I love DIY

There are many sites and blogs to show you how to do crafty things, but there is one site I have enjoyed for quite some time now. Not your typical ‘how to’ showing you how to make trinkets and decorations, Ana White shows you how to build furniture.

The list is long and varied. Everything from beds to kitchen islands. She gives you the plans as well as provides step by step instructions and a handy shopping list.

Her’s an example of her latest offering, two night stands.

Just go to her blog and she will have you building your own furniture in no time.

I Just Made Laundry Soap

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for some time now and I finally got it worked into my schedule. Actually, as usually happens, I woke up this morning thinking I’m going to make it today.

I have a hard time sleeping past 3 or 4 am so when I get up I’m alone and can get into all sorts of things. :)

The materials were all sitting altogether in their own little pile patiently waiting for me to get around to them and I just took them all towards the kitchen and began making detergent.

I found this recipe on Tip Nut awhile back and wrote down recipe #1 on a post-it note and attached it to one of the boxes of materials for future use. I used Fels-Naptha because the name just sounds old-timey and exotic…plus I know from personal experience that it works real well at getting out tough stains. Anyway, it took one half of the bar to get one cup because I cut the recipe in half and still ended up with a lot of detergent.

Today…Tuesday…is my laundry day and so I’m using it now. I wanted to have some of my regular detergent in case this stuff didn’t work but it is cleaning our clothes quite nicely. I’m currently using a concentrate I bought at CostCo. When I figured the cost of materials to make my own vs. the CostCo product the total cost per load of laundry using my own detergent is slightly less than CostCo brand. But compared to what you pay for laundry detergent at say WalMart and other stores making my own is cost effective. In the future, I plan on experimenting with other bars of soap etc to see if I can get the cost down.

Several factors that appeal to me about making my own is that the laundry washes out clean (does not leave any residue), is a lot more environmentally safe than many commercial detergents, and so far is cost effective. I have read about how stubborn stains come out easier than with commercial brands but honestly…Fels-Naptha…if used according to directions…gets greasy and oily spots out as well. Also, I like the idea of somehow connecting with the old ways of doing things…so making my own will probably become a regular routine for me.

Focused? I’m Focused

Who says you have to be focused on one topic at a time? I can focus on a bunch of different things.

We have a country harvest table that has seen quite a few years of use and I decided it was time to refinish it. This photo is taken from the internet because my digital camera is on the blink…or the software is…I’m not sure which.

Anyway, I love this old table…it has six chairs that are beat up where they get pushed into the table and where people’s feet have scraped the paint away. So far, I have only started on one chair…sanding with 60 coarse grain sand paper to smooth out the really rough patches…and then 150 fine grain sandpaper to smooth everything down so when I paint it the nicks won’t show. The final surface is really smooth now.

As far as focusing goes, for some reason, it’s really hard for me to stay on one project for very long so I’ll work a little on this project and then move on to something else. It has taken me four days to get to the point where just one chair has its first coat of primer…no worries…I’m not too concerned because I have been this way for a very long time. The result from having several things going at one time is…each gets completed in its own time…sort of like how ideas first begin to form and then become clearer and then come to fruition. There really is no truly linear process and every eventually gets done. In the meantime, I may have several piles of materials sitting around for each project that is being worked on…but it all gets done.

Right now, I am doing these chairs and table…patching some holes in all three bathrooms…patching a hole in a hallway ceiling…melting a bunch of used candles down into more useable ones…tearing down the garden for the year…making picture frames (I have about thirty picture frames laid out on the basement floor while I decide on a pattern to hang them on a wall)…making frames for the basement windows to put plastic on for insulation…redesigning and building a new seed transplanting table in the plant room downstairs…building a plant-shelf ladder because I have way too many indoor plants taking up way too much space, as well as the plants I had to bring in to over-winter…waxing leaves to place on ceramic tiles to hang…ummm, somewhere. Plus, several other projects on the computer.

Well, now its time to pull something together for supper because my wife will be home soon. See ya all later.

Getting Into Gear, Loving the Internet and Breaking Stereotypes

There have been a lot of your typical run-of-the-mill household projects that have been neglected around the house since we moved in six years ago….I can’t believe it has been six years already. Now that I’ve extra time on my hands I’m finally getting into the ‘mood’ or ‘spirit’….what ever you want to call it….to start decorating, cleaning, and just basic home maintenance. Could it have something to do with the onset of winter and not being able to get out into the garden? Maybe.

Procrastination can go a long way towards creating a false sense of ‘all is right with the world’ if you justify it correctly and often enough. J I mean, why should I expend all that energy to work in the house after I have been outside in the garden, in the sunshine, all day? Well, the time I can spend in my garden has been winding down a little earlier than normal this year due to a major funk I got into late last winter that stemmed from some unfortunate personal issues. It came on at a very crucial time in the garden season when I should have been ordering seeds, starting seeds, and planning for the coming Fall’s harvest and canning. Anyway, the time has finally come to get my butt in gear and work on my very long, and patient, to do list.

Project lists are good to have when you need to organize tasks, but, really, some of the lists I have compiled are just too long and have been collecting dust. J Also, they are a bit outdated. Things I thought would be nice to have or do then just aren’t valid any longer. Weekly lists are always needed to keep me on task to get those necessary daily things done. Such as, general cleaning, laundry, cooking, gardening, shopping, etc.

My wife works outside the home so I have become the ‘homemaker’. How’s that for a sexist term? But is it sexist for the man to be the homemaker? Don’t get me wrong, I love the position I am in. I find it rewarding and fulfilling. I guess you could say I am getting in touch with my creative side. I have stumbled across so many wonderful crafting blogs and home decorating blogs have a fire has been lit under me and that heat has gotten me motivated. It’s going to be difficult to do everything I want to do on a limited budget but I will get done what I can, when I can.

The walls and doors in every room need attention. Scuff marks on baseboards, dents from moving furniture, holes from rearranging picture frames (the patches don’t seem to be as unnoticeable as they once were), general painting, etc.

The list of crafts I wish to learn is being updated almost daily as I discover tips, how-to’s and DIY’s highlighting ideas I never would have seen if it had not been for the internet and blogs.

The advent of the internet….and blogs….has opened up so many new ideas and knowledge that I cannot imagine what life would be without access to it. I have been able to save money, time and effort by being able to research in the comfort of my own home instead of making endless trips to the library. I have been able to save time and money by learning what materials are needed (and learning which materials to avoid or seek out) for a project by putting together a list before heading to the store. My new found love of everything from home decorating and furniture refurbishing to cooking and baking has grown because of all the wonderful ideas being shared on the internet.

My wife and I are currently patching drywall holes we had to make in two of our bathrooms while searching for an elusive leak. Let me take this time to gush about my wife. Her talent at general home improvement is something that I find totally amazing. She has done all of our plumbing repairs, electrical troubleshooting and repairs, our drywall repairs, and she is very good at it. All the while I have been happily content to be her ‘assistant’ and all around go-fer. I have learned much from her and have been slowly taking on some of those ‘duties’ that in the past have been delegated to the ‘man of the house’. Neither one of us have ever put much stock in the standard domestic stereotypes and we get along famously for it.

While she is out working, mainly because she doesn’t like ‘sitting around the house’ like I do, J I have plenty of time on my hands to experiment with and learn about ‘everything’ to my hearts content. And my heart and soul both want to learn and do all sorts of crafty things. I think this new chapter of my life will be very exciting.

Wish me luck.

 

My main desire for home décor is country living. But I am not afraid to add other elements as well.

Things That Go to Make Up a Life

I have so many interests I sometimes wonder if one lifetime will be enough to experience everything life has to offer.

This is going to be an attempt at a journal of things I do as well as things I find on the internet, in books, movies, as well as things I learn from friends and family.

It will not be in any kind of order, just as random as life itself is.

I enjoy keeping my hands and mind busy with hobbies, crafts, gardening (growing everything), hiking, camping, fishing, bird watching, gaming, cooking, travel, architecture, art, reading, music, movies. You get the idea, this list just keeps going on and on.

As almost everyone else is, I am on a limited budget but have never allowed that to get me down. I love doing and learning everything on a Do It Yourself basis.

We don't all follow the same path through life and I want to share as much as possible with everyone. I'll try not to bore you with what may turn out to be a lot of rehashing of stuff you can find everywhere else. At the same time I hope you'll feel the desire to share things you find interesting as well.