Another Piece of the Entertainment Center Puzzle........

is put in place.......still needs pine trim, primer, and paint.........

Finally Stained our Hyde Side Table.....

So it took a few weeks to decide on what color stain we wanted to use, and then today I changed stain colors mid-project. You see, I first decided to go with a Natural stain, which made the wood look wet but not really stained.

We discussed it, and then decided to go with the darker Red Oak stain instead.

I really like the Red Oak and it flows with the color of our kitchen cabinets and flooring that can be seen from the living room. One day, there will be a partner for this table......but for now, I'm quite pleased with how this project has turned out. Now to put it in the living room and put my lamp and accessories on it :-)

Phase Two of the changes in the living room.........

So with all this new furniture that Michael's has been busy building for the living room, the room itself needs a facelift. New paint, new floor, new furniture....well new couches eventually!
I've been reading various blogs and looking at how people have done the Board and Batten on their walls. I love the look and feel of board and batten. Clean crisp lines. Here is my inspiration picture.

I want to do this on the large wall in our living room that goes from our foyer to the back door. The ceiling is vaulted to this wall and I think it would help break up the huge wall space. So this is the next project I want to tackle in our living room renovations.

Project #3.....The beginning of our Entertainment Center

So by now you know that we like a whole lot of Pottery Barn style furniture. :-) What's not to love? The stuff is just beautiful, but with a family of 6 its just not in our budget to go out and spend alot of money on fancy furniture. We have always been DIY type people when it comes to doing stuff around the house. So why not try to build our own entertainment center? We wanted a built it originally, but then we changed gears to building our own version of the PB style centers. Here was our inspiration.

We started by using Ana's plans, and then had to change the dimensions to fit it to our needs.

We purchased two sheets of MDF and had the friendly man at Home Depot cut it for us. Then it was a rush to get home and start building.

Here is the center of the Cameron System, which will be the TV Media Base. We made it 22 1/2 inches high so that our TV would not be sitting so low. Eventually we'll end up mounting the TV above this stand. We wanted the center shelves to house our Wii and Xbox systems.

Here is the stand in its current state. Freshly painted black and waiting on the trim work to be installed.

Then we'll move it to the living room and start rearranging the furniture. :-) I envision large baskets of some sort in the open cubbies on the left and right of the stand.

Project #2 - Hyde Side Table

We all know that a coffee table has to have a coordinating side table, RIGHT????

Here is the Pottery Barn Hyde Side Table

and here is how our's turned out. Again, it still isn't stained because it has to match whatever stain we decide on for the coffee table! 

This go around Michael chose to use 1x3 pine boards instead of the 2x4's and 4x4's since we couldn't find untreated lumber. The legs were made using 3 1x3's glued together instead of the 4x4 posts.

It all began with some inspiration..........our first project!!!

As a result of my love for reading other people's blogs, and drooling over all the home improvement and decorating ideas that other people come up with........I ran across this wonderful blog, Knock Off Wood with tons of inspiration for building Pottery Barn style furniture, on a much smaller budget! I have ALWAYS loved everything Pottery Barn, so this of course had me wishing that we could build this stuff ourselves. Thanks to Ana's awesome plans, and the new tools, a new hobby began!

So it all began when I saw this Pottery Barn picture of the Hyde Coffee Table and Ana's plans showing us how to build it. Of course, I love the whole sectional couch and table, but let's start with the coffee table.

As soon as I saw the plans, I introduced Ana's blog to Michael and he ran with the plans and the ideas. We cleaned out the garage of TONS of junk so that we could make room for the official workshop area. Michael went to Lowe's for the first lumber shopping trip on his own.

A couple 2x4's, 1x6, and a 4x4 and it was time for some serious building to begin.

Michael quickly realized that we needed some vice grips, so we lucked out when we called to ask his dad if he had any in his shop that we could borrow. :-) They came in very handy in keeping this table together as we used the wood glue.

 

Here is our coffee table in its current state. We still need to stain it, but we just can't decide on stain colors. For now, I'm loving the natural look and enjoying finally having a coffee table in the living room. We couldn't find untreated 4x4's, so the pressure treated lumber adds to the character of the table. 

I think Michael did an AWESOME job with his first furniture project. 

It was at this point that the unending project list began.

 Coffee Table? 

Check.

End Tables? 

Next Project!!!!!!!!

Humble Beginnings

Humble and Messy! This is day one of getting my Christmas present out and finding a place for it on my workbench / everything gets thrown here area. Look how shiny and "Unused" the Miter saw is. That would soon change as I began using this tool to cut anything and everything I could throw at it!


Here's the first wood we purchased on this journey. This would eventually become our first Coffee table based off the Hyde Coffee Table on Anna's Blog. Notice the incomplete workbench, the bikes, the mess...these things would soon have to be cleared out to make room for some real work to be done.

Getting introductions out of the way...

You should know who we are if you have come to visit. We are a North Florida Couple, married 10 Years and the proud parent's of 4 children, one boy and three girls.

Recently we have decided to stop paying too much for furniture and began building it ourselves using helpful tips found all over the web.

Many thanks to Anna at the Knock off Wood Blog for giving us more projects and inspiration than we can handle. Visit her site from the link on the right and say hello.