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Tree on the wall, woodcraftery
Jan. 26th, 2010 03:15 pmI haven't had time to post much at night lately so am trying this afternoon posting thing out. I discovered this blog, Knock Off Wood, and it made me think that surely I could build my own furniture. She makes it look so easy! And I'm not completely dim. I know it's not as easy as it looks... but it suddenly looked attainably easy. So I thought about it a while and then decided that I was obviously going to try it out. I started with something that I thought looked cute AND easy, which was a Pottery Barn inspired magnetic chalkboard tree. I'm working on redecorating Evie's big girl bedroom, so it would be a good addition.
This is a bad picture, but here's what I came up with.
It is not, however, magnetic or chalkboardy. It was going to be, but for a few problems. First, they were out of magnetic paint. Second, they only had black chalkboard paint, not green. Third, they were about twenty bucks each--way out of budget for such a little project. We had already talked about the uselessness of both of those features. The tree, as planned, would stand taller than me. Evie wouldn't be able to reach the green part at all. So it wasn't much of a stretch to just make it a cute, non-functional tree. It's also 20% smaller than the original... it was just more lumber-efficient to do it that way. It's still plenty tall, obviously. Anyway, we finally hung it up last night and I took this picture just before bedtime. It would have probably been wiser to wait until I had enough time to clean up her room enough to take a photo with context instead of just clearing the space directly in front of it. ;)
So, emboldened by my tree success, we purchased the wood to make a Pottery Barn inspired dollhouse bookcase. I'm still in the cutting stage--I've just got three more pieces to cut (not counting the back, which I will do last), and then I'll be able to start assembly. I'm pretty excited and you wouldn't believe how excited Evelyn is. I showed her the littlest pieces of wood last night. They were for the trim for the doors and windows, so they were small enough to stack up and knock over repeatedly.. not that that is what I personally would have chosen to do with them but kids are weird. The first thing she said when she woke up this morning was, "I can't see my dollhouse!" Maybe she thought it would be finished and waiting for her in her room when she woke up this morning. I don't know. It'll be a while, kid, especially if you fall asleep as badly as you've been doing lately.
Anyway. M and I have been spending our time after Evie is asleep working in the garage. He is assisting me in the way that he tells me how to use the machinery and helps with specific things as they crop up, but it is my project and I am doing the work. He's just working on some of his own projects. It's really nice to be out there puttering together. :)
(Will it stick, as a hobby? Dunno. It's a bit messy and time consuming and expensive. I'm pretty sure it'll stick long enough to get the dollhouse bookcase done and then we'll see. Next project planned is a big girl bed.)
I have a lot of plans for her room.. this is just the first step. I'm super-excited about it though.
Other than that, nothing much is going on. I have another online offer in progress, for a $500 gift card. I have everything approved and just need to assemble some documentation and mail it in. I'm going to try to get that done tonight. (Woodworking has also cut into our sleeping time, so I'm planning on finishing my last cuts and calling it a night.) My mom has been talking about coming down to visit one day this week but has also hinted that she wants to take Evie with her when she leaves. That'll give us some time to do our own thing but it will require us to go to my parents and pick her up, when we weren't planning on leaving town this weekend. Evie loves to go spend the night with my parents so much that it almost hurts my feelings. I want her to have fun with them but geez, can't she enjoy being with us too???
Apparently not.
Anyway, that's about all I've got. Better go check the mail and also feed my kid. She eats all day long. You'd kind of expect her to have a roly poly little belly but she's pretty skinny. She must get that from her daddy and not her mommy. I wish you could pick up traits like that from your kids so I could be that way too. ;)
This is a bad picture, but here's what I came up with.
It is not, however, magnetic or chalkboardy. It was going to be, but for a few problems. First, they were out of magnetic paint. Second, they only had black chalkboard paint, not green. Third, they were about twenty bucks each--way out of budget for such a little project. We had already talked about the uselessness of both of those features. The tree, as planned, would stand taller than me. Evie wouldn't be able to reach the green part at all. So it wasn't much of a stretch to just make it a cute, non-functional tree. It's also 20% smaller than the original... it was just more lumber-efficient to do it that way. It's still plenty tall, obviously. Anyway, we finally hung it up last night and I took this picture just before bedtime. It would have probably been wiser to wait until I had enough time to clean up her room enough to take a photo with context instead of just clearing the space directly in front of it. ;)
So, emboldened by my tree success, we purchased the wood to make a Pottery Barn inspired dollhouse bookcase. I'm still in the cutting stage--I've just got three more pieces to cut (not counting the back, which I will do last), and then I'll be able to start assembly. I'm pretty excited and you wouldn't believe how excited Evelyn is. I showed her the littlest pieces of wood last night. They were for the trim for the doors and windows, so they were small enough to stack up and knock over repeatedly.. not that that is what I personally would have chosen to do with them but kids are weird. The first thing she said when she woke up this morning was, "I can't see my dollhouse!" Maybe she thought it would be finished and waiting for her in her room when she woke up this morning. I don't know. It'll be a while, kid, especially if you fall asleep as badly as you've been doing lately.
Anyway. M and I have been spending our time after Evie is asleep working in the garage. He is assisting me in the way that he tells me how to use the machinery and helps with specific things as they crop up, but it is my project and I am doing the work. He's just working on some of his own projects. It's really nice to be out there puttering together. :)
(Will it stick, as a hobby? Dunno. It's a bit messy and time consuming and expensive. I'm pretty sure it'll stick long enough to get the dollhouse bookcase done and then we'll see. Next project planned is a big girl bed.)
I have a lot of plans for her room.. this is just the first step. I'm super-excited about it though.
Other than that, nothing much is going on. I have another online offer in progress, for a $500 gift card. I have everything approved and just need to assemble some documentation and mail it in. I'm going to try to get that done tonight. (Woodworking has also cut into our sleeping time, so I'm planning on finishing my last cuts and calling it a night.) My mom has been talking about coming down to visit one day this week but has also hinted that she wants to take Evie with her when she leaves. That'll give us some time to do our own thing but it will require us to go to my parents and pick her up, when we weren't planning on leaving town this weekend. Evie loves to go spend the night with my parents so much that it almost hurts my feelings. I want her to have fun with them but geez, can't she enjoy being with us too???
Apparently not.
Anyway, that's about all I've got. Better go check the mail and also feed my kid. She eats all day long. You'd kind of expect her to have a roly poly little belly but she's pretty skinny. She must get that from her daddy and not her mommy. I wish you could pick up traits like that from your kids so I could be that way too. ;)
