Framed Straw Wreath

I made a pre-Christmas trip to IKEA and picked up this straw wreath. I love how simple it is!

It's a bit smaller than I had anticipated (I'd first seen it online), so I decided to add something to it to make it more substantial. My first thought was to hang it in front of a punched metal piece I made way back in high school.

But, I didn't like how it looked with the punched design behind, and it didn't lay flat.

Here's the punched metal piece:

I made it as a 4-H project, and since I had to turn it in to be displayed at the county fair, I put this sign on it (the metal showed fingerprints very badly if touched). I can't believe that tag is still on it almost twenty years (and lots of moves) later!

I love the high tech duct tape job- I think I did have to redo that once over the years :)

The frame is one I made from wood that had been sitting outside, getting nicely weathered. If I remember correctly, it was part of my mom's old quilting stand. Even after all these years, I love how that frame turned out.

After removing the metal (I've been planning on replacing it with a different design for years now), I rehung the wreath in the frame.

It looks much better now!

I might change the ribbon out to match the seasons, but I have red accents in the front room, so it works year round. I need to locate studs in the walls so I can hang some heavy artwork, then I can decide on a final resting place for this.

Laundry Basket Dresser

Yes, I've joined the laundry basket dresser craze. I saw this on ana-white.com quite some time ago, but I knew the only space I had for it was here:

It's a narrow space, so I'd have to have the bins go in from the side, instead of the front.

When I was working on the laundry room, I painted the corner so it would be ready for the shelves.

I built two shelves, with the intent of stacking them on top of each other. The top shelf didn't have a bottom, since I had to work around that pipe. I thought there would be space to get laundry bins in and out, so I added supports on the sides, but the breaker box is in the way, so no bins in the top. The breaker box also meant I had to do some fancy maneuvering to get the shelves in: first the top one in and up, and the bottom one in underneath, but on top of the base. Yeah, it was a workout.

Because of the pipe, I left the back open so I wouldn't have to work around that as well.

The shelf where the pipe is is a great place for detergent, spray and wash, fabric softener, etc.

I built a base under the shelf to lift the shelf above the pipe running a few inches above the floor.

I found different colored bins at wally world that are just the right size for the space.

I used my Silhouette to make labels for the bins.

You can't see much from the door, but here it is. I've got some giant ziploc bags of stuff stored in the upper shelves since I wasn't able to fit the laundry bins in them.

I love how functional it is, and it is so nice not to be tripping over laundry baskets stacked on the floor.

TV Room Hidden Blanket Storage

We have this odd little space in our basement. For some reason, the previous owners put in a little alcove when they finished the basement. It's in the tiny hallway between the main room and the bedroom (which has no doors- why????), and faces the closet under the stairs. When we looked at the house, they had a vase in the upper space.

The lower section seemed like a waste of space, though. I couldn't leave it empty (that just wouldn't do!), so I've tried different things: stacking plastic containers in it, storing piles of magazines and books in it, and letting LMS keep her play castle there, but I didn't like how cluttered it felt.

We've been working on getting the basement all put together to our liking, and we're almost done. One of the things we did was to move our larger couch downstairs so we can get comfy while watching movies. The basement is always cooler than the rest of the house, which is great in the summer, but not so great in the winter, so we have several large fuzzy blankets to snuggle under. Unfortunately, they inevitably look like this:

or this:

Neither option really worked for me and my OCD (big surprise, I know). I had been thinking about what to do about the blanket situation, and had thought of building something like this:

source

or something like this:

source

I love Ana-White.com- she's got so many great plans! However, we already have so much stuff in the basement that I really didn't want to add another piece of furniture. As I let the problem float around in my head, I realized I could take the tip-out idea from the recycle/trash bin, and build it into the useless space in the wall.

After some more thought, I drew out my idea and got started. I built a wood box that went inside the space- top, bottom, sides, and back using a 1x10 board for the box and a 1x12 board for the back.

I screwed the box into the studs, attached a frame out of moulding, and then wood puttied and caulked it all before priming and painting it.

While that was drying, I worked on the door. I framed a piece of beadboard with 1x3s, caulked, primed, and painted it. Then I attached a pull to the top edge of the door.

Once everything was dry, I attached hinges to the door and the box. But, since I had to change the hinges I bought first for a larger set, there wasn't enough space for the door to close :(

Grrrr. So I broke out the belt sander and sanded down the top edge. After cleaning up the mess I'd made, I attached a magnetic catch to the inside of the door and attached some rope so the door wouldn't open all the way. Then I repainted the top edge.

I'd planned on using chain, but I couldn't cut the chain down to size. Then Mr M came home and suggested I use the metal cutting attachment of the Dremel. He cut the chain for me (thanks babe!) and I switched out the rope for the chain, wiped everything down, and it was done.

(and yes, I need to sand the filler and paint the wall- I'm still deciding on the color)

Plenty of room for the big fuzzy blankets. I love it!

Any suggestions as to what I should do with the upper space?

Linking to Skip to My Lou and Today's Creative Blog

St. Patrick's decorations

I don't do much holiday decorating, but I'm slowly building up my collection of things for the different holidays/seasons.

Weathered clock

I bought this metal clock from wallyworld a year or so ago with the intent of putting it on a wood backing. I had the wood, I just never quite got around to putting it all together till recently.

I didn't take pics of the process, but it's pretty easy. I measured the width of the wood and clock to determine how many pieces I needed, then cut them all to length. I glued and screwed the pieces to two cross pieces on the back. I also screwed a wire hanger to one of the cross pieces.

I scavanged the wood from my parents' yard before we moved. My dad had some random pieces of wood in a pile, and since they were nicely weathered and I knew I could use them for something, I grabbed several pieces and put them on the moving truck.