Five Board Bench and Rolling Storage Crate

Let me tell you, if you've never built anything before and have an interest in woodworking, start with this bench! It went together very easily and the places where a beginner would make a mistake are on the sides and therefore easily covered up. :)

 

We used it about 2 weeks before I decided we needed something to go under it to hold our daughter's shoes. At the time, we had a puppy and I didn't want to just put the shoes in baskets that a puppy could easily get into, so I built the rolling crate from Ana's site as well. 

I used pallet wood that my husband found for me and just cut it all to length to fit in the bench, and it works perfectly. Even more perfect? I made it all by myself. :)

Party Line Finds

There's an afternoon radio show out here where people call in with their junk really great stuff for sale, and since Lily goes down around 1, I'm always around the radio for it (we don't have TV, so picture us sitting around the radio in the evenings). I'm a bit of a junker at heart, and responded to a call saying she had old doors and screens for sale. Gasp! I've been looking for an old door with character to make into a headboard. Josh, amazingly, was completely on board and said, and I quote, "Get what you want." Yessssss!

Anyway, here are my finds. This is the screen that I went to buy, and I just love it.

 

It's so simple and country. A good cleaning up and a couple coats of polyurethane and she's good to go. It's got some great details like the hinges...I wish I had a box full of these babies!

 

And the handle is even cute.

I had planned on using it as the headboard until my husband saw the barn door I also bought...

Now while the screen is a "she," the door is definitely a "he." He weighs a ton and it built like a brick. I really didn't want a window in the door we would use for a headboard (I have symmetry issues), but Josh loved it so much that I don't think I'll be able to say no.

I just love rusty stuff. :)

And then she had these sitting out for $10 each. I loved that this one had some messed up glaze, and I think it would look cute on the end of the mudroom bench. And yes, that's the blue dresser that I have yet to blog about. I'm waiting on my super cute drawer pulls to come in, then it will be up here for all to see.

While I was in the shop, I decided to take "in progress" pictures of a couple other projects I have going on. This is the bench I built using ana-white.com's Five Board Bench plans. I'm not loving it in black, but I hope with a little distressing I will like it more. I've also been thinking about stenciling something on the front of the bench, but I can't decide what...our last name? "Kick off yer boots!"? "Mudroom"? There will be a rolling crate made from pallet wood under it that I could also stencil something onto...

I also have had these two shutters sitting around since last fall when I rescued them from my brother-in-law's bonfire and I'm just kind of waffling on what to do with them. I've sort of decided to paint them white and use them as photo/art displays either in our dining room or Lily's room, but we'll see what happens. Any suggestions are appreciated. :)

I can't wait to show you the "after" pictures!

Little Red Step Stool

Cute, right? I know! I found the plans here, at ana-white.com and went to town on it. I knew I wanted a red step stool, because it would match the kitchen and bathroom, but I couldn't decide which one: the vintage one (link above), the storage step stool, or the ladder table.

I finally went with what looked like the easiest one. My dad and I bought wood, screws, and paint at Lowes
and got to work. I had used a circular saw before, but never a jig saw. Let's just say it was a good thing we bought extra. The first two sides I cut were so "off" that they weren't even close enough to sand down to match. It was bad. So I tried again and they were almost perfect! I drilled the holes, forgot to glue them (let's all hope it doesn't fall apart!), and screwed it together in a matter of about 15 minutes. Filled the holes, sanded it down, and got right to painting (my favorite part).

The red is Valspar Heirloom Red and it is absolutely perfect. It's like that barn red that is bright, but not too bright. I put two good coats on it, sanding after each coat, distressed the edges a bit, and then a coat of polyurethane. The only poly I had was semi-gloss and it's a little too shiny for my taste, but it will do. Lily (and her playmate for the day) loved it!