Guess what we did!

Yesterday Andy and I headed to Ikea to grab some stuff for the new house. We aren't in yet so we have to store it for now. We would have waited until we were in but they were having an awesome deal where they would give you a gift card worth 15% of the price of a couch. Since we needed a couch we decided to go for it, that way we could get some more stuff for free. Take a look:

Yeah those three carts are ours, plus that package that I'm standing next to had to get placed on a cart as well. Lucky for us we brought a little U-Haul trailer, otherwise we would have been in trouble. It feels kind of weird dropping a ton of money (for us) like that, but we have been saving for this couch since we started building, so we basically paid cash. Plus the gift card deal helped out tremendously, we got two chairs for free. I can't wait to get it in the new place and put it all together, it is going to be awesome. Only 2 more weeks y'all!

The only thing I'm seriously worried about is the house looking too Ikea. I mean I love Ikea, I'm a big fan of clean lines and a slightly modern feel, but I think too much of their stuff together can have that first apartment feel that I really want to avoid. We plan on having a nice mix of stuff that we are building ourselves and buying from other stores as well, it's just a concern that I have, but I'm not sure how do you furnish a house on a budget without a little bit of Ikea in there. Any ideas?

DIY: Mock Pallet End Table Top

I have a slight obsession with pallets that are turned into coffee tables. I think it's amazingly resourceful and looks wonderful, if you have the right pallet. We are planning on attempting a pallet coffee table for the new house but we have never been big into coffee tables, mostly because the dogs like to run around. What I really wanted to do was create end tables out of pallets but something that size is really hard to come by. So a few weeks back I had an idea to create an end table that looks like a pallet out of furring strips and some 2x4 studs. It was a super simple project and I'm excited to share it with you.

For this project we bought:

• 2- 2x4x8
• 3- Furring Strips 1x3x8
• Plus wood for legs (will get to that later)

Cut List

• 2  - 2x4 @ 24" (for table top support)
• 3 - 2x4 @ 21" (again for table top support)
• 9 - 1x3 @ 24" (for table top)

Tools we needed

• Miter Saw
• Drill
• Counter sink bit
• Phillips head bit
• 7/64" drill bit*
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Hammer
• 12- 2" wood screws
• 27- 1 1/4" finishing nails

* Just needs to be a little bit smaller than the screw

First Andy and I measured and cut all the wood, (yes I used the saw and I was proud). 

Then we arranged the 24" 2x4's and the 21" 2x4's like so: 

Basically, we created a box out of the 4 pieces and then added a brace in between to stabilize the table top.
Andy then used the drill bit to drill a guide hole for the screw, used the counter sink so the screw head would sit flush with the table, then actually screwed it in. He repeated this process two times at each of the four corners and also two times on each side of the brace beam.

You can see the counter sink next to where he is drilling. 

Actually screwing the pieces together.

Once that was completed we had to nail the table top on. With this portion we just laid out the nine 24" 1x3's across the table and arranged them so that the spaces were even. This was, for us, just a trial and error process. We could have used less 1x3's and had bigger spaces in the table top or we could have used more and had zero spaces in the table top. It's really whatever you prefer. We preferred something like this:

Once we figured out how we wanted the spaces we made a little mark on each side of the base where we wanted each piece of wood, this made it easier when we started nailing them all. We just nailed each piece three times. Once on either side and one in the middle where the support beam is. We used finishing nails because it gave it a cleaner look but you could also use standard nails to make it more pallet like.

Voila we had a table top. Which is where this project stops. See, we want these to be our end tables but we don't have a couch for our great room yet, so we really want them to sit flush (or at least) close to our couch so we are waiting on the leg portion of this project until we figure out what size our couch is going to be. I promise to post a link to the leg portion of this project when we get to it.

Target-0, Amanda-1

A little back story before I start my tale; I have been on a quest for a dressing table for some time. My makeup and beauty supplies have minds of their own, they spread out all over the counter. It drives Andy crazy. I don't blame him, I try to keep up with it but I have a lot of crap and storage in our bathroom is minimal. Anyway, I have been searching for a dressing table to organize my makeup and such and give me my own space to get ready. I have found several options, but haven't pulled the trigger on any until Saturday night.

One of the vanities I was looking at was on Target's website and the website was having a sale, if you spent $125 on furniture you got 15% off your purchase. The vanity was not that much so I looked at the matching stool for the vanity and added it to my cart to get the discount. The 15% off wasn't added to my purchase and I couldn't figure out why. The table had a little disclaimer next to it that said if you spent $125 on furniture you got 15% off but not the stool. I looked at other stools that had the disclaimer, but not the one that matched my vanity. So I decided to call the customer service line to see if they could explain it to me. When I finally got someone on the phone, she took a look at my cart and told me simply, well the offer isn't applied to the stool (which I could obviously see). I explained to her that I could see that but I wanted to know why since it was furniture and my purchase was over $125. She said the same thing, the stool just isn't included in the sale. After asking why three more times and getting the same answer (seriously, it was like an awful Abbott and Costello routine), I thanked her for her "help" and hung up. I was so mad about the whole thing that I ended up not purchasing the set that night.

On Sunday night I decided to see about another vanity but opened the Target vanity to compare styles only to see that both the table and the stool went on sale! The combined price of the two was less than the table's original price! Success! I win! I thank the customer service person for making me so mad that I didn't order the items on Saturday and ended up saving about $60 by waiting an extra day.

DIY: Book Mobile Part 1

Remember this project:

Well I did it! I found my cable spool! I just have to say Home Depot rocks! We were wandering through the store the other day and I saw a cable spool that looked to be a good size for a coffee table. So I asked an associate if I could have one and after some chit chat we got to take it home for free! Woot! While we were there we picked up the rest of the supplies for the project, 4 dowel rods 3/4", 3 casters, and some paint.

Beautiful isn't it!

It's even better than I could have hoped for, I mean it's in great shape. So this weekend Andy and I decided to work on turning it to a table for the new house. First thing we had to do was try to pound  down the nails to make the top surface even. 

We tried a chisel and hammer but the wood was way tougher than we expected, so we ended up just using the hammer. After about fifty billion strikes we used some wood putty over the nails and over the jagged bits to give the surface a smoother texture. 

Before putty...

After putty!

Once the surface was looking like it wouldn't cut somebody it was time for measurements to figure out where to put the spokes. 

Andy is much better with measurements so he took over at this point (and yes that is my cup of coffee sitting on the spool, I was testing it out)

Andy thought that a clock pattern would be best for the placement of the dowel rods. He measured across the spool and marked about and inch in on either size at 12 and 6 then again at 9 and 3. Then he went around between 12-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and put two more marks in between each set roughly equal distance apart (I say roughly because there were a lot of nails and he was trying hard not to hit any of them when it came time to drill). 

Next Andy and I took the spool outside and used a 3/4" spade bit to drill the holes at the marks. There were some complications during this project as Andy hit nails in three different spots. To remedy this he simply used a chisel and hammer to hit the nails back and finished drilling. Once all the holes were complete we had to measure the dowel rods for sawing. 

Andy simply placed one into the hole and made a pen mark at the point where the dowel hit the table top. During the saw process he simply went a little under the mark so that the dowel wouldn't stick up out of the hole on the table. After sawing all the dowels we forced them through the holes on the spool and it's really starting to look like a book shelf table!

(Pardon the wonky dowel rod, it is a work in progress)

Stay tuned as tomorrow will unveil part two of this project!

Furniture love...

Alternative title: I don't need to eat.

With a new house on the way I'm getting crazy excited about the decorating aspect. I've already started DIY projects and bought a couple smaller pieces for the new place. Plus I spend a little exorbitant time on Pinterest searching for ideas to make my own and furniture that I would love to have. One thing led to another last night and I found this:

 

This is the Avery Bed by Chatham Hill Furniture

I am in love with this bed. I love the worn rustic look, the three raised panels, everything about it really. Except for the price tag. (I will say that it is a custom made piece of furniture made out of solid wood that you can customize the color, so I understand the following price tag) It's $6,000. Yeah. I know. Bye, bye dream bed. I wonder if there is any way to DIY something similar. I highly doubt it. 

If you have any ideas or know where I might find something to suit our needs let me know.