Pallet table!

I've been obsessed with pallets lately, probably due to the fact that I get them for free. My garage is full of them which forces me to look at the huge stacks slowly ever growing daily just begging to be renovated, redesigned, and restored into functional pieces for my home. That is how my pallet tables were born.

My dear friend had been looking for a coffee table for a while. She wanted something a bit rustic yet functional, so I suggested a pallet table. After looking at some examples online with her, I got a general idea of what she was looking for and begin my venture into table making. It was pretty simple, the design I wanted was basically two pallets, upside down, fitted together. The hardest part was cutting extra pallet wood to fit in the spaces to create a solid surface. With this table, I cut the extra boards length wise but on others I just removed all the top pieces of wood and refit the top to match. That way was definitely more easy and the I preferred final appearance.

All that was left now was to stain it and put the casters that I found at the Goodwill Outlet (winning!) on. Since I was going for a rustic look, I chose a dark brown stain that has a grey tone to it. Recently I went to my local Habitat for Humanity store and was able to purchase a nice selection of stains and paint for a really decent cost, I would recommend checking out that store if you are looking for a smaller amount of paint for projects. I immediately fell in love once the stain was dry and casters on, I nearly kept the table for myself...but decided to be nice and pass it along. This is my very first pallet table, which three more quickly followed, all to be posted later.

Crates!

We have a garage full of crates and brains full of ideas for them! But so far we only have gotten two projects finished almost finished.

The first was a sanity issue for me, the boys shoes were getting out of control and I had no place to store them where both the boys could get to them easily while also keeping them from cluttering up my mud room. 

It was so simple! After sanding it down and priming it a little, I added a simple white-wash coat to it. I had left over fabric and some padding so I stapled that to the top of the crate and with some added hinges we then had a shoe holder for the boys with a place to sit to put their shoes on...This Mom was happy!

With another crate I wanted to try something new. I have never been one to be able to keep flowers alive...something about watering them? I don't know. Anyways it was Mother's Day weekend and I wanted flowers so off to the store I went to get some. (Please don't ask what I got...being new at this, I didn't keep the labels.) But my problem quickly presented itself, where was I going to plant my newly purchased flowers?! Then it hit me, I am going to make a flower box!

Again, it was simple, even more simple this time! I didn't have to sand it down! With a quick coat of spray paint and a few drainage holes drilled into the bottom my flower box was ready. I'll be honest, I love this! It brightens up the outside and with all of our 'lovely' water here in the PNW I have not had to remember to water for at least 3 weeks now!

Superheroes

We have been busy creating a superhero themed room for the boys. I had this idea of a room so fun that they could, and would, play for hours in it, Momma needs a break! Seeing as how we are broke, we became resourceful. Using Craigslist we found reclaimed wood for only a mere hour's worth of sweeping out an old barn and found two matching twin mattresses for free that were barely used. Add a box of wood screws and rope for around $15 and we were off. It took two days to complete and it is definitely the center of many memories being made by the boys and their friends.

Here is a looksy at the design from the wall view. As you can see, pretty basic but sturdy!

The ladders were constructed by reusing old pallets we got for free. It's amazing what some good old fashioned elbow grease and determination can create.

The sports themed sheets left us after this picture was taken to be replaced with some pretty awesome Transformer sheets! We splurged since the rest of the project was basically free. :)

We have half of the bed painted, keeping with the color scheme we are doing blue with red. Next up is a glow in the dark city mural featuring The Avengers, here is a sneak peek...

I have a confession...

I enjoy drinking a glass of nice wine in the evening to wind down and relish in the day but lately I have found myself buying boxed wine a lot. A few years ago this would have never been the case! I was a huge wine snob, sipping it in and tasting every flavor and scent then life happened and well, let's just say it is a luxury when I am able to engross myself into a full-bodied bottle of wine.

I do love a good centerpiece to display my wine when I do have some in fun and unique ways, so a few weeks ago while perusing one of the local GW's I came across this little guy...

He seemed bland and uninteresting but I knew with the proper pop of color this little guy would be an amazing addition to the new table I am building for the dining room! Armed with my trusty can of bright yellow spray paint, I patiently hastily covered him with a new coat and he became alive. Even seemed a little happier. See?...

I can't wait to get my castle door table finished, this little guy is going to look amazing next to my new electric blue table settings, which are another GW find!

Nothing New Beginnings

My New Year's resolution this year was to purchase everything I could second-hand (excluding the intimate items...). I would really like to say it was because I wanted to do my help in putting an end to unnecessary waste plaguing the world, but really we were just broke. You have to start somewhere, right!? I started by making a list (I love my lists!) of home improvements and ideas that I have been severly neglecting and began to research the how-to's, what's and what not's. It was during this time that the heavens opened up and I discovered the promised land that is Pintrest. We will talk about that later...

 I decided that in order to be sucessful in this adventure I needed to figure out how to get my hands on free/cheap supplies. I discovered the greatness of Goodwill, Craigslist, Value Village and my absolute favorite...Habitat for Humanity ReStore. These places are amazing for good finds and sweet deals ($29.99 Mac Mini? Again, that will be a later post). Suddenly things were affordable again and I was able to create amazing originals, or reproduce out-of-my-price-range-but-love items.

Now this was not limited to household appliances and furnishings but clothes as well. I have always wanted to be a girly-girl with the professional outfits and fancy heels, but I am more of a t-shirt and jeans type of girl so this challenged me to create a more inspiring wardrobe so I could feel girly. And I liked it! I found new and interesting ways to put lace and fringe on things, pops of color completed an outfit, and I learned to walk in heels. I can say I am honestly enjoying this whole new look on being a woman.

This challege quickly became less about saving money, and more about expression and finding myself again. I learned new skills and am still learning, albeit under supervision when it comes to power tools, so I decided to start a blog. I wanted to re-live my journey thus far and possibly encourage others to partake in this challenge. So here goes!