I love the iPhone app Hipstamatic. It is an app that Hipstmatic says “brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras from the past.” Basically it makes any old picture look pretty darn cool. Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPhone and even if I did, I love to take pictures with my real camera.

I thought there must be a way, without being a photoshop genius, to give my pictures this awesome vintage look.  It took a lot of digging but I found a great little FREE program to download and a few very easy steps to make any photo hip in any way you want!

Start by downloading Photoscape.  It’s a free photo editor that lets you do tons of things to your pictures!  I have just started playing with it but it is easy and fun!  I will be spending a ton of time with this little gem!

First, select your run of the mill photo.  I love this picture of Sophia on the beach and thought it would look great with a vintage twist!

Next, upload your photo into the Photoscape editor.

Below the photo you will see a bunch of buttons that allow you to change anything about the photo.

For this picture I took the following steps:

Filter – Film Effect – Cross Process High.  Cross Processing in the real world of photography is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film (from Wikipedia).

Filter – Film Effect – Portra High.  Portra is an effect that is meant to simulate the high quality Kodak film that is used for weddings and portraits to give great skin tones and a very fine grain.  I just liked how it looked!

Bright, Color – Colorize.  For this picture I chose a color value 20, saturation of 255 and saturation level of 41%.  The higher the level, the stronger the color.  This is where you will give your pictures a different tone of green or orange or whatever suits your fancy!

Filter – Vignetting.  Click on Vignetting and choose your shadow like edges.  There are a bunch to choose from and they are fun to play around with!

Backlight.  (+/- 100%)  This is what I chose.  It gives a really cool light to the photo.  Play around with this too.  You can see the changes as you make them so it is super easy to change your mind.

Finally, the real Hipstamtic cool factor comes from the frame.  This was what I could never find but in Photoscape there are a few that mimic that cool old look. I chose Cali 12 for this photo, which has a rough edge around the entire photo. 

I ended up with the fabulous and very hip photo of Sophia at the beach!

I went ahead and hipped up a photo of Miles and Violet as well because it is just so much fun! Here is the original adorable picture of my two cuddle bugs!

I chose a Portra Low setting here with colorization of 25/128/50% for the more orange tones and I love it! I also chose the slightly more rugged Cali 5 frame.

Now don’t you have a couple pics that could use a little more hip?  Have fun and please share your experience in the comments so that we can all create some very cool photos!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Miles' First Bed

You know how much I love custom and cheap.  And you know how Miles can launch himself out of his crib and so he needed to have a bog boy bed.  Voila!  A very low to the ground and very chic alternative to a toddler bed.  And you can make it in any size!

I saw this idea for a DIY upholstered bed on Design Sponge (one of my all time favorite blogs) courtesy of Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom (another of my all time favorite blogs).  She gives a great tutorial on Design Sponge so check it out.  My tutorial has a few extra detail as as usual for those of us (like me) who like things literally spelled out step by step so there is less chance of complete failure.  I meant to post the tutorial tonight but I am going to the hospital to have my little girl in 6 hours and I only finished the bed yesterday and putting the covers on the bed during bath time tonight!  I still need to sew the pillow that matches the bottom but that will have to wait.

So…tutorial coming but here are some pics so you KNOW that you can do this.  Miles’ bed is a twin but I will be posting my suggestions for how to make this bed in a full, queen or king as well because you WILL need extra support to go larger.  I think it would make a great bed for any age and you can TOTALLY customize your look.  I also made this bed so that it has storage underneath that is accessible.  I have put all the kids travel stuff as well as our aero bed and guest sheets under there.  Woohoo!

Step One:  Have Home Depot or Lowe’s Cut Plywood or MDF to correct size.

MDF For Bed - All from One Sheet - $25

Step Two:  Attach all the side pieces.  I used an ottoman as my helper but a human would be better.  Especially if you are 9 months pregnant.

Screw Pieces Together

Step Three:  Attach Side Rails with Screws.  Again – helper helpful.  I had to go from both sides because to do it by yourself you have to turn the unit on its side and drill from the inside and then reinforce from the outside.

Attach Side Rails with Screws

Step Four:   Attach batting using staple gun while your children watch Dora before nap time in “The Boat”. 

Attach Batting to the "Boat"

Step 5:  Upholster Bed with Your Choice of Awesome Fabric.  This is what will determine your budget.  I fell in love with this chocolate houndstooth like fabric and spent $70.  I will have enough for 2 large pillows and a 2 window box valances.  You could go much cheaper but I was under sort of a deadline, you know.  I did not do a perfect job with my enemy the staple gun and will be covering the staples with a thick fabric and some glue just to be super safe.  This project takes a LOT of staples.

Completed Upholstered Bed Frame

Step 6:  Insert Plywood Panels also cut by Home Depot or Lowe’s.  You will not need a box spring for this bed, which rocks.  Notice I left a little bit of space between the panels so they can easily be pulled out to access storage underneath.

Mattress Support with Easy Access

Step 7:  Make the Bed and Enjoy!  As I said I still need to sew matching pillows but otherwise I love the mix of browns and the body pillow I found at Target for $10 up against the wall.  The light tan down blanket and chocolate covered twin plush blanket on the bottom of the bed are from Target too!  The shams are from Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

Great Under the Nook!

The puppy dog blanket was a baby gift.  SO CUTE!

Puppy Love

I think it was a hit.  Post bathtime the kids were ecstatic!

After Bath they Loved the Bed!

I hope you like this one as much as I do!  I think it is such a great alternative to spending a ton at Pottery Barn or Land of Nod and it is the right height for toddlers at a little over 14″.  I am going to let Miles pick out some animal pillows too since of course, what he really wanted was a Diego comforter.  I will post the tutorial in the next few weeks. 

For now I am off to have this baby!

I am linking up to Kimba’s DIY Day at a Soft Place to Land and Make your Monday at Twice Remebered!  Check out all the great DIY projects!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Bookcase Shown in Hallway

When you have a random tiny space under a dormer or in some tiny corner and you need every square inch of it for some extra storage and you don’t want some white laminate thing that doesn’t really fit – you find some wood scraps and throw it together.  Then you paint it and it looks awesome.  I kid you not.  You can do this.  And it will look great.  And you will be a little storage superhero.  This particular unit can also be turned on its side and used as a bench.  I love things that have more than one use.  Brilliant.

I adore organizers and bins and storage solutions and whether it is for kid rooms or laundry rooms or bathrooms I find I am always looking for that perfect sized piece in which to stash toys or detergent or towels.  I rarely find the size I need.  When I switched Miles’ and Sophia’s room so that she would have the bigger room to share with her soon to be here baby sister, I realized there was an awkward space next to the giant dresser but wedged under a dormer that would be perfect for some toys and books and get them off my darn floors.  I measured.  That is always the first step.  I know I would never find anything 17 inches wide and JUST LESS THAN 36 inches tall.  Lots of stuff is 12 inches wide and exactly 3 feet tall – but that would be too skinny and hit my dormer.  Lots of stuff is 18 inches wide but you see then it would not fit in my little corner.  I knew it was DIY moment.  And I knew that the area was small enough that I would be able to get away using mostly scrap wood.  AMEN!  Cheap and Chic and Custom.  Nothing better. 

Here’s How You…Yes You…Can Do This.

1.  Measure your strange awkward space.  Of course, you can use this instructional for ANY small bookcase and it will be made of wood, not laminate, and you can make it as ornate or simple as you like and out it in your living room.    Measure at least five times – especially if the numbers are weird.  You want to get this right. 

Note:  You could also measure your strange awkward stuff and then build a unit to fit it.  This is an awesome idea and   I have done this before with baskets that I loved that never fit anything.  Then they look like it is totally custom and it rocks!

2.  Figure out your desired height, width and depth.  Mine was, as I said, 17 inches wide by 35 inches tall by less than 20 inches deep.  I ended up with 14 inches.  It needed to be less deep than the dresser and I was flexible here because I knew I would be working with scrap wood.  Again, this is totally custom but if you are looking for a standard depth, bookcases are usually 12 inches deep.  If you have big books though – measure the books or whatever you are putting in the unit!  It does not good to build a piece that stuff does not fit in. 

For a small unit I would expect that 2 shelves would suffice and in a simple project like this these shelves will be fixed – not adjustable.  You can buy easy shelf adjusters at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s but for me I wanted an evenly spaced look.

3.  Plan your wood cuts.  Don’t worry about the cutting I will give you a couple of ways to get this done.  Here is the basic layout.

a.  The Back- The back should measure the FULL HEIGHT AND WIDTH.  I used a cheap piece of panel board from the Home Depot for this.  You do not NEED the back to be solid thick wood.  It is up to you.  I went for cheap and being as pregnant as I am I decided not add the weight of solid wood on the back when it would make absolutely no visible difference.

b.  The Top and Bottom - The top and bottom should be the FULL WIDTH and DEPTH of the unit.  You want no seams on the top of your finished piece and it makes for easier nailing.

c.  The Sides – Take your FULL HEIGHT and SUBTRACT the THICKNESS of the top and bottom pieces.  For me, I used 3/4″ furniture grade plywood so I subtracted 1 1/2 ” from my total desired height of 35 1/2″ for a toal height of 34″ for my sides.  The DEPTH should be your FULL DEPTH and should match that of the top and bottom.

Of course, this means that your total storage area is less than the full width so make sure to account for this if you  are building this to fit a particular item or bin or basket.   If I needed 15 inches of width, let’ say, I would choose a total width of 17 inches to allow for my sides and a tiny bit of wiggle room on each side.

d.  The Shelves – Take your FULL WIDTH and SUBTRACT the THICKNESS of the side panels.  Again for me this was 1 1/2″ off my total of 17 for a width of 15 1/2″.   Use the FULL DEPTH.

You may want to wait until you have built your basic unit and then fit in the shelves and get a specific measurement, but this is up to you.  Sometimes a shelf may need a little bit of shaving down or sanding to fit in.  Do not worry if there is a little extra space – caulk will fix this.  See?

Extra Edge Space

Note that all of the pieces are the FULL DEPTH.  This will allow us to simply attach the back to the piece as well as any trim to the front very easily.

4.  Cut your wood or have it cut for you.  As I said, I had scrap wood for this project leftover from others but you can find wood by posting to Freecycle or Craigslist or simply purchasing one sheet of double sanded furniture grade plywood from any Home Depot or Lowe’s or the like.  If you do not own a circular saw or a table saw these stores will make your cuts for you for something like 25 cents per cut and they oftentimes have piles of scrap there in the store.

5.  Assemble your outside pieces.  I am lucky and I have a nail gun but a simple hammer and nails will work just fine.  Make sure you have someone to help you hold the pieces.  It will make it a LOT easier.  I used 1 1/4 inch nails and nailed the top and bottom onto my sides in a matter of minutes.  Try you very best to be as square as possible.  This is not as hard as it sounds – you will be okay if you are making your eges even and as smooth as possible.  It will take about a half hour to an hour with a hammer and nails.

 6.  Fit your shelves in and Attach - If you want even spaces you need to take your INSIDE HEIGHT (same height as your sides) and SUBTRACT the same THICKNESS of your shelves.  My height was 34″ less the 1 1/2 inches for shelves, leaving me with 32 1/2″ of space.  DIVIDE THIS INTO THREE ( if you have 2 shelves) to figure out  the amount of space between shelves.  I got about 10.8″  I measured down from the top and made my marks on the front and around the sides so I would be able to nail in from the outside.  It takes some patience but it is NOT HARD.

Note Nails in Side

You now have the base of the unit.  From here on out it is SO easy!  Check out how nasty this wood is.  A little primer, some caulk and some paint and it’s a whole new world!

Sides and Shelves

7.  Attach the Back- If you are using panel board like me you simply use a hammer and panel board nails to work around the edges of the piece and of course nailing the back to the shelves as well.  It is easy to figure out where to nail into the shelves.

Back is Attached

8.  Throw some simple trim on the front- I purchased a simple rounded over edge and used a miter box (super cheap) and hand saw to cut mitred corners.  I then used wood glue and some panel board nails to get it on.  I did sand some edges a little on the shelves so it looked good.  You could get as fancy as you wanted here.  You could put feet on the unit.  You could add more of a molding the the top.  Future DIY’s will detail how to really get sassy with your simple pieces.  As it is I just needed something simple and quick and easy so it would be done before the baby!

Closeup of Trim

9.  Sand, Caulk, Prime and Paint! - I sanded the whole piece with 150 and paid special attention to the edges to make them smooth.  Using a sanding block or power sander will help immensely here!  I used my good ol’ Black Satin paint that I use to paint almost everything because I LOVE black.  The caulk filled my little gaps and I did use some wood filler on the nail holes on the sides.  It is not glossy -that is just the light because I wanted to show how the trim looked.

Closeup Painted Edge

10.  Squeeze your little custom bookcase into it’s new home!

Nestled in Nook

Tight Space. Sassy Solution.

As always feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I will get back to you as soon as I can!  Enjoy and Happy Building!

I am linking up to Kimba’s DIY DAY at A Soft Place to Land!  Check out her awesome site and all the great projects!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Can you hear me?  I am a full blown bird at this point and that well known nesting instinct has taken over my entire persona.  My little chicks – I have wings I tell you…WINGS!  I have now judged and made a plan for every nook and cranny and organizational quandary in my house and will be using this wonderful New Year to implement my genius.  Pregnant women in their last weeks have the ability to think of an enormous amount of design, decorating, purging and organizational tasks.  This is called NESTING.

I decided to harness this radical nesting power in making my plan for the 12 coming months and I am going to share it with you weekly in a post that is DIY (Do-It-Yourself), Organizational, Design or Planning related.  I like my home to be pretty.  I like it to be put together.  I like to customize things to meet my needs and those of my family.  I get immense satisfaction out of having everything from ties to Tupperware in its place.  I have started on this journey and would love too share with you my tips and tricks and get feedback and ideas from you!  Stay Tuned!  DIY day is not just for power tools anymore!  I’ve got custom planners and calendars, party planning tips and tools, great DIY storage ideas and so much more!

My NESTING plan was one of the many BIG things I wanted to have in place before the New Year.  As a reminder I am starting my New Year on Monday.  I had to make both a Plan A (Decide to move forward with small renovation) and Plan B (Ha – no more money - no renovation) but both are done as of this afternoon and my 2010 is feeling less unapproachable each and every moment.  Now I just need to design some sassy button or logo for my weekly Nesting post…..that goes on the 2010 list!

Today, I not only completed my Nesting Plan but I also completely cleaned out the mismatched sock bin, recycled 2 giant bins of household paperwork while checking numerous things off my administrative to-do list, got the basics for baby like tiny diapers and super soft wipes and such, and helped Sophia to give away 2 whole bags of her precious toys.  The purging around here was crazy!  And so were the life lessons for my wonderful 3 year old.  I am now going to do my own little closet purge tomorrow.

One day left until my 2010 begins and I am feeling wonderfully positive both about my massive to do’s and my brilliant family and my coming bundle of joy!

Oh, and by the way, I decided to challenge myself with another month of NaBloPoMo – posting every day this month.  I figure I have a ton to blog about and it does provide a nice sort of discipline.  Let’s hope there are fewer dud posts than last time and a LOT more brand new baby pics!

 Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

From my home to yours, a Very Happy Holiday!

Yes, making my own card this year allowed me to include a ton of pictures.  It also took a majillion years and made me want to strangle Photoshop.  But I like how it came out. 

From January though December I had a wonderful year and hope that you did too. I am thankful for my family and friends and I am enjoying meeting such wonderful people in the blogging community.  To a fabulous 2010!

I actually made the card on standard size paper and printed it on a nice thick gloss paper for sending it out via snail mail.  If you would like to see how the card turned out, you may cview the PDF file of our Holiday Card.  I will have a How-To to come for those of you who want to save a bundle on any kind of card or announcement!

Vintage Dominoes

I love vintage games and have been scouring flea markets and online auctions to no avail. I just never find what I want or what I want is way too expensive for this particular desire.  I have seen games c. 1900 and earlier for thousands of dollars!  I am thinking more like $10-$20 each.  Here I will teach you to make them for even less!

You see, I want to have a number of these games for a completely EMPTY wall in our playroom and I love the colors of folk art and vintage games fall right in there!  Also, I would like to be able to take them off the wall easily to play the games. You know I am always practical! So a real vintage game does not really fit my purpose.  I don’t think I would let my toddlers play around with an antique, you know?

As usual, I decided to create all these games myself.

So far I am planning on creating, from easiest to most difficult – Checkers (Easy!),  Chinese Checkers (difficulty depends on pattern chosen), Parcheesi (difficult) and Backgammon (moderate).  I am sure I will add more if I see some really cool ones but this is a good start!

I am going to have a series on creating these games, which I think would be great for a play room, family room, kids room or rec room. If you want to make sure you get all the DIY tutorials as I create these games  and tons of other projects please consider following through Google Friend Connect or subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest DIY tips and tutorials from this handy Mom!  As usual I am always here if you have questions or do not understand a certain step.  I will do my best to help you finish your own DIY masterpiece!

I had been plotting my vintage game room for quite some time when I stumbled across the girls from Shanty2Chic and their Large Vintage Dominoes tutorial.  What a great place to start!  While I am not ever going to play with the large game pieces, I thought they would be great to break up the actual size games I would create and add some drama!  Check out their site – they have TONS of great vintage projects including some large vintage dice I am going to make in red!  The Shanty2Chic girls have a great tutorial on their site for both projects but I wanted to add a few details for those of you who, like me, are new to this kind of DIY.

TUTORIAL FOLLOWS:

Materials:

1 – 2 x 10 x 8 piece of untreated lumber from any home improvement store.  This will make 6 dominoes. and cost about $5.  Sometimes they will have scrap wood that you can get for less.  If so – go for it!  You only need 48″ to make 3 dominoes.

Sandpaper in 80 grit and 120 grit

Cream Paint in Satin Finish – I used Behr Cozy Cottage (740C-2) but any creamy color will work.

Black Paint in a Satin Finish

Ralph Lauren Glaze (RL 2420) tinted to smoke color.   I actually did not have them tint the whole gallon as it can be tinted at home with different colors depending on your needs.

Tools I Used:

You don’t really need any fancy told for this.  I just happen to have some so I used them.  Making the dots is the hardest part but you can be as casual as you want.  I am just completely anal and had to whip out my stencils, compass and tracing paper!

Miter or Circular or Hand Saw or Home Depot Guy:  To cut your pieces.

Power Sander:  makes it much easier to shape raw wood

Sanding block:   makes it MUCH easier

Paint Brush:  I literally used a tiny package from Walmart for the detail work and a very old Purdy for the cream.

Painters Tape

Tape Measure and / or Ruler

Sharpie (I live and die by Sharpie on projects) Not necessary, just wonderful!

Circle Stencil and / or Simple Compass:  I used both.  The circle stencil was from a super cheap package of shapes at Walmart.

Tracing Paper

Step One: Cut your wood into 16″ lengths.  I used my miter saw but you can use a circular saw, a handsaw or the handsome gents at the cutting stations in any major home improvement store.  Usually the first 2 cuts are free and after that are 25¢ each.

Cut Wood into 16" Lengths

Step Two: Use your power sander or get a real workout with your arms and a sanding block to round out each and every edge to look like a vintage domino.  Sand the entire piece so that it is relatively smooth.  This is raw wood so you are not going for perfection here!

Rounded Corners Close-Up

Step Three: Apply 2 coats of your cream paint.

Step Four: Plan and Layout your dots and center line.  I used a pencil and ruler on 1 domino to make a template.  After much experimentation I chose 3/4″ thick for my center line and app. 1 5/8″ diameter for my circle.   I had a circle stencil in various sizes and this is the one I chose.  I think that 1 1/2 inches would work too.  I apologize for the light on this picture but essentially I drew on my center lines horizontally and then made a vertical line down the center of the domino.  I then made a horizontal line splitting the top area in half.  This gave me the location for the center of my starting circle.  Dominoes are not equidistant from all sides as I thought.  Creating a full 9 dot domino allowed me to see the spacing that I wanted.   You an experiment but my circles are app. 3/4″ from the sides and 5/8″ from the top and from the center line.  There is app. 5/8″ between my dots vertically.  You can use a compass or stencil once you create all of your lines to make your circles.

Domino With Lines

Step 5:  Crate Your Template / Stencil:  Steps 4 and 5 you could have done much more free hand but I am not that good.  I also do not have a way to create a large stencil and I knew I wanted to use a template so I made one out of tracing paper.  I copied all 9 dots and my center line onto my tracing paper and marked top and bottom on it.

Tracing Paper Stencil

Step 6: Layout center lines on all pieces.  This is simple using your ruler.  Use your template and a compass or stencil to draw all of your circles in pencil.  If using the template make sure to follow your top and bottom notes and “flip” the template to do the bottom of the domino.  Simply use the template and compass to draw as many circles in the correct place as you need on that domino.  Apply painters tape around the lines.

Center Line Tape

Step 7: Paint in your lines.  Using a small brush I dry brushed 3 coats of black paint.

Step 8: Outline your circles.  I had one circle stencil and was just going to paint by placing it over my pencil lines but I did NOT like how it was making the dots look.  I kept having leakage.  I decided to use my one circle stencil and my handy dandy Sharpie and make all of my circles using the stencil over my pencil circles and then paint them.

Line and Dots Outline

Step 9: Paint Your Circles.  Using black paint and a tiny brush paint your circles.  This was fast and so much fun!  It was not at all difficult to stay in my Sharpie lines and I love the not absolutely perfect look of my circles!  It took 5 very light coats to get this right but each can be applied right after the last.  I show both 2 coats and the final so you can see!  Do not worry about brush strokes by coat 5 they are gone!

Two Coats

Final - 5 Coats

Step 10: Sand all edges, particularly corners, using 80 grit sandpaper and apply Minwax Red Mahogany (225) over the sanded areas.  This gives that vintage feel!  The Minwax stain will seep into the bare wood immediately so use a small brush and wipe off directly after application because it will stain your domino as well!  I learned this the hard way and have a little boo boo on my first corner.  Good thing these are vintage looking!

Sanded Edge

Minwax for Vintage

Step 11: Apply Ralph Lauren Tinted Glaze in Smoke.  You have to ask for a tint at my home depot and I did not want to tint an entire gallon of this stuff ($24.00) all one color since I can use it for so many projects!  I used a little tiny bit of my black to tint a little tiny cup of this stuff.  I might go back and use more but I am happy with the very light tint it gave at the moment.  You can get your glaze as dark as you like but be careful and test some first!  You just paint on and wipe off!  Love the simplicity there!  It gives a nice finish to the pieces no matter how light you go.

Ralph Lauren Glaze

Very Light Glaze

Step 11: Attach simple saw tooth hangers and hang!  I am not sure which way I am going to hang these yet so I am waiting on my hangers.  Right now they are filling part of an empty wall in my front room and get TONS of compliments!

Finished Dominoes

Please let me know if you try this project – I would LOVE to see your own Dominoes and any tips you might have for creating them!

I hope you liked this DIY Large Vintage Domino Tutorial.  Please come back for more!  I am linking this up to Kimba’s DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land!

Also, thanks to the girls at Shanty2Chic for the great tutorial and always inspiring blog!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Custom Craftsman Storage Bench

Once again, it is DIY day and right now I am in storage mode. My nesting instincts are leaning to organized before designer chic right now. I love my little bungalow and my favorite part is the front porch living. We spend an enormous amount of time “porchin” it with our family, friends and neighbors. However, in our neighborhood most of these old bungalows (including ours) do not have a garage and without a garage comes piles of crap on my beloved front porch!

My goal was to create more seating and hide as much crap as possible while leaving it easily accessible and organized.  The “crap” on the porch is there, after all, because it is stuff we use all the time!

I looked for storage benches and they were expensive and not the size that I needed.  I saw costs of $200 for a small bench up to $800 for larger wood or cedar benches.  Even at that price, I did not see what I was looking for.  I ended up making my bench for approximately $85 plus $20 for 2 additional milk crates to go inside.

If you have a porch, either screened or covered, this is a great and simple way to get a custom storage bench!  You can get as fancy as you want trimming out the basic box.  I am lucky that I was going for the craftsman style – easy peasy to get those mission squares!  I am going to make a cushion for the bench at some point when we figure out what colors we are going for out there, but right now it is great to sit on and it definitely hides a ton!

Custom Milk Crate Storage

You Will Need:

2×4’s : As many as you need for your measurements!  I used 2×4x12 Foot boards because my length was 6 feet for the bench but a 4 foot bench would be super simple with 8 foot boards.

Plywood:  Since my porch is covered and does not get actual water on it, I used double sanded furniture grade plywood for my outside.  I only needed one sheet but that is because I had scrap from other projects.  Without any scrap you will be limited to a 4 foot long box with one sheet of plywood.  You could use pressure treated and then cover it with cedar or whatever you like!

1×4 whitewood (cheapest) strips for my trim

Nails & Deck Screws

Fence Hinges:  Or any kind of hinge that can lay flat.  You could also use piano hinges.

Paint:  I used my porch paint (Bronzetone) for the squares and the khaki paint from my laundry room for the trim and top.  I hate to buy new paint if I don’t need to.

Basic Tutorial:

1.  Lay Out Your Location.  For my height I knew that my top needed to fit UNDER the window.  Other than that I wanted a bench that could seat at least 3 adults and look like a real built in part of my porch so I went with 6′ wide and 21″ deep.

Bench is 6' Wide by 21" Deep by 17" Tall

2.  Figure Out Your Materials List.  See above.

3.  Cut Lengths of 2×4 to Build Frame.  Since I did not have any official “plans” I made sure to measure measure measure.  I let my full length be the front and back 2×4’s with the sides and mid supports fitting between them.  Use deck screws at an angle where necessary to attach the pieces.  I used deck screws to attach the 2×4’s to the porch and to each other.  I knew I wanted easy storage so I made my “spacing” on the floor so that milk crates would fit in the spaces.  Genius!  I love it!

My bottom supports spaced to fit milk crates!

4.  Add Top of Box Frame.  Again, measure the whole time.  Porches are not always level and you want to have your top lay flat on your box so make sure you make any small adjustments to your supports so that this happens!  This is really simple with a 4 foot level.  It need not be absolutely perfect.  Because my house is brick, I did use a few tapcon screws I had in the shed to attach the 2×4 on the top to the brick but really, I do not think it was going anywhere!

Below the window I left room for my top!

5.  Cut and Attach Sides and Cut Top.  It was dark and raining by the time I did this so I do not have a picture of this step but it is really the simplest.  Now that you have your frame you are just measuring and cutting and screwing.  For the top of the bench, remember that it will need to come over your side trim, so add to the measurement.  My trim was 3/4″ thick so I added 3/4″ inch to the front and 1 1/2″ to the side measurement.  Once the top piece is cut and you make sure it is the right size, figure out how much to cut off the back to make it a lid.  I needed the back of the top to clear the window sill and leave enough room for the lid to rest back on the house so I cut off 4 inches.  This long thin piece is permanently attached to the 2×4’s in the back with many deck screws. 

6.  Attach Trim.  I used 1×4’s for a boxy and simple craftsman look but if you think about all the styles of cabinet trim you see – the sky is the limit.  This particular style works well with many styles as it is clean and simple.  I sued my nail gun for this because it just goes so fast but you could easily use hammer and nails.  Just make sure your nails are long enough to penetrate both your trim and about 1/2″ of your siding.

7.  Attach Top.  First permanently attach the slim longer piece to the back and then fit the larger piece up to it and attach using hinges.  The type and weight of hinge will vary depending on the weight of your top and the material.  I used 3 decorative fence hinges of a fairly heavy weight from Home Depot to make sure my top was secure.  I then put a lock on one side to keep little fingers from lifting the top.

These pictures will show how the sides are attached to the 2×4 and then the trim on top of that!

Raw Bench Open

Side Trim with Open Top

8.  Fill Holes and Paint.  Get out your wood filler, plug those nail holes and paint away!  I chose to make the background match my porch floor and have the lighter color be the khaki from my laundry room.  Free and I knew the color scheme would work.  I still might make the top the dark color – we’ll see!

9.  Put all that stuff away and enjoy your new found organized storage and bench!  We fit all the car wash and dog wash stuff in one bin, all of the play doh and kids helmets in one, frequently used tools etc in one and frequently used front garden tools and bulbs or seeds in one.  Perfect!  When the fall gardening is done I will probably use this bin for winter boots and such.   There are just so many neat possibilities.  Now we can sit on a bench instead of stare at this junk!

10.  If you are a mommy blogger and DIYer – show off your gorgeous little helper with your DIY project!

Sophia Loves her Pink Bin

Sophia Helped Paint the Bench!

I am linking this post up to the fabulous Kimba’s DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  This is my favorite link up!  You will find so many fabulous ideas and great DIY bloggers! 

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Sophia's Retro Play Kitchen

Monday is DIY day in bloggy land and this might be my proudest achievement to date.  It is certainly the one that has brought the most joy!

My daughter has always loved play kitchens.  She finds hours of fun in making dinners, having tea parties and washing dishes.  I think it is just precious.  Now my son plays too.  My heart melts.

When we go to the mall and “play” at Pottery Barn Kids, we spend at least 30 minutes with the play kitchen (and another 30 with a vanity – next project!) every time.  I think all of their little kitchens are to die for.  Having said that, my husband would actually die if I was ever to purchase one of these kitchen sets.  Currently the cost for a 3 piece kitchen starts at $450 and runs up to a whopping $879!  This does not include a 10% delivery and processing fee!

Here was the look I was going for from Pottery Barn.

PB Retro Kitchen

So, I searched the web, found some wood and decided to build her a large kitchen of her dreams!  I happened to have had an old closet that had tile in it from before we moved the laundry area so she also has a white tile floor and a WORKING SINK!  We love this kitchen and we build it for a total cost of less than $150!  Pretty good wouldn’t you say?

Here is where I started.  I found a set of plans for a wood play kitchen at Lowe’s.com and then modified them to be closer to the retro look I wanted.   The plans were cute and I followed the dimensions but rather than fake on the sink parts and stove knobs I found the real thing for this kitchen.   I also built a drawer for below the stove to store pots and pans!  The shelves in all of the pieces are closet shelving.  The handles were a bit expensive at $20 all together but they were scratched or they would have been a lot more.  I think they really add something cute and retro feeling!  I also installed a little white shelf in the extra space to hold silverware and pantry items.  The paint was a can of red oops! for $5.  It is a little brighter than the perfect red but man is it close!

We have so much fun with this!  I found bins at Target to store dress up and other toys in cute khaki and red above the kitchen so that all the imagination fun mess would be contained in the closet and the kids would need to ask before we play with this!

Here is where I started after I cut my furniture grade plywood found on clearance!

A Long Way to Go

Here is the basic box assembly of the sink.  All of the pieces follow the same simple assembly pattern.  After I did one with hammer and nails I got out the nail gun but it is possible with just a hammer!

The Basic Box

Little Oven

Working Little Sink

Working Plumbing

 The Fridge fits everything!  I love that I can keep all the food in the bins it came in.  It’s easy to clean up and easy to transport to the table for “parties” or cooking school!

Little Fridge

Old Laundry Closet

Little Kitchen in the Closet

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

Sophia's New Store It Bed

When I realized that Sophia could get out of her crib at 18 months and she had a baby brother coming in a month who would need her sleeping quarters I went looking for a bed.  I wanted to find something that would not kill her if she fell out of it.  I needed to find something that had some storage possibilities since at that time she was in a room that was basically all dormers and very little “room”.   I only hoped I could find a full sized bed that a child could sleep in for a long time!  Turns out it is sometimes better to build it and get everything you want!

I found something I liked at Pottery Barn called the Store-It Bed (no longer shown below *wink*).  I think I did a good job on re-creating the concept and I got the storage I needed – not the storage that only fits the expensive bins they make.  Pottery Barn wants $799 for this bed in a full size.   I made this bed for a little under $200 – including the large plastic storage bins!

I know usually I take a bunch of pictures, but I was really pregnant when I built this.  I used 3 sheets of hardwood double sanded plywood that was luckily on clearance at Home Depot.  Each sheet was $30! Every once a while they have a stack of this clearance stuff and I almost always pick some up to build stuff.  I had a friend help me make the big cuts because using a circular saw for ling rips when you are that pregnant is not smart or safe.  I used my pneumatic nail gun for all joinery.  Overall the planning took the longest at about 5 hours and I will post a link to my plans in case anyone is interested.  It was not easy to “fit” all the pieces into only 3 sheets.  The bed is in 3 large pieces.

Three Piece Full Size Platform Bed

The overall height of the bed is 16″.  Since there is no box spring and a standard 5 inch thick mattress Sophia sleeps at under 2 feet of height.  The overall size of the bed was planned for a full size with about 3 inches of extra space around the sides and 5 inches at the bottom.  I wanted to make sure there was room for little knees to help get up and down.  In addition, this will fit a queen mattress with no extra room.  Alternatively, I will have space to rest a headboard on if I chose to go that route and build a bookcase headboard and attach it to those extra inches!  I planned the storage box sizes underneath to fit these bright pink plastic bins I found at Target and some of Sophia’s larger toys.  You can see one of the bins and the doll crib in the picture.  Neither of these would have fit in the smaller spaces in the Pottery Barn bed and with the custom bins this $800 bed would have cost almost $1000 at PB – way over my budget!  Altogether there are 9 large storage cubes!  Thinking ahead and taking the time to plan wil give you the best results when building anything!

I also designed the length of the two top pieces so that if I ever do not want to use this as a bed they will fit perfectly across the wall in my upstairs foyer to be used as benches with some cute cushions.  This was a very smart idea since if we don’t use it for Miles and the girls need twin beds in the room we will have a huge seating and storage area in the foyer playroom!  Yay!  More PB furniture we won’t need to buy!

I essentially planned and built 3 large boxes, trimmed them out with simple 3/4″ trim and then painted them!

F.Y.I. I used a twin size quilt so Sophia would be able to see the bed and be as safe as possible.  It works great and it doesn’t bother me to see the bins and her stuff…well not too much anyway!  You could easily use a full mattress and a bed skirt and then you would have hidden storage!

Here is one more pic from the bottom of the bed.

Happy Building!

I am participating in Kimba’s DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  Check it out!

I am also linking up to Shanty 2 Chic’s I made it without my hubby party!  Yay!

I am linking this to the It’s So Very Cheri Knock Off Knock Out Party!

Finally, I am participating in Shades of Pink Room a Month Makeover.

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!

My princess loves her castle!  This is Sophia at the END of her birthday.  She is exhausted and still smiling!  And the castle still looks great after 25 kids playing in it!  There are pics of the finished castle in the daylight further down.  Enjoy and good luck!

The Background

Sophia wanted a princess party for her 3rd birthday and I wanted a party on a budget.  She said she wanted a castle and I found a way to build her one!  The best part – it was very inexpensive!  The worst part – it was really hard work!

It was totally worth it.  The kids play in it every day.  Sophia’s party was a big hit and her social schedule is now full of tea parties with her friends in the afternoon in the castle.  I love how much fun it is to watch them play with it and I am so glad that I did this instead of getting a bouncy for a lot of money that then gets taken away at the end of the party.

The Project (as completed by me) Requires:

• The Mr. McGroovy’s Plan:  He has a ton of other AWESOME plans for boxes.  Please – if you do not use the widgets send him something for designing these great plans!  They rock!
• 8 Large Boxes (Wardrobe or Refrigerator) – you can find free or very cheap boxes.  See Mr. McGroovy’s tips on acquiring boxes for free!  If you want totally free start WAY in advance.  I spent approximately $30 for the 8 boxes and started 2 weeks in advance.
• Mr. McGroovy’s Box Widgets ($24.99) and/ or
• Plain ol’ Nuts and Bolts (Plastic or Metal) long enough to go through 2-3 layers of box. (app. $5)
• Corner Brackets available at any Home Depot or Lowe’s (app. $5)
• Utility Knife with sharp blade
• Drill (Hand or Electric)
• Brown Spray Paint (to cover markings on boxes) ($3)
• Large Black Sharpie (app. $4)
• Gray Paint (Oops! Paint $5)

In addition to the above the project requires patience, time and lots of love.

If you want to be very special…

• Black and White paint if you want to add highlighting to the stones.  (I chose not to as I opted to make my own castle cake for the party.)

The Nitty Gritty How To:

The first few steps are detailed in my Curses!  The Castle! post.

1.  Find Boxes – 8 of Them (9 if you want to build a throne).  This project is easiest if you have 8 of the same boxes.  I did not.  What is cheap is not always easy! I used wardrobe boxes.

2.  Cut all the boxes using utility knife so they are all rectangles without flaps and all look the same (curse a little a lot).  Save the flaps.  My next “how to throw this cheap awesome party” post will include how to make these into swords, shields and magic wands for your complete royal party!

3.  Arrange lovely boxes in castle shape as per plans.  If your boxes have big flaps like wardrobe boxes they should be at the top (we will deal with this later) or you will be unable to make the cuts to the boxes.  I also marked which boxes were what because I knew I had to move them to the porch.

4.  Make your cuts as per the plans.  Don’t forget your door!  I also left one flap from the wardrobe box that I made a “secret” door by painting it to match the castle.  You can see this in the picture below in brown.

5.  Rivet (or bolt) your castle.  This is not as easy as I had thought it would be but it was actually much easier where I chose to use bolts (not in the crawling tunnels) because the screwing was a lot easier than the pushing and let’s be honest – I like to build things and I am more comfortable with bolts than rivets .

6.  Cover the box markings with spray paint.

7.  Cut out the entry way(s) and rivet (or bolt) to the top front of the castle.  I actually used two entries – one at the front and back of the turrets to increase stability.  You will see the two I did in the final picture.  I measured from the opening of the one turret across to the opening of the other and then made sure that the arch would be about 6 inched taller than Sophia.  With refrigerator boxes this will be less of a problem but your castle will be very large.

8.  Add any interior braces / supports.  This was not in the plans but I did not like how much the castle moved and I thought that with 25 kids coming over I would find a way to make it more stable.  Also, wardrobe boxes have a flap on the top of one side which has to go on the top so this was a great way to bring the two sides together!  On side has the rivets and one has the bolts.  It was a LOT easier to do this with the bolts.

9.  Paint your castle!  Kids can help here!  Use a foam roller for the best coverage and least waste of paint.  This was the easiest part of the whole project!  Sophia had a blast!

The Princess Paints!

Only One Coat of Paint!

10.  Draw Your Lines for Brick Layers and Windows.  I used a template that I made from extra box flaps so my spacing would be even and my windows the same size.  Still, this took a long time.

11.  Draw Your Bricks.  I made a brick template out of the extra cardboard as well.  Again though, this was painfully slow when I think about it and not that exciting.  There are  a LOT of bricks to draw.  I tried to be centered on the front entry way and then below the center of each turret and work my way around from there.  Then draw all of your curved edges so the stones look more realistic.

12.  Cut out your windows and add any special treatments to the castle.  I added some lovely window treatments and a walk through out of tulle.  Sophia loves it!  I stapled it to the back of the cardboard and it worked great!  It did not even come down during the party!  It also hid the inside of the castle (bare cardboard) from the front view of the castle.  This picture is from the day AFTER the party and the castle still looks GREAT!

13.  Let your kids enjoy it for as long as you have the space!  Here is Sophia’s first Rock Concert at the castle.  Hannah Montana is in the background thanks to her cousin Nicole!

I love this castle and it is totally possible for far under $50 if you start way ahead on boxes and already have the drill and such.  My total cost was about $75 for everything.  It would be less if you chose to build this without the rivets but them like I said, please send Mr. McGroovy something for his incredible plans!  I am reusing this castle, cutting off the turrets, repainting, and making it a western store for Miles’ 2nd birthday party with a cowboy theme.  Since I also made swords, shields and wands out of this I had very little else to get for an awesome princess party!  The money went a long way!  And we get to keep the castle!

Next Box Project:  A Vanity for my little princess’ room for under $15.  She is SO excited!

I am posting this to the DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  Please check out Kimba’s awesome blog and all the other fabulous DIY ideas…most for your own home and not your child’s play place.  Enjoy!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!