Boys Loft

On of the big projects we did in late summer and start of school was to build the boys a loft bed. I came across one made by the Handmade Home on Pinterest and have saved it forever. It has the entire plans!! I knew it was what exactly what I wanted for the boys.

The only adaptation that we made is Nick built a wood ladder instead of a hanging ladder. And our room is 14 feet wide, not 12. So it's a little longer. I still love the hanging ladder, but since the boys 2 and 4, solid footing is better for sleepy feet. (BTW - Nick built the completely on his own with no written down plans. We're pretty proud at how sturdy it has turned out!Plus, he gets all the assembly credit! I only painted and helped keep kids out of the way!)

Most of our projects are in phases. Between each phase, who knows how long it'll be. I've hesitated sharing this post because this is NOT picture perfect ready. I still need toy organization, either new comforters or making new quilts.  Plus who knows what cute perfect additions I will find to compliment their walls some more. 

But it is built. And painted. And functioning. And the boys love it even more than I do!

So I've decided to get over the lack of perfection, and share what it looks like. This is the real deal what their new room looks like - with fresh paint and a loft, and not a whole lot else yet besides toy messes. Our house has always been a work in progress, and so is this room.

Here it is:

(We painted the walls SW Online Gray, which may be hard to tell the difference of earlier photos since their room was the same shade, but light blue).

 Below are two photos side by side. I still need to touch up some spots.

The underneath only got one coat of paint. I painted everything before assembly, which for me made it really easy. The ladder is perfect. It is solid just leaning against the floor and bed. We might bolt it together, but I do like being able to move it if needed. 

And just one more time, the whole picture. I had to use Nick's phone to get it all in the same shot. Even still, it doesn't give it justice on how truly MASSIVE and AWESOME it is.

In the next months, or year, or so when it finally comes together, I'll share an update.

Do you do projects in stages as well?

5 Things I Learned from Building Floating Shelves

On our my list of things to do this summer was add floating shelves. We lack storage in the half bathroom and the boys' bathroom, and needed to have a little something else to make them, well, nice. Just because my two year spends most of his potty days in here having fun flushing and washing his hands doesn't mean it has to look like that.

After a weekend of shopping at Home Depot, a few days debating about logistics, and then final construction, they are done! During the process, I learned a few things. These may be things that you already know. Sometimes you need a reminder, and other times, you simply didn't have the experience to know the better.

First off, I didn't build them all by myself. Home Depot cut them. Nick did a bulk of the "put together" stuff. I assisted mostly in opinion, sanding, staining, and holding them on the wall while drilling. Thanks, honey!

Second, all of these opinions are my own and in no way am I sponsored by Home Depot. I simply am a customer and am sharing my own experience and opinion. I get nothing if you decide or not decide to shop their or use their services. :-)

5 Things I Learned from Building Floating Shelves

1. Triple Check your measurements

 I went over the measurements twice, and then turned them over to Nick to double check the spot where I was having difficulty converting measurements. (I traded in some brain cells for motherhood, and it's not always easy calculating with little kids). Had I not done this, I'm not sure if they would have turned out the right way.

2. Account for Studs

 Wherever you are going to put your shelves, BEFORE YOU BUY THE WOOD, figure out the placement of your studs!!! I did NOT do this, and as a result, our downstairs shelves are only attached to one stud. 

If I wanted two studs for extra strength, then the shelves would be "shifted" about 4 inches to the right. This would not be symmetrical above the toilet, and that just bothers me. If I want them symmetrical, then there is only one stud available on the left side of the shelf. This means only very light things can be on the shelf, and slightly "heavier things" can only go on the left. It's okay only because the downstairs is mostly decorative.

Had I gone through this thought process before purchasing (and cutting) the wood, I would have extended the shelves the whole length of the wall.

My upstairs shelves have two studs in each. They are slightly off from where I originally wanted them. For these shelves (which are longer), functionality is more important than look, but thankfully they are not too far off centered. Plus there was a lot of wall space to work with.

3. Account for tool space 

This turned out to not be an issue, but I almost gave up and cried with the thought of it. After we had purchased our wood, brought it home, and held up one to the bathroom wall, Nick told me he thought it wouldn't work. "I'm not sure if my tools will be able to fit on the side of the shelves between the wall." Great. 

With our situation, Nick simply modified our plans and assembled the "box" exterior in our garage, then slid the box - with force at times - onto the "E" support on the wall (In the picture above). If you don't know what I'm talking about, look through a few "Floating Shelves Tutorials" out there in web/pinterest and you should see what I mean. (I'm not doing a tutorial - there are already too many of them)

4. You can pre-order your lumber at Home Depot

Since I know how our shopping trips usually go with two high energy boys, I thought I would save us some time and heart ache and order online. All you have to do is pick it up! You can even schedule when you want to pick it up.

Now, had I done just this, and not had home depot cut our wood for us, it would have saved us time.  But I of course still meandered through the store for a thing or two I forgot to include in my online purchase.

The biggest "con" to having Home Depot prepare it for you is that you don't get to pick the individual lumber. It can be like someone else blindly picking fruit for you, only to realize after the purchase that some are too ripe or a little more bruised than you'd prefer. If you're not picky, and want to save time, this won't matter. If it does matter, just check over all of the pieces before you leave so you can exchange any if they are not up to your perfection. It's also good to check that all the piece are there. Nick noticed we were missing one in the cart. (I guess it's like checking to see that they included fries with your burger at the drive through. Not a big deal if you do it right then).

5. Be prepared to wait if you get your wood cut at the store

I ordered in the morning and scheduled to be ready in the late afternoon. It could have been ready later in the morning, I just wasn't going to get there that early. Now, this particular day was probably just one of those crazy days. It was Friday evening in the summer, and a storm was coming in later that night. (Which of course came in early while we were at the store. It rained on painted furniture I had set out in my back yard to dry. Darn weather.) 

After we picked up our lumber that was waiting for us, we went to get our wood cut. There was someone else in front of us, so we had to wait. Thankfully I had patience with me. It may have helped that the employee was efficient, and fast, and Nick met us there when he got off of work. He was able to take the boys "driving" around the store when they were tired of hearing the loud cutting sounds.

When it was finally my turn, I felt like I had too many cuts. Another customer or two started waiting behind me. I just felt bad for the employee who was doing serious work without a break. He got at least two calls requesting his assistance for something, and he had to give them at least 30+ minutes to wait. They need a tip jar. 

I think we ended up being in the store AT LEAST an hour. I can't remember at the moment. It felt like two, may have been an hour and a half, but was well past the hour mark.

Next time I plan to cut the wood ourselves. The cuts were what we asked for, and they saved US the work of cutting them. We may have saved some time, considering we don't measure and cut wood daily enough to whip al our cuts out in that time. We still had to wait for them to be done, though. Had we taken them home, we also could have avoided the problems we ran into with #2  and #3 since we ended up with some extra wood. 

If it's something we can't cut, I will try and go in the morning instead, or a less busy day of the week. It really is a great service, and I have used them for our front door entry project. Just some more things to consider.

There you have it! I hope these things are helpful to you!

Here are the results of our learning experiences:

Ombre Sea Shell Tutorial Here
Check back in a few weeks for a full reveal of our boys bathroom make-over.

Engineer Print Tips

I fell in love with this idea when I saw it, and I finally decided to tackle it. There are plenty of tutorials out there. This one over at Sugar Bee Crafts is the one that I referenced the most. It goes over all the details from choosing a picture to hanging it up.  Here's another helpful tips of the Do's and Don'ts of Engineer Printing from Scatter Shot. I highly recommend reading both of these if you want to try this.

And now, here are a few things I also learned from the process.

Engineer Prints

The pictures are great! I love how they turned out the instant I saw them. You know what is even better? They were taken from my phone. No kidding?!

Styrofoam

The Styrofoam is messy. I did not have a proper cutting tool, so it made an absolute mess. I did at least anticipate that and worked in the garage. Check out here for the warning. I forgot about static electricity, too. They stuck to my clothes and socks.

The lines were slightly uneven when cut and a little rough. The fix? I used masking tape on the edge to help smooth it over, then painted that black. (In retrospect, I guess I could have saved myself some time by just buying black tape.)

Attaching pictures

I used spray adhesive on the back of the photo, then placed it on the foam. It seemed okay except the pictures would unstick a bit. (This may be due to me completing this in my garage during the Texas Ice Storm of '13, but who knows.) I added just a tad of Modge Podge under the corners of all photos. It bubbles too much because the paper is super thin.

I also couldn't decide whether to add a protective layer of something on top or not. My clear spray left speckles, and the modge podge left wrinkles. So I did none. Maybe this just makes it easier to change out the photos whenever you want?

Mounting

Hanging it up with hanging wire and duct tape? It worked 2 out of 3. I kept having one fall. So I bought some of the poster double-sided mounting strips, added them to each of the four corners, and that seems to do the trick.

Overall

It's easy but time consuming. Maybe that's because I made 12 of them (Seriously. No joke. Christmas present people. 12 total. And I still have more foam in the garage!). Maybe not as Christmas presents unless you are crazy, or have time. Although I know my sister-in-law absolutely loved hers, and so it was worth it for me! Honestly, I am in love with the results, but maybe that's because I simply adore the huge photos of my boys.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you've done this or if you give it a try!