Driftwood Table

Sooo driftwood is my new favorite thing - a) it's beautiful, and b) it's free!  We found a whole pile of weathered branches at my bay hot spot.  I'm planning to continue my theme and build a table for the porch.  Check back to see what I make out of this pile of sticks.

Bottoms Up!

We found a fun piece of driftwood at our favorite beach on the bay.  We toyed around with a few ideas and finally made this sign to hang over the "mini-bar" on our porch ...

Total cost - $10 worth of wooden letters.

Sunroom Bench

We just started a new crafty project - a corner bench for our 3-season room with storage compartments inside.  It won't be identical to this picture, but this was kind of my inspiration ..

This is usually how it works: I come up with a crazy idea that I want to start immediately, my husband comes up with the design and logistics, and then we dive in.  We spent about $80 on wood and screws for this project.

First, we built the frames using 2x3 boards.  The frames are 18 inches high and 4 to 5 feet long.

Next, we added thin but sturdy plywood for the front, back, and sides of the benches, which will allow us to store unsightly law equipment, etc., inside!  You can see my husband working in his pajamas below.

We added trim to the plywood sides and a low backrest.  The picture below shows the final frame, minus the seats, which we made out of thick particle board.

We painted the whole thing white, and made the cushions out of strips of egg carton foam.  A big "THANK YOU" to my mother-in-law, who was able to sew all of the cushion and pillow covers for us! 

 What do you think???

The Yard Sale Mirror

I bought this mirror at a yard sale last summer for $2.  It had a solid wooden frame, but was covered with some strange white paper - I wish I had a "before" picture.  It was meant for my bathroom but never made it there; it's been sitting in my basement, waiting for a face-lift.  I went on a crafting binge during a recent snow day, and a coat of beige spray paint, a coat of black paint, some sanding (to create an antique-y look), and lots of letter stickers later, this is the final product ...

P.S. A mirror is difficult to photograph, and as I post these pictures, I'm noticing the fingerprints all over it .. please try to ignore those!

Quote courtesy of an item in the background of a Pottery Barn catalog picture.  Nice, huh?

A Home Gym?

My husband's birthday is just around the corner.  He's hard to buy for - he never really wants anything and will usually tell me he needs socks or underwear for Christmas.  Seriously - what says holiday festivus like new boxer briefs???

This year, I'm taking matters into my own hands and I really want to surprise him.  We have a spare room in the basement and an assortment of fitness equipment ... so I'm going to turn it into a gym!  Here's some pictures of the room right now ....

Updated - 4/1/11 - Below is the finished project ... all it took was some cleaning and organization, some interlocking floor mats, and a few miscellaneous fitness supplies.

My husband was thoroughly surprised and excited, however he did kindly ask me if I meant to position the rowing machine facing away from the TV .... oops.  Shows you how much I know about working out!

Smile!

On this dreary Monday, I thought you might enjoy a picture of Harv in his holiday jammies and matching hat.  XXL was just not big enough and he's practically splitting the seams.  Too many Christmas cookies, I guess!

The Ugly Kitchen

My husband and I bought our first home in August 2010.  Overall, the home was in great condition, but was very drab color-wise and the kitchen and bathrooms were slightly outdated.  I added a picture (above) of the kitchen when we first moved in so that you can see our boring, laminate cabinets.  New cabinetry was not in the budget, so we worked with what we had.  Also, while the cabinets were unattractive, they were in good condition, so we didn't want to replace them based on aesthetic appeal only.

First, we bought trim at Lowes for about $3 per 8-foot piece and cut it to size to frame the cabinets to add texture and detail.  Below is a picture of one of the drawers with trim prior to painting.

Follow that with 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint (Glidden brand - 'Cornsilk'), and new hardware from Target (about $70 for all pieces) .. and you have a completely "new" kitchen for about $150.  It was a time consuming project, but well worth it. 

The Tray

I bought this 16x16 inch tray (above) at a Goodwill store for $4.  I didn't like the tiles but loved the beautiful carved wood.  I ordered 4 new tiles from MexicanTiles.com for about 2$ each plus shipping, then popped out the old ones and glued in the new ones with Liquid Nails (see below).  I made a matching trivet, too.  Ta-da!  It's perfect hanging in my Spanish-themed kitchen, and can be taken down with a moment's notice to serve margaritas on the porch!  I love functional "art."

About Me

You should know something about me right off the bat.  I'm very cheap.  I think seriously before spending five bucks and regularly patrol several local thrift stores and neighborhood yard sales to find inexpensive items.  Part of that may come from the way I was raised - slightly thrifty with a mentality that wasting anything is bad - and part of that may come from surviving two years as a grad student in DC on minimal student loan refunds and 70$ per week in babysitting income.  Add that intense frugality to my creativity .. and you've got one crafty bastard!

I started this blog in order to share some of my projects with friends and family, as well as to basically brag about something really cool I made for practically nothing.  I hope you enjoy my ideas!