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After looking back at this past week, I honestly don’t think I could have done more DIY projects if I had slept with my impact driver under my pillow. I’ve been like a woman possessed to build ALLTHETHINGS, and as soon as one project is nearing completion, I get another “brilliant” idea to build something else, If You Give A Mouse a Cookie-style. Getting this much done in such a short period of time hasn’t really happened to this degree since first moving into the UDH (during the honeymoon phase of buying a fixer-upper), but if you’ve ever been in the same position of suddenly finding a ton of energy to get things done, you know how impatient I’m feeling this week. It’s one of those things that you know won’t last forever, so I’m trying hard to capitalize on the momentum and do as much as possible before Netflix starts calling my name again.
And yet, do I have anything to really show you today—finished—as I had hoped on Monday? Actually, no. Because despite the amount of sawdust in my hair right now, I have to paint a few things before I can really start using them. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give you a reveal-before-the-reveal sneak peek, right?
Laundry room: all of the shelves are built! I still have to caulk and paint, but the puttying of holes, sanding, and priming are all done (Related: See why I usually wait after the first coat of primer/paint to caulk here).
Office shelves: My perfectionism is rearing its ugly head with my little picture ledges, but they too are primed and ready for their first coat of paint.
Garage: on Monday, I hinted that I was going to start working on some garage makeover projects because of how frustrated I was getting with making the floating shelves for the laundry room. With so little room to use as a workshop, the challenge is whether or not I can still make use of the space without compromising its primary purpose for resale (room for one car). I got out a pencil and paper and drew sketch after sketch until I came up with the first of many projects coming to this space:
Full reveal coming soon after it’s painted (I primed last night, so it’s coming to the blog very soon!). I would show you the rest of the space, but it’s basically everything that a garage has—scrap wood, plywood, tools, gardening supplies, miscellaneous furniture I need to get rid of, more tools, paint, spray paint, and workshop tables—only shoved to one side of a narrow 9-feet-11-inch enclosure (um, and also a toilet and vanity for the primary bath that I’ll be moving to its rightful place asap). Oh, and I also added casters to my DIY work bench to make it even easier to move around in these tight spots. It seems like such a small improvement, but it’s little things like this that can really make life a little easier (on a related note, I also moved the latch on my back yard fence down by about an inch after some weathering made it difficult to close… and after months of the minor irritation of having to push and pull on the gate, I can now open and close it with ease. Little things, ya know?)
Also (IKR), after looking at what I assume are hundreds of pictures of lumber cart build plans and finding them all too wide for my space, I’ve come up with one that will use only 12 inches and two sheets of plywood. I’m anxious to get started on this yesterday, but not before I check off one more thing…
Raised garden beds: Yep! If you follow on Instagram, you may have already seen me building a garden bed after realizing I still had plenty of leftover materials from installing a fence some time ago (considerably weathered, but still workable). Woo hoo! I started on this thing way before expected (after all, I had only mentioned these things as a rough idea just last week). I guess I’m learning that there’s truly nothing that stops me… as long I don’t have to drive to the store.
I followed these plans, but unlike the planning I’ve done for the garage, I sort of slapped these together before considering the space I was putting them in. Shortly after taking the above pic, I realized I wanted the beds to be much narrower as they will be used for flowering shrubs and not food (the back yard still gets too much shade on this side from neighboring yards to really work for edibles). So, I’ve taken them apart and will be reconfiguring the beds for how I plan to use them against the neighbor’s fence. The plan is to finish the rest over the weekend and hopefully get to the layering stages of properly building up the bed materials (cardboard first, then mulch, then soil). And of course, I only realized how much cardboard I’m going to need after giving away a full bin’s worth to recycling this week. Meh. UPDATE: One reader’s comment made me realize I should clarify that these garden beds are designed to stick into the dirt; where you see the pieces of 2×4 sticking out on the bottom, I’m not planning to leave it like that… they are going to be dug into the ground eventually so that the bottom board is resting right at ground level. My next post will show examples of this, so stay tuned for more pictures on that process :)
There you have it! I’m still in the midst of my full-blown buildathon, and can’t wait to see what other plans pop up next (I’ve already been brainstorming for the entryway, actually). Have you ever been in a period of fruitful industriousness like I have been this week? What are you hoping to finish by Monday?
Whoa. Now that is some momentum!!! I love all the things you just shared.
I HATE that I am going to be that commenter… but since it happened to me, I thought it’d be worth letting you know before you go full steam ahead on those beds! If you don’t dig them down, and have the edges of your lowest board buried, all the dirt is going to push out the bottom. Gravity works! I fond this out, and our beautiful 12 inch wide reclaimed boards that were a beautiful height got reburied 8 inches deep, and now I’ve got “raised” beds that are only 4 inches tall…
Don’t ever fear about being “that” commenter if you think it’s something helpful! I should have maybe spelled it out in the post just to be clear, but the bottom part of the 2x4s that you see sticking out at the bottom are meant to be dug into the dirt (they aren’t supposed to be visible except when building). I haven’t yet gotten to that part, but you’ll see what I mean when they all get installed. So the bottom board will be touching the ground for sure, and the bottom spikes are merely meant to keep the boards upright as they battle the elements outdoors. I’ll update the post with that clarification just to be sure! Thanks for the catch!
Haha, no no no. I got that! But thanks for that update! What I meant was that the bottom horizontal board should also be buried, and not just left at ground height. I had seen your dug out post holes, but no lateral digging. But then I googled for a tutorial/diagram/plans to better explain my comment, and came up empty handed… Apparently my partner is the only one who thinks the sides of the bed should be buried and not just left at ground height with the posts dug down?? Ahh well, folly on us if that was overkill. It was way way more work, and way more boards – so I vote leave the sides at ground height.
Great progress! I love the shelf preview – those are gonna be awesome.
Boy, I relate to this post so much! In the last month, I started prepping the walls in my entry for wainscoting and paint, built and painted three benches (I needed one, and the materials worked out better if I went ahead and tripled them, and I’m insane, so, YES!), dug and built up two new planting beds where there was only boring and bad grass, began the cardboard/mulch grass smother under the shade tree for a third garden bed, and started laying paths through everything. Also I drew up plans for four or five more little projects. The only thing I actually finished were the benches, and since I need to sell two of them, I guess not even that. When the muse appears (and the weather cooperates), there is nothing else to do but follow!
I’m jealous, you’ve been so industrious! I have a question that will probably result in an “oh duh!” moment for me. For the pegboard storage you are building in the garage, did you just nail the side pieces to the shelves or how are they attached to the wall? Does that make sense? Thanks!
The horizontal pieces are supported by 1x2s that are screwed into studs, and the side pieces are screwed into things from there. I’ll have the full plans available when I do the full reveal (I’m almost finished painting, so perhaps next week!).