Kitchen Built-in

A few weeks ago on Facebook I mentioned that I was cutting a hole in the wall. This wall to be precise:

 

I've admired shelves/built-ins that are built between the studs in a wall for a really long time and I've always wanted to attempt it, I just wasn't sure where.  This wall in my kitchen has driven me nuts since we moved in. There's a heating vent on the floor as well as a light switch there in the middle. See that baker's rack back there? That was my latest attempt at using the space but it cut down the walking space. This is the main thoroughfare to the laundry room and the door that will soon lead to the garage, so walking space is important.

 So I cut the hole. Cut through the dry wall on both sides of the wall above the furnace so my shelves could go just a little deeper. Oh and I had to remove a stud and move the outlet and the light switch. Erik re-wired the light switch for me. I probably could have figured it out but I really didn't want to. I've got a great husband.

 Then I built these "bins" based on this tutorial at Remodelaholic.com

 Finally, yesterday I built the shelves and finished up the trim this afternoon.  Now I just have to decide if I need to paint it.  I almost want to paint the trim white to match the rest of the trim in the house, but I also like how the wood kind of matches my kitchen cabinets.

Any finishing suggestions?

Girls' Room

The girls' room is finally done. 

It's only been waiting on the lights in the canopies and the stairs to Hannah's bed. 

Okay, I probably should paint the stairs but I don't know when or if that will happen. 

I really love how it turned out and now the boys are whining that the girls' room is cooler. 

Um...boys...you have a loft bed, it's not cooler, it's just newer. 

 

I had to "custom" make the beds because the room is just inches shy of being large enough for this configuration. Hannah's bed (the higher one) hangs about an inch or so over the end and Marilyn has a foam mattress that squishes just enough to be narrow enough. 

The canopies are upside-down drawers that came out of a house that Erik is working on. I painted and stenciled them and the curtains are hung on ropes and hooks mounted inside. 

The lights are pendant light kits from Ikea and I picked up cord switches at my local hardware store. 

I am now bribing my girls with miniature tea-sets that I collected when I was younger; if they keep their room clean for a week they get to take their pick. 

I hope it works.

New Bed

Let's see if I remember how to do this blogging thing.
 My fingers have been silent lately when it comes to my blog. Life has been happening since last I blogged. A baby has been born (totally meant to blog about that, he's now 6 months old and getting his first tooth), and a new routine of life has slowly emerged. Home-schooling has continued on (only 5 more solid weeks and then random days of finishing up loose ends!) Projects have been dreamed, planned and brought to completion.
And that's why I'm here today.
My husband said I should blog it.
A few weeks ago I gave away my headboard and sold the girls' bunkbeds. I built them new ones (just a few finishing touches and then I'll share that project as well) using some of the lumber from our old bed but our mattress has been on the floor while I finished up my plan and finagled the monies out of the budget to buy 2 sheets of plywood. 
While Hannah was at violin lessons on Tuesday I took the other kiddos to the lumber yard and put in my "order". I love Nehalem Lumber, they delivered my two sheets of plywood for me later that afternoon. Nehalem Lumber is the only place we have a tab and we have one every month.
After a couple of false starts with a jigsaw and the skillsaw with the rusty blade I gave up and waited until Erik got home from work so I could use his nice skillsaw.

Late Tuesday night we climbed into an actual bed that I built all by myself!

So I know it doesn't look like much but it's not suppose to.  It's a really basic platform bed with storage boxes around the edge and just enough of a headboard to keep the pillows from falling off.

Based off of plans from AnaWhite

 These are my plans. The boxes at the foot of the bed I made in two sections so I could get away with only using 2 sheets of plywood instead of 3. I ended up making the headboard a little lower than the drawing because our bed is in front of the window and I wanted as much light as possible.

The boxes are set back about an inch all the way around so we don't bang our shins on the corners of the bed. This was a serious problem with our last bed.

 

 My deluxe Scrabble board (the one with a turn table) now has a home other than the linen closet!
 
Anyone want to come play Scrabble?

My next major project is built in bookcases and a window seat around our living room window:

 Though I suppose I should finish up the girls' room first.