My new bed!

Wow...I haven't published a blog since November?  I'm not even going to talk about it.  I'm just lazy that's all ;)

In other news I managed to build myself a bed.  Yes it's a miracle.  No, it's not perfect.  But it holds up my bed and after 9 months of sleeping on a mattress on the floor I'll take anything I can get!

First of all I have to give credit to the inspiration behind my crazy idea to build at all.  Her name is Ana and her website is www.knock-offwood.com.  It is an AMAZING site!  She has literally hundreds of free plans for building your own furniture with step-by-step color-coded instructions.  They even include shopping and cut lists and cutting layouts so you know exactly how to cut your 4'x8' piece of wood to get the most out of it.  It's amazing and you should totally check it out!  But I'm warning you if you do you might want to build something yourself!!

So here's the short story:  It took me a month to build this bed.  Due to poor (but cheaper) boards, warping, poor craftsmanship and my own stupidity I had a few issues along the way.  My frustration built to the point that I didn't even want to finish.  But after $350 in materials I couldn't just stop! 

Issue #1: I had 4'x8' boards and no table saw!  I took the boards to my friend's dad who had a small table saw.  But when he saw the boards were 3/4" he said it was too small to cut it.  So he cut them by hand with a skill saw instead.  It takes real talent to be able to cut straight with a skill saw but he did an amazing job!  There were only slight errors here and there but with a little sanding everything worked out great!

Issue #2: Warped boards.  I tried to be careful in choosing my wood but there was so much to buy apparently I wasn't always careful.  Some of the boards were warped quite a bit and in order to get them to line up we had to get creative.  Thanks to my mom for being willing to help!!

Issue #3: Sanding.  I bought the cheapest boards I could find which resulted in not the highest quality wood.  This meant a LOT of sanding.  I hate sanding.  Thank GOODNESS my dad has a belt sander and a finishing sander.  If I had to do it by hand I would have died!

Issue #4: Staining.  I originally wanted black but the night I wanted to start staining I went to WalMart and they didn't have any.  So I went with the darkest brown I could find.  After the first coat I was not a fan of the color but I didn't want to sand any more!  So I just went with it.  Luckily after two coats and a coat of glossy polyurethane it worked out perfectly!

(After two coats w/out the polyurethane...already looking better!)  Issue #5 I don't have a picture of.  Inserting the drawers.  The fronts were warped, some of the center poles didn't line up, I had to trim some of the fronts, I had to buy new slides.....I wanted to pull my hair out.  But eventually....it came together!

Issue #6: Putting it together.  Luckily I have brothers who were willing to help.  Cody had to hold the spacer in place while Brett screwed it in.  I thought it was hilarious!

FINISHED!!!  After all the issues it was totally worth it!  I'm amazed at how good it looks all put together, when getting it together was such a pain.  (Also please ignore the fact that the walls and curtains don't match...once I got them up and realized it I didn't want to take them down.  Good thing I'm moving in a week!)  Also I LOVE all the storage!  As someone who is OCD about organization I love having more places to hide all my junk!

Craigslist is my friend...

In the process of moving out my wish/need list has been growing.  We needed a fridge, I needed a bed, we needed a TV etc. etc.  I found it all on this wonderful little site...you may have heard of it...craigslist.  It's seriously the best!  For under $200 I got all of the above mentioned items, which left me a few dollars for buying some home decor items (not the top of the line that I WISH I could afford, but it works for now).  The saying is really true : one man's trash is another man's treasure. 

A time of transition part two

Being now employed I have the income (barely) to afford to live on my own. I just happened to have a friend who was moving on her own to a little house out in the country in Blackfoot and she was looking for a roommate. Because the house is old and out of the way the rent is only $400 a month, so I told her I would do it! We helped her move last Monday and Tuesday we moved some of my stuff in. However, I was not planning on officially moving in until we got A) a refrigerator (the house has a washer and dryer but no fridge...) and B) internet (we all know I can't live without that)! Then Wednesday morning happened. It was my second morning that week to have to go to work without a shower because there were FOUR of us trying to get ready at the same time, and we only have one bathroom. Thinking of my bathroom at the little house, shared by only two, was enough to convince me to move in right then and there. That afternoon we took over the majority of the rest of my stuff and I've been living there ever since. (With the exception of my coming home to use the internet of course!)

The house is old but charming and I've had a blast attempting to decorate on a VERY small budget. We still don't have a fridge, just one of those tiny ones to hold us over, and I've been sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, but it feels so good to finally be living on my own again that it doesn't matter.

Pics of the house to follow!

A time of transition part one...

Amongst all my Halloween building, decorating, and partying I was also blessed to find a job. I had actually interviewed with this company months ago, but due to a previous commitment to BYU-Idaho they had to accept a student looking for an internship instead. Meanwhile I heard of an opening for a secretary position at a local insurance firm and I had interviewed with them. I was waiting to hear back from the insurance company when I got a call from this company, RFinity, a start-up technology company in Idaho Falls. Aaron, the CEO, said that the girl they had hired was leaving to take a full-time position elsewhere and he was wondering if I was available to take the job. I told him I had interviewed for a full time job in Blackfoot and I was waiting to hear back. Well, two days later the insurance company informed me they were going to wait to hire until the first of the year, so I called Aaron back and here I am. The job is only part time, but it pays very well...to the point where I will be making the same paycheck that I made at Floral Art, but I'll be working half the hours. Sounds good to me right? It is a very easy job and I love being in Idaho Falls again. Thank goodness for patience and I thank Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity. I don't think I could've squeaked by another month with no income!

Step back in time...

For my Halloween costume I decided to be a 1920's Flapper girl. I was inspired by Charleston week on Dancing With the Stars. The women all looked so cute I just knew that was what I wanted to be. I spent HOURS online trying to find a costume that I could afford. Finally, just five days before my first Halloween party (I went to three this year) I found it. Thanks to a great seller on Ebay who shipped it out right away, it arrived on time.

To make the outfit complete I asked my hairdresser friend to do my hair in finger waves, authentic to the hairstyles of the 1920's. I have no idea why they still teach this technique in beauty school, but I am seriously glad they do! She did an AMAZING job and I got comments about my hair at all three parties. It was seriously the best costume I have had in years! Here's the finished result:

 

 

 

Vampire Coffin

As Halloween neared my best friend and I decided to throw a Halloween party. We'd been talking about it for months but we never really got around to planning it. He was busy with school so I got assigned the task of decorations, most specifically, I had to build a vampire coffin. As I mentioned in my previous post I am not a carpenter at all, but I do enjoy playing with power tools so I thought I'd give it at try. Luckily my other friend was willing to come and help me and between the two of us we somehow figured it out. We had no plans so everything was guesswork, and I will say the angles don't exactly match up, but after about ten hours of work we did end up with a finished product that got the point across.

 

 

 

 

 

The living dead...

Ok I know that I am a serious slacker when it comes to updating this blog. Originally I stopped posting because my life was so boring there was nothing to post about. For the last month there has been plenty to post about but no time! So I will try to do some update blogs and then attempt to keep up on it from here....attempt being the key word!

First of all...Halloween. It is my FAVORITE holiday of all time! I posted an entire blog about how much I love it last year. It's just so fun to be able to do things that are so out of the norm - decorate with tombstones and skeletons, pay to get scared at haunted attractions, dress in a costume and be -- for one day -- whomever you want to be. Believe me, it's not just a kid's holiday!

So this year I decided to up the decorations a notch. Last year I had a small graveyard in my front yard. This year I wanted to expand and have a fence going all around it. However, the fences I found were all about 18" tall, made of plastic, and EXPENSIVE so I began looking online. I found an easy to follow tutorial explaining exactly how to make your own fence using pvc pipe and 1x2 pieces of lumber. I'm not exactly handy, past carpentry projects have turned out...well...a little less than perfect, but this seemed so easy I thought I'd give it a try.

First step, purchasing the materials and fitting 10' lengths of PVC and 8' lengths of lumber into my car...

Cutting everything. I love power tools!!

Spraying all the pieces black. I went through eight cans of black spray paint on this project!

11 hours later...the finished product.

 

 

Yes it took forever but I think it turned out SO AWESOME! The pieces fit into our attic and can be used again next year. And it was a bit expensive, with all the paint and screws I probably paid about $75, but to me the result is absolutely worth it!

Bonus Pic: My ghost tree from the other side of the yard:  I just love Halloween!!!