From horseshoe game to reclaimed bench.

These old yellow boards used to act as frames for a horseshoe game that the previous owners of our house put in. My husband and/or dad drove over them a month ago with the bobcat when we were moving some dirt and they came apart. I wasn't sad because we don't play horseshoes.


I decided to recycle the old boards and make something useful out of them. I had two 2x6's and six 2x4's to work with. I took a paint scraper and scraped off the clumps of dirt that were caked on (yes, they laid piled up in our back yard for a month before I decided to do something with them). I then removed all of the old rusty, bent up screws. After a total of 4 cuts on my saw, a little gluing, drilling, and screwing--I now have a great bench!


I didn't sand the wood or take any time to make it look pretty. I actually like the old feel it has to it. I don't even mind the baked on bird poo.

This bench was inspired by Knock-off Wood's Modern Farmhouse Table Bench plans. I used these plans as a guide for my bench but had to alter them in order to work with the wood I already had.


I think it turned out great and I can't wait to make my next project with recycled wood! Be sure to check out the Knock-off Wood website for other great plans!

A place to sit

I was bored one day last week and found a chair plan in Ready Made magazine. Because the chair is made mostly with 2x4's I knew I needed to make it to see how I like it. The reason for that thinking is because 2x4's are much, much cheaper than 1x4's.

I was able to build the chair within 15 minutes of printing out the plans. (I used scraps I had leftover from other projects) Please note: the plans aren't the easiest to follow.

I don't think I'm able to guage whether or not I like it yet. It looks nice unfinished and it's a good, sturdy, and surprisingly comfy chair to sit on. I haven't painted the chair yet because I've been busy with other things but I plan to sand and paint it this weekend. Perhaps a nice chocolate brown or a bright white?

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Done and over with

Our rummage sale is finally over with! I'm glad to have it in the past because it was a cold, windy and rainy weekend!
I'd like to share a new find called Groupon. It's a website where you can buy certificates for great local deals at a fraction of the price. I just bought from them for my first time today by getting some $10 certificates to Senor Wiener here in Sioux Falls for only $5! I've never been to Senor Wiener so I'm excited to be able to try it for my first time at a great discount! Many major cities can be found on Groupon so go check it out!

Speaking of food, the family and I are going out to eat at La Fiesta tonight to celebrate Mother's Day. La Fiesta is one of my top 5 favorite restaurants.

Well... gotta go so I won't be late! Happy Mother's Day ladies!

Disaster Area

My garage should be zoned off as dangerous right now. It's packed full of stuff for the rummage sale next weekend and I'm pretty sure a tornado was lurking around in there while I was sleeping. Unfortunately, I will not be building anything until the rummage is done and over with.

On a good note, I got my Mother's day present a week early! It's not the brand I'd prefer but it does everything I wanted, it has pretty good reviews on Sears.com and it was within my hubby's price range--therefore, it was a perfect gift!

It's much larger than the one I currently have and doesn't quite fit on my workbench. Sooooo, guess what I will be doing after the rummage is all over with? I will be making another bench wide enough to cater to my new toy! I think I will put my old miter saw on the rummage for $30/obo and see if I can make $10 on it.

Anyways, it's a beautiful day out today so I'm going to go outside and enjoy it because tomorrow is Monday and I have to go back to work :-( Have a great Sunday!

A girl needs a place to work on her projects!

I used to sit on the cold cement floor of my garage to work on stuff--but not anymore! This past weekend I was able to turn this:

Into this:I think it's fantastic! No more bending over projects or having a cold bum from sitting on the floor.

The workbench came at a cost of less than $10. I scored some free leftover OSB from the build of my mom's new garage and it inspired me to get to work on a new workspace in my own garage. I used screws that I already had on hand and purchased a few 2x4's.

It's a very easy, simple workbench but it does the job!!

There's never enough time!

I'm working on three different big projects right now! (Big to me anyways) I'm hoping to have two of them finished before our rummage on May 7th/8th. Who knows, maybe I can get all of them finished this coming weekend!

Stay tuned for the upcoming posts on these projects!

(And since I think every post needs a picture--here's a pretty one taken by me in Sioux Falls, SD at Falls Park)

I've been busy this weekend

Take a look at my new toy! It's an antique (30 or so yrs old) but it's solid! I scored it from craigslist for $20 and it works wonderfully!

I was so tickled about my purchase that I went straight to work after I got home from a party my mom had this afternoon. I made two different projects today even though I only planned on making one. After I completed my first project (I will post another time) I felt restless. I kept finding myself thinking about how I wished I had more lumber so I could build something else.

After much debating, I finally went out to the garage to survey my scrap pile. Not much, but I was really itching to build something else!

I surfed the KnockOffWood website in the scrap section and found a perfect housewarming gift that I could whip together for a co-worker of mine.


Tah-dah! A very simple collector shelf that took me about ten minutes to make! This will make a great shelf to put up in the kitchen to hold cookbooks! Or maybe even some pretty dishes!


I loved the way the old beat up lumber looked (heck, I didn't even take the staples out of it) so I gave it a light stain to bring out the imperfections! An awesome gift that cost nothing to make! I think my co-worker is going to love it! Don't you?