Tag Archives: DIY

November DIY Challenge: Wood Slice Tray

Posted in Arts and Crafts by

Howdy all!   Today I have a fun treat for you guys… remember The Great Crate Challenge that I participated in a few months ago??   Well, this month, I’m partnering with some of the same amazing bloggers, plus a few more for another fun challenge!   It was the same premise as last time, but this go-around, the required material was wood slices!

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Mission: Just make something with them

This was the only rule.

Now, I’ll be honest… I had no idea what to create.  I meandered around The store for what seemed like forever, just pacing the aisles.   Staring at all of the glorious craft supplies with nary an idea to be found.  After about 45 minutes, I began losing hope and thinking of all of the cookies that I could be consuming at that very moment.  Which is when this wood slice magically appeared before me…

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It wasn’t the traditional round shape, which I liked.  The squareness and cleaner lines definitely were more my bag.   And that’s when it happened.   This very special little wood slice and my undying love for trays joined forces.  And I realized that not only would I make a tray… I already had everything else I needed at home!  It was my very own Dorothy-Wizard-of-Oz moment.  If I’d only had my ruby slippers the entire time.   So, I adopted this badboy and took him home.

Now, remember that awesome hardware that I used on my children Brightey Whitey cabinets??   And how I mentioned that they came in a 6-pack, but I’d only used four for that project??  Well, never have I been so happy to have excess materials.  Those pulls were PERFECT!   I began the drawer pull installation by marking the center of the wood slice…

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Then, I used this handy-dandy tool to mark where my holes would go (for a detailed tutorial on installing drawer pulls click here)….

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And I drilled….

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Which was followed by an epic Womp!Womp! when I realized that I’d marked the center incorrectly on one side, thus my holes were off by a good half-inch.   Oy.   I know that I should’ve known better than that… “Measure twice, drill once, Christina. Sheesh!”, but alas, I got cocky.  Note: NEVER get cocky.  It’ll never cease to bite you in the rear…

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Fortunately, the metal pulls hid my mistake without my having to take further action, so I was good to go.  Total happy accident, for sure.   Next, I taped off the raw wood edges, and applied two thin and even coats of white paint with an eggshell finish…

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And I attached my drawer pulls.  You can see the tray at this point in time in the shot below.  I liked it well enough as it was, but ultimately decided that it needed a little something extra.  A bit of pizazz, if you will.  After tossing around ideas like our initials and such, I decided to go with something more organic and personal.   Lucas’s hand-print.   I simply spread some blue craft paint on a paper plate…

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Stamped Lucas’s hand in it and applied his hand-print to the tray in an off-center orientation…

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Which left this…

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Not too shabby for a total cost of around $10 (The wood slice with a 30% off coupon), eh?   I’m really happy with it and almost a little surprised at how much I love it.    And I adore that Lucas got to be involved.  It’s now not just a simple DIY project, it’s a keepsake.    I plan to write the date and Lucas’s age on back so I’ll never forget.  If you plan to use the tray for beverages or anything moist, be sure to seal it with three thin coats of Polycrylic.   The crystal clear formula will ensure that the white paint wont yellow.  I haven’t done this yet, as I’m only using it for decorative (read: dry) purposes, but I plan on on sealing it to be sure that Lucas’s hand-print is forever preserved.

Update: I forgot to mention when I published this post that this will be a monthly challenge, so tune in the second Wednesday of every month!!!  December’s item will be clear glass ornaments.  I’d better get that thinking cap on… 🙂

So, that’s my wood slice project!  Now, check out the awesome projects created by my fellow bloggers…

TDC Before and After

Lucas’s room = Painted

Posted in DIY by

Wow, guys.   Just holy wow.  I have so many (fun) projects going on right now that I’m not sure what to give you first.   That’s what’s so crazy about these first months after a move.   Everything’s a little schizophrenic.  I want everything to be done all at once, so it’s an explosion of projects started in all corners of the house.   No rhyme or reason.  And what’s funny is, yes… I painted Lucas’s room this weekend.  But, no.  It totally wasn’t the plan.  It was a whim decision.  As in, I went for a jog, got back, saw Joey working in the yard (with Lucas “assisting”).  And said, “Hey!  I think I’ll paint Lucas’s room (rightnow)! “. I. Am. SUCH. A. Weirdo.  Several hours later it was done.   But not without a lone, sad pride casualty.  I give you my Facebook status from that day….

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Oh, Lucas. (sigh!)

Anyways, the paint-fest actually came as a side-effect of Lucas’s new bed.   Ya see, my uncle gave us this great cargo bed that used to be my cousin Bryan’s.  Here’s the foot-board…

You intrigued?  😉

I’ll have a separate post about the bed later, but the short of it was that after I refinished it darker, we started to move the bed into Lucas’s room.  And then I changed my mind.   I decided that I didn’t want to move the bed into the room before painting the walls and risk splatter drops violating the nice, new finish.  Thus, the room needed to be painted sometime soon so we could get the bed out of the garage.   At the time, I didn’t realize that “sometime soon” would be that very day, but it totally worked out.  So, we’re good.

When it came to wall color, I’d initially thought that I wanted to paint the walls a punchy green.  But, after throwing some green paint swatches on the wall to get a general idea, I wasn’t sold.   It clashed with some of accessories that I wanted to use in the space.  Then, I remembered that I had almost a full gallon of the gorgeous grey paint from the master bedroom leftover, so I threw that up there too…

And I loved it.   It took on much more of a khaki color in this space due to the difference in lighting.  It was perfect and would be a great backdrop for all of the bright colors I’m planning to bring into the space.    So, I did it.   And here’s where we are now….

Now, keep in mind that I haven’t even BEGUN to style the joint.   This is literally just move-furniture-back-post-painting mode.  I did, however, rearrange the furniture in the space which completely opened it up (aaaaand I’m now realizing that this means nothing to you since I neglected to take a before picture).  Just take my word for it.   Moving furniture around (FOR FREE) is one of the most crazy, game-changing moves to make a space feel so much more welcoming.    This is the layout that this room always wanted. There’s plenty of floorspace for Lucas to play and yet, it doesn’t feel cramped in the slightest. I just can’t wait to get his new bed in here (we realized that we need to purchase a few more bolts to fully assemble it first). But, this is a really great start for his room.

And here’s the ninja-turtle-donning man of the hour pulling off yet another Chandler-Bing-Smile (the towels on his shoulder are his “back-up nunchucks”)…

So, still up…. curtains (once the windows are replaced next week), a little special treatment for the built in desk area (not shown), new chairs for his little white table, wall art, styling. Lots to do, but we’re on our way!! 🙂

TDC Before and After