Stenciled Wood Sideboard You guys, I am so excited to share how my doors turned out. It's exactly what I envisioned in my head. I love it when that happens! The process was pretty simple too, which is another bonus. I think with the popularity of stencils these days most of you are pretty familiar with how to stencil with paint, right? I got the idea from deep in the storage banks of my brain. With the wood glue being pretty much clear it can be a little difficult to see where you have already stenciled. When you're happy with your stenciling and the glue has dried it is time to stain! Once I finished staining the front I took another t-shirt rag that was dry and rubbed the surface to soak up any extra stain that was just sitting on top. I left the stain to dry for one day and then applied two coats of poly to finish. Here that are, all back where they belong! I really love how the wood grain continues through the dandelion poofs. Here's the whole room! Nikki Kelly
Pottery Barn Wannabe Dresser Reveal I answered an ad on my local Freecycle website and agreed to pick up a dresser and nightstand "sight unseen". Imagine how thrilled MyLove was when I begged and pleaded persuaded him to drive 20 miles across town to meet with a stranger to pick it up. #notthrilledatall. Luckily he is used to me and my furniture requests so he went along with it...until we drove up and saw this dreadful sight. The lady raved about what an heirloom it was to her and thanked us for coming to pick them up so quickly as she snuck over to take a $100 For Sale sign off of them so we would not see them. As I mentioned that I got them off of Freecycle so they were "Free-Ninety-Nine" as my friend would say. I looked over at MyLove rolling his eyes and could feel his blood boiling, secretly cursing me all the way to the truck because these suckers were HEAVY solid wood SUPER HEAVY! And did I mention they were UGLY! He agreed to let me try. He saw YUCK or may I say in his words CR@P! I saw Pottery Barn. The Top Whew!!!
DIY Restoration Hardware Nightstand Hey guys! I’m so excited to share my latest building project with you! I was stalking Restoration Hardware’s Baby and Kid site when I came across their Kenwood Nightstand. I fell in LOVE and immediately enlisted the help of my good friend Ana to make me some plans! These were super easy to hack, I mean build! You can get the plans for these great nightstands HERE on Ana’s site. Here are a few progress pictures and tips from my build… I used my Kreg Jig® to help me build these tables. Here are my table sides… You can see the ones on the right are the backside of the frame. For the “planks” I had originally intended on using plank paneling in a 4×8′ sheet. They are planks that easily click together and made my job SO EASY. This is what the backside of the sides looked like with my planks nailed in. And on the other side they look like this… I used one 2×4′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood for the bases of the tables. I used my nailer to attach my top planks. This is the frame of my door. Or….. ~Whitney
DIY Pottery Barn Inspired Benchwright Coffee Table Hello! I’ve been building again… I found a coffee table in the Pottery Barn catalog and fell in LOVE! Well it’s $699 and OUT of my budget so of course I turned to Ana! She whipped up plans for a similar coffee table that cost me $100! You can get Ana’s plans HERE! Here are a few pics during my building process:) My Kreg came in mighty handy for this build! Pic of the bottom shelf. Hidden pocket hole underneath the shelf. Now for the drawers…. Here is a picture of the drawer slides and the drawer frames you build. TIPS for drawers: ~Do NOT use furring strips ~Make sure your boards are straight ~Build the first one based on your table measurements rather than the plans just to make them exact. ~I built the first one and then placed the second one on top of the first as I built it to make sure they lined up exact. ~No build is perfect. I finished her off with my new FAVORITE stain! Rust-Oleum Dark Walnut It dries super fast, doesn’t smell as bad as most wood stain and the finish is so even and rich!
Pottery Barn For Kids DIY Dresser Hey friends! I am SO excited to share my latest build! This next one has been a long time coming. This has been where my son’s tv has been resting for the last few months… I know… Pretty shanty, right?? I have been avoiding tackling a dresser for sometime, because I thought it might be too hard. I will say that the Kreg Jig® is a MUST for this build. I will show you a few tips here, and you can get the full set of plans for my Pottery Barn Inspired Dresser HERE on Ana White’s site! I used my Kreg Jig® on lots of parts! The sides… The base… The base looks like this after it is attached… This is a picture of the top before I attached it to the dresser. I used Gorilla Wood Glue on ALL of my joints! For this piece I was finally able to try out some PureBond Hardwood Plywood. I will be sharing later a more specific tutorial on working with metal drawer slides, but Ash gives a few tips HERE on her Pottery Barn inspired coffee table! Here it is all finished up and ready for a good coat of stain!
DIY Storage Cubby So, I have had a giant empty space above my refrigerator that has been haunting me since we moved in. Why on earth the cabinets do not continue over the refrigerator is beyond me. I’m convinced it was just to challenge my brain. I have just left it bare because anything I imagined up there seemed to compete with the cabinets or look totally out of place…until I stumbled on this cutie on Ana’s site . The dimensions on this set of plans were too big so I did have to modify them to fit it above my fridge. I also used 3/4″ MDF because I had a half sheet left from another project that I will share with you very soon. 3 – 1×12 @ 33″ (had 3/4″ sheet ripped to a standard 1×12) 4 – 1×12 @ (about 11 3/4″ but you will need to build the shelf then measure for a good fit) 2 1×3 (furring strips) @ 33″ 1 – 1/4″ MDF @24″ x 33″ (backing) I drilled pocket holes with my Kreg Jig and my 18V Lithium Ryobi drill at the end of each 33″ board. I used Gorilla Glue Wood Glue to assemble the entire piece. ~flour ~rice
Industrial Appliance Cart YES! I’m finally back in the land of the living, also known as those with a reliable internet connection. We finished up this project on Wednesday, but I haven’t been able to post it until today. Cool, huh? It’s made out of 2×12 pine, 1/4″ galvanized pipe and floor flanges from the plumbing section of the hardware store. Projects like this are a very easy to put together, and require minimum effort. Supplies: • 4 casters *optional* ($10 each for all-metal 300lb bearing casters. Step 1: Cut your boards to size, mine is 36″ long The beauty of this amazing project is that all you need is a drill. Step 2: Sand then stain or paint your boards Since we’re using plumbing to build this sucker, it’s much easier to do the finishing ahead of time. Step 3: Attach your casters My casters aren’t functional since we have a baby in the house (i.e. we screwed this sucker into the studs with L-brackets) but you can use them if you like. Step 4: Attach your lower flanges Again, line ‘em up and screw ‘em in.
White + Wood Chest It’s a habit that can never be broken, and that is my constant need to visit to thrift stores in search of cool pieces. Four out of five times I walk away empty handed after seeing a lot of junk, but last week was a gold mine at my local St. Vincent de Paul. On the floor were no less than five pieces I would have loved to buy, including a beautiful French buffet plus a few fab armoires. I thought this little chest of drawers would be absolute perfection for my hub’s office – for storing extra office supplies. He used to give me the hand pinching the top of the nose plus creased forehead combo when I brought beat up stuff home years ago – but no more. I’m a big big fan of the wood + white combo (hello, these tables and these shelves) so again I’m up to my old tricks. Here are the players: I used Glidden’s ‘Muslin White’ latex paint leftover from the window seat; Floetrol, an additive I love; Zinsser primer (we’re pretty tight); some Restor-A-Finish, and clear furniture wax protectant.
Union Jack Trunk IKEA Card File Drawers Hack At the moment, amongst other things, I’m working on a totally new room makeover at my hive. It’s a little space I’ve not shared previously. I can’t wait for the final reveal though with a little pair of hands constantly clutching at my pant legs (with an accompanying unresistable “pick-me-up” whine), let’s just say progress hasn’t exactly been fast, so as with pretty much everything else nowadays, I’m not holding my breath ’til it’s done. Anyhoo, part of the makeover involves some new shelving and to pretty them up, whilst adding some handy knick-knack storage, I wanted some cute old mini card file drawers. They are relatively plentiful (if you have patience and know where to look – eBay, oldware stores, etc.) though in many cases buying some requires a deep pocket reach and, if you know me, you’d know I’m just a bit adverse to that kinda thing. So, rather than cash, I thought I’d spend some creative energy instead and concoct my own. Easy solution….just turn the drawers around.
Shutter Wood Embellished Dresser Woodworking is possibly my all-time favorite craft, and seeing new inventive techniques and creative re-uses only reinforces my love for the material. Matt has taken a simple, old chest of drawers, some shutters and an old belt and turned them into a really rad piece of furniture. The dark and light woods, leather and crisp white paint work wonderfully together, and the herringbone pattern is just amazing and apparently quite simple to make. Using the shutter slats for the pattern, so that he already had consistently sized pieces, was also totally brilliant — gotta remember that one for the future. Have a Before & After you’d like to share? See more of Matt’s dresser and find out how he made it after the jump! Time: 22 hours Cost: $97 Basic Steps: First was sanding the main cabinet with different grades of sand paper to remove varnish and old stain. Next I cut the old shutter slats out by removing the side rails.
Leather Pulls, reinterpreted photo: rikkianne van kirk Our post on artist Holton Rower‘s gorgeous d-i-y leather cabinet pulls has been one of our most popular in recent months, and continues to make its way around the internet. But until yesterday, we hadn’t seen someone take the idea and make it their own. Rikkianne Van Kirk’s post on Re-Nest gives a step-by-step of the drawer pulls she made for an old desk, using an old leather belt that she cut into strips…the perfect material: strong, good-looking and recycled… We LOVE to see ideas reverberating and taking new forms. Thanks Rikkianne! Related posts: d-i-y leather cabinet pulls (via holton rower)copy this: leather strap catch-alld-i-y door upgrade: painted edges and hinges
Leather Cabinet Pulls Sally Schneider For years, we’ve been amazed at the clever and imaginative solutions our friend Holton Rower has come up for his various spaces – both at home and work. Take the chic leather cabinet pulls we’ve been seeing around at high-end housewares stores, for $20 + a piece. Holton starting making leather pulls twenty years ago to use in an apartment and has been making them himself ever since. You can buy roofing nails at any hardware store (get the simple, smooth-shank ones, without grooves) The length should be whatever depth your cabinet door is…OR, Holton said, “if you get them longer, you can bend the end over to secure the strap further.” You can use many materials for the pull: leather scraps, heavy fabric or belting, in colors if you like. …You fold the leather pull in half and hammer the roofing nail through it into your cabinet door… They are simple and beautiful and get better as they age and wear.
Industrial Shelving Unit The other side of the living room needed something large. A statement piece I think real designers would call it. Well, I fell in love with the bookshelves in the lobby at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and thought, “hey, I could build that”. And I did! We sold the old wall unit and embarked on the master planning of the new plumbing conduit shelving unit. The unit is 8’8″ wide by roughly 7’6″ tall and 11 1/4″ deep Here is the supply list:Plumbing pipe and fittings (all at 1/2″) Supply list: Fittings: 18 – 90º Elbows 14 – 3-Way Tees 8 – Base Flanges Pipe: 6 – 12″ 7 – 18″ 1 – 32″ 3 – 30″ (Custom cut at home depot) 1 – 43″ (Custom cut at home depot) 14 – 8″ 4 – 9″ (black gas pipe for the top flange connectors) Wood Shelves 2 – 1″ x 12″ x 10′ pine planks (cut down to 8′8″) 2 – 1″ x 12″ x 6′ pine planks (cut down to 4′8″) Minwax Stain 1 – Dark Walnut 1 – Walnut (Mix 1/2 and 1/2 to get the desired color) Rustoleum Gloss Spray Paint 3 – Black After that it just all screws together.