Sunday, October 26, 2014

Kitchen Storage and Shelving

The finished project in my kitchen...



This is how I got there.  A while back I had purchased and painted an ikea cabinet red, then green and used it for storage. 


Actually, my plan was to turn it into a mini office, but that plan never transpired and it just collected junk.  It really wasn't functional.  What I really needed was more counter space.  I love my little kitchen but could use a bit more storage.  The distance between the island and wall is fairly narrow so I needed a cabinet, at the most, 16" wide.  

I found a small buffet at Jysk that was only $110.00.  But, look at the box it came in and look at all the pieces!



It was six hours of hell putting this cabinet together...never again!!  


Anyway, after I finally got it assembled, I decided to add castors to the bottom instead of the "bun" feet that it came with...the wheels gave it a bit more height to bring it up to counter height.


 I then stained it using two colors of Minwax stain...Espresso and Ebony  I also changed out the hardware and bought brushed nickel pulls to match the hardware on my kitchen cupboards.  I then applied a satin varnish to the entire cabinet to protect it from any spills.



To tie it in to be part of the kitchen I decided to construct two shelves to display part of my pottery collection.  After much searching on pinterest for shelving ideas, I decided to build the brackets using 1/2 inch black piping, flanges and elbows.  The shelf itself is made just 2 x 10 x 36".  Again, I stained the wood using Minwax stain, but only with espresso and I did not varnish. 


am happy with the way it turned out and I now have more storage space and counter space. 


Thank you for stopping by!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Knit Bear

We are expecting our first grandchild in December and I've been busy shopping and knitting.  Here is a project I'd like to share with you.  A knit bear...


A coworker of mine brought in a book with knit and crochet patterns using Bernat's Pipsqeak yarn.


And, I absolutely fell in love with this bear...


My daughter is expecting a girl so I swapped the blue yarn for pink yarn.  It is very soft and cuddly.  The pattern only took three balls of yarn (two pink and one white) and knit up very quickly.  My bear looks more like a koala bear but I think she's pretty cute no matter what she looks like...




The blanket underneath the bear was a pattern I found free online using Bernat's Babyblanket yarn and it was knit using a cable stitch. 

So, I'm now starting my next knitting project... the matching blanket to go with the bear.  I will share it with you once I get it finished.  

Thank you for stopping by!