DIY One Board Step Stools

Once you have made something, it becomes an addiction. Gretchen and I were perusing Pinterest and came across these step stools. SO cute, had the instructions right there, and were made from one board! So we shipped off to Home Depot. Armed with our $6 boards, we decided that we would cut the boards at home, and it was a good yet, tricky thing. Cutting wood with 5 kids it gets tricky to keep all of the measurements straight. We realized that we would need a table saw so I asked the neighbor across the street if he had one. He did and for a candy bar he cut the wood for us! It was a beautiful thing and a table saw is next on my wish list for tools! 

All of our wood cut, sanded and pocket holes drilled.

 

 This was a super fast project to put together! 

My super cute assistant Gretta who sat there watching me the entire time. :)

 And done! I went with a grey wash for the steps and solid white on the sides and I LOVE it! The painting was the longest part! We use it all the time!

 Love the little angled sides!

 I then decided that I needed a second one since the kiddos were stealing it to use elsewhere in the house! This time I went with a Dark Walnut top and I couldn't love it more!!! 

 The only issue with having step stools in the house, it means nothing is safe. Duke now climbs into all of the cupboard but really, these stools are just beyond functional, sturdy for me and the kiddos and $6 a piece!!!!!!! So in love! Now, what else should I build?

DIY Mirror Frame

While I was in Houston I was talking with my SIL and I was trying to decide what to put in my living room over my couch. The room is already pretty busy with a boot cubby, built in book shelves and a photo collage wall, so I wanted something big but simple. She suggested a mirror and I was sold.  I started looking online to find something I liked and everything ranged from $100 - $300. Seriously?! I knew I could do it for cheaper. 

This was one of those projects that was super simple... but everything went wrong. I found the mirror online for $20. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend but it was a good size at 30"x 40". I then went to Home Depot to figure out exactly how I wanted to frame it. I was pretty decided on trim until I realized that it would be about $50 to get enough trim to frame the mirror and by that time I may as well have bought the mirror at IKEA for $100. So I bought two 1x4's for $5, grabbed some mirror hooks and came home. I wanted it to look farm house-ish so I opted for straight edges instead of framing the corners at 45 degree angles. 

 I originally had my heart set on distressing the wood so I started with a layer of stain. 

 Then I lightly painted on a layer of white very unevenly.

 Once that was dry, I went to town with the sander. 

Using the Kreg Drill I drilled some pocket holes and this is where things started going crazy. I tested out a 2 1/2" screw in a test board and it went in beautifully. Went to screw my frame together, first screw poked right through the front! Thankfully it wasn't too bad and I could fix it with a clamp and some wood glue. I then used 1 1/4" screws to attach the frame together which worked wonderfully! 

 

 I placed the mirror face down onto the frame and ran into my second problem. The screws were too long and would poke out the front. I could have used a hack saw to shorten them but instead we just bought shorter screws. 

 I then realized that my mirror was TOO THICK for my mirror hooks. SERIOUSLY?! I just couldn't catch a break. So back to Home Depot Jakob went this time so I didn't look like a baboon. 

 I drilled pilot holes into the frame and screwed the new mirror hooks with the short screws to the frame attaching the mirror. 

 That evening Jakob and I went to hang up the finished product. We realized that this mirror was ridiculously  heavy and unless we found a stud (or 6) to hang it into it would fall. Plus if anyone one have bumped it we may also run the risk of it falling down. SO we took the mirror off the frame and attached it directly to the wall. Then we hung the frame over the mirror. It was time consuming but it is much sturdier!

 I took a step back to admire my work.... and I hated it. It just looked home made and that bothered me like no other. The white looked more grey and it just wasn't what I was looking for. So I took the frame off the wall, since the mirror and the frame were conveniently separate. I sanded off all of the white paint. Added a bit more stain. Sanded it again and......

 So much better!!

 I love the distressed look. Dark Walnut is my favorite stain ever! 

It really finishes off the space and while it isn't perfect... I love it. Thank you so much for the suggestion Janet! I'm glad to have this project checked off of my list!

I have been wanting to make E a craft table for a long time now. She is always up in the office with me working on projects. Only trouble is, her projects are now spilling over onto my workspace and we just cannot have that ;). I found these plans on Pinterest and I feel in LOVE! Almost all of my building plans come from this website. I love how they brake it down into a shopping list, a cut list and then each step is well written and includes detailed pictures. So simple!

 

 I decided to make a half version of what Anna's plans called for. Our space just wasn't big enough for a double set. It was a super easy build and in total the table came to $45 which I thought was a great price. And while a table isn't the most exciting thing to get for Christmas, it is hands down her favorite gift!

 I love, Love, LOVE it! 

Tufted Headboard

 As a general rule Gretchen and I try to trade off on projects. I've horded all of project time lately so I was beyond excited to work on something for her! Her project of choice you ask? A tufted headboard. Totally new territory for both of us but gosh we were excited! Here is a quick and dirty break down of what we did. (If you want a better tutorial there are TONS on Pinterest.)

 We started with a board at the appropriate dimensions for her bed and then we added a 2x4 frame cutting the top corners at a 45 degree angle. We clamped them on and attached them to the headboard with screws.

 Then we laid the memory foam mattress inside the frame. (I found the mattress on the curb and it had a few stains on it so we sprinkles baking soda on top of it to soak up the yucky and then we vacuumed it off.)

Using the hole in the mattress we marked where our tufts would be with a marker.

 Then we drilled through the wood at each mark. This was SUCH a game changer! No measuring, or counting we just followed the dots!

 We put the foam back in and started stringing on some buttons, starting at the center and working our way out and around. This was totally a two man job. Gretchen was on top threading the needle down to me I would pull it tight to her liking and staple the strings to the back. 

 Once we had all of the tufts, she wanted a metal bead trim and oh my gosh was it sexy!!! And SUUUUUPER simple to attach!

And the final product. Thee was a learning curve and we would have done a few things differently. We need to cut the legs down by 6" but for a first attempt I think it turned out great!!! So much fun and we got it done start to finish in one day with four kiddos! That right there deserves a high five! Now to build some Christmas presents.

DIY Chalkboard

 I have wanted to make a chalkboard for the LONGEST time. And now that we are in the new house I had the perfect place for one in my kitchen! I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and figured, it doesn't get much easier than that! I decided that I would rock it out the day before Mom and Dad Tobler were to arrive, so we headed over to Home Depot for supplies. While reading her post I was a bit nervous about spending $60 on supplies, I knew I could do it for cheaper. So I went down the wood isle and I found a sheet of MDF already cut at 4'x2' +/- for $6. Score. I then got 2 1x4's and used them to cut a long and a short side from each board. My friend Gretchen already had the chalk paint, I purchased a can of stain (which will last me throughout the rest of my life!! and then I got some short wood screws, and some d ring picture hangers. Total Cost approx. $30. First I painted my MDF board with three coats of chalk paint. I painted in both directions as well.

 Using my miter saw I cut my boards at a 45 degree angle. This was a bit of a learning curve and I would use a fresh blade next time as mine is pretty old. Then I stained the boards. 

 Let everything dry, add a sealant to the 1x4" boards (which I already had.) and screw it all together. This project took me one afternoon! It was super simple and I LOVE the end result!!!! 

And so do my kiddos! Now we're ready for Grammy and Pa!

DIY Kids Wood Kitchen

I have been wanting to make E a kitchen for quite sometime. In my original minds eye I had planned on making her one out of an entertainment center. I even went as far as purchasing one and hauling it up 100 stairs from some mans garage. Then it sat in my garage for 6 months and I decided it wasn't exactly what I had in mind after all. So I went exploring on Pinterest (where would I be without you?!) And I found this. It was perfect, came with instructions and was cute as cute could be!

With my new saw and my best friend we set to work. There was cutting, sanding, measuring, and more cutting and sanding. 

And sometimes your projects fight back!

This sweet girl was the best helper! She is really good at hammering!

Oven assembled.... man I can hardly stand how CUTE it is!! This bad boy was a bit of a pain. In the original plans it doesn't have you cut the board small enough to allow the oven door to be flush, so I had to change that. Then I cut a board at 4" out of my scraps to save some money instead of buying a 4" board but forgot that 4" boards aren't actually 4" they are more like 3 3/4" (+/-) so I had to sand down that top lip where it meets the oven door....

I was squatting a bit too long while I was sanding and this is what happened to my toes.... Ouch! 

Putting in a few more nails! 

And they are assembled (I still need to put in the sink and per E's request I made cupboard doors for the sink instead of a curtain.)

So we don't have a jig saw and by this time my budget for this project we pretty tapped, so I got creative and used a drill to drill as much as I could out and then I used an exacto knife to cut out the remaining wood. Let me tell you.... it was a pain in the butt... but it worked. 

I did the same process for the sink....

 And it ended up being TOO SMALL!!!! AHHH! So I grabbed Jakob's scout knife (okay it's a bit bigger than a scout knife) and I started carving away.... it was ridiculously frustrating... BUT IT WORKED! 

 

It was at this point that I decided that I really wanted an extra shelf in the "freezer" section of the fridge. But I didn't have enough wood. Some wood glue took care of that and I pieced together another shelf. 

Time to paint it Elsa blue!

So much paint!!! I painted the inside of the fridge, oven and sink white and then I painted thhe outsides blue. I really liked how it gave it a bit more dimension!

And the big reveal! Drum roll please!!!!

 Seriously though, I couldn't love it more!!!!

 I love that it is three separate pieces which makes for a lot of versatility.

 I love how tall and skinny the fridge is. I saw a few others that were wider but this really just is perfect!

 I added a galvanized piece of metal that I purchased on Amazon here. (You can find them at Home Depot too.) It was too wide and I didn't have any way to cut it so I just folded one side under which worked brilliantly. I then screwed it to the side. Looking back, I'm not sure if I would have done the magnet board as E really doesn't do much with it. She does on occasion hang up some of her pictures but not sure if it was worth the extra $6 for the metal. I had considered doing a chalk board along this side, but then I didn't want them coloring all over the set, which I knew would be inevitable.

 This little magnet was a must! I got in the clearance section at Michaels.

 The oven is my favorite piece. I got the knobs on Amazon here. The pull is from IKEA. Which is the same pull we used on the fridge. I love the plexiglass oven door (which has been jumped on and replaced 3 times now ;).)

 But my favorite feature is the little light inside the oven. I used one of the sticky back lights that you can push on from the dollar store and I stuck it behind where the knobs are so the kiddos could reach it. It just adds that extra little something something!

 As mentioned before the E requested that we putt cupboard doors on instead of a curtian which I love! They magnet shut, and the curtian while adding color just added a bit of chaos in my OCD mind.

 The faucet I purchased on Amazon here. And it was my most expensive accessory. I also ordered a bowl on Amazon that was 9" in diameter and it was TOO BIG! There wasn't enough room for the lip and it just didn't fix. I was soooo disappointed. Thankfully I have a collection of bowls in my kitchen and so I just used one of those. It's approx 6" in diameter which seemed super tiny, but once it was installed it worked like magic!

 All of her pots, pans, tea set and cashier. 

 Oven with the Pizza!

And all of the food fits in the fridge. Most of her pretend food is from IKEA. I love their felt food and their pots and pans. The felt pizza I made last year.

This was SUCH a fun project to make! I seriously was in heaven the whole time!!! Now I want to build sooo many things. Next up, a step stool, and a kitchen table with benches!!!