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Scrap Wood Project – Crate

November 24, 2015

Hey all! Today I am taking a challenge… Sawdust Girl’s “Scrap Wood Challenge”. Sandra wanted to see what could be made using ONLY scrap wood…

WELL… my sweet hubby had recently brought home this pile of rough lumber… it was in pretty rough shape… it was PERFECT for what I needed!

Some of the lumber still had stamps from the mill. I loved it, so I let them stay.

I was running short on rough lumber, so some of my spare 1×3″s got in on my “x” action.

As you can see, this build is a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

Thank goodness, I hadn’t thrown out all my scraps from applying “faux shiplap” to my walls. It was perfect for what I needed! I used it to plank the inside of my crate.
The last thing it needed was handles, but seeing as this was a “scrap only” challenge, I utilized some leftover jute rope to construct a handle.

The rope was individually too thin for my tastes, so I layered them up!

Too add a little more character, I used a sharpie marker and added my own “stamps” to the outside of the crate.

There you have it folks, my 100% scrap wood project! Check out more ideas in the links below!

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Modular Kitchen Shelving

November 21, 2015

Hey all, excited to be bringing you not 1 but 4 new build plans inspired by Pottery Barn Shelves! Always a pleasure to team up with the great folks over at Build Something. Make sure you head over and check it out!

Snowy Winter Wonderland Wall

November 16, 2015

Hi, April here again from UncookieCutter! I’m so excited for my first year in our new home and to see how it looks for Christmas. I’ve just finished with my first Christmas project and I’m thrilled to be here sharing it with you.

Edit 22

I started with my big, huge blank wall. I actually don’t mind this wall be blank for most of the year, the exposed brick is one of my favorite things about this room. But, for Christmas, I wanted to dress it up a bit. I saw some light up snowflakes on Restoration Hardware’s site that were beautiful, but checking in at $69-129 A PIECE, I knew I couldn’t afford those. However, they did give my an idea for this wall. I thought I would try and create some easy DIY light-up snowflakes and it would be cool to have a snowy winter wonderland wall. This was a very easy project with a huge impact. I found these little LED light sets at Wal Mart for $4.44 for the small set and $6.88 for the large set and I am kind of obsessed now. They are so perfect.

They have timers, so once I turned them on the first time at 6pm, they stay on for 6 hours and then turn off for 18 hours and I don’t have to touch them again for the rest of the season. Plus, they are LED so I hope they will last a nice long time. They do take 3 AA batteries each, but again, LED uses such a small amount of energy that didn’t bother me.

I started with these little flower stem sticks, mainly because they were so cheap. I made some bigger and smaller snowflakes.

I wrapped the lights around the sticks and used them to hold them together and form the snowflakes.

I then took jewerly wire in varying colors and wrapped it over the light strings. It doesn’t make a huge difference when the light are on, but they look much nicer when the lights are off. I recommend leaving the lights on when you are wrapping the wire. On one snowflake, the lights didn’t work when I got them all wrapped, so I had to unwrap, find the kink and then re-wrap.

To hang them, I used small finishing nails in the molding and fishing wire attached to the battery packs.

Once I got these all ready to go, I went to Hobby Lobby and since their Christmas stuff on sale for 50% off already, I got a few packs of varying snowflakes ornaments for $14 dollars all together.

I used what my friend refers to as “dorm putty” to hang them all over the wall. It’s removeable, reusable and sticks to brick. It wasn’t quite strong enough for the lit snowflakes and their battery packs, but for the little ornaments it was perfect.

I used the ornament snowflakes to cover the battery packs as well as to finish the snowy landscape.

I was excited to get them all on for the first time.

I got them all set up and then added my flat industrial Christmas tree, which you can see HERE.

They are so cool at night when all the other lights are out. I love how they reflect off the ceiling and floor.

I hope everybody has a wonderful holiday season, thanks again Corey for letting me stop by and I’ll be back again soon!

April – Uncookie Cutter

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Easy DIY Light-Up Snowflakes - UncookieCutter for Sawdust2Stitches

Total Floor Makeover!

November 13, 2015

When we were looking at purchasing our current home, one of the major changes we knew we wanted to make was the flooring. There were some serious traffic stains on the carpet, and the tile that covered 80% of the downstairs was nothing to write home about… We ended up buying our home with plans to update the floors…that was over 4 years ago.

I am happy to report that we finally bit the bullet and made the change! We had looked at a lot of options, but ultimately decided that laminate was the best logical decision. It was budget friendly, family friendly, easy to install, and it is beautiful!

We ended up choosing “Barnwood” a hand scraped laminate by “Select Surfaces” and I am so glad we did! ( I did work with the great folks over at Select Surfaces and was supplied with materials per MY request . All the opinions are 100% my own. )

(This is not your Grandma’s laminate!) Don’t believe me? Check out how it completely transformed our house!

The Process:

First of all I sent my husband out to do the heavy lifting… (Actually a member of the Sam’s Club Team was more than willing to assist with a fork lift.) Yes, you read right, this is available exclusively at Sam’s Club!

DEMO: As I stated earlier about 80% of our downstairs was ceramic tile. Before we could install our new flooring we needed to remove all the tile and carpet. The carpet was a piece of cake! The tile… the tile, it put up a fight, but I am stubborn and won out in the end! We tried a number of methods, but found it best to demo the tile with sledge hammers, and then used roto-hammers to remove the thinset (the material that holds the tile to the floor).

After all the thinset was removed and the floor was swept and smooth we were ready to begin the installation!

Yet another reason I chose Select Surfaces laminate, they are pre-equipped with a foam backing. ( This keeps the floors from sounding hollow when you walk on it, and yes it works.) So, the only prep work needed before install is laying down a vapor barrier. We just cut the plastic to fit the room and we were ready to begin laying the floor!

After having spent the last few days removing tiles, installing the planks was like a small vacation! Seriously, the install process was simple and easy for almost any level DIYer. (They simply click in place using a tongue and groove system. ) They do have more detailed instructions available here.

We followed this same process throughout the entire downstairs, and the results??? Ah-mazing! I mean, just look at the floors!

The Front Entry

Sitting Room

Living Room

Office

The Kitchen

Overall, I would say that the total downstairs floor makeover was a complete success! I have always loved the way my home looked, but I cannot believe what a HUGE difference these floors have made! They have really brought in the rustic warm feel that I love and have unified the whole downstairs. Bottom line, I LOVE the floors, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Designer Christmas Tree from the Dollar Tree!

November 1, 2015

Have you started to think about decorating for Christmas ? Well, I have some awesome and easy tips and tricks to decorate a magazine worthy Christmas Tree, using supplies MOSTLY from the Dollar Tree! It even has step-by-step directions if you already have a arsenal of ornaments!

1.) Lights

I think this is fairly standard tree 101, but if we have some newbies out there… always put your lights on first! I start at the top of my tree and work my way down. My tree always sits in the corner of the room, and it has no window behind it… So I cheat, and don’t decorate the backside of the tree 🙂

(I am going to assume that Christmas lights are apart of your Christmas Tree Trimming essentials, so I will not be including them in the total cost. )

-1.) Enlist Help.

If you do not have little munchkins trying to eagerly “help” then proceed to “step 2”. Haha. However, I do have little helpers, so I always let my kids go crazy on the tree, and let them decorate to their hearts content. I then ask if it be alright if I finish it up later that night. They are always o.k. with this plan. Voila! they get to decorate and I still get a pretty tree. Granted my kids are still young, and a little forgetful, but it seems to do the trick. 🙂

2.) Ribbon

Ribbon I think is the most under utilized decoration when it comes to trimming a tree. It is also the best bang for your buck! I always get my ribbon from Sams Club. They sell a 50 yard roll for $7.00! You just can’t beat that!

NOW, before you start mummifying your tree…STOP! Don’t just lay it on the branches like a dead fish! When I use ribbon I actually use the wired tree branches to cinch and hold the ribbon in place. ( If you have a real tree, then you can always use pipe cleaners, or wire.)

3.) Even MORE Ribbon

Like I said, I love ribbon! Another reason being, it comes in countless colors and styles! I try to use two different ribbons. It REALLY fills a lot of space for minimal cost!

4.) XL Decor = $9.00

Next I add extra large decor. Keep in mind, it doesn’t always need to be “ornaments”…

For example, I purchased these large plastic snowflakes from Dollar Tree, and they were originally intended to be used as window decor. I also snagged these large bells from Dollar Tree. They are fairly big, which is exactly what I was going for! Ultimately we are looking for a variation of sizes!

5.) Large Ornaments = $10.00

I know that it might be hard when shopping and holding a large ornament in your hand, and it is the same price as a 8 pack of small ornaments, but BELIEVE me just a few larger ornaments can really make an impact!

I also got my large bulbs from the Dollar Tree! They do have a fairly limited size collection when it comes to their ornaments, but you don’t need to let that stop you! Remember spray paint is your friend!

6.) Spray Snow =$1.50

Can I just say, this stuff is AWESOME! For $1.50, you can add a lot of dimension to your tree! Just try it, you will love it!

7.) Standard Size Ornaments =$2.00

Next add your standard size ornaments. NOTICE, most of the tree is already filled, so it will not require very many of these! These are just filler, and add another size variation. Again, I purchased these at the Dollar Tree. They usually carry a 7 pack for $1.00! Booyah.

8.) “Pop” Color =$13.50

If you prefer the traditional colors, then by all mean feel free to skip this step. However if you want to add a little pizzazz to your tree, try adding “pop color” or “accent color”. On this particular year I was really digging seafoam green. The GREAT thing about pop color is, is that you are spending a minimal amount of money on the accent color, SO if you feel like changing it up the following year it is only the cost of a can of spray paint.:)

Here are a couple of ideas that I would suggest. I spray painted a handful of my “large bulbs” from Dollar Tree using a seafoam spray paint. I then purchased a string of tinsel and cut it up into sections and stuffed it into clear bulbs.

9.) The Star

As is tradition, the star goes on last. I picked up a star from, none other than the Dollar Tree and bulked it up by hot gluing on of my $.50 snowflakes to the back of it. It worked perfectly.

And there you have it folks. That is how I decorated our 10′ tree for less than $50! I feel like that is pretty freaking awesome!

Extra Credit:

See those whimsical who-ville-ish things sticking out of the top of my tree? Aren’t they rad? Want your own ? You can make them for just a few bucks!

Modern Chair UpCycle

October 22, 2015

Hey sports fans. I am VERY excited to introduce you to a new member of the Sawdust 2 Stitches team! April is an amazing blogger and talented diy’er, and lucky for us, you will be seeing more of here around here!

WELCOME April, and take it away….

Hi, I’m April from Uncookie Cutter. I am so excited to be contributing here at Sawdust 2 Stitches. Corey has been an idol of mine for awhile, so getting to work with her is a treat. I’m here to share my modern dining chair upcycle.

A little about me…In January of this year, my husband and I packed up our two kids and three dogs and moved from Virginia to small town Oklahoma. I told my Realtor I wanted a new house in a new neighborhood. As it turned out, we couldn’t find one that we really feel in love with–there always seemed to be something missing. Then, on a whim, our Realtor showed us what she described as a very “UncookieCutter” house and after a million inspections and with a bit of fear, we decided to go for it. We loved the layout, the huge yard and the fact that we could all bike right down the road to the elementary school. However, it needed a lot of work, so I started UncookieCutter to document our journey here trying to make this house a home.

For the past couple of months I’ve been working in the dining room. I upcycled an old piece of wood into a hanging shelf and then built my concrete top table, inspired by Restoration Hardware. Everything was going so well until I realized how expensive dining chairs were. I have never bought a traditional dining set, we’ve been eating off of a cheap 4 person set for years. We could never have people over for dinner, because we had nowhere to sit. The size of our dining room won’t allow for much more than a 8 person table, so that’s what I built. I needed six side chairs. I wanted them to not have fabric (remember the kids and dogs I mentioned?) and I wanted them to look a little modern, funky and fit with a table with a concrete top. So I searched and found THESE chairs, which I thought were beautiful.

However, these chairs cost $168 a piece. That would’ve cost me over $1,000 plus the cost of the end chairs. I floated this by my husband, who just laughed. Rude. Anyway, I had to come up with another idea.

So I honestly thought about making chairs, but a good chair has a slight backwards lean to it and unfortunately I don’t have the saw to make cuts like that. So, I needed to find some old chairs with solid bases and, low and behold, after a LOT of searching, I found some! I couldn’t believe it, but a library was closing in a nearby, even smaller, town and I grabbed one to bring home and see what I could do with it. I turned it into a chair that was similar to the one I wanted, but actually fit in the space better and cost about $20 per chair, making it $120 for six. Score!

The fabric was in pretty bad shape, but the frame seemed strong, so I got to work ripping the fabric off.

Once I had all the fabric off and removed all the zillion or so staples, I sanded the whole frame down and filled the staple holes with stain-able and sand-able wood filler. Then more sanding until they were all smooth.

Next, I had to make the seat for the chair. I took some craft paper and made a rough template a little bigger than I wanted it.

I cut one board template with my circular saw and used that template to cut out the rest, but left a little extra to allow for slight changes from chair to chair.

Like I said, I cut the boards too big on purpose, but worked with my jigsaw until they fit right into the back of the chair, then I traced each board so that I could cut the seat to match up to the frame exactly.

I bought some very pretty “craft board” in the lumber section, but I think any plywood would work. This was made from real wood and I love the grain it shows. Now I had to figure out how to make the top piece for the chair back. Most chairs have a curved back to make them a little more comfortable. Like I mentioned before, I don’t have too many fancy power tools, but I still wanted to bend the back a little bit. My father in law was visiting as I was trying to figure it out, and he told me about a presentation he once saw where they soaked the boards in water and then bent them, so I decided to give that a shot.

I cut the pieces down to size and then put them in a pan of water.

Yes, I realized I should not leave my jig in water, I moved it and replaced it with a flower pot, but forgot to take a picture of that :). I left it soaking in the water for a day or more. Then I took it out and “molded” it to the top of the chairs with clamps.

Once I got it just so, I let it sit out in the sun until it was completely dry.

I learned a couple of things trying to “bend” wood. First, it has to be soaked all the way through or it will crack. This will take at least a day for this size board. Next, you have to let it dry in the mold completely or it will loose it’s shape when you take it off to stain. And lastly, if you look at the pic above, I should have tried to make the grain of the board run horizontal instead of vertical. I did it this way because I wanted to use every piece of the board, and it worked, but I did crack a couple and I think they would not have cracked had I gone the other way with it.

Once it was nice and dry I went ahead and popped it off to be painted.

Now that the chairs were stripped, filled and sanded and both of the seats and backboards were cut out and “molded” I was ready to paint. I wanted the chair part to look like metal, and I’ve always been impressed with Rustoleum Metallic spray paints, but since I had six chairs and a small budget, I decided to stain them with some leftover stain and then spray paint them. So I started by staining them with Minwax Ebony.

Then I spray painted them all with Rustoleum Flat Iron. I then put a couple of coats of spray poly on.

Next, I painted the seats and backs with one light coat of Minwax Special walnut to start

When the stain was all dry, I mixed a small mixture of leftover white trim paint with water (about 50/50 mix) and used a paper towel to lightly rub it over and blend it in. Then 3 coats of polyurethane.

It worked better to finish the back of the backboard piece and leave the front unfinished for now. Then I re-clamped it onto the chair, and then countersunk some screws into the board and attached it to the chair.

I waited to finish it so that I could sand down the holes without messing up the stain. Once it was attached, I went ahead and finished the front side.

The last thing I did before bringing them in was I glued the seats to the chairs.

Once they were inside, I added these feet. I tried a couple of different furniture feet and these were the only ones that slid nicely, didn’t fall off and didn’t scratch my floors.

Now they really were done! I got them all set up with my table, which you can see all the details on that HERE.

So, instead of spending over a grand, I spent about $120 on boards, stain and spray paint to upcycle these old chairs.

That was it! And they are actually pretty comfortable. I’d love for you to visit me over on UncookieCutter or follow me on social media. A big, huge thank you to Corey for asking me to guest host and I’ll be back soon for some more!