Book Shelves in tight places

I made these book shelves to fit behind my laundry room door right next to where my kids hang their backpacks.  Since the beginning of the school year my kids have been using the top of the dryer as their "locker" to throw their books and binders onto when they don't have to take them to school.  I'm hoping these bookshelves will solve this messy problem and that I can reclaim the space on the top of my dryer.

The shelves cost me $15.  I bought a 1/4 inch thick piece of sanded plywood measuring 23.75" X 48".  I decided to make the shelves 23.75 inches wide, and figured out all other dimensions based on how I could get 3 shelves out of it.  I have about a 5" strip of wood left over.  This was a quick and easy project and fits perfectly in my tight space!

Build a Headboard for Less than $25

A few months ago I saw a picture of a beautiful headboard on Pinterest, but there were no design plans, so I made some myself. This headboard is very lightweight and just sits between the bed and the wall.  It's also cheap and it only took me two hours to make.  Enjoy!

Materials List:

1 - 1"x6"x6' Common Board (cut it in half length-wise)
3 - 1"x2"x8' Furring Strip
Round Reed - probably 20'-50'. I bought 1/4" round reed on Amazon. 5mm would work, as well.
       You can buy it here.

 Dimensions:

Cut List:

*Cut the 1"x6" in half length-wise to obtain two 2.25"x6' lengths

2 - 2.25"x55"

3 - 2"x55.5" (add pocket holes to each end)

2 - 2"x17" (add pocket holes to each end)

Directions:

Step 1: Attach one 2"x55.5" piece between two 2.25"x55" pieces, 3.5" from the top. 

 Step 2: Attach another 2"x55.5" piece, 9" from the bottom. This is a support piece to help the headboard keep its shape.

Step 3: Attach the two 2"x17" pieces.  Place them 17" in from either side. 

Step 4: Attach the final 2"x55.5" piece below the two 2"x17" pieces. Sand all surfaces to make sure that the joints are smooth. 

 Step 5: Insert the reed pieces. I did this by using a drill bit that matched the width of my reed to drill holes into the wood. I angled the holes to match the angle of insertion for the reed. I would hold the reed section in place to determine the hole angle. The reeds can be cut using garden shears.

(Checking to make sure it fit right behind the bed)

Step 6: Stain or paint the headboard in your desired color.  After staining you can add a little wood glue into each reed hole and reinsert the reeds to permanently hold them in place.  

Ta-da! Here's the finished product.  It's held up between the bed and the wall, and I placed a command strip behind each top corner to keep the headboard from jostling against the wall (I hate that) when getting in and out of bed. 

It was the eggs...

It was the eggs. The eggs were the straw that broke this tired momma's back. I have been contemplating lately about making a blog to record my experiences raising 4 boys and a newborn girl all under the age of 6. I have been hesitant though, because I just don't know how many people will actually believe me. But after the day that I have had today, I decided that I need to jot down my experience in hopes that writing will keep me from running away to a remote island in the pacific ( because trust me,  it has crossed my mind several times today). So here is my story of today...

Monday: Monday's are rough. Everyone is tired from playing hard all weekend. Weekends around here provide quality time with dad, and so we play hard on the weekends. Mom is tired, dad is tired, dog is tired, kids are tired. Needless to explain further, Monday's are just hard. I know that Monday's are always difficult, and today I should have known better than try to catch upon laundry from this weekend. However, McLane was at Jill's house, Cooper was at school, and swaggy P was asleep, so I figured that it would be an appropriate time to fold the laundry. AJ and Brayden were playing outside with their tools. After folding one load of laundry AJ came into my room and told me that he and Brayden had been busy working. I figured he was talking about working with his tools, so I didn't really think much of it. But I walked into the kitchen about 2 minutes later to find egg cartons all over the floor. As I kept scanning the room, I found about 6 eggs smashed on the kitchen floor, the fridge open, the back door open, and the remaining 2&1/2 dozen eggs thrown all over the back patio.... Perfect! They sure had been working. :)
At is point I had a decision to made. Do I scream and shout and cry and clean? Or do I laugh and teach and clean? I decided to choose the laughing option. I talked to them calmly about how eggs are not balls, or toys, and that we shouldn't throw them. Then I got busy cleaning it up. Meanwhile, as I am cleaning, Jill brings McLane home through the back gate because we didn't answer the door. AFter explaining to her the mess that I'm cleaning, Daisy decides to let herself out for a morning run. That's when the tears started. ( anyone that knows Daisy will know exactly why I cried when she got out).
Neighbors were texting telling me that Daisy was out. A couple of neighbors came over to let me know that she was running around. Paige was asleep so I couldn't chase her too far from home. After an hour of her running and me attemping to lure her with pieces of cheese thrown all over the street, Brayden decided to wake paigr upby jumping on her face. so with a run away dog and a screaming newborn, I loaded the kids in the car to chase down Daisy. The first time she saw that it was us in the car she ran away. So we made another loop around the block. She finally jumped in the car and we took off. I had to get out. I called josh to tell him that I was driving to the mountains to drop off Daisy in some field far away. My blood was boiling. McLane, in tears, tells me that I can not leave Daisy. He loves her and wants to keep her and is afraid that I will made her sad. We drove until I stopped crying and the kids all fell asleep. We came home and I planned to take a nice long shower, in hopes to save the day from getting much worse.
But, Just as we are leaving to get Cooper, AJ tells me he pooped in his undies. As I'm cleaning him up, Brayden pees on the floor. I clean that up. Load up the kids. Late picking up Cooper. Get home to shower. Shower went great. Cooper did his homework. I made dinner. Got the kids ready for soccer.
As I'm just getting ready to load them in the car for soccer, my destructible duo decides it would be funny to turn on the hose and water the kitchen floor. I left the high powered noisel on the hose from earlier in the day when I was cleaning raw egg off my patio. Water was every where. Kitchen floor, microwave, front window, all over our dinner that I just pulled out of the oven. I'm trying to scream at them to turn it off but they can not Gra me over their laughter. They are spraying me in the face as I'm trying to get to them to turn off the water. And that is when I lost it. We are already running late. Dinner is ruined. I'm soaked. The house is soaked. The windows are soaked. Everyone to their rooms. I'm selling the dog. I'm selling your toys. I'm selling the carpet. I'm selling dinner. If we had a cat, I'd sell that too.... :)

Seriously??? I feel like I'm running a zoo around here! Hoping that tomorrow is a better, drying, less eggy day around here. :)

Another Bedroom Set

We built this set for about $45 and sold it for $200.

Table fixer-upper

This:

To this:

Sectional for our Front Room

We just finished building this last week!  Each bench is a storage bench, and all the benches can be rearranged into a bed for when we have people visit (hint hint)!

Entertainment Center

We designed and built this for our family room!