How to make a tall narrow dresser

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

When I reorganized the tiny nook in my office, I knew that I had to add some kind of storage. A dresser was the ideal solution. Drawers would allow me to tuck things away, and the surface would give me a spot to write notes and set my purse and keys.

So I had some pretty specific requirements: drawers, about counter top height, oh, and it had to fit in the nook, which was 16 inches deep by 24 inches wide. Of course, it also had to be cheap.

Well, I had no luck finding a piece of furniture that met those standards. However, I soon realized that nightstands often have drawers and are usually small enough to fit this little space. While nightstands are much shorter than countertop height, they usually come in pairs. Couldn’t I just stack them one on top of another?

It turns out, yep, I can.

Here’s what I started with. Two little nightstands I found at the Salvation Army thrift store for $12 each.

First step of any furniture makeover: remove the drawers and the hardware. It turned out that one of the drawers contained a plastic hardhat, so I got distracted by that for a little while. Consider this your PSA to always wear safety equipment (hardhat, safety glasses and ear protection) while DIYing.

Anyways, back to work. I started taking apart the dressers. I popped the backs off of each of them. Then I took the top off one and the bottom off another. The nightstands came apart really easily. The backs were just stapled in place. The top was attached to corner blocks that were screwed in place. The decorative trim at the bottom was tacked with some little nails. I needed a few different tools, and I was thankful for my stubby screwdrivers that fit in some of the tighter nooks and crannies, but dismantling these pieces of furniture was not a taxing task.

Once they were apart, it was time for something that was a little more taxing: cutting. The nightstand that was going on the bottom had to be trimmed along the top, and the one that was becoming the top half had to be cut down along the bottom. Clear? I measured the spacing between the drawers to figure out exactly where to make my cut and marked the line with painters tape.

Four quick slices with my circular saw, and the dressers were the right height. I set them on top of each other and was super excited. It was looking like I envisioned.

Now I just had to figure out how to actually attach the two halves. When I’d taken apart the dressers, I’d removed some side braces. I was able to reuse those pieces on the inside of the dresser. I ran them half on the bottom and half on the top and screwed right through the side into the brace. My dresser was now all one piece and it was solid, but it was ugly. No amount of wood filler was going to fix that joint.

The solution was overlaying a very thin panel along the whole side. I had 1/8 inch MDF, which I cut down to the exact dimensions of the side of the dresser. I tacked it in place with small finishing nails, and it covered up the gap completely.

A bit of wood filler camouflaged the joint on the front of the dresser. While I had the wood filler out, I filled the holes on the drawers where the original pulls had been and a few other spots on the dresser where the veneer was chipped.

After a light sanding all over, I primed the dresser and drawers, and then they all got a coat of creamy white paint–Cloud White in Benjamin Moore’s Advance formula. This was my first time using Advance, and I really like it. The finish is nice and smooth (I used a foam roller), it has none of the stickiness that you sometimes get with latex after it dries, and it has been very durable. In the past, I’ve used heavy duty oil paints on furniture or cabinets. The clean up is a pain and the stench is noxious. None of that is an issue with Advance, and in my opinion it’s held up just as well as an oil finish.

The finishing touch for the dresser was new crystal (plastic) nobs. This is one area where I got a bit neurotic. The nobs that I chose had a metal post that went through the middle. The posts were brushed nickel. I’m not a fan. Plus, I already had oil-rubbed bronze and gold/brass elsewhere in the office. I’m not good with mixing metals, so I spray painted all of the metal pins with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. It was easy, but probably not entirely necessary.

As you saw last week, the dresser fits perfectly in the nook. It ended up being the exact right height, and I’m loving having all of the drawers to keep me organized.

What second hand furniture have you made over? Have you ever made two pieces into one? How do you handle hard-to-furnish spots with specific dimensions?

My best girl

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Lest you think my transformation into a dog person has made me forget about the kitty-cats, this post is all about our furry feline family members. Of course, the star of this post is my best girl, Ralph.

For those that have been following along since the beginning, you’ll recall that Ralph came with the farm. She made our first spring more interesting by giving us four kittens to add to our little family. In time, Gypsy, June and Rex all moved on to their own families. Our pick of the litter, Easter, stayed with us for a year and a half before striking out on her own.

The kittens’ birthday is today. While we don’t know Ralph’s birthday or even how old she is, she’s definitely worthy of celebration and today seems like a fitting day.

Ralphie is a superstar barn cat. She made it through the winter before we came to the farm by herself, although she was pretty skinny that first spring. She catches birds, bunnies, as well as more regular feline fare of rodents. She also enjoys her nightly serving of kibble, in case you can’t tell from the photo comparison below of how she looked two years ago and how she looks now.

She has a few battle scars, the most noticeable being her left eye. When we took her to the vet our first spring, he thought she might have had a scratch at some point, and it flares up every so often. Some days are worse than others and recently it’s been particularly bad. Despite appearances, it doesn’t seem to cause her pain or impact her hunting ability, so we’ve made the choice to let her live with it and not subject her to medication or additional vet visits.

As tough as she is, she also has a soft side when it comes to Matt and me. As soon as we enter the barn, she comes looking for scratches. Belly rubs are favourites–she’s such a fierce barn cat.

You may recall that when we first came to the farm, Ralph had a sidekick, Bert. Bert made himself scarce when the kittens arrived. He was replaced by Tom, a very bold male cat, who came around every so often. Once we had Easter spayed, Tom lost interest.

Cow Cat started coming to visit more than a year ago when Easter was still here. Easter left last fall, but Cow Cat has stayed. He’s been around so long that Matt insisted that he had to have a proper name. He is now known as Harold. Harold is still super duper skittish, so we’re not even sure he’s a he. We’ve made some progress, though. Last spring, his reaction when he saw us was bolt or pancake.

He doesn’t let us get too close, and he still runs away if we come into the barn while he’s there. However, he will now stay in the barn and just watch us from the corner.

While he may not like us, he seems to like Ralph. I’m glad she has a buddy. She definitely is our best girl and deserves only good things. Happy Ralph day, girl.

Are you a cat or a dog person? Or are you both? Any tips to help us warm up Harold? How do you celebrate your pet’s birthdays?

Office nook details

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Thanks everyone for your very kind comments on the nook in my office. Today I’m going to go into more detail on the particulars of this little corner.

Starting at the top, there is the bulletin board. I’ve always been a bulletin board kind of girl. Whiteboards just don’t work as well for me. For this tiny nook, I needed something tall and narrow, which meant custom. I’ll share the details of how I made this bulletin board next week. It’s a simple wood frame that I spray painted gold, and the cork is covered in one of my favourite fabrics, Brissac Jewel by P Kaufmann Fabric. I’ve had this piece of fabric for close to five years. I’m really glad that I decided to use it here. Its beautiful colours make me happy.

Our calendar hangs beside the bulletin board. It’s just a freebie wall calendar hanging from a simple cup hook. It’s basic, but it’s so helpful to get things out of my head and organized on paper where both Matt and I can see them. (Ignore the unpatched screw hole and the two-tone paint).

Continuing our way down, we come to the top of the dresser. This was always meant to be a place to set my purse and keys when I come home from work. My dear friend made me a handy little tray that’s perfect for my keys. She took a picture frame, removed the back, added cork feet to the underside and put a pretty piece of sparkly paper inside. I love the blend of the slightly rustic wood frame with the sparkle of the paper.

I’ve had the little lamp for pretty much as long as I can remember. My grandpa rewired it when I was little, and it’s been with me ever since. Growing up in my childhood bedroom it had a pretty pink shade. This newest shade is a second hand burlap one that I picked up at Value Village. The burlap is a nice contrast with the glass base. I’ve gotten into the habit of turning on the lamp at night before we head down to the basement to watch TV. It casts such a nice glow in the hallway when I come back upstairs to go to bed. Definitely my favourite look for this nook.

The anchor of the nook is obviously the dresser. Since I was working with such specific dimensions in this spot, finding the right piece of furniture was a bit of a challenge. As usual, DIY is the best solution. I’ll be sharing the tutorial of how I made the dresser next week.

This piece is small but mighty. Four drawers give me lots of space to tuck away everything: pens, paper, tape, chargers, receipts waiting to be filed, coupons, bits of paper, even extra tools and flashlights. In the top drawer, a cutlery organizer that I picked up at Value Village fits perfectly. In the other three drawers, I used IHeart Organizing’s Cereal Box Drawer Organizers to keep everything neat and tidy. (Yes, even my hammer now lives in a box wrapped in flowered pink paper).

The elements of this nook have come together slowly over the past few months. With each new addition, I feel more organized. I’ve spent the time to think about what I need and what makes sense to include in this corner. Even better, it’s not just functional. It’s pretty too.

What makes you feel organized? Are you a fan of bulletin boards or white boards? How do you blend pretty and functional?

Office nook before and after

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

My office is a room of many issues, but there’s one corner that gets the award for most-improved.

It’s a wee tiny alcove just inside the door. The space measures 16 inches deep by 24 inches wide. When we moved in, and for the first year and a half of living here, this space was fitted with some ridiculous built in shelving. The fact that it started at about five feet in the air and went up to the ceiling made it basically unusable.

Not that you’d want to use it anyway. It was filthy.

Can I just ask why things in this house have to be both weird and gross? I mean, shelving that’s over your head out of reach isn’t enough? It also has to be disgusting?

One night, I snapped and decided that the shelving had to come down. Of course, it turned out it wasn’t that simple. The shelving had been installed all in one piece before the door casing was put on, and even once I unscrewed it from the wall, it wasn’t going anywhere. Smushing the shelving into a parallelogram allowed me to slide it past the casing and get it out of the nook. Then a set of Allen keys allowed me to take it apart into its composite melamine pieces. There were a few dings in the wall, but otherwise it was a victory. The nook was empty.

Painting the office will happen all at once sometime in the future. So for now I wasn’t worried about patching the drywall or dealing with the two tone paint that removing the shelf had uncovered. I did want to make the space more functional, though, and I didn’t want to wait.

The office is right off the kitchen, so I decided that this was a perfect spot to build a bit of a command centre. A place for the grocery list, a calendar, important numbers, even a spot to put my purse and keys when I come home at the end of the day.

I needed some storage, some display and lots of organization. Here’s what I came up with.

It may be a weird tiny space, but I’ve packed a lot of function into this little corner. In the next post, I’ll share the details of exactly what went into my organized nook.

Has anyone else transformed a very small area? Do you have a command centre at your house? What are your tips for dealing with a small space?

May days

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

May has arrived, and work outside has begun. Landscaping remains the biggest project at the farm, and the biggest to-do this year.

The plan for this month is to focus my attention outdoors. I have only a few months of nice weather, so if I’m going to continue knocking things off the landscaping master list, I need to take advantage of every day.

Here are some of the projects I’m considering this month:

Turnaround

Weed the flower garden half (I gave up on planting flowers last fall and decided that half the turnaround can be grass for now)
Spread wood chips on flower garden
Make a top for the bird bath
Put the bird bath in place
Place the bench
Continue to fill in the garden with more plants

Front garden

Edge the garden
Transplant a few bushes, trees and other plants out of this bed and into some of the other gardens (especially the turnaround)
Fill in the pit from the woodstove chimney
Fix the downspouts
Weed as I go

“What do you mean you have to weed?”

Trees

Pick up fallen branches
Cut branches to firewood lengths
Split firewood
Burn brush

Grass

Add top soil beside the front stoop and seed
Overseed in front of raised bed under the dining room window
Rake solar trench smooth and seed

Hoses

Turn on water to exterior taps
Install hoses at side and back of house
Install a proper hose bib at the driveshed
1. Shorten waterline
2. Attach to waterline to wall
3. Install a splitter so that I can someday add another hose bib at the opposite corner of the driveshed
4. Reinstall tap on shortened waterline
5. Install hose hanger
6. Hook up hose

This list might be a bit ambitious for one month. Plus, I have to confess I don’t have sole responsibility for completing all of these tasks. When it comes to the tree clean-up, I’ll be relying on Matt and his Dad for their chainsaws and log splitter. Some of the transplanting will go easier with Matt’s help on the digging. My Dad will work with me on the plumbing for the driveshed waterline.

My plan is to focus on one area per week (or weekend)–weather, support crew and motivation permitting, of course.

Have you started outdoor work at your house yet? What’s on your gardening list? Seeding? Weeding? Transplanting? Watering?

April report

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s the last post of April, so time to report on my accomplishments for the month.

My plans for April consisted of a few leftovers from March and a theme of “green.” So how’d I do?

Finish the projects for my home and work offices

I just can’t seem to motivate myself to complete the last few details for prettying up my work office. But my home office is getting much more organized and looking much prettier.

~~Add organizers to the new dresser and start filling the drawers~~ – Done April 27
~~Make bulletin boards for my home~~ and work offices – One done April 20
Recover the shade from my work office desk lamp

Don’t spend any green (on the house)

I didn’t spend any money on the house (I had purchased all of the supplies for my office projects long ago). In fact, I didn’t spend much money at all… aside from a completely unnecessary parking ticket. Country girl goes to the city and forgets the side of the street you can park on depends on whether you’re in the first or second half of the month… argh.
We spent a whole lot of green on the solar panels. As much as it hurt to write the massive cheque, we were very happy that we were able to pay for them in full without borrowing any money.

Go with green projects

The solar panels are obviously about as green as we can get. Our hook-up was delayed by one day, but on Friday the inspector cleared us, and we were connected to the grid.
For my office projects, I was able to reuse some supplies I already had like spray paint, fabric and the boxes I made into dividers.

Start planning for a green (outdoor) project

At the start of the month, I said that I’d like to get a few quotes to see if it’s possible to get some help to clear the brush from the east shore of the pond. I’m not going to be hiring any help until our bank account recovers from the solar payment, so I’m back to DIYing it. Anyone have a bush hog I can borrow?
On the DIY front, two gardens have been weeded. Two more gardens have been de-edged of stones. Some of the grass has been raked. Brush has been cleared off of about half the vegetable garden area. And our free trees have been planted.

When I set my goals for April, I said that I was giving myself a bit of a break. Last Saturday afternoon, I actually crawled into bed and took a nap–unheard of for me. Even though I gave myself permission to take it a bit easier this month, I still feel I did a lot in April.

What did you do in April? Who else is getting organized? Going green? Saving money?

Project Replant

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You may remember that our trees took a bit of a beating during the Christmas ice storm. So you can imagine that I did a double take when driving home on Friday I heard the words, “Lowes is giving away free trees this Saturday” come out of my radio. Free trees? Even better, I didn’t hear any words like “conditions apply” or “minimum purchase required.”

I walked in the house said something like, “Free trees!” to Matt and then dashed to my computer to look up the details.

It was true! Lowes was giving away 2,000 trees. And one of the locations was our local store.

The giveaway was called Project Replant, and the idea was to “help rebuild some of the tree canopy lost in … the ice storm.”

The giveaway started at 9:30, but I wanted to be absolutely sure I got a tree, so I got to the store 45 minutes early. Twenty-six other keeners were already lined up in front of me. About a half hour later, Matt arrived and joined the end of the line. Yay, another much needed tree!

There were coffee and hot chocolate and donuts and great camaraderie amongst the people in the line. The Lowes staff kept the hot drinks flowing and walked the line chatting with people. When the trees were finally wheeled out, I thought that people were going to cheer. They were 1 gallon red maples, about 4-5 ft. tall, and normally cost $30 each. But Saturday they were free!

And Sunday they were in the ground.

Our poor willow beside the driveway took such a beating over the winter and a tree-lined driveway is one of my big wants, so one tree went there.

On the turnaround our big maple only lost a few branches, but it looks so fragile and old that I’m not sure how much longer it will last, so we decided we’d better get a new tree started sooner rather than later. (Especially since the new trees are so small. In the photo below, you can see the metal stake that we used to keep the tree straight better than the tree itself).

Small or not, the trees are so nice to have. Thank you, Lowes.

Did anyone else get anything free this weekend? Did you do any gardening? Any tips to help our trees get established and make sure they survive?

The artist in the family

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Back in January when I posted about the special painting by Matt’s grandpa that we received for Christmas, a couple of people expressed interest in seeing more of his artwork. You caught a little glimpse of the paintings when I shared the hallway reveal. Today I’m going to give you a closer look.

Matt’s grandpa was a draughtsman. He worked on the Avro Arrow, which in the 1950s was Canada’s most-advanced (and most expensive) jet aircraft.

Painting was his greatest hobby. He painted portraits, still lifes and landscapes.

The four pieces that we’ve hung on the main floor are landscapes featuring rustic buildings.

There’s the two barns that Matt’s parents had framed for us for Christmas. We hung this painting in the foyer. When we were searching for our farm, a lot of the properties we toured had pictures, paintings or aerial shots of the farms hanging inside the entryways. Since this painting looks like it might as well have been painted at our farm, it was the perfect choice for a welcoming image right inside the front door.

Along the hall, the two smaller images are of Matt’s aunts’ former cottages. Matt remembers spending time at the green cottage as a child. His aunt has since sold it, and I never had a chance to visit.

The red cottage has been knocked down and a new cottage built in its place. Matt’s aunt and uncle still have the property. In fact, this is the cottage that we visit every fall. It’s special to have this very personal record of two memorable family places.

The large painting at the end of the hall shows the garage at Matt’s grandpa’s house. Surprisingly, this painting was stored away and unframed for decades. The sunlight in this picture is beautiful. It’s my favourite painting out of all of Matt’s grandpa’s pieces.

I’ve always said that I’d like to own some original art. I realized as I was writing this post that I do. Most artists make art because they love it, not as a “job.” As far as I know, Matt’s grandpa never tried to sell his paintings. He was prolific, and he painted because he loved it. He was most definitely an artist, and I’m very proud to display his paintings in our house.

Looking to hook-up

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Today is connection day.

We have a very long, very expensive wire running from the solar panels on the barn, into the inverters affixed to the wall, through metres of conduit, along the 300+ foot trench and up into the box on the pole.

Today is the day our feed makes it to the top of the pole, into the power lines and back into the grid.

That is, as long as everyone shows up when they’re supposed to, the work passes all of the inspections and the right wires get plugged into the right spots.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. Tomorrow when the sun comes up, we should finally be generating electricity.

(And yes, I will do a post with all of the details on our solar project once we’re up and running).

What exciting happenings do you have going on this Wednesday?

Update: Connection was a no-go. The hydro inspector wanted to see the wire and conduit laying in the trench, but the trench was back-filled. The excavator is back sitting in the driveway and the trench has been dug out. We have a conditional pass, but we can’t connect until he inspects the trench. We’re still crossing our fingers.

Easter egg

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As we wrap up Easter, I thought I would share a special family heirloom that has figured in our annual celebrations for as long as I can remember.

This antique silver egg coddler belonged to my grandmother. Every Easter, she would display it on her coffee table.

I like to collect silver, so I was very honoured to add this piece to my collection when my grandmother passed away.

This dish is notable for the bird and her nest that form a kind of handle at the top the large egg. This bird was never attached when I was growing up. At some point, it had broken off, so each Easter my grandmother just perched it on top of the nest. A few years ago, I found an outstanding silversmith, and he was able to rebuild the bird’s legs and put her back on her nest. There are still some obvious quality issues with the dish, but I didn’t want to make too many repairs given the age of the piece.

When you lift off the lid, inside there is a frame to hold six (very small) eggs.

I believe how this would have worked was you would fill the inside with boiling water and place your eggs in the holder. At the bottom of the dish, there is a spot for a burner of some kind, which would keep the water hot and cook the eggs.