Archive for November, 2010
Checkered 8×8 print by Shannonblue Photography $25
Guest post by Luisa of Happy Serendipity blog.
Hi there! I’m Luisa and I blog at happyserendipity.com and I’m happy to be here today showing you how I designed and constructed our new coffee table. It’s a real low-budget project for which I didn’t need much and that took about 3 hours of work.
What is needed:
- 1 euro-pallet from a supermarket (they throw those away anyway so I got mine here for free)
- 2 wooden plates in the right size for the top and bottom
- 2 square timbers
- 8 connecting bolts
- a grinding machine
- a power drill
- a box full of tools and screws
- some paint and 4 wheels (not in the picture)
I placed everything how I wanted it to be then screwed 4 screws into the plate to connect it with the pallet. That was pretty easy. I did the same with the plate on the bottom.
Then I placed the square timbers where they belonged and fixed them with the connecting bolts. The table was constructed in about 15 minutes.
After that I took some time to mend some parts with the grinding machine. The wood was very rough and split at some parts. With the machine it took 20 minutes to fix so the table would be ready to paint. (I have to add here that it would have been wiser to paint the plates BEFORE screwing them on the pallet. It was quite difficult to paint the bottom plate…Just in case you want to rebuild this table)
I decided on a dirty white paint with a turquoise doily pattern as a highlight. For that I painted a turquoise area on which I placed the doily while the paint was still wet, let it dry for 30 minutes and overpainted everything with white. Yes… because I’m doing this for the first time and rather act before I think and because I learn while doing let me tell you – I should NOT have put the doily on the wet paint. Because it was a hassle taking it off again. It stuck on the plate like hell and some turquoise paint scratched off. I’ll show you later how I fixed that.
But the result was pretty. It’s just a small detail but it looks good on the rough construction of the table.
Back to peeling-off the doily. When I removed it some turquoise paint came off and the brown plate shone through. To correct this I dipped a tampon into the pain, dabbed it on the parts until the brown was gone.
After the paint dried for a day I screwed in the wheels to give the table an industrial touch and was done! That’s the result.
The constructing of this table took about 3 hours. The painting was the biggest part. But the costs are compensating for everything. Let me show you:
euro-pallet free + 2 plates 9 € + 2 square timbers 11 € + 4 wheels 10 € + paint 8 € + screws 3 € = total: 41 €
joy after completing this – priceless
I can recommend this project to every one who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on a table. When you treat the wood with a water-repellent paint so it wouldn’t mold when it rains it would be wonderful for a sitting area in the garden as well.
I hope you enjoyed this cheap and easy project.
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About the Author: Luisa is the author of the Happy Serendipity blog, where you will find crafty diy projects and other inspirations. Read more about Luisa here.
We have a brand new giveaway that starts today. And this one is from friend of papernstitch, Laura Evans who runs the photography shop Love.Laugh.Believe. Her photography is stunning, which is probably why I talk about her so much here on the blog.
Anyway, back to the giveaway…Laura is giving away a $30 gift certificate / shopping spree to one lucky winner to spend in her photography shop on whatever they would like (prints, notecards, whatever)! All you have to do is enter for your chance to win. Details below…
There are three ways to play and you can enter up to three times. Here are the ways to play. Each entry should be a separate comment…
1. Browse Laura’s photography shop. Find your favorites. Come back here and tell us how you spend your $30 gift certificate if you won.
2. Subscribe to the papernstitch blog by clicking here and then leave a message in the comments that says “subscribed”. **I’ll know if you really did or did not subscribe, so let’s play fair.
3. Twitter, facebook, or blog about this giveaway and leave a link in the comments.
**Giveaway will end on November 30th at 11:59 pm eastern time.**
Largely influenced by vibrant colors, patchwork quilts, and the diy movement, Softspoken is the handmade shop of designer Rachael Oglesby. Inside this spunky accessories shop, you’ll find stylish berets and beanies, super soft scarves and cowls, and a whole lot more. Perfect inspiration for a chilly Tuesday morning.
I have another great deal today. This one if from jewelry designer E. Kate Designs. Here it is…
This week only. November 14-21. Receive a free charm (single initial gold charm) with any purchase from E.Kate Designs when you enter the code “afterglow” at checkout. Visit E.Kate’s jewelry shop on etsy to take advantage of this special offer right now.
Occasionally, or perhaps even frequently, Mondays are lacking in the inspiration department, so if you need a pick-me-up to start your week off right, I’d highly recommend browsing today’s shop of the day…
Lasso in the moon and bring storybook pages to life with the dream-like imagination of photographer Morgan Kendall. Morgan offers unique collage-style photographic prints and polaroid prints in her well-stocked photography shop. Here are a few of my favorites (it was a tough decision)…
Visit MKendall Photography on etsy to view more than 70 gorgeous photos like these from Morgan available for purchase.
A couple of weeks ago I was asked by the lovely Claudia Casal (also known as Twiggs) of A Place for Twiggs to participate in a blogging series about popularity and blogging in general. The series is five parts: each day a different blogger will answer eight simple questions (see the list of bloggers below- its a pretty amazing line up). The goal is to share tips and experiences on how to become more successful about getting the word out there & breaking through all people that randomly blog.
Today is the first day of that series, and I am kicking it off. Claudia asked me a set of simple questions (what strategies have worked for you in terms of creating a strong, successful blog, how to keep on top of things when you are publishing posts more than once a day, etc) and the interview is on A Place for Twiggs right now.
You can read it right here.
Here’s the full line up:
Monday, November 15th (today) – me!
Tuesday, November 16th – Victoria Smith
Wednesday, November 17th – Tara Gentile
Thursday, November 18th – Erin Loechner
Friday, November 19th – Ez Pudewa
