I'm a builder

Over the summer I discovered this awesome blog. Ana is amazing. She and her husband actually built their house with their own two hands. Isn't that crazy awesome? I looked through her plans and thought, "Hey I could do this." Plus, we have the tools, but they just sit in the garage because Dave's too busy being responsible. I couldn't wait to get home from our adventures in MN and get to work. I decided that I would build these night stands.

I used this trusty machine for most of my cutting. It's a table saw. For smaller cuts I used a miter saw. That's right. I used saws and I even know their names. And I have to add that David did not touch one tool. He offered plenty of advice and showed me how to use the tools, but these babies were all hand-built by moi.

The most time consuming part of the project was making all the cuts. I decided not to go out and buy a bunch of wood, because that would cost $. So I used some poplar boards we already had. They were a funny width (9.75 in), so I had be a little creative. Each board was also a different thickness because we had used some of the boards to try out our handy plainer we got last year. And a few of the boards were bowed a bit.

These are the assembled legs for one of the stands. They came together pretty well.

This is where I had to get creative. I had to piece together boards of varying widths and thicknesses to get the size I needed for my shelves. I plained each of the pieces down to the same thickness, glued them together, sanded the whole surface down, and reinforced them with a long strip of wood on the back.

Here's the drawer from the top. The drawers were tricky. I made my first one, made some mistakes, and then made the next one much better.

Here they are almost completed.

Aren't they pretty?

Here I am priming. I decided to do a greyish blue color. I'm still not sure what to call it. I found it in the oops pile at Home Depot. $5 for a whole can!! There's plenty left over to paint a matching headboard.

And here's the finished product:

You can tell I used the bowed boards for my tops. I think it adds character.

I found these cool handles at a place called ReStore. I got 6 antique-looking drawer pulls for $3. They have flowers on them. I distressed some of the edges with a sander before I put on the top coat.

I tipped these babies upside down on the cardboard I had under them while I was painting so I could paint the underside. Some of the white primer got on the tops. I think it looks cool. Don't you? I might even try to duplicate this mistake because I think it looks so cool.

There you go. And I love love love them. They aren't perfect and have tons of character. I was so happy this morning when I realized I have an actual night stand next to my bed. I feel so grown up. Imagine how I will feel with a headboard?!

Once we move after school (to heavens knows where!) my plan is to build a headboard to match. I can't right now because it wouldn't fit up our stairs. My next project will be a toy chest for Henry's growing collection of toys. I also want to make a bed skirt for our bed. My sewing machine is in need of some love.