Brag Post: DIY Small Footprint Kids Bookcase

Today's DIY focus is more of a brag than a tutorial.

Our kids love books. LOVE them. Because of this, every birthday and holiday they get books as presents. This is all wonderful and awesome. Except for one small thing: 

They pile up everywhere! There are bookshelves in their room, and piles of their books were overwhelming the bookcases in our living room. Sadly, every time they would go to grab a book there is would be an avalanche of board books crashing down.

We needed a solution. But with our limited floor space, it needed to be something with a really slim footprint. After doing a lot of research I found this plan by Ana White. If you haven't heard of her, she is a carpentry genius who graciously shares her plans with us mere mortals.

Using her bookshelf blueprints we were able to create an awesome bookcase that allows the kids to see all the books they have, take them down without danger, and still takes up less space than a traditional bookcase. Win!

We did make a few changes to her plans. Instead of making the bookshelf 3" deep, we made it 4". A lot of books to store people. Every inch counts.

We also chose to use leftover baseboard for the fronts of the shelves, versus plywood. A: I like the look of it over plywood. B: I am a big fan of using leftover materials. Call me cheap resourceful.

To attach the baseboard to the front, we used wood glue along the bottom and clamped it down.  Then we used our finish nail gun and added a few nails along the bottom and on the sides.

.

Lovin' my chevron paint job? There are lots of complex mathematical formulas out there for creating a perfectly designed chevron. As the design is going to be covered 99% of the time by books, I decided to just wing it. 

First I painted the back section of the bookcase with white paint. Once that was dry, I cut out a small triangle and used is as a rough guide for marking my chevrons with masking tape. Then I painted the entire thing in a lovely shade of blue. Once dried, I slowly removed my tape. Voila!

The chevrons are  little lopsided, but this is a children's bookcase. I'll just pretend it adds character.

And there you have it!  All in all it cost us around $20, and holds 60 books! Trust us, we counted.

The kids love it!

Have you built something that is both functional and awesome for your family? Share it with us on our Facebook page!

DIY Thanksgiving Throw Pillows

It's almost Thanksgiving! Do you have your meal plans ready? Or, if you are not cooking this year, have you prepared your liver for wine?

We are really in the festive spirit here. But as I was going through my holiday boxes, I found a sad lacking of Thanksgiving stuff. My DIY Thanksgiving table runner was looking to be it. 

Since we are hosting this year, I really wanted our home to have reminders of Thanksgiving all over. So I took matters into my own hands, and started with these easy, adorable, and festive pillows!

Supplies:

Blank pillow case or slip cover in a thinner fabric (I made my own slip covers to fit my existing sofa pillows.)
Fabric paint
Small paint brushes in various sizes
Wax paper
A good movie to watch while you paint (I went with Jingle All the Way)

Start by creating your design. Make sure you size it to match the blank pillow cover you have. 

You are welcome to use our design! Just right click the image, then save it to your computer. All I ask is you give credit to us here at This inSane House.

When you have the design just as you want it, change your printer to "poster" setting. This will print the picture out on several pages maintaining the original size. 

Once it is printed, just tape it together. Trim any excess along the edges. You need to make it narrow enough to slip inside your pillow.

Slide your design into your pillow case. This is why you needed a thinner material. Now you can clearly see the design through the fabric, and it is time to start tracing!

Once you have traced your design, remove the paper and place wax paper inside your pillow. This will keep the paint from bleeding through onto the back of the pillow.

Let the painting commence!

I used two smaller brushes to paint the design on. Because I chose swirly-fancy-shmancy cursive font, it did take a while to make it perfect. Luckily I had a good movie on to keep me occupied. Side note: don't you just love requisitioning your kids stuff for your own purposes? Thanks kiddos for the use of your Sesame Street table!

Once you have finished painting, let it dry overnight before removing the wax paper. Easy peasy!

I was so happy with how it turned out, I decided to make another.

Happy crafting!!  Love the pillows but don't have the time to make them yourself, order them from our etsy shop!

DIY Burlap Thanksgiving Table Runner

We are in turkey month! I love November. A whole month to refocus on being thankful for the blessings in my life. Including turkey.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing special DIY Thanksgiving projects for your table and home.

Today we will start with this beautifully simple and easily customized burlap table runner!

The first step was creating my design. I wanted to keep things simple this year, with a focus on what Thanksgiving is about: Giving Thanks. The fall leaves seemed like the perfect fit with the burlap.

I have a huge crush on burlap this Fall. It is easy to work with and very forgiving.

I started by measuring my table length and then adding 1.5 feet, so it would dangle over the sides. For the width I have read suggestions for either 1/3 the width of the table or 14". Because I had designed my graphic to fit on a standard 8.5 x 11" paper, I chose to make my runner 11" wide.  This made it just over 1/3 of my table width.

Burlap can have frayed, uneven edges if you don't cut it right. I found this awesome tip a while back and it has provided the perfect burlap cuts every time.

Start by marking your measurements on the burlap. I just used my paper as a guide.

Next, make a small cut. Find a strand of the burlap on the inside of your cut and carefully begin to pull on it.

You can seen that removing this strand gives you a perfect line for you to cut along.

Carefully cut your burlap along the line you created when you removed the string.

Look at how neat your edges will be! To prevent any future fraying, I recommend sealing the edges with fray check.

Once you have your burlap cut to size, it is time to trace on your design.

Because of the perforations in burlap, you can easily see your design when it rests under the burlap.

To trace my design, I used permanent markers in colors matching my design. This way if I wanted to paint in the words or leaves it would all match the original colors.

I started with the words then it was on to the leaf.

At this point I changed my mind about painting the design. I really liked the simplistic nature the permanent marker gave it. However, this could easily be customized with paint, glitter, or ribbon.

Looking good, but maybe too simple. It needed a little bit more. Out came an orange and a yellow permanent marker.

 Much better. And our resident Gabe-bot approved!

Quick and fairly painless, it is the perfect runner for our Thanksgiving table. Next I will share a similar technique to make custom Thanksgiving throw pillow covers. We will also be sharing a fun tutorial for a gobble turkey sign!

As promised, here is a free printable! Simply right click the image to save your computer, then print away!

Have fun crafting! And if you make this, please share it with us! Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page!

If you don't have time to craft your own, you can purchase one from our Etsy shop here!

Use a Cheap Pair of Locking Pliers to Hold Your Hood Up!

Normal hood support rod's are $20+.  I got a 3 pack of locking pliers for $1 from Home Depot!  $19 in my pocket, I still have 2 extra locking pliers, and I don't have to fear for my head!

New Mailbox!

Our old mailbox was rotting at the base.  After letting it go for....too long, we decided it was time for a change. 

We looked around this new thing called "the internet" looking for inspiration.  When we found this mailbox and both loved it, we knew it was our stopping point. 

From www.capitaloutdooraccents.com/

At home depot we picked up these supplies:

8' 4x4 post
Bracket
Post Cap
Mailbox
60 lb concrete 

We also used some of our scrap for:

2x4 cut to 17" 
Fence picket cut to 10 1/4"x3" (decorative plate)
Fence picket cut to 18"x5 5/8" (base)
Fence picket cut to 17"x5 5/8" (base)

We cut the 4x4 to 70".

• 14" underground
• The mailbox starting 36" above ground
• 10" tall mailbox
• And we wanted the post to come 10" above the mailbox

After cutting the fence picket for the decorative plate, I used a penny as a guide to cut the rounded edges out of the bottom corners.

The mailbox has a 1" recess on the bottom for mounting, so we needed to make a base fill the void.  

I cut a fence picket piece 18"x5 5/8" which was  1/8" less then the dimensions of the mailbox's opening on bottom.  The next piece I cut to 17"x5 5/8" so there would be clearance for the mailbox to open.  I applied deck stain to the insides of both pieces, clamped and screwed them together, then stained the rest.

Megan sanded and stained all of the other pieces, and the next day we ripped that old sucker out!

Using a San Angelo Bar I pried out the old concrete base easily.  Our first time dealing with concrete that was easy, HOORAY!  I roared with victory!  I dug the whole a little deeper to about 14". 

I attempted to measure the water with my bucket for the concrete, but it had been left out in the sun and became very brittle.  

So instead I winged it, mixing the concrete to the consistency of chunky peanut butter.  Once mixed, I poured a scoopful into the hole, then placed the post in. 

My lovely assistant held the post while I shoveled in concrete, occasionally stabbing it down to release air and condense it down. 

Leveling...

Looking good!

Once it was level, we tamped down the concrete with our hoe and my feet.

I let the concrete set around the post for 24 hours before moving on. Even with just a post it was looking good!

I was still really excited about how easy the concrete was to remove!

Day 2
I started the assembly by screwing the bracket to the decorative back. To avoid visible screws, I screwed through the back of the plate into the back of the bracket.  I also screwed the 2x4 into the the top of the bracket.

Next, I clamped the plate/bracket combo and the 2x4 to the post. 

I should have used my Kreg jig before connecting everything, but I was just so excited to see the pieces together.  It was interesting trying to get the angle right for the clamp since the bracket is curved.  I screwed these pieces in with pocket holes, and put one 4" screw through the center of the bracket into the post below.

I may still wood putty and stain over that screw. Or not.

During this assembly, Gabe found the box for the mailbox and transformed into ROBOT-GABE!

After this was all together, the Chargers game started.  So....TO BE CONTINUED!  I had work after the game (yuck), but got back to finishing the job that night at 9 PM.  My neighbors love me!  I dry fit the mailbox and the base so I would know where to screw it into the 2x4.  

Best picture ever!  Of course my phone's battery was too low for flash and I was suffering from lazyitus to go and find the camera.  But it still shows the platform, and the gap on the back for the mailbox to sit into.  Screw the base into the 2x4, put the mailbox on, and screw it in!

TA-DA!

I love driving up to the house everyday.  And checking the mail.  It's the best looking mailbox on the street.