Category: Organize and Build

As most of you know, our house is on the market.  Things have been fairly slow because of first, the massive amount of layoffs from the oil industry this area relies so heavily upon, and then the devastating floods that we are still recovering from, and in some places, still experiencing.

I was so determined to make something happen to sell quickly about a week and a half before the flooding started, so I decided that it was time to update the kitchen.  For this house, with the land and the pool in this area, we are within a very reasonable price range, however, my kitchen definitely didn’t have a whole lot of “wow factor.”  In fact, I hated it.  Stained and cracked old laminate counter tops with no backsplash to break the monotony and nothing to emphasize the window looking out over the yard.  I couldn’t imagine other people walking into the house and not feeling the same way.

I ran through my options- granite (not for the $4000 I was quoted on our current income, thanks), tile (meh), Ikea laminate (a trip to Houston isn’t doable these days), butcher block (expensive and no room in the garage right now, even if I wanted to make my own).  I scoured the internet, home improvement stores and my own garage, coming up totally empty.  Finally, I decided to try something crazy.

Jamie was at work, so I was safe.  He couldn’t make fun of me or choke me (just kidding, he wouldn’t.  Just eye rolling and wondering what the heck he married because “she’s at it again”) if he wasn’t here.

I measured my counters, headed to Home Depot and purchased the following-

• Wood glue
• Liquid Nails
• Lots of 1×2 strapping
• A few 1×3 straps
• Carbon Gray wood stain
• 1″ nails for my brad nailer
• Polycrilic, polyurethane or acrylic resin clear protectant
• Plastic Wood filler
•  A cheap, new sink on clearance for $70 (SCORE!)
• A new bargain faucet
• Plastic drop cloths

Step 1- Remove old sink (if replacing)

Since we’ve been in this house, people have complimented the old, cast iron kitchen sink, but they have not had to use it.  It’s a 3 bowl sink with 1 shallow (3″ deep) bowl in the middle and 2 “larger” (8″ deep) bowls on the sides.  Sure, it looked coolish, but try to wash a pizza pan or have your kids wash anything larger than a dessert plate without Niagara Falls on the counters and floor.  Totally, impractical and that sucker was coming out.

If you aren’t replacing a sink, skip to step 2.  The first step in removing a sink is to disconnect all the plumbing underneath.  Have towels and bowls ready to catch drips and start by turning off the water at the wall valves.  Then you will disconnect the water lines and the drains.  I won’t kill you with details here and YouTube is where I received my instruction.  Next, I scraped all the old caulk from around the outside of the bowl, removed old glue from under the lip of the sink and checked for removable clips underneath (there were none).

What I didn’t know was, that what the sink lacked in user friendliness, it made up for in weight.  If you every need my help disposing of a huge body, just call because that would be a cake walk compared to getting that sink out of the counter top and then the house.  Thank God we have a hand dolly because that monstrosity would have stayed in the middle of my kitchen floor until Jamie came home to help me lug it out to the garage.

Sure, it looks nice and innocent

No turning back now

The heaviest sink on Earth

Before I continued with the demo, I built a frame using 2×4 studs to hold the new sink since it was smaller than its offending predecessor.

Step 2- Remove old counter tops

Anyway, chore from hell complete, I began tearing apart the nasty, laminate counter tops.  I debated about purchasing plywood to lay underneath the design I had in mind, but the wood under the laminate looked like it was in good shape and wasn’t going anywhere with all the glue and nails the installer had used.  I kept the wood and saved money.  This was not a fun job and about halfway through, I started wondering what in the heck I had been thinking.  I heard Gob’s voice from Arrested Development in my head saying, “I’ve made a huge mistake,” several times.

If you need to replace the wood underneath, you can simply purchase plywood, but you may have to add 2×4’s to give you stability.  For what I did, you will want to eliminate the chance of things falling through cracks into your cabinets and have something to glue and nail to.

Step 3- Cutting and placing

I decided to go with the 1×2 strapping because it was A) $.92 a strip and, B) would give me a look close to butcher block when completed (though I was thinking, “Please, God!  Let that be true!” at this point).  I opted to cut my strips into 2′ pieces and staggered them similarly to a hardwood floor design, obviously needing to trim edge and corner pieces to fit.  I removed my stove to make it easier to work, installed the new sink and began to lay my pieces, first gluing with wood glue, then pulling them tight and nailing with pins from the brad nailer (nail gun).  I then used the 1×3 straps to trim the edges and around the sink, setting them in place with Liquid Nails and pins from the brad nailer and was done with construction.  I was so frickin happy at this point, but I was only half way there…

Step 4- Sanding, putty and more sanding

By this time, Jamie had been home for a couple of days and was leaving for work again.  His demeanor, plus the fact we were washing dishes in the bathtub and couldn’t use the kitchen, did little to convince me that he could see the end result that was in my head.  I pressed on, telling myself that my vision would be realized and he would eat ample helpings of crow…I prayed that would happen, anyway.

If you have carpal tunnel, as I do, this is another point at which you will start to question your own sanity.  Lots of stretching and ice is recommended.  I use an orbital sander and the vibrations can be rough, so be sure to take lots of breaks.

First I sanded the wood after the glue dried.  You’ll need to do this because the strapping is cheap wood.  It’s hard enough to find straight pieces not full of knots, let alone smooth ones.  I strongly recommend building a plastic cage like I did to keep the dust from invading and covering the rest of your entire house.  I also put a fan in the window to blow the dust outside and you will absolutely need a respirator of some kind and eye protection.  Simply attach strapping to the ceiling with plastic sheeting hanging down and weight the bottom of the sheets with more strapping to eliminate too much movement, like so-

Safety selfie

Initial sanding complete, I was ready to vacuum the sawdust that remained and start to fill the gaps with putty.  Originally, I intended to only fill the large gaps, but my OCD got the best of me, so I spent a VERY, VERY long time filling ALL the gaps between the slats and the nail holes.  The plastic wood I tried this time was the perfect product for the job.  It dried quickly and went on pink, drying to a natural wood color.  I just prayed that it would stain like wood as the label claimed.  I sanded the dried putty and wood slats to a smooth finish, then prepared for stain.

After Plastic Wood application

Dried Plastic Wood

Dried and sanded

Step 5- Staining

This is when I allowed myself to get a little excited, catching a glimpse of the finish line for the first time.  I started to stain, brushing it on and wiping it off in a few minutes, and my vision was becoming reality.  I wasn’t sure about the color because I had pictured a slightly lighter gray with green undertones (tying kitchen, dining and living together), and would maybe have gone with an ebony if I’d known.  The staining was finished fairly fast, but I wasn’t in love.  I took a little mahogany stain I had in the garage, lightly ran some over the top of the gray and was happy with the result.

Step 6- Backsplash

I originally thought that there was enough glass tile left from the previous owner’s work in the bathroom to complete a backsplash in the kitchen.  I was mistaken.  Working on a tight budget, I headed to Home Depot again and realized that there was no way I could justify the cost of new tile for the job.  I thought about using some red cedar I had, but it just didn’t look right.

Eventually, I decided to try ripping the 1×2 strapping in half with the table saw (a terrifying job) and at first was discouraged that I couldn’t get all of the pieces to the same width.  This was a blessing in disguise because I realized it was adding character to the overall look.  I cut these into 12″ pieces, stained them with 4 different stain colors I had in the garage and staggered them, trying a few different variations before deciding on the final layout.  I used a lot of Liquid Nails and a few pins from the brad nailer to attach them to the wall.

I’m pretty happy that I didn’t have enough tile!

Ripped

Cut to 12″

Stained

Playing with the design

Step 7- Polyurethane

I only had to wait a few hours for the stains to dry and was able to come back and apply the polyurethane to the counter tops and the backsplash.  This would take longer to dry- 2 hours to the touch, 48 hours for light use and a full week until we could roll full steam.  I opted to leave the plastic up to keep the cat and children from doing damage, but I was unable to protect it from myself.  I decided that 2 hours was a long enough wait before replacing the stove without risk of scratches.  It wasn’t.

I touched up the area around the stove, the paint on the cabinets, caulked around the sink, picked up some clearance fabric Andrew chose and whipped together curtains, then finally was able to stand back to view the finished product.  I’ll be darned if it didn’t exceed my expectations.  Jamie was shocked and really loves it.  My friend Sandy, who is also my realtor and tough to please (TOTALLY, KIDDING, SANDY!  You’re are amazing and you know it), was very happy with the results as well, even trying to get me to do her counters.  It’s still a small kitchen, but it’s a heck of a lot nicer than the old, gross laminate!  Would I do it again?  Um, I’ll get back to you on that.

 Oh, and I should tell you guy that this whole project was around $200!

In case you haven’t noticed, even though I’ve been stuck in the recipe rut for a while (my waistline will attest to this), I am a little OCD.  Though we regulate video games and save them only for the weekend (if earned through chores and behavior), the kids have tons of online homework every night (:-/).  This means a tablet for everyone and the annoyances which come along with trying to keep them charged, in a central location and to not lose the chargers.

I also admit that I have been horrible lately about playing on my phone or Kindle in bed every night and I wanted to have a place to put them that was out of my reach.  I used to devour books nightly and lost my way for a while…Again with the first world problems.

Anyway, my need for organization drove me into the garage with a plan.  I had a 2″ X 4″ frame which I’d built for a cat tower that I’m slowly, very slowly, working on and so I decided to re-purpose it.  I took shelf boards, cut them to fit into the frame and screwed them on an angle.  I put a 1″ X 2″ lip on the bottoms of the shelf boards, with angle trim to hold the devices in place and drilled holes into the bottoms through which to feed cords.

Finally, I used industrial Velcro to adhere a power strip to the bottom and cut groves to feed cords through the back side, thereby avoiding the giant mess of cords which usually plagues me.

I’m not done painting it, but I feel like another trip to Home Depot this week would just be sad (people seem to think I work there now), so I used paint I had on hand.  Yes, it’s 2 different colors because pickins’ were slim.  Don’t judge!

I’m loving this though!  My inner Adrian Monk was looking over and smiling at it until I drifted off to sleep last night.  Hope this inspires you!

Three and a half years ago, having sewn only a few buttons back on since Junior High, I decided I needed to get myself a sewing machine.  I was becoming a canner, a gardener, a plumber, a painter and such, so I decided to add seamstress to the list.  Sadly, after purchasing an inexpensive machine on Amazon, I realized that our old house was only 1000 square feet, with nowhere, I mean nowhere, to fit a machine.

The poor, abandoned Brother longingly called to me from its place of solitude and neglect in the air conditioned little pump house where I was forced to store my canning.  Its box, never opened, collected dust and when we finally moved to the bigger house, I swear it was lighter with the excited anticipation of finally being released from its prison!

Alas, this was not to be.  It was three years, almost to the day, before I took out a box cutter and unleashed the beast.  I was building a cat tower for my brother and his fiance and I couldn’t find the right pillows for the houses, so I decided to try my hand at sewing my own.  I’m telling you right now, it wasn’t pretty and there will be no pictures of those pillows.

Wondering about the pillows…

Pillows approved

Anyway, I sewed my own and they were functional.  I then decided to make an easy fur cape for my niece.  Ha!  Easy?  Um ,no.  I chose fleece and made it reversible which was crazy, overly ambitious for a first attempt at a garment (Luckily, she is five and easy to please).  I sewed gift bags and stockings for the holidays, mended some clothes and the ball was rolling.

I soon realized that with my new hobby came the loneliness of confinement to the dining room, as that was the only available table.  I priced sewing tables and almost fainted at the prices I found.  A machine which cost less than $200 most certainly did not belong on a $1000 table, so I figured I would build my own.  As I often do, I was flying by the seat of my pants, a plan in mind and even a sketch with measurements, but the seat of my pants nonetheless.  I wanted somewhere to keep the machine without constantly having to move it out of the way and would allow me to still be in the same room as the rest of my family.  Here’s what I came up with:

I put this little table on casters so I could move it around and added three drop leaves for plenty of work room.  Currently, it resides in our living room, behind the couch which allows my ADHD to run free during family movie night, for example.

It’s not quite finished yet (it needs another sanding and coat of paint), but it is very functional and that was the goal.

I’ll show you the specifics and give you some ideas if you are thinking of building your own.  Sadly, my original sketches and measurements are all gone, but I can answer questions, should you have any.

The first thing I did was to make sure I had strong boards and framing to work with.  I just grabbed a couple laminated pine boards from Home Depot and already had the 2×4’s, 2×2’s, 1×2’s, hinges (save the long ones) and screws at the house from previous adventures, so shopping was relatively painless.

I built the frame of the table using 2×4’s and 1×2’s, using salvaged slats from old projects for the base.  I had built the hideous box you see underneath in a successful, if not pretty effort to organize my sewing paraphernalia a few weeks prior, but it weighed a ton so the base had to be very strong.

Before attaching the table top, I traced the outline of the machine, making sure to leave room for the cords and to access the power switch.  I then cut out the area with a jigsaw, making sure the machine would fit before attaching to the table.  Underneath the large cutout, I used a solid board and drilled holes through which the cords for power and the foot pedal could run.

My original plan was to have one drop leaf on the left side of the table where I could place the materials I fed through the machine.  Having the small zoo that we do, it’s vital to keep things off of the floor since, no matter that I vacuum daily, I could knit sweaters with the cat and dog hair collected.

I attached the leaf with a long hinge and the leg with a smaller hinge.  I knew I had to get creative here because this leg was too long to simply fold up, so I had to cut the leg in half and hinge that as well.  This particular part of the project almost drove me to drink, which is why I always recommend that, when you reach this point, you walk away.  Take a hot bath, eat something, scream into a pillow, whatever it takes to keep your head from exploding.

Anyway, this is what I ended up doing:

Hinged the leg center

Hinged to the drop leaf

Plate attached for stability

Notch for room

Folded and secured with bungee to a hook

Hinge used to attach to table

Unscrewed the bottom one and swiveled the plate up in order to fold

Again, not pretty, but functional.

Not sufficiently aggravated by how long it took to come up with this part of the table, I decided to add an even bigger leaf which I could use for cutting, etc.  This one would need two legs, but thankfully was big enough for the legs to be hinged only to the table and did not to require my going full-MacGyver.

Open leaf

Small leg hinge

Legs folded and bungeed. Notice that the legs are slightly offset to allow them to close flush to the underside.

18 inch hinge for stability

If you know me, then you know I wouldn’t last five hours in the desert.  Not because I’m not a total bad a$$ survivalist, but because I cannot go half an hour with a drink of water.  This prompted the need for a small drop leaf on the right side of the table where I could keep my water, my phone and other items.

Because I was trying to be frugal and the leaf didn’t need to be very large, I used the small board that I had left from cutting the rest of the table tops.  Knowing myself all too well, I also knew this leaf had to be lower than the others, keeping my glass and other items out of the reach of my unparalleled ability to spill and break things (lost my phone insurance twice for too many claims after shattering screens by briefly removing the cases to clean the screen.  Who knew two claims a year was the max?  And don’t even get my husband started on all the liquid I’ve spilled over the last fifteen years).

There was no way to get a leg attached to this leaf since it would have needed to be very short and I wasn’t going through a repeat of the hinge battle which had raged within me on the left drop leaf.  After much debate, trial and error and more than a little cursing, I ended up with the following:

Leaf is lower to avoid mess

Arm fits into a notched piece of wood under the table.

Lifting the leaf, the arm slips out and can be swiveled out of the way

Closed leaf is out of the way

And that’s it.  I strongly recommend giving this a shot if you are in need.  The whole project cost me less than $120 and took little time to complete.  It’s been nice to feel like I’m still a part of things with the family, even when I’m on the machine for hours, and I love the flexibility of this thing.

Here it is again in it’s full glory: