Shelf unit

These lovely shelves are the last installment of a boys room redo. The first large step was completing the two storage beds and corner hutch unit.

The shelves are a combo of standard shelves and catch all bins with a front lip to hold in toys. One shelf is split half storage bin - half media storage for tv/video/game components.

These are finished in my favorite "special walnut " stain and satin finish polyurethane.

Storage Beds & Corner Hutch

Do you love PBKids and PBTeen? Me too! I was recently asked to build something similar to this storage bed from PB.  This sucker is ON SALE NOW @ PB for only $2325 + $200 Shipping. Ya know, chump change. I knew I could build it for 1/2 the price and I don't charge $200  for delivery and installation if you live nearby.

I accepted the challenge to build this with a few modifications. We wanted no cubbies on the ends and 3 drawers on the front instead. This is serving as clothing storage instead of having a dresser. This was a first for me on several levels. First time I had ever done drawers, first time I'd ever done something of this magnitude! It was really a lot of fun, and in the end I'm really proud of the way it looks! We ended up with cork and dry erase board instead of just cork.

Boy's Room Redo

Now that the boys share a room I get to go all out with our firefighter room! Someday I would love to have the front end of a truck and some hose, but Daddy doesn't have ins like that yet...someday when he's an "old head".....someday.

When #3 and #4 shared the room we had a pretty generic vibe, bright and fun, and gender neutral. Cute enough! 

But #3 pretty quickly trashed his cheap IKEA dresser (HUGE surprise), and these boys have way too many toys so we needed a change.  We had taken a trip to the Houston Fire Museum and I was totally inspired! I love their setup in the kids playroom! I decided to make a locker instead of a dresser. This picture doesn't show the handles I still haven't put on (oops) or the HFD decals that are on there now.

I was just about to set the old IKEA dresser on the curb, but instead decided to disassemble it. I thought the drawer slides would still be useful. Well it turns out that the "bones" of the dresser were actually pretty good, it was just the horrendously poor materials and construction on the drawers that did it in. Little boys are rough on furniture so it bears repeating, "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!" Anyway, I took the whole darned thing apart, trimmed pieces to make this fit where I needed it, added some shelves, trimmed it out, painted it to match, added some spray painted milk crates that I scored out of my neighbors garage and voila a place for all those fire trucks and fire stations.

I also whipped out some simple ledges one afternoon with wood I got off a pallet that I grabbed out of the parking lot of McCoys! Every afternoon a pile goes out for the taking and I happened to have room in the car for a beautiful 8' pallet with almost flawless 4x8 pine boards! That NEVER happens. So the boys room is coming along. Still a few more things I want to do in there, perhaps a flames painting, or a wood sign that has some firefighter jargon on it.....I'll get around to it someday. 

Cubbies for Jamie

I spent this week in the garage finally getting down to business on building 2 cubbie benches for Jamie. Thanks to a tip from Sonya, I bypassed my usual trip to Orange and went to McCoy's. Oh I am so glad I did! I waste so much time sorting though wood at Orange to find decent pieces that aren't warped, bowed, and twisted. In contrast, McCoy's was neat, clean, organized, and EVERY piece of wood was good quality. I'm all for paying less money for better quality wood and a better shopping experience.---end plug---

So with those 1x12s and 1x2s and 2 afternoons in the garage (one building, one filling and sanding) I created these.

Pretty darned good looking if I do say so myself. Your furniture will only be as good as the materials and tools you use! As soon as Jamie lets me know what color she wants these I'll paint them....hint hint....

Bathroom Re-do

This summer has been so crazy busy I haven't felt like I have had time to get anything accomplished, then I came to the understanding that maybe I'm just a little lazy. I'd rather be in the garage than cleaning the kitchen. I feel like cleaning the house and picking up after 5 little people is a never ending job, and in the garage I can at least finish something.

So the ugly truth is that I'm lazy some days. And while it seems I do a lot, I also do a lot of nothing. I look at the laundry that needs washing or folding and wish it would do itself. The bathrooms go uncleaned, the floors go unmopped. So in an effort to be a decent housewife, and show love for my husband by having a clean house I am trying to get organized and keep a cleaner house.

Fortunately that also means I might need to build a piece of furniture or two to get that accomplished! This week I had several projects in the works in the garage and decided to get them finished and into the house where they belong. One is still waiting for it's final coat of paint, but the other two are in.

I built this over the toilet shelf for the kids bathroom. It's mostly for decoration, but it sure does pull the room together.

I also had a few extra minutes of spare time before a birthday party on Saturday so I whipped out this little step stool for them too. Now Kinsey, Mo and, Miah can wash their hands with out climbing on top of the toilet to reach the sink! And maybe, just maybe, Miah will decide to pee in the potty now that he will be tall enough....not holding my breath for that one though.

So how about a little before and after? That would be nice wouldn't it, too bad. I sure wish I had a before from WAY before, when the cabinet was birch colored with a white door, when the faucet was the one that came with the house 16 years ago and there was a standard ugly medicine cabinet instead of the mirror. Why didn't I take that pic? Oh well, here is the current.

So one room is down, there's a lot more to go, a lot more furniture to build!