our weekend project

ok, so it was my project. but charlie b helped and did more than his fair share. i have always wanted a large chalkboard. even when i was little i wanted one. my mother-in-law had made one for her grandchildren, and i loved it. so i went a looking. i found a couple on the Internet that i liked. and then charlie b helped me make it. it was pretty easy. we used ply board. it is much lighter than the particle board that we already had. chalkboard paint and molding. so i first primed the board. i did about 3 coats. it said to reapply after an hour. but we live in Arizona. so by the time i made it around, it was dry enough to go around again. once i had it primed, charlie b measured the board to mark where the trim would go.

i then added the chalkboard paint. this is so cool! i put about 3 or 4 coats on it. we started to get a wind and dust storm, so we moved this inside.

zella helped me put the next coat on. i think i put about 3 more coats on it. i have never used this paint before, but i wanted to make sure that the primer didn't sneak through, and i wanted it to be a crisp black.

charlie b and i held her up against the wall and nailed it into the studs. we used our stud-finder, and the stud jokes began...

charlie b let zella help.

after we nailed it to the wall. we placed out molding over the nails.

zella is my example of the scale of the chalkboard.

and now, may i introduce to you...

my big, and beautiful chalkboard. i love her! she is 6 feet by 4 feet. did i tell you that i love her? because i do. and charlie b for helping me.

my supply list

ply board, cut to the size you want.

paint primer

chalkboard paint

paint brush/roller

molding

nails.

and a charlie b, he was the most important part of my supply list.

now i have to fill her up...

jill b

introducing...

i have been raving about my new coffee table. i just love her. i thought i might post some pictures of her making. charlie b started off by making a shell of a box. we used screws and wood glue.
ana, from knockoffwood.blogspot.com, had hacked this coffee table. we loved it, but we read on her blog that some people were a tad disappointed in the overall height of the table. so we tweaked the plans just a big. we used 1x12 boards for the sides. add an inch for the top and an inch on the bottom, for the support for the wheels, and 5 1/2 inch wheels= our coffee table at 19 1/2. we also enlarged the overall dimensions of the coffee table. we went with a 4 feet by 5 1/2 feet. we super-sized her!
my handsome hubby working on my table.
a picture of the inside.

and here she is. we just love her! i am going to sand her, and then paint her a rustic/chocolate brown. i think she fits us just beautifully.

jill b

we took a holiday

we jumped in the car and drove to Dana point California. we stayed with some friends. which is the best kind of friends, the kind that live one block up from the beach! we went to the beach a couple of days and then came home. thanks, we had a blast!
jill b

introducing...

go ahead, drink her in.
she still has some work do to.
i am gonna sand her down and paint her up.
are you still drinking?
i am.
jill b

the nortorius b.i.g.

so we started a project. i have been looking for a big coffee table. i want a big table. i even thought about buying a kitchen table and cutting off the bottom part of the legs to make it a coffee table height. but this project started with a blog, knockoffwood.blogspot.com. anna takes expensive furniture and figures out how they are made and then offers the plans, shopping list and directions for free! i have been reading her blog for a while and love her plans, and i love a good diy project. i saw a plan for a big coffee table and i knew i had to have it. i showed charlie b the blog and he thought it was doable. after looking at the plans for a while, charlie b decided he could do it even better. so we super-sized the coffee table, added a storage option with a lid. i was going to paint it the chocolate brown that i wanted, and we went to lowes. we bought all of our supplies. charlie changed the type of wood to particle board, thinking it would be easier. we assembled it... and it was BIG! did i say big? i mean BIG!! we didn't know what to think for a while. so we decided to live with it for a while to see what we thought. charlie called me the next day from work, he had been brainstorming of what we could do with this giant box. maybe a sandbox for zella, a storage unit for the garage. i suggested we put it on craigs list to see if anyone wanted a big box. charlie said he wanted to re-do the coffee table and follow anna's directions a little big more closely. he said we could re-use the wheels and we were really just out the cost of the particle board. so we regrouped and redrew the plans. decided on real wood, and headed back out to lowes.

so we got our new wood. had it cut, and it is just waiting for us to have time to assemble her. i think she is going to be beautiful! i am glad that we had to re-do her. i think she will be better, stronger and more durable.

now we have do have plans for the big box. but i will leave you with this...

think zella's room and my hallway...

i'll update when i have pictures

jill b

new adventure

we went to the library, and zella got her first library card. she was so excited. we read a bunch of books and checked out a few and a movie. the expression on her face was priceless.

in other news, we have been working on a big project. i will show pictures later. she is a big one. and i think we are going to go a little smaller this time. what am i talking about?

a new coffee table. we made one, too big. going to redo her this weekend. I'll show before and after pictures soon.

jill b

she...

is the love of my life.
is starting to love being "crafty".
makes me smile and laugh all day long.
is so sweet, funny and charming.
is the best shopping buddy.
makes me cry when i think about how much she means to me.
makes me a mommy.

i love, love, love you, little girl.
jill b