"H" is for Homemaker

So my favorite blog - http://www.ana-white.com/ - has started a little contest 'Homemaker of the Week' and the prize is a $50 gift card to Lowe's (for more wood of course) and I would love to win so I can build more things for our home but I need as many votes as I can get.  Please head over to Ana's blog and vote for me!


http://ana-white.com/2010/09/homemaker-of-the-week-kickoff.html

To vote:
1. Simply click on the link above.
2. Click on my slot (#10 Letter Lady's Stools).
3. Then click VOTE at the bottom of the entries.

You can scroll down the page to see my entry (which looks like this)

Thank you for your vote.  If I do win I promise to make something great for my home with the Lowe's gift card and of course I'll blog about it so everyone can see how easy and gratifiying it can be to make something for your home.

"B" is for Bench

Yes indeed I finished the bench for the back door and I can officially say my newest hobby is woodworking. It really was very easy to construct following Ana White's plans for the Easy Cube Bench from her blog http://www.ana-white.com/.

Here's my lovely all dressed up with baskets and a cushion:

And these are the pieces I cut to start (some 1x12's and 1x2's):

Then after less than an hour I had this:
And after one coat of primer, two coats of white paint, some sanding and one coat of satin poly we have:

And now all dressed and ready to go:

I'm not sure about the cushion in the long run but for now it will stay.

On to the next project.

I'm linking up to:

"G" is for Gift

Today happens to be my birthday and I got a great unexpected gift - my stools were recognized by Ana White in her blog post from yesterday!!!  I just had to share with everyone because it was such a great surprise. 

Here's the link to her post:

http://ana-white.com/2010/09/simple-modern-bar-stools.html

Thank you again Ana, I love, love your blog.

"B" is for Bike

A bike makeover to be exact. 

Girl #1 needed a bigger bike so I was able to acquire one from a Freecycler however it was totally a boy bike.  No problem thanks to Daddy's suggestion to spray paint it!  Here's some pictures of the process, of course I almost forgot to take a before shot so we are slightly in progress here:

The aqua blue color was her choice but it actually looks great with the yellow details on the brakes. 

After the paint went on:

Then I remembered I had some glittery floral rub ons from Grandma so we applied them:

Then I sprayed one coat of clear lacquer to seal the paint and the stickers -we'll see just how long they last.

And Grandma's getting the white basket for the front so she will be all set for next summer.

"S" is for Step Stool

I'm on a woodworking spree - first the stools, then the bench (complete but needing a cushion)and now a step stool for the kids.
They had taken to using the new drawer hardware pulls as a step to get things from the upper cabinets and I was not liking that so I found a solution. Something not too bulky or heavy or plastic or kidsy and still fits with the rest of the decor, plus it was virtually free!

It was made entirely from scrap pieces I already had. Again I followed Ana White's plans from her blog http://www.ana-white.com/ for the Ladder Table and it was very easy to put together.
And they love it and so do I.

"T" is for Topiaries

Topiaries and tv too!

As you can see the tv has finally been installed but it was looking very lonely all by itself above the fireplace so I made some topiaries. Below is how I did the topiaries, of course there are lots of tutorials on how to construct these all over the Internet but here's my version.

Supplies:
- (2) styrofoam balls
- (2) sticks
- (2) clay pots
- (1) garland length of boxwood faux greens (Michael's - don't forget your coupon Mom!)
- cement mix of some sort
- plastic container to hold stick and cement
- styrofoam or floral foam to keep plastic container in place in clay pot
- spanish moss or other covering
- raffia or other ribbon

First I pulled all the boxwood stems off the garland and divided my pile in two in order to make two topiaries.

Then I just started poking the stems into the styrofoam ball with some spacing between each stem. I left a bare spot on the bottom side of the ball because I ran out of stems and it won't be seen.


Next to prepare the sticks I simply put them in the plastic drink containers and poured cement in. I did put some small rocks in too for added weight. And for some reason the cement I had took forever to dry.
All pieces ready for assembly:

Then I placed the plastic containers in the center of the clay pots (which I did put felt on the bottom of the pot so as not to scratch any surface). I stuffed some styrofoam pieces all around for a snug fit.

Then I made a hole in the greenery covered styrofoam ball and pushed in onto the stick with some hot glue. Next I covered the styrofoam pieces in the pot with spanish moss and tied on some raffia.
This was really a 'make with what I had' project so it's not perfect but it definitely livens up the lonely tv.

And the bench for the back door is nearly complete, just needs some paint.

"S" is for Stools

I finally finished making the four counter stools for the island. The plans came from Ana White's Knock Off Wood blog and they were super easy. I modified her bar stool from the Simple Outdoor Collection to be counter height. They did take some time to paint, sand and paint some more but I think they look pretty good. We'll see how long they survive.

Completed and in place:


Now from the beginning. We started with a pile of wood which by the way girl #1 and #2 loved loading it onto the cart at Home Depot. It was a bunch of 1 x 2's and 1 x 3's.


Then I cut about a gazillion pieces and each kid got to work priming all the pieces. Let's just say the primer went on thick and goopy with lots of drips but thank goodness for the sander and some really coarse sandpaper.

Then we followed the instructions for screwing and gluing everything together:



Then I painted two coats of satin "Elegant White" and put them in place at the island just to see. Holy smokes way too sterile, too white on white.

So back to the garage and I brushed some stain over the white, then sanded some more:


Then added one last coat of the white satin, sanded some more and one coat of satin poly. Finally not so white, slightly worn looking and the kids love them:


Now that I have my first building project completed I'm ready to tackle another one. A bench with storage for the back door.