Shelf or "Case" for my Bathroom made from all pallet wood!

So as I said in my previous post I have been working on this shelf I made out of pallets. I found an idea for it on pinterest. It does not look exactly the same way, but my interpretation. I have a huge bathroom in this old house (literally the size of a large bedroom) and I need something to help fill it up as well as be useful. So I seen this post (The inspiration!) on pinterest and thought it would be great for towels and maybe a cute trinket or "what not".

So I started out with two pallets, and if you have taken apart pallets before not all pieces are great and may have a split in the wood ( I use those for other projects). I disassembled the pallet and chose my wood. (And of course I am impatient and like to finish projects as quick as possible and forget to take picks in-between).

Here is my wood pile for the 2 sides, back, and the dark wood in the back was used for the shelves to rest on. I laid out all of my wood and determined the height of my shelf base on the shortest piece of wood. I then measured the rest of the wood and cut them even with the shortest one. On my case I used 3 pieces on each side and 5 across the back. The two shelves in the center have three pieces. After I put the sides and back together I screwed on the shelves. Then I chose two pieces of wider wood that are usually the end pieces on the pallets for the base, I did the same for the top, leaving an over hang of about 2 inches. I had a gap in the back on the top and I sat staring at it for about an hour when I looked down at my scrap pile and seen the triangles that were cut from the pieces the shelves rest on. So I started playing around with them and this is what I came up with....

For the very bottom I cut two pieces of the pallet that all the boards are attached to. I measured them out so that the arch that is in them was even on both the front and the back. (HINT: Measure twice cut once :) )

Then I sanded it down, this took about an hour and I used my mouse sander (which I love, the sandpaper velcros onto the sander, and a 5 pack of sandpaper costs about $2 at Walmart). 

Afterwards I stained it with "sunbleached" stain. I was trying to go for something that seemed beachy... As I plan on repainting my bathroom soon and want to do a light blue and I think this will be a perfect match. 

I only used one coat of stain and let it sit over night, the next morning I sprayed it with a furniture finishing spray that is clear with no gloss. 

Here she is in the daylight. I love how she turned out ( not sure why I think of it as a she)!

Hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions feel free to message me and I can give a more detailed explanation. :) 

My little guy insisted on a bird house...

So I have been working on a pallet shelf for the last week and I am nearly done with it. While in the midst of the project I asked my little guy, who is 7, to give me some assistance with some things that I needed more than two hands. After this he insisted on making something himself. I think he was enjoying just playing with the small drill at first but then all of a sudden he got serious :) He is so much like me .... As he began to make his creation he said I must post it on my blog...so here it is. And it is the most adorable bird house I have ever seen, with only a little assistance from mom with wood cuts that he measured.

My handsome little craftsman... ( Don't mind the mess, my porch becomes my work area :)

Hard at work and never smashed a finger once... unlike his mom :)

And the finished product. I love how unique it is. 

So serious!. He did a fabulous job! Now he's already talking about his next project...What will I do with two of us in the house trying to create masterpieces :) I'm sure his will be WAY better than mine. 

Hope you enjoyed my little guys birdhouse! 

Pallet wood projects!

I am really bad at taking before and during pictures. So I have been making things out of pallet wood because I am lucky to have connections and get them free :) So here are some of the projects I have made :
If you have any questions on how just message me.

 

Sign I made for my bestie!

 Wine bottle and glass wrack. Still needs stained

 Tool caddy so that I can bring all of my tools that I need out at once instead of multiple trips.

Sign I made for my office/craft room... fits perfectly!

Sewing project.... Purses :)

I got an idea to make my own purse a couple weeks ago and once I get an idea and I really want to do it I become really impatient. So, since I lost the cord to my sewing machine and it wasnt working properly the last time I used it, I went and bought a new one...I am spoiled. I chose some thick home interior fabric and picked out a pattern at Walmart that I really liked. Well I am not good at following instructions first time around and if you are a beginner and read those instructions on the pattern you are like me and I have to look up every other word...they should come with a work key! Any ways here is the first one I made...not the greatest but I enjoyed it for a week or two before I decided to make more.

So like I said I decided to make a more...I have made a couple for family and friends and here is the most recent. I made one for my friend and fell in love with the patterns so I had to have one for myself as well :)

Hope you like them :)

Another thrift store project!

I was in need of some lamps and did not want to spend $30+ each on a lamp. So I visited the thrift store again and found two lamps that I liked the shape of but didn't care for their colors. I had a little trouble with one of them so I will post that one after I figure out a way to do it the way I want it. Here is the first I paid $5.50 for the lamp and $6 for the lampshade at Ollie's.

 I liked the center part of the lamp but I hate brass. So I taped up the center part with packing tape and a paper grocery bag. I also wrapped up the cord. Then I took it out away from the house because it was super windy, but the first really warm day. I sprayed one coat of dark brown spray paint. I believe I used Rustoleum. Went back about an hour later and sprayed a second coat and this is how it turned out. I LOVE it! It was hard to get a really good picture of how dark the brown is but I think it turned out great. Hope you enjoy my $15 lamp after paint, lamp, shade.

Thrift store gold!

A month or so ago I was out thrift store shopping, and I came upon a dresser and a circular end table. I paid $29 for the dresser which is real wood and in great condition, the end table however is in need of TLC lots of it!

So my idea for this dresser was to turn it into a TV stand. I LOVE pinterest and I am always coming across pins where they have turned a dresser into a TV stand. My plan is to remove the 1st drawer and turn it into a shelf. I have had an ikea TV stand for the last couple years, I hate the thing but it was what I could afford at the time. So back to the dresser, it sat in my laundry room for about a month while I considered what I was going to do. One night I decided I am going to finally do something with this. I attend college and had to go back in a couple days and I wanted to get it done before then. 

Here is what the dresser looked like when purchased....

I started sanding it before I realized, crap I need pictures :). I read a lot of posts about how to paint wood furniture and the prep work that goes with it. So, I went to the store and bought a Sanding Block and some protective eye wear. I took all the drawers out and sanded all the surfaces, enough that when I was finished the piece was no longer shiny. 

After sanding I wiped it down with a damp rag to pick up all the sand/dust. 

I love dark, masculine, and earthy tones when it comes to paint and furniture. I decided that I was going to paint this dresser black but leave the drawers brown, because I seen a post on pinterest where someone had done that with a buffet and I loved it. 

The paint I already had on hand from some shelves I had painted for my office. Its recommended that you use a primer, preferably two coats when painting furniture, to prevent peeling and what not. The paint I had already had a primer included (it was more expensive but worth it). 

I painted it in the evening while we were watching a movie. I would paint a coat and come back after a half hour to an hour and paint another coat. I did three coats on this.

I am very impatient and all about instant gratification so after the last coat was pretty much dry I had to put the drawers in to see how it looked....

I wasn't happy with it...I felt like there was not enough black breaking up the brown, so I experimented with one of the drawers, and I chose to paint the raised parts of the drawers, and I did this by using painters tape around the edges before painting. I highly recommend using the tape.

I loved the blocking of the drawers but I still felt like it needed something else, so the strip down the middle of the drawers had to be painted too. Here is my finished product ( well not completely finished, I am still trying to find drawer pulls that I like, as well as there are some repairs needed to the bottom of the drawers)

I absolutely LOVE it and couldn't wait to get it in the living room, but I had to wait and make sure it was completely dry before moving it and putting anything on it. (No instant gratification in that :) ) So here is the final product set up....

I am so in love with the piece and everyone who has seen it, is astounded that not only was it a dresser but that I re-purposed it! And frankly I love to save money, buying something like this in a store would have cost me well over $250 because its real wood. I only paid $29 for the dresser and probably will have another $20 invested in pulls and hardware. Can't beat that deal! Hope you enjoyed my first post, I am working on the end table now so hopefully it will be posted soon!

~Nikki~