2013
They Just Jumped Into My Cart I Swear
If you’ve learned anything around these parts, it’s the following…(1) we love us a good DIY project, (2) we’re crazy about our pooch, Goose, even though he’s off the charts on the obnoxious scale just a little more obnoxious than Heidi Montag but a little less than Paris Hilton, and (3) I have precisely zero point zero willpower at Home Goods (remember the pink mirror from a couple of weeks ago?)! Anyway…the other day I was on a quest for a bathmat…somehow upgraded to a cart to pick up a few baskets to organize the bathroom, and then these guys just magically jumped into my cart.
It happens. Mermaids are magical like that. I picked up the trio of mermaid canisters for $19 (they were sold individually for $9.00 for the large one, $6.00 for the medium one, and $4.00 for the small one. At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them…but then when I brought them home I had an epiphany moment…dog treat canisters to corral the dog treat mess going on in the metal cabinets in the laundry room.
Disclaimer…no, we’re not big fans of the old school metal cabinetry nor our dated kitchen. We bandaid-ed the space with some paint, but plans for a complete remodel are in the works…woot woot! Anyway…I know we have a Goose treat problem…but seriously…how can you resist a face like that!
Thankfully the canisters were food safe, at least that’s what the sticker on the bottom said. So hopefully Goose won’t start acting deranged or grow extra toes. Goose’s treats easily fell into three canister categories…fancy “Goose is a good boy” treats (the veggies from Beneful), the everyday treats (the Beneful dog crackers…which Colby also finds tasty…seriously…he loves them…I wish I was kidding), and the “good for Goose’s teeth” dental sticks.
And the entire time I was organizing Goose’s treats…he was “supervising” to make sure I was doing it correctly. Such an overbearing dog.
After filling the canisters, I plopped the mermaid trio on the counter beside the stove, which fit oh so perfectly in the space.
Although I’m not convinced that they’ll stay there since (A) they’re in the stove top splash danger zone where one should be aware of spaghetti sauce splatters and (B) they also are in the even more frightening “Goose can reach these” danger zone.
I’m sensing imminent doom for those canisters. We’ll see how Goose handles them over the next couple of days before deciding if we should relocate them. Hopefully we won’t be reporting in with any mermaid destruction.
Pssst…So what has “jumped” into your cart lately? I don’t think I’m physically capable of coming out of Home Goods empty handed. Just doesn’t happen. Or anyone else have an overtly spoiled fur baby? Or a husband that enjoys dog treats? Sheesh!
2013
Pottery Barn iPad Stand Knockoff
(update….due to an overwhelming response to sell our homemade iPad stands, we’ve opened an Etsy shop! Yippee! If you don’t want to make one, you can buy a slightly modified version…aka…no pointy screws sticking out of the stand…at our shop Roostic!)
Let’s just set the record straight…me and Pottery Barn are like peanut butter and jelly. But Pottery Barn is like the expensive, organic peanut butter and jelly rather than the generic, cheap stuff that I tend to gravitate to. I’m not sure where I’m going with that. My point…I love Pottery Barn (it was one of two places we set up a wedding registry last year) but I hate the prices. Sometimes I splurge for the Pottery Barn stuff, sometimes I find cheaper versions at flea markets or at Target, and sometimes I DIY it. Enter our little Pottery Barn iPad stand knockoff.
No joke, the Pottery Barn iPad stand cost a whopping $35 and our version barely even cost us $5 to make (read the how-to tutorial here). We bought a $5 piece of 9-1/4″ x 4′ pine from a local lumber yard and only used about 14″ of it. The rest of the materials used to make this beauty were all repurposed from other projects (stain, poly, jute, an old hinge, etc.).
I’ve been in love with this Pottery Barn iPad stand since it came out about a month or so ago. I loved it so much that I added it to our registry. Granted, our wedding is over but if I add something to our registry and later purchase it, I can take 10% off the purchase when I buy it thanks to Pottery Barn’s registry completion program.
I had every intention of purchasing this with a Pottery Barn gift card that we received for our wedding. I showed it to Colby and asked him if he liked it and would use it, since we tend to pull up allrecipes.com on the iPad while we cook, and he said, “oh…we can build that easy…and for cheap.” My kind of man! I think I love him even more!
So we built it and we’re already using it.
Not to brag or anything, but I think we did a pretty good job. From the shape, rustic charm, and the rope…errr…jute loop on it, we nailed it. The only piece we weren’t sure whether or not we did right was the back. Mostly because we couldn’t find a picture of the back of the thing. But we improvised with a thin piece of wood, some jute, an old hinge and a staple.
I really wanted to use a piece of rope for the hook, like Pottery Barn did, but the only rope I had on hand was a bit too big to serve this purpose so I went with the jute I already had instead of buying a new roll of rope and only use about 8″ of it.
Regardless, the iPad stand is fitting in just fine. It currently lives on the kitchen counter between the stove and the utensils. It’s the perfect spot for it while it’s in use. But I’m thinking of hanging it on one of the walls in the kitchen or on the side of the cabinets when it’s not in use.
As for the how-to, I’ll have a full blown “how to make this in your home workshop” post put together for you tomorrow (read it here). I was going to do it tonight but it contains 37 pictures, that I’m still sorting through, and a lot of little steps and measurements. But it is easy to make, trust me. The tutorial and accompanying 37 pictures will be tossed at you tomorrow for your reading enjoyment, or for anyone who wants to make their own $5 iPad stand for the kitchen.
Pssst…I’m linking this project up on Carmel’s blog Our Fifth House as part of the Dog Days of Winter “Make It Challenge” tomorrow. So be sure to hop on over and see all of the amazing projects going on over there.
2013
The Deal Of The Century
A couple weekends ago, Colby and I were out and about doing errands. Typical DIY-er type errands…off to Target for some dog food, the lumber yard for a door, and Lowes for lock set. And as we were doing our otherwise mundane errands, the clouds parted, angels sang, and the glorious deal of the century gods were smiling down on us. At Target we scored three decorated Christmas wreaths, piles of decorative pine cones, and five packages of shirt gift boxes for a whopping $8.98….total! Then a $14 exterior door at a lumber yard sale. And THEN the big daddy of all sales, a $400 stainless steel refrigerator at Lowes. I may have kissed it I was so excited!
Goose is apparently unimpressed. No joke…this refrigerator was $400…four…hundred…dollars! We couldn’t believe it! Why?! Because it was a repaired fridge. It’s old owners turned it in because the water wouldn’t work and a light was broke. Lowes fixed it, tried to sell it for about $800, couldn’t hawk it at that price, then marked it down to $400 the day we bought it.
The best part of the cheap fridge story was the conversation on our way into Lowes. We were shopping for a lock set for that aforementioned $14 door, but I asked Colby if we could just swing by the clearance appliance section since we hadn’t stalked that in awhile. We tend to stalk it often..you know…for a good deal on a stove or fridge. Not that we need a new stove or fridge, ours are fine, but we’re holding off on a kitchen remodel until we’ve “collected” all our new stainless steel appliances. So far we had a Frigidaire Gallery dishwasher and Frigidaire Affinity washer/dryer. Anyway…after I asked Colby if we could “visit” the clearance appliances he asked, “what happens if we find a fridge for $500?”. I didn’t skip a beat and came back with a “we buy it…that’s what savings is for”. And low and behold what do we find? Not a five hundred dollar fridge…a FOUR HUNDRED DOLLAR FRIDGE! Somebody pinch me!
The price tag on it was actually $399.00 and when we first saw it thought it was $1,399. We did a double take, checked out it’s original price in another aisle ($1699) and then didn’t let it out of our sight. It may not have been the Frigidaire Gallery stainless steel french door refrigerator (the one that “goes with” the dishwasher we already had), but for a $1,200 savings…we’ll take it! Of course we had to bring it home…well technically the Lowes guys delivered it the next day.
Let’s talk a little bit about Goose and his reaction to the new fridge. First he sniffed it out from afar all skeptical like.
Then proceeded to bark at it from afar for about ten straight minutes before sticking his head in it to check for meaty bones. Note the tucked tail. He was one scared-ie Goose. I’ll just add “refrigerator” to the list of things he’s scared of. It’s right up there with baby gates, guitar amps, deer heads, and tennis rackets.
The night the fridge was delivered, Colby wasted no time moving things around to make a space for the new, much larger refrigerator.
Chaos ensued during the multi-fridge portion of the program.
The beauty of the new fridge, other than it’s sleek finish and chilling capabilities, was the fact it had water/ice dispensing built into the door, which also required hitching the appliance up to the water line, something we didn’t have with our old, white fridge. At first we thought we would wait until our big kitchen remodel (which we’re thinking of tackling this spring/summer) because messing with the plumbing for the new water line didn’t sound like our idea of a good time at the moment. But then we realized all it took was this little spigot to get it done.
You just clamp it onto your copper pipe, screw it on (which pierces the pipe), and turn it on so the water flow-eth. Boom…done. Fridge in place.
Ugh…I can’t wait until the the kitchen remodel goes down so we can finally get rid of our mish mash storage cabinet. It’s like a two toned car in the kitchen. But let’s get back to something beautiful.
Can’t you hear the angels singing?! It was fun to transfer all the contents from our old fridge to the new one. Our perishables were super crammed in the old fridge, but once in the new fridge, it was like, “wow…we don’t have any food…it’s so empty in here…we must stock it…now”. Hello spaciousness and the ability to store drinks on the door! I don’t know why but I’m enamored by that.
Oh…and the best part:
Swoon! As for the old guy, he still lives in the kitchen for now.
We talked about putting him on Craigslist for $100 but Colby has also been in the market for a mini fridge or a kegerator for his beer brewing activities. So we’re debating trying to convert the old fridge into a kegerator of sorts. And ironically, one of my new favorite blogs, DIY Diva, recently converted an old fridge into a kegerator. Hmmm…coincidence I think not!
Pssst…How about you guys? Scored any amazing deals lately?!
2013
On Dasher On Dancer On Razor On Vixen
Okay, I’m squeaking out just one last Christmas related post (and only 25 days late…how ironic). So here’s the story…not of a lovely lady or a man named Brady…but of a deer wall hook who we named Razor. He looks like a Razor, right?! A distant cousin of Vixen…just a bit more rough around the edges.
He was a Christmas present from Colby’s sister, Margot. She called Colby shortly before dear Razor (see what I did there) arrived in the mail and said something like “hopefully you won’t think it’s too weird, it just called your name”. This, of course, got our heads spinning. What could it be? Fire breathing squirrels?! Purple dish washing monkeys?! At least we were correct on the animal track. Anyway…the Christmas gift finally arrived. Colby opened it up while I was still at work then kinda creepily slinked into the kitchen with the gift behind his back when I walked through the door. He muttered something about the gift came and that he hoped I liked it since he did. You could tell he was worried I wouldn’t like it and it would get relegated to the depths of the closet never to be seen again. Lucky for him, I LOVED it! And immediately picked out this spot in the kitchen to hang it.
We were in need of a good spot to hang Goose’s leash and thought Razor would be the perfect solution. It’s simple, close to the door, and now Goose’s leash officially has a spot. I love having a spot for everything and everything in its place.
In other deer related news…Colby’s deer heads needed a new home since they had gotten displaced this summer during a minor living room rearrange/paint job/mini makeover.
We thought they would fit in perfectly in the very man-like craft room (man-like because there are beer coasters hanging on the wall above the couch…note that a craft room is ever capable of being manly). We hung the pair above the antique shop mirror, which ties into the colors of the deer heads as well as the curtains, and the Nate Berkus for Target shell.
Oh…and this is that “most finished space in our house” that we mentioned in yesterday’s resolutions post. My favorite but alas…least used space in the house…our craft room.
I still don’t understand why I don’t spend more time in here. It’s so serene…and peaceful…and clean…without any trace of construction debris. Ahhh bliss!
Pssst…What have you been hanging on your walls lately? Hooks? Art? Pin boards? Deer heads?
2012
It’s Ornamentary Dear Watson
It’s official, I’m in the Christmas spirit. AND in the Christmas decorating spirit. I have no boundaries as to what I decorate (or glitter-ize). This weekend, I threw together a quick and easy craft project to display our Christmas cards in a festive way. I wasn’t really feeling the card wreath that I made last year and instead opted to make little ornament magnets and post all the cards on our refrigerator.
Normally, our refrigerator is a mess:
A hot mess…filled with random magnets, fitness schedules for the YMCA, old wedding invitations, and expired coupons. Clean up on the fridge front has been a long time coming.
So off to Target I went to look for some cute little ornaments to magnetize and use to hang our Christmas cards. I got REALLY excited and geeked up about these gold, glittery reindeer heads. So excited that a few of them “magically” ended up in my cart. But at $4 apiece, I could only afford a couple of them.
To balance out the deer head magnets, and hang more than five cards, I picked up this package of 25 mini ornaments for only $3!
I also swung by the craft store and picked up a few packages of heavy duty magnets in various sizes.
Then hot glued away.
And hung the ornaments and the cards on the fridge. Confession time…the deer head magnets didn’t work (wop wop wop). I test drove one before committing to them all since these ornaments were alot heavier than the red ornaments. They were a little too top heavy for the magnet and did a combo of spinning around so the head was upside down and flat out falling off the fridge. I ended up breaking one of the poor guys. But I have another project in mind for those ornaments. They’re just too cute to return them to Target! But I’m thinking of mounting them on a mini plaque and hanging them in our parlor art gallery. But we’ll see how that works out.
But until then, I’m 100% enjoying the festive, card hanging magnets on our fridge.
They’re adorable! I keep getting all geeked up when a new card comes in the mail and I get to hang it on the fridge. I’m like a proud pre-schooler coming home with my art work ready to hang it prominently on the fridge.
The only problem child in the bunch of ornament magnets were the disco ball like ones. For some reason, the disco balls kept coming unglued and falling off the magnet. I blamed it on their uber shiny-ness. So I rectified the situation with a little fine grit sandpaper to the back of the ornaments and some regluing. I’m proud to report that we’ve had no repeat incidents of falling ornaments.
As for the extra magnets, they’re just hanging out on the fridge, patiently waiting for their call to Christmas card hanging action.
I like how the magnet/card combo helps dress up our previously messy fridge. I can’t deny that our kitchen is still pretty much a hot mess in general. We have big plans for it soon…and by soon I mean mid to late summer. It will include a complete kitchen remodel…but on a budget meaning we’ll still be using the cabinets but just doing a lot of rearranging of things, upgrading the fridge/stove, and building a pantry and island.
But that doesn’t stop us from making minor changes that make for big differences. Speaking of…did you notice our latest kitchen tweakage during the hour long span of magnetizing ornaments? Wha-bam…thar she be!
They’re just tacked up there and we have no intentions of painting them (since they’re likely coming out later this summer), but even the unfinished pine baseboards help class up the space. Now instead of staring at our nonexistent baseboards, visitors will gawk at the makeshift, two toned hutch going on beside the fridge. Doh! But at least it’s a place to store our plates!
Pssst…My thoughts and prayers are with you Sandyhook! Sending love!
Welcome to Angie's Roost (and Colby's Hen House) where you'll find daily posts about our misadventures in DIY home improvement. We bought a 100+ year old home that desperately needed some love and blogged about our entire adventure.
Fave Projects
Categories
Posts
Latest Pins on Pinterest
-
Royce Lighting RLPE2000-47 Outdoor Rattan Pendant Lamp Light Tan - Amazon.com
-
White subway tile kitchen and open shelves
-
How to make a rosette banner for the Fourth of July
