Weekend Warriors!

Hey Everyone!

Eric and I finished one of our first big house projects! Yay! We took three trips to Home Depot in one day so I think I can officially say that we're homeowners and should be welcomed to the club :)

I read on a couple of websites that building in seating is a really great way to add more seating to a small space.  Naturally, I convinced Eric that this was a great idea.  With the hubby and engineer for the project on board for the challenge, we got started.  Eric pulled out some graph paper and started to plan.  As expected, he drew it from three different angles, two of which I have no idea how to understand.

Just learned that the bottom plan is called an isometric view

This is a plan view

And this is a section view.  Thank God for that useful knowledge ;)

After the planning and one of the first of many, many shopping trips, we got started building the frame.  After buying and borrowing some tools, we cut all the pieces that we needed and then decided to build. Here's Eric in the basement looking very happy after his first injury, a minor gouge out of his hand.

Then we took the completed frame upstairs and anchored it to the walls that way our guests don't go crashing to the ground.

Next, we covered the frame with wainscoting and trim with the help of our two little doggies...pictures to come.  We also upholstered the plywood top.  Now everyone knows I love a barg so I was excited to find the fabric for $6/yard at Walmart.  Instead of going to Joann's for the really expensive foam, we bought a $10 mattress topper from Walmart.  It was a twin size so we grabbed two of them to fold it over on itself for a little extra comfort.  Here's Lucy helping us with the stapling :)  The best part of upholstering for me was that I finally bought myself a staple gun! Yay! Every crafty girl needs one!

Here's the bench, prior to painting.  Wainscoting comes in 8 foot by 4 foot sheets so we needed to cover the seams.

This is the finished project! Please don't look too closely though :) We love it.  It is the perfect height and size.  The upholstered pieces come right off so I can store all sorts of things under the benches.  We also added some valences to the top of the windows and made some pillows with leftover stuffing from the bench and fabric from the kitchen chairs.  Overall, we think it really works with our little house.  Our next step is to find the perfect table for the space.  Right now, our table is a square with four legs that get in the way when squeezing in and out of the bench. We want a pedestal table to fix the problem so I have been checking Craigslist and the local consignment and antique stores.

Things We Learned:

• There is absolutely no way to do a home improvement project without multiple trips to Home Depot
• Plaster walls are made of steel!
• Wood filler is your best friend

A First Time Homeowner's DIY Blog

I've decided to start writing a blog, mainly focused on the crafts and home improvements that I love to do in my spare time.  Occasionally, my husband gets wrangled in to my projects so he may pop up in here too.  Having a couple readers would be nice, but with all the amazing blogs out there, I mainly see this as a way for me to keep track of all the progress that we make on our house.

My husband and I bought our first home about a month and a half ago and are having a lot of fun making decisions and changes together.  It's a small (around 800 square feet) two bedroom house with one bathroom that's typical in our area.  In fact, it's so typical that pretty much every house on the street has the same basic layout.  It's particularly convenient because you can see what changes other people have made inside or outside before deciding if you want to make that change.  Better to let the neighbors test out that new porch or closet before we do ;) Anyway, because it's small, or as my husband says "cozy", we have to come up with more creative ways store things, while keeping it comfortable and still us.

Our first big project is the kitchen.  Like every other person our age, we are paying student loans and now have a lovely mortgage :) so there is no complete renovation in the budget.  Instead, we are opting for some smaller changes to make the kitchen and eat-in dining area more practical for us.   We started working on some built in seating so I'll post more about that when we finish, but for now, here are some pictures from before we moved in.