Elle V the Builder?

I’ve always been pretty handy. Ask my mom, she’ll tell you. I was her go to fix it and put it together person for many years up until I moved.

So when I came across the Ana White site, and saw a community of mostly women building their own furniture, I said to myself, “Self, you can do that too!” And so I did.

I used the plans for her vegetable bins, but modified them slightly. They’re very similar to the ones I wanted from Land of Nod. Overall, I’m happy with the way it turned out.

I started building the shelving unit for the super hero’s closet. So far it’s been sanded and primed, but still needs to have the Kreg jig holes filled,  and be covered with a couple of coats of paint and poly. Oh, and there’s also that massive hole where one of my knots fell out

At this point though, I have to say I’m proud of myself. It was my first project, and it went fairly smoothly. But there were a couple of hiccups.

For one, a few of my boards had small cracks in them. Luckily only the ends that I didn’t end up using split. I placed my order online, and let the people at Lowes choose my wood for me. Next time, I’ll know better and choose my own.

Secondly, I did all of the cutting with my jigsaw. I do not recommend that unless you have a very sturdy hand. I wasn’t brave enough to use my circular saw this time, so my cuts are uneven, but it’s going into the closet so I’m not too bothered by it.

I still want  to build a similar piece of shelves to sit on top of this piece, and another with deeper cubbies, for this one to sit on. Then this mess containment system will be complete.

That’s all for now!

Spring Cleaning With Elle V, a Super Hero, & Zoey

Every few months or so, I go through my sons clothes, and pull out everything he's outgrown or destroyed. Its get sorted into 3 piles. One for things that will be tossed, one for donations, and another for things that I love and want to hoard save. I am not hoarder. In fact, sometimes I purge to the point of regret. But that occurrence is rare, as things can be replaced, and honestly, how much stuff do ya’ really need anyway?

I’ve been trying to devise a plan to contain all of his stuff, and I’ve decided on a custom toy shelf thing for his closet, since our current set up isn’t very functional.

I’ve heard that the first step in fixing a problem, is acknowledging that one exists. So I poured everything out to see what kind of problem we were dealing with.

Then everything was sorted.

Then we bagged everything he’d either outgrown or wouldn’t miss for donation.

I thought he could part with a few more things, but boys need their toys…so I’m off to finalize plans to house them all.

See you in the next one!

Clean Room Conundrum

I love the Land of Nod. I’ve never actually purchased anything from there, but they have really great pictures, and lots of things that I’d like to buy, not to mention all of the things I’ve almost purchased…but I am highly selective when it comes to spending my money, and this isn’t exactly the dollar store.

Now on a nice day, my superhero’s room is neat with a visible floor.

His stuffed roommates sit together up atop his bookshelf.

While everything else is concealed behind the closet doors.

But we need a better solution for the more normal days when things aren’t so tidy. Something open that makes it easy for my little one to clean up after himself, and find things without dumping absolutely everything he owns out onto the floor at once.

I think these are nice, but they hang too low to be practical for us.

I absolutely adore the look of these,

but we would need about $600 dollars worth.

And as beautiful as they are, I don’t want to spend that much on  any furniture for his bedroom. Needless to say, I’m still looking for a good solution to manage his mess…any ideas are very much welcome and appreciated.

Until next time, have a great day!

Related Posts:

• The Boy's Room: Take 1
• The Boy's Room: Take 2
• Room Reveal: Partially Finished
• Wardrobe Makeover
• A Little Mammut Makeover