Our Train Table (and what we used to build one)

I wanted to pop in to share a quick post about how we built our train table.

To make this a little short, we basically followed these instructions here and made a few adjustments as needed.
This site was VERY helpful and even lists step-by-step instructions on how to make a train table. We found it very helpful, so I'm not going to type up every detail of how we made ours, but I will share our dimensions and some pictures. :)

My hubby did the big cuts while I used a jigsaw to shorten the legs of the table a bit. Our train table measures as follows:

50" long
38" wide
23" high


I still have to paint the shelf that my hubby added to it (it's great for extra storage) as well as the sides. But here are some pictures of the finished product!

This boy spends a lot of his waking hours playing with it...he is obsessed with trains! Like to the max! 
And he doesn't sing too much, but when he does, you can bet it's the Thomas theme song. :) over...and over...and over again. Sometime he asks us to sing it so he can loop his trains round and around the tracks. Ha!

The cost to make this came in at about $50. We didn't use the most expensive wood so that did help keep costs down, but you can use pretty much any good pine wood for this project and it does just fine. I did have to sand some areas because of this, but it was worth it!

DIY Doll Bunk Beds

Recently, my oldest daughter wanted to buy a new doll with the money she received for her birthday. A couple of days after her birthday, we set off to Target. It was there in the toy aisle that she picked up a new doll, Maeva. At home, she quickly took her out of her box and excitedly added Maeva to her and her sister's doll collection- so Maeva joined Kendra and Ruby. 

After watching my girls play with these dolls, it became clear to me that their dolls could use a place to "rest" at night since they don't seem to be fans of sleeping with them in their beds. One night, I googled "doll bunk beds" and quickly stumbled upon this one from Ana White. With a price tag of less than $10 to make, it was an obvious choice to build. Head to her site if you want to see this plan and hundreds of others like it. She's a super talented young lady with TONS of diy ideas.

Once the plans were decided, I took a trip to Lowe's with one of my girls. 

Don't you love the heels with the dress paired with the purse? Best way to shop at a home improvement store, in my opinion. ;)

Sadly, we didn't find all the wood we needed so we decided we would recruit Daddy to help us on our search the next day. :) Daddy to the rescue!!!

Once we got all the wood pieces and dimensions correct, we came home with our supplies and got to work cutting all the wood. Instead of using our table saw for this, I decided it would be easier for me to just use our jig-saw. If you don't have a table saw, you can definitely use a jig-saw for this project- the cuts might not be as straight, but for this project it wasn't a big issue.

Some of the photos are a little grainy- they were taken on my phone at night. My girls were quite the helpers with this project- bringing me the right screws and nails. My oldest even helped with painting the bunk bed (more on that later).

Because Ana White has a pretty detailed post on her site, with pictures and all, I decided not to share all of the required steps here. 
However, I'll be sharing some of the photos of the mostly completed bed.

Once it was built, it was time to add the mattress support. At first I tried using some Styrofoam we had on hand.... 

But that didn't work out all that great. So instead I found some leftover laminate wood boards we had from a bench and put that in. The pictures of that are posted later on.

You could keep these beds unpainted or stain the wood, but we decided to paint ours. 
I went ahead and used this paint color from when I painted the girls bedroom closet doors. 
It's a pretty light pink with a bit of gray mixed in.

My beautiful littler helper even wanted in on the action. ;)

Below is a picture of the board we used to go under the mattresses. You could probably use a variety of any kind of sturdy material for this part. Since we just happened to have these, and they were "free", that's what we went with.

Even though it might not have been necessary, I went ahead and stapled our boards to the bed frames, but you don't have to.

Next, I thought it would be neat to make the doll mattresses and pillows!! This part was FUN!!!

We had an old pillow that I basically tore open and used the foam from it to stuff the fabric. 
Now, I must mention that in NO way am I experienced in sewing, but if you love to sew and that's your jam, I bet you could really create some beautiful pieces for this part. 
I guess what I'm trying to say is...if I can do this, so can you!!

And Ana White also has plans on how to make the mattress and pillows on her site. I'd head on over to her page if you want to see detailed plans. 

Once this was all complete, I placed the bed in our girls' room and when they got up in the morning, they were very excited to see it finished! They played happily with their dolls in their new beds for quite a while. :)

Tess playing with Maeva and Kendra. :)

This last pic was taken the morning after my girls woke up and saw the finished bed for the first time. It was sweet to see them play together like that...even if it's not as often as we'd like. ;)

This was overall a very fun and quick project to do. If you try it out, let me know how it goes!!

DIY Wooden Frames- On the Cheap!

I have mentioned before that Staples offers some inexenspive B/W prints. Each one comes in a pretty large size to start. 

To my surprise, I just learned that they now offer colored engineering prints for under $10. I will be sharing more about that kind of print soon, but for now I want to share how you can create inexpensive frames for those engineering prints- so here it goes!

Once you order your prints and pick them up at Staples, wrap them around some inexpensive canvases. I purchased ours at a local craft supply store. You can secure your pictures either by stapling them or even taping them to the back of your canvas.

So here is how you make the frames.
Once you have your print and canvas ready, take some 1x2's (I purchased these at Lowe's) and measure the size you need to frame each canvas.

Next, take a and simply cut each 1x2 to size. Take a few small nails and hammer the 1x2's together to create your frame. (Just make sure to double check your measurements before cutting!)

Once the frames are done, make sure your canvas print will "fit" inside of the frames.

Stain each frame/wood piece using whatever stain you prefer.
I generally love to use Minwax Provincial stain. This can be found at any hardware store. I think we got this one at Home Depot. A little bit goes a long way.

Once your frames are dried and you've placed your canvas print inside, they are ready to hang!
I hung ours on the wall going up our stairs. A small nail did the trick since each one of these pictures/frames is pretty lightweight. 
That's another thing to love about this project! You don't have to worry about anchoring a heavy photo or frame to your walls.

I decided to place 4 on this wall. And I believe I chose the 18x24 prints for these pictures. 
All in all I'd say the total for this project cost roughly $20. And that also includes the frames!
Because we had the stain already on hand, I didn't include that in the price- BUT even if you do, this is still a pretty inexpensive project that makes a HUGE impact!

So if you are looking for a pretty quick and easy/inexpensive project, give this one a try! It makes for a rustic yet personal project that can add some character to your home. :)

A Buffet Table/Sideboard for Our Dining Room

After selling our last dining room buffet table, I was quickly on the hunt for a new one. I searched many thrift stores and even CL and couldn't find anything that would work for the space. This was a bit of a surprise because I usually can find something that would work that I can redo, but nothing was coming up. Maybe it was the cold weather we had been having so many people weren't trying to get rid of dressers or buffet tables. I don't know, but after much searching and wanting to get a new piece for the dining room I decided to look online for some inspiration. I noticed that one of my favorite bloggers, Dear Lillie, made her own sideboard and used plans from Ana White- a great resource for instructions on how to build your own furniture if you so choose.

My hubby had to help me with some of the plans because they were a bit complicated and some of the parts didn't make too much sense, but overall, I would recommend going to her site if you want to try your hand at building things. She has a plethora of options to choose from with detailed instructions and pictures. Also, this thing is really sturdy and I am soooo very happy with the way it turned out.

I am also excited about the fact that I can now show off some of our dish ware and other decor...whereas before with a dresser/buffet table, everything was hidden. This is a really great option for people who want something a little bit different and something unique, because, Hey, it is a hand-built piece.

Now on to the plans. First, we got the cuts we needed at Home Depot. I had the guy there cut some of the bigger pieces of wood for me. Since I didn't have a saw at home, I wanted those cuts done already. I used a jig-saw for the rest.

Once you get the pieces you need, you build the front and the back:

Then you fill in the middle:

Next, you build the top:

Attach the top and work on the sides and the X's.

I decided to stain the top and paint the rest.

The top was stained with an Espresso finish mixed with a gray mixed glaze. It was a gamble with the color, because I had never mixed the 2 before, but it turned out so beautiful!

I wanted to try out the piece indoors and paint it inside with a sample of Passive purchased at SW. Passive is a color I have been wanting to try out for a while. It is a pretty shade of gray with a hint of blue and is a nice light airy color. I almost went with it for our downstairs color and stairway.

I also caulked the X's on the sides to keep them in place. Some of the spots needed more than just wood-fill and since it was going to be painted over, caulking did a nice job covering in the gaps.

Some side notes:
I ended up building our buffet table a bit higher than Ana White's and because of that, I took another bloggers advice and decided to build 2 X's on each side instead of the one on each side. I actually think that in doing this, it looks much better and so pretty. Such a sturdy piece and all wood! It's awesome!
I also decided to build the top first and then start on the X's even though Ana White's website tells you to do the opposite. It worked out better to do it the other way around because mine was built to be about 36" high instead of 30" high.

And now for some pictures of the finished piece. I styled it pretty quickly, so things will move around a bit every now and then, but for now, I love this change. 

** Dining room wall color is SW Intellectual Gray. 
Cute little baskets are from Michaels- were on sale.
Water vase- Target
Blue and white vase- gift from a friend
Plates- On sale at Bed, Bath, and Beyond
Blue plates- wedding gifts
Wreath- A.C. Moore

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