Coat Closet Mudroom

Do you have one space in your house that you're just never satisfied with? For me, it's my coat closet. I have changed this closet more times that I can count!

I thought I had solved it with my first build of a tall, narrow shoe shelf with hooks above and to the sides of it. It worked for a while, but the kids, and so their coats, have grown! And the weather in Northern Virginia this winter has been having an identity crisis and so we need different jackets from one day to the next! Clutter, crowding, ACK!

ANYway, more thinking and staring has been happening, with the vague plan of trying to do something in there but without much of an idea of what I want to do.

Then I saw this pop up on my Pinterest feed and the wheels started turning. What if I modify this to make it fit the coat closet?! I loved that it provides space for shoes without wasting the rest of the depth of the floor space. And I loved that I could stash stuff in the back depending on the season - snow gear, soccer gear, swim gear, whatever!

When I measured and found my space to just be about half the size of Ana's, I was convinced. Easy mods, organized and hopefully more spacious coat closet, and even a place to sit to get shoes on and off!

I had to plan for the doorway opening that is more narrow than the actual closet. I learned from an earlier failed attempt at getting a shelf system in there that a shelf as wide as the actual closet would never actually get into the closet and be able to turn into place. So this build would have to be assembled in place. In the closet. With no closet light. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Empty it, pull off the moulding (not pictured), ready to go!

I started by cutting all of the pieces I would need for the shoe shelves and storage area. I planned to assemble this with Kreg joinery, so I drilled the pocket holes at this point.

Next I stained everything (Varathane Dark Walnut stain to match the stairs) and applied polyurethane to both sides of all of the pieces.

I don't think I have ever said how much I love this poly, but seriously - this stuff rocks. Super thick application, one-and-done on coats, and a smooth finish without all of the pickiness of regular poly. Seriously, I can basically just slap this on, go over sections to smooth when I need to, and it dries quickly and looks great! If you've worked with regular poly with all of it's bubbles and lines and multiple layers, you will understand how awesome this is! Varathane isn't paying me or anything, I just really love this stuff!

Once all of the pieces were dry, I headed into the closet. There aren't any pictures of the construction here - I basically followed Ana's plans and swore a lot at the frustration of building in an area only 1.5" wider than the piece. ;) But it came together!

I put up the coat rack piece next and then on to the top cubbies. Same process, similar swearing. Installation of this part was a bit trickier - this closet is really odd and is lacking in studs. There are only two on the whole back wall and they're both on the right side! And the side walls are basically devoid of studs. So weird. I decided to hang it with L-brackets to make it easiest. Because there are only the two studs, I put L-brackets on the tops and bottoms just to have more attachment in the stronger areas.

When I was antsy during one of the drying stages, I made this little key/glasses/wallet hanger for one of the side walls. We'll try out this prototype for a while and if it works well, I'll add it to my Etsy shop soon!

All done!  (horrible lighting to try to take this pictures! Sorry!)

I'll explain how I did the plank wall later if anyone is interested. I'm planning to do something on the side walls too, mostly to cover all of the anchor holes from previous versions of the closet, and to cover the paint without painting. ;) Any ideas on what I should do on the sides? Plain (stained) plywood sheets? More planks? Something else?

I noticed I ended my last post about this closet with "maybe it will stay like this for a while now" and now I'd like to say it again, but this time it had better because it's built in! These will have to be taken apart to get them out now! ;)



p.s. - Did you notice my girls' cute little purses in the closet? Don't you just them?! They're custom made by my super talented sister-in-law, Amy. You can find her here and custom order your own! :)

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Wall Sconces

When I saw these wall sconces on Shanty-2-Chic, I fell instantly in love! Such a simple look and so simple to assemble!

I asked Brad to pick up a 2x6 on his way home and I got to work!

I cut the wood using my circular saw. On such a thick piece, a miter saw would have been easier, but I'm currently between miter saws. ;) I positioned the ledges, predrilled holes through the back of the larger piece, glued and screwed. Whew, building phase complete! ;) I sanded the edges and corners with 120 grit sandpaper and got ready for color!

Look at the beautiful wood grain! When I saw that, I decided to stain these instead of painting. I've been anti-stain since my troubles with my console table, but since then I have learned a lot about staining and after staining our stairs last month, I've renewed my confidence!

I couldn't decide quite what I wanted for color, but thought something in the gray family would be nice. I wanted something weathered looking without going too rustic. Googling around led me to BeachBumLivin and his tutorial on layering stain. How cool!

I worked on the back and sides of the sconces first. I figured I'd save the most visible parts for last so I'd have more practice by the time I did them. ;) I started with a layer of Varathane Kona stain. Beachbumlivin said to leave it on to dry and then sand it lightly, but I'm not always that patient... it was actually really hard to just trust the process and wait through it - life lessons through woodworking, eh? But I did leave the Kona stain to soak in for about 10-15 minutes before wiping it off.

I sanded it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper, just in some spots to bring out that pretty woodgrain. I repeated the whole process with the Kona. Not sure why this scared me so much, even after testing it out on a scrap piece! I was just already in love with the sconces and was afraid I'd screw them up! I actually set a timer and went inside so I wouldn't be tempted to wipe the stain off early!

BeachBumLivin said he went straight to the Sunbleached stain from here, but after testing this out on a scrap piece, I decided to try layering in Weathered Gray first (also both Varathane). I loved the way it looked! Different grains of the wood picked up different layers of the stain and it looked really cool. I didn't take pictures in between these steps because both the gray and the sunbleached only sat for a minute before I wiped them off. I lightly sanded any areas that took up too much of one color or another and I was so happy with the results!

I let it all dry for an hour or so and then turned them over to work on the front. Here's a picture that shows the Kona alone next to the layered stain.

I just love the result!!

    

The Shanty-2-Chic sconces use wine bottles, which I had planned to do. I soaked the empty wine bottles in a baking dish with a couple of tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in water. Thirty minutes in the water and the labels peeled right off!

After looking at it, though, I decided my ledge might be too high for the wine bottle and found vases as an alternative. I couldn't decide which I liked better and since these are being donated to a silent auction, I decided to poll my Facebook friends to see which design was more appealing to most people.

    

The vase was the overwhelming favorite, so for this time around, I went with that. I used Gorilla Epoxy to attach the vases securely to the ledges. Keeping it real in my kitchen...

I just had to hang them in my house for a minute before I take them over to church. Use your imagination and picture candles or pretty flowers in them! What would you fill them with?

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"Love Note" Plaque

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was feeling the love making this fun plaque for my sweet husband. I love the way it turned out - a little rustic without looking too rough. :) I had originally intended to write a line from a favorite song inside the heart like I saw over at Tatertots & Jello, but after I did it, I decided I liked mine better without the words and I painted over them! ;)

I started by taking a couple of kind of ratty 1x3s and cut them down to 21" each.

I inspected each to find the least rough-looking side and laid them up on the work bench with the nicer sides facing down.

Then I took a couple of long-enough-for-the-job scraps (hence the mis-match) to attach to the back. So happy to use my Ryobi Air Nailer for this job - I seriously love this thing, and they're not paying me to say that! I put a couple of nails into each plank and I was done! I still get giddy when I use pneumatic tools just like I did the first time Ben showed me how to use one. Thanks, Ben. Love always.

To make it easy to hang on the wall, I set my Circular Saw to 45 degrees and mitered the edge of a smaller scrap 1x3 and nailed between the supports. I purposely attached it to two planks in the hopes of making the whole thing a little more secure.

Next it was time to sand. And sand, and sand, and sand. Fortunately, I got a new random orbital sander for Christmas and I got Brad a corner cat sander, so I tried both of them out on this project. I was impressed with what they could do on even such rough planks.

Time to paint! I started by painting the whole thing gray, then sketched a large heart with pencil (as lightly as I could - and could hear Ben shaking his head at me. Tsk, Tsk.) I taped off lines with painter's tape and then used an off-white to paint between the tape. I removed the tape, erased what I could of the pencil lines, and let it all dry before touching up with both the gray and white.

Ta-da! All done! I LOVE IT! And so did Brad, so that's good, since it was technically for him - but I sure did have fun with this one, so I guess it was a little for me too. ;)

I've finally decided to open an Etsy shop for some of my smaller pieces (I have very convincing friends!) and I think I'll add this one to the shop! Fun to do, and I love how it looks hanging up! And I can just picture it leaning on the mantle as part of someone's pretty, seasonal decor! :)

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A Very Ukulele Christmas

Another Christmas gift post!

This time the gifts were for Brad. He had a very ukulele Christmas this year and I knew that between the one he was getting from his parents for Christmas, the one he was getting for the girls, and the one he already had, we were about to have a situation. The ukuleles needed a home in the house.

I found that the tool hooks at hardware stores are a great size for hanging ukes, guitars, etc. With leftover wood from my parents' shoe cabinet, I was able to make an awesome ukulele hanger!

I predrilled holes and screwed in the tool hooks. I spaced them about 11 inches apart - since ukuleles aren't very big, this left plenty of space in between each so that they won't bang together.

I stained these with Varathane's Kona stain, hit the edges with my Ryobi Corner Cat, and then polyed (did I make that verb up?) the whole thing with Triple Thick Poly by Varathane (I love that stuff!) I LOVE the way the finish turned out.

Next I wanted something for his song books and folders. I made a simple magazine rack using 1x2s and a piece of decorative moulding. A simple "U" glued and screwed and then the moulding glued and nailed - ta da! The cross piece doesn't need to be anything substantial, though it can be - just depends on the look you're going for and how sturdy it needs to be.  Another piece of 1x2 would also work, but I was going for a thinner piece for a lower profile look. I applied the same finish on this as I did on the uke hanger, of course!

Where in your home could you use a simple magazine rack? So easy to build and so versatile - you could even make it half as wide and use it next to the bed for a bedtime book!

Hanging these was super simple - while I was building them, I predrilled and countersunk holes so it was just a matter of choosing the position, making sure everything was level, and screwing straight through the front. Fortunately, I was able to get the uke hanger into two studs! That thing's not going anywhere!

Brad was so happy with the gifts :) - he loves having everything handy but put away. And ME TOO - no one likes clutter, and I especially love when everything has a home. :)



***Edited to add - These hangers are now available for purchase in my Etsy shop!

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