Happy Labor Day everybody! Hope you have all had a nice relaxing end to your weekend! I have one or two more house projects that I wanted to share with you. Our newly finished baseball room (aka: basement) has really been needing something for when we entertain to serve off of. I had seen this console in Pottery Barn a few years back and thought it would be perfect for our little room! I stumbled across a blog several years ago: http://ana-white.com/, and was really motivated by her easy-to-follow directions to try a "build-it" project. Sure enough, Ana had come up with a pattern for my console table, and seeing the savings and awesome finished product, I couldn't resist giving it a try ourselves. I enlisted the help of my trusty sidekick, always up for a challenge with my hair-brain, creative ideas; the hubbers. After three weekend's of picking on this console table, we finally have it done!
After Greg and I finished our basement (almost all by ourselves) we are feeling quite capable these days of tackling "easy" building projects. In this table we were introduced to a little tool called a Kreg Jig...and this is gonna sound really stupid, but I am in LOVE with this little thing! It makes building things super simple and they look completely professional when finished. It's not some big fancy tool, just a little vise that you drill into so that all of your screws enter boards on a slant. Super-duper strong. If your not into that sort of thing :), this all sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but the point is, anyone can do this project if you have a screwdriver, saw and Kreg Jig! ( and sadly no, I'm not getting an endorsement!)
We originally wanted to make the whole table from pallets. That proved a little difficult in some parts, so in the end, the top and the sign were made from salvaged pallets. I think we spent under $80.00 for all the wood and screws...Pottery Barns' original was something like 1100.00, but it has been discontinued so I had a little trouble finding the exact amount...either way, a massive savings. The top is so cool with the old nails and staples just left in and stained over...exactly what we wanted for our baseball room.
But what to do with all those leftover pallet boards? Really, poor Greg cut up like seven of them. My hero. That's were the sign idea came from. I laid out the boards I wanted to use, then flipped them over. Making sure I was using nails that wouldn't be two long, I laid two pallet boards perpendicular to the vertical boards, like a brace. I put two nails into each board on each of the two braces. It would have been really helpful if I had stopped and taken pics for you at this point, but I was in the creative groove. The boards all nailed together, I was now ready to design the text. I did a little Microsoft publisher magic, taped a big poster sized document together and s-l-o-w-l-y started transferring the letters. This was really the hardest part. They came out so light, even after repeated tracings. Once finished, I hand painted the letters, adding shading where needed until it "popped". (My middle school kids always made fun of me when I talked artsy like that to them...makes me smile thinking of it!) Last, I outlined the "Johnson's" with sharpie marker...thank you Greg Johnson for that fantastic suggestion! I am tickled pink with the final design! Our baseball room is now really feeling like the boys dugout!
And just for the record, I still have like a million pallet boards sitting in my garage if anyone wants to come get some for your own sign, or you might be able to sweet talk me into making you one too.
Have a great Tuesday everyone! Thanks for stopping by!
Jenny
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