creative little daisy

As I sit here with an ice pack on my back,

with three days left in the month, I have come to the realization, I will not be meeting the challenge. Dang it. I really, really wanted to build a sofa table.  I still plan to get it done, but not before the end of the month. Frowny face.  It was looking a bit doubtful that I would get it done anyway, but there was still hope, then I pulled a muscle in my back. Standing up straight is about as much challenge as I can see myself taking on in the next couple of days.

I've not been a complete slacker the whole month. We've accomplished lots in the apartment, and they have actually moved in. I'm really excited about how it all came together. It's much roomier than any of us expected.

I'll go into more detail in another post, for now I'll just share a few pictures.

We aren't 100% finished, there are pictures to hang, some touch up painting to do... minor details at this point. For now, the girls are happy to call it home sweet home.

 

Because I love a good challenge...

My new friend Linda who blogs at It All Started With Paint, has put forth a very intriguing challenge. Tackle that project you have feared, dreaded, or just plain believed impossible. The time has come to stop putting it off, look that project in the eye and tell it who's the boss. Turn your impossible projects into impossiblities.

Linda plans to finally give her master bedroom the makeover she's been dreaming of by facing her fear of heights. She has mile high vaulted ceilings in her bedroom, well maybe I exaggerate, but man, she's going to need a ladder and a long roller handle. How about cutting in? How will she do that? Is she scared? Yes, but she her desire for a newly decorated sanctuary is stronger than her fears.

I had to think a bit before settling on what would be my impossiblility. Not much in the realm of DIY scares me. Many shake at the thought of painting their kitchen cabinets. I've painted mine a few times.

I've tackled slipcovers, I've changed light fixtures. The one thing I've yet to attempt is building something from wood. I don't mind using power tools. I just get all anxious at the idea of precision cuts and joining wood.

When I gave my bar a makeover I cannot tell you how many cuts I had to redo. That old measure twice cut once adage, how about measure three or four times and still cut half a dozen times.

I got a Kreg Jig for my birthday, and it's still in the box. I see other bloggers using plans from the amazingly talented and generous Anna White and I want to be able to say I built a book case or a bench. I just haven't been able to face my fears and just try. I get dizzy just thinking about the math involved. Did you know a 2x4 does not actually measure 2 inches by 4 inches?

I have a sofa table pinned that John of Young House of Love made. I have the same sectional, so I know the dimensions he used will work for me. I pinned it with the intention of convincing Mitch to make it. He really deserves a break from my never ending honey-do list, so I'm taking Linda's challenge. I'm going to build that sofa table. I think I can, I think I can...

What can you say about caulk?

It's messy, it's tedious, it's not the least bit fun, and for the most part, no one ever even notices it, if it's done right that is. People get all excited about paint. Throw some wood on the walls and it's a party. Caulk is like the eyebrow or moustache waxing of DIY. It doesn't get much attention unless you don't do it.

Yesterday I caulked the stairs. It took a long time, a lot of tape and pretty near a whole roll of paper towels.

This is what the stairs looked like after staining the treads and painting the risers. Not too good. That's a bummer. You do all that work and stand back to admire the lovely....cracks. Even though I spent hours sanding and staining, sanding more and applying polyurethane. Taping and priming and painting. Three coats. It looked like crap. All you could see was cracks and imperfections.

Now, let me say, there will be no after photos of perfection. I'm not a great caulker, but it will pass, and there are no glaring cracks staring at me.

More importantly in this case, there are no cracks for hot or cold air to creep through.

I'm not going to give a tutorial on caulking.

I'm in no way qualified. But I did find a product recently that makes me dread the job less.

Caulk-EZ

I'm not in any way being compensated for mentioning Caulk-EZ. I just happened to come across it when searching tips on removing old caulk.

There is a video on the site that shows how to use it. Basically you just run your bead of caulk and spray the Caulk-EZ along the line, then run your finger along the line, like you normally would.

The caulk smooths out beautifully. It doesn't get all over the surrounding area, and though it still gets on your fingers, it's much less messy.

I used one roll of paper towels, as opposed to two, but I'm the messiest DIYer ever.

By no means perfect, but no more cracks and gaps

Now excuse me, I have about 20 more things I need to mark off the to-do list to get that room finished.

 

PS

On an entirely different note, I need help with my blog. I have been reluctant to admit that. I've always just played around with the layout, and through trial and error got things somewhat presentable. These days, I can barely find the time to post, much less to tweak the blog design. I don't make money on the blog, so it's hard to justify forking out big bucks to make it pretty. If there is anyone out there interested in helping a sister out, maybe we could work out some sort of trade. Free advertising? Cheap labor? I'm pretty good with a sewing machine... 

 

Palletless Pallet Wall how to~

I usually like to share thrifty decorating solutions.

This was one occasion when we decided we'd rather spend

a little money and save a lot of time and effort.

The product I used for my wood plank wall

is v groove wood planks by

EverTrue,

sold in packs of 6 eight foot long planks.

The package says it will cover 14 sq feet.

Our wall is 11 feet wide by 8 feet tall

or 88 square feet, so we bought seven packs.

I also bought three small cans of wood stain,

a light shade, a dark shade and gray.

The light shade was golden oak.

Don't buy this unless you're going for the color of mustard. Blech!

That other can is one I already had.

I usually buy Minwax stain, but I decided to give the Rustoleum a try.

I liked it. Especially the gray.

I stained all of the boards, brushing the stain on, letting it sit a couple of minutes,

then wiped off the excess.

Some I just used the gray stain, some the dark. For some I dry brushed the dark over the gray

and others I stained dark then brushed the gray over.

I was just going for old looking and

wanted quite a bit of variation in colors.

I brought them into the room and laid them out,

according to color.

The foreman was present, to make sure the job was done right,

as usual.

Mitch did the first few rows, before he had to go to work and I finished it up.

He started by finding the studs to determine where we would nail,

but these guys are so light, you don't really have to hit a stud.

There was no formula to our cuts,

we just knew we wanted it to look random, no pattern.

When we got to the outlets, Mitch notched out around them.

He used a coping saw, but said a utility knife would probably work.

We attached them to the wall with an air powered stapler. (from Harbor Freight)

Again, being supervised every step of the way.

The boards are tongue and grove so they lock together.

I was able to put up several rows before actually securing

them to the wall,

That allowed me to be sure I was happy with the layout.

We started at the floor and luckily it worked out

that I was able to finish with a full sized board at the ceiling.

The only place we had to cut the width of the boards was just above and below the window.

Mitch made those cuts and used a box cutter. 

The back of the planks have channels or grooves you can follow for cutting.

You can see in the photo below, the piece above the window

is pretty thin and it broke before I got it installed.

I taped it together and kept installing,

Once it was all up we removed the tape

and patched it with wood putty.

It blended right in.

This is one time I'm so happy Mitch didn't want to go along

with my plan. Shhh, don't tell him I said that.

Remember, the room is unfinished.  Excuse the unpainted window trim.

Don't mind the saw on the floor and the ladder in the corner.

Or the bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

We can't seem to find the light fixtures we

purchased at IKEA.

It's a bit of a mess around here.

Finishing up this wall has given me

an extra little push to forge ahead.

It's nice to see my vision coming to life.

 

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