 I'm super excited and so honored to be guest blogging over at Simply Lovely Lumber! Head over and check out my post explaining my popular herringbone console table. While you're there, browse a bit..Steph has so many great DIY tips and projects as well recipes, kids' crafts and household organization tips!
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When I started my woodworking adventure my goal was to make my 2 1/2 year old son a "big boy" bed in the spring. I figured that I would need a good 6 months to get comfortable with tools and gain the confidence needed to start this project. I'm now 2 months in and said, "Forget it! I'm doing it now!" I found a really great, super easy plan from Ana White. (I'm super obsessed with pretty much everything that she does! Check her out...You'll become a groupie too!) She put together this plan based on a bed that one of the sisters at Shanty-2-Chic put together - another site that I'm pretty much obsessed with!  Here's my platform bed frame. I hope to have the headboard done in the next couple of weeks. Guys, total bill on the frame: $70! It would have been less than $50 but I used higher end wood on parts of it to get a smoother finish. Here is the inspiration which would have cost me at least $500: So let's begin! This project started with me at Lowe's at 8pm on a Friday night. I finally purchased a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig. This has been on my wish list since the beginning but it frightened me a bit! I ended up going with the R3 which was about $40 versus the R4 which is closer to $125. A random man at Lowe's talked me into the R3 because of its versatility, mobility and the lower price point. This is the best purchase I have made since started my DIY journey...well, second best, after higher end screws! The first night ended as most of my first nights do! Wine? Yes, please...  I was up at it early the next day. My husband took our toddler to Costco and our baby was sleeping so I was able to make all of my cuts without interruption! This is a glorious thing! Next I put together the base of the frame using 2x6's and my new Kreg Jig! After watching a couple of YouTube videos and reading the manual I was fairly confident I could do it correctly. Let me tell you, this was super easy to use and I was quickly becoming the Pocket Hole Queen! I will be using this is every project that I do from now on!  Adjust according to your wood depth, clamp and drill! It's that easy! Pocket Holes! Super easy and so clean looking. Not seeing my screws!  Once my base was built I dropped a 2x2 @ 75' down on each side 1-1/4". This creates the ledge which the slats will rest on. To connect I used wood glue and 2-1/2" screws. Next I added a 2x4 down the middle of the frame for added support.  The next step was to construct the top of the platform bed. Since I was using my new Kreg Jig, I constructed this seperately and then attached it to the base of my frame. I also used poplar for this, a higher quality wood. I chose to do this because I wanted to really ensure (1) a smooth finish since little fingers would be grabbing it and (2) I have found that it's easier to get straight boards then the lower priced lumber. But it is 3x the price of the stock pine so it added another $25 to the overall price. From here it was a matter of attaching the top to the bottom. I used wood glue and self-countersinking trim screws. Using my clamps also helped keep everything in place as I attached it.  Final step was to add the legs. I used 2x4's @ 7" and cut them at a 10-ish degree. The "ish" is because I don't have a miter saw so I used my square to mark my lines and eyeballed it as I ran it through my Blade Runner! The cuts are neither straight or at a perfect 10 degrees! But who can tell?!? I attached these with wood glue and 2-1/2" wood screws.  And there she is! End of Day One and I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking! Tomorrow we sand and stain!  First thing on Day Two I cut my remaining 1x3's to 53-1/2" to make up the slats...admittedly, I got a little "slat-happy!"  So, after sanding and sanding - filling in any holes with wood filler...and sanding some more, it was ready for stain. After I used a wood conditioner I put on one coat of Rust Oleum Kona and finished it with two coats of polyerethane. LESSON: Watch where your ponytail lands as stain is not, I repeat NOT, easy to get out if it falls into the can of stain!  So pumped to get this up in his room! And I'm not the only one! Next up, the headboard...Hopefully, this will be done in the next couple of weeks! Stay tuned!  I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but arrows are sort of a thing now. As is chalk paint. So, makes sense to play with both, right?!? First off...chalk paint. Chalk paint is the best! It allows for you to do so many things with it. Seriously, the possibilities are endless...You can paint, distress, layer, stain and paint, wax...and it's so easy to do because you don't have to be perfect with each stroke, like you do painting. At first I was a little intimidated with all the options so I started slow and easy! I took several scrap wood pieces that I had laying around. I had to do a little cutting to get the angles that I needed but for the most part, the pieces I had were perfect.  Next, I stained these a dark walnut. After these dried, I painted them with one layer of Rust Oleum Chalk paint in White Linen. Once this dried I took a 80 grit sanding block and gently sanded each piece all over.  I honestly had no idea what it would look like...To my surprise the finish came out to look exactly like old windows that I have from my parents' old barn. These windows are over 80 years old and have endured Michigan weather, farm animals, a fire...80 years worth of wear and tear. So to match the finish almost perfectly was pretty amazing...That's what I mean. This stuff is awesome!  So once my excitement over the finish subsided a bit I went about attaching these pieces together. It would have been easier with a brad nail gun but since that's still on my wish list* I connected these with wood glue...The arrow seems to be sturdy enough but I'm not throwing it about carelessly either.  The wonderful thing (or not so wonderful) about using scrap wood pieces is that sometimes things can be uneven...So, in order for the arrow to sit level it has to be pointing left. Shhh...no one will even know!
*I have since purchased a Ryobi Brad Nailer and my life has changed...seriously...CHA-ANGED! So, I did it...I built myself a table. In the process I learned all about how important good screws are, how important it is to measure and how to remain flexible throughout the build! However, my first night working on it ended like this...  After stripping my 30th screw...I'm not exaggerating...30 screws! And when you strip screws you have to manually remove them with pliers... I was at my limit and resorted to wine! And called it a night! Prior to that, I had cut 2x2s into four 24" pieces and four 6-3/16" pieces. I arranged them into rectangles with the smaller pieces in the inside like is:  So, after I made a trip to my neighborhood Home Depot and discovered that I was using crap screws, I came home with the best! It didn't cost me much more and the difference that it made was incredible. It was like butter, just like the guy at Home Depot said! Plus, these type of screws naturally countersink...countersink? Yes, I now know what that means! To countersink your screws means to make them flush with the board. Lesson: Buy good screws! Don't scrimp!  Prior to screwing my pieces together I added some wood glue to make sure to connection was sealed tight. These screws were perfect as they were self counter-sinking screws - hiding the screw from view.  Here we did a mid-plan alteration and decided to create a 1" overhang on the two ends. So we made a couple measurements and cut four more 2x2 to 18". These will connect our "legs", creating a cube. Again, we did a mid-plan alteration and raised the bottom connectors up 2" like this.  So, now it's time to put on the top. I added wood glue all around the edge and used a total of eight screws to attach the top. To hide the screws I screwed from the bottom up using the same 2-1/2" screws as I've used through the whole project.  Ta-Da! Almost...once we flipped it over to admire our work we realized that one leg was 1/16" of an inch short so it wobbled! To Goggle we went! I corrected this by adding a layer of glue. Not great, but another lesson learned!  Lesson: measure, measure, measure - I feel like I've learned this lesson before! Let's finish this table! As I'm looking at the table all I keep seeing are all the different variations you can do...You can raise the bottom connectors, add a lower shelf, do more of an overhang with the too, make it longer...so many things! And let's not get started on paint options! You can stain, paint, distress, use milk paint, chalk paint...Like I said, so many options. Once I sanded everything down, I decided to stain the top Rust Oleum Kona. I painted the legs a neutral cream color. I used a distressing technique that I saw from the Shanty-2-Chic ladies using Vaseline.  So once I stained the top I added stain to several edges of the legs.  Once this dried, I rubbed a thin layer of Vaseline on those edges and then proceeded to paint all of the legs a neutral cream color. I had to add three coats of this to really cover the stain underneath.  When the paint dried I took a sanding pad and lightly sanded the areas where I put the Vaseline. The Vaseline prevented the paint from sticking to the areas so the paint easily wiped away leaving the stain to come through. This gave the piece a really cool distressed look with very little effort!  The final step was to add polyurethane to top. Since this will be a table in our bathroom that I'll want to wipe easily I added three coats of this to give it a really smooth surface. Table done! And I love it! Now to keep the little ones from playing around with it!  I love these wood piles from Hobby Lobby. There are so many things you can do, including this quick and easy mini-clipboard that you can showcase a picture or any free printable that you can find on Pinterest.  I took four pieces of this wood that I had left over from another project and cut them to about 8" in length. I wanted to leave it really rustic looking so I wasn't too concerned with cutting the pieces even. I then glued these together with wood glue and clamped them for at least 2 hours. After that I hot glued a small clip (another find at Hobby Lobby that I used for my stocking holders) to the top. I really think this would look better with a larger clip but I'm using what I have, so smaller clip it is! I quickly put together an autumn print but then decided I needed some color with it. I've had this gift bag out for a while (because I'm apparently too lazy to put it away!) so I decided to repurpose it and put it to good use!  Not bad for being virtually free and done in no time!  Quick and easy!
 I ❤ the girls at Shanty-2-Chic and they have been a huge inspiration. This next project I attempted came from them here. I loved the look of this and it seemed like a simple, easy beginner project. Again, we're going to use the woodpile bundles from Hobby Lobby.  I cut the Hobby Lobby wood to eight pieces at 8.75" and eight pieces at 12". I also cut four 2x2 pieces to 8" and a 1x10 to 24" long. Now, I attempted to make the box as the Shanty Girls instructed, by putting together the sides first, then attaching them together and finally adding the base. However, I struggled and wasn't able to get my sides level. My box keep falling apart and I discovered that I really need a nail gun! That would make the process so much faster and easier to keep the boards in place. So, after much frustration and pouting over not having a nail gun, I altered the plans! And I think it worked out pretty nicely!  I first constructed the skeleton of my box by attaching four 2x2, 8.25" long to each corner of a 1x10 that I cut to 24". I made sure to get the 2x2 as flush as possible with the 1x10 base. LESSON: I did need to pre-drill the holes as I struggled with screwing these in to place. I stripped a few screws  From here I was able to nail into place the woodpile boards that I had cut. I started with the short side and attached the eight 9.25" that I precut. For the long side, I then attached eight 20" boards.  Once the box was constructed I added utility pulls to each short side.  I had planned on putting this on my kitchen table but it turned out much larger than I anticipated! So, I decided to make this a home on my fireplace and build a smaller version for my table. I sorta ❤ them! Each box cost me less than $10! So. Much. Fun...  |
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