The White Elephant

For a recent work event there was a potluck and a white elephant exchange. I am not the white elephant exchange type of girl. I do not like surprises! Ask Steven or my mother. The contently tell me I ruin surprises. In this case, it is the fear of giving an unwanted gift. I like to give gifts that make people smile (like most people). The white elephant exchange makes me fear the coworker cringe. You know, that look of unhappiness when they open your gift and it was not one of the 'prize' gifts. So I had no intention of participating. Plus I had no time to purchase a cool gift for under $20.


The day before the potluck I broke down. I was going to participate. There were a few road blocks. First, I had no car to leave the house to buy a gift. Second, it was my late night of work. Third, Less than 24 hours to make pizzelles and get a gift. So I had to be creative and see what we already had in the house. After completing the book table we had a few left over hardcovers. I then remembered we had a few sheets of cork. All I needed were picture hangers. When Steven came home from work I made him rush me to Lowe's for the picture hangers in between evening appointments.


During the NASCAR drive and 5k race to and from Lowe's I asked Steven for a bit of help. Less than an hour later I had these cool cork book boards. They did not make me cringe and I had a hard time wrapping my gift because I am going to keep them. But it did not matter what I thought, it was all about the cringe face. What do you think?

Coffee Table of Books

Any of you who know us know we love books. We recently bought a new couch and needed a new coffee table to accompany the couch. We had an idea to create a coffee table where the base would be constructed out of stack of books. We thought this would look really interesting but we needed to find something to make the table top out of. We visited a couple of antique stores and came up with a brilliant idea. Why not use a picture frame as the table top. Not only would it be interesting visually but it would provide functionality as the lip of the frame would prevent roll offs and the glass would be easy to clean. We had a picture frame we were unsure what to do with so we knew we could use it. We painted the frame blue and started collecting books and looking for a picture for the frame.

We originally estimated we needed about 50 books. The books needed to be hard covered and we wanted them to be of various size. Well we started buying cheap used books we found and solicited others from family. Our goal was to use only books that we would never want to read, as we could not stomach destroying a book that we wanted to read. After getting 50 books and beginning to stack them we quickly realized that we needed many more books. Our estimated total number needed jumped to about 150. Now out to hunt for 100 more books.

On a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore we saw they had a sale of used books for 50 cents each. I bargained with the store manager and was able to get 100 hard cover books for 25 dollars. We now had our collection of books needed to start our project. We bought a ¼ inch piece of plywood and cut it down to the size of the frame, this would be used as the base of the table. We stacked the books and nailed them into place. Some of the books with interesting titles we turned the cover out, and the others we showed only the pages. The stacking of the books proved to be a little more difficult then we anticipated. Having many different sizes creates a good look but it makes it difficult to create a level surface. Good thing Liz and I are good at puzzles.

We decided we wanted the coffee table to be able to roll. Liz had the amazing idea to put huge industrial castors on the bottom. This would fit with the look and bring the table to a more appropriate height. The castors also had to be heavy duty because the table made of 150 books ended up weighing a couple hundred pounds. We bought six castors, which was the most expensive part of this project, and mounted them to base of the table. We chose to have six castors as we didn’t want the table to sag in the middle over the extreme weight.

To finish off the frame we needed a picture in the frame. We live in and love Tempe, Arizona so we wanted a Tempe themed picture. We chose to try and get something that would remind everyone of historical Tempe. At the Tempe Historical Museum they sell a replica of a real estate map made in the early 20^th century of Tempe. This was the piece we had been looking for and it looks great in the frame.

We love this table. It rolls great, looks great, and is a great addition to our house and our wonderful lives.

Sunset Desk

Our apologies for being out of commission for the last week. We’ve been working on our first resolution (removal of the river rock). And we are almost there! Our backyard is looking amazingly bare and the receivers of the rock have projects of their own to begin. We’ll keep you updated.

Today I want to go back to a blog a few weeks ago about paint. That is where we will begin. Who thought purple, bubblegum pink and lime green paint would turn into a fun reminder of an Arizona sunset while being a functional and amusing craft desk.

We embarked on this project last fall when Steven’s sister, Lori, mentioned she was in the market for the perfect ‘L’ shaped desk. She lives in a small apartment where she spends most of her day crafting remarkable paper crafts. It is even more miraculous since she is clinically blind. Lori has some vision and what comes out of it is amazing. But back to the task at hand. Steven and I decided we had enough time to find and put the life back into an old desk just in time for Lori’s birthday and Christmas. We were looking for a desk that was functional and had a lot of surface area to spread out. At the same time it had to be small enough to fit into her apartment.

On one of our regular runs to Arizona State University Surplus we found what we were looking for. ASU Surplus is where the local university sells their old, outdated furniture and odds and ends. We end up buying the crazy the stuff. ASU Surplus has inspired many projects that we will speak of on a later date. That day we found a retro, metal desk and a typing table with retractable sides that slid perfectly under the desk.

To paint we took the entire desk apart hoping to be able to reassemble.

Near completion we ran out of purple spray paint. As mentioned in a previous blog we ran to buy more paint only to find there was none left. We came home with pink and lime green and you can see the outcome.

The one thing you don’t see is that we were left with 2 extra pieces once reassembled. We are still not sure where they belong but we kept them just in case.

New Year's Resolution 2011

We have two resolutions this year. This is a big deal! We are making two resolutions and we normally make less than one New Year's resolution. So here we go:

1.) Remove all the river rock in the yard (about 30 tons left - we removed 20 tons last year)


2.) Complete all the unfinished projects:

• Retouch the baseboards and complete the baseboards around the office wall
• Complete the office inner magnetic wall

• See resolution number 1
• Guest bathroom (Steven deconstructed the entire bathroom one night. It has been out of commission for the last 6 months.)

• Finish putting up the security cameras
• Fix the light in the entry way

Now that it is posted on the blog we have to be successful!

Street Sign Doorway

Well after scrapping the bookcase idea to frame in the door to the office we came up with a more unusual idea. While at the bike junkyard in Rye, Az, where we were buying the rusted frame for the mailbox, we noticed the man had a green bike route sign for sale. Being cycling enthusiasts we decided we couldn’t pass up the sign for 20 dollars and took it home. At that point we had no idea what to do with the sign but that is how good ideas sometime start. We held up the bike sign next to the door and quickly realized that we were in the market for enough street signs to completely face the enclosure.

We immediately started planning and constructing the wall, and definitely not in that order. From a construction standpoint I was excited that we would be facing the wall because that left me more options to frame it, as the framing would not be visible in the finished design. I used metal studs to frame the archways as they would bend nicely and create a perfect arch. In between the metal studs I framed with wood studs to give the wall the necessary strength to hang the door.

With the framing completed we went shopping for interesting used street signs. We found a yellow street flooded sign and a Mill Avenue sign at a local antique shop and our collection was now up to three items. A search on craigslist.org put us in touch with a local man looking to sell a stop sign, a 45 mph speed limit sign, and a handicap parking sign. Through some negotiation we landed these at a very good price. The final sign was a golf cart crossing sign we found at a different local antique shop.

The hardest part of the entire process was cutting the first sign. We decided to trim the sign to size using a jig saw with metal cutting blades. Since the wall was going to also act as a door jam we needed to have safe and smooth edges to the signs to avoid having a death trap as the door to the office. We purchased a multi-pack of the most teeth per inch (TPI) metal cutting jigsaw blades available and went home to cut the signs. Cutting one sign we went through the entire pack of blades. The sign looked great and the cut was smooth but at this rate the fabrication of the wall was going to break the bank. Returning to the hardware store we bought two different multi-packs of blades, one the same TPI as the first round and one with slightly less TPI. The idea was to try to cut the next sign using the rougher blade; we would see the quality of the cut and the durability of the blade and make a decision from there on how to proceed. We cut the next sign in about a tenth of the time and the cut was smoother as the blade stayed sharp and true throughout the cut. In fact, we used the one blade through all the rest of the cuts with no challenges. It is amazing the results you can get when you use the proper tools. 

The final product was an amazingly interesting looking addition to our house and the Mill Ave sign added that Tempe touch that we love. We hung the door and used a ball catch assembly rather than a traditional latching assembly to keep our options open for potential door knobs. We now had privacy in the office which was a key when the wife works from home. I live by the motto “A happy wife means a happy life!” Finishing this project will make a huge step towards my happy life.

1st Attempt

Right now Steven is out in the garage measuring and cutting steel to complete the inner wall. But before we get to the inner wall we have to start at the beginning. Why we built the wall, how we built the wall and our initial failure at building the wall.

There use to be a half walled arched opening that partially enclosed my office.

The office is in the very center of the house. On the way to the kitchen for an afternoon snack you pass by the office. Enter the living room and you walk by the office. Walk to the bedroom at the end of the night and you walk past the office. You get the point. Because of the large gaping hole in the wall every time I passed by the office I stopped to check my work. Well that makes for an unhappy husband and a stressed out wife working way too many hours. So we decided we needed to build a wall.

We move quickly on projects. Once we had a plan of building the wall we were out searching for cool ways to enclose the office. On one trip to the Habitat for Humanity Restore we found a beautiful, solid wood, arched door. A real coo at the Restore. The next step was to build the frame of the wall. Steven had just watched an episode on DIY Network where they build an arched door frame. He worked very hard sanding and cutting until he had his first ever door arch completed. The wall was built with see through cubbies where we could put more books. Once we had it filled with books the frame and wall would be solid.

You can see how great it was going to be. The arch was in. The cubbies were just placed perfectly. We were so excited. So we screwed in the door and made a few minor changes to make sure the door fit perfectly. Then we started to paint the frame from one of our spur of the moment "home improvement store messed up" paint cans. After the first swipe we knew it would not work. You could see every flaw in the wood as we painted.

That was our first attempt at the wall. Later that evening we tore down the wall and that masterpiece of an arch that Steven designed.

"I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb." - Edison

Thinking cap time!!!

Frame

How do you display the most incredible gift you have ever received? It takes a lot of thought. Now back to the gift. Steven's brother wrote a letter to John McCain (an Arizona senator). The outcome was the American flag that flew over the US Capital building the day we were married. This is the coolest gift EVER! Steven was a history major. I was a political science major. The gift could not be more fitting. So how do you properly display this awesome flag?

First choice: One of those itty bitty triangle flag holders. Can you hear my enthusiasm in number one?

Second choice: Have the flag professionally framed. Don't get me started on pricing even with a 50% off coupon.

Third choice: Build your own frame.

Fast forward to option three (We priced out framing a 3 foot by 5 foot flag…Ridiculous!). We started by building a simple frame. In our first attempt to decorate the frame we tried to decoupage using maps. It did not look pretty at all. Then we decided to go simple and purchased some chalkboard paint. We thought we could write funny quotes or use it to decorate for holidays. Tip: Once you open a can of chalkboard paint you must use it within a certain amount of time, I want to say 24 hours. That being said, we painted some other items in our house and we'll get to that in another post.

At this point the frame was a bit blah and more than anything, cheap. So the frame sat until one day when we ended up meeting an old man at a swap meet in Apache Junction. He sold us some license plates. We collected a few more plates that my dad had saved from old cars and then screwed them to the frame.

Now we had a 6 by 4 foot frame with a 5 by 3 hole. We purchased the glass, added the flag, finished the backing of the frame and what we ended up with was a 150 lbs framed flag. We had no idea how we were going to lift if up above the fireplace or hang the frame on the wall. With the help of cleat hangers (once you go cleat hanger you will never go back) and four people lifting we were left with a lovely, eye catching piece in our living room.

We love our creations but we do not always think out what we are doing. Hence the previous post on the trip to the paint aisle. This is a 150 lbs example. All we can say is - THANKS SCOTT!