And now we're here.

This weekend was low key, not much going on. That wasn’t the original plan of course but sometimes that’s just the way it goes. It all works out for the best, it gave us a chance to work on a long over due project. 

It’s been a year now since we moved into our home, actually we have officially been here for a year and 19 days. Our official closing date was on October 31st of 2019 and we are the crazy couple that lined everything up so that by the end of the day one the 31st we were 90% moved into the house. It was a long and tiring day but worth the overdue wait. 

One of the challenges of building on your own land, especially one that didn’t quite exist before is that no one can find you. That is of course, not always a bad thing (said the introvert in me).  As for the issue of mail, the good ole’ USPS, UPS, any furniture being delivered and let’s not forget the tried and true Amazon, still they have trouble finding us. 

After scouring Pinterest for ideas, I came up with a simple idea that I love and hopefully I can add to in the future. Out here bigger is sometimes better, going with a small sign by the door just wasn’t going to be enough. 

A few weeks ago we put in the the frame just a simple two post with a 12 inch wood beam in the middle. It is treated wood so we had to let it dry out for sometime or it just won’t take the paint well. And finally this weekend I was able to paint! 

Once it was painted and dry I added some little details, I found these lights at Home Depot and I thought it would be pretty neat because once it's dark out here it's dark! So any amount of light would be nice and helpful when we have visitors. 

Adding the numbers was pretty easy work once I figured out my center points of the beam. I found the numbers here and they are floating numbers which I was excited about. Until I hammered my thumb. As it turns out - it hurts a lot. That was a first for me, I never realized how useful my thumb is until I couldn't use it! 

I absolutely loved how it turned out. In the spring I think I'll add some flowers around the base. Out here all of these projects take time. There is so much to do and just not enough time to get around to it all. As it turns out a year later and many lost packages after - we finally have something to help find us. 

Wood Working Wednesday | Stain

So it turns out I went on a sanding frenzy and ended up with a ton of wood that I need to stain, of course that was all part of the master plan :) I have a dozen projects I have to get a move on.

But First Stain! not quite as good as But First Coffee, but hey it makes me almost as happy! 

The are a bunch of different types of stain you can use for wood, there are different brands and even homemade recipes that I'v tried but to be honest I have my fall back favorite Minwax Wood Finish, an oil based interior stain. I don't always play by the rules so today I'll share with you a few tips. 

I mix my stains...shhhh don't tell anyone! I use 3/4 Dark Walnut and 1/4 Classic Grey. The stain has way of settling especially the grey, I find it best to mix the stains in a Mason Jar this way I can shake the jar until all the stain is mixed. It takes a while to mix - so shake shake shake!

I also like it best if I can work and then throw away most of the mess, I find it best to buy cheap paint brushes and I little cool gadget I found once "paint pads" it's supposed to be used with regular paint but it works wonders with stain too. I use these thick paper towels that my husband uses in the garage they hold up really well and I can just toss them when I'm done.

After you have everything you need you should be pretty much ready to go, but first lay down a old towel, or newspaper to lay everything out on and protect your table or floor that you might be working on. Next my tip on applying stain is to apply a thick coat of stain, let it sit for a minute or two then take your towel or old rag and pull off any extra stain.

 

Above is a picture of a good coat of stain, below I've pulled off the extra stain with my shop towel.

You can see how the wood grain pops! This is my favorite part of this whole process, you take a piece of wood that has been cast off as trash or no good and after sanding it down and staining it, you get this beautiful grain. Now let it dry for a couple of hours, flip it over and stain the other side and let completely dry for about 24 hours. 

DIY Grilling and Chilling Caddy

Follow the link to find a workshop near you! 

A few weeks ago I came across a great post on Facebook for Home Depot and their “Free Do-it-Herself” Workshop! I love the idea of Home Depot having a workshop for the ladies! I have been painting rooms and helping my brother redo kitchens and bathrooms in one way or another for years. I have always felt comfortable with your basic power tools and I love the challenge of learning more when it comes to building and creating things.  

What does surprise me, is how many women out there do not feel comfortable with power tools or household projects. When talking to a friend about changing out a light fixture she said “I’m not comfortable with something like that” or when looking at my latest creation DIY Planter Box “How do you even make something like that?”

Earlier in the year I was able to interview Kayleen McCabe from the DIY’s Network show Rescue Renovation and she sparked a new interest in wood working for me. Giving me the encouragement to tackle the use of power tools with a whole new minds set! If she could do it, so could I. Home Depot is now giving women the opportunity to do a project and be hands on with power tools to make and create something they otherwise might not have felt they were capable of doing.

I was not able to make it to the workshop that week but I did take the image of their project and make my own that weekend. As you know I have been working with a good stock pile of Pallet wood, so I pulled out some pieces and made my very own Grilling Caddy. My husband and I do quite a bit of grilling, as soon as I saw this Caddy, I knew I needed it in my life!

Using scrap wood, I played with the size I needed and the angle of the cuts. Eventually I managed to get everything cut down to size. I used my grilling tools to figure how long and wide I needed my caddy to be. 

After sanding and staining everything I was able to put it all together. I even used my wood burning tool and stencil to customize it just a little bit :) 

Because when we get together to burn some meat, we like to call it - Grilling and Chilling time! 

Using Pallet Wood gave it that texture that I love!!

I couldn't leave off the handy dandy Bottle Opener! 

The Grilling Caddy! 

Also known as The Chilling Caddy!! 

Here is the rough draft of the cuts that you need. I am still playing with the layout of building plans - I promise they will get better with time :)