Will-Built DIY Shelving

Our mud room/laundry room has been getting  a lot of attention lately.  We all of a sudden came up with a bunch of ideas on how we want to improve it.  First of all, we got rid of the old baby blue color, that I thought made the mud room look dingy and it just didn’t flow or blend with the rest of the house.  So we painted the room a nice cheery, pale yellow Benjamin Moore paint called Soleil.  We painted our guest room that color last year, and absolutely love it.  Its pale, soft, cheery, and sunshiny.  And it’s not too dark and not too light.  Perfect.  So we thought this room needed a little cheering up too and the Soleil color did just that.

And, the bigger news is that my hubby just finished building, staining, and installing some awesome custom shelving units.  I LOVE these, they are a great use of the space, and they give me so much more storage and pantry space.

He built them with good quality pine, and we used wood conditioner and then a natural stain.  We got the idea from my Aunt Connie who has shelves just like this in her mud room, then found these Williams-Sonoma shelves.  I printed off the picture for Will, we took some measurements and he got to work!

He has turned our garage into a wood-working shop, and he’s pretty happy out there in his man room/work space.  In fact, he’s out there now working on another project we have for the laundry/mud room.  I’ll be showing some more upcoming DIY improvements later.  But for now, I’ll be enjoying the new shelves! 🙂

Happy Saturday and a Photo of the Week

Just wanted to pop in real quick since I’ve been MIA for the last couple of weeks.  I’ve had the most horrible chest cold/bronchitis this last week that has been a really hard one to kick.  I have been doing a little cooking, and have made several wonderful things that I would love to post so hopefully I’ll get one of them up soon.  It’s just been feeling like a lot of work to blog, and I haven’t had the energy to do much of anything.

My February WIP is coming along slowly but surely.  Yes it’s March and it’s not done yet.  But I think there’s a good chance it would have been finished by now if I wouldn’t have been totally wiped off my feet with the cold this entire last week, does that count for anything?   I feel like I’m turning in my homework late or something. 😉  I do need to finish this project asap though, so I can start my knit for March!

I’ve been making the Stockholm Scarf, pattern by Julie Crawford at Knitted Bliss. I just love this scarf, it’s an infinity scarf/big lacy cowl and it’s going to be so cushy and luscious I can’t wait to wear it.  I’m knitting it in Malabrigo Rios, which is a kettle-dyed, worsted weight, superwash merino wool and it is just gorgeous.  My color of choice is Teal Feather, and it has a touch more of a teal/green-ish tint to it in real life than how it’s shown in the picture.  I’ve really, really been loving so many shades of blues and greens lately, particularly teals, turquoise, and emerald.  So the rich color of the scarf makes this project very enjoyable, although the repetitive stitch pattern is getting tedious by now and is going very sloooowly.

Oh, and yes that is a little peak at the finished Will-built coffee table that I showed you a while ago.  The DIY coffee table, sofa console, and two side tables have been finished and in the house for quite a while now so I’ll hurry and get pictures up soon!  They turned out great and are very well put to use. =)

A Misplaced Elf, Perhaps

I’ve been thinking, maybe Santa has misplaced one of his elves from his wood working shop.  One of those handy guys must have made his way down here to live in our garage and help Will build some furniture.  I’m not saying that because I think that he needs the help and guidance from a wood-working expert, but because he built all this in just the last week…

I love finding furniture plans on Ana White‘s site, and we’ve been wanting to build this Coffee Table for a while now.  So Will got busy and built it, along with a couple End Tables and a Sofa Console to go with it.

A lot of Ana White’s furniture plans are made to mimic Pottery Barn furniture, which I why I love them.  This set looks just like their Hyde Coffee Table, the Hyde Side Tables, and their Sofa Console.  $1296 for these four pieces, PB??  Thanks anyway!  =)

I love that they’re solid wood (Pine) and so sturdy.  Also love that Will modified the plans a little to add on a shelf at the bottom of the end tables and the sofa table.

I’m pretty excited about our new furniture!  I’m going to help him with all the sanding and staining this week.  We should be able to put it all to use soon! =)

DIY Furniture #2

Don’t you just love making your house a home by do-it-yourself projects, finding crafty and thrifty ways to furnish and decorate?  I do!  My handy husband and I finished up making our second piece of furniture, a little shelf stand for our master bathroom.  Just like the last one, he did the building and I sanded, primed, and painted.  So fun!

And so nice to have a more finished touch to the bathroom… And additional storage!

I love this little shelf stand!  I found the plan for the Bath Storage Tower on Ana White’s website.

Isn’t it great?  I’m thinking one with a little less wide and deep would be a perfect plant stand for inside the house.  And another of the same size for the mud room, to keep a wire basket for potatoes and another basket for storing onions and garlic would be great!  So many great uses.

What would you love to use this storage tower for?  What color would you do?  🙂