Things coming together

Laundry is the BANE of my existence....seriously! I absolutely HATE it...I'm never even close to being caught up with it...and even when we do manage to get clothes though both the washer and the dryer, they sit unfolded in "clean clothes" piles. It's really rather ridiculous....

Then one day, I read about "the family closet". I can't find the original blog post that inspired me, but the pictures from the link should give you a good idea. I thought to myself...I bet that would make me at least a little less stressed about laundry...maybe even I could keep up with it sorta...So, when we moved one of my wants was a laundry area that could be turned into a family closet. And, I got my wish :)

The washer and dryer is in the basement, where I have plenty of room to create a closet...however, the space is completely unfinished...not even studs to hang shelves on. And the price of closet systems really add up. So, working on no budget at all, I started figuring out how I could create what I needed. I knew I wanted most of the rods low enough for my little girls to access, but tall enough at least for my shirts to be hung up. It had to be free standing. I need at least some shelves/drawers for folded things and boxes of clothes that are being hung onto for hand me downs or off season stuff. So this has been simmering in the back of my mind for a month now, and one morning I woke up with the solution.
We have 2 of these we'd used for pantry food in our last place (only ours are black...) They were sitting in pieces in the garage with plans to be used for fabric/craft storage. I decided my laundry organization was more important just now since we were working with a massive "clean pile" and "dirty pile" that I was desperately trying to keep from mingling in my basement and the reply to "I can't find any pants was" go look in the clean pile. (no wonder it takes us forever to get out of the house...) So this is what my black shelves look like now. (I think we will call this space "the dungeon"...)
Ok, you can see that I still have a lot of clothes to be sorted and put away, but I now have a place to put them! I even had an extra table to use as a folding table!
I started by taking the top two shelves for the older girl's clothes. I was just looking to get stuff off the floor, really, and turned up like that, they worked well.

Then I remembered these two closet rods I'd picked up at the DI. I took the lower shelves and left them the right way and then we zip tied the rods to the top for baby clothes and my shirts. Longer dresses are just going to have to go in the upstairs closet with Chris' clothes. The buckets I found today at Wal-mart for $1.50 each. My kids were always dropping the drawers out of the dressers in the past, so I think this will work nicely.

I'm really excited about my progress down here. This is the year I get my laundry under control!

Katie's first design choice

While moving, I was noticing that the hand me down crib that we've used with all three girls was looking rather tired and starting to get some chippy paint in places, so I decided to refinish it. At the store, I picked up a light pink spray paint for it and asked Katie if she wanted to paint her bed...she replied "no...PINK!" and pointed at the BRIGHT pink can. All right then...it's her bed, after all. So we went PINK!

Wouldn't this piece of art look cute in here? I think I have some old canvases I'm not using right now...

In other news...we are working on our table. We brought the boards in so we could see how the size looked in our space. We decided on a 7 foot table. We decided which sides would be the tops, and jointed the sides and have them ready to glue up when the new clamps get here (expected tomorrow). We also got the legs cut to size. I'd like to run a sander over them to clean the up just a bit before putting the apron together. Plus, we are working with slightly different sizes then I'd planned. The 4x4's were pretty rough, so we went with 4x6 legs (YAY for hefty legs!) Plus, the 2x8 we'd planned for the tops were not very straight, so we switched to 2x10s. These aren't huge differences, but enough that I need to re-figure the apron lengths. (have I mentioned that I'm excited about this project? I'm NOT excited to help carry it into the house, cause it is going to be SOOOOO heavy! but I'm excited to get it in here)

My new treasure!

So, I'm at the thrift store yesterday, and was just about to call it quits. I'd found a couple closet rods, and grabbed a couple of forks and spoons (our new house has a bigger dishwasher, and I'm finding we are running out before the dishwasher is full...). I also found a sweet little vase that works perfectly with my "orange" stuff, and Katie found a cute sun hat she had to have. They were all things I needed, but I didn't feel like it was an awesome thrifting experience. On my way out, I noticed a couple big things in the furniture section were being taken to the back...and experience shows that if you wait just a few minutes, they will bring out *something* to fill the empty spot...so I stood right there in case it was awesome and there would be a race for it....after a minute, the nice man showed up with...



Cool, hu?! I was right there, so I was looking at it first, but there were three other people hovering over my shoulder, so as soon as I was sure it was in good condition I grabbed it! I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do with it, but it is beautiful and it awesome condition. the top could use a light sand and maybe a finish...but I like it the way it is, too... I was thinking it would be cool laid flat and used for my computer desk...and it's totally stable enough for that, but Chris thinks it wouldn't work because of the legs and not being able to really get a chair under it. I may insist on it anyway :)

All Mine!

Isn't it a beautiful sight?! This is ALL MINE!!! Ok, well, the orange car and one corner of the garage is Chris'. He needs somewhere for the snow tires to sit...but the rest of it...ALL MINE!!! HAHAHAHA (that was my best over-the-internet evil laugh) The one side with the large door is now full of furniture waiting to be turned into awesome (as well as several boxes needing to be unpacked...), and the other side (with the two doors) is being set up as a workshop (as well as holding a good sized pile of boxes waiting to be unpacked)...The astro van? MINE! And TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Ok, part of it may be that we'd been sharing the orange car for so long, that any car would seem awesome for me to be able to go run errands whenever...but that thing will also haul a TON of stuff! Right now, it's loaded with lumber for my new farm table...including a 12 foot 1x4. I know, you are all totally jealous!

Ok, so now, do I unpack boxes to make room in the workshop, or unload the lumber, or start getting dinner ready? Oh, it's so hard to decide!

Exciting stuff going on

This is one pile of "in progress" projects that are sitting in the middle (yes, precisely in the middle) of my living room. I'm very excited about all of them, so I'll tell you a bit about them.

The blue frame is the frame from this post. Not nearly as boring now, hu? I'm wanting to add some trim to the back so it sits away from the wall and the chicken wire doesn't scratch paint. I'm also not sure how this color will look with our new walls, so the color may change. I'm going to do some fun clothes pins and use it for my idea board.

Notice the white cushion? I have two dining chairs...one painted the same blue as the frame, the other will probably be red...and I have to get to the fabric store to find the perfect print to reupholster the cushions with. (I have before pics, so when they get done, you'll get to see it all)

The other frame is one my sister-in-law picked up and decided she wouldn't be using. It's a really beautiful frame...not sure what *I'm* going to do with it...but I'll think of something :) On top of the desk are pieces of an ottoman (the puffy pink thing is a tutu) that could be put together if I ever got it painted (yeah, check this post again to see where it started)...yes, one of the legs is still waiting to be sanded... On the floor, you see those turned legs??? They are dining table sized and I got all 4 for $15 at the Restore this week! (just for fun, do a search for turned dining table legs...yeah, $15 is an AMAZING deal!) I plan to build the rest of the table to go with them...

The orange chair is one we use, but I plan to reupholster it as soon as I learn how. It was my grandma's...we were at her house once and she'd been purging some of her stuff...I told her that if she ever wanted to get rid of that chair, I'd love to have it...not only is it a great chair with nice lines...it's totally comfy...perfect for curling up and reading a book.

Projects that you don't see...well, my desk is still waiting to be painted. I have a full sized and a toddler headboard in the back, and I'm still planning my new farm table.

So, why are ALL of these sitting only half done or hardly started? Well, because with one car that my husband takes to work, it's been hard to get out and get the supplies I need. Also, I can't paint when it's snowing and raining and the wind is blowing...which it's been doing a lot here lately. This leads to some other exciting stuff going on that is actually related to all of these things. First, I got an astro van!!! It's not pretty or new, but it runs well and I can haul a TON of stuff in it. Plus, I can actually run the errands I need to get supplies to finish my projects! Exciting!!! Next extra exciting thing! We have found a new house to rent. We are on a tight budget, so I was hoping for a single car garage to work in during bad weather, but we've been blessed to find a great place with a 3 car garage already set up with a work bench and lots of storage! I'll have plenty of room for even the biggest projects there! It also has a basement where I can have a corner to put my sewing and craft stuff.

I'm ultra excited about all of this. We're going to be moving this week...I'm doing the littler stuff during the week (thanks to my awesome new van!), and we hope to do the big stuff Saturday, so by next week (If I can wait that long) I should be seeing some of these projects wrapped up. I'm so excited to show you what it will all look like in the end!

Feeling a little frustrated....

So, my awesome table that I get giddy at the very thought of...is on hold :( We were waiting to get the suburban fixed so we could get the lumber for it...turns out the suburban would cost about twice as much to fix as it's worth...so now we are on hold waiting to figure out what we are going to do for a second vehicle...it has to be something I can haul kids and furniture with. In the midst of this, we are looking for a new place to rent...something with a garage where I can work on all my projects. So, the spot I was going to put my perfectly pretty new farm table won't be my spot to put something, so I'm kinda waiting to find out what my new spot will look like before I build so I can build something the right size for that spot.

So, I'm feeling frustrated and like my projects have all been put on hold while I find a house and shop for a ... truck probably? So I will try to post some cool stuff...I do have a couple things I'm slowly working on...but please don't give up on me if you don't see much from me for the next while. When I get a garage/workshop I have all kinds of awesome that will be happening :)

Because my husband is sick of listening to me ramble about it...

and this is my blog, so you can't stop me from rambling if I want to :p Plus, I'd love to hear if any of my readers actually have any insight on my ramblings....

Ok, My last post mentioned that I'm going to be building a new table. I linked to these plans from Knock off Wood. I absolutely LOVE this site! Her plans are so simple to follow and there are so many examples of what other people have done using these plans. This one is a fairly new plan and I haven't seen a picture of it yet. The pictures she put in that post are random farmhouse pictures...which are ALL awesome! Then she linked to this post with some more pictures of tables and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this one. (swoon with me now!)

(originally found on this site)

I adore the chunky legs (would you say those are 4x6? I would...), and the color and distressing is perfect. I also really like the lower supports and stretcher. My husband is discouraging any lower supports or stretcher because...well, he's tall and doesn't want anyone to have to deal with them when they have to sit on the ends. Also, I'm not sure how to support the overhang outside of the apron, so I dont' want that much space between the legs and the end of the table. Both of us like the look of a table without the breadboard on the ends. Those are the boards that run the width of the table on the ends. (the above table *has* breadboards...this next one does not...)

(from Scandinavian Retreat)

See...boards that are cut square at the ends...we both like this look better. But I feel this table looks a little fragile. The legs are too thin....and I want something that really *looks* like it will take the test of time.

Ok next up....

(Restoration Hardware)

Knock off Wood has plans for this table on her site (here). Her plans for this one are really very good too... again, my husband veto'ed the lower supports, and there's the breadboard again...However, looking at this picture of the RH table we both oooohh'ed at the heft of the table top...go back and check out how THICK those boards are! And nice and wide, too! Plus the nice thick table legs....but we're not sure how they will do support wise without the lower supports using the plans she has here...hmmm....(also...reclaimed wood! look at that color...swooning again!)

So, with all these thoughts in mind, I was browsing older posts on Knock off Wood and came to this "how-to" post...She has a couple videos of how she does the legs on the Hyde tables. That "double apron" (that's what I'm calling it anyway) thing she does really looks like it would give a lot of stability to the legs, don't ya think? I do! But the only plans for Hyde tables are coffee table, end table and console table...still....

So, with the help of my husband I've found the solution! We are using the directions for the Hyde legs/apron and sizing it to fit our table(no lower supports and nice thick legs). We're using the top like the narrow farmhouse table so we don't have breadboards, but using 2x8 boards for the top instead of 1x8's like she has in her plan (nice hefty top to go with the nice hefty legs!). The top is going to be 36 in wide (or close to that...it will be 5 boards wide...) and 6.5 feet long. This will easily put 3 chairs on the side of the table with options for people on the end. And it fits perfectly where I want it. Woot! I know how to build it now!

Next up...the finish...I was watching some tutorials because I've read all kinds of techniques for this, but I was wanting to see the results with my table in mind. There was one where she stained...put the stain on then wiped it right off, kind of making it uneven in places. The she let it dry, then distressed with a chisel and sander, then she used a black glaze, wiping it off after just a few seconds (oh, here it is...but she is REALLY annoying to watch, so I'm just linking to the last one that shows the results after the glazing. She does some more paint steps, but I'd stop after the first glaze)....I *think* if I use a stain that is gold-ish (but NOT orangy!) then black glaze, I'd get a look a lot like the James Merrell table. I'd also add in some deeper cuts in the legs and maybe some other steps to beat it up while distressing. Then finish with a satin clear coat...Glossy seems to feel out of place for this, but I think satin would give it a nice sheen that's not too much while protecting it from all the spills my little girls are going to inflict on it.

So, are you as excited for me to actually start this project as I am? I'd totally be doing it right now...if I had a way to get the boards home. My tools have shipped, and if they get here before my suburban is fixed, then I'm going to call my cousin with a truck and have her help me get them here :)

Did any of you even get though that ramble? lol...I know, it's a lot, but that has been what's on my mind, and I can't seem to concentrate on anything else!