Power Tools

Office Closet Makeover {The Big Reveal!}

April 15, 2013 By Stacy 30 Comments

After surviving spring break with the kids home, two bouts of the stomach flu, and what seemed like endless days of dark gloomy skies, I FINALLY had a day where I could do a photo shoot for my office closet makeover. We had a sunny day and my husband was home to wrangle the kids :)

I think I need to give you a little reminder of what it looked like before. It was bad. Brace yourselves….

So you can see why I needed to overhaul the whole thing, right? And sad but true, this “before” was actually after I had bought totes and sort of organized it. The problem was that the totes were piled so deep in the shelves that I had to unload them all to get to the totes that were in the back. It was not very functional I needed to somehow get everything out front and center.

One of the ways I did that was by adding pegboard. I was not utilizing the wall space across from the shelves before. So by adding the pegboard, I instantly added a TON of storage. And the best part is that everything is right there and easy to grab. No more unloading a million totes to find something.

I bought the pegboard from Home Depot and decided to keep it white since the wall were a darker color (Peacock Blue by Glidden mixed in Behr Ultra). The pegs, hooks, and baskets came in a “starter kit” box that was a really good deal (also from HD). The baskets were black so I spray painted them silver to match everything else.

The turquoise long metal container started out white. It came from IKEA and I spray painted it. The smaller silver buckets also came from IKEA.

I love that the colors of the tools add to the fun :)

I love my polka dot lamp shade :) I bought a basic white shade from IKEA. Then I cut out circles from vinyl and stuck them on the shade like stickers. I then spray painted it lightly. If you spray too much and it gets saturated, when you turn the light on the shade will look uneven.

I love the bookshelf!!! I wanted the closet to look like the rest of the office as much as possible. So I bought the same baskets and canvas boxes. I built the peacock blue boxes out of scrap plywood and painted them. The light turquoise baskets are also from IKEA but they started out white. I spray painted them.

(Do you see the same baskets and storage boxes?)

(I had to hang out the office window to get these shots! The closet in in the corner of the room and it was so hard to get his angle)

The shelves got a makeover too. The were just simple plywood shelves we put up soon after moving here. Functional but not pretty. Added some molding and stained them with Walnut Gel Stain from Minwax. I put everything that didn’t fit in a cute bin on these shelves. Because this is above the stairs that go to our basement it is on an angle. SO the top shelf is 41 inches deep, the middle shelf is 31 inches deep and the bottom shelf is 21 inches deep.

Underneath the bottom shelf was shallow enough that I didn’t think it was worth adding a fourth shelf. But I wanted to take advantage of the space. I hung hooks under and put some empty paint cans filled with more DIY goodies in them. Did you know you can buy paint cans like this with out any paint? They were less than $5 each at Home Depot. And since my closet is all about DIY I thought they were fitting :) I cut out vinyl lettering to label them.

Here are some of the during shots :) Even the floors got a makeover!

I know there is a ton of stuff crammed into this 3 foot by 3 foot closet, but it has made my DIY life so much easier! And I am even going to keep the door off because I like seeing it all organized and pretty.

To see my full office read this post. And to see my computer hutch I recently finished for my office read this post.

Filed Under: Decorating, Painting, Power Tools, Projects, staining, Tutorials 30 Comments

The day I met Martha Stewart….

March 25, 2013 By Stacy 30 Comments

It was a warm sunny day in Las Vegas and I had just spent an hour next to a very chatty man (who thought he was hilarious) on the airplane. I was rocking my first pair of colored skinny jeans (heck! my first pair of skinny jeans period!) and I was feeling good. I walked into Mandalay Bay to be greeted by a sea of orange. The Home Depot had descended upon Vegas for their annual Managers Meeting and I was about to get a behind the scenes look!

While the 3,000 some odd Home Depot store managers from around the world were in a meeting, I was able to sneak into the “product walk” as they call it. They basically build a Home Depot store inside the event center, only it is a Home Depot store times 100! It was HUGE! Talk about feeling like a kid in a candy store.

The product walk was set up so that the store managers could see all the new products. The reps from the companies taught, and answered any questions about the products. This way when people come into the stores, they will be educated about the product and will be able to give the best service. There were so many booths that it takes two days to visit them all! Some of the CEOs for the brands were there as well. That was really neat to see how proud they were of their company :)

(LEFT: CNBC setting up for interviewing the CEOs and Martha Stewart RIGHT: Frank Blake being interviewed)

My favorite CEO was there too. Frank Blake, the CEO of The Home Depot, came to speak to the managers and check it all out. This is the first time they have let the media come. It was CNBC and….. me! In fact, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement. Good thing I rock at keeping secrets :) Oh, and there is a Frank story later……. because I can’t seem to travel anywhere without embarrassing myself, right?

The garden center was one of my favorite areas. It smelled amazing! And I love that everything here (in fact all the products in this whole HD convention center) were donated to local charities after the event was done.

The convention center wasn’t big enough so they had to take over a whole parking lot as well! They had hands on booths and showcased products that are online only. It was fun to see things in real life that normally I browse for on their website.

And of course there were plenty of power tools :)

And I learned about some awesome flooring and tried it out. It was stunning! This color in particular will be coming out later in the year and I am trying to think of where in my home I could put it.

And guess what? Martha was in the HOUSE! She was interviewed by CNBC and then demonstrated her new line of paint. I had the chance to meet her and visit for a minute.

(instagram shot)

Martha is amazing at personal branding and has mad business skills. She is the best at what she does. And it is a notch in my DIY belt to say I have met her.

The whole day was fabulous. Insider Home Depot secrets, creme brulee for lunch, hanging out with my favorite PR girl Kelly, Martha, and sunshine pretty makes for a perfect day. The best part for me was being surrounded by people who were so full of excitement that it was almost tangible. There is an energy that is indescribable when you are in a room full of passionate people.

So as the day was wrapping up, I still had not had a chance to talk with my buddy Frank. I had met him at a previous event and was excited to see him again. He is seriously the NICEST guy ever. He had taken off after the interview with CNBC and was walking around like everyone else. We had the event planners with their walkie talkies trying to spot him for me. Finally right before I was about to leave Kelly and I spotted him.

Insert random fact……. I am a hugger. I like to squeeze the crap out of people when I am excited to see them or meet them. I didn’t hug Frank Blake the first time because no one else was and I was so shocked to be actually meeting him. But I figured that since it was our second meeting, a hug was warranted. And really, I think he went in for the hug first.

I think.

Well, after chatting a minute it was time for me to go back to the airport. On our way out of the event center we saw the event planner. She was standing next to a guy who looked familiar but I didn’t think anything of it. I told her we had found Frank so she wouldn’t have to keep looking. I told her he had recognized me and we hugged.

Her eyes got huge. She looked to the man at her side (who turned out to be Frank’s personal security) and said “Is that even allowed?”

We had a good laugh :)

I am so excited about the things that Home Depot is doing this year. And I am excited to be able to share more behind the scenes stuff with you later. Thanks for letting me share!

Filed Under: Decorating, Garden, Painting, Power Tools 30 Comments

Upholstered Bench

March 11, 2013 By Stacy 26 Comments

I built this bench when we first moved in this house which was long before I started blogging. We had poured all our money into buying the home and had very little left over to furnish it. We needed more seating so I used some particle board, a little foam, batting, some 4×4′s, and fabric I got for free to build a tufted upholstered bench.

When I redecorated my family room recently, I needed to reupholster it to match the new decor. It would have been a good idea to have taken a picture of it while it was torn apart but it was one of those “I forgot I was a blogger” moments that has me hitting my forehead and saying “DUH!” But I think it is simple enough that showing you the underneath and talking you through it you will totally get it. If not, you can email me and ask any other questions :)

I built a basic box. I have 4 little boys and little boys like to jump on things so I added boards across the center to give more support.

I noticed that it had a little bit of a creaky noise if you moved around when sitting on it so I used caulk along to the seams to quiet that. It is one of my little secrets :) Caulk is awesome!

I then cut a 4×4 post into the 4 legs and screwed them into place.

Before I added the foam and batting I measured where I wanted to buttons to be and drilled holes with a drill bit that was slightly bigger than the needle I would be using. For each button I drilled 2 holes next to each other about an 8th of an inch apart. Those holes are what the needle goes through when you tuft. And I did two so I could go up through one, then down through the other, and then tie a knot.

Then I cut a 4 inch thick piece of foam to fit the top of the bench. I wrapped batting over that to hide the seam between the wood and the foam.

Now the first time around my mom offered to sew the top because she is my mom and knows me well. I am not a very good seamstress. After breaking a record number of needles in Home Ec in Jr. High I was politely asked to just observe the others for the rest of the term….. seriously. BUT this time I was determined to try it on my own. After a quick lesson from my mom I did it myself! And unsupervised to boot. And I would love to point out that the fabric is STRIPED. Small stripes that were a bugger to line up and keep all pretty.

(an instagram of me sewing the cover….my only proof I did it :P )

Since I barely survived sewing it, I do not think I am the right person to do a tutorial. If you need more info you can email me or search online for instructions. Or you could borrow my mom. She is pretty sweet :)

Not only did I conquer the stripes, but it fit like a glove. I slipped it on and then flipped the whole thing over. I used a stapler to attached the fabric to the underside. It took a long time. I wanted to make sure that the seam wasn’t being pulled more in one spot than another. I wanted everything straight as possible. And I had to make sure the corner seams were right at the corner of the bench.

Once it was all covered it was time to tuft.

I LOVE these little button kits. I buy them at WalMart. They make fabric cover buttons.

(source: dritz.com)

I bought a big ‘ole needle at a fabric store. It is 8 inches long. I have heard of people using fishing line or coat thread as their thread but I actually used non waxed dental floss, doubled up. This is my third tufted project. The first that I did was about 8 years ago. Dental floss has always worked well for me. But you can use anything that is strong and doesn’t stretch.

Like I mentioned before, I stick the needle up through the bottom (hole #1), I thread the button on, and poke the needle through the top going down to the bottom again through the second hole.

I have a helper push down on the button (so that it has that indent you want with tufting) while I tie a triple knot below. Ten buttons later I was done!

This project from start to finish is a big project. It is fairly simple but it is time consuming. But I am thankful I did it and have no regrets because I adore it. I also was able to have seating when we had very little money.

We also use it as an ottoman/coffee table when we need to. And my hubby and I have also been known to play board games on it as well. I know, don’t be jealous of our super adventurous lifestyle…… We are pretty wild around here :P

Where ever it is in the room, it is gorgeous!

Which place is your favorite?

Filed Under: Decorating, Power Tools, Projects, Tutorials 26 Comments

How To Build A Card Catalog

January 21, 2013 By Stacy 47 Comments

I have always wanted a piece of furniture with a bunch of tiny drawers. My mom had a spice cabinet on the wall of our kitchen growing that I would hide all sorts of treasures in. As I grew up I wanted my boys to have something similar. What I really wanted was a card catalog. I have actively searched for one for one for about three years. And the ones I found were either too big or too expensive. Every once in a while I would find a decently priced one on ebay but then I would notice the shipping. The shipping more often than not was more than the price of the cabinet!

So when I was in the planning stages of my family room renovation, I decided to figure out how to build one and make it look like an antique.

Before I show the tutorial, let me apologize for the crappy cell phone pics. I do a lot of my DIYing at night when my kids are in bed and since I was doing this project indoors (because of record low temps this winter) it got pretty dusty in my dining room so I didn’t want to pull out my nice camera. They won’t win any photography awards but you will get the idea :)

The building………

You basically start with a box. Make the dimensions fit your own space but be smart and make sure with the size that you choose, you will have the least amount of cutting possible to eliminate extra work. For example…..

I am old school. I should one day learn sketch-up or some other computer program but for now I really enjoy just drawing out my ideas on paper. I had it all done. The dimensions, shopping list, cut list, etc. And then I lost it. I was pretty confident that I remembered everything so I went to the store and bought the lumber. I had remember the width of the box being 18 inches. So that is how it was cut. But what it really was, was 18 inches on the inside of the box, not the outside. If I had made it 19 1/2 inches like it was suppose to be, the 1×6 boards I was using for the drawer fronts (which due to planing/sanding are really 5 1/2 inches) would have worked perfectly and I would not have had to cut them down. Instead, I ended up having to shave some off with a saw. Just something to think about when you are doing the math.

I went with a mitered joint since you would see the edges and because I was choosing to stain and not paint.

Then it is time to do the insert. You can do one of two things…..

Here are some lovely sketches. The first is just like the shoe cubbies you can buy for cheap at Target or Walmart that you put together your self. There are notches that slide together.

The second way is to screw the pieces together using a Kreg Jig. I used one on the barnwoood cupboard I built awhile ago and you can buy a small inexpensive one like the one I have.

Kreg R3 Jr. Pocket Hole Jig System

Here is a good look at the joint up close.

(image source)

If you go this route make sure and put the screws on the bottom so you will not see them. I know the drawers will be in the cubbies they create but it will just look better ( in case you take the drawer out) if the screws are hidden.

Okay, if you cut everything right your insert should slide right in. If it is too tight, just use a hand sander ( don’t use a belt sander since they eat through wood VERY quickly) and sand it down a bit. If it is too small and there are gaps, then cut a thin piece of wood to act as a shim between the box and the insert.

Luckily mine was a perfect fit :)

I then nailed it into place with my brad nailer. I draw a line across so I know where to nail.

This was the easy part. Now on the the tedious job of making all 12 drawers!

I cut all the the wood except for the ply wood I used for the drawers. Home Depot will cut wood for you so to cut down on my work load I decided to have them rip cut the ply wood into 4 1/2 inch strips. That way I just had to come home and use the miter saw to cut them to the right length. I do not have a table saw and this would eliminate having to ~~mooch~~ ask our neighbor to use theirs AGAIN.

I chose 1/4 inch plywood because the thinner the drawer sides the bigger the inside of the drawer. That was my reasoning. I had used 1/4 inch ply wood on my son’s floating side table drawer and it worked out pretty good. BUT I will say that it is very hard to nail the brad nail into such a thin board without it missing. I would recommend using 1/2 ply wood for the drawer sides, back and bottom.

I wanted the drawer to be shallower than the cubby it was going in so it could have some wiggle room. You don’t want it to be the same height or it will get stuck easily.

I cut the drawer fronts one at a time. I measured each individual cubby, then cut the drawer front for that specific cubby, and then labled it with a number. There are bound to be tiny imperfections ( something bog ones) so even if it only off my a 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch, it will look better if you cut them one at a time to have a nice fit.

I knew I was going to be sanding mine quite a bit to make it look aged so I was okay if the fit was a little tight. If you want to sand it, keep that in mind.

As far as how I got the drawer fronts to be nailed on with out too many nails missing their mark, I hot glued a tiny dot on each drawer and stick the front on. Once it was stuck, I drew a line (like shown above) to know where to nail. The thicker the wood the bigger the target and the less likely you are to have a nail miss. That is why the 1/2 inch would be easier.

I puttied the crap out of it. I always add more than maybe what I need because you can always sand it off, but that way you don’t have to go back and add more. ALWAYS use a paint-able, sand-able, stain-able putty. And pick the color closest to the color you will be staining. Especially if you are going to stain.

The staining…….

I wanted it to have an aged look. It is easy to get an aged look if you paint something. You either sand it or you glaze it (or both). Aging something stained is a whole other ball game. If you look at a real antique, it looks almost rubbed off. It is smooth and lighter in those areas. I had actually never tried to age a stained piece so this was an experiment for me.

I applied a thick coat of Minwax’s oil based stain in Dark Walnut. (This method will only work with oil based stain. Do not use water based) Instead of following the directions and letting it sit for a bit and then wiping off the excess stain, I let it sit for quite awhile. I let it sit to the point of it being almost dry. It was sticky. And very dark. You couldn’t see a lot of the wood grain. I then got a cloth and wiped it. I had to wipe hard and almost buff it because it was so sticky. And at first the fibers from the rag were sticking and I thought “Crap! What have I done?” But as I kept rubbing along the wood grain it began to get better.

I thought about the places that would normally get worn, like the edges, and the top where things would get set. I rubbed those areas more and it took off more stain. You have to play around with it. There were a few places I took too much off so I lightly brushed a little more stain over it and it was fine.

Once I got it to where I wanted it I let it completely dry over night. The next day I looked at it with fresh eyes and realized I wanted it a little more worn. Since the stain was dry at this point I got a very fine sand paper (220 grit) and ever so lightly sanded a few more spots. The sanding worked but didn’t look as good as the other way.

I normally use Minwax’s polyurethane to seal and finish off a piece but since I was going for a worn look and since antique stained pieces have a rubbed look, I decided to go with a wax this time. It requires a little more elbow grease to buff, but the look was perfection when I was done!

The hardware…….

I knew the kind of drawer pulls I wanted. I searched online and MAN! They were pricey. I needed twelve and I didn’t want to break the bank. While I was searching for them I saw on my friend Beth’s blog, that she had found the same style I was looking for at a really good price from a place called Van Dykes. I am not sure why or how the site works, but the prices vary all the time. I got the drawer pulls for like $1.20 each but today the price says $3.50 each and I think Beth got them for $2 something.

I knew they would be too shiny and new for my aged card catalog but I knew a trick…..

A long time ago my mom told me about soaking metal in ammonia to age it. I did it for the first time about 10 years ago on the yellow side table in my front room. So I did it again for these.

The first that will happen after a few days, is the clear ammonia will turn blue. Then clear coating will dissolve and they will look dull. After that is when it starts to get darker.

*A little tip….. If you don’t watch it close and it goes too dark, then you can stick it in new (clear) ammonia for a few seconds and it will lighten. And if you lighten it too much you can stick it back in the blue used ammonia. BUT be careful how long you let it soak because eventually it will eat through the metal coating down to the real metal it is made out of. These pulls were made out of copper and a few of them have the copper peeking through.

Filed Under: Furniture, Power Tools, Projects, staining, Tutorials 47 Comments

How To Build A Simple Cupboard

November 16, 2012 By Stacy 13 Comments

I am excited to have another project for my new family room crossed off my list! And I am going to show you how I built it today :)

I am just sharing the basic cupboard today. You will have to wait for the room reveal to see it all styled, what goes inside, and how it looks with everything else.

The idea for this cupboard all started with a light switch…..

This light switch was in an awkward spot as far as decorating goes because there really wasn’t anything I could put on the wall right there. I tried putting a wreath once even though I am not a big wreath person (GASP! Did I just admit that?!?). But it fell off a lot and I wasn’t in love with the look. So I decided to cover it up :)

These are actually old fence pickets we got for free when someone took down their old fence. I cut them to size using my miter saw. Here are the sizes and how many of each:

There is a piece of plywood measuring 18×16 that will be for the back. The 18 inch boards will be for the door. The 16, and 16 3/4 inch boards will build the basic box of the cupboard. I decided to do butt joints with this cupboard instead of mitering the edges. So the reason I don’t have two 16 and then two 18 inch boards (since the cupboard will be 16×18 when done) is because two of the boards will be sitting inside of the other two to form the box. You need to measure the thickness of two boards together and minus that from the length, hence 16 3/4 instead of 18 inches.

Here is an example of a box that was mitered:

And here is an example of a butt joint which is the type of joint I did this time:

After I cut the boards I sanded the crap out of them. I wanted them as smooth possible. This will be a cupboard that will get opened and closed a lot so I didn’t want there to be any chance of getting a sliver.

Because I was going to be putting it over the light switch I needed to cut out a hole in the plywood back. (If you are not going to put yours over a light switch then you can obviously skip this step) I put a little toothpaste on the switch then held the board up to where I wanted it on the wall. I pushed it into the toothpaste to mark where the switch was. Then I traced the light switch plate. I wanted a little bit of wiggle room so I used the switch plate as a straight edge and made it a little bigger.

Then you need to drill a hole big enough for the jigsaw blade to fit through and then use the jigsaw to cut out the rectangle.

Here is the box all put together. The thinner 18 inch board will be nailed to the box because the hinges will attached to it later.

Now on to the door :)

To attach the 18 inch boards together I used a kreg jig and drilled at an angle. That way I was able to screw one board into the other. (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic taken at night)

I didn’t like the look of it and even though it was on the inside of the cupboard I wanted to add some trim.

To hang it I just screwed it directly into the wall.

When I cut the wood the ends were not grey like the rest of the boards so I stained the ends ( and the back) using Minwax’s Weathered Oak.

(source)

I love the look of the butt joint for this cupboard because of the barn wood. It seems very primitive and rustic. If I had built it our of new wood I would have done a mitered joint.

I can’t wait to get building the biggest project of all for my family room. It is going to be EPIC!!!

Filed Under: Decorating, Power Tools, Projects, Tutorials 13 Comments

Floating Side Table

August 10, 2012 By Stacy 17 Comments

I love this little side table! It is such a space saver and was really simple to build.

Like I mentioned in the reveal post of my son’s new space, he wanted a side table with a lamp. I had a side table that I had built but then had a “duh” moment when I realized that his bed has drawers. If I had a regular side table the drawer would be blocked. So I moved on to plan B.

I decided to make a side table that didn’t have legs and then mount it to the wall. I had done something similar in my bedroom with an old medicine cabinet.

Fist off, you need to decide on the size that you want. I didn’t want the door to hit into it when the door opened so I measured based on that. I cut some wood I already had out in the garage to the right size.

The using a table saw with the blade at an angle, the pieces got cut at a 45 degree angle so the fit together like this:

I like to do this so there are not any noticeable seams. Especially if you are going to stain it.

Another option though is to do a butt joint. Here is picture from my shadow box tutorial showing an example of a butt joint. It means the pieces of wood are butt up against each other.

Then I used some scrap plywood to make the drawer. I only did three sides of the box and used the drawer front as the 4 side which means I nailed through the front of the drawer to attach it. If you don’t want nail holes on the drawer front then make the fourth side out of plywood and then you can nail through the plywood into the drawer front and you will never see the nail holes.

I was going to be using a Walnut colored stainable putty so I was not concerned.

Remember that you will have a board on the wall that this table will be attached to so don’t make your drawer as deep as the shelf. Leave at least 3 inches of space or the drawer won’t shut. Also, don’t make the drawer as tall as the shelf. Leave at least an inch for wiggle room.

Here you can see the nail holes on the drawer front. I traced the drawer so I knew where to nail and so I could make sure it was centered. Then I puttied the nail holes. Sanded, and stained it using my favorite stain…. Gel Stain in Walnut from Minwax. Best. Stuff. Ever! I put a lot on because I wanted it really dark and rich.

As far as haning it goes, I hung them the same way as I did the floating shelves (with a drawer) in my office. The difference was that I held the drawer up where I wanted it with the level on the top. I made sure it was where it needed to be and then traced the inside of it with a pencil. When I set the shelf down, there was a rectangle on the wall. This way I knew where the 2×2 boards needed to go.

(Pardon the bad cell phone picture taken by my son!)

The other difference was this time I used two boards on the wall. It was because this table/shelf is so much bigger than the ones in my office. I wanted the fit to be snug.

I slid the shelf/table on and then screwed the shelf onto the boards on the wall. I screwed from the top and from the bottom.

And there you have it! One shelf/table/drawer!!!

And it is perfect for holding all sorts of treasures :)

Filed Under: Decorating, Furniture, Power Tools, Projects, staining, Tutorials 17 Comments

An Airplane Bedroom

August 6, 2012 By Stacy 21 Comments

My 10 year old son’s room I decorated has been complete for awhile but I was waiting until I was done posting about my secret garden before I posted about it . It was just a mini makeover since he really wanted to keep the striped wall the way it was.He knew he was getting a new bed but he thought that he had to wait until this fall for his birthday. He is such a good helper with his brothers that my husband and I wanted to surprise him and do it early. We told the kids they got to have a sleep over in the family room and as soon as they went to sleep we went to work!

Here is a reminder of what it looked like before as the nursery…..

It is a small space. Really small. The room itself is about 10 feet by 21 feet. But just this end of the room is designated as his. The other side of the room has the bunk beds with a trundle, a dresser, and the closet.

But we managed to to fit everything on his wish list into the 5 1/2 by 10 foot space :)

Since the bed is the main thing in this space lets talk about it first, shall we? I {heart} it. We got it from IKEA. It is called the BRIMNES Daybed. Not only are the drawers huge and can fit all of my kids’ jeans (yep, all four boys!) but it has a secret….. I LOVE furniture that can do double duty!!!

It can pull out and become a king sized bed!!! Just look….

We brought home 2 mattresses from IKEA. Right not they are stacked up on top of each other and if we slide it out to use it as a king, we can just put the mattresses next to each other. Isn’t that genius! As a person who lives in a small home with a lot of people, I appreciate that IKEA makes furniture like this. They rock when it comes to maximizing space. This bed would be great if you did not have a guest bedroom. You could use it when company comes :)

I gave the headboard a makeover about 8 years ago when we were living in Las Vegas. We were given a bunk bed from the 1970′s for free from some neighbors. It had seen better days. It also came off a little to feminine. So I made some alterations. I used a jigsaw to round the top and I replaced the spindles with 1×4 boards. I primed and painted it. When we moved here, the headboards and foot boards got put into the garage and forgotten. Since we were trying to do this bedroom as inexpensively as possible, I decided to reuse one of the headboards. My son was excited because he could remember having it a long time ago.

Another thing on his list was a side table with a lamp. I had built another side table like the turquoise blue one in my tutorial from last year, but then realized that “DUH!”, the bed has drawers. Whoops!

So I had to come up with another idea.

I made a floating side table with a drawer!

(I am not sure why my pictures randomly upload with a grey line across them. Grrrrrr!)

Here is the tutorial on how I made it. It was very simple!

The lamp on the table came from Wal-Mart. We got one from IKEA, and it would have worked, but since I didn’t use the original table (which was bigger) the lamp didn’t look right on the smaller floating side table. So I put it on my office desk! And I am kind of glad it worked out that way :)

It is called the Barometer Work Lamp. Man, I just love it!

Another thing on my son’s list was he wanted some shelves for books and his favorite things. We have never had shelves in the kids room so they have never been able to really display anything in there.

I made three shelves. And I was about to hang the third one when I realized that my 2 year old would be able to reach/climb it. I held off. I may hang it later on, or maybe not. Either way my son is thrilled to have some shelves. And all it took were som scrap pieces of plywood and shelf brackets from Wal-Mart :) The planes are from Hobby Lobby (thanks to the 40% 0ff coupon). And the magazine holders are from IKEA. They are covered in navy blue burlap. Here is a close up shot since mine is not super close.

The space at the end of the bed is perfect for his guitar and the stuffed animals that he is *almost* too old for but doesn’t want to give up just yet :)

The picture frame is from IKEA. The print I found online for free and had it printed in black and white.

It was a simple change from nursery to 10 year old space. He wanted airplanes and I could have easily made it cutesy by adding a lot more airplanes, a mural, or maybe an airplane shaped pillow for the bed. But he is ten. I wanted it grown up enough with out being a teen room but young enough because he is still a kid. I think we found a good balance.

I want to thank IKEA for providing the items for my son’s room. I also want to mention that Sharee from the bedding department in the IKEA Draper store totally rocks! She has amazing customer service skills and an upbeat personality.

The new IKEA catalog is out and it is my favorite one so far. I love that they not only show their products and how they look all together in a space, but they show you tips about painting their furniture, covering things in fabric, etc. They understand that us DIYers want to customize our spaces and furnishings. You can get even more ideas from their blog as well. Just a warning if you visit the blog…. you may get sucked in and all of a sudden look at the clock and realize it is dinner time. Not that has happened to me or anything *wink*.

I am linking here:

DIY SHow Off

Filed Under: Decorating, Furniture, Painting, Power Tools, Projects 21 Comments

The final Secret Garden post

August 4, 2012 By Stacy 18 Comments

When you DIY practically everything in a space it is so hard to explain it all in one post. Especially if there are tutorials involved. So I usually do a reveal and then share the tutorials separately. I have already shown the big Secret Garden reveal, the solar lamp tutorial, and the moss art tutorial. I am going to try to squeeze the rest into this one post.

The mirror is one of my favorite elements in my secret garden. I seems to bring it all together and make it feel like a room. It is really big, about 3 1/2 – 4 feet wide. I got it for $15.00!!! The best part about it was that it is a heavy duty plastic which is perfect for what I was using it for. I taped it (like you can see in the pictures), then taped paper all over the mirror part to protect it. I used an oil based primer first and then spray painted it white. I also used Helmsman (spray kind) to seal it. If you are sealing something white make sure you spray a thin coat, let it dry and then spray another thin coat. If it gets too thick it will make the white paint yellow.

I wanted to water proof the back as well so I caulked around where the frame met the backing. I them sprayed the back (which was wood) with the Helmsman spray as well.

As far as hanging it, it was kind of tricky. Because of the 4×4 fence post we had to add 4×4 pieces to the back of the frame. I used a super strength epoxy to adhere the pieces of 4×4. By adding those, the mirror laid flat against the fence and the post. Not only was this mirror hung on the wire it came with, but we screwed the 4×4 pieces into the fence. I didn’t want the mirror to move at all in the wind and break the glass.

Do you remember my tutorial on how to make this fun planter box? I wasn’t really using it anywhere because even though the color was fun, it doesn’t match anything in my backyard. So I painted it white. I bought some shelf brackets at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them white as well. This is a very sturdy way to hang a planter on a fence :)

I built this table out of fence pickets that were left over from my reclaimed wood floating shelves in my office. I built it the same way that I built the simple side table from last year. I just changed the measurements.

The gate was the project that was a total team effort. My hubby helped me out because I got to the point where I felt overwhelmed with everything I had to do to finish. He build the frame and added the pickets while I worked on other projects. The I drew the arch and cut it with the jigsaw. Then I sanded and stained and sealed them.

How I drew the arch is actually pretty simple. I decided where I wanted it to start and finish. hen I used a ruler and measured each picket. Each picket the line would go a little higher. Then it was just a matter of connecting the dots. Once I had the first side cut, we added pickets to the other side. I used butcher paper to create a template to trace and then cut out the other side so it would match perfectly.

Make sure to wear some sexy goggles when cutting wood…. and expect to get brown saw dust stuck all over your sweaty face :P

Anything that got painted for the secret garden got primed first. I used an oil based primer because they adhere much better. Then I used spray paint. The things that were wood (the bench, trellis, planter box, and ladder) also got a coat of the Helmsman sealer (I LOVE that stuff!).

Now I hesitate to even talk about this fence here because I did not do it the “right” way as far as “staining” a fence. But I did it the right way for what I wanted. It works for me but I can’t say that it is the way you should do it.

I wanted the fence to look old and weathered. I just didn’t want to wait for it to happen. The section of fence in the before shot has been there for about 4 years. It was starting to go grey already. But I wanted it all grey….. now. So I mixed up some grey paint and then watered it down…way down. If you do not water it down enough it will still lay on the surface of the wood and not sink all the way in. It needs to be the consistency of water based stain. In fact, I could have used a water based stain and had the same effect. I got an old rag and I rubbed the paint into the wood. It actually went pretty quickly. It was basically like I was washing the fence. The fence posts were so dark that it took 3 or 4 coats to get them the same color as the fence.

I know that since it is not a “real exterior” stain it will not stand up to the test of time. I am okay with that. All I need it to do is stay on long enough until the wood actually goes grey. So for that reason I did not seal it when I was done.

I think I covered everything…… If I left something out that you have questions on don’t hesitate to email me and ask.

I LOVE my space. I can’t wait until it cools off and I can spend even more time in my secret garden.

Filed Under: Decorating, Furniture, Garden, Painting, Power Tools, Projects, Tutorials 18 Comments

Welcome to my secret garden….

July 16, 2012 By Stacy 160 Comments

There were several books from my childhood that affected my view on life and how I wanted my home to be when I grew up. One of them was a book titled Mandy, and anther was The Secret Garden. I have always wanted a space that was all mine. A space that maybe didn’t function as any thing other than a retreat and a place to image and dream.

As a child I would run an extention cord to the linen closet and climb up the shelves to sit at the top and read. I also built many make shift forts on our property. But now as an adult, I have a much better place…..

Welcom to my secret Garden.

This garden took almost 4 months to create. Not only do I have 4 small children, but I was at the mercy of mother nature. If it rained, I was out of luck that day. Also, I do a lot of my projects at night.This one however, could not be done at night. Plus, I had to built the fence on two sides. It was harder to get finished that any other “room” I have ever done.

Here is a reminer of what the area looked like before:

Let’s pan around and get a 360 degree tour, shall we? When you first open the door the flagstone path leads you to the bench.

Next to the bench I have an outdoor solar powered lamp (tutorial coming soon!) and in the corner there is a trellis. I have white clematis growing there and I hope next year it climbs up even higher.

Next to the trellis is one of my favorite thngs about the whole garden. My moss art! I LOVE moss so this seemed like the perfect fit for my space. This project started out a a big fat FAIL. I will tell the whole story and I will have the tutorial here in the next week or so.

I showed the barnwood table already back when I had the drill giveaway. I love how it looks in here!

I used an old apple crate for all my gardening supplies. I love that not only is it functional, but super cute!

Under the crate jasmine is growing. It smells amazing!!! There are also some big crystals we found when we moved here.I saved them knowing I would find special place for them. I collected rocks when Iwas growing up (maybe hoarded is a better word) so this is another nod to my childhood.

And here we are back at the gate! Did you notice the key next to the gate? You can’t have a secret garden without a key, right? Even if it is from Hobby Lobby….. :)

On the otherside of the gate there is a planter box I mounted to the fence. You may remember me showing you some other planter boxes on the fence last year. This is just another way to hang them. There is also the ladder from my Better Homes and Gardens photoshoot that I turned into a plant stand last year.

I love this mirror! I got it for $15.00. I don’t think the pictures really cature the effect this mirror has on the space. It wasn’t until I hung the mirror that it felt like a room.

This basket was a decoration at our wedding reception. It was filled with potted flowers. It is the only decoration from our wedding I have left. I love having it in here.

And that brings up back to the bench!

I want to show you a few shots from above. This is the view from my office window. Aren’t you jealous that this is what I get to look at whle I work???

While I was working one evening I found this guy. I was thrilled! As a child I was obsessed with frogs and toads. The last time I found a toad in my yard I think I was 10 years old. You don’t come across them very oftern around here. You might think this is silly, but when I was in the planning stages of this garden I told my husband that I wished a toad would come live in my garden so while I was reading I could look up and see his fat and happy self. So this was a fun surprise :)

A few more shots….

Thanks for stopping by for a tour of my secret (okay, not so secret anymore) garden! I am so excited to have it done so can start on the next project :P

Make sure and check back for all the tutorials that go with ll the projects in here fom the trellis to the moss art and solar powered lamp.

*UPDATE:

Here are the tutorials for the following:

Solar Outdoor Lamp

Moss Art