A Dog Bed for Roxy

If you know me (or are getting to know me), then you’ve probably realized by now that I love my pets…. A. LOT.   My 14 year old Jack Russell is no longer allowed to sleep on my bed and she has some pretty strong feelings about being banished to the floor. I mean… who wouldn’t!? I’ve tried to make her happy with a pillow and a throw, but she’s not content. I’ve woken to find her sleeping in my suitcase (which I’m TERRIBLE about unpacking)… sleeping in a laundry basket (nope, not kidding)…. and even sleeping UNDER the bed.

Enough’s enough. It’s time for this girl to have a fitting bed! Lord knows she’s waited 14 years for a bed of her own

Thanks to Ana White I recently discovered that I CAN build things… and I LOVE IT.  A. LOT.  My first project was a bench, straight from her website, that I posted about here.  Then I moved on to a frame for a print I’d purchased for CHEAP at Michaels. Apparently that was just enough to get my feet wet and I was hooked.

I dreamed up the plans for Roxy’s bed and made my shopping list. One quick trip to Lowes and I was on my way! 3 hours later I had made a dog bed sturdy enough to last for my great great great granddog’s to use some day. Admittedly, I built this thing to be stronger than a fort. Not intentionally… but hey… it’s my first build without someone telling me how!

What’s that? You want a play-by-play…. well don’t mind if I do!

For this project I purchased:

• (4) 1×4′s for the planked sides, back and front
• (2) 1×2′s to trim out the top and bottom
• (1) 2×4′ piece of plywood, cut down to 21×30″
• (2) 2×4′s

I already had plenty of screws and nails, glue, clamps, etc on hand at home.

I started by cutting out all of my pieces and stacking them up. The front boards are all 6″ tall, backs and sides are 11″ tall. I created my base frame and then began attaching the planks with 2″ wood screws. After finishing the frame and 1st side, it looked like this:

I kept crack’a'lackin until it finally looked like this…. ok wait. Before you scroll… just know that I realize it’s NOT perfect. It’s in fact far from perfect… but it was made with love.   (I’ll wait while you finish groaning)

After all of the planks were attached, I used the 1×2′s to trim out the top and bottom edges and add a front lip. Who knew nail guns were so handy! WOW! If only I’d had it when I built the bench!

By the time I put my last nail in, I had a blister and two cuts.  Small price to pay for a comfy bed for Roxy! I couldn’t stand to wait so I ran inside and threw two coats of primer on it that night. By the next night it looked like this:

First coat of grey drying!  ….and then the next day I tried my hand at glazing. Definitely not perfect… but hey… I’m learning (slowly).

I love how the dark grey/black glaze really brings out the boards and planks.

I planned ahead and sized the bed so I could toss two old bed pillows inside (with waterproof covers). This way I could wash and clean as needed!

Sweet Dreams Roxy!

(….sorry for the grainy photos!  Good ol’ iPhone camera. I promise to get a better camera!)

Mailbox Facelift

While spray painting some other things I decided my failure-of-a-mailbox needed some freshening up…. don’t you love impulse projects?!  I ran in the house, grabbed a screw driver, and promptly removed that thing from the wall.

   

I’m pretty sure the siding behind the mailbox hadn’t seen the light of day since it went up! Next I had to figure out how to pry that lion crest thing-a-ma-jig off the front. Use what’s handy?  Enter screwdriver… I basically just started chipping and snapping off pieces until I got to the center and somehow managed to She-Woman that center brad right out!

  

A couple coats of Rustoleum Hammered Oil Rubbed Bronze later and I had myself a new mailbox!

     

Now I just have to figure out what to do about that center hole!  Any ideas?

Dana’s Kitchen Makeover

When I moved into my house it looked a little something like this:

VERY Builder-grade. Not a lot of personality… and screaming for attention. I painted the cabinets and WOW what a difference!

 

Loving the change! THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP MOM!  Obviously they still needed hardware though…….

Don’t judge me for the pile of dishes to the left of the sink… at least they’re CLEAN.  I was still plagued by that board over the sink. I have a skylight in the kitchen and the board just seemed to cast a shadow over the sink. It. HAD. to. GO.

If you want details on the light, lemme know. I can spell it out for ya!

….and in it’s place!  A mason jar light!  Made (by me) for a whopping total of $25.  I definitely need to finish painting the edges of the cabinets and then bring the wall color down to the back-splash.   ….but I guess we’re never quite DONE are we?

My VERY FIRST build!

After countless hours browsing Ana White’s website I finally decided to give it a go!  My very first big-girl building project. I was flying solo on the Spa Bench… here goes nothing!  I followed her shopping list to a T… but I did all of my cuts with a circular saw and unfortunately don’t own a Kreg Jig. Good thing I started with a simple design!

I followed her plans, step-by-step. Above you see the initial box I built prior to adding trim and beefing up the legs for stability. I can’t stress enough…. This is TOTALLY doable… for anyone!

Here you see it after I added the trim boards and sat the top bench seat on the base. Loving it! The bin is there just for looks… and no, I didn’t build it. I found it on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics a while back.

Stay tuned for more pics and updates when I get around to staining/painting!