progress

remember this cart? (blogged about here and here) the one that i refer to as my pride and joy:

we have decided for our apartment to use it as an entertainment center/shelving in our living room.  but the problem was that my precious cart did not have shelves.  originally we were planning on just buying cheap plywood and having it cut to size to use as makeshift shelving.  it didn't sound great aesthetically but we didn't really want to put money into a temporary fix. 

anyway, when we were at home depot, the plywood sizes were just not going to work out right and it was actually going to be kinda pricey (and not look very good).  

plan b. we walked past these big 2"x10"x16' boards that were quite pretty and really sturdy. they were cheaper than plywood and long enough that we could get 3 lengths out of them. so we ended up getting 2 of the boards ($10 each) and they cut them for us for free.  here was our basic idea:

the mister and i tag-teamed it. 

i did the sanding

 

we sampled our stain options.....and decided on "provincial".

before and after the staining

and he did the staining. 

a few hours later.....we are proud. 

of course i will have to get better pictures of it when it is actually in our home (and i've figured out storage solutions....yikes. this thing is so big we need to get a lot of storage out of it for all the square footage it is taking up! ha ha)

andrew was sweet and supportive when i wanted to buy the cart. it was kinda an irresponsible buy, for many reasons:

1. it wasn't in the budget

2. we were living with my parents. so it sat in the front yard for a year.

3. it is huge.

4. we were moving to texas and it had to make the move with us.

5. it was impulsive

6. the real use i wanted to buy it for (kitchen island) will not be realistic until we own a home. with a large kitchen. that could be years....

7. it is an acquired taste for some (not everyone understands putting an industrial cart in the living room).

but regardless of all of these things, we bought it.  he thought it was cool but not spend-money-on-and-keep-in-the-front-yard cool. but he let me do it.  

now even he is telling me how great it will look in our apartment. the simple shelves really dress it up. although he still teases me ("i think we need to sell this....") he is on board. it is so nice to have a supportive husband and it was fun to work together on it.

updates...

a few updates from my list for the apartment planning the other day.

1. we got the butcher block table top i was hoping for. we bought it off craigslist. it is a trestle table that is perfectly fine the way it is...but i just don't care for it (the base) much.  or the color of the stain. or the scratches, etc.

my parents were in town this week and they surprised me by sanding the whole table top while i was at the DMV for 2+ hours. yay!  now i just need to stain and polyurethane it.

2. i was originally planning on doing a pipe base that i talked about here. it was going to take a little while to save up extra money to buy plumbing pipes...every girl's dream i know. but then i stumbled across a little gem on pinterest...

via stylizimo blog

that made me aware of those metal trestle legs from ikea that she uses as her table base.  well i think those would be just great with our butcher block table top. [did i mention that the legs are only $10 each!!) i can get them right away and i think i will be just as happy with them as i would with the pipe base. easy.

3. i am not dismissing my love of pipes so easily. there are still many things i'd like to do with my plumbing pipes. in fact, it's probably a good thing that i can scratch one pipe project off my list, because i don't want my apartment to look like some waterworks warehouse.  so anyway, projects like

via the brick house

via 

via

all still valid options.

4. we ordered chairs.  in a dream world, i'd get tolix chairs in a fun color.

but that just isn't an option financially, so i downgraded to the overstock.com knock off:

 i actually don't think of them as knock-off tolix, because then i would never be satisfied. they do not have nearly the same character or charm as the tolix chairs.

...but they are metal, affordable, and interesting. they are lightweight and stackable.  plus they were $139 (including shipping) for a set of 4! so i consider them a cute budget chair that got really good reviews from the overstock.com customers.  i'll let you know what i think when we get them.

5. we will have a bar/open counter space in our little apartment. so i was about to get these bar stools (2 for about $75) in the same order with the chairs....

but then i realized i had no clue if i'd need the 24" height or the 30" height. and i guarantee the return shipping would be a lot more than the $3 shipping overstock charges.  so i figured i'd pay the $3 again and order them next week once we're in the apartment and i've measured, etc.  cute huh?

6. i was re-reading the post about the ikea trestle legs (see item #1) and realized that she was inspired by someone else's table. so i followed the link. here's what i found: 

via helt enkelt

and now i am so excited! because look at the chairs on the left side of the table. same material and color as my chairs i just ordered. same style, although i can't tell if these are real or knock-offs. but my point is i am excited to see my finished dining room with the ikea legs and metal chairs. judging by this picture i think i'll like it.

part 1

i had a gift card to barnes and noble a little while back and picked up this book, natural patchwork by suzuko koseki.  it has lots of cute little projects and i love her aesthetic. also i need to get my hands on a milk bottle like that.

anyway she has a cute little coasters tutorial that i had to try.

here is my set.

i made them mostly out of different scraps.

and a close up of each one:

i actually gave this set away so i need to make another one to keep.  a housewarming gift to myself for our new apartment sounds appropriate...ha ha

i have a few other projects that went together with this one this i will show next week.

laundry list

i'm going to ignore the fact that i have been MIA from the blog for a couple months...and just say that my husband and i have been busy. moving. starting a new job. apartment hunting. car shopping. and another little surprise but i'll save that for later.

back to the moving/apartment thing. we found a place! and we move in about 2 weeks from now. so now i am in full mental-decorating mode.  here are a few of my tentative plans:

sorry, i don't know the link

build hanging shelves like these in the dining room (smaller scale i'm sure)

via pinterest from design sponge sneak peek

stain rather than paint a dresser green

via this sneak peek

i would kill to get a filing cabinet like this..

via hindsvik

build a piece of furniture using hairpin legs

via

and make this table base for a new kitchen table using the tutorial from frugal farmhouse design...

but we may have to save up a while. these little pipes are pricey. (i have become an expert on galvanized steel plumbing pipes and fittings)

if all goes well today, then i will have a butcher block top for it.

via wit + delight

plant an herb garden right away... possibly a big one on our little patio like this:

sorry again


 have more ideas, but in the spirit of not getting too ahead of myself....i'll leave it at that.