Shed Building Plans: i

Showing posts with label i. Show all posts

I WON! I WON! I WON!

I am so excited! I won a $100 Home Depot Gift Card on Daves blog, The Home Garden. I never win anything so I was truly ecstatic to win this. In case you dont know, Dave has been involved with a building project through Better Homes and Gardens and Home Depot to build a project in a 48 hour time period, using materials from Home Depot for $500 dollars or less. He built a beautiful arbor as an entry way to a garden on his property and he did an amazing job! Since this was a contest for Dave too, he has asked that we all log into BHG and vote for his project. He may win an additional $5,000. You can vote daily! Think of all the great things you could do with a spare 5 grand! I know I could happily spend it! I havent decided quite how to spend my new found wealth but I have a feeling I will likely be painting the new chicken house with the funds! Thanks Dave! (and the chickens thank you!)

Also, I have a GIVE AWAY on my blog too! If you just leave me a comment at the end of that post, telling me what the greatest thing going in your garden is now, I will enter your name in a hat on Sunday evening and the winner will be announced on Monday morning. Please add a way I can get in touch with you too! You have the opportunity to win the latest and greates Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and a couple little extras. So head on over and add your entry!

I WON! I WON! I WON!

I did it! Good bye kitchen cabinet

So, as I posted previously, my large kitchen cabinet has started to fail. The shelves were bowing and it started to pull away from the wall. I had to make the decision to remove the cabinet, restructure it, and put it back on the wall OR throw caution to the wind and remove it to explore new possibilities.

Yes, those are tree branches above the cabinets. I use them with twinkle lights from Halloween thru winter. It just adds a touch of sparkle to the drab winter.

I am not sure if it the promise of a new year or just an itch for change but I decided to remove the cabinet altogether! Wait, what? I KNOW! Im a little crazy for removing a perfectly good cabinet but what is life without a little adventure, right?

I emptied the cabinet, removed the shelves, and questioned my decision about 1,000 more times before removing it. I mean, whether I fixed it or decided to eliminate it - it needed to come down.

And after some wriggling and pounding, down it came...

The outlets on top of the cabinets allow for Christmas decorations and over cabinet lighting, etc. That and the cabinet crown molding and trim had to be removed because it went along the top of all the cabinets for a finished look.

So as I decided to go with the open shelving, it was off to the home store to get some wood and supplies. I decided to go with 2" shelves for the rustic elegance. I found scrap lumber and after going through about twenty five pieces, I found two that were perfectly straight yet with interesting graining. I went with 2 x 12s which were four feet long. I cut them to the width I needed. I also bought some 1 x 2 cedar boards to serve as both a ledge for the shelf and trim for the cubby I was also building.

Then I spied some unfinished shelving for only $2.78 each! Wait, what? So I put back some of the more expensive wood and decided to use this to build the cubby for my glass jars of flour and sugar. SCORE! I love saving money!

So this project took a lot of sitting on a stool, having a snack and mulling over designs in my head, options for mounting the shelves, etc. It was really a trial and error process but finally I got started. I used the cedar boards coupled with large brackets to support the bottom shelf.

I had to drill a hole to run the existing under cabinet lighting through the new wood bracket. The metal L brackets had to be off center because those were the only two existing studs in the wall.

Living in Chicago, sometimes DIYing in the winter has its drawbacks. Since it was about 20 below zero when I began this project, I elected to cut wood in the kitchen. I had no choice really but it has made a HUGE mess. Oh well, it beats frostbite!

I wanted the shelf to sit flush on the wood ledge so I chiseled the width of the bracket out before securing it to the stud in the wall. It worked perfectly!

Now that the first shelf support was ready, I proceeded to the cubby. I needed a closed area for glass jar storage but also to continue to line of the cabinets and trim, crown molding, and over cabinet lighting. I used the unfinished shelving to make a very basic box. I trimmed it out in 1 x 3s and 1 x 2s.

I chose to use the large brackets again because I didnt want to worry about anything crashing off the wall and I didnt want to have to be limited in what I could put on the shelf. I painted the cabinet and the metal brackets white for a uniform look. A little caulk and some sanding and it looked like a uniform and polished cabinet. Yay.

This was just me goofing around with options of what to put on the shelves. I still have to add the second shelf and decide what color to stain the shelves.

I found this awesome Kate Spade inspired polka dot grey and creme cotton duck material which I was going to use as a backdrop to hide the brackets and give the kitchen some pop. I also found these wire baskets at Goodwill for ...... $1.99 for the two big ones and .99 cents for the smaller one! SCORE!!!

So that is where I am so far. The weekend was spent watching Notre Dame hockey and mens basketball in South Bend so I am looking forward to finishing this Sunday evening. I am so looking forward to how it is going to turn out. Even though there is more work to do, I think I made the right decision. I am excited to post the final product in a few days!

I did it! Good bye kitchen cabinet

UPink Vineyard I want one at my house!

On Monday I drove to a UPick Vineyard about one hour south of me. What a cool place. For years I wondered where it was and this year I did something about it. I found the place!

This vineyard has been here since the 70s and is very nicely established. The vines are beautifully trellised and well taken care of. This particular vineyard grows Concord grapes.

One can come here to pick anytime during daylight hours and it truly is a serve yourself place.

There are two wagons complete with tall flag to ease finding them. You take your own buckets and pick until your hearts content. Two five gallon buckets equals one bushel. One bushel equals $5. You just mail them the check for what ever you picked. What a great example of trust in folks they dont even know. I seriously doubt that the grape picking variety will stiff them but you never know.

I had actually intended to pick two bushels worth to make grape juice. I got bored one bushel in.

So I picked just the two buckets worth I had and called it a day. Then the real work began at home. I have one bucket juiced and canned and the other bucket will be done tonight. It is amazing how crazy sweet these grapes are. I cringe to add sugar to the recipe the from my canning guide so I cut it way down. Good stuff, and as fresh as it gets.

UPink Vineyard I want one at my house!

How I Found My Style

Im featured on How I found My Style Sundays at From My Front Porch to Yours. Pop over and find out how I found my style!

Happy Sunday!

With a small budget, big dreams and a love of a challenge, Anne blogs about renovating and decorating her tiny 1930s bungalow. A self-taught artist and professed power tool lover, she enjoys writing, gardening, photography, nature and diying. And shes never met a dumpster she didn’t want to root through! Come along for the ride!!

How I Found My Style

You Say Potato I Say Potato

I planted my potatoes in fabric pots the other day. The pots themselves are Potato Bins from Gardeners Supply but they can also be purchased directly from the manufacturer, Smart Pots. These bins are 15 gallons and should hold 10-13 pounds of potatoes by seasons end. We will see. This is my first year growing potatoes and I was unable to get the ones I wanted. No one ships to Idaho, funny as this is often called the potato state. But apparently Idaho doesnt want any new diseases for their main crop. I guess I cant blame them, it just puts a crimp in my ordering plans.

I planted:

Red LaSoda
Yukon Gold
Red Norland

I will keep you all posted as to how well these grow. I havent moved them outside yet but plan to today or tomorrow. For now, they reside in the new garden shed/room. Love that space! I put 5 seed potatoes in each bin, mine didnt have tons of eyes so I left them whole. The wind has finally ceased today so we are out to work on the new huge garden area, (intimidating garden area). My husband is a saint as he has tilled even in the wind. I would not even go outside in those conditions.

You Say Potato I Say Potato

I Love My Chickens but

I absolutely love my chickens! They are amusing to watch and greet me with total enthusiasm as long as I dont try to touch most of them. Some breeds are friendlier than others but hey, I am not complaining. They like to be invited to a picnic. We learned this while having a bbq party when my best friend and her little boys were here visiting. They love macaroni salad and um, chicken. I know its wrong but they were stealing it off of plates of very small children. Canibals. I actually felt guilty cooking whole chickens I raised for that purpose on the grill where my little ladies could see them until they ravaged the little people.

But then they did this to my whole entire porch and I dont feel nearly as bad. They now take their afternoon siesta on my porch with the cats. They had a little hawk scare last week when a hawk was on the porch trying to take a bird with her. I scared it away but the chicken gals now love the porch. They also like the dog house in the dog run. My dogs have never used it. They also love the area around the lawnmower in the wood shed. They sleep on the lawnmower, John Deer and chicken poop. Nice combo.

We just unblocked the nest boxes, filled them with straw and fake eggs. Now we wait. I sure hope they start to lay soon. They are almost 17 weeks so they should start soon. I check every day. So far they arent earning their keep but I am rooting for them.

On a florally note, I still have some things in bloom. My coneflower is still looking pretty good. These were purple magnus but they really arent that tall. Maybe next year.

And here is the only butterfly bush I did not kill this past winter. It is called a Honeycomb and it is really a pretty bush. I am very happy to have this one make it and hope it will be here next year too!

I Love My Chickens but