Pallet Wine Table

Gosh I can't believe it's being more than a month since we had the table but just haven't had the time to write about it. I got called out by a friend and so without further delay, here is the wine table the Hubster built.

 

It all started with me finding this wonderful wine rack. After the installation, the space looked unfinished and just weird. I knew a table would complete the area, but didn't want to pay the cost of the ones I saw online.  Hubster and I turned to our favorite free wood - pallets.

 This was the perfect one since we wouldn't have to take it apart. We needed two shelves, so it was cut in half and four pieces from another pallet was used as legs.

I'll say Hubster did a wonderful job. I've thought about staining it and creating some type of footing, but haven't made up my mind yet. I'm currently enjoying it in it's natural beauty.

We've been using it for two months and I love it.

What do you think? Nice huh?

Picture Frame Jewelry Display

I remember the first time I discovered Pinterest. I was searching for a way to store my earrings online and a Pinterest option was the first search result. You see I had been storing my earrings using  regular jewelry display case and a foam from a shipping package. And yes you read that correctly, a FOAM!!

I wanted something more, much more

I fell in love with the idea of hanging your jewelry and vowed to use an old picture frame to create my own.

      Two, yes TWO years later, it is finally done.  You might be wondering what took so long. Well in between my lack of commitment to a specific frame and our move, it didn't make the top of the list of projects. Meanwhile, still using my foam board and hating every minute of it.

THAT BAD!!

I used an old frame spray painted white and framing wire we have laying around and staples.

In a previous post, I mentioned the scrap fabric I found at JoAnn's. I used some to give new life to old pillows and now using the rest to add character to the frame. Our bedroom walls are dark gray, this brings some color into the space without overwhelming the hubster.

Why oh why did I wait so long. Getting dressed is so much easier now.

 

 





 



 

       

$5 Thrift Challenge

This was a fun challenge that a friend asked me to do after seeing all her favorite YouTubers doing the same. We didn't set any hard deadlines on ourselves, therefore, no pressure.

I didn't go looking for anything specific. Actually, the day I went, I stopped at the store because I was tired of seating in traffic and happened to be on the exit that lead to the thrift store.

After five minutes of browsing, I found what I knew I could use without having to make any changes. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't able to get her items, so I can't show what she purchase. Here is what I found and how I used them.

I added some flowers and scented votive and voilà! Instant tablescape.

Fall Decor

Seasonally decoration has never been my thing. I just decorate based on how I feel. I don't like my furniture staying in the same position for too long because I get bored. DH would leave to run an errand with the house looking one way and come back to furniture changed. In our early days of marriage, it used to bother him, but he is used to it.

Now that our kids are at the age of having full knowledge of the seasons, they are very interested in us decorating as the seasons change.  I draw the line with Halloween decorations because that is not something I'm in to. I did let them carve pumpkins, (if that's Halloween).



Lately, I'm into recycling containers for other uses. I've used my Talenti ice cream containers for my homemade lotions, and there are many uses for Mason jars. When my favorite grocery store had Starbucks Frappuccino on sale, I bought a bunch for DH. I didn't want all those bottles going to waste, so I used them as my part of my fall décor.

These supplies, and flowers from our farmers market made it possible.

I also updated my worn out cushions with scrapped fabric. I started out using the heat on bonding, but with toddlers, that didn't last long. I ended up sewing the pillow cases. I LOVE how they turned out and I can always change them out with new cases (using scrap material of course).

 

 

 

The last thing I did for fall is take on a $5 thrift challenge from a friend. See what I found here.

 

Wine Rack

Lately, I've started drinking more wine. I can't call myself a wine drinker since I can't have less than half a glass at one time. I especially LOVE Chocolate wine. Unfortunately, after I finished my first bottle given to me by a friend, I found out that it was more of a seasonally wine.

To wait out the year, I started trying different wines. I also have lot more friends that drink wine, which means I have a little stash with no "place" to store them.  I knew that I wanted something made out of our pallet collection to hold the bottles.

About three weeks ago, we went to our local home improvement second hand store for a sale they were having. We were there to look for some wood that DH needed, and see a demonstration of Anne Sloan paints. I decided to take a quick peak into one of the used furniture stores in front of it. As soon as I walked in, I saw this beauty.

I knew I had to have it. Impulse buying is not something I typically do, but this I couldn't pass up. Made it even more worth it when the manager gave me a discount, SCORE!!

Giving this baby new life was easy. The black with hint of red is too dark for our space, so I opt to spray paint it silver.

Took almost a whole can to cover up the black, but it was worth it. I like the end result.

EXCEPT, the space benighted is boring. Something had to go there to beautify it.  See my next post on what DH did with this pallet.

Pallet Garden

We have had the most interesting gardening season. Today I went out on a breezy, cold November day to clean up the garden and get it ready for the winter. To my surprise I see that our pepper plant that hasn't grown all summer is flowering and has the tiniest pepper on it. 

There is a freeze warning for tonight, so we'll see how long it stays alive. Not sure if I want to water it or not.

 

Now onto the beginning, this was a labor of love from start to end. We broke up about ten pallets to create the beds, dug up the hilly section of the yard and hauled 2 cubic yards of dirt and 1 cubic yard of mulch to fill this baby up. If you know measurements, you know that is a LOT of dirt.  All of it was shoveled and wheeled barrowed over to the garden by DH and myself in two days.  Talk about hurt backs when we were done.  We so appreciated our former community garden because at least the work was done as a group.

 

Here are picture chronicle of our efforts. 



Measuring the locations and the size of the beds



 

The first complete bed

Work Injury. Branch fell from the neighbor's tree

DS "trying" out their beds. One was made for each kid

Here is the complete garden beds. My dad was visiting from London and helped DH fenced it in.

 

The work of building and digging the beds would never compare to how painful it was to haul all of the dirt and mulch to the beds.

 

 

To finish it all up, DH created a door to keep critters out, not to say that the squirrels can't jump the fence.   

DS trying to figure out the lock

All done

We hope to enjoy the fruits of this labor for many years to come. Might change the fence at a later time because this just isn't strong enough but for now, we are proud gardeners.

 

 

Faux Mud Room

Anyone with a small house knows having a mud room is a huge perk. We weren't lucky to have one, so we had to create one. After spending countless hours on Pinterest, we decided we like this style.

via

Some place for shoes, bags and coats and mail.  We had an old entertainment center that I thought would be perfect to make the cubbies with. Unfortunately, we after redoing the measurements, I didn't think it was safe to have a wood piece at the end of the staircase. In my head I see one of the kids falling down the stairs and going right into it.

We opt for hooks and shelving.  Just about the same time, our church starting sorting through old furniture for a yard sale.  There were doors, knobs and signs. I fell in love with the door knobs.  I also went to an antique store and bought old glass knobs.




These are the ones from church. Had to clean them to bring out the shine. They are so pretty.




These are the ones from the antique store. I was so pleased when the owner said they came with the plates. I didn't take a picture before they were installed.


Once I had the knobs, I went on Craigslist for small mirrors and found the perfect size. Every mud room/entry way needs a mirror for last minute check before walking out the door.

We didn't want to pain the wall so we covered it with  Wainscot panel, which doubles as spacers. The kids picked the colors of the shelf that DH made the wall. All paint are discounted ones from Home Depot.
         

 

DH hard at work installing the panels. I painted both the shelf and panel in one night. The kids were ecstatic when they saw it in the morning. Now it was on to installing the door knobs. I can't tell you I fully understand what DH was saying but it took him at least two weeks to get it done.

 

Here is a picture of the before and after. What a huge difference. I wasn't sure what I would use the paint for when I bought it, but this was perfect. Brings a nice pop of color to the neutral room. The baskets came from Hobby Lobby on clearance. At the base is two Ikea shoe bins for the kids.

 

 

 

We are really pleased with the outcome and is serving us really well.