Farm House Bed Side Tables

 I really do love the way these came out. The color is great and best of all I spent under 70 bucks for two of them. I will say this. I seriously need to figure out how to install drawer slides. The wood slides I fashioned aren't doing the trick.. Here's the link to the plans for this project http://ana-white.com/2011/01/farmhouse-bedside-table

Cactus..

I love the desert and miss California to death.. So this is a simple painting I did awhile back but I do love the colors it adds to the dining room.

Winter sowing and Mel's mix for Square foot gardening...

I have winter sowed my seeds this year, and built some beds for the south side of the house. This is only a third of all the jugs I ended up with! Sheesh. Portland has a way of forcing you into spring months before its arrival. Its so grey for months! So I got to Winter sow seeds in the winter to help with my grey sky blues.. Here's more info on Winter sowing here. Cost effective, eco conscious and most of all EASY.

                                                                                   

 I am using Mel's Mix for my beds. I am new to this so I am hoping I did good! I bought all my products for the local Feed and farm supply. Aloha Feed and Seed. I found the oh so elusive vermiculite in 3 cu ft for 30 bucks way better deal than the big box stores. Believe me I went every where so check prices. They have a organic compost there that has all of the 5 different sources I needed derived from forest products, dairy manure, chicken manure, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and oyster shell.  The last product you will need is Peat moss.

Mix one third Vermiculite, one third Peat-moss and one third Compost  on a tarp. Made it a lot easier and totally got my workout in. Fold over itself east to west and north to south over and over... Haul that sucka over to your bed and as you have someone help you dump it in, give it a nice raining of water as your dumping it in. Make sure you get all of it pretty damp it will settle quite a bit. I let my mix set out in the beds for a week or so to let the microbes get there thing on... But then after that i made some more and immediately put plants in so Ill keep you posted as to which way yields better.  Ill post some pics this week of progress and keep it updated. *crossing fingers*

Mod Pog Coat Rack

I was so bored with our black coat rack so I made one out of some 1x6 left over from building my garden beds, scrapbook paper floating around and Mod Pog. I really am pleased with how easy it was to throw this together. 

 After sanding and chipping away the corners to give it a more rustic look I stained the whole board.

Cut my paper to fit the space and mod poged the back side of the paper really well. Use a rolling pin or some heavy pushing to get everything down and all the air bubbles out. Then I sanded off the edges of the paper with a nail file which worked amazingly. Mod Pog over the paper illiberally and make sure that baby is stuck on there!

I used the stain again very very lightly to give the top of the paper a older look then slapped on the hard wear from the hideous black coat rack. As you can see here in the North West we need tons of layers. I really threw half on the floor for this pic so you could see better! Sheez I am so happy it'll be spring wait, it is right? Well, whenever the sun is finally out Ill be grateful. 

Dont Buy DIY

Oh my Pinterest obsession has me making things outta things outta things. Oy vey. Here's my page'o pins! http://pinterest.com/beccacis/

DIY entertainment center

Thank god for site's like ana white.com. I was able to begin making furniture. I took her plans for a rhyan console table. I tweaked it a bit to fit all of our unnecessary game consoles and made the length much longer to fill up all the wall space we have.


  I must say this project only cost 80 dollars in materials.

 

I rusted out the hardware with a solution of vinegar salt and hydrogen peroxide.  Let it sit a day and dry.

I have an obsession with old spanish colonial furniture so to replicate the aged wood I distressed the whole piece with a metal chain, hammer and gouged the surface with a cheap set of wood carving tools from Michael's. The color of the stain is Dark walnut with one coat.

Vertical Succulent Plants

This idea is so fun for decorating the exterior walls of your home. I have used some small wood crates I picked up at Jo Anns Fabrics and stained them with some left over stain spray I had. Threw in some potting soil and stapled chicken wire about 1 inch form the top. Separated my succulents and fit them in openings through the chicken wire. I let it sit on the ground for 2 weeks or so so the roots would set and hold.