chestwick platform bed

many thanks to ana white's awesome blog - and the FREE plans she provides to all of her readers - if you're ever feeling crafty, you should totally check our her blog. its massive. she is a genius.... if only i could get over my unexplained fear/anxiety of table saws...

z and i are in desperate need of a new bed - the one i "jankily threw together right before moving in just so we had something to put our mattress on" is starting to get a little old - its basically plywood with a 2x4 frame underneath and some 4" 4x4 legs.  super basic, not so nice. will make great scrap material for another project - or for rose to gnaw on.

needless to say, it was time to update. so i made my way to ana's blog - in search of a platform bed. i came across the chestwick platform bed... even better, the dimensions were already specific to a queen size bed, jackpot. plus, no table saw required! AND its a replica of pottery barn's cheswick platform bed which retails for $800 (right now it's on sale for chump change... $550)

ana's directions are fairly straight forward, make sure to read user comments as they provide additional insight, i would also head over to whitney's blog shanty2chic who ana partnered up with to build the chestwick bed. shanty2chic has a couple more detailed shots of the bed. i would recommend downloading the PDF from ana's website for any project, the documentation is very detailed and contains all the specifics. 

so one thing you will notice....  i am really good at before and after photos but terrible at taking "mid-point" photos. so bear with me while i work on that aspect.

kreg jig k4

to start, i did go out and buy a kreg jig k4 pocket hole system, which is AWESOME. it hides your screw holes when you are joining two pieces of wood together. definitely worth the $99, especially if you plan on making a bunch of items. 

z and i went to Lowe's and got all of our supplies, but as is usual with any diy project, multiple trips are guaranteed. plus some returns in the future on items we didn't need (ahem woodworking screws and the wrong type of finishing nails recommended by an employee). i cannot emphasize enough - make sure that whenever you're purchasing lumber - for any project - you are checking the pieces of lumber for straightness, knots, warping.

Here's what we bought:

• 4 – 4” tall Furniture Feet
• 4 - 3" waddell table leg straight top plate
• 8 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding, 8 feet long
• 4 – 2x8 @ 8 feet long
• 3 – 2x4 @ 8 feet long
• 8 – 1x3 @ 8 feet long
• Wooden slats (aka 8 - 1 x 3 @ 8 feet long since we are not using  a boxspring)
• 50 count 2 1/2" pocket hole screws - Kreg Jig brand - self drilling so that makes it nice
• 100 count 1 1/2 pocket hole screws - Kreg Jig to attach 1x3's to 2x8's
• A box of 1 1/4" finishing nails 

total cost of all the material was about $120

I had to work in the garage - on the floor with the miter saw - my back and thighs hurt so maybe my next project is making a collapsible work table. Anyways - here were the cuts I made (per the instructions).

chestwick all put together

Cut List:

• 2 – 2x8 @ 63”
• 2 – 2x8 @ 80”
• 3 – 2x4 @ 80”
• 4 – 1x3 @ 80”
• 4 – 1x3 @ 65”
• 4 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding @ 63” (shortest point, both ends mitered at 45 degrees off square)
• 4 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding @ 83” (shortest point, both ends mitered at 45 degrees off square)

i had the hardest time with the moulding - and its the most expensive. i always recommend doing test cuts with the moulding like 3 - 5" up from where the actual cut needs to be made so that way you can see if how you are cutting is the actual way it needs to be  - i learn kinesthetically, so this method helps in that sense. 

i put two pocket holes on each end of the 80" 2x8's. so a total of 4 pocket holes per 80" 2x8. to attach - a pipe clamp would be your best option to make sure the pieces of wood are 1) square 2) stay together when drilling the screw into the other piece of wood. but since i didn't have a pipe clamp, i opted for using a garage wall, a square, and my body weight. it did the trick - i was able to get the diagonal measurements within an eighth to a sixteenth of an inch with what the plans call for - so that was promising. 

one of the four pocket holes on this 2x8 @ 80"

so you assemble the box with the 2x8's and right there you start to see the shape of a bed frame - hopefully. then after you get the 4 2x8's attached you add in the additional 2x4 supports - there are 3 of these. again using pocket holes - attach the 2x4 to the 2x8's. i just did one pocket hole on either end. be careful not to drill the screw too far in - otherwise it will poke out the other side of 2x8.

after you get those in - its on to the 1x3's. all 8 of them. this part involved a partner that after you get on one side of the 4 1x3's you will need someone to help you flip over the bed frame to get the other 4 1x3's attached to the underside (or upside, whichever way you look at it)

center 2x4 support mounted with pocket hole screws

to attached the 1x3's I used a countersink drill bit and 1 1/2" kreg jig screws - i will have to fill in all of the holes with wood filler - but it shouldn't be too much of a pain. just make sure - if you're a perfectionist - you have all the countersink holes spaced the exact same for each of the 1x3's. no matter how much sanding you do to fine tune the wood-filler you will still see the little holes. I think that you could go to any hardware store and they might have real wood caps you stick into the countersink holes - i haven't looked into this or asked greg, my dad.

next was the moulding. i was fearing it was going to be the most difficult, but it was relatively painless. like i mentioned above, making the cut a little bit longer that where it is needed ensures you can check to make sure the angle is proper - ana's plans call for "off square" and frankly, i don't know what the means, which is why i do my practice cut 3 inches up from the point of where the real cut needs to be made.

moulding attached

at this point z came out and was helping me - my legs were shaky from all the stand up, sit down. nevertheless, z helped me accomplish the rest of the moulding - he even gave up his 9th hour of football to assist.

3" Table leg straight top plate - courtesy of Lowes

sideview of chestwick platform bed

so we got out the air compressor and nail gun - using 1 1/4" finishing nails attached the moulding. the plans specify to use wood glue - and you should. I didn't - 1) it was only 50 degrees in the garage WITH a heater, thus preventing the glue from drying when the temps dropped to 20 degrees over night and 2) i was worried that not having enough light i would miss a drip of glue that squeezed out and then it would dry then the wood wouldn't take the stain. so we just nailed them in. one note - it takes a while to figure out the right PSI for an air compressor and nail gun - too much and the nail shoots through the other side, too little and the nail doesn't go in. any whoopsies on this part are easily remedied with a pair of side angled snipping(?) cutters, wood putty, and sand paper. just make sure you cut the nail as low as possible, otherwise it will rip the sand paper, and subsequently cut you or snag your clothes or bedding.

we finally got to attach the legs - this was tedious - the hardware used to connect the legs to the piece of furniture is a straight top plate. seems easy. only the location of where we were putting our legs was not ideal because it didn't allow for use to leave 2" from the ends of the piece of wood - leaving a higher likelihood the wood will split. we had to attach these on an angle (picture to come) in order to make sure all 4 screws were able to be put in.  

i finally got a chance to put on minwax dark walnut stain. it went on fairly easy, the only exception is where the wood is cut you shouldn't apply stain directly to the cut end of the wood - it will completely soak up the stain and become much darker than the rest of the wood. two coats of poly - now we are done! i used minwax water based polycrylic protective finish - i had it from another project and it dried fairly quickly, especially considering it was only 20 degrees outside. let me know what you think or if you have questions!

pipe dream of a dining table

photo courtesy of 4men1lady.com

z mentions to me the other day he wants the new dining room table to have a metal base ... thinking "well that goes against my original plan of a farmhouse table. but it did get me thinking about mixing up the woods and metals.


the dining room table we currently have is an impractical drop leaf (?) one - the position of the legs make it relatively difficult for chairs to be placed where we actually want them - your legs run into the table legs. not to mention after one of our football "CCS" (calorie consumption sunday) events we were left with a marred impractical drop leaf dining table - z didn't use a trivet when placing a hot plate down on the table and we now have a white splotch... this is just one of the additional more unsightly encounters this table has been put through... there are also the scratches left by the dog -
"trouble 2/ badba" when he decided to get on the table... yes, i said get on the table (at the time a 100 lb golden retriever) and eat all the parts to TWO gingerbread houses my little sister and i slaved over - it was quite the scene - badba didn't know what to do when i opened the door from outside and saw him standing on the table. the table has also endured 10 years of the two leafs being dropped and the center leaf basking in the sunlight - hence its about 5-6 shades lighter than its original color. nevertheless, the piece has served its purpose, functionally, sort of. 

photo courtesy of vintagerevivals.com

so i as any mid-20's person would do - i googled "diy metal pipe dining table" and i came across a few i really liked. but, because i am difficult, i like different aspects of two different tables - so my hope is to incorporate the base of one table with the table top of the other. here is my vision.... i love the base from the plans created by Vintage Revivals but i HATE glass table tops - all you see is fingerprints and dust and water rings. just not my m.o. but i also came across plans from 4men1lady who have an awesome wood tabletop - it captures the industrial farmhouse look that is so b.a. still need to get the seal of approval from z, hopefully he agrees with me on no glass top :/


i know the metal conduit is going to be fairly expensive - as in probably $200 - so with that being said this is a project that i will most likely being mid-to-end of january - seeing that i just bought 60% of a wedding dress, we gots to space out our purchases just a little bit.

diy re-finished shabby-chic dresser

so my best friend from high school got married. i thought i would be different and give them re-finished furniture - it lasts longer than a set of sheets or any other gift on their registry, plus its more personal... i got the idea from my parents house, and a piece of furniture they received as a wedding gift - they still have the piece today. i love that aspect.

so i re-did a dresser (i was so delayed on the gift that by the time i actually got to making it they were expecting their first baby. but it worked out for the best because they needed new baby furniture.) i did get it to them before they had been married for a year - so i was within the etiquette time frame standard. 

fortunately my mom was meandering st. vincent de paul by her house - its huge, the place was formerly a world market, so you can only image the size - she came across an americana style dresser - solid wood, dovetail drawers, no flaws... for $45. you cannot beat that.

i just can't believe what people give away - antique buffet (more on that later), awesome family crest glasses, silver rimmed whiskey glasses (that are now selling at some pottery barn company for $25 per glass), solid wood dining room chairs, etc.

i had some onlookers during the project - jake - he likes to supervise everything - note this is my parents dog - and he's such an odd bird, but we love him.

i started out de-glossing with Klean-Strip - "easy liquid sander deglosser" which is only to be used if you're PAINTING. do not use this if you intend on staining. this product essentially just takes the shine off of the piece and enables the paint to stick to the surface of the piece you're working on.

after deglossing we (as in the dogs and i?) wiped down the dresser with a wet cloth to make sure all of the deglosser was off of the piece. then it was time to start painting - i used valspar "minty" in a matte finish - adrienne picked out this color - as it was the most versatile for a baby's room.   a quart was more than enough - in fact there was left over which adrienne used to make some artwork for baby camille.

so i put on two coats of the valspar paint - no method to painting - just make sure it's dry in between coats. we were working in the shade, so that also helps.

dresser being painted

its easiest to paint with the drawers pulled out, so i would suggest pulling them out. you really only have to paint the fronts, so save yourself the time and paint - unless you are a top top top perfectionist. 

drawers pulled out being painted

after the paint is completely dry  in order to give it that "shabby chic" look i took 100 grit sand paper (yes a little rough) and lightly sanded the edges so get that "i've seen a lot" and "moved around a lot" and "i am loved but i can take a beating." this part is imperative to make sure the piece looks like it didn't come straight from ikea. when sanding i just think of where a piece of furniture is likely to get beat up the most - and that's on the edges and corners - especially around the top of the dresser - those corners see a lot of abuse.

all painted and sanded

once you get the paint sanded off - wipe down your piece - make sure it is COMPLETELY free of debris. i LOVE tack clothes for this reason, they are sticky and collect everything - and there is a plethora of them in my dad's garage since he is restoring an antique wooden cruiser.

so, once it is debris free, take your stain (i went with minwax walnut), put on some gloves, and dip a rag in to the stain and start wiping it on the piece - then have a clean towel handy to really wipe down any extra stain - this will darken your color you picked a pretty good amount - it gives it that aged looked - but still allows for that pop of color.

stain on frame, not the drawer fronts

allow the stain to dry - probably about 3 hours. then you can begin adding your protective coat. since i used a latex based paint and then an oil based stain - it is in your best interest to use a water based polycrylic protective finish. I used "minwax water based polycrylic protective finish" in a "clear semi-gloss." i put 5 coats of this stuff on - no joke. the more coats you put on the longer your paint and stain will last.

the last step was finding handles. that wasn't too bad - if i would have measured each and every width between the two holes - turns out this dresser has two different handle hole width - so that issue - because i didn't measure each and every distance between the two holes - caused a little headache - but it was completed - and i was able to find two handles that were similar in style (the top drawers were the only drawers with a different distance between the two holes for the handles). so

side view of completed piece - minus the handles

completed piece - minus the handles

so i'm terrible with documenting (aka blogging my projects)

new years resolution - actually share and post my projects for  others to see.

so here is a little taste of everything zack and i have worked on this year....


scored these chairs for $47 from an estate auction - this picture doesn't even show how gross these chairs were - you would slide your hand across the frame and red sand would come of. and, i am fairly certain 2 of the cushions were filled with beans - as in you were sitting on a bean bag.

 removed the seat cushions* (saving the cushions so the dimensions can be used by the upholstery repair god when making new cushions) de-glossed, sanded and wiped down the frames all before hitting them with "antique white" spray paint.

*mom wanted to make the cushions a christmas gift, so i am letting her take them to the upholstery expert for a professional job.

for $45, zack and i installed a patio misting system around our pergola - it made the summer extra nice and the dogs just loved laying under it.

backyard remodeling

so our backyard seemed to have taken forever to update. but we are so happy with the final products (minus the sod we still have to lay over on the left side).

 

we started out with this.... our deck was on its last leg, it was a breeding ground for wasp and hornets and just all over ugly. granted, this is a picture prior to us buying the house, so we did clean it up a little bit and our furniture made it look better.

our project began with just wanting to rip out the deck and put a patio in where the desk use to be. however, our backyard isn't as private as we would have liked so we decided to move the patio seating area to the other side of the house where the house blocks the view to the street. so then we began ripping out the cracked sidewalk. nothing gets your anger out like take a sledgehammer to cement... great workout option too. additionally we had to cut down a tree (again, like everything else, it was in bad shape)

then came the cleanout and getting rid of 12 TONS!!! of dirt... who knew this amount of dirt existed in 400 square feet. we had to dig out about 9" all around in order to make room for 6" of limestone, 1" of sand, and the 2 3/8" pavers.

then came the limestone - it was shot in from a truck with a boom, it was pretty cool to watch. the dogs were a little confused on this pile of stone ... plus the alley cats all seemed to think it was the local litter box, unfortunately.

we spread the limestone and tried our best to ensure it was level, and the water would run away from the house and garage. 

the patio really started to take shape. we were finally ready for our screed board, sand, and pavers. we laid our line level which ran from the existing sidewalk back towards the garage, this was our check to make sure we didn't have low/high areas. this is after day one of screeding and laying pavers.

day two.

 now all we had to get was a wet saw to cut the pavers to size for the empty areas. this was generally pretty easy... just make sure to measure twice, cut once.... 

 

the finished patio!!! then we had the pergola to complete (plans from Ana White, Knock Off Wood - PB Weatherby Pergola) had to modify the plans for the size our 4x4 posts had already made - we had placed them prior to finding the plans.

 so now that the patio and pergola are complete we are ecstatic with our work. however, i don't think you will find me doing this much work again. it was a great experience and gave me the knowledge of how it should be done, but next time i will hire someone (and know whether they are doing it correctly)

logistics - and a fresh start

my home (well really my zacks too) that I purchased in april 2011. this old beauty is found in newport, kentucky (right across the ohio river from cincinnati), in the east row neighborhood. built in 1889, my three story row home has a lot of quirks - questionable lighting (no switches to turn on some light fixtures), bathroom where tile takes up 75% of the wall space, and really cool old squeaky floors.
i knew that buying a home was going to be a huge undertaking, however, I didn't think there would be as many projects as there have been. this is what the home looked like right before we purchased it, so you're really getting the full start of everything.
 
i am lucky to have two really handy parents, my dad knows just about how to do anything, and if he doesn't know how to do it, he has lots of "friends" that know. my mom has an amazing knack for affordable decorating and putting everything together to make it work, her experience comes from owning two condos and having to constantly update furniture and decor because of high-use. 

anywho, there was a lot to be done right after purchasing - including moving the dirt off of the front of the house (which can cause termites), so beware, digging out some really ugly shrubs, replacing the window treatments (as you can see the former owners loved to stay with the time period of the house... not really my m.o.), painting the outside of the home (updating the color scheme, not painting the brick)... and so it begins... the endless sea of projects.