Rustic paper holder

Today I went through a fast project of revamping the annoying paper holder in the kids' bathroom. The thing was at first a high industry tp holder for the family living here before. I trashed that one and bought it, using the existing holes, but it sat uneven and showed the other holes. It had to go.

Holder sitting uneven with holes on the other side. I had purchased this paper holder at Lowes. 

I removed the holder and measured the wall. 

I took an old pallet board and measured out 19 inches.

I used a miter saw and made a single cut down the board.

I used my handy sander to remove the bird poop and clean it up a bit.

I then used minwax wood finish in golden oak to stain.

I applied it to one of the planks.

I applied the stain in the direction of the grain.

This shows the before and after for the stain application.

I put the holders appliance on the board.

Then I secured it in the side of the vanity.

I also had a helper throughout the process. She was more interested in the q tips.

I tightened the holder in place.

The holder now matches my 'pallet' towel holder.

The result is a happier "less hole-y" bathroom. Now to figure out how to get the monkey down.

The end result. Now...to eventually 'paint' this bathroom! 

Refinishing a table

I had a black table that was made of wood. It just didn't go with the decor once I had everything in place. It consisted of a table and four bar stools that I bought from West Elm. I used to be obsessed with their furniture. I still am but living with a cowboy has changed my taste a bit.

I started by using my trusty Black and Decker sander. I took all of the black off. 

The result was a sanded chair.

I then used my favorite minwax finish which penetrated the wood and resulted in a dark stain but after 24 hours it had lighted quite considerably.

I then followed the directions on the polyurethane from minwax.

I applied did NOT shake the polyurethane can as it would create bubbles. I applied it to the grain. I let it dry a full 24 hours, lightly sanded with fine grain sand paper and applied a second coat of polyurethane. 

These were some of the black details that I choose to keep. It added character to the wood.

The result is my finished table. :) Happy sanding folks. 

Pallet Shelves

Greetings everyone. We have officially moved and the projects are now coming in. I have officially moved my blog too, so I will be posting my older blogs about my family over to this one...eventually.

So without further talk, lets get down to business.

I saw on pinterest several projects to revamp a pallet into bookshelves. After reading up on them I felt that there were easier 'modifications' and less cutting involved. So here is my version (the lazy autumn version) of pallet bookshelves.

I used a total of three pallets but the third one had rotted wood and eventually didn't use it. You don't want pieces of wood falling on the floor every time you throw a book in it.
This first picture shows me sawing one pallet into three parts. I then took my Milwaukee saw and placed it in between the grooves to remove the boards (as you see in the picture). You honestly don't need help sawing the pallets apart and removing the free boards. You just need to be safe and not chop off your leg. Experiment in positions before actually using the blade.
I didn't realize that the saw blade was bent until I started but it worked just the same. I love my husband, he's rough on our equipment. People say they use like five blades for these projects. I figure if its a bent blade you are working with, you just gotta get a little more crafty at your cut. Plus if it nicks some more wood off, it looks a little more 'worn'. :)

NOTE TO SELF: Bird crap does not stain well so make sure you remove all that white poo before you stain or it will appear and people will wonder. I sanded the free boards before attaching them to the bottom.

Here is the 'lazy' part. I just used those boards I cut off and laid them on the bottom and used four screws and secured the bottom down on each perpendicular board. All you do is flip the pallet upside down and put a free piece of wood, that you just cut off the front, to create a 'box' so that the books can fit into.  people cut them to order and use their fancy countersink drill bits. (forget all that)

The board that I took from the front, is attached to the bottom.

This is a top view of the bottom. :) Get it? I used a regular phillips screw and my cordless black n decker drill.

There were many nails sticking in odds and ends so I pulled some and squished some to add character. 

The result from a pull and squish, not sanded yet.

I sanded one last time to make a smooth finish on the wood with my electric hand sander and then wiped clean. I choose minwax wood finish in golden oak to stain. I use this on most of my wood. 

Going with the grain, I applied a liberal amount of stain. 

I applied one coat and then let dry 24 hours. I decided to skip the polyurethane this time. 

I put these three in my daughter's room. Yes brown on brown. My son helped me 'level' so the top one is off at least two inches! It's a miracle we even found the stud. He had hunting on the brain. I used screws and a stud finder to drill into the 'stud'. They are fourteen inches apart from one another. This way they can load the books in and with the screws in the studs, the weight won't matter, just as long as they don't swing like wild monkeys on it. 

My son opted for a staggered look. He then used the 'African' spear to top it off until we can make a frame for his train photo.

Overall this project was very cost effective and the only thing that was a cost was the screws, sandpaper, and the stain. You can opt out of a stain and make it even less expensive. We used wood pallets from the feed we get at coop. Make sure you don't have to return them first.