DIY | Prudent and Practical

November 23, 2009

Dingy Desk to Dora the Explorer Escritoire

Filed under: DIY — Tags: bargains, crafts, DIY, free, projects — K @ 11:59 PM

One of the trending topics in the blogosphere is that of handmade items for Christmas. I never really thought anything of it – I like making stuff and I usually give one big project to a family member. This year, instead of one big item to one person, I’m planning on multiple smaller homemade items. I started off with a gift for my 2-1/2 year old niece.

My dad is really good at finding and picking up decent stuff that’s been thrown out. On a recent visit, he brought me a vintage wood and metal school desk. I loved and then dreaded the thought of another diy project when I already have a binder full of to-dos, so there it sat in the garage for a few months. While talking with him one night, he asked, “Well, why don’t you fix it up for Ella?” And during a conversation the following week with my mom, I found out that they were planning on fixing Ella up with a Dora the Explorer room – complete with a new big-girl bed. Ding! That was it – I’ll make Ella a big-girl Dora desk! She loves reading and learning and doing big-girl things so this will be perfect!

The Dora color template exists of vibrant colors:

Purple
Orange
Pink
And I threw in Lime Green, because it’s my fave color and it’s looks good with the above colors
Brown – you know, Dora’s big hair…

After stripping the wood…

and sanding it down…

My plan ended up being:

Outdoor Brown by Krylon – everywhere else (the metal parts of the desk)

Metallic Purple by Rustoleum – Desktop and seat (backrest)

Pink Berries by Rustoleum – Seat (buttrest)

(At this point it looks cartoon-girly, but not Dora, so….)

Dora “stickers – which I couldn’t find anywhere so I bought a $3 book at WM, cut pictures out and spray-adhered them to the desk. I didn’t trust my inkjet to print them out.

(Ok, it’s getting somewhere, but it needs something else…)

I printed off a “Dora” font that said “ELLA” and made my own stencil.

I then used lime green and hand painted the alphabet, 1-10, her middle name (which is mine too ), and a couple swirlies.

And there you have it, the one and only personalized Dora Desk created from a free vintage desk, a book, and some paint!

Thanks for visiting! If you’re interested in recipes you can check out my food and recipes pages. If you want to know what diy projects I’ve been up to this week, visit my front page!

This article is happy to be shared with the following carnivals:

DIY Day @ A Soft Place

(And giving credit where credit is due: Dora the Explorer and all her buddies belong to Nickelodian!)

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November 16, 2009

Movie Room and Table Painted

Filed under: DIY — Tags: basement, DIY, home improvement, projects — K @ 11:59 PM

The last week has been full of projects (and shopping)! We’ve accomplished three projects and have more to come this week.

1 – After a few late nights and a lot of touch ups, we have the basement painted! We have ivory on the top and red on the bottom. Both are Pittsburgh Paint’s colors. We left a white strip in the middle to see what it would look like. We love it but think it needs a little oomph so we’re heading to our fave home improvement store to pick up some molding that we will paint white.

A tip for those who haven’t painted a dark color on a light wall: take into account that you’ll need to paint 2-3 times. The first layer of paint looks very splotchy and uneven. The second layer covers up any light spots and the third painting is for touch ups. (I think the same could be said about painting a light color over a dark wall.)

Every house has their weird and quirky things (I could write a whole post about this ) and the basement has been no different from the upstairs. The most recent thing is the installation of the 2x4s. My understanding is that the 2×4 has a 4-inch depth. The 2x4s in our basement are turned so that it’s a 2-inch depth. D speculated that it added square footage – 6 square feet to be exact! The studs are not on 16″ or 24″ centers and seem to be randomly scattered throughout the walls. This has caused a slight problem with where the projector will sit. We’re trying to figure out what to do.

2 – We have a super retro little side table that has had faux maple wood grain – yuck! I think the modular-ness of the table will look great in the room, so I have painted it black. It looks like it belongs in the basement now!

3 – D and I built a frame for around the projector screen. This is helping to keep the projector on the wall. It will also hold black curtains and a valance.

We are so impressed and excited with the progress so far – recessed lighting, paint, screen frame, and a table. It’s made a huge difference! The room now feels warmer and much more up to date.

The quest is on for finding some decent used cabinets. Every once in a while something pops up on Craigslist, but we let it slide because we don’t have a hauling vehicle (aka: truck or van) and everybody wants you to haul it. I’ve also checked for carpet and tile on Craigslist. The carpets are remnants (we need 12′x30′) and the tile is ugly so far.

While D was at the game on Saturday, I ran around shopping. I have all the materials for a Christmas gift for the dogs (more on this in the next couple days!), bought six large frames for movie posters, and black imperial velvet to make movie screen curtains. The best part about about it was that most of the stuff was on sale. It’s going to be a busy week!

I’m happy to share this post with:

Three or More Tuesday @ The Gypsy’s Corner

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November 9, 2009

Basement Remodel Begins

Filed under: DIY — Tags: basement, DIY, home improvement, movies, projects, saving money — K @ 11:50 PM

Winter is approaching. Since we’re spending more time being indoors, D and I decided to get a start on the basement. Iowa winters can be harsh so the main objective is to turn the basement into something fun ~ a movie room! This is not going to be a nice television downstairs room. We are going all out (almost) on a budget and can’t wait to both share the results with you and use the room as well. And embarrassingly, it’s messy now because we’re in the middle of a project ~ I love how projects come together near the end

Here’s the main idea:

Red and ivory with black accents. Since we’re on the verge of putting it up for sale when the economy gets better, we didn’t want to go the traditional home theater room route by making it floor to ceiling (and including the ceiling) black, navy blue, or hunter green. That freaks me out just thinking about it… it would be complete turnoff to potential buyers. Keep in mind that this is a long and narrow basement room, not a dedicated theater room. We wanted to make it fun and functional, yet intriguing to potential buyers. And if it doesn’t sell for a while, we have something to enjoy!
Replace old globe lights with recessed and add more lights
Replace old, dirty outlet covers with new wood ones
Paint the walls – ivory on top and red on bottom, separated by a chair rail molding
Get rid of self-stick duck wallpaper border
Update the furniture – one new piece, slipcovers for the old couch and love seat, paint our modular/retro side tables
Move the projector screen to another wall – 120-inches of movie goodness!
Make a decorative cover for the projector screen casing and sew up some black velvet curtains
When we can find a good deal, we will be replacing the dark, splotchy brown carpet with a lighter carpet and tiles near the basement entry. Eve has unraveled the carpet at the laundry room, so the tile will solve her bad habit, while giving us a floor for…
Installing a 5-foot wet or dry bar by the laundry room
And finally garnishing with our favorite movie posters and memorabilia!

How do we plan to do this?

We already have the projector screen and D made a projector three years ago – he really loves DIY projects!
We purchased the paint and recessed lights on sale through Menard’s.
We purchased one slipcover on clearance through Target.
We purchased our new piece of furniture, “The Big One” LoveSac off of Craigslist for less than 1/3 the new price.
D purchased surround sound speakers and a receiver on clearance online.
I am looking to purchase a granite slab and cabinets off of Craigslist for the wet/dry bar.
I need to call in a plumber to see if he can do a drain or pipe or something to make a wet bar. If it’s going to be to extensive or expensive, it will just be a dry bar.
I plan to purchase the movie screen curtain fabric through Hobby Lobby or Joann’s when it goes on sale.
Carpeting and tile are still up in the air… we’re hesitant to spend that much money, but it will really improve the look of the basement. The room is 36′x12′ so we plan to have 30′x12′ carpet and 6′x12′ tile. We have no problem installing tile, since we have tackled that one before, twice. (Our kitchen doesn’t look like that now either!)

The Project Commences

We started with the lights. The weather’s (uncharacteristically) nice now, but will soon become chilling. Turning off the basement light breaker means turning off our thermostat upstairs – yes, our house is wired extremely weird – and turning off the heat for a loooong time, while D works his arms off.

Of course there are a few surprises. A “nest” of wires just tossed up in the ceiling. Multiple wires coming together but not in a junction box. And of course, you’ve got to love the 3-way lights: because somebody couldn’t walk reach 3 feet to turn off a switch. This means a lot more time and care go into making sure that certain wires are connected to the right place. And a quick note ~ I really wanted to change the drop ceiling to drywall a while back. We were told by a realtor that making the change in our town would not help sell it, so we left it. So as much as I dislike the stuff, you can see in the photos how much we have benefited from it.

So, what projects are you up to this week? What’s the biggest project you’ve tackled? Do you like LoveSacs?

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July 28, 2009

The Cost of Homemade Soap Bars

Filed under: crafts — Tags: crafts, natural, updates — K @ 12:18 AM

About a week ago, I wrote about my first experience making soap and included instructions. I was curious if it was more economical to use the homemade soap. I went ahead and figured out the entire cost of the batch. Here goes…

3oz Canola Oil……….. $0.263
12oz Castor Oil……… $8.288
14oz Coconut Oil…… $2.604
2oz Hempseed Oil…. $2.500
2oz Jojoba Oil………. $6.020
11oz Olive Oil……….. $2.463
16oz liquid…………… $0.133 (for the tea bag)
6oz lye……………….. $0.879
.8oz eo……………….. $11.75 (Oh my gosh! That’s a LOT of eo!)

GRAND TOTAL equals $34.90 for about 4 pounds of soap. I didn’t cut it evenly, but it’s about 20 bars. (Yes, an accomplished soap maker will frown at me, but hey it’s my first attempt!) 1/2 of a circular bar lasted me about 1 month. Considering I go through a lot of shampoo due to my extremely long hair, this is a bargain! In the past I bought Nature’s Gate at the grocer which costs $4. So in 9 months my shampoo will have paid off, but it should last me a few years! This kind of surprises me. Looking at the numbers and doing the math, I about freaked out when I saw that I used almost $12 worth of essential oils! Just imagine how cheap it could be if I made the old-fashioned animal fat and lye soap.

My Opinion

The first time I tried the new soap, my hair came out oily. I ran online to look up an excuse for this and found it. Basically our head secretes oils. By using regular shampoos, you strip all the good stuff off of your hair… yuck!

(As a side note, this “stripping” is why many people have to use conditioner. Funny how that works – you buy shampoo, it strips your hair and makes it feel funny, leading you to purchase conditioner to make it feel soft again!)

Anyways, by stripping the natural, good oils from your hair, your body compensates for this by overproducing the oils. This is why people like me have to wash their hair every day to every other day, otherwise we look like grease-balls. So you’re wondering what does this have to do with the homemade shampoo? When you switch to a shampoo that simply washes and doesn’t strip your hair, the follicles are still overproducing the oils. It may take any where from a few days to a few months for your hair to stop over-producing oil. To help with this, you can sprinkle baking soda on your hair while in the shower to help absorb some of the oil. If you feel the need for “conditioner”, apple cider vinegar does the trick.

I’m now able to go about three days without my hair feeling greasy. My hair looks really good too! I have to go through the extra step of baking soda for now but it’s worth it. The soap is cheaper, more spa-like, and natural (no parabens or sodium laurel sulfates here), which is just the way I like it!

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July 16, 2009

Say Goodbye to Commercial Shampoo

Filed under: DIY — Tags: crafts, DIY, health, natural — K @ 2:16 AM

I’ve been meaning to make my own soap for a while. In late June I finally tried it out. I used the Crock Pot Shampoo Bar Recipe from Skin Care Naturals. Following is the recipe and instructions in my words. Later today I will show photos of the final product, how much it actually cost, and my opinion!

Before you get started:

2 plastic bowls and plastic spoon to stir
Small bowls (for measuring the individual oils)
A large bowl or pitcher (to pour all the oils into to verify the weight)
A stainless steel pot (for melting the oils and later mixing in the lye)
2 thermometers (one for checking the temperatures of the lye and oils)
Weigh all ingredients!
Do not use aluminum – lye eats right through it!
If you get lye on you, rinse the spot with vinegar. If the burn is anything but very mild, seek a doctor.

Ingredients

3 oz Canola Oil
12 oz Castor Oil
14 oz Coconut Oil
2 oz Hempseed Oil
2 oz Jojoba Oil
11 oz Olive Oil
16 oz liquid (can be a mix of water, tea, and lemon)
6 oz lye
.8 oz eo (I used lavender, rosemary, and tea tree)*

Lye
1. Measure 8 ounces water in a big bowl. Go outside. Sprinkle in the lye and stir. Be careful – it gets very hot (around 200 degrees F) and smelly.
2. While this is cooling outside, I went back inside to mix the other 8 ounces of liquid.
3. In a glass measuring cup, I squeezed the juice of one lemon (2 tbsp-1/4 cup), then poured in apple cider vinegar to equal 1/3 cup liquid. I then added enough peppermint tea to equal 8 oz of liquid to be added after the oils have cooked together.

The oils

1. Pour all oils (except hemp) in a jug on a scale to make sure that the weight is correct. It should equal 42 ounces.

2. Melt all oils except hemp and e.o. in the pot. (Hold back the hemp until after the soap is cooked).
3. Mix in the 8 ounces of lemon/vinegar/tea from above.

Mixing
Measure the temperatures of both the lye water and the oils.

When both have reached 110 (+/- 10) degrees F, mix the lye water with the oils. Stir until mixed. Add hemp and essential oils. Stir (or use an immersion blender) until trace.

[Trace is when the the soap solidifies just enough to hold it's shape slightly meaning that the lye water and oils have mixed completely. To test for trace, dip your spoon into the soap and let it dribble back into the pot. If the dribble leaves a mound before disappearing back into the soap, you've reached trace. (I was tired and forgot to get a photo, but will remember to take one the next time I make soap.)]

I used 4″ pvc that you can find in the plumbing department as a mold. I put plastic wrap on the bottom and secured with a rubber band, then lined it with wax paper. Slop the soap into the mold. You’re supposed to insulate with towels around the soap molds to make sure the soap cools very slowly – I didn’t.

24-48 hours afterward, I popped the soap out of the molds and cut into slices. I placed the slices on a cooling rack for good circulation. Every evening i flip them over. I’ve been trying out the soap for about the past week (after 3 weeks of curing).

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