Adding a hutch to a desk {The Reveal}
If all I had done was add a hutch to a desk, then the reveal post would have come about much sooner. But before I could add the hutch, I had to paint the desk:

The desk was a dirty, yellowy, whitish color and the handles and horizontal metal inserts were a brassy, gold color with worn, white parts on them.
I didn’t sand the desk down. I bought some bonding primer at Lowes (hope I don’t regret not getting the Sherwin Williams version I’ve heard others use–I was already at Lowes and got lazy…). I also skipped the polycrylic topcoat I’m fond of using and bought a semi-gloss finish in the paint instead. I didn’t get the really smooth finish I’ve come to love, but I did get done with the project a little quicker, which I also love.
Repair a chair. Paint the chair. Recover the chair seat. Spray the chair bright pink. Discover bright pink doesn’t work. Repaint chair white.

The chair needed help in two different spots. It was pretty wobbly before I put in the pocket hole screws, but now it’s solid. I had to put the pocket holes on the outside because of the funky assembly on the inside.
And spray paint the handles and horizontal metal inserts a nice, brushed nickel.

I washed the hardware with some soap and water, dried it well, and primed it with some Rustoleum regular primer in gray (because I accidentally grabbed gray). I used Krylon in brushed nickle as the color and I left off the topcoat for this project.
But now it is all done and in her room! Here’s a before photo to refresh your memory about how the room looked, well…before! I didn’t purposely take such awful before shots, I wanted the Hubs to take the desk down so I could paint it, but I needed before photos…and it was at night. Flash photos + no natural light =no good
I love the brushed nickle spray paint! Look at the difference in the hardware.
It’s coming along in there. I’m working on a couple more projects for her room right now that I’m hoping to have done by the weekend. Now that I’ve said that out loud it’ll get jinxed somehow
Here are all the posts in the series:
Adding a hutch to a desk {post 1}
Adding a hutch to a desk {post 2}
You might notice that the drawers in the plans didn’t make it into the hutch. That is a sore spot for me at the moment, since I did some incorrect math in my head…I was dreading going out in that garage in the cold, I procrastinated for a few days over the long weekend, finally went out and got it done, took it up to her room, and discovered they weren’t going to work as is. Sigh.
If you’re ever in need of feeling better about how your own projects are going, you know you can always depend on me for a mistake or two!
**This project (and all my plywood projects on here to date) are made using PureBond Plywood because I’m concerned about the air quality in my home.
Adding a hutch to a desk {post 2}
Boy was I ever rusty in my woodworking skills for this build!! I’m glad I am here to show you that multiple mistakes during a build can still result in a usable piece of furniture…
First off, my plan. Wherever did I think that I could fit the amount of shelves I had planned for is beyond me! I had an extra cut out that the plan called for. You know how I have warned you that using my plan “as is” is probably not advisable? I had a good laugh at myself as I was laying out the pieces on the garage floor for a dry fit!
Which reminds me–I really, really need to get a workbench made so I can quit using the floor.
And then I realized that I was going to have to figure out how high I wanted to make the first shelf, because it was going to be permanent and not moveable. I had not figured that in–I wanted it to all be adjustable. BUT this will not be attached to the actual desk because the desktop is formica. In order to keep it square I need to have it fastened in the middle. This ended up being a monumental decision–I went back and forth on it. Right now she doesn’t need a ton of head room for that first shelf, but I want this to work for her as long as she is at home. I went with the shelf being at 17.5″ (16.75″ once I added the face frame) so that she can fit a bigger monitor under there if need be someday. (I was really irritated with myself for making that such a big decision because it ate up precious time! Sometimes I can be so indecisive.)
Then I got to use another of my birthday presents–my brand new Kreg Shelf Pin Jig. Love it.
Build some under the sink storage
Happy Valentine’s Day!
This post was originally a guest post for Brittany over at Pretty Handy Girl a little over two weeks ago. I so appreciate that she featured me over there! If you didn’t catch it then, here is the Pink Toe version
***
Based on today’s post, I’m going to predict that 2012 is going to involve some embarrassing photos. Embarrassing to me specifically. But the “after” results are so worth the embarrassment that I’m going to show you some of the messy areas of our my house. That cannot read “our” because no part of My Man is messy. Been with him 18 years and the man hasn’t made a mess yet. Me? I’m the fertility goddess for messes—they breed all around me. So I decided to tackle one mess at a time in 2012 and my latest project is organizing under the sink in the master bath.
I mean look at this (if you are male and uncomfortable looking at feminine products, you can just skip on ahead here…if you can even find it in this mess. This photo could be a page in an I Spy book).
Ack! I swear it looks worse in the picture! You can now understand that when I saw this on Pinterest I got pretty excited.
source: Pregnant…with power tools
Actually I got a LOT excited…dollar store bins! Scrap wood! Cheap and easy DIY—what’s not to love??
So I went off and I built some stuff and now it looks like so:
AAAHHH! I love it so much now!
First thing you need to do is go get yourself some bins. This project cost me $4 because all I had to buy were the bins and I got 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree. You need to know also that bins vary in quality and usability for this project. Look for rigid bins with side edges that are uniform with no obstructions like these: Read More…
Scrap lumber project for small animal friends
First I want to apologize for this post being sent prematurely several days ago. I have no idea what happened–I started writing up the post, left the computer for a bit, came back to finish it, and discovered it was published. So sorry about that–and it was blank at the time it was published as well!
I had some time recently and I needed to solve a little problem…the little problem is a Netherland dwarf rabbit named Annie. She recently moved from the basement to the dining-room-we-never-eat-in-that-is-scheduled-to-become-an-office-in-the-near-future. Her cage needed prettied up. A lot.
So today I added a new house. All scraps, so it was totally free!
I actually started out just wanting a box to contain the corn cob litter we use. It started out like this:
I even fancied it up with the small strips of 1/4″ plywood.
But then I got the idea of putting a roof on, and it took off from there. Read More…
How to cut plywood with a circular saw video
Ok Mel, here it is!! I had one request for the cutting plywood with a circular saw video so I edited it last night and uploaded it to You Tube. I have it on the setting that only lets you see it with a link, so if you go and search for it, it won’t show up. Here’s the link if you want to see how I go about it…
But first I must warn you! It’s long, sorry. I’m pretty sure I don’t sound like or look like the person in this video. I do weird things with my hands when I’m speaking and I got a strange southern twang on camera. It’s strange because I’m from central Ohio.
And here we go:
Oh my. I’m not sure I want you to tell me what you think. Be kind…
If you want to see the other posts on the circular saw:
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2011/01/18/cutting-a-sheet-of-plywood/
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2011/01/30/beauty-and-the-beast-cutting-plywood-part-2/
Four legs + trim + paint = brand “new” dresser
I am so happy with how Pip’s dresser turned out! I didn’t do anything too drastic to it, but I think that the difference is dramatic. Let’s see if you feel the same. Before:
Remember that I mentioned going to the Pottery Barn site to be inspired by some of their options. This is the dresser that I felt I could somewhat replicate:
I considered adding some trim to the drawers as well, but in the end decided to skip that detail. I also considered keeping the original knobs which are just like the Pottery Barn version, but the new drawer pulls match the storage bed hardware. And I liked the contrast of color they add.
Here’s the process. Read More…
Pretty in Pink: Post 4 {Built-In Bookcase Reveal}
Built-in bookcases. Check. Still got quite a few projects before this room can be called done! But one thing can be crossed off the list now. Remember before:
Laundry Room {shelf behind washer and dryer}
Remember this mess?
This has driven me nuts since we moved in and I discovered that all the “necessaries” behind the washer and dryer were not covered up by the washer and dryer. And it looks gross–I don’t know what sprayed in that box back there, but that is NOT water. And I refuse to clean that. I don’t like cleaning my kitchen sink, much less climbing back there and cleaning that out. Nope. Not doing it. Now I don’t have to!
Here’s some pictures of the build. Read More…
Pretty in Pink: Post 3 {pocket hole cabinet doors}
I don’t know why it is proving to be so difficult to begin this post in an interesting way! I have began and deleted 4 different beginnings, so now I give up and you just get this. Definitely the worst one.
My last attempt at doors was the cabinet in the laundry room:
These were not difficult–but then again, you’ll recall that they do not actually open either. Since they hide the litter box, I didn’t feel it was necessary to look inside from the front! This current built-in needs working doors. And I am very happy with how they turned out.
Pottery Barn Inspired bench for the Laundry Room
I mentioned when I started the View from our “Front” Door series that we needed a place to sit in order to take off or put on shoes in the laundry room. I’ve been looking around for inspiration for awhile–going back and forth between complicated and simple. Complicated would have involved drawers and more decorative sides that would hide our shoes that accumulate in that spot. Simple was this:
I didn’t want something heavy looking in there, so I chose simple. This retails for $499 plus whatever else they tack on (shipping and handling?). For that price, I would include shipping if I ran things, but I gave up running the world to stay home with my kids, so whatever.
Supplies: Read More…
















































