House projects + little people = creative planning

I love doing projects but the comment I always hear from moms is "I could never do that, I don't have the time".

Reality is that with a busy schedule like mine it would appear that I don't have time either. But with a little creativity and some willingness to go slowly on a project you can do some pretty amazing things. I hate posting things on facebook or instagram when I complete a project because it gives the illusion that I just popped out another "quick" project. The fact is that it may take me weeks to finish something or even months depending on the project.

I thought I'd jot down a day-by-day schedule of how I work on a project. These things don't happen over night and I wish I had an entire day to work on stuff like this but that is not the season of life I am in right now.

Those who accomplish great feats are normally those who are willing to work on a small portion of their project each day. I break down a project by starting with a list of things I would like to get done on the project that week and determine which days I have time to spend on it. Some weeks I have more time than others. The next time I do this I'm hoping to write the actual amount of time I spent(setting up, doing the project and the clean up)

Project: Benches from Shanty 2 Chic. By the way, love their plan. I used their table plan as well.  I made a few tweaks to mine. Love how easy their plans are to follow. 

MONDAY:

I began cutting all the pieces for both benches. I didn't complete all the bench pieces. I had one angled piece I wasn't completely sure how to cut and wanted to ask my husband before I kept chopping up wood :) Maybe worked for an hour before needing to put all the tools away.

TUESDAY:

I cut the small pieces that are pictured on the floor. This took a lot of time because I needed 12 of them and the angles took me longer to cut. Plus, I only had about an hour to set up, cut, and clean up before heading out to instruct a water aerobics class and get my oldest two kiddos to swim team practice.

 WEDNESDAY:

I had a little more time. I was able to get all the pocket holes drilled for the top of the benches. Started to assemble the legs and then promptly broke my drill bit. Had to wait until I could pick up another one to complete the legs. Worked about 2 hours that day. I kept the kids busy using leftover wood to make their own projects for their tree house :) 

Here my daughter was measure to make her own table for her tree house

THURSDAY:

TOO MANY ACTIVITIES. NOTHING DONE :)

FRIDAY:

Worked on assembling more of the legs since I picked up a new drill bit. I opted to caulk the legs since I wanted a more finished look. Since I'm planning to paint them caulk worked really well.

I found that wood filler worked better for the actual screw holes since I could sand filler better than caulk. 

SATURDAY:

Completed assembling the top of the first bench. Trying out the idea of using 2x4's on the side(as the plan shows) rather than using the high quality 1x3's I used on my table. Also, sanded the legs and put a coat of stain on the legs so when I distress the paint I have a nice color coming through. 

UPCOMING WEEK:

My list:

2 coats of paint on bench legs

Distress bench legs

Seal bench legs

Fine grit sand bench top

Stain bench top

Tung oil bench tops

screw legs onto bench

assemble leg pieces for second bench

assemble top of 2nd bench

Caulk 2nd bench legs

Sand 2nd bench legs

Stain 2nd bench legs

paint 2nd bench legs

I may or may not get through this list. As any mom knows you just never know what your week may hold :) My ultimate goal for the month of June is to have both benches completed.  Now when you see my completed benches and table you'll really know that this wasn't some "quick" project. Even though the plan is quite simple and could be completed in a few days, my reality is that I don't have enough time. I take the time I do have and make the best of it :) 

Hanging Bunk Beds

We needed to utilize every square inch of the space in this bedroom. Due to the fact that the half walls limited the types of beds we could put in this room we decided to try Ana White's Hanging Bed plans. 

We couldn't completely hang them from the ceiling. We opted to bolt the beds to the wall on two sides. Then used the rope ladder we created to help give it a bit more support. The rope attached to the wall is merely decorative :)

I wanted to give the wood an aged appearance. I used steep tea as my first step. Then I used a vinegar and steel wool combination(steeped for a few hours). Applied it with a spray bottle and let it sit. You can find various recipes online for aging wood

Small Laundry Room Solutions

Our laundry room is very narrow and long and connected to our mudroom. Room size is approximately 5ft wide by 14ft long.

I have very little space to have laundry baskets of dirty laundry sitting in this room unless we want to be tripping over them as we're running out the door for swim lessons, music lessons, art class, playdates, and whatever else we sign ourselves up to do.

I decided to utilize the wall next to the washer by taking a piece of scrape wood(from another project) 1x10. I distressed the board by hitting the edges with a hammer and crow bar...the kids had fun watching me do this :) I then used some leftover stain and put a matte finish polyacrylic to seal the wood. Wax would work well too.

Handles/Hooks we're 50% off at Hobby Lobby and they run this sale quite frequently. I spent about $10 in hooks($2.50 each). I opted to have a set of dark for the dark clothes, and white hooks for the light clothing. I thought about using actual cabinet handles but those often go all the way through and you attach the back with a nut and washer. I wanted this piece to hang flat on the wall and the nut and washer would have gotten in the way.

Bags: I went to Menards and purchased a 9' x 13' drop cloth for $15. I cut 4 rectangles, about the size I wanted the bags to be. The leftover cloth I folded and sewed to make strips that I attached to the bags to make the hooks. This is my first set of bags and the seam on the one bag is in the center of the bag, I don't like the way it turned out. I'll probably rip it open and re-sew it so the seam is on the side of the bad and not the front.. I opted to sew the bottom of the bag straight across. The top of the bag I folded down and sewed down so it would have an nice clean finish and then attached the loops.

I'm planning on putting another one of these laundry hook bags on our 2nd floor for the kids. So much easier than trying to store laundry baskets in a small house!

Why I'll Never Go Back to a Standard 36" Sink

In our recent kitchen remodel I knew with 4 kids and constantly entertaining people I wanted a large sink. The only problem is that most large sinks are farmhouse sinks. I love the look of a farmhouse sink but I don't like the practicality of them. They are often difficult to use because when you're cooking you need to be able to wash veggies, straining noodles and need somewhere to put dirty dishes. If you need your sink to do all of these things AVOID a farmhouse sink(unless you have room to put another sink somewhere in your kitchen).  If you never cook and you just want the look, definitely go for a farmhouse sink.


We chose the Ariel 42" Stainless Steel 60/40 Zero Radius Under Mount sink which we purchased through EModernDecor online. We were able to purchase it on sale and a promo code for $342 out the door.


Pros:
Zero radius: I love having that little bit of extra space

Size: LOVE,LOVE, LOVE! Out of the things in our kitchen I think is one of the best decisions we made in the design

Deluxe Strainers: These little babies are the best strainers. Super easy to dump. They catch everything and you don't have to worry whether it's seated in the drain correctly. Wish every sink had these little baskets.

Steel: the steel is very sturdy. It's not super loud which is what I was concerned about. It sounds like a standard sink. No loud banging sounds


Cons:

Faucet: You will have to do extra research to find a faucet that has a long enough reach. A lot of standard sinks will not have a pull out that is long enough. Do your research!

We purchased our faucet through ATG Stores(owned by Lowe's). The Vigo faucet was the only one we could find that was black/oil rubbed bronze that had a long enough reach. ATG Stores had a sale and a first purchase discount of  15% off. Total was $132 with shipping and tax!