The First Post...

Here's to trying something new and hopefully I will be a good blogger and update at least every two weeks. That is to say that I have something new to share every two weeks. The goal of this blog is to two-fold. One: to share the creativity I've been blessed with, and two: to keep me motivated to continue and finish what ideas I have. I'll warn you all now, some might be great and some might not, but thanks for joining me along the way. As the title of the blog indicates, I like to at least try to do it all: cook, clean, organize, and most of all create. Although I might not have any awesome, savy, new ways to clean I do have lots of ideas on everything else.  

Now, I'd like to share with you the projects (and yes, I do count cooking as a project, especially when you're trying a new recipe) I do along the way and the goal is to work from one room of the house to the next. I'm in the process of completely redoing the whole house (more on why later) which means lots of new projects and a need for new ideas. So, here it goes...project number one.

Simple Toy Box Shelf 
     (made from 1x2's and pallet wood)

finished product:

supplies needed:

(8) 1x2x8'0" I bought mine in a variety of different woods, but you can buy all the same wood to save money. I did this because I wanted the frame to be similar to the shelf pieces and pallets come in a variety of different woods. Just be sure that the pieces you select are straight and not warped.
wood glue
miter saw
pallets 
nails and a hammer (or better yet, a nail gun)
clamps
hand sander

cut: (8) 23 7/8" pieces (because you have to account for the width of the saw)
       (14) 13"
       (10) 35 7/8"
       (2) 14 5/8 " (Don't be like me and forget that you constructed the center shelf with 1x2's versus 2x2s. As             Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!")

glue/clamp: 23 7/8" pieces together to make 4 2x2x23 7/8" pieces
                  (8) 13" pieces together to make 4 2x2x13" pieces
                  (8) 35 7/8" pieces together to make 4 2x2x35 7/8" pieces
And now comes the fun part, sanding. Since we glued two pieces together to make one, this is brutal but entirely necessary so that the pieces look and feel like one. Oddly enough, the 2x2's you buy in the store are made this way as well, it just costs less to buy the wood and make the 2x2's yourself and I am all about saving money. 

Tip: After sanding, I went ahead and put a coat of stain on the pieces just to give them a preliminary coat. I did this just in case I missed wiping away any glue spots whilst putting the frame together because wood glue does not take stain and I did not want any white spots.

I used Minwax Stain in Provincial





Constructing the Frame

I started by gluing, clamping, and nailing the pieces for the two ends to make these dandies. Dimensions for these pieces are approx 16" wide x 24" tall.

Note: The bottom shelf support piece is 6 1/2" from the top of the bottom piece (and of course my picture is upside down). The shelf dimensions are based entirely on the plastic tubs I already purchased from Wal-Mart. I find that when building shelves that are going to occupy boxes/tubs of any nature, it's best to start with the size of the box you want to accommodate. 
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-Deep-Stacking-Bin-Set-of-6-Bamboo-Grass/20699720
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-Stacking-Bin-Clear-Soft-Fern-Set-of-6/17164547

Once the two side pieces are glued and nailed, you can then finish constructing the frame. Here's a picture of my completed frame. This picture is after I stained and polyurethaned the frame because I forgot to take a picture of the frame after I just put it together. It's also on a furniture dolly to keep it off the rough concrete.

 Adding the Pallet Wood

Note: This is after I've cut, sanded, and stained the boards.

Now selecting your pieces of pallet wood is all about personal choice, but be sure to choose boards with minimal warping. I set the shelves up in a multitude of ways before I had my final selected pieces just to give me as many options possible. I would also note that we had a stack of varying pallets which gave me the availability to pick and choose pieces. I would highly recommend doing this so you don't limit your options to having to use that super warped board that you so don't want to. Oh, and one thing I will say about the pallets is that they are not easy to take apart, at all. It definitely takes two people and I was fortunate enough to have the help of my dad to do this. We used a sawzall and just cut through the nails underneath the boards. You could also use a crow bar but be careful you don't crack the boards doing so.

Yay! Finally to near completion. To apply the shelf pieces to the frame, I simply zigzagged some wood glue to the frame and used a nail gun to secure the boards in place, easy.

Bottom shelf front corner

Wanted to show the below picture for two reasons. One: to show how I cut the front and back shelf pieces to fit. (I used a band saw to cut the corners out.) Two: I'm not perfect. If you look closely, you'll see how I cut my corner square too big so there's this gap between the frame and the shelf piece. Sad face.




When adding the shelf pieces, I worked my way from the bottom to the top so that I could get the nail gun in there. I also went ahead and polyurethaned my bottom shelf before I added the top two shelf pieces so that I could see better as well as get in there easier. 

Once you glue and nail all the shelf pieces, you're pretty much finished. Voila' 

Except don't forget to polyurethane you're top two shelves.

There. I did it. I wrote a blog entry. Hopefully it's helpful. Let me know if you have any questions. Would love to help anyone out. I also want to say that this took me about three weeks to complete so this was not an overnight project. 

The finished product complete with full toy bins.