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Master Closet Make-over


Jason and I don’t have a ton of clothes. Being an Enneagram 5 I don’t pay as close attention to clothing as I could. When we started our journey of minimalism 7 years ago I tried for a capsule wardrobe, and while I have been less than diligent in my planning we are still very minimal in what we have. Our closet however was built for a couple who loves clothes. When we moved in the closet had several wire shelves in it along the ceiling. We put up some wire shelves we brought with us from our previous house and called it functional.

It was functional more of less even if it was poorly so and incredibly ugly. I hate to dish out money on something like a closet that will never be seen and is mostly forgotten - so the closet stayed this way. In the winter of 2019 and spring of 2020 however, I removed some of our upper kitchen cabinets. I can’t throw away something that is perfectly good, so I hatched a plan to make a mock-built-in style closet. After cleaning out the kids' toys and reducing, yet again, the amount of stuff in their rooms I had 2 Ikea Kallax cubby units I could repurpose for our project.

I drew up an initial design. It was the vision if-money-were-no-object plan. It had way more storage than we needed but seemed like it would be the most appealing option for resale. Like I have said before, in 2020 I decided to stop planning our house for when we would eventually sell it in 10-15 years and live in it right now. So armed with my leftover cubbies and cabinets I set to work to make a closet that functions for who we are as a family. It needed minimal storage for clothes, storage for books, and a reading area.

Once everything was in place the closet looked truly mismatched and perhaps worse than it had with the wire shelves. I needed to apply a unifying coat of paint on it to make everything look cohesive. I opted for chalk paint, after stripping and painting the full kitchen only a few weeks earlier I didn’t want to do all that again. I thought that chalk paint only required a thorough cleaning and an easy hand sanding, but I was wrong. I will eventually have to repaint it I think. For now, it works, because painting is my least favorite part of any project. So note to anyone reading this, stripping and sanding with enamel paint is the more durable option.

  • the reading chair
  • coming together
  • The book wall

organize, organizing, closet, master closet, makeover, make-over, diy, diy closet, built in closet

Read more …Master Closet Make-over

Coffee Bar

Coffee and Tea Station


When we decided it was time to purchase our first home four years ago we had some differing views on what that home should look like. My dear husband hates a weekend project, or at least he did at the time and wanted a house that didn’t need any work. I, on the other hand, love a project and didn’t want to get a house that was already beautiful. In the end we went with a newer home that was already beautiful. I understood my sweet hubby’s desire to have a new roof and HVAC system.

This however left me feeling like I couldn’t make this house truly my own. I didn’t want to destroy or remove all the things that were already in it and nice. The mudroom had cost the original owners quite a bit of cash to have the builder put it in, it was a nice addition. However, we never used it. When the kids come running in and out with all their stuff they come through the front door, not the garage. The beautiful space sat unused for our family. I had a strong desire to turn it into something more functional for our family, but I didn’t want to diminish the home’s resale value for whoever may come next.

Recently I have decided I don’t fully care about the family that will come next. For the foreseeable future, our family lives here and this needs to be a home that makes sense for us. With this firm resolution on my mind, I began some projects that would make this house make sense for us. The transformation of the mudroom to a Coffee/Tea station was high on my list.

I get irritated when there is clutter on the counters in the kitchen. If the entire house if clean but there is stuff on the counters everything feels messy. The tea set-up on the kitchen counter felt like constant visual clutter to me. The drawers didn’t offer proper storage of the teas, and the basket and electric kettle along with my Soda Stream, all made me feel claustrophobic on that counter. I also hated being able to see the trash can, which sat right next to the counter on that side of the kitchen. The mudroom had become a dumping ground for all the recyclables which didn’t properly have a home.

So I came up with a plan. The space would need an electrical outlet, house the trash can, have a drawer for the recyclables, and a big and deep drawer for all the many teas that the Hubs enjoys. This project was NOT the first project that I tackled during covid - it is just the first one I am taking the time to post about. In all honesty, I doubted my ability to make a cabinet and make drawers. I strategically did several other projects first that I felt would test my ability to make a perfectly square box and make exact measurements. Have I said it before? I have fine gross motor skills, my fine motor skills are lacking and my attention to detail (like 3/16 vs ¼) is super - how do I say this - lazy. If you watch me doing a million projects and cooking and cleaning I don’t know if you would really know that I am lazy - but I am. Perhaps I have minimized our stuff and organized our life so that I can be lazy.

So here it is in all its glory.

coffee bar, tea station, drink bar, coffee, tea, soda stream, storage

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Drafting Table

finisheddraftingdesk

Supplies And cut list

  • (3) 1x8x6

    • Two left uncut for the side slats. One cut into (1) 32 inch pieces for the top shelf, (1) 33.5 inch piece for the foot rest and (2) 15.25 for the bottom feet

  • (3) 1x3x8

    • Cut (2)into (3) equal pieces - about 32 inches each. (4) leg joint units and (1) back stretchers (1) leg stretcher - to be trimmed once assembled. Use the template to cut (6) of the leg hinge units. Save the remaining piece to secure your desk to the wall.

  • (40) 1 ¼ inch screws

  • (4) 2 ½ inch screws

  • (1) 1x12x6

    • Cut into (2) 36 inch pieces

    • *Optional Piece of Solid Plywood or MDF cut to 24x36. Joining the two pieces of wood together will leave a small joint on your desktop that will affect your art piece on top if you are not using a thick stock of art paper. If I had to do this over I would have gone with a hardwood plywood top so I don’t have the center seam.

  • (1) 1x24 Wooden dowel

    • (2) cut to 3 inches - desktop rear attachment, (4) cut to 4 inches - leg attachments

Tools

  • Jigsaw

  • Exacto Knife

  • Hammer drill

  • 1 inch shank or forstner bit

  • Mitersaw, table saw, or circular saw

  • Hinge and Leg Template
  • Side slat Template
  • Desktop slat Template
  • *Optional router fitted with a roundover bit.

part label

Process

If you want to get this done in a single day follow this order and you can get your glue up done first and drying while you work on the side units.

rawpieces

Cut your legs and your small hinge units and your dowels first (click here for the template). I highly recommend using a router with a round-over bit on the inner circles that the dowels will be inserted into. This makes assembling the parts much easier. Once all the pieces are cut and routed (if you are doing that) you can glue them up. The legs have one end with a dowel only in them and one end with desktop hinge between the two legs, use the 4 inch dowels on the legs. The remaining 2 dowels and 4 desktop hinges go together. Use a clamp to tighten the hinges on to the dowels. Set these aside to dry while you do the rest of the work.

legsandhinges

Next print cut and lay out the side slat template on top of your 8x6 side piece. I laid my foot piece at the bottom to see where I wanted the first slat to be. For me the circle ended up being 8 ¼ inches from the bottom of my board. My jigsaw was pretty powerful so I laid both pieces on top of each other and clamped them together real good. I highly recommend you do this so your sides match exactly, but if your tools aren’t powerful enough you might have to do them separately. Use an exacto knife and a straightedge to cut along all the straight lines, this will make cutting them with the jigsaw much easier and way more exact. Once the straight lines are outlined, put a piece of scrap wood under your board(s) and use your drill fitted with a 1 inch bit drill to carve out the circles. I say use scrap wood under this because I got a fair amount of chip out from my brand new shank bit.

sideslatmarked

Once the circles are drilled out begin connecting the cuts with your jigsaw. Take it easy and go slow, accuracy is important on this project. Once you get one slat cut out take a spare scrap of dowel and make sure everything is working as it should. You want the bottom of the circle to be a little tight so that the desktop doesn’t pull out if you put your elbows on the front of your desk. Check out Bored Panda’s desk where he discusses this problem. Once all the slats are cut out take your router and go around the edges of BOTH sides of the wood. A chamford bit would also work on the edges to give this desk a polished and finished look.
sideslattemplatecut

sideslat

Next cut your top shelf, foot rest and feet. Using the 1 ¼ inch screws and a square if you have it, attach the foot to the bottom outside of your desk. I used 4 screws on each foot. Next I attached the 33.5 inch foot rest to the top of the foot rest. Last I add the 32 inch shelf at the top (I had a scrap piece sitting around that was 36 inches so I used this on top for an overhang. Screw in one of the 32 inch pieces about midway up the back of as a stretcher (see picture). Depending on your wood and what the actual width of it is you may need to shave off a small mount of this piece depending on the inner width of the desk after you have assembled the foot rest. 
backstretcherattached

*If you want any of these pieces to have a round over on them do that BEFORE you attach them.
topshelfattached

Now I used pocket screws and a piece of scrap that I had around to join the two desktop pieces together. If you have large clamps then you could glue these pieces together at the very beginning when you do the legs and hinges. If you are doing traditional art I would not use this method I would use a piece of hardwood plywood cut to 36x24 inches. 

desktophingeattached

legattachmentleft

legattachmentright

Once your desktop is made line it up on you side slats and mark where the back slats should go - use the template. As you did with the side slats cut the desktop back slats and round over all the edges on the desktop.

backslat

Next you will be attaching the two back desktop hinges. Line them up with the all the way back of the desk and make sure they are centered on the desktop slats. You can put pocket holes in the hinges and drill in from the bottom or you can drill down from the top. I countersank my screws and drilled down from the top because I had some small dowels on hand that I could cover these holes with.

Now you are going to insert your legs into the bottom slats. Measure the inner distance between them once you have them centered and trim down your 1x3 inch board (you should have one already cut to 32 inches). Using pocket holes (or a domino if you have one) attach the stretcher to the two legs just above the dowel.

legstretchers

Now lay your desktop face down on a cloth and attach the legs to the desktop. Use a straight edge to draw a line through the center of the back slat and align the desktop hinge in the leg on this line. The desktop hinge should attach at the very front of the desktop. If you have used all my measurements that will give you one good flat position on the desk. If you have changed the measurements at all you will need to put the legs on the desk and the desktop on the desk. Once they are both on the desk lift the desk to a flat (90 degree) position and raise up the legs to see where on the bottom of the desk they need to attach and mark it. Then remove the two pieces and attach them together.

finisheddraftingdesk2

finisheddraftingdesk3

 

Lace Shorts

So I saw this really cute idea on pinterest, it was lace shorts under a skirt. I had a pair of OLD pants (high school old) that I'm over and wanted to turn into shorts and an old lace curtain, so I thought I'd go ahead and make me some shorts.

Boys Vest and Crooked Tie Applique

Do you applique? No, well it's super simple as long as you take your time and go slow! Two things I'm terrible at so if I can do it with moderate success so can you. These are two cute little onsies for my little man. His vest shirt matches the girlies and my Easter dresses I sewed now if we can only coordinate a niec group picture in our 'mommy made' outfits.

Supplies

  • Onsie or t-shirt
  • Wonder under
  • Fabric for pattern
  • Pattern

I use Wonder Under because it gives me pretty consistant results but you can use your favorite bonding aide. Follow the direction on the Wonder under to transfer the pattern pieces and cut them out. Once the pattern piece has been ironed on to the shirt of onsie you'll need to zigzag stitch the edges of the pattern. I set my as close to the satin stitch setting as my lack of patience would allow. For the crooked tie shirt I used a straight stitch and wasn't too particular about being straight because I liked the effect with the crooked tie.

The patterns are free handed below for you to print out and redraw to the size you need for your shirts.