Whatever floats your boat
Have you ever bitten off waaaay too much and felt completely overwhelmed by adult life? Well, that's how I've been feeling about this past month (cramming vacation, work conference and tourist season in full swing) but I'm dying to share all of the fun updates we've made in the guest room.
When we were house shopping, the guest rooms were super important! Living at the beach means having friends and family at any given moment, and we wanted them to all have an awesome experience. You know... fluffy towels, crispy sheets, nice bathroom and a quiet place to escape to at the end of day. This house delivers in a BIG WAY! Well, now... we will get to the before in a bit. Avert your eyes! Retinas may be burned worse than the solar eclipse. ;)
The guest room was essentially an empty box with two sets of bi-fold closet doors and a big picture window so my possibilities were endless. So, I put up some star fish, shells, a little dolphin art and called it a day!
Just kidding...
I knew I wanted a rustic southwestern vibe and it needed to feel cozy, but once a bed and dresser were put into place there wasn't room for much else. Being the genius I am, I hopped on Pinterest to find some tutorials for DIY side tables that didn't take up much space. As always, I found something that was close, but needed a little tweaking. Here's the link to my inspo....
I loved this! The rustic wood, slim and space saving... but, I had other plans for lighting. I adapted this style and drew up my plans for my live in lumber jack to get to to work. Haha. Actually, it took some convincing on my part that a side table with no bottom would stay on the wall, be sturdy enough for phones/drinks/books, and that it could hold up to my clumsiness. I am happy to inform you they can do all three!!! Let me gibe you the breakdown so you can build your own and free up some space in your own room. This is not a sponsored post, I just really love the products we've used to complete these projects.
We picked up a 1x12 (8 feet long) at our local Lowe's and the Lumberjack cut it in half to help make it easier to manage. Using the eyeball technique (very technical and only for the highly skilled) we figured out how long we wanted the back piece to be and by hopping on and off the bed approximately 3 million times we figured out how far out the "base" of the table should stick out from the wall. We settled on 28 inches tall by 16 inches out from the wall in a big "L".
Using our Kreg Jig (link to show what & how to use) we drilled pocket holes into the back of our wall piece and attached him to the base piece using wood glue and 2 inch Kreg Jig screws (yes they have to be the right ones... they have square shaped holes for the driver bit). Once they were together, I filled the holes with pocket hole plugs to stain over later. These little guys are usually hanging out right next to the Kreg Jig at the hardware store by the way.
Once everything was assembled and plugged it was time for the fun part.... Distressing, sanding, staining and sealing! You may think I'm insane, but I love sanding and staining. It's like makeup for wood!
MY PROCESS:
1. I use random tools and screws/nails to ding up the wood and make it look old.
2. Sand that baby down so your dings and nicks look like they've been there forever. I also like to sand down all the corners and edges to add softness and make the wood look like it's survived lots of wear and tear.
3. Next is my favorite part!! STAINING. I used Varathane's Early American stain because it has a great mid-tone brown with very little red undertones. You won't need very much stain at all for this job so the mini pot of stain is plenty.
4. Once stain is completely dry I sealed everything with my 3X Strength Poly in Matte Finish and let that dry overnight.
See how those pocket hole plugs look like knots in the wood now? I knew that I would be putting books and accessories on the shelf so I wasn't worried about being able to see them.
Now for the hanging part of the project.....
After a few trial and error options we found the best solution ever. I will probably hang all large objects with these from now on. I'm officially in L-O-V-E with French Cleats. (Click link to see info) They come with a built in level and you simply attach one to the wall and one to the object you're hanging and voila! Instant floating side tables!!
Boom! Just like that, floating side tables that take up no floor space, can hold up to 100 lbs. and look super cool are done!
So, who needs a weekend getaway on the Emerald Coast?!
XOXO,
Christina
