a place to sit

Rob once again brought one of my visions to life! It was a little different working on a project with a six month old around the house so most of the construction and work fell on Rob who did a great job! 

In our small house we have to be creative when it comes to our use of space! Our kitchen is one of the places we were a little uncomfortable in because there was no space to sit while we were in there together, feeding the babe or making dinner. We also don't have a lot of storage in our small kitchen and there are some items that we have to bring up from the basement every time we want to use them (read: crockpot, griddle, dutch oven)

Out of this, came the idea to add an eat in area to the kitchen. A bench was the original idea and after looking through lots of ideas we decided to put forth a little extra effort and make it into a storage area - imagine how thrilled Rob was that my plan kept getting more and more grand haha! 

I'll post the "step by step" below but will not include measurements because each space is different anyway! If anyone would like more details - please contact us!

Materials:
- 2 sheets of plywood
- 6, 8ft 2x4's
- 1, 1x4 (poplar)
- 2 Piano Hinges
- tack nails
- wood screws
- wood glue
- stain
- polycrylic

We removed the existing moulding where the bench would be installed so it would be flush against the wall. 

Using 2x4's that were measured and cut appropriately, Rob laid the base of the bench - we laid a base instead of trimming in the sides in order to end up with the most storage space we could get. 

Once the base was laid, Rob cut one of the sheets of plywood down and installed it as the floor of the storage compartment. 

Next, Rob built in the vertical and horizontal supports on the back walls. There wasn't a great need to measure the distance between vertical supports because the project wasn't very large - we would recommend every 18-24 inches if the project is larger. 

Rob then screwed in the plywood "fronts" of the bench so the final supports would have something to be secured to.

In this picture you can see where Rob installed the cross supports behind the front walls of the bench, again this was a decision we made based on the size of the project. We decided that adding wood in the corner to make a square would create the best support for that space since the lid would not be lifting there. 

The smaller pieces of wood (the poplar that we had ripped) was cut to be the part of the lid that goes against the wall. We needed to add something that the hinges could connect to.

Once everything was cut to fit, I stained the lids and poplar back boards. I decided three coats was the magic number and gave me the color I wanted. I let it dry for 24 hours before we installed. 

Before installing the lids (while the stain was drying) I painted the fronts with white, kitchen grade paint and stained the tops of the frame with the same color as the lids so that the seams would be less visible. 

We started the the process of laying down the lid by glueing and then tacking in those poplar boards along the walls. Then we installed the corner square of the lid (again with glue and tack nails). It was all easy peasy and fitting nicely. 

Then came time for the hinged tops to be installed. Let me tell you, PIANO HINGES ARE THE WORST. We centered and screwed them into the lifting lids first because we wouldn't have been able to get to them otherwise. Can you imagine how exciting it was to hold a large wooden lid level and have someone else try to screw it in at the same time? It was thrilling. We just had to get one screw in on each end and then Rob could handle the rest - never have two screws been more difficult! 

Overall it was a pretty simple project and we are so proud of the result! Rob did an awesome job and it looks better than I could have imagined! We still need to install the finishes on the face but I'm not sure what I want it to look like so we will leave that unfinished for a while. 

It's been so nice to have baby boy's big high chair stand out of the way. Now that we are able to put that actually seat right on the bench, we save lots of space in the kitchen! 

How to: Wooden Arrow Wall Decor

Rob and I wanted Baby Rebhan's nursery to be perfect. We looked at lots of pictures and decided on certain elements we liked. We chose to make whatever we could instead of buying. It was fun to create items from simply looking at a picture and we saved lots of money doing it that way! 

One of my favorite elements in the nursery is the wooden arrow decal above our son's crib. It was a simple project that we finished in one day and it makes a big statement! 

Here is a step by step of how we completed this simple project!! 

1. GETTING SUPPLIES: We went to Home Depot to buy the wood, metal plates, screws, and brackets to hang our finished product.

For three arrows:

   - Wood: 2 Poplar 1x5 boards (6 feet each)

   - 3 L-shaped Metal Plates

   - 1inch screws

   - 3 picture hanging toothed brackets 

2. MAKING THE CUTS: We cut each board into 6 individual sections. We saved wood by making angled cuts instead of later trimming rectangles. The first cut should start at the bottom corner of the board while it's laying flat on your saw; cut a 45 degree angle off the end. You'll end up with a small triangle falling off the full board. The rest of the cuts should be measured from the bottom of the board, we chose to use 10 inch increments. The image below is a representation of the first segment only, imagine the board extending to the right (another small triangle will fall off the far end too). 

3. SANDING: After cutting the boards (see all the extra triangles in the photo below!), we sanded them so there were no rough edges from the cutting. We didn't spend a lot of time making the boards perfect because no one would ever touch them. We just made sure there were no frayed ends!

4. STAINING: After wiping any remaining sanding dust off the boards, I used old rags to apply Minwax Wood Stain in Special Walnut 224. Fortunately, we had this stain lying around the house (I had bought it for a previous project but ended up using another color). I like to use rags because the stain goes on in a thin layer verses using foam brushes and having to wipe off the access later. I also like it because you can see the result immediately. I ended up using two coats, I thought about three but figured it would be too dark compared to the other wooden elements in the nursery. We chose not to seal the arrows because, again, no one was going to be touching them and they wouldn't ever be exposed to high amounts of moisture (read water rings). 

   

5. ASSEMBLY: After all the boards were dry I matched them up in groups of four that fit best together. Even though they are all cut the same, there is always some human error. Once they were matched, I was able to pick which side of each board I liked the best. Because some have knots and some don't the stain is a little different on each piece. After I decided what pieces went best together, I laid the arrow face down and lined up the metal plate. I decided to put the screws in with a screwdriver instead of an electric drill with just a little (wo)man power! I was worried that the electric drill would split the wood and I didn't want to have to start over! Once the arrows were whole, I attached my hooks. I found that the "center" of the arrow was above the top corner of the metal bracket and that's where I nailed in the hooks (not pictured).  

6. HANG IT UP! It's as simple as that, hang on desired wall and enjoy!! 

I hope this can inspire you to create your own version of something you found online! It can be fun to create without guidelines but if you need them, here they are! Please let us know if you have any questions by commenting here or emailing us. As always, ENJOY and show us what you come up with!!