DIY Farmhouse Patio Bench

Last weekend we made our patio table and this weekend we decided to take on the bench. It was too hot this weekend for our little lady to be outside very long, so Todd built this bench on his own while I was inside keeping little one occupied.

We found the matching bench plans on Ana White's website and followed those instructions. I won't give the play by play because the plans do a great job of telling you how to build this bench. Plus, I was only outside intermittently to lend a hand as needed. It took Todd most of an afternoon to build this bench. Again, he was working on his own, so I'm sure it would go together faster with two people working on it. We did have to make a few adjustments to the size. If you remember, we made our table 9' long, rather than 8' like the plans suggested. So we had to adjust and make our bench longer as well. Since this is used for seating, we wanted it to be extra secure, so instead of using 3 pedestals, we opted for 4 to better disperse the weight.

Just like the table, we used treated wood, so we won't be staining or painting right away. We'll likely stain it a dark brown color to match the table.

We are thrilled with the results and the look of this bench with our table. Now we just need to find some chairs for the other side of the table. As you can tell, we still have a lot to do in order for our patio, garage and yard to be the way we want it, but we'll get there eventually. It is a big mess right now, but isn't that always the case with DIY projects? Things get crazy and look like a total mess before everything comes together and looks beautiful in the end.

DIY Farmhouse Patio Table

We have been wanting patio furniture for several years now. Every Summer we say "oh, at the end of the season, let's pick up a patio set on clearance." And every Summer comes and goes and we still don't have patio furniture.
This Summer we started shopping around and were having trouble finding anything we loved, in the size we wanted that was within our budget. We knew we wanted a table that could seat at least 6 people, preferably 8 or more. We found one set we really liked, but for the table and 8 chairs it was going to be over $2,300!! Not exactly in our price range. We were routinely checking Craigslist and online yard sale pages and still weren't finding anything we liked that fit our wish list.

Patio Table Wishes
- seat at least 8 people
- rectangular shape
- no glass
- low maintenance and able to stay out in the weather all year. We are okay to move a couple cushions in for the Winter, but would love something that can stay out all Summer.
- swivel chairs would be great, but not a necessity
- needs to fit well on the back half of our driveway without taking up the entire thing. Our driveway extends all the way to our garage, but there is a fence across it so we cannot pull a car back to the garage. Todd will still need a clear access path to the garage and gate when maneuvering his tools for work.

We started tossing around the idea of building a table to try and save some money, plus we could make it any size we wanted. We found this tutorial on Pinterest with Ana White's plans for a farmhouse table. Todd and I fell in love with this design. We checked out the plans and they looked simple enough. We had all of the tools needed and just needed to pick up some wood and find a free weekend. This past weekend we were out of town Friday and Saturday, so our Sunday plans were to just hang out at home, catch up on laundry, go to the grocery. You know, normal, boring weekend things. Well, we ended up with a free afternoon so we decided to go ahead and take advantage of it and start on the table. We went to the hardware store first thing in the morning to get the materials. We made it home in time to put the baby down for her morning nap and we got started on the table.

They advertise this as a $65 table. I'm not sure what type of wood they were using or where they are located to get everything for $65, but we spent between $180 and $250 for our materials at our local hardware store in Ohio. We purchased treated lumber. We made sure to get enough to build the table and a matching bench. We did purchase extra wood so that if we ran out or made a mistake on the measures or cuts we wouldn't have to make an extra trip to the store. We had plenty leftover after the table was completed so I'm sure we'll have extras to return after we complete the bench.

We set the boards for the table top on sawhorses to get a feel for the size and to make sure we made the finished table wide and long enough.

Assembling the table legs. 

I won't go into great detail as to how we made the table since Ana's plans cover all construction details. We did make a couple changes though. We wanted a larger table so we made ours 9 feet long (her plans are for an 8' table). This could also affect the price difference as we had to purchase 10' boards rather than 8' for the top. We also wanted a slightly larger overhang at the end of the table so that we could add chairs to the end if needed. I believe her plans have a 12" overhang at the ends. Since our table is longer, we followed the same steps and specs for the base and just used longer boards for the top. So ours has an 18" overhang at each end.

We were able to build the entire table in one afternoon. It took us a good part of the day, probably 6 hours or so. A lot of that time Todd was working on the table alone as I was having to take care of the baby. When we were both available to work, it went together much faster.

We are planning to build the matching bench this week. Since we used treated wood, we don't have to stain or paint it right away. We are planning to stain it a dark brown color. We are both hoping to have it stained before Winter. I think we'll wait a few weeks to allow the weather to cool down a bit, neither of us wants to be staining in 90 degree weather. Also, please excuse our messy yard & garage. Our patio, backyard and garage are a work in progress. We are hoping to wrap up some big projects out there this fall.

If you are looking to build your own table, we definitely recommend looking into Ana's plans. They were very easy to follow and made building this table a breeze. It also helped that Todd builds things and does construction work on a daily basis. He was able to teach me how to use the saw and I would drill the pilot holes and he would follow behind with the screws. We love doing DIY projects together and are so excited to have a table to gather around with our loved ones.

We both LOVE the table and are so pleased with the results. We can't wait to find some chairs, finish the bench, stain the table and bench and have our first grill out. I see many dinner parties with friends and family gathered around this table in our future.

Nursery Dresser

We picked up this dresser on Craigslist for $100. It was posted for over $200 but the girl selling it was moving out of state and had to get rid of it so we got it for a steal. It is structurally in excellent condition. It is super heavy and made of solid wood. I don't know where you can find a solid wood dresser for 100 bucks these days, most furniture stores charge upwards of $1000 for a solid wood dresser. We decided to refinish this and use it as the changing table and dresser for the baby's room. I wanted a white dresser in there, and while this piece is already white, there are several marks on the top and on the drawers, it definitely needs a fresh coat of paint. Plus, the hardware is dated and doesn't go with the coastal vibe I have in mind for the nursery.

Since I'm pregnant and my doctor doesn't want me sanding or refinishing any furniture right now, Todd has taken over this little project. I would love to be helping out more, we all know I love a good DIY project, but he is loving working on something that will be used by our little one for many years. We first removed the old hardware. The knobs look so small on such large drawers and are spaced too far apart to be able to easily open and close the larger bottom drawers. Since we knew we would be replacing the hardware and changing the placement, Todd filled in the original holes with wood filler.

We decided since the surface was pretty beat up it would be best to sand it down to get a smooth surface for a fresh coat of paint. Todd started this process at our house, but as you can see in the background, our garage is a disaster zone and the weather has been quite unpredictable lately. He took the dresser over to his parents house to utilize their garage to finish sanding and painting. They have more space where he could lay out all the drawers to dry without fear of a sudden pop up rain shower ruining the paint.

The dresser is going to be right in front of a window in the nursery. We opted for the same white as all of the trim work and doors in our house for the dresser paint. This way everything matches and the dresser won't look weird with the blinds and window casing directly behind it. I am not big on everything being matchy matchy, but if the trim and doors are one shade of white and the dresser a different shade, it would look like we tried to match and missed and would be an eyesore. Or maybe I'm just telling myself that to rationalize my crazy pregnancy brain. haha.

I picked up several handle and knob options from the hardware store and didn't love any of them. Ultimately, we settled on these handles from Lowes. The knobs on our built in cabinets are from the same collection. The knobs on our cabinets have a brushed nickel finish, but we opted for the bronze finish for the dresser pulls. We changed the placement of the handles. We centered the pulls on the smaller top drawers first. Once those were centered, we lined up the hardware on the two larger drawers. Now that the handles are closer together on the larger drawers it is much easier to open and close the drawers.

Todd painted the dresser beautifully. He also put some wax on the bottoms of the drawers to help them glide easily in and out of the dresser. We are so pleased with how the dresser turned out. After he was all done, we moved it into the room. I got to work right away lining the drawers. Now all we need to do is start washing everything and put it all away. We are so excited to fill this piece with all the baby's tiny clothes, blankets and necessities. 

Tiny Closets - DIY Bedroom Closet Makeover

Our home was built in the 1950s and like most older homes, it has lots of charm and very tiny closets. Exhibit A: our bedroom closet is exactly the same size as our hall closet. This means there is not nearly enough storage for both of us to store our clothing. We do our best to limit the amount of clothing we have and store off season clothing in the basement, but even with that, the storage situation isn't great. The closet in our bedroom holds most of my clothing. Todd utilizes a dresser in our bedroom and any items he has that need to be hung up are stored across the hall in the closet in our office. It isn't a perfect system, but it works for us. Hopefully in the near future we'll get new dressers that better suit our folded clothing needs. 

Our bedroom closet measures approximately 35" wide and between 30" and 35" deep.  

Unfortunately I forgot to take true before pictures. I was just so darn excited to finally get this closet under control and get some much needed storage, I had already emptied most of it out. Before the floor was covered in boots, a box of clothes and other nonsense. 

The two shelves up top hold two storage cubes each. The cubes on the top shelf hold Todd's socks and underwear and the shelf below holds mine. This system works great for us. Before when this closet only held my things the top shelf was wasted since I couldn't reach anything on the top shelf without a step ladder. These shelves were already here when we moved in and were perfectly spaced apart for these cubes I picked up from Target.

What DIY project is complete without a good supervisor?

We decided to leave the top shelf as is but wanted to increase our storage functionality in the lower half of the closet. Originally the closet bar hung directly below the lower shelf. In order to add drawers at the bottom and still keep space to hang longer dresses we decided to cut the bar into two sections. Todd was the mastermind behind the structure of the new support boards. We measured the width of two cubes and cut the shelf and rod to fit. We then measured and cut a new vertical support board. 

This support board is mounted with angle brackets to the wall and shelf. The rod is mounted using standard closet rod brackets from the hardware store. We may have gone overboard on the angle brackets, but they are mostly hidden and we wanted to be sure that they would support the weight of the shelf and any clothing hanging from the rods. We then mounted the brackets and rod on the right side of the new support board. After everything was installed, we painted the support board white.

We used parts of the Ikea Algot Wall System to increase our storage in the lower half of the closet. This system was super easy to install. You simply attach the long vertical brackets to the wall and snap in the brackets that hold either the shelves or drawers. The vertical brackets were too tall for our space so we cut them down to fit.

We opted for one large mesh drawer on the bottom with two smaller drawers above. We also added a shelf above the top drawer. The shelf isn't really functional for storing things since the hanging clothing is directly above it. However, it is functional for preventing the items in the drawer from getting caught on the articles of clothing hanging above, allowing the drawer to glide easily. I really liked that the Algot system brackets are easy to adjust and maneuver. If we ever tire of this system or decide we want shelves instead of drawers, it is easy to swap out parts and adjust their placement on the  track system.

On the door of our closet hangs a key rack and a picture frame, fitted with window screen. I made the frame by stapling standard window screen material to the back of the frame, and a decorative ribbon to hang it. These two pieces are perfect for storing necklaces and earrings. Just inside the closet Todd installed a couple hooks so that I could hang belts and my purse.

So there you have it, our itty bitty master bedroom closet. I found the Ikea parts online ahead of time and drew out the plans before making the trip to the store to purchase everything. We completed the entire project in a weekend. We started out Saturday with a trip to Ikea and the hardware store to pick up all the materials and Sunday was spent doing touch up paint to the walls and allowing the shelving paint to dry. We are both hoping this new system will help keep things nice and organized.

Do you have any tips for organizing a small space?