Toys, Toys, and More Toys!

A friend asked me to make a "large" crate for her daughter to help contain all the toys!
Her daughter has one little girl and is expecting another little girl.
Remember the crate I made for Madelyn Grace.

My friend asked me to make it similar to Madelyn's, so I made a large white crate.
The special and fun part was she wanted me to put "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" on the front of the crate.  So . . . I went to  the scrap book store and they cut me letters out of pink polka dot paper,
then I used Modge Podge satin finish to put them on.
I think it came out very cute :)

The measurements are 28" x 28" x 18" high.

Excuse the iPhone photos but I forgot to take pictures with the good camera.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emmy's Tack Trunk

As I mentioned in my last post my daughter, Emmy, moved her horse to a new stable and wanted a new smaller tack trunk.
I made it for her out of 3/4" oak plywood and solid red oak trim.
We both love how it turned out ~ here are some pictures:

I finished the outside of the chest and grooming tote with Minwax oil based Early American Stain and left the other areas natural.

I then finished everything with 3 coats of Minwax Spar Urathane.

Emmy bought the handles, latch and name plate through an online tack store and everything else was purchased at Lowes!

Here are two pictures of Emmy's horse Sadie and the tack trunk in their new home :)

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Trunks!

I have been busy in the garage for the past few weeks working on some small projects for friends and making trunks!

Emmy wanted me to build her a new tack trunk.  She is moving her horse to a new stable and wanted a small trunk that will fit the space better.  I did lots of research on-line and Emmy gave me measurements and pictures but I wanted to build a practice trunk.  It came out great but was bigger than Emmy wanted.  I made it out of 1/2" oak plywood and trimmed it in pine.  I learned a lot from this build so I built a trunk for Emmy out of 3/4" oak plywood and trimmed it in oak. 

Here is my practice trunk:

It measures 35.5" wide x 25.75" deep x 24.75" tall on the outside and

33" wide x 23" deep x 20" tall on the inside.

I finished it with a mixture of stains so it is blue, gray with a hint of brown!

I just listed this trunk on Craig's List for $200 so if you are in the Cincinnati area and

need a nice big trunk let me know!

Here is a sneak peek of Emmy's Trunk:

I also made a tote for her grooming supplies:

Here is my new "toy" that was a big help in making the trunks - a table saw!

Thanks for stopping by!

Farmhouse Bed

I have been busy in the garage finishing up a project for ME!!!   I made a Farmhouse Queen Bed, using plans (I slightly modified) by Ana White,  and a nice big bookcase, using plans I created myself.  Doug and I have had the same bedroom furniture for 32 years!!  So now that we have a new bed, bookcase and bench I plan to refinish our chest and dresser - more on that later!  Here are some pictures of the new look!

I put the bench I made at the bottom of the bed.  More on that here.

The bookcase is made of 8,  2 x 6 x 8 boards and 1,  2 x 4 x 8 board with plywood on the back.

On all the painted areas I used one coat of Benjamin Moore Pikes Peak Gray and then sanded it to expose some of the wood.

I then rubbed on a light coat of Minwax Oil Based Early American Stain.

The stained areas have two coats of the Early American stain.

Everything is finished with two coats of Minwax Polycrylic. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Crates!

A sweet friend had a baby in May and I finally had time to make a little baby crate!  She also has two older children so I made crates for them too!  The baby is Sophie Elizabeth and she has two, two year olds, Annie Kathryn and a little boy that she fosters (can't share his name on the internet so I blurred it out on the boxes).  

Here are the pictures!

Now I just have to find a time to drive to Alabama to deliver them :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Practical and Pretty

Today I am going to share a few projects that are for practical use, but I wanted them to be pretty!

First - a pretty trash can holder for the kitchen!

Again this was made from all the oak boards I have in the garage :)  I am having lots of fun with those boards!

Next - dog gates!  Our sweet black lab Moe is getting old :(
He will be 12 soon and has decided that going upstairs or downstairs is an acceptable substitute
for going outside if I am not home :(  Not good!

So I designed these pretty gates to block those areas.
The regular child/dog gates, you can buy, are not wide enough and
I didn't want to pay the price for the pretty ones you see in catalogs.

They also work for the other wide openings in our house!

 Thanks for stopping by!