Remember this?

Several months ago, I decided I wanted to move from a dorm room-esque bed situation to something prettier more mature. I was thinking something like this bed from Ana White's blog.

From Ana-White.com

If you were with me back in January, you might remember that getting all the wood for this queenly project nearly outdid our poor little Civic.

Oops.

I will definitely do a project review soon, but for tonight, I'm just so excited to share the pictures of this project. Yes- the lighting is awful. Yes- I'll do better later this week. However, I owe several people images of this, so here you are, my lovelies {mostly just you, roommateo!}.

You might notice that one of the pillows has a distinctly dog-ish shape to it. *sigh* This simply means that Mr. P and I are suckers. We've kept Chowder off of the bed when we are in the room no matter what- we wanted to keep the bed a bit neater, keep Pepsi's food out of reach (it sits on the stand to the left) and... I dunno, I'm sure we had other reasons.

But look at this face.

Well... maybe not that one. How about this one?

He is so happy to be sharing the brand new fancy bed with us! Cuddle doggy, cuddle!

Well, believe me, he is excited. Very, very thrilled.

Stop back later this week to see a full project review {with better images}!


Also check out the DIY Show Off- there are a lot of great project inspirations on there!

 

And if you think that completing this bed finishes up 'Project Master Bedroom', then you are severely misled. We still have a reading nook, a litter-box hiding cabinet and artwork to address! To see other projects in progress, stop by Ma Nouvelle Mode!

Talk about ridiculous!

I have recently entered the wide world of woodworking {see here and here}. Now that I've completed those projects, I am ready to move onto the project I wanted to start with originally- a bed!

Specifically, this bed.

From Ana-White.com

The wood list for this one is fairly extensive (at least compared to my other projects), but I went to Lowe's this morning determined to get all the boards I'd need to make this happen. The only thing I changed is that instead of all the 1x8s that Ana used for the head and footboards, I just got a 4x8x3/4 piece of plywood and had it cut to the sizes needed for both pieces. I like the slightly more finished look of using one flat piece for each of those spots. Plus it was only $40 for the piece of blondewood ply! I was fearfully hopeful optimistic that everything would fit in our little Civic, and it did.

Just barely.

Were I any taller, this would not have worked. As it is, the helpful guys at Lowe's had to cut down my scrap piece of plywood to make it fit!

One of these days, between my equine addiction and my woodworking hobby, we may need to consider getting a truck. Or at least a large sedan. Those can tow a trailer, right??

Look at what I built!

And stained! Mr. Pony outgrew his bookshelf long ago with scholarly-type books and requested that I build him a bookcase. After hemming and hawing and pretending to design a bookshelf myself, I found this lovely plan on Ana White's site and decided that it was the one!

I used pine because it is cheap, and used MinWax Polyshades in Mission Oak. They recommended 2 coats of stain, but I did one and was happy with the results, with the added bonus that I didn't have to do another coat of poly to finish it up. This is the first time I've ever stained anything (and my 2nd building project at all), and I'm pleased with the results. I had a few issues with measuring {on the 6th or 7th try, I finally decided it was fine} and made a bit of a mess with some of the staining, but it came out well. Plus, for a total cost of $40 (and I have a 1/2 can of stain left over for another project), this was way cheaper than buying something of equivalent size and solidity.

Now Mr. Pony is quite happy with his more suitable bookshelf, and I'm considering what my next project should be!

Look what I made!

Buying furniture can be very frustrating. Solid wood stuff is insanely expensive, stuff in my price range is made of MDF or other pretend wood substances, and its hard to get the right combo of style and finish. To answer this dilemma, Ana White at Knock-Off Wood has made designs for many of my favorites from Pottery Barn, C&B and others, and they are set out so a carpentry newbie such as myself can figure them out! My first attempt was the Tryde side table, and I think it was a success!

There were a few issues (such as cutting a 4x4 with a jigsaw), but overall I'm happy with my first attempt at carpentry. There are several other projects I want to do, but I think we'll invest in a table saw first, and then I'll do something more beginner-intermediate (I'm thinking an open back bookcase), so we shall see.

I started with this.

And several hours and 1.5 cans of green spray paint later, we have this!

Much better!! And the plants just got separated out from a monster that was taking over our window seat. Anyone have any idea what kind of plant those are? A friend gave one to me a while ago, and you just break off parts, stick them in the dirt and they'll start growing. The thing I like best about them? I haven't been able to kill it yet!!