It’s time to spill the beans.

Yes, we are expecting our first Baby.

Can you see the excitement in our faces?

We’ve kept this a secret for a really long time. Our family & friends have known for quite a while but I just never got around to posting it on the blog. I’m sure you understand the long absence from blogging now. Those first three months took every bit of strength I had just to get through my work day. I had barely any energy to do anything. When I hit my second trimester the hubs & I decided to take a “Babymoon” to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary.We spent a week in Puerto Vallarta living it up as we enjoyed our last trip as D.I.N.K.S.

As of today, I’m 32-1/2 weeks and counting. We’ve got less than two months to go before we find out if this little baby is a boy or girl. I can’t believe how I’ve resisted not finding out the gender. I really want to be surprised. “JoBaby” as we’ve cleverly nicknamed this kiddo is due somewhere between the last week of March and the first week of April. Aside from the exhaustion, I’ve had a wonderful 32 weeks of pregnancy. I have been a type II Diabetic since I was 25 years old so naturally I’m considered to be “high risk” plus I just hit the “advanced maternal age” category back in August . This pregnancy has been a serious lesson in discipline as I can’t eat anything that I want to eat and yet I’m expected to grow another human inside of me.

I’m actually enjoying being pregnant. Can you believe that? I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth or fingertips. I’ve only been told about all the bad things so naturally I never expected anything good. Though I still have several weeks to go, I feel like each week in prego-bliss is one less week in prego-hell.

The sonogram above was during my monthly growth scan. JoBaby was weighing in at 2 lbs then and was weighing 3 lbs on Jan 18th at my last scan. I have another scan next week and I hope JoBaby is still on track and not overweight because I don’t want to be trying to push out a 10 lb baby and I don’t want a cesarean.

Even though I’ve been pregnant for eight months, I still can’t believe I’m going to be someone’s mommy. We are so excited that I can’t stop grinning. We can’t wait to enter this next stage of our lives.

With this news, I’m sure you can guess what our next project will be.

The post Oh yeah, By the way……….. appeared first on .

Last year, the hubs and I hosted a married couple in our house for 10 months. They weren’t strangers. They were my husbands close cousin and his wife and they wanted to save money to buy their first home. The timeline was 12 months but they succeeded in less than 10 months. They bought a home in the subdivision next to ours and we are happy to have them close by. When they lived with us, we gave them two of our empty bedrooms. The larger room was their bedroom while the smaller room next to it was the closet/dressing room. The room I’m talking about today is labeled as the “Fitness Room”. The hubs used to work out in here but has since moved his equipment into the basement.

Now that they’ve moved on, we are moving forward with plans to fix up our guest bedrooms. We will soon have another family member living with us for a while so there was a crunch to get this room turned over before they move in.

The room is small. It’s only 11′ x 10′ so it can’t fit anything larger than a full-sized bed.

It also is an ugly beige color. The main thing I hated about this room were the windows. They were 1960’s builder basic with no trim adorned with 1990’s mini blinds.  Since I plan on completely transforming this room the first thing I did was trim those windows and replace the window sill.

If you notice they do have really nice marble sills. Unfortunately, they are too short to accommodate trim around the window an a reveal. After I removed the mini blinds and shoved them in the recycle bin, I removed the window sill. I started by cutting and removing the caulk all around the sill.

Then I pried the window sill away from the window and wall. It came out quite easy because the adhesive used to secure the marble was about 40 years old.

I didn’t bother removing those three shims. They were in great condition and would save me the headache of having to shim the new window sill. I don’t have a photo of me making the new window sill because I had to do my cutting at night and that makes for horrible photos. I will tell you that I used what I already had. I pulled a scrap piece of 3/4″ birch plywood and trimmed it to the length of the old sill plus 5″ and kept the width the same. This allowed me to use 2-1/4″ door casing and still have a decent reveal on each side.

I glued the new window sill in place with construction adhesive and added a few brad nails right through the face and into the existing shims. I filled the edges of plywood with wood filler and sanded really smooth. Since it’s going to be painted, one would never know it was plywood rather than solid wood. Plus plywood is more stable than solid wood. Win win.

I trimmed the window in door casing and also used some of the casing for the apron underneath the window sill.

I primed the raw wood and gave it one more light sanding.

I caulked every crevice and once dry, I sprayed all the trim with 3 coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Semi-gloss paint in Silky White.

I didn’t bother taping off the outside of the window since I will be painting the walls anyway.

Now that the windows are trimmed and have new window sills, I have more options in the window treatment category. I will definitely be making some roman shades for privacy and I will likely do curtain panels too.

Next up will be painting the room. You will be shocked by the color I choose. I’ve already painted so it’s really a matter of me editing some photos and writing that blog post. I’m going to try really hard to get that done in the next couple of days.

The post Diy window sill and trim. My recent project. appeared first on .

So how did I get here?  Well remember I talked about repairing the subfloor myself. Well due to some structural issues with the steel beams in my basement and house settling, I called in some pros. That hump between the dining room and the foyer was due to the house settling and the beam not moving. In order for the floor to be level, we had to install additional 3/4″ thick tongue and groove subfloor in the foyer. Then we screwed down thin strips of 1/4″ plywood in the area that surrounded the hump.

This area had to be leveled using self-leveling cement.

We let the cement dry for 3 days before installing the flooring. Once dry, I sanded the rough edges and vacuumed the entire area really good.

Since we were installing over existing wood we used 15lb Felt Paper as our underlayment.  It will provide a great moisture barrier as well as some sound dampening. This was a suggestion from our contractor. We found this in the roofing aisle at Home Depot.

We pried away all out baseboards. The old carpet was so thick that the baseboards sat 2 inches above the existing floor.  We will be installing all new taller baseboards.

All the door jambs and case molding had to be cut to fit the new floor.

We started in the dining room by stapling down the felt paper. We overlapped each sheet by four inches. The lines on the felt paper made it easy to keep the paper straight.

The flooring we choose was Bella Cera Verona Collection in Hickory Bologna. Its 1/2 inch thick Engineered Hickory Hardwood with a Satin finish.

In order to keep the warranty intact, Bella Cera has some very specific installation instructions. One of them being the requirement of staple down floors to be secured with 18-20 gauge 1-1/2″ staples. While I was able to find the staples at Home Depot with no issue, I could not find a stapler that took that size staple. After a ton of online research, I found my stapler on Amazon. It’s a Freeman 4-in-1 Mini Flooring Stapler. It was only $89 which is a lot cheaper than renting a stapler for 1 week from Home Depot would have cost.

Before we began installing the floor, we practiced using the stapler on a scrap piece of flooring and plywood.

The staples conceal themselves right in the tongue as to not interfere with the installation of the next board.

The width of the first board is 5″ and we added another 1/2″ for an expansion gap.

We snapped a chalkline exactly 5-1/2″ from the straightest wall in the room and installed our first row of flooring.

The stapler doesn’t fit this close to the wall so we had to face nail these boards using 16 gauge finish nails.

In the very first row, we encountered an obstacle. One of the two air vents in the floor. While the vent was still visible, I cut out the flooring using a jigsaw.

The most difficult part of installing this floor was making sure our joints were staggered.

Our boards were random length so it helped a little but it still was a lot of work and planning ahead.

We began fitting several rows at a time then going back and stapling them down.

The hubs did an excellent job stapling while I marked and cut the boards on the end. 

The next obstacle I encountered was installing the hardwood floor over the section that I applied cement to.

I wanted the floor to flow seamlessly from the foyer to the dining room and not have a transition. Since I could not staple into the cement, I used adhesive where necessary and staples where there wasn’t cement.

The hubs weights came in especially handy in holding the boards down in the glue when they wanted to bow back up. I strategically used the longer boards so that they could be stapled at each end. I only applied two rows of glue at a time. That stuff was messy as heck and a pain in the but to remove. It also dried quickly and I had to move quick.

To keep the boards from sliding I used painters tape to secure them in place. It worked really well.

The last row had to be glued in place because the stapler would not fit.

For the basement doorway, I created a transition using a 5″ wide board. That way, I wouldn’t have to make a ton of extremely precise cuts to butt up against my stair nosing.

Speaking of stair nosing. Most people install the transitions and nosings first. I planned on doing it that way but then on the day of installation, I realized that my nosings and transitions did not match my flooring. I was heated and I marched back to my dealer and caused a little bit of a scene. I found out that Bella Cera does not manufacture any transitions, moulding or stair treads. They outsource that task to a company called Artistic Finishes. This made me really upset because I specifically asked if the company manufactured the stair nosing and transitions that I needed. My dealer told me yes and placed an order for 5 of them at $75 each.

Since I had a week off from work, I started my install without them and waited for the replacement to be delivered.

The hubs had to go back to work so I finished installing the floor by myself.

I am absolutely smitten with the new hardwood flooring.

The flooring now flows from the foyer to the office ….

And from the dining room to the foyer.

I almost bought new register covers but then decided to spray paint the old ones in Oil Rubbed Bronze to save cost.

Because the floor is about 1/4″ higher than the kitchen, I installed a reducer at both of the kitchen doorways.

The kitchen will likely be tiled in the renovation so I think the reducers were a great choice.

My next project will be the baseboards, shoe moulding and re-trimming all the doorways on the first floor.

The post Hardwood Floor Install & Details appeared first on .

We called the pros to repair our subfloor and install and refinish refinish the foyer, dining room. The cost totaled more than the cost of all new flooring that we could install ourselves. The added advantage was getting the wood species that I wanted. We ordered Bella Cera Verona Collection in Hickory Bologna. We purchased locally because it is only available through a dealer. The process was almost painless and we got free delivery.

When the flooring arrived, we opened all the boxes to allow the wood to acclimate. It sat for a little over a week before we began the install.

I am happy to report that the install is complete and I will be installing transitions and stair nosing as soon as I’m done typing this. For now I will leave you with a sneak peek of the finished product.

The post In in the home stretch appeared first on .

Remember our master bedroom project from last summer? I totally changed the bedroom around but I left the master bathroom a mess. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do with the bathroom and I even threw out a few possible changes. The bathroom is in fine working order right now but it is really small. Like  7′ x 6.5′ with just a tiny shower and no tub. There is a decent sized linen closet that needed sprucing up. The perfect project to get me back in the swing of things and hopefully great practice for a project that I’ve been pondering for the last two months. If you follow me on Pinterest then you know what I’m hinting towards.

Given that we are planning a gut renovation of this bathroom later this year I felt that improving the function of this closet was about as much as I was willing to do. The shelves were bowed and there was a lot of wasted space.

I emptied the closet and took measurements.

This closet has a bifold door. If I turned this into a complete built-in then I could not put the door back in. I liked the door so I decided to only make the linen cabinet as large as the opening minus the operating space for the bifold door. The rest of the space (about 8″) would be concealed. This will all make sense when the linen cabinet is finished.

Armed with my measurements, I drew up the plans in SketchUp. I started with a simple box….

Then I added shelves and drawers. I staggered the shelves because I figured they would allow easier access.

Keeping in mind everything I planned on keeping in the drawers, I sized each drawer appropriately. The bottom largest drawer would hold cleaning supplies.

So it needed to be at least 11″ tall.

The next drawer would hold several rolls of toilet paper

So it needed to be at least 5″ tall.

The 3rd drawer would hold my lady things and the 4th drawer would hold the husbs excess of toiletries.

The 5th drawer will hold my makeup overflow.

Once I had all my dimensions I created a cut list and went to my scrap pile. I only needed to buy a sheet of 1/2″ birch plywood and a few 1×2 furring strips. I cut my sides and ends from 3/4″ plywood and I secured the box together with pocket holes.

I added the back using two pieces of 1/2″ plywood ripped to size because I didn’t have a whole sheet.

I measured and marked where I wanted my shelves to go.

Then I added 1×2 furring strips to support my shelves.

I screwed the supports from the outside of the carcass so that the screws would not be visible from inside the finished cabinet.

I cut my shelves from 1/2″ plywood and secured them to the supports with nails

To avoid nail holes in the front of the shelves, I attached the shelf fronts using pocket screws from underneath. The shelf fronts are made of select pine and not furring strips.

Once the top two shelves were in, I moved on to building the drawer boxes.

I  didn’t add the bottom shelf because I wanted to make sure I had enough clearance for all five drawers and the 1/2″ space between them. I assembled the drawers the same way I’ve done in the past. Once they were all assembled, I placed them in the carcass.

With those in place, I marked the inside of the carcass for the bottom shelf.

Then I realized that I forgot to add bottoms to the drawers and had to go back and add those.

The husbs helped me carry the whole thing upstairs into the bathroom to see how it fit.

Then we hauled it back downstairs for me to add the face frame and finishing.

As I write this, I’ve just put the final coat of paint on and installed the drawers. I hope to have a completed cabinet in my next post. Which should be in a few days.

The post I’m building again! Linen Cabinet appeared first on .

Once things slowed down, the hubs and I went to Lumber Liquidators to place the order for our new flooring. Unfortunately they did not have samples of any of the floors that we were considering. We had to wait until the samples were shipped.

We continued looking at a few other local flooring suppliers when we got some devastating news. The company my husband worked for went out of business with no notice and suddenly the flooring and my little projects seemed trivial and unimportant. I make a pretty decent living but my husband is the bread winner. Not knowing when or where his next paycheck is coming from makes you question the necessity of every dollar spent. Fancy new hardwood flooring is not a priority when our hot water heater went out, the garage door opener goes on the fritz or when water starts dripping from the ceiling fan.

I am blessed with a husband that is a smart saver and excellent money manager. While I’ve been holding it down, he has been pounding the pavement searching for a job and keeping our house tidy. He has a new job starting after the holidays and I’m planning on tackling a few of my lingering projects before we put another dent into our savings for the floors.

All this to say….”I’m not quitting my blog.”

I just needed to take care of our priorities. For those of you who stuck around thank you. I hope to continue to bring you good content that brought you here in the first place.

The post How Soon Turned Into Four Months….. appeared first on .

Since I’ve never installed linoleum or sheet vinyl, I assumed that you spread the glue all over the floor and then you roll the linoleum out over the glue and staple it into the corners to hold until it dries. I was so wrong. Whoever installed the linoleum, only applied glue to the perimeter of the room. Once we pried the edges loose, we were able to cut the linoleum into sizable sheets using a utility knife.

 The real work was removing the luan sheets from the subfloor. You would think that only stapling the sheets down on the perimeter would be enough to keep the luan in place.

They used about a million staples in the center of the sheets to hold things down. We used a pry bar to lift the sheets through the staples leaving the staples in the subfloor.  At least we thought it was the subfloor. Turns out there is more linoleum. This was five times uglier than the floor we just pulled up.

We also found an old heat register at the bottom of the stairs.

Then I discovered something else. This linoleum was also glued to a sheet of plywood that wasn’t the subfloor. If you look at the disgusting photo below, you will see the layers. From the looks of things, the actual subfloor didn’t look to be in the greatest condition.

At this point I had decided to remove all the flooring and start from scratch. This meant more demolition.

The second layer of linoleum was likely installed in the 60’s or 70’s so I sent a sample off to test for Asbestos in the adhesive or the actual linoleum. It took less than a week for the results to come back and I was given the all clear that the linoleum was free of asbestos.

Rather than scraping up the linoleum and making a huge mess, I opted to cut the floor into smaller pieces and pry them up with the linoleum still attached to the plywood. I set the depth on my circular saw to just clear the plywood without cutting the subfloor.

When we got the first section up, we realized that the plywood supporting the linoleum was shimmed with strips of wood paneling and roofing tiles. I don’t know what the heck the installers were thinking but I finally found out why there were little humps and valleys in the floor.

We continued to pry the floor up in sections until we just couldn’t pry any more. With only two pieces of flooring remaining, we took a break.

I did notice that the subfloor has a lot of high and low spots. I need to figure out how to fix this so we can get this project done.

I will likely need to remove the entire subfloor and build from the joists up. The space is small enough that it will require only 4 sheets of plywood.

With the recent developments, I’ve revised our game plan.

1. Replace the subfloor with new, strong plywood.

2. Level the subfloor with self leveling cement and metal lath.

3. Install underlayment and vapor barrier.

4. Install unfinished Oak flush with the adjoining rooms.

5. Sand, stain and seal the floors.

I’m checking daily on Craigslist and my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for about 125 sq. ft of unfinished or prefinished Oak flooring. If I don’t find anything in the next week, I’m going to buy some premium prefinished Oak from Home Depot  or Lowes and sand and install that. I know they sell unfinished but the grade is “common” and likely to have a ton of imperfections.

I’ll check back in with you guys soon with more updates.

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When I finished the master bedroom, I planned on diving head first into the hubs master closet. But then I had to design the closet which proved to be more difficult than I thought. I quickly threw that project to the side and focused on more critical issues. The most annoying thing inside of our house…….

The terribly outdated linoleum floors which butt up against Red Oak floors that are two different colors. Our mixed matched flooring in the dining room and office are original to the house but the linoleum was installed back in the mid 90’s by our previous owner. It’s a PITA to clean and is just down right ugly.

 In addition, this ugly flooring makes it impossible for me to move on to other projects in those three rooms. Our home office was on my agenda for this year but I can’t do anything in that room until I take care of the floors.

It has now become a priority.

The photo below shows the threshold between our office and the foyer. The wood was likely finished with an oil based polyurethane and has ambered over the years.

 This photo is where the linoleum meets the dining room. It looks like someone attempted to sand stain and finish this room. They didn’t do a very good job as there are some swirl marks visible from the sander.

  This is how our floors in this room looked when we removed the carpet.

You could tell that at some point they had been sealed and  were in good condition because of the carpet and padding.

We’ve lived with the floors bare for three years and now they look like this.

I used OrangeGlo on these floors several times. It makes the floor look amazing and none of this ashiness was visible. But the minute any moisture hits the finish, it looks like this.

So whats the plan?

I’ve gone over this dilemma for the past three years and this is how I’m going to approach it.

Plan A

Remove the Linoleum in the foyer and replace it with unfinished Red Oak. Then I will refinish all three spaces in the same color and finish.

When I refinished the stairs, I tested my favorite two stains on the Red Oak. Everyone on Facebook said to go with the lighter stain because the dark shows every speck of dust. While the lighter stain is more practical, aesthetically, the dark stain won out.

For the actual floors though I don’t think I will go so dark. I think a nice blend of the two will help me achieve the perfect dark brown color on the floors. There is no rule that says that the stairs and the floors must be the same color. If they clash too much then I will just restain the stairs.

This is the look I’m going for.

via High Street Market Blog

If by chance I totally screw this up then it’s on to ….

Plan B

I’ll remove the newly installed hardwood in the foyer and install prefinished hardwood in all three spaces.

I’m thinking something like this

via BuildDirect

Or this…

via BuildDirect

Plan A is the cheapest option costing only a few hundred dollars since I only need to purchase <100 sq ft of wood to install. If I don’t do it correctly then it’s less money wasted. I’m currently looking on Craigslist for a nice sized lot to avoid buying from Home Depot or Lumber Liquidators. Thier prices for unfinished flooring has skyrocketed since we first bought our house.

Plan B will cost between $1,800 and $4,000 depending on which flooring I choose. The sum of the three spaces is just over 500 sq ft. As you can see, that’s quite a lot of money to spend if you don’t  “have” to. That’s why I’m going to give rescuing the existing hardwoods a try.

Since this isn’t my forever home, I don’t want to spend too much money on these floors. I want to replace them with something that future buyers would not turn their noses up at. That very reason is why I will not be replacing the linoleum and hardwoods with laminate or resilient vinyl tiles.

As you read this, the hubs and I are likely pulling up the linoleum to assess the subfloor status. Hopefully it’s in good condition and doesn’t have to be replaced.

I’ll be back soon with updates.

The post Lets Confront our Floors appeared first on .

This post is about all the things used to remodel my bedroom. It took me so long to finish the room that most of the bedroom sources are spread across several posts.

Here I will list where everything came from. Pay special attention to the links. I placed good search keywords just in case the link dies.

Walls & Trim

•  Walls are Sherwin Williams Black Fox in Eggshell
• All the white paint is Behr Silky White in Satin

Window Treatments

• Roman Shades were a Diy project using THIS fabric purchased on Etsy
• White Linen Look Curtain Panels are from Ikea
• Curtain Rods are from Home Depot

Bed

(Who would have thought so much goes into a bedding ensemble?)

• Hickory Chair Inspired Chelsea King Bed frame was Diy’d HERE & HERE
• Hickory Chair Inspired Chelsea Headboard was Diy’d HERE
• Memory Foam King Mattress is the PacBamboo GEL from Bed in a box
• Blissliving Home Stepped Chevron Duvet set is from Nordstrom
• Down Duvet Insert is from Ikea
• Navy Blue Velvet Euro Shams were a Diy project using  THIS fabric from fabric.com
• White Sheets are Fieldcrest from Target
• Blue & White Print sheets are from Nate Berkus via Target
• Dove Grey Blanket is Berkshire from Bed Bath & Beyond
• Coral Moroccan Trellis Pillow is from HomeGoods
• Velvet Aqua Pillow Cover is from Ikea
• Gold Beaded Toss Pillow is from Pier 1
• King Sized Down Pillows are from Ikea
• 28″ Down Euro Pillows came with my sofa

The Bedside

• The Hubs Bedside Bachelors Chest was Diy’d HERE & HERE
•  Bedside Lamps were from Target
• Bedside Lamp Shades were from Target
• Gold & White Plant Pot is actually a candle hurricane from Target
• Aloe Vera Plant is from Ikea
• Blue & White Inlay Photo Frame is from HomeGoods
•  Mango Wood catch-all is a soup bowl from Target a long time ago

•  Herringbone Bedside Chest was Diy”d HERE
•  Faux White Orchids in vase are from Target
•  Coral Mirrored Tray is from HomeGoods
•  Turquoise Jar Candle is from Target

On the Walls

• Triptych Art over the bed was Diy’d HERE
• Pair of Dandelion Prints are from HomeGoods
• Multicolored Horizontal Art was a quick Diy project
• Long Vertical Gold Framed “Love” Art was a quick Diy Project
• 3 Piece Starburst Mirror is from Target
• Random Wood Photo Frames from the Goodwill
• Large Brown Matted Frame w/Wedding Photo from Ikea

On The Mantle

•  Faux Fireplace & Mantle were Diy’d HERE
• Reed Diffuser from Pier1
• Aqua Glass Candle Holder from HomeGoods
• Votive Candle Holders from Michael’s Craft
• Random Wood Photo Frames from the Goodwill
• Tall Hurricanes are from HomeGoods & Garage Sales
• Tunnel Burning Pillar Candles are from Ikea

Everything Else

• Chandelier is from Etsy

• Navy Upholstered Settee was Diy’d HERE , HERE & HERE
• Pair of small aqua lumbar pillows were a quick Diy project

• Navy Upholstered Bench was Diy’d HERE
• The Replacement Doors were from Lowes

• The Door Knobs were from Build.com
• Gold Chenille Throw is from Target
• Gold Striped Pillow was a Diy Fail seen HERE

Now for the cost breakdown....

I saved over $1,000 from my original budget.

I know this seems like a huge chunk of change but consider this… It took me 9 months to make this happen. I didn’t have to pay all that money at once.  It was kinda like a Bedroom Renovation on Layway, ok not really but sorta.

Spreading this out over time also allowed me to make better decisions on what I really wanted to spend money on and what I didn’t. Like the $350 Restoration Hardware sheets that my husband was livid about. Or the $325 Duvet set that I caught on sale for 20% off. Not all projects can be handled from this angle but it sure is nice when you can delay spending your hard earned cash.

I hope this answers all questions related to the bedroom and its sources.

The post All Things Bedroom Related Sources appeared first on .

This was one of those instant gratification building projects. It took me less than two hours to build and it solved my problem of not having a dedicated space for my tabletop grill. When we renovate our outdoor living space, we plan to upgrade our grill to something more substantial. In the meantime, I needed something to sit my grill on that didn’t take up too much space and was mobile.

I used Ana Whites Simple Rolling Bar Car plans and tweaked them to fit my grill.

The feet of the tabletop grill need 18″ of space front to back so I modified the end aprons and all the shelf slats by adding 4″ to the length. I also shortened the legs because I was using 4″ casters that I already had.

The supplies cost me less than $30 including the spray paint which cost $9 for three cans.

I drilled pocket holes into the ends of the front and back aprons to make two rectangular frames. Then I screwed and glued the legs to the frames using countersunk 2-1/2″ Spax screws.

It was imperative that this be 100% level. If it wobbled then the casters will never work properly.

I needed a towel bar and I didn’t like the pipes that Ana suggested in her plans so I built one using some scraps and a 1″ wooden dowel.

I first cut a piece of wood to 3″x4″. I cut the ends of the wood at a 45° angle then cut a 1/2″ off the pointy tip.

Next I took an inch off the bottom of the pieces.

Then I clamped the pieces together and sanded them as round as I could get them. My patience with my palm sander didn’t last very long so I settled on the shape below

While they were still clamped together, I drilled a tiny hole through both pieces. Then I flipped them over and drilled counter sink holes through one side of each piece.

I secured each piece and bore a 1/4″ deep hole through the opposite side of each piece with a 1″ Forstner Bit. I used the tiny hole as my center and I got perfect recesses. I cut the dowel to length and then glued and screwed the pieces and the rod together. When the glue dried, I screwed the bar to the cart from the inside.

I used a 1/4″ piece of plywood as a spacer and added my slats using glue and 2″ brad nails. I filled all the nail and screw holes with wood filler and sanded the surfaces smooth.

When it was time to prime, I used my tried and true Zinsser Cover Stain Oil Based primer. I primed the underside and bottom parts first. Then I flipped it over and primed the top and sides.

I repeated the same process with the spray paint only I gave the bottom two coats before flipping over. I sprayed between the slats before spraying the rest of the cart.

After 4 coats of Rustoleum Painters Touch 2x in Satin Paprika I let the cart dry overnight.

Since this will sit outdoors I used Minwax Spar Urethane in Satin finish to seal the paint. This is my first time using an oil based spar urethane so I don’t know how well it will protect. To be on the safe side, I followed the instructions on the can and applied 4 coats.

Amongst my collection of junk, I found this stainless steel “S” hook bar. I attached it to the opposite side of the cart for my utensils to hang on. I also added the casters to the bottom.

The size is perfect for my shabby deck. There’s enough room to hold the grill and somewhere to sit things down.

Before I could add my grill It needed some attention. I scrubbed it down with Bar Keepers Friend and removed the legs and handles.

The blue clashed with the new paprika colored cart so I hit it with the High Heat spray paint designed specifically for this type of application.

Now it looks much better.

And my tabletop grill now has a home.

This is the type of “Instant Gratification” that even Amazon cannot provide.

The post TableTop Grill Cart Diy appeared first on .