How to build simple closet shelves

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

When I first asked everyone’s advice on what we should do in our mudroom makeover, the most frequent suggestion was to pull off the closet doors and make built-in storage with a bench, cubbies, shelves and hooks. While I love that look, I knew I needed places to put things more than I needed to be able to sit down. The biggest improvement I could make to how the mudroom functioned was to build more storage in the closet.

As you saw in the reveal, I split the closet in half, putting floor to ceiling shelves at one end and a single shelf over top of a hanging rod at the other.

To build these simple shelves, I went with my go-to shelving material: white melamine. It may not be the fanciest, but this stuff is easy. It comes in 12-inch or 16-inch widths (I chose the 16) and 8 foot lengths. One long edge is pre-finished. There is no painting (although you can), no sanding, no special tools.

To support the shelves, I screwed 1x2s (which I did paint) into the wall studs with 3 inch screws. The shelves simply sit on top.

For the top shelf, I used 1×3 as I wanted a wider board to attach the rod.

The divider in the middle is a piece of melamine run vertically. There was a cut-out in the ceramic tile floor for some long-ago shelving system, so I filled that with a 2×4 and cut a channel to hold the melamine in place.

The melamine comes in 8 foot lengths, so for my 9 1/2 foot closet, I had to splice a few of the shelves. My technique was to tack a piece of melamine underneath. It’s perhaps not the most attractive solution, but tucked inside the mudroom closet I wasn’t super concerned about appearances. It’s sturdy and will easily hold a golf ball collection or anything else you want to put on it.

The sturdiness of melamine is its best feature in my opinion. As long as it’s properly supported, it can hold a decent amount of weight and won’t sag. To prevent any droopiness, it’s important to put the 1×2 supports along all three sides of the shelf, not just at either end.

I know there are much more attractive storage systems out there, but, for a behind closed doors solution, this simple set up of melamine and 1x2s works for us. Even better, it’s completely custom and accommodates exactly what we need.

How do you handle closet organization? Has anyone else built a custom storage system? Any other melamine fans out there?

We’re gonna need a bigger rug

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The famous line of “you’re gonna need a bigger boat” was uttered in reference to a murderous shark. Obviously, the mud and dirt outside our front door is less threatening than a very large fish. However, protecting the house from Mother Nature’s ongoing assault is a no less of a battle.

Most of the year, two mats at either door in the mudroom are sufficient for containing the dirt that comes in on our boots. However, in the winter, when the mud and the wet increase, a bigger rug was required.

I needed something durable that would trap lots of dirt. And it had to be cheap, of course.

Growing up, we always had a cocoa mat at the front door. And I always hated it. It was scratchy and ugly, in my naive child’s opinion. However, it worked, and when we moved into the farm last year, it was only a few weeks before I went out and bought one of my own.

Now that I needed a bigger rug, I decided cocoa was the way to go. Rona sells cocoa mat by the linear foot, so I decided to buy two strips and make my own rug with the help of some duct tape.

I “tacked” the seam every foot or so with a short piece of tape making sure to keep the two runners tight and even. Then I went over the join with a single strip of tape. My helper carefully checked everything.

I cut the rug to the exact length using a drywall square to get a perfect straight edge.

The finished rug is 52 inches wide by 9 1/2 feet long. The seam is mostly invisible.

It probably won’t keep sharks at bay, but so far it’s doing a good job of handling the dirt that keeps trying to invade the house.

Have you ever made your own rug? Are you on the like or dislike side of cocoa mat? How do you handle floor covering at your entryway?

Beautiful beat up bench

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You may have thought that after a full week of posts we were done with the mudroom. No way! It’s my first finished room. I’m going to savour this for awhile yet.

To start, I’m sharing my favourite project, my beautiful beat up rustic wood bench.

I love this bench.

My nephew Nicholas and I designed it, built it and stained it. It’s made out of one single plank that I found in the barn. I looked for the most beat up piece of wood I could find. It’s full of knots, splits and gouges. We sanded and sanded the bench so that it was smooth enough to sit on, but made sure all of the “defects” still showed through. Unfortunately, when it came to staining the bench, the wood was so thirsty that it sucked up every single drop of stain (Minwax Provincial), so the bench came out much, much darker than we expected. Some of the knots and gnarls aren’t as obvious now because of the dark tone, but I still think it has good character.

We designed the bench to some very specific requirements. We wanted the legs to be wide enough that we could put two trays of boots and shoes underneath. The seat had to be a comfortable height for sitting and also high enough that Matt’s tall boots would easily fit underneath. And we wanted it to be relatively slim so that it didn’t take up too much space in the room.

My nephew and I went back and forth on the design of the legs and finally settled on a simple upside down V cutout. I used my Kreg jig to attach the legs to the bench top. This was the first project that I used the Kreg for, and I quickly learned that the Kreg is built for standard modern day lumber. This plank was milled back when 2x4s were actually 2 inches by 4 inches, so it’s fatter than today’s lumber. We made the jig work, but it was a tight squeeze in a few spots.

It’s a very simple rustic wood bench that’s perfect in a country house. I’ve dubbed it the “Nicholas” after my design sidekick. If you want your own Nicholas, you can’t have the nephew, but you can have the bench. Click here for the plans.

Who else has a construction sidekick? Have you ever designed and built your own custom piece of furniture? Are there any other Kreg fans out there? Who else has stained a “thirsty” piece of wood? Are you a fan of the “distressed” look of beat up lumber?

Remembering

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

In a corner of my parent’s family room hangs a very special display. It is a shadow box made by my Dad, filled with photos and mementos from my grandfather’s service in World War II. There are his medals, pins, his ID bracelet (his “dog tag”), his tank drivers license, pictures from training here in Canada and with his division overseas.

The centre of the display is obviously my grandpa’s medals. It took my grandfather a long time to share these medals with the family. Growing up, my Dad never saw them. Slowly, as the years passed and grandchildren were born, my grandfather began to show us items from the war. Eventually, when we went to the annual Remembrance Day service, he wore his medals.

My Grandma and Grandpa in 2000

My grandfather did not talk about the war. My Dad asked him once and has a single page of notes from the conversation. It was obviously very hard for my grandfather to remember that time.

Perhaps that is why Remembrance Day is so important to me. I don’t know what my grandpa went through when he was overseas, but I know it had a big impact on him. Therefore, today, I take the time to remember him and to be grateful.

For last year’s Remembrance Day post, click here.

Mudroom reveal

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This post has been a long time coming, and I’m not meaning just this week. Fixing up the mudroom was on the fall to do list last year. I started the project but never quite finished it. However, I am now declaring the mudroom done, and today is the day for the reveal–the first room reveal on the blog.

Aren’t you just so excited?

I know I am!

Just a reminder, here’s where we started.

And here’s where we are today.

Better?

As I said at the beginning of the week, this was a cheap and cheerful update, so paint was the most important weapon in my arsenal. I took down the hooks on the walls and the old shelving in the closet, stripped the pinwheel wallpaper, patched the drywall and spread nice fresh paint over all of the walls–simple white primer in the closet, Wythe Blue on the walls and Cloud White on the trim.

Painting the trim was the biggest delay on this project. I just could not motivate myself to do it, so the mudroom sat with blue walls and flesh trim all through the winter and spring. However, when we were trying to convince Baxter to spend time in the outdoor dog run, the mudroom proved to be a good place to hang out. I could listen for barking or whining to assess how he was doing, and I could see when he escaped… all while painting trim.

Along with addressing form, I also had to address function, which mostly meant the closet. I decided to split the closet in half, allocating one part for hanging some of our outdoor gear and storing taller items and at the other end adding floor to ceiling shelves for everything from shoes to cat treats to dog toys to work gloves to sport equipment.

I reused the two sets of hooks from the old mudroom, installing the wire one in the cupboard and removing the three wrought iron hooks from their backing board and hanging them vertically to handle leashes, the towel we use to wipe Baxter’s feet before he comes in the house and our ever-so-handy shoe horn.

This ridiculous woman made me climb up on this bench when everyone knows dogs are not allowed on the furniture. I’ll just stare at my leash and think happy thoughts until she’s finished with that clicky thing. #pleasesendhelp

The bench that Baxter’s not so fond of is just about my favourite part of the makeover. It’s just a simple rustic bench, but it gives us a place to sit down and put on or our take off our shoes. Plus our most frequently worn shoes and boots tuck conveniently onto trays underneath. My Pinterest challenge umbrella stand hangs out in one corner and in the opposite a galvanized metal pail (Knodd from Ikea) holds bird seed. A large cocoa fibre mat covers the floor to trap dirt, leaves and puddles.

This is about the limit of the accessorizing I’ve done in the mudroom, unless you count rotating display of feathers, pebbles, egg shells and nests that I bring home and arrange on the window sill.

The mudroom is not heated, so we’re strategic about what we store out here. For example, on a freezing winter morning I can handle putting on chilly boots, but I absolutely need a warm coat. So coats live in the closet inside the house, and boots live on the tray under the bench.

The best thing about this makeover is that everything now has a place. Need a pair of safety glasses? I know exactly where they are. Hungry cats at the door? Oh look, here are some treats for them. Found a golf ball? Add it to Matt’s stash.

The second best thing about the makeover is that the first impression of our house is no longer cloaked in the smell of manure. For some reason, that’s what the mudroom smelled like when we first took possession. Yuck.

And yes, I do consider being organized more important than being not smelly.

In the category of “even better if,” I didn’t do anything to the popcorn ceiling, the boob light, or the unpainted front doors, so there could still be some work if I feel like it. For now, I don’t, and I’m not really too concerned with these leftovers.

The one thing that I really should fix is the doorbell. I managed to kill it during the makeover when I was trimming a section of drywall to prepare it for patching. (Don’t tell Matt. All he knows is the bell stopped working. He doesn’t know it’s because I accidentally cut through the wires). A wireless version would be a good fix… and prevent any future mishaps.

Overall, I’m thrilled with the mudroom, even though it doesn’t yet match my ultimate vision. This is a good interim solution. It looks nice. It works well. It was a simple update, and we didn’t have to spend a lot of money. Let’s look at it one more time, shall we?

I may be a year later than planned in finishing this project, but we are finally all set for whatever mud or snow Mother Nature throws at us this winter. And I’m even more thrilled to cross one room off my to-do list.

So, what do you think of the makeover? I know a lot of people were voting for opening up the closet and putting in some built-ins. Are you on board with my interim solution? How are you getting ready for winter at your house? Who hates painting trim? Has anyone else spent a full year making over one room?

Mudroom inspiration

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

How many people dream of a mudroom that looks like this?

Mudroom with built in cabinetry and brick floor

Mudroom by Country Club Homes via Houzz

Yeah. Me too.

This was not in the cards for our mudroom update.

Some day, I plan on having this mudroom. However, that will involve demoing the current mudroom, building a front porch, relocating the front door, constructing an attached garage and converting part of the pool room to my dream mudroom–complete with heated floor and built-in cabinetry. This is a project that is somewhat, shall we say, down the road.

My current mudroom project was all about the budget challenge: make the room both functional and pretty for minimal money. That meant DIYing, reusing and lipsticking. You know, a makeover, not plastic surgery.

The first decision that I made was exactly what colour of lipstick. It might be an unconventional choice for make-up, but I knew I wanted to go blue–something like the sky outside. The mudroom is a transitional space between inside and out. It seemed appropriate to reference nature. While paint usually intensifies when it’s put on the walls, I was worried that the colour actually might appear lighter in the mudroom, given the number of windows we have. When I saw Wythe Blue on House of Turquoise, I knew I’d found my paint.

Wythe Blue via House of Turquoise

I may be more than a year late to the Wythe Blue party, given that Benjamin Moore named it colour of the year for 2012, but I finally made it.

Inspired by this entryway update from Casa de Lewis, I considered installing paneling, or board and batten, or even just a very simple plate rail.

Board and batten entryway from Casa de Lewis

But then I remembered that with two doors, a window and a large closet, actual wall space was pretty limited, and I decided that extra mill work wasn’t worth the effort (plus, let’s be real here, it would have upped the budget ever so slightly, and I am super cheap).

I also wanted a place to sit down and put on/take off my shoes. By that I mean, a better place than the park bench plopped in front of the closet doors. A simple rustic bench with enough space to tuck boots underneath would do nicely.

Rustic bench from Amy & Eric McVey on Design Sponge

My final inspiration is for a project you’ve already seen: the umbrella stand inspired by Karen’s Country-Living-inspired basket–wow, that’s very inspirational.

Rustic basket inspired by Country Living via The Art of Doing Stuff

My plan was to put it all together, cross my fingers and hope that when it came time for the big reveal, I had a tearjerker What Not To Wear moment and not an Extreme Makeover gone wrong.

And that will be coming up next.

What’s your favourite shade of blue paint? Have you added paneling on your walls? How do you handle seating in your entryway? Are you a What Not To Wear fan? Who remembers Extreme Makeover when it was plastic surgery?

Mudroom before

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

How many of you out there dream of a proper mudroom? [Both hands way up]

I have always wanted a mudroom–a place to put jackets, shoes, bags, mail, keys, boots, gloves, hats, toys, leashes and everything else that seems to live in that in-between space of outside and in.

Since moving to the farm, I’ve learned that a mudroom is a necessity. Because, you see, there’s mud.

A transitional space where the mud (and leaves, grass, gravel, dirt and all of the bits that surround us) can stay is essential. Sure some of mother nature still ends up in the house, but sometimes she stops in the mudroom to look around first.

Fortunately, our house came with a mudroom. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite match up to the vision in my head.

Here are the befores, starting with a not-at-all-weird panoramic image composed of three pictures. At this point, I’d added a mat in front of the door and some boot trays in an attempt to corral some of the dirt. The bench was supposed to give people a place to sit down and take off their shoes. The fact that it was placed in front of the closet was only slightly inconvenient.

The good feature was that it was a big room (9 1/2 feet by 9 feet) with lots of natural light.

There was lots of space in the closet (if only we could access it) although the storage wasn’t as functional as it could have been. At the one end, the shelving was held up with the metal posts people normally use to stake trees. Of course, they were rusted.

The not so good features were that it was all the same flesh tone. And that flesh tone was made up of lots of different textures.

There was the painted anaglypta wallpaper on the closet doors, the pinwheel wallpaper on most of the walls, the painted brick where the addition tied into the original house and to top it all off the popcorn ceiling.

This definitely was not the first impression I wanted to give when people came to my house. And it’s not the first thing I wanted to see when I came home at night.

Stick around, and I’ll show you what I did to fix it.

But first, I want to hear from you. What’s your favourite feature of the original mudroom? What would you do to fix it? Do you have a mudroom? What is absolutely essential in your dream mudroom?

Building a family tradition

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

There’s a tradition in my family of working on projects together. Always. For as long as I can remember. Take this picture, for example, of my Dad and I building a bird feeder. I had probably just turned four that fall.

Here’s my Dad and I posing with the finished product (and my little sister) as we put seed in the feeder for the first time.

Fortunately I have a nephew who likes building things with me, so I’m able to carry on the tradition that my parents established. When he and his brother came to stay with us for a few days, building a bird feeder was top on my list of projects.

Using the measurements from my Dad’s feeder, we drew it out on a sheet of 5/8 plywood. He held the wood in place while I cut out the pieces with my skilsaw. Then, we switched jobs, and I held the pieces while he nailed them together. We used a bit of wood glue on each joint and some 1 1/4 inch finishing nails.

If I was to build another bird feeder, I might consider painting it before putting it together, but let’s face it, when working with an almost 14 year old, waiting for paint to dry is as exciting as… well… watching paint dry. So we put the feeder together and, after letting the glue set, I was on my own for painting (and yes, I used pretty much the rattiest piece of plywood I could possibly find for the roof).

A few quick coats of paint on the feeder and one coat of Tremclad on the pole that my cousin welded for us–seriously, the most sturdy bird feeder post I’ve ever seen–the feeder was ready to go outside.

As my nephew hasn’t come back to visit yet, Matt stepped in as my helper. He hammered the post into the ground, and I screwed the feeder onto the post. Still nephew-less, I did the first ceremonial seed dump on my own.

Perhaps the birdies are waiting for his return before they partake of the seeds, because no one has come to test out the feeder as far as I’m able to tell.

I’m thinking it could be because they feel the feeder is a little exposed. I put it on the turnaround where I can easily see it from the dining room table. However, that means there’s no bushes or trees close by for cover.

Birds do hang out on the turnaround, so I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time before they discover the feeder. I know the design appeals because nearly 30 years later my parents still have the same feeder in their backyard, and they have a steady stream of customers.

If you’re interested in building a bird feeder of your very own, I drew out the plans and you can download them here. This is a perfect project to do with kids because it’s quick and there’s lots of parts they can help with. And if the birds ever show up, I’m sure they’ll like watching them snack too.

Do you have a bird feeder? What bird seed do you use? Any tips for enticing birds to a feeder? Do you like to build things with your children or nieces or nephews? Or did you build things with your parents when you were growing up?

Trick & treat

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

In honour of Hallowe’en, Baxter wants to show you his tricks.

Dude does love his treats.

Happy Hallowe’en from Baxter (and Matt and me). Haaaaaa-woooooo! (That was a howl).

What tricks does your dog know? Any suggestions of what tricks Baxter should learn? Any training tips to share?

Check out last year’s Hallowe’en post, our Drac-o-Lantern, here.

Charmed

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a treasure post, and I wore one of my most precious treasures the other week, so I was inspired to write about it.

This is my charm bracelet.

It was a gift from my grandmother when I was young. She had two charm bracelets herself: one gold and one silver. I remember them as being loaded with charms and full of memories. My ambition is to create the same with my bracelet. Over the years, I’ve slowly added to it, always looking for opportunities to remember a special trip or a momentous occasion with a charm. Friends and family know that I collect charms, so they also give them to me every so often. Every link now has one charm, and a few have two.

I can tell you where each charm came from and who gave it to me. It started as a memory of my grandmother, but it has become so much more… so many people and places that have been special in my life.

Just in case I ever forget–or on the off chance you’re curious what everything is–I’m including the list here. Bottom row left to right: teddy bear charm from my friend Catherine, bag piper from Halifax, Nova Scotia, green stone bear from Jasper National Park in Alberta, Hershey kiss from a visit to the Hershey factory during a family trip, heart locket (my very first charm given to me by my grandmother when she gave me the bracelet), goose from my mother, maple leaf from myself, thimble to symbolize my love of sewing, Cupid given to me by my grandmother one Valentine’s Day, coin from Matt’s and my trip to Cuba, good luck symbol from my friend Catherine’s trip to Mexico, 20th birthday (and the year 2000) charm from my aunt, amethyst from my Dad and sister from a school camping trip to Sudbury, knitting needles and a ball of wool to symbolize my love of knitting, green stone totem pole from Jasper National Park, round charm from my university, fairy from my friend Laurie. Along the top, there is a running shoe from my brother Adam to symbolize my love of running, a sapphire (my birthstone) from Matt, and interlinked hearts from my sister’s engagement party.

Over the weekend, I picked up a new charm to add to the bracelet. At my sister’s baby shower, her mother-in-law had charms of baby footprints.

I think this will be a great memento of my newest niece or nephew. This baby will be the first grandchild on my side of the family, so it’s definitely a momentous occasion.

Anyone else have a charm bracelet? Do you collect mementos? How do you remember special times in your life?