Summer Fun

It’s been a while but I’m back! We have been in full summer mode (well Kyle has, I have sadly been at work as normal) and boy do I have updates for you! We just recently got back from a quick getaway to Chicago-we had a blast! I’ll be back with a separate post on that trip for you soon. Until then, here are some happenings around the Adams’ household to tide you over.

We have had our DIY hats on a lot recently. I have the urge to redo the ENTIRE house, which is obviously not an option. So in an attempt to make our home feel the way we would like it to, we have decided to do small changes on a small budget. Of course, a small budget leads to lots DIY projects-which I love- so here are some of the projects we’ve done. (It is also important to note that we only rent our house so we are trying to get the “homey” feel we want without doing anything permanent-painting, etc.… I am sure that all of you fellow renters out there sympathize with that. J)

We made this coffee table for our living room together. What we had before was a hand-me down that worked fine but wasn’t necessarily our style. We had switched it out with an ottoman but that still wasn’t the right look. We decided to make this table with a stained top and almond colored base ourselves since it is more along the look that we wanted. It should be noted that it isn’t the sturdiest table ever (my dad said we should invest in a square for straighter legs), but it isn’t too bad for our first attempt.

I have also been in the process of re-doing the den/ugly-mirrored room/ my desk area (which I never use because I would rather be sprawled out on the couch). You may remember it here before.

I am in the process of making a pallet bed (a mixture of several that I have been eyeing on Pinterest). Kyle graciously brought me home 6 pallets from the dumpster at his school (he knew I was looking for some for free). We then sanded and screwed them together and added four casters on the bottom so it can roll around. I still need to make a cushion seat for the top and recover the pillows, but here is the beginning stage.

I also had a pink filing cabinet that I spruced up with modge podged drawers using scrapbook paper, a spray painted shell, and braided twine drawer pulls.

* Any ideas to hide a hideous surge protector? I need it, BAD!

I made some new curtains for the mirror. I had put out a search party for navy and white striped curtains with no luck. I give a big thanks to Ikea for having cheap flat sheets to make this project possible.

I have also added a few new accessories here and there in this room. I still need a rug and to finish the wall collage for above me desk that I have planned.

*Any ideas to cover a kennel in a cool way? I need that as bad as I need to cover the surge protector. Talk about eyesores. Geez. J

Whew! That’s all I got right now. I am in the midst of another project on a daybed (OMG!! SO excited!), but more on that later! Any other must-do DIY projects out there? Isn’t it the most relaxing thing? I love it.

Copied DIY

About a month or so ago I was itching for a DIY project when I ran across this fellow (Driftwood Art) on one of my favorite blogs called Dream Book Design. I instantly loved it and begged Kyle to help me DIY it. It is a sign they call Driftwood Art because it is made to look like pieces of driftwood. Full instructions from the original blog (much better than mine) can be found in the link above but here is how we went about the project.

Following a trip to Lowe's, we got started:

1. We bought 4 fence posts and cut them using a jigsaw to our desired length. We were planning to place the sign on a HUGE, empty wall above our couch so we cut them to around 5 feet. All the boards are a little different just to give it an imperfect, aged feel.

2. We then sanded the boards down.

3-5. We cut 2 small strips of wood to place on the back of the boards, keeping them together. They are held on with screws and gorilla glue. (We could have used some clamps to hold the boards together while the glue dried, but, as usually, we didn't think that far ahead to pick some up at the store. SO, we improved with a gigantic tub of dog food- once we got it balanced, it did the trick!)

6. Next we distressed the wood to make it look aged. We used a hammer for the most part but Kyle got real creative and used a screwdriver and a mallet (like you would use an ice pick) which resulted in really cool grooves taken out of the wood.

7. After letting off some steam, er- distressing the wood, we stained the posts dark brown-ish/black. (We used Minwax Dark Walnut-2716 which turned out to be a tad bit too dark. If I were to do it again, I would go one shade lighter).

8. When the stain dried (I waited until the next day just to be sure), I stenciled on my letters (I copied the Bible verse- 1 John 3:18- used in the original post because I loved it so much, but you could easily do whatever you want). I printed the font from Microsoft Word and traced it on the wood using a Sharpie, embellishing where I felt necessary! :)

9. And then I used a wood burning kit (bought at Hobby Lobby) to etch the letters in the wood.

10. After hanging some D-hooks and wire on the back of the sign to hang...

11. WaLa! It's done!!

12. Moose was so exhausted from all of the hard work that he needed water. (Also, I needed a 12th picture to make a complete square and he is just so darn cute!)

My pictures aren't very good due to the poor lighting but here is an up-close image:

And a full view:

We are proud. It was one of our first DIY's together and we really enjoyed it! It is not only a good wall accessory to fill the huge space on our wall, but it is also a good daily reminder of how we should strive to live out lives. And (once we had the tools-which we will reuse time and time again) it was pretty cheap and only took a weekend to complete!

Hopefully there will be many, many more projects in our future! I am also looking forward to making more things with my wood burner (It is sooo fun!), like a sign for our garden and maybe one for the front door. More on that later!

Anyone else making any DIY home projects. If so, please share! :)