I used a scrap piece of 2×4 mitered at 30 degrees to help me with my triangles.  I pocket hole screwed it to my piece while I ran it through the table saw.  You want 8 triangles with 60 degree angles and bevels all going toward the center of the bottom side.

Pretend the above picture has the 2×4 attached to one of your 13″ pieces you cut, not this huge long piece.  Again, bear with me…I’m trying to tell you how to do it correctly…not exactly how I did it haha.

Flip the piece from the picture above over and run through the table saw using the 2×4 as a guide.  The mitered end of the 2×4 should run smoothly along the rip fence.  You should end up with a shape that looks something like this.

Take the 2×4 off, and attach it (like shown above) to the side you just cut on the saw. Line up the tips so they match. Don’t screw too tight, since it is beveled.  You want it the 2×4 to still be flat.  Flip it over again and run through the table saw again with the 2×4 as your guide.  You will end up with a triangle with two beveled sides and one flat side.

Remove the 2×4 once more, and attach it to the beveled side you just cut.  Run that through the same way, using the 2×4 as a guide along the rip fence.  Now you should have a triangle with all sides on top 12″ and all bevels going toward the center on the bottom.

Because I messed up on mine, the last side I cut on my triangles didn’t cut just right and caused me to have a few gaps in my finished product.

Once my triangles were cut, I fit them in between my squares and nailed them together.  Again, I should have screwed the pieces together, but what’s done is done.

I sat on it to see if it would hold me.  This is what happens when I give Danny my camera and I start playing around in the shop…

I stained it in Minwax Weathered Oak.  It was a new stain color I hadn’t tried before.  I think I like it. I haven’t 100% decided yet.  I kind of wish it was a little bit more “brown.” But it’s growing on me.

I LOVE this little table…even though I want to go back and make another one the RIGHT way this time.  It totally doesn’t fit in my house, but it makes me happy, so it’s staying.

So did you get all that?  I need to consider making videos of these things.  I think a lot of it would be easier if you could see it instead of reading it.  Do you agree?  Maybe I’ll give that a try 🙂

So seriously…the table…yay or nay?  My mom thinks it’s too “out there.”  But I’ve had compliments on it too.  I have several more geo things in the list to make soon, so if you’re a fan, stay tuned 🙂

We closed on our house last year on November 14 at 4:30 in the afternoon.  It was a day that we will always remember (at least I think so…).  We were living in a rental house like two houses down from my parents and we wanted to be out by the 15th because that would be the end of our “rental month” and I didn’t want to owe any more money.  Cutting it close, huh? That’s how I roll…

It was a whirlwind of a weekend.  Closing day was a Friday and we both took the day off work.  We rented a U-Haul first thing that morning and Danny, Dad, dad’s friend Johnny, and me (and a little help from mom) all started loading it as full as we could.  We had three vehicles (two compact commuter cars and a truck specifically for pulling the trailer when needed and hauling my lumber) and we loaded them all full and loaded our trailer too, along with mom’s car, and dad’s truck and trailer.  Surprisingly, it went pretty quickly.

Then we had to go to two different banks to get cashier’s checks for the down payment….which is a long story I wont go into.  One was in the town of our rental house and the other was in the town we were moving to.  We got the first check, then headed to the next town.

We drove my car and our truck and trailer to our new house and parked it in the driveway, and took my car into town. We got the check at the bank, then we ate lunch at Captain Ds.  I specifically remember us talking about how funny it was that we were eating at Captain Ds on a weekday and the restaurant was full of older people who were most likely retired.  We are old people at heart, so we fit right in.  I also remember keeping those checks in my pocket all day scared to death I would lose them.

We quickly ate and headed to the house again for our “final viewing” before we closed.  It looked different than I remembered when we first looked at it before we made an offer.  It always does look different the second time….we have been through this process a couple times before…

Then it was go time! We headed to the lawyer’s office to sign the papers.  We signed SO MANY PAPERS!!!! I bet five trees died for us to close on our house.  And, who knew you had to sign a paper from the bank saying that you understood it was a bad idea to put carpet in a bathroom.  NO. JOKE.

As soon as the papers were signed, I called mom and dad and they headed over with the U-Haul and mom’s car.  We unloaded everything as fast as we could. Then, we went back to the rental house and went to bed there for the last time ever!  The next morning we loaded up the remainder of our stuff, cleaned the house, gave the keys back to our landlord, and headed to our new home for good!

It was a whirlwind of a day unloading and finding places for all our random stuff and trying to get the washer and dryer hooked up and everything cleaned.  I took pictures that night with my phone.  Awful quality….awful lighting…awful decorating and placement (I’m here to tell you, folks, I still haven’t gotten much better haha!).  Here was our home almost exactly one year ago:

A LOT has changed in the first year since moving day.

First was our master bedroom closet.  If you remember from way back last Christmas, we tackled it on a whim while we were off work.

Then, we painted the living room.  After the kitchen remodel, we rearranged furniture.  I also painted the brass on the fireplace.  Then I built a few new pieces of furniture. The living room has been constantly changing project after project.

I gave the foyer closet a makeover right before our biggest project in the house.

In March and April, the kitchen was torn apart and put back together.

Once it got warmer outside, we cleaned and stained the deck and painted the handrails.  The “deck makeover” was the least fun, but was worth it.

Although I didn’t start my laundry room redo until recently, I went ahead and made the grand entrance for it this summer.

Notice how the hallway was painted here?  No post on that, but we did away with the green and went with the grey and white thing…pretty much my theme throughout the house 🙂

And now, we are almost done with the laundry room redo.

In addition to visual improvements, we have also installed new windows, (soon to be installed), new back doors, new gas logs.  Countless tubes of caulk have been used to seal “gaps” in various places.  Some electrical has been improved both in the house and the shop.  And, speaking of the shop….want to see another before and after?

I need more shelves….actually I “need” a lot of things in there that will just have to wait…I’m trying to learn patience and self-control.  Those are things I should have more of.

So here we are.  One year later, I can honestly say that a lot has indeed changed.  One thing I forgot to mention is that we got some new pets this year…two kittens to kill mice and moles…and to keep us entertained 🙂  Sadly, our black cat died on my birthday this year, but we got another super sweet kitten to keep our other one company.  Black cat completed our fall front porch this year.  Danny was just added decoration 🙂

In the year since we moved here, the house has definitely changed.  And, if all goes as planned, the house will change a lot more in the next year, too.  But, more importantly, in the last year, WE have changed.  We have learned, we have grown, we have gone through tough times, gone through good times, and good grief! We’ve gone through a kitchen remodel!  And survived!  This house is where our life happens….and we love that.  We look forward to coming here every day after work and being in the place we call home.  And I (not so much Danny) look forward to many more updates and opportunities to learn and grow in the year to come 🙂

Sometimes you live with something for a while because it is convenient, but it’s not exactly what you wanted.  And NO I AM NOT REFERRING TO SPOUSES!  Although, when the shoe fits…..I’m kidding, I’m kidding.  I love my hubs.

Speaking of shoes, I have a friend who has a lot of shoes.  But, this is not the story of her shoes.  Although, that may be a story worth telling….and it may be a story I will eventually tell. But not today. This is the story of her new ruby red slipper cabinet.  I know, I said this isn’t about shoes.  Ruby red slippers is the color I painted the cabinet I made for her.  See how I tied all that in?  I know, I need practice.  But she’s actually using the cabinet to store a microwave.  Totally not the same thing as shoes.

So back to the introduction…she had a cabinet for her microwave for several years, but it wasn’t really what she wanted.  However, it was convenient and buying something new wasn’t.

She asked me to make her something to replace this old cabinet with.  First, she wanted a pantry.  Then maybe some type of hutch, then we settled on a small cabinet with floating shelves.  So before her mind changed again, I started building haha.  Just like my sister and her faux fireplace.

I made the overall dimensions 30″ wide, about 35″ tall and about 21″ deep.  It just fit perfectly in her space.

Instead of doing traditional legs, I made the sides curvy at the bottom.

I used pocket holes and screws to attach the shelves.

I used scraps for the front and back support and attached the ¼″ backing (I used luan…the cheap stuff because it’s just the back side) with finishing nails.  Before attaching the back I made sure everything was square.  Then I attached the face frames.

Next, I made two doors.  You can learn how I make simple shaker style cabinet doors here.

I glued some 1xs together for the top.  While that was gluing, I painted the cabinet and the doors.  Two coats of primer and a million (literally maybe like 5 or 6) coats of paint–Ruby Red Slippers by Valspar.  (I’ve said a million times before that I always recommend Sherwin Williams paint when possible.  It saves you so much time.  It could totally be operator error, but I always have to use twice as much Valspar paint as I ever do Sherwin Williams.  Wish I got paid to say that, but I don’t.  So take my word for it…I’m not getting paid to tell you that.)

The next day, I sanded the countertop completely smooth and stained it my favorite color–Minwax Dark Walnut.  A couple coats of Polycrylic made it really shiny 🙂

I also made some floating shelves.  I think I will write a separate post on those later.  (AKA I forgot to take any pics of how I did it to show you.) I was so excited when I got done, I modeled it for her so I could send her a pic of it.  See how good a big framed picture of me would look on that first shelf?  I can make that happen 🙂 Christmas is coming up and that gives me a good idea!!! #bestgiftever

But then she sent me a pic of it after she decorated it at her house.  And I have to admit….maybe it does look pretty good without my big head on it.  I guess we will see after Christmas 😉

She wanted to be able to put her microwave INSIDE the cabinet instead of on top of the cabinet, so I cut a hole in the back for the cord to go through.  And it fits well with plenty of room around it for ventilation.  That worked out well.

My shelf decorating skills are terrible.  So I’m going to hire her out to come decorate mine because hers look so good.

And now I’m kind of jealous and want my own cabinet like this in my kitchen….

So I said all that to say this: we all live in our houses.  They are our homes.  If you don’t like something, change it.  Even if it’s a little change like replacing a cabinet you aren’t in love with for one that you are in love with. Life is short. Come home after a long day at work to a place you love, not one you just live in.  And while you are filling your home with things you love, don’t forget to also fill it with the people (and pets) you love, too.

Okay, okay…Enough mushy stuff…Now get to building 🙂

NOTE:  As with any tutorial and how to on the site, I am happy to provide you with the instructions for free in the post.  I enjoy inspiring others to make their own furniture and crafts.  However, since I receive no compensation for these “plans,” I ask that you respect the time that was put into writing these instructions and please ask permission before using them to make and sell for profit.

Okay, so it’s been another two weeks since my last post.  I really had hoped to post SEVERAL things since the twisty table story, but I haven’t yet learned that things always take longer than expected.  I’m really not sure that is a lesson that anyone ever REALLY learns 🙂

So, some backstory…Danny and I went on vacation a month ago to celebrate our 5th anniversary (which is actually in December, but December is always busy, so we celebrated early).  I cannot believe it has been 5 years already!!!  In those five years, we have lived in four different places, (between the two of us) we have had five different jobs, and LOTS AND LOTS of other “life changes.”  Last year I actually tried to come up with a “12 Things Since We Have Been Married” song to the tune of “12 Days of Christmas,” but I was missing something for one or two of the numbers.  I will try again this year 🙂 ha!

Oh, anyway, so I told you that we went on vacation last month, because that is when Danny finally agreed to let me redo the laundry room under two conditions: we keep the paneling, and we keep the closet.  Of course…there are ALWAYS conditions…  So this was A MONTH AGO.  Remember we tore apart our entire kitchen and put it back together (not 100% finished, but at least back to functioning normally again) in about a month and a week??  Why is this stupid laundry room taking so long?!!?  I cannot answer that.  All I know is I had planned to show you all my 100% finished laundry room at least a week ago.  But we are still probably about a week or more away from the “final reveal.”  So, I thought I would at least show you the progress so far.

A little more backstory…When we bought this house, I was sooooooo excited to have a real laundry room.  Our first apartment had a washer and dryer in our bedroom closet…convenient, yes, but not very pretty.  Our first house had a laundry “closet” and that was it.  I HATED IT.  Our rental house had a little larger laundry closet, but it was still TINY.  But, this house has a real ROOM for the laundry.  However, it was full of utility cabinets that took up all the space in it.

These were nice and clean and excellent storage…..but not what I was going for.  Plus they were made of MDF and I HATE MDF.  These things were about $700 if you bought them brand new from Lowe’s–which it appears the previous owners did.  We were able to sell them for about $300, which made my laundry room redo practically free.  Win!

Next step was painting.  Danny said we had to keep the paneling because he didn’t want to deal with drywall.  And, also because there are ALOT of wires in the wall of this room going to the panel and he just didn’t want to mess with nicking one with a screw.  I don’t know if you have ever painted paneling, but let me tell you…IT IS THE DEVIL.  I puttied the holes and took a paint brush and brushed all the grooves in the paneling.  I have yet to find an easier way to paint it besides having to brush the grooves.  Is there a better way?? If you know of one, I would love to hear it.

By the way, look how much bigger the room looks without those massive cabinets!!!

I removed the trim and baseboards.  This is one of my favorite parts of a room redo.  I love prybars.  In fact I love them so much that I have punched a few holes in the wall with them because I got in such a hurry to rip out the baseboards in the hallway.  Danny wasn’t happy 🙂 No problem…I can totally fix that.  I once heard that the difference between a amateur and a professional is that a professional knows how to cover up their mistakes.  I am totally on the road to professionalism.  I spend half my time making and fixing my mistakes….and looking for where I put my tape measure (I swear I JUST had it in my hand!!!)…

PS Props to whoever can find the tape measure in the photos below.  Hint there it is in 7 of the pictures below, but one of them I’m pretty sure you will never find.  I looked for about 15 minutes for it right after I took the picture.

After the paneling grooves were painted, we (I say we because at one point Danny helped me get the last coat on the wall) finished painting the rest of the room and then I started laying the floor.  We had just enough flooring left over from our kitchen remodel to put it down in the laundry room, so that saved us on expenses.  It took a few days to lay the floor because we kept having to move the washer and dryer around and cut boards like every other piece.  Slooooow going…

By the way, please note this is NOT a fashion blog as I am clearly breaking every rule possible with this outfit.  All my clothes were dirty and the washer was unplugged 🙂  Legit excuse.

Confession: the floor is still not 100% finished.  We are replacing the exterior door in a few weeks, so the last part in the back of the room will be put in at that time while the existing door is out.  Also…it would be a pain in the butt to put the floor under the water heater, so we cut the boards up to it and will finish underneath it whenever we have to replace it.  When I am done with the room, it will make more sense.  I will show you….if I remember 🙂

I used pocket holes and screws to add a 2×10 floating shelf above the washer and dryer.  One good thing about paneling….the studs are SUPER easy to find.  Just find where they nailed the paneling into them.  And be sure you screw the shelf into the stud…this thing is a BEAST and wont hold unless you do.

I wanted to build my own cabinets to save us some money.  And, who are we kidding, I wanted to be able to say I did it myself.  Cabinets aren’t hard to build…BUT you have to be able to make very precise cuts.  I quickly found that I wasn’t very good at that with my circular saw.  I survived, but I learned a few lessons the hard way.

I made two upper cabinets according to this plan.  I made the following changes: I made my cabinet 16″ wide, I nailed my face frame instead of using pocket holes, and I set my supports in ¼″ so that my plywood back set “inside” the cabinet so you couldn’t see its edges from the side of the cabinet.  See pictures below.

Then I wrote my name in all the sawdust 🙂

For the side of the room where the huge cabinets used to sit, I wanted a counter height cabinet with a countertop.  I wanted it to look more like a vanity than a kitchen cabinet, so I built it using this idea in my head.  I don’t like toe kicks, so this didn’t have any.  I made it in three sections.  The two on the outside are identical and the one in the middle is a little bigger.

I ripped a bunch of 1x4s and 1x6s to make the face frames and door frames.  I wanted to get birch planks (since that is the type of plywood I used) and stain the cabinets, but I couldn’t find birch anywhere (I called cabinet places and they would never call me back) and I was almost afraid to because I knew it would cost a pretty penny.  So I just used spruce.  Wood selection around here stinks.

I made the face frames as one solid piece pocket hole screwed together on the back side, then I nailed them onto the cabinets and I added crown molding to the upper cabinets and baseboard molding to the bottom cabinet.  I primed and painted.  That’s what takes so long….it took days.  I only have a couple hours a day at the most to work on it and you paint one coat, then you have to wait for it to dry, so then you come back tomorrow and add another coat…see how this goes?

I glued two 2x12s together for the countertop.  The boards were not cooperating, so I showed them who was boss.  I should probably wear a helmet in the shop…

I apologize, I did not take pictures of making the cabinet doors, but I will when I make the rest of them.  I only made the ones for the uppers so far.  When I made the bottom cabinet doors, I will take pictures and give instructions.  We finally got the cabinets hung and doors on.  It only took like two weeks…not breaking any records here, but at least they are pretty!

I stained and polyed the countertop and got it put on.  Now, if I can just get the doors made, it will be done closer to being closer to done 🙂

Remember the closet I mentioned earlier that Danny said I couldn’t get rid of?  Well it had an old plain hollow core door on it, so I took it off and replaced it with a drop cloth curtain that I painted stripes on.  Not bad for like five bucks.  And now my vacuum, brooms, and mops are well covered.  I had originally wanted to rip out this closet and put a sink here.  I guess it was a good idea to keep it because if we hadn’t, I don’t know where my vacuum would go…sometimes Danny’s rules turn out to be a good thing.  Don’t tell him I said that.  And I will eventually put a sink in the new cabinet, so I still win.

There’s a really big sneak peek for you all.  I think that’s more than a “sneak peek.”  I really just wanted to remind you that I am still here although I haven’t posted in a couple weeks.  I am still at work and I’m just in over my head in projects.  I have a long list of them that I hope to bring to you soon.  I just have to get this room done first!  I am excited about the progress and can’t wait to show the finished room! By the way, if you haven’t already checked out the snazzy barn doors I made for the grand entrance to the laundry room, you should!  Keep your eyes open for more updates to the laundry room hopefully coming soon 🙂  Be sure to follow along on Facebook and Instagram @chasingadreamblog  I’d love your feedback!

Last week I was so excited to show you all my sister’s new faux fireplace.  I had a lot of good response from that post, so I thought I would post a “follow up” project.  This week has been so crazy that I haven’t had time to make anything big or fancy, but this is a simple “build it yourself” project that was really fun to make.

A little backstory: when I took pictures of my sister’s faux fireplace (by the way, if you haven’t seen it, you totally should! It’s one of my top 5 fav projects 🙂 ), I used several of my own props to decorate with.  When I left after the “photo shoot,” my sister was left with a big lantern and some candles for her fireplace.  Obviously, that wasn’t very fun, so she decided she wanted a box full of sticks to put in the middle of her fireplace.  The problem was, she didn’t have sticks or a box.

Luckily for her, I will at least try to make her whatever she wants.  So here we go….a two toned wood box….full of sticks 🙂

First, I built the frame from 2x2s on the corners and 1x2s on the bottom.  I made the 2×2 corners 11 ¼″ tall, and the 1×2 long bottom sides 19 ½″ long.  The small 1×2 bottom sides were 6″ long.  I pocket hole screwed the bottom long pieces to the corners.  Then, pocket hole screwed the short bottom sides on.

Then, I cut 1×4 pieces for the sides of the box–6 pieces 6″ long and 6 pieces 19 ½″ long.

I took the frame inside to “black wash” it.  I could have stained it with Ebony Minwax stain, but I didn’t have any, so I did this instead.  First, get a bowl of water, some black paint, and a small craft paint brush.

Dip the brush in the water and rub the brush across the top of the bowl to get the excess water out.  Then lightly dip the brush into the paint.  Brush onto the wood and smear around as it will be very thin and will “wipe” around easily.  Be sure to brush over any drips so it looks smooth.  then flip over and do the other side.

While this is drying, I stained the boards for the sides with Minwax Provincial.  I tried Minwax Espresso, but it was so dark, you couldn’t tell much difference in the black wash and the side boards.

Once everything was dry, I glued the side boards onto the frame and clamped it.

Do this on all 4 sides.  Note: make sure your boards are as close to the EXACT same length as the bottom 1×2 boards.  If your side boards are a little short or a little long, it will be hard to glue.

I would have pocket hole screwed the boards on, but I didn’t want the pocket holes to show (and I am not very good at patching those holes or patient enough to wait for the putty to dry).  As long as the boards are tight, the glue will hold just fine.

For the bottom, I ripped a board long enough and wide enough to fill the hole and pocket hole screwed it in.  I forgot to take a picture of this….SORRY!

Then I gathered some sticks I had leftover from a tree that fell in our yard a month or so ago.

Such a simple project, but so cute!  She plans to put some lights and ribbon around the sticks for the seasons.  Once she does, I will get some better pictures….I’m still learning this whole picture taking thing haha.

Now it’s your turn to build this super simple two toned wood box.  If you build one, I would love to see your finished product and how you plan to use it! Happy building!

PS Be sure to check out my Facebook page and follow the blog for more simple DIY tutorials to come! 🙂

Okay, so I couldn’t resist with the title. I used to be on the high school newspaper staff and one of my favorite things about it was coming up with “creative,” off-the-wall titles for things so you could get the readers’ attention quickly. I know….I’m a nerd. I’m also have a math degree and sometimes solve problems using calculus when I could easily use algebra to get close enough. When I was in college, my engineering teacher would pick on me and make jokes about the “differences between an engineer and a mathematician.” Basically the bottom line was that engineers live in the real world and eventually they say “close enough” but mathematicians live in a fantasy world and always say “but that’s not exact.”  Whatever…I’m the best of both worlds I guess….
Okay, so enough about me…I’d much rather be building something than reminiscing about college. That being said, my latest creation was a wooden laundry hamper. A friend of mine requested this and sent me a picture as an example.
She wanted it to be between 15-18″ deep x 25-28″ wide x 32″ tall (without the lid). So I did the math really quick on what size boards to use that would be the cheapest option. The picture looked like 1x6s, and that turned out to be the cheapest option that got the closest to the right dimensions. I could have used any size, but my table saw is out of order right now, so I couldn’t rip any boards down.
I ordered the lumber and got two hinges for the lid. Simple enough. I used about 3 ½ sixteen foot boards of 1×6.

I looked online to try to find a plan. I came across the picture on Ana White’s website with project information but, of course, no plans. So I just did it the best way I knew how…it’s a fairly simple build.

I cut the boards for the sides first. I needed four 32″ long boards for the back. (I decided on four because that made it 25″ wide. One more board would have been too wide.)  I also needed three 32″ long boards for each side (making it 17 ¼″ deep). Finally I needed two 32″ long boards and two 29″ long boards for the front. In the picture, I have extra…I screwed up and cut too many. I reused them later.

Then I assembled the sides with pocket holes and screws. I screwed each side together as one big piece, then attached all the sides together to make a “box” without a bottom.

  
Notice the boards are butted together so that the front and back of the side panels are attached to the sides of the front and back panels. This was because I didn’t want to add extra depth to the piece because it couldn’t be bigger than 18″ deep.
Once the sides were attached, I measured and cut the pieces for the bottom. It was four pieces about 15″ long. I drilled pocket holes and attached them from the bottom.

Then I put the base trim on the bottom using a nail gun. I used some scrap 1×2 that I had. I didn’t put it on the back because I assume this will be against a wall and if I put it on the back it would just be a dust collecter haha.

Then I measured for the lid. I cut three 1×6 boards the length of the total width of the top (about 23 ½″). I had some scrap 1x?? (It was thin) so I cut it to length and attached it to the boards around the front and sides using my nail gun again. Then I screwed the hinges to the lid and the back of the box.

  
My friend also requested a divider in the box. So I cut five boards the length of the total depth of the opening from front to back (about 15″) and used pocket holes and screws to attach them.

And it was complete! I sanded down the insides around all the pocket holes because I didn’t want clothes to snag on them since this will be used for laundry.

She wanted to finish it, so right now it is just natural, but I kind of like it that way 🙂

Once I was done, I cleaned I the shop and vacuumed the saw dust. I smelled somethin funny coming from the shop vac, so I opened it and WOW. This is what a full sho vac looks like haha!!

So I took care of that 🙂 Don’t tell Danny where I dumped it. Just kidding he already knows. I’m not very sneaky.
I hope you enjoyed a quick building project “how-to.” I have a lot of to dos on my list, so I will have many more to come I hope!
In the mean time, remember to keep your dirty laundry in the hamper and not on the Internet 🙂 Have a great weekend! Happy DIYing!

So, it happened again. I went three weeks without a post. Ugh. I’m a terrible blogger! What have I been doing all this time? A little bit of everything.

It’s been HOT lately. Like, I mean, I sweat just looking out the window while sitting in the AC at work. I don’t have AC (or even a fan) in my little workshop, so it’s pretty well miserable out there working in sawdust and paint and who knows what else. That being said, I’ve been slacking.

I did manage to touch up some paint spots in the kitchen and hallway one day, though (in the AC:) ). That’s exciting. I’ve also made some planters for my front porch, a table for my sister to go with the Adirondack chairs I made her a while ago, a house for our kitties, and we cleaned up a tree that fell in our yard and dug up some bushes that needed to go. Oh yeah and I made my parents a set of corn hole boards, a couple “mail organizers”–one for me and one for a friend… ANNNNND I burnt up my table saw. So I guess I haven’t been TOTALLY slacking….I just haven’t felt anything I’ve done was blog worthy. Looking back, umm, I guess a lot of that was, I just didn’t take good pics to post. Oops.

So let’s move on to my latest project that I have finally completed–our back deck. I have been working on it since Memorial Day! It’s now mid August. Wow.

We have a pool in the back of the house and it looks like a great place for a party (hence the title of this post). Bad news is I hate cleaning (both before and after) a party so we don’t have any haha. Hey, every day when I come home from work is a party to me.

This is what our deck looked like before:

  
  

Nice space, nice porch, nice yard, nice pool.  I can’t complain. My only issue is that the deck is a little weathered and a little….umm green? Ew.

My first thought was “how do you clean this?” Then, “let’s stain it a pretty brown.” Then, “what about the rails?”  See how things quickly escalate?

Long story short, we decided to stain the deck and rail ledge (not sure that’s the right term) and paint the railing white. I did not know it would be this much work when I started. I would probably not have done this if I had known that then haha.

I spent a couple weekends cleaning the deck. Let me tell you, unless you use name brand bleach in a 1:1 mixture with water, then don’t even bother. Trial and error taught me that. Take my word for it. Deck cleaner worked well, (I tried it) but bleach is much cheaper 🙂 I put it in a garden sprayer and went to town on the deck.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

I wish I had taken a video of it to show you, but I was seriously so engrossed in spraying that I couldn’t stop.  It was like magic. Everywhere the deck was grey or green or dark black (mold) just disappeared when you sprayed it! Like within seconds, I’m serious.  If you notice in the before pictures, one part of the deck rails are one color and the other rails another color.  By the time I got done, it all looked like brand new wood–well color-wise.  The condition was still weathered, and cracked a little–that’s just part of it.

After the bleach, I rinsed it good with water from the hose.  Then, I waited a few days for it to dry before I stained it with Olymipc Brand Canyon Brown Toner Deck Stain:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_15211-86-57505A/01_0__?productId=3014087

I wanted something BROWN.  I am not a fan of orange-y stains.  I also didn’t want a solid color–I wanted STAIN–I wanted transparent so you could see the wood grain….as ugly and weathered as it may be haha.  I used a large brush and brushed every square inch of the deck and top ledge of the rails.  Once the deck was stained, I moved on to the railings.

I expected painting the deck rails to take a couple days max.  Boy was I wrong.  It took me SEVERAL days to get one coat of primer on them.  Then ANOTHER several WEEKS to actually get the paint done.  Now, granted, I wasn’t doing this 24/7.  But I would spend a few hours here a  few hours there–when it wasn’t blaring hot outside.  UGH don’t ever paint deck rails with a brush!!

All the work has paid off and it is finally finished.  It’s not a major change, but I think it looks a lot better–and it better protected from the elements 🙂

Haha I got a picture of Danny swimming when he wasn’t watching 🙂

I interrupt this post to introduce you to Black Kitty (yes that’s his real name–we don’t really like cats so we didn’t spent much time on the name thing…he’s supposed to be killing mice…but instead he just follows us around….)

We always use Sherwin Williams.  Obviously we used exterior latex paint for this since it is outside (and because latex cleans up A LOT easier than oil based paint).  I used Extra White paint for a bright white–no yellow tints 🙂

This is just the beginning of the projects to be done out here.  I LOVE the white rails and warm stained wood, but this space needs some help still.  I hate this red/orange-y stain on the concrete, but that project will have to wait until another year.

And I can’t decide to keep this table or not.  It’s cute, but it doesn’t seem to fit very well.  It’s just an awkward layout.  And the big plastic storage thing will eventually be traded for a big wood box or something prettier…I just haven’t gotten around to making it yet. And the fence by the pool will be redone somehow differently for next year. For now, we will have to settle for painted deck rails and fresh stain 🙂 But keep your eyes out for MANY more updates to our outdoor space over the next few months (or more likely) years.

I haven’t posted anything in almost a MONTH! What is wrong with me?!  Time is a valuable thing….and I just don’t have a lot of it.  But, I am FINALLY taking the time to slip in a much overdue blog post 🙂

After our last project (the closet makeover), Danny swore he wasn’t helping me do any more projects for a while.  He said I needed to “slow down and chill out.”  We have been married over four years, but he obviously still doesn’t know me very well.  “Slowing down and chilling out” is not something I am capable of doing.  I will let you know how this turned out.  SPOILER ALERT: he decided to help me paint the living room 🙂

First thing’s first–I never posted about my new living room shelves that I did like a bazillion years ago (more like a month and a half ago, but you know, bazillion sounds better).  What do you think?

Not a huge transformation, considering it used to look like this:

I painted the background white so it would stand out more, and replaced the glass shelves with pretty wood ones.  I love the “floating” shelves and the dark stain.  And it only took me like two hours (most of that time was waiting for the paint and stain to dry so I could do the second coats),

Okay, now back to the more recent updates…

I have been trying to convince Danny to let me white wash our SEVERELY BROWN brick fireplace since the day we moved in.  I feel like it literally sucks all the light out of the room.  I love our fireplace, but it needs some……let’s just say it needs some love.

It’s got the following things going for it: it’s brick.  That’s about it.

However, it has the following things going against it: it’s dark, BRASS, and has those eyesore vents that don’t work anymore. It’s not HORRIBLE, I just think some changes would make it awesome.

But, there is one obstacle: Danny.  He (like most uninterested-in-home-decorating men) doesn’t have a problem with brass and dark, old brick, or the ugly vents all over it.  He does, however, have a problem with me “painting brick,” even though I never planned to “paint” it, just whitewash it.  There is a HUGE difference 🙂

Nevertheless, like all good husband and wife teams, we came to a compromise.  I could change the brass if we kept the brick its natural color (at least for now haha).  Oh and we both decided the vents will go, but we need to find some matching brick to patch up the holes–so that project is on the backburner for now.

I used this can of Rustoleum High Heat Enamel to paint the brass a shiny new black.

I taped everything off and got to work (while Danny was at work so he didn’t complain about the fumes since the paint it oil based…I’m so sneaky).

Much better 🙂  See the decor change on the top of the mantle?  I can’t decide what I want to put up there so I keep changing things out haha.

Not a huge change, but eventually I think Danny will let me whitewash the brick and it will look AMAZING.  And I am in the process of planning how to make a new mantle with wood that I can stain to match the shelves from earlier.  One project at a time….

Last recent update to the living room was……PAINT!  Look how pretty the new paint looks (of course you could really tell if you actually came over and looked at it.  The lovely iPhone picture taken at night doesn’t really do it justice.)!

Trust me, it looks even better in person.

It took an entire week (remember me saying I don’t have a lot of time??), but it was totally worth it.  I think the living room updating is still a work in progress, but I am happy with the little changes so far.

Keep your eyes open for MANY more changes to come.  Oh, by the way, there is a complete kitchen remodel in the near future…..I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cry about that haha.  It should be interesting.

Our story is complicated. We had an apartment, bought a house in a subdivision, both got jobs an hour away, sold our home with intentions of moving closer to work, moved thirty minutes away, realized we missed being in Murray, bought a house with some land (we learned we aren’t subdivision people) out in the country. (Shout out to our real estate agent, Tracy, for being there with us throughout this whole ordeal.)

There are soooooo many details missing from that brief overview of our lives for the past four years. But I won’t bore you with the details. I’ll just get straight to showing you our new home!

Forgive the fact I don’t have a picture of the outside. I haven’t bothered to get one since everything is dead because of fall so it’s ugly. I don’t like to take pictures of ugly things haha.

I do have a picture of the front door…a house isn’t a home without a cute wreath!

Let me just confess…we semi regret selling our previous home. It was much newer than our current home and a little more updated. We loved this house the first time we saw it, but now that we’ve been in it for a week, we’ve realized there were things we didn’t know would be annoying…but they are.

First point: the kitchen. The cabinets are surely original…34 years old. The appliances are showing their age…they’re ten years old. The layout is crazy. I don’t have a lot of pics of the kitchen either…remember what I said about taking pictures of ugly things?

There are cabinets by the fridge and stove, cabinets between the living room and kitchen, cabinets over in the opposite corner as the stove, and an island with a dishwasher and sink in the middle. Plenty of cabinet space, but very chopped up. I love what this kitchen could be, but not necessarily what it is right now. It is our first remodel to tackle. We just have to save up some $$$ for new cabinets first 🙂

Oh but I do like this:

I can’t complain about the bedrooms. I love them! I don’t have a picture of the third one…it’s Danny’s and there isn’t much going on in there yet.

Besides the brass on the fireplace and the color (I want something lighter and more bluish grey), I love our living room, too.

Of our three bathrooms, my least favorite is the master. It’s tiny, and feels like a dungeon. There is one light, and no windows. We take showers in the dark. The cabinet is very cute I must admit, BUT there is no drawer. All of our “drawer items” go on this shelf…which is dirty looking and very poorly painted. What an eyesore!

I like our hall bath and my office (currently incomplete).

No house is perfect, and we plan to stay in this one for a while. That being said, I have big plans to make this the house we want to stay in for many many MANY years.

We will eventually remodel the kitchen, replace the master bathroom vanity and add lighting, update the fireplace, paint some rooms, replace some flooring, and lots of little odds and ends projects. I. Can’t. Wait. 🙂

Oh just have to throw in this pic of our Christmas tree to end on a high note 🙂 hope you can’t wait to see our remodels as much as I can’t wait to do them!