Makeover Monday: Outdoor Furniture

Most of you know by now how much I love Knock-Off Wood.  So today is yet another project brought to you courtesy of Ana (and of course the man who supports my lumber habit).

Our front porch has sat empty for the three-and-a-half years we’ve lived here, and I was more than ready for that to change.  The problem is that I could never find anything I really wanted to put out there.  A bistro set would work, but they’re not very comfortable and no one really uses them.  Rockers could work, but they’re awfully large, not to mention expensive.

Ana’s Simple Outdoor Lounge Chair looked promising, so I told myself I’d try making just one.  If I didn’t like it I’d just put it in a yard sale.  But ooooh, did I ever like it.  A lot.  So I made a matching side table as well - a smaller, modified version of the one my girls made a few weeks ago.

I made a few small changes to Ana’s original plan.  First, I used a 1×4 for the back pieces (instead of a 1×2).  I did this both for consistency of appearance and for seat strength.  Second, my husband has a bad back, so I needed our chairs to be taller.  As written, the chairs are a few inches lower than standard height (though still higher than an Adirondack).   She tells you to cut the leg pieces at 22.5″, but I made mine a little taller at 25.5″.  Therefore, I also had to change the attachment point (her step 4) to be 15.25″ (moving it up 3″) so that the seat was at the proper heighth. 

Also, on step 9 when it is time to attach the back, I tested it for comfort.  Holy reclining seat Batman.  I’m sure my perspective is skewed because I do like to sit straight, but wow.  The Lounge Chair title of this one doesn’t do it justice in my eyes – it is really, really loungy!  I opted to put a second piece of 1×4 across the back, on the inside of the armrests, so that the seat is less reclined.  Much better. 

Things I might do differently the next time: 

• If I were in these chairs very often, I think I’d want a  2×4 to make it even less reclined.
• Test and measure other chairs that I am comfortable in. These chairs are very comfy for me (5’7″), but I am long-waisted, so my chief complaint here is that the arm rests are too low.  My elbow hits about 4″ above the arm rest, rendering them essentially useless for me.

• Consider making different heighths for different people.  My mom is short (5’2″) and my modified chairs are too tall for her – her feet dangle.  However, even the original plan wouldn’t be quite right, because the seats are also too deep for her. 
• Stain or prime and paint all boards before building.  I know this.  I always know this.  But I’m always too anxious to get to work and I never take the time to do it.  Then when the time comes to paint, the job is a whole lot harder.  Don’t be like me – take the time to paint first.  Trust me, on a piece with lots of slats like this, it’s worth it.

Instead of paint, I opted to use a solid stain.  It’s one-step easy and lasts for years, especially on a covered porch.  And it comes in every color of the rainbow. Score!  I had originally considered white but I’m not sure why – I quickly moved on to debate between black or a dark wood stain, and ended up going for black.

Here is my before:

And after:

Ok, so the whole house didn’t exactly change.  But it does look better!  And once I find some appropriate cushions, they will be truly smashing.  Wanna help on that front?

I’m looking for bright colors, but all I seem to find are old-lady florals.  I really dig these throw pillows (or these), but they don’t sell matching seat cushions.  I love orange.  I don’t want a back (I don’t think. Do I?)  I need a 20×20″ seat.  I don’t want a solid color.  I don’t dig stripes or plaid.  Any suggestions for me?  I’d love some links!

Makeover Monday – Side Table

Ok, so this week isn’t exactly a makeover.  It’s not even close.  It’s just a little table.

But if you look closely, you’ll see that it’s actually a lot more.

It’s actually my daughters’ own creation (with the help of plans from Ana, of course).

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do let my kids play with tools.  I encourage it.

Anyone who knows me would laugh at the suggestion I am a feminist, but I suppose in this one way, maybe I am just a little.  I want my girls to be able to do anything.  Everything.  I don’t want them to stick with traditionally feminine roles.  I want them to be smart and confident and know that actually, they can fix things and build things and get dirty, just like the boys. 

Better than the boys.

I think Ana is an inspiration in that regard.  If you have ever seen her, she’s not exactly how you’d picture a female carpenter.  She’s teeny tiny and absolutely gorgeous.  She’s a femme fatale weilding a nail gun.  How cool is that?

I want my daughters to know that they can do what they set their minds to do.  And yes, I do hope that leads them to build things.  Because it feels really, really great to look at something you created.

And also it feels great to save money.

This side table was created with wood I had left over from another project.  However, if you’d like to build one yourself, it would cost around $15 in lumber.  Not bad for a $199 Pottery Barn knock-off, eh?  You can’t even order a swatch of wood from Pottery Barn for that price!

And every time I look at our table, I get to appreciate the kind of beauty that Pottery Barn can’t sell.

The cuts that aren’t quite straight

The holes that Lilly filled with caulk instead of wood putty

The love (and mess) that went into the paint job

The end result?

You can still see a few gaps.

The cuts weren’t perfect.  The paint isn’t perfect.  They were too impatient to sand properly.

Yet it’s still the most beautiful table we own, if you ask me.

Pottery Barn sells Perfect, no doubt.

But Knock-Off Wood gave us a pretty perfect day, and that’s worth a whole lot more to me.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Makeover Monday – Kids Storage Cubby

Sorry for the hiatus – I guess after NaBloPoMo, I needed a break.

As I mentioned before, I have a real child-made-mess in my house every afternoon.  I’m far from being a neat freak, but this could get overwhelming and I needed a fix.

I’ve long admired cute kids’ cubbies, but I’ve never been fond of the accompanying price tags.

$340.90

Enter my fabulous father, and a bunch of scrap wood that he and I both had leftover from various other projects. 

Unfortunately we don’t have a mud room in this house – the garage door opens into the kitchen – so I needed a cubby that would stay in the garage.  And because the garage is one space in our house that is super organized, I also needed a custom cabinet made to fit in a specific area. 

The end result:

I wanted 3 storage sections for each of the girls (adult coats have a separate set of hooks on the wall).  The cubbies are 16 inches deep, allowing plenty of room for wide backpacks and heavy winter coats to be fully contained within.  The overall unit is 48 inches square, allowing me to have nice large spaces for the girls, and making it very easy to use a half sheet of plywood for the back of the cabinet.

The small shelves at the top are perfect for lunch boxes for the older girls.  Since Lilly isn’t in school yet, I bought this perfectly sized basket (at Wal-Mart, natch) and it’s holding the kids’ mittens and scarves.

I installed 2 hooks in each cubby, one for a coat and one for a backpack.  One could easily go on the back of the cabinet as well, if you need another place to hang gear.  I’m still deciding whether or not to add them to store our soccer bags.  The girls have also been leaving their school shoes in the bottom of each, which has been especially nice.  No more last minute searching for one missing shoe!

Because our cabinet is in the garage, I also purchased a carpet runner to go in front, so they wouldn’t be walking through in the socks.  It’s exactly 48 inches long, too! 

Bought that perfection at Wal-Mart as well.

And it sits directly beside the door to the house, so while their things are completely hidden and out of the way, they are still very conveniently located.  A win-win!  This is a storage solution that literally transformed my kitchen, and it happened immediately.  The clutter vanished - how often can you say that?

This cabinet was constructed in one day, and cost about $60 including paint.  Yours could possibly be done for less if you don’t put legs on the bottom – the legs added about $15 to the total.  It is a fairly straightforward and easy DIY project, and if you have a saw and a drill, you can make this happen.  In fact, you could have the boards cut at the store and not even need the saw!

Have a makeover project?  I’d love to hear about it!  Have questions about how to build your own?  I’d be happy to help! 

Answer the questions, that is - not build your cubby.  I’ll be too busy with my next project!

Makeover Monday – The ‘I did nothing’ edition

I actually have several projects lined up to show you in the future, but I did nothing to make today’s post possible.  Well, no actual work that is.  I did use my fingers whilst sitting on the sofa, for whatever that’s worth.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and started hopping from there, eventually landing on one of the most fabulous blogs I have ever seen.

Seriously.

I’m going to give you the link now because I know you’re dying of curiosity, but please don’t leave me just yet, ok?

Knock Off Wood

Now I am a DIY girl, but I’ve got nothing on Ana.  She’s a self-taught carpenter extraordinaire and she is amazing y’all.  Totally amazing.

She started like many of us, with champagne taste and a beer budget, and she decided to do it herself and save a bundle.  This bed was her first project:

photo and design by Knock Off Wood-all praise & credit to Ana

Yes.  She made that. 

Impressive, right?  And you can make it too, with a few tools, $120, and her easy-to-follow plans.

Does it look familiar?  It might, because it’s actually a knock-off of this bed from Pottery Barn.  Except it’s $1230 cheaper.

$1230.  Or as I like to think of it, 5 round-trip airplane tickets to Disney.  Not bad, right?

She has plans for knock-off furniture of all sorts, inspired by upscale stores like Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, and Restoration Hardware.  She even has a dining room table inspired by a $2750 Restoration Hardware piece – her cost? $9.98.

Nine-ninety-eight.

A dining room table.  For less than ten dollars.  And it’s gorgeous.

You’re totally sold, aren’t you? 

So was I.  Which is exactly why I fully intend to make these (complete with wall clips)

Again, all credit to Knock Off Wood (my new hero)

appear in our playroom.  How awesome is that setup?  Totally needed.

Ana’s blog has inspired me to take my garage full of tools and my DIY spirit to the next level.  Now in my case I wasn’t exactly planning on buying new furniture so she might be costing me money rather than saving it.  But we won’t be focusing on that little detail.  Instead, I’m getting excited about how beautiful my house will be when I crank out a few of Ana’s projects.

Now if she only offered a professional organizing service, I’d really be in business.

*Full disclosure – I’m getting nada for writing this.  I wasn’t asked to write it, I’m not being paid for writing it, and I have no vested interest in anything here.  I’m just all about the sharing.

Oh, and PS) I forgot one of the very best parts – her plans are free. FREE!  This girl rocks, y’all.  Check her out!