Kitchen Sign... All Finished!

What up??

Hope you guys are having a great weekend!!  This is birthday weekend for one of my little ladies so things are a bit crazy around here.  Not too crazy to sneak in this post though:-)

I showed you guys the beginning of my kitchen sign in my last post.  Here is how I finished it up...

After distressing all my letters my sign looked a bit like this.

I then took an 80 grit sanding block to all my edges like this.

Once I finished that, I added a line of dark walnut stain around the raw edges and wiped off my excess with an old cloth.  It's a perfect touch to make it look just a bit older.

My final step was adding a sawtooth hanger to the back of the board and putting it on the wall.

What do you think??

Hope you like it!  It was a great piece to break up that big blank space I think.  We will start this month's Shanty Silhouette sale on the 21st.  I will be back before then to show you a great new product.  Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Have a great weekend!!

~Whitney

Crates for the Storage Bed

Hey guys!  I am loving this spring weather we've been blessed with in Texas this week!  Perfect building weather:)  I finished the storage bins for the full sized storage bed I build last week. 

I designed my own plans for these.  My goal was to achieve the most amount of storage space with the least out of pocket!

I started with two 8ft. sheets of 1/4" plywood.  I had the guys at Home Depot rip each sheet at 10.5" x 8'.  I also purchased two 1 x 10's.  (You can have them cut the rest of the measurements but I just used my miter at home).

Here are my measurements:

1/4" plywood:

12 - 10.5 "x 10.5" (sides of crates)

12 - 10.5 "x 28" (bottoms, back and front of side storage crates)

6 - 10.5 x 24 (bottoms, back and side of the end of the bed storage crates)

1 x 10's:

4 @ 29.5" (face of side storage crates)

2 @ 25.5" (face of end of the bed storage crates)

These are the 1 x 10 faces.

I used Gorilla Glue Wood Glue for every joining piece

and followed up with my Ryobi battery-powered nailer.

I used 1/4" plywood to make the entire crate to maximize the storage space. 

Here is where the 1x 10's come in.  For aesthetic reasons I did not want to use the plywood for the face of the crates so I used a ton of Gorilla Glue Wood Glue to attache the 1 x 10 to the front of the crate.  No nailing needed!

I left it to dry....

Crate 1 down:)

After building 5 more crates it was time to stain!  I stained the storage bed with Minwax Dark Walnut and I wanted a contrast for the crates.  I went with my gut and purchased Minwax Special Walnut and applied one coat to the face of each crate.

I followed up with one coat of Minwax Polycrylic in Clear Gloss.

Now for the handles!

I purchased this rope at Wal-Mart for $4.97 and it was more than enough!

 I found this big ol' drill bit in my hubby's tool box and it was the perfect size for the rope!

Next I measured where I needed to drill for the handles.  On the 4 side crates I marked at 19 3/4" and 9 3/4".  On the short end crates I marked at 16 3/4" and 8 3/4".  I placed the marks 6.5" from the bottom of the crates.

I drilled each hole...

and then cut 6 pieces of rope at 28".

I pushed one end through the front of the crate and tied a knot at the end

and I followed up with the other side.

To keep the crates from scratching the storage bed...

I purchased these felt pads at Wal-Mart for $4.97.

These are easy, just pull off of the sheets and stick to the bottom of the crates.

I put four on each crate.

Now the reveal!

I purchased the bedding at Wal-Mart, on clearance, for $10 marked down from $39!  The throw pillow was $1 down from $10! 

I am going to build a headboard for this next and I have changed my mind on the one I am going to build.  I fell in love with the Reclaimed Wood Headboard on Ana's site!

I think it will finish this look of nicely!  In case you were wondering, my 7-year-old is in LOVE with his new bed!  He has asked to take a bath and go to bed early every day for the last week!  The new will wear off but it's nice for now;) 

Hope you all have a great Spring Break with your families!

~Ashley

Shanty Stenciled Sign

Hey guys!

Hope you all had a great weekend.  I spent mine with the fam and about 74839274 loads of laundry. Ashley and I have joked before about how we should post our folded laundry piles as our latest DIY projects.  You girls would be so impressed :-))

My latest space to tackle has been this blank space between my kitchen and living room.

It's a very long, blank space that catches my eye a lot.  I thought it could use a little something.  I decided to make a sign for it.

Because I am no free hand artist I started by purchasing a roll of Contact Paper.

I made my stencils using my Silhouette.  For those of you that have a Silhouette, this is my new favorite material for stencils!  I cut it on the same settings at vinyl and it was a perfect cut!

For the sign itself I decided to use a 1x10' board from Lowe's.  I gave it a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum Heirloom White and let it dry.  I picked a board with lots of knots and imperfections because I wanted it to look good and shanty.

After cutting my letters, I used the letter itself to space it on the sign like this.

Cute font??  I used a free font called Clarendon BT.  Love it!  And without having to use a cartridge I saved lots of time and money!

Once I had my letter placed I put the outline piece around it.

Then, I peeled the letter off!

I used my favorite acrylic paint...

...And used a stencil brush to paint on my letter.

Drying...

Here it is dry just before I shantied it up a bit.

I wanted my new sign to look old (the hubby still doesn't understand this concept) so I used a 3M 220 grit sanding block to lightly sand over the letters.  I LOVE the result.

My final step is to distress my edges a bit and get this baby on the wall.  I will show you guys that in my next post!  Thanks for stopping by!  I'm back to laundry ;-)

~Whitney