Forcing Branches

Yesterday, shortly after my Birthday Roses post, I received a comment from one of my lovely readers:

Have you met Courtenay yet? If you haven't, visit Signal Hill Interiors.

So, her comment got me thinking, "Why should we have to wait for lilacs?"

I know that forcing blooms is possible, but I've never read about forcing lilacs.

So I did a little research.

Check out this page at BHG.com

If you scroll down to the bottom, it actually says that March is the best time to force lilacs indoors!

On Page 3 of that article, it will give you step-by-step basics to forcing branches.

If you're viewing this on a phone (where navigation can be tricky), here's the direct link to the tutorial:

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/care/forcing-branches-into-bloom/?page=3

I'm (hopefully) going to be giving this a try.

If anyone successfully forces their lilac branches, send me a picture of them in their full glory!

Just click the link "Contact Me" at the top of this page and attach a photo!

Happy bloom forcing everyone!

2-Minute Bathroom Organization

I try to keep all my organization not only functional, but attractive as well.

But you know what? If people aren't going to see it, who cares if it's not attractive!?

Haha!

I (heart) bobby pins. I use them all. the. time.

Now my daughter uses them all. the. time.

However, it seems like I have to buy a new package every other week.

I lose them like crazy!

I knew that I needed some better organization to keep them in place.

A jar?

No. I would have to dig in the bathroom closet for that. And let's face it...I'm lazy.

;)

The medicine cabinet?

It would make sense, since I do my hair in front of it every morning.

No. It's already pretty full.

Then I had one of those lightbulb moments.

Magnetic strips.

I went to Walmart and bought one of those magnetic strip rolls. The ones with a magnet on one side and sticky tape on the other.

I took everything out of my medicine cabinet and noticed that the mirror was much larger than the opening for the medicine cabinet.

I decided to put magnetic strips on the very top, the bottom, and in the middle where there were no shelves.

Cut the strips to size and press them on firmly.

Then add your bobby pins!

Then I thought, "Hmmm...you know...we can never find tweezers or clippers in this house. I wonder if it'll hold that, too?"

Yep!

Is it pretty?

No.

Is it highly functional?

Heck yes.

And I haven't lost a bobby pin yet.

;)

Kitchen Island Revamp

My kitchen island was one of the first new things brought into our home.

It was a house-warming gift from my Ma. 

Shortly after this picture was taken, a friend leaned on the pull-out leaf, and it nearly tipped over on him. I really didn't want that happening to one of my children.

I realized that I had to do something to make it safer.

It needed legs.

I browsed the Internet for some inspiration.

It was going to look something like this in the end:

I even have the saddle stools ;)

I realized that I loved the wooden top.

More inspiration:

Love that dark wood top contrasting with the white bottom!

The corbels are pretty sweet, too, but that wouldn't solve my tipping problem.

This makes me almost want an all-white kitchen:

Still loving the dark top and white bottom!

So I pulled off the knife block (that I never used)...

...and the towel bar...

...and wood-puttied the holes.

Then I skirted the bottom with some tall baseboard.

Hailey was helping me take off doors.

What a nice helper.

<3

Then I cut the top from a 3/4" sheet of birch plywood.

(I'll show you how to cut large stock in a separate post!)

I added decorative trim to the outside and secured it with just wood glue and tape.

I didn't want finishing nails ruining the trim, and since the trim is merely decorative (meaning that it won't need to withstand any weight) it doesn't need nails.

After a bit of wood putty and a lot of sanding, I had my top.

I love the grain on birch.

To make sure that I brought out the beautiful wood grain in the best way, I made some sample boards to stain.

I liked the one on the right, but I knew I would have to put a few coats on it to darken it.

It's Red Mahogony from Miniwax.

I put the trim on the sample boards to make sure that it took the color the same as the plywood.

The plywood is birch and the trim is pine.

I also applied a wood conditioner to the wood before staining.

Both birch and pine are soft woods, and they usually take stain very blotchy. A wood conditioner evens out the stain.

I added 3 coats of clear high gloss polyurethane.

 

Next, I had to attach the legs.

I checked online for island legs.

$50+

So I went to Menards. I looked at stairs posts. The cheapest ones that were big enough for my project were $50 each.

50x4=200

$200?!

Heck, I should just buy a whole new island then!

Feeling dejected, I moped to the check-out line with just my painter's tape.

I looked up and I saw the decking department.

"Heck, I bet decking posts are cheaper than indoor posts!"

Sure are!

$12 a piece.

Much better.

;)

So I chopped them to size and added pocket holes with my Kregg jig so that I could attach them to the plywood without drilling through my perfect top.

I didn't stain all of the bottom because it was going to be covered anyways.

Then I placed it on top of the old island and screwed it in place.

I countersunk all of the screws and wood-puttied over them.

After a few days of painting, it was time for new hardware. My current hardware on the rest of my cabinets are aged bronze.

The old silver hardware had to go!

The cheapest ones in the size I needed were $7 a piece.

7x6=42

$42 for hardware?!

Heck no!

So I went home with a $4 can of spray primer instead.

I spray-primed and spray-painted a faux aged bronze finish.

Luckily, I had the spray paint already in my garage.

I used a dark "oil rubbed bronze" finish first (it just looks like a dark grey/brown).

Then a lined up all the hardware on end and gave a quick spray of bronze over the top.

You can't see it in the picture. Sorry.

=(

Anyways, after re-attaching all the doors, attaching the "new" hardware, and adding my centerpiece (of course), I was all done!

Want to see how it turned out?

My mom was extremely surprised that this was the very same island she had bought for me years ago.

I'm thinking that some year I will tear off the two middle doors and make a wine rack similar to this island:

Much prettier, much safer.

I love it!

Coming up:
A quick bathroom organizational idea.
How to cut large stock.

A-Frame Wood Guitar Stand

I was making my husband something awesome for Christmas.

My luck...he found it midway being done.

So I'm going to share it with you (and then figure out something else to make my husband for Christmas).

My husband breathes music.

He's actually a very talented drummer.

His love, though, is playing the guitar.

I let him keep his acoustic in the living room, because I think it looks classy.

For some reason, every time I see an electric guitar, my first thought is Gene Simmons.

Odd?

Anyways, I know he's been wanting a guitar stand.

I don't like the plastic ones. Sure, they are cheap, but I also think they belong in a college dorm, not my house.

The nice wood ones average $200-$300.

Ouch.

Betcha I can make one!



I found this template online.

If you would like this template, the website is listed by the picture.

So I printed it off in 8x10 sheets, then taped them all together.

The guy that originally made this used two pieces of scrap wood, hence that line in the middle.

I wanted this to be decent quality, so I bought a full 3/4 sheet of plywood.

I cut out the template and traced around it on my plywood.

Once I cut it out, I used that piece as my second template. I stayed outside my line so that I could sand the edges.

Then I had two identical sides.

Then I needed to sand the edges.

I learned a really cool trick (in a magazine maybe?) for sanding. Instead of trying to hold your work and maneuver a sander around it, you clasp the handle of the sander in a vice grip and that leaves you with two hands to rotate your material.

This is much easier! I love this trick!

To make sure that the sides remain exactly uniform, I clamped them together before sanding.

After the usual sanding, staining (True Walnut by Miniwax) and polyurethaning, I attached the two sides together at the top with a decorative hinge.

You need to make sure the stand doesn't completely spread while a guitar is on it.

The template calls for two slits to be made so that a ribbon could pass through.

I thought that it would look sloppy.

I thought a chain would look much better, plus I wouldnt' have to try making slits.

To give myself leverage to twist the eye hooks into the wood, I like to use a C-clamp.

Once I got one eye hook in, I carefully closed the stand and pushed down, causing an indent on the other side. The ensures that the eye hooks are in the exact same spot on each side with no measuring!

You also should add padding on the stand so that putting the guitar down doesn't cause any chips.

On the website, he used felt and glue.

Why don't we skip that step and use 3/4" Velcro?? Only the soft side, of course.

;)

I cut off a small piece and stuck it on the front like this:

Then a bottom piece:

And the rest on the back. Repeat on the other side.

I used a hanging basket chain to connect the eye hooks.

I'm not happy that it's green, but since it was just sitting in my garage (FREE!) and it wouldn't be seen when the guitar sits on the stand, I wasn't too worried about it.

It will be replaced some day, I'm sure.

Ready to see how it turned out?

You like??

Coming Up:

Two huge kitchen projects. One is going to knock your socks off!

A quick bathroom organizing idea.

How to make an important woodworking tool.



Charging Basket

So what did I do with this simple basket?

First, I went to Hobby Lobby to find this basket. They have a huge selection, and I knew I would find one with about the measurements of the shelf.

Wait until the flier says they are 50% off!

I used the template that came with the bronze grommets that I used.

I placed the template where I wanted it, then traced with a white paint marker (easier to see).

After cutting the basket with wire cutters (the basket was too thick for scissors), I glued on the grommets.

They need to be glued because a basket is obviously thicker than fabric, so the grommets won't snap together.

Don't skip this step, because the grommets help the basket from unraveling!

Put a power strip inside the basket....

....and thread the cord through the grommet.

Then I attached two ledgers on each side.

I screwed the wood from the outside of the basket with black screws to have them camouflaged a bit.

I did this because my basket would be in an enclosed space, so you won't be able to see the screws.

If you are having the basket sit out on a table, you will need to find a different way of securing the wood to the inside of the basket, unless you don't mind seeing the screws.

Wood glue might work, but it may ooze out of the basket....

Anyways, just make sure that the two wood ledgers are level with each other, and that you leave enough room for not only the power strip, but all the plug-ins that you will be adding!

Next, place your basket upside-down on a sheet of wood. I used a scrap 3/4" plywood that I had from a previous project. You can definitely use a thinner plywood!

Trace around it.

Now, if your basket is beveled, like mine (the bottom is smaller than the top), you're going to need to cut on the inside of your line, so that the wood fits further down the basket.

If you don't do this, the wood will sit on the top of your basket.

I had to take about an inch off all the sides.

After cutting that out, you will need to make several straight cuts along one side, to thread the cords through.

I accomplished this with my table saw, but a circular saw or jigsaw should do the trick. I made two passes per line to thicken up the line. You may have thick cords!

That's a bit hard to see. it seems as if the wood is the same color as my floor.

Ooops!

Anyways, put the power strip back in the basket and attach any charging cords that you may have.

I only put our cell phone chargers in there, but I have a bunch more for cameras/GPS's/etc.

Place the wood in the basket, thread the cords through the slits, attach your power strip to an outlet, plug in your gadgets, and your all set!

I will definitely be staining that wood.

I'm also thinking about adding tags to each cord so that we don't have to guess which one is the right cord. Masking tape wrapped around the cord should work fine!

You wouldn't even guess that's the function of this cute little basket on our entertainment center!

<3

I think this may be my favorite organizing project to date.

We used to plug our phones into an outlet by the countertops in the kitchen. That means gadgets would be in my way as I cooked. Not only that, but there was only 1 free plug, so it was a constant battle between my husband and me. I would have to unplug his charger, neatly wrap it up, stick it in the junk drawer, then plug mine in. He would unplug mine, throw it "God knows where," and plug his in.

Now I know where my charger is.

;)



Hubby's favorite organizational project to date is the magazine storage in the bathroom.

He's odd.

Haha!