Clumsy Carpenter

We needed new bookshelves in the living room.  The $10 particle board ones we bought when we moved to Casa de Los Monos Voladores five years ago weren't cutting it.  They were never intended to be permanent.  Since Chief and I had done this before, we set out to build some simple shelves as replacements.  Piece of cake!

We made a trip to Lowe's and bought some lumber, screws, sealer, etc.  We took it home and "aged" it with a vinegar and steel wool mixture.  The finish really did turn out nice.  Then came time to build.

We made the mistake of decided to look at some examples and plans to see if we could glean any tips.

One of my favorite sites is Ana-white.com.  She creates plans for furniture, built-ins, toys, etc.  And they are FREE.  I definitely recommend you go look at her website just for inspiration.  We hope to have our project show up in the brag column soon.  They have even built a duplex for their mothers to live in so they can be near them.  No mean feat in Alaska.

We happened on a plan we really liked and it would allow us to try out a new "toy" I had just gotten, a joining jig.  That thing was fun and allowed us to do things we couldn't before.

This wasn't shelves, though.  It was a buffet.  Those of you who have been in my house know I barely have room for my dining table and chairs.  No way will a buffet fit in the dining area.  It would fit perfectly on that huge wall (16 feet wide with the peak of a cathedral ceiling that is about feet tall) in the living room.  Surely, it wasn't as massive as everyone commented.

So, back to Lowe's.  And it begins.  Unfortunately, I was too busy to take pictures as we went.

It went together with only a few minor hitches.  And 5 trips to Lowe's.  And 1 smashed thumb.  Not to mention, trying to finish it during one of the coldest Januarys in a long time in an unheated garage.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  

We hit one of those minor hitches with the drawer bottoms.  We were having trouble getting the recommended 1/4" plywood to line up so we could nail it.  This was not going to work.  After some contemplation and taking a look around the workshop (garage), we decided to use planks for the bottom just like we had built the sides and the top.  It turned out to be one of our favorite details.

Add some handcrafted hardware (not by us), and it is done.

Be sure to tell Chief what a nice job he did when you see him, I have some more "little" projects lined up.

Now about that wall...........

How We Made It Onto the Naughty List

It is finally here!  One of those projects that have taken SO long to be completed is finally finished.  Lots of thanks go to Chief Flying Monkey and FM1 for putting the chicken wire on and hanging everything (including the Christmas cards).

Neither idea is original.  I found both, in multiple styles, on Pinterest and other decorating/craft/diy websites.  I have not seen any pictures where they are hung together.  

Yep, it is a blue deer head (Dasher) and a memory board made from an extra large frame.  And, yes, the deer does have lights in his antlers.  You may be wondering where one finds a deer-head lamp.  Well, here in the South, we just check the local garage sales.  One might even show up at your local thrift store, just keep looking.

The frame is off the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby.  If someone had made a video of FM2 and I trying to load this seriously over sized frame into our RAV4, we would be YouTube stars.  It did fit, with some a lot finagling.

After applying primer (from a spray can to get into all the nooks and crannies since neither the deer nor frame were smooth), I applied spray paint to evenly coat the items.  Then Chief and FM1 attached chicken wire from a home improvement store to the back of the frame with a staple gun.  Then they hung it for me while I baked cookies.

The cards are attached to the wire with binder clips.  And it is done!