Beds, Beds and more BEDS!!! Part 2

Okay now I know that I have left you all in suspense long enough. Except for my next door neighbor Angela, she was the first non-family member to see these. The Fillman twin beds and the Hailey full platform beds(which can be found HERE and HERE are finished!!! Yay!! If you missed out here's Part 1. These beds were a cinch to build( I just watched The Hubs do all the work:) ). They took no time at all and painting went quickly. Now for the girl's beds I used Valspar's Paramount White in their Ultra Paint + Primer Plus Zero VOC line. For Seamus' bed I used Behr's Soulful Music in their Premium Plus Zero VOC line. Both of these lines are self priming and safe to use around children as there are virtually no harmful fumes. 

Behr Premium Plus Plus Zero VOC in Soulful Music

  Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer Plus Zero VOC in Paramount White

Maddalaena's bed. The canopies you see pictured are from Ikea. You can find similar here. But I paid $10 each.

Didn't realize how crooked this picture was...oh well :)

The slats for support but my children think they're spring boards.

My eldest son' bed. Don't mind the Journey's Kidz Catalogue under the bed.(Psst..He's a shoe fanatic!!)

We love Ikea so much that even the mattress' for ALL of our beds(except the baby's) are from there.

Don't mind my sloppy painting. I was never good at coloring inside the lines ;)

And there you have it. All three beds finished! From start to finish it took three days to do all three beds. It was an enjoyable process.

To-Do's to be To-Done's

A lot of people know that we're moving this upcoming November. The lovely Navy is transferring us to the USS Miami. Which if you've read in recent news caught fire due to some selfish hap on the boat who should not have been working on the boat. Anyway, there is a mondo list of furniture to do's that need to be to done. 

First up, Seamus' dresser. A few weeks ago our darling 6 year old was innocently helping me put laundry away. *CHEERS* Mom of the year right here!! (Points to self). Well, upon doing so he explained to one of his little sisters that "In order to put laundry away, ALL the drawers on his dresser(chest) need to be opened". Now, if anyone has seen my son's room you all know that he has an Ikea Malm tall dresser. With six drawers. And Ikea furniture can be very top heavy. So with all the drawers open he proceeded to pull on the top left drawer. Now in my head I'm like "What was it about these dressers again? I know for some reason this can't be good..." And as the dresser tipped over, "Oh yeah...HEY! Are you okay?". So in a couple of weeks the hubs and I are tackling the Blake Dresser from The Design Confidential. We really like the design of this piece. We were originally going to make the Small Dresser with open storage from Ana White, but we liked the shelving opportunity more.

Next project is one I'm designing on my own. Shocking!!! I never would have thought that I, me, Portia Allen Could dream up something this cool. It is an upholstered headboard. Now, I know this is reinventing the wheel. But the hubs and I are using pallets for the structure of this endeavor. We are screwing these huge pallets together side by side. Then we'll be stapling batting to the pallets. And either a white burlap material or a linen material will be stapled on top of the batting. The headboard will be framed with stained pine boards. 1x6 on the sides and a 1x8 on top and then a 1x10 on top of the 1x8.  So something like this...

The difference would be that the headboard would be deeper and it would have continuous fabric. The frame of the bed would be from The Design Confidential as well and it would be the Hudson Bed Frame*. But it would be solid wood and no upholstery.

*pictured above

Now, I'm going to briefly run through the rest of this massive to do list. And I ask that you all pray for sanity as we try to get most of this accomplished before we move. 

There are going to be two categories. One will be furniture to be stained, the other will be furniture to be painted.

First up the stained furniture!!! Now, the goal is to get all of these pieces cut, stained and holes drilled BEFORE we move. When we get there we'll just assemble everything.

2 of these

1 of  these

2 of these

1 or 2 of these

Remember, these are going to be built BEFORE we leave and painted after we move in to the new house.

This desk will be painted Paramount White by Valspar and the legs will be 3x3's and the top will be either plywood or MDF with crown moulding around the edges

This bookcase is from Ballard Designs. Now you may remember this little beauty that we built. We'll be using that same concept except that everything will be 1x12's and 1x6's or plywood vs. the 2x12's and 2x6's we used. There will also be crown moulding along the top and bottom but not the sides. Well, maybe.

Benchmark Media Console

Benchwright Media Tower*

Benchwright TV Console*

I am so excited to get all of these projects underway!! I just hope that we don't burn ourselves out doing all of this and moving shortly after :( Have any of you waited until the last minute to do something that costs a lot of time and effort? Anyone planning and woodworking plans? Or just any home decor updates? I'd love to hear from you!!

*The Ballard Designs bookcase, PotteryBarn Benchwright Media Console and Storage Towers, Ana White's Benchmark Collection, Bedside Table, End Table and Husdon 8-drawer chest are trademarks of PotteryBarn, Ana White and Ballard Designs. These are not my pictures nor am I affiliated with them in anyway. 

Beds, Beds and more BEDS!! Part 1

When it comes to cheapness we're right there. I mean we're down in the dirt with the worms. We go to thrift stores, Good Will, Salvation Army and yardselling. We even drive around Navy housing looking to see what people are giving away for free(provided it's a good quality). Now most people I would assume, are looking for clothing or little trinkets to dress their home with. And a lot look for refurbishable furniture. I am one of those people that has absolutely no luck finding great finds. I'm not sure if I go at the wrong time, or if I'm too busy trying to corral my four little ones that I just miss that diamond in the rough. So as a best case scenario, I've decided to enlist the brawn of my husband and make our own quality homemade furniture. Many of you know this from my Facebook posts or reading this blog.

Ok I know I'm starting to lose you. So... here's our next almost finished project(s). We currently for the last week or two and including the upcoming week building all new beds in our home. Back in January when we had a queen bed, our frame broke!! One of those metal frames that can fold up broke!! While we were chillin' in bed. The hubs and I were fighting(totally play of course) over what to watch, golf or HGTV. And I guess while we were wrestling, the leg said "I quit" and just gave out on us. And wouldn't you know, the same thing happened to ALL of our kids beds too. Seamus' slats failed to keep him supported. Lylian had a cheapo toddler bed that kicked the bucket within 10 months of it being purchased. And Maddalaena had Lylian's old crib that we converted to a toddler bed and that just up and jumped off a cliff. Then we got a few replacement beds for free. Now those aren't working out. Ergo we're making kick butt new beds. They're low to the ground so no toys can hide out, and IF our children decide to fall off, they won't have far to fall. So here's the progress so far...

Richard wanted a "man" shot of him lifting something big lol.

Hey measure twice and cute once right?

I kept screwing up him by talking to him lol. And he wanted to make sure that I got an action shot.

Well here's that crappy  slightly dark but wonderful action shot he was talking about. The blade is actually rotating.

Here is Seamus' frame to his bed laid out. My husband is a perfectionist and squared each corner at least 5 times. No joke.

Here he again...squaring

The corner. Nice isn't it?

And here is my youngest little girl. In her brand new romper spoken dress. She loves this thing. Cool thing about it is that I got it for free. All I had to do was pay shipping. 

The side and middle supports are in!!!

Up close, slightly and uncomfortably personal.

Another action shot. My hubs is so wonderful that he actually posed for a lot of these photos. Well, he posed because the saw was really loud without ear plugs. Yes I know this is a drill lol.

And there are the legs in all their shapely and naked glory.

And now the slats are being hammered in place.

And here she is in all her bare boned glory. Rich built this full sized platform bed in two and a half hours!!!! Crazy I know!! He is Ah-MAZING!!!

Side shot. Makes me think of BBQ ribs. Hot.Off.The.Grill. Ooohhh Yeeaahh.

The first coat of paint is on. Tomorrow I will be finishing up the paint job for this bed and helping the hubs disassemble the other bed. These plans are from Ana White's Hailey Platform Bed Project Plan.  I love me some Ana White woodworking plans. They are awesome and super easy to follow. And I love how she makes plans for projects that can be done at an inexpensive price.

Are any of you getting ideas to start building your own furniture? Or if you're not ready to build are any of you thinking about refinishing furniture? Let me know if you have any ideas or if there's anything you'd like to see me do!

DIY Glass Thumb Tacks

Can I say that I absolutely LOVE DIY projects!!! It's one of those things that if you complete it, successfully(according to yourself), it boosts your self-esteem like 10 notches. I know that's how I feel when I complete a DIY. A lot like most of you I'm a Pinterest-a-holic. I scour Pinterest for ideas and inspiration for my home and my everyday life. I've made a few recipes and some decor items. My husband has also made furniture from plans found on Pinterest like the Tryde Coffee Table and the Farmhouse Table and Benches. These plans can be found here on Ana White's Website.

Here is my next DIY. And yes, lol I'm pleased with this one too! I'm already planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas ones :). Onto the project!!

Whoops!! I have to announced that I have posted this on the Bower Power Blog for the 2012 Pinterest Challenge!!! Come on and check out all the really cool Pinterest inspired goodies a whole bunch of lovely people have made!!

DIY Glass Thumb Tacks

The Inspiration For This Challenge Found Here

Supplies:

Glass Beads 

Scrapbook Paper or Fabric

Thumb Tacks

Super Strength Craft Glue( I used E-6000 purchased at Michael's)

Regular Glue

Tooth Picks

Craft Scissors

And a Pencil

(No picture of course. I hope you all know what a pencil looks like lol)

This project was pretty inexpensive. I had all but two items on the supplies list. The missing items I purchased at the Dollar Tree. But I'll give you a rundown of what everything cost me approximately.

Scrapbook paper $.59-$.99 a sheet at a craft store like Michael's. With that you could make a gazillion of these alone!

Glass beads $1 at a dollar store

Glue $1 at a dollat store or Wal-Mart

Craft or Kid Safety Scissors $2-$4

E-6000 or similar glue $4

Thumb Tacks $1 at a dollar store

Pencil $1 for a pack at a dollar store

Now that we have all of that situated let's begin! 

First, you're going to want to take your scrapbook paper or fabric. Lay it out on a clean surface.

Grab a little glass bead and trace it with your pencil onto your paper or fabric.

Cut out your little tracing. But remember to cut the circle/oval smaller than the glass bead. You don't want any paper sticking out from the sides.

Spread a thin layer of glue onto the back of the glass bead. I used the tip if this Martha Stewart glue bottle. Please ignore the pots and Rubbermaid container in the background lol.

Then stick your cutout onto the glue covered bead. And press a little firmly to be sure the glue is spread out evenly.

The next two steps I forgot to take pics I'm so sorry for this. But use your imagination and you'll do fine. I promise.

Okay now you're going to want to be careful and fast at the sametime. I know doesn't make sense, but it's true. Set aside a thumb tack. Make sure it's visible and well with in reach. Okay. Good. Now,grab your super glue/adhesive and a toothpick.  Carefully but swiftly squirt some of that glue onto the toothpick. Now apply the crafty super glue to the back of a thumb tack. Got it? 

Now gently adhere the crafty super covered thumb tack to the back of your paper/fabric covered glass bead and press firmly. But make sure not to disturb the paper/fabric while doing so.

Yay picture!!

(See in this pic you can see that I obviously cut my paper too big. I had to go back a trim it up after everything was dry)

Now repeat this whole process again and again until you have the number of glass thumb tacks you want. Word of advise though, cut out all your paper/fabric circles first. Then follow the above steps.

My finished products!! Enjoy!!

For more of my completed DIY's check out these pages: 

Painting Stripes

The Bookcase

Hurricane

Wow, lol, that's not a big list. I could have sworn I've done more than this. Anyway, are there any DIY challenges you've completed or are in the middle of? I'd love to hear about them!! Do you have any DIY you'd like to see me complete? Is so just let me know! Send me a message or PM with all the details. Thanks!!