Make Space: Get More From Your Kitchen!

I really could use the space in this cabinet. I have jars and jars of stuff I use on the daily. I forget what I have because as you can see, it’s hidden behind more jars, and so on…

We all are trying to gain more cabinet space/counter space. How do we do that without going into debt? What if we can’t spare the room? What if we can’t add on? What if tearing out cabinets isn’t an option or adding more? How do we gain more…?

My solution was to take four inches away from my counters. What I mean by that is I built a shelf that sits on the back half of my countertop. I don’t ever recall a time when I’ve used my counters to the very back, so I knew I wouldn’t miss it. Here’s is what I did…

Off to the scrap pile I go…

1 x 4’s … I measured the length of the counter this shelf would sit on and cut accordingly.

Drill holes counter sinking each one. I then used wood screws to screw it together.

Sanding the wood before screwing it all together is much easier than doing it after, which I did…Here, I’m sanding/smoothing the screw holes as there are always burrs left over from drilling.

Here it is!

Turn on the lights! It fits the space just right.

I some gained serious space…Like whole two shelves in that cabinet!

This was a total win-win. I’ve freed a cupboard and gained a useful shelf that makes it super easy to get to ingredients I use daily. No more pulling jars out to see what’s behind. Very convenient! I’ve prepared dishes and rolled dough on this counter and haven’t missed those four inches!

Figure out what it is YOU really need from your kitchen. Remember the blog post on the coffee cups here? Whatever your needs are, more than likely there is a way to make your kitchen space more usable for YOU. An organized kitchen that works for your lifestyle makes all the difference in creating those wonderful dishes you make with love!

I’m looking for suggestions….should I stain this shelf or whitewash it?

I hope this gives you some ideas to making your own space work for you!

Remember, if I can do it, you can do it!

Peace, Koko

If you know someone who this post would benefit, please share/follow. I so appreciate you and thank you in advance! 

 

Surfboard Storage

At the moment, we are in a landlocked state. That means, no ocean touching our state on any side. Sadly, not even within driving distance. One day we will be near ocean again. It’s not a dream, it’s a reality! Until then, I wanted to store our boards in a way to still remind us that we surf, we love the ocean, we still are in the game!

There are many ways to store/showcase surfboards. Here’s what I did…

I got these cute dragonfly hooks. I used a stud finder to secure the screws into studs. The dragonfly hooks slips easily onto the screw. I bought these at Target.

I then used ribbon to hang the surfboard on and then slip the ribbon onto the hooks. Simple!

 

Here, I wanted this type of look. The wood adds a nice element and really ties the wood tones in this room. You can see the shelving unit I built here… You can see I kept the wood natural in the shelving. I knotted this rope because “Spencer The Cat” loves to play with the hanging piece! Picture of him can be found on my instagram! Though I do have a few felines, he’s one of the orange ones. Future post on all the abandoned critters that have found safe refuge with us coming… 🙂

And speaking of wood tones… I think it goes well not only with the shelving, but it goes nicely with the “drum” nightstand you can find that post here…  🙂 See that bottom surfboard? That was made by Rusty himself!

These simple hooks can be found most anywhere…Home Depot, Lowes, Target. They are around 3 bucks for two! Not bad.

I used cotton rope to hang these boards.

Oh hi! This is “Spencer The Cat”! He loves to sleep, take baths, and purr.

Surfer Magazine wrote in 2020 surfing will be an olympic sport! If you love surfing, whether you like to surf or just watch, this is exciting news! My family is super excited about this!

If you have surfboards, paddle boards, even light kayaks, this hanging system could be a fun way for you to store your equipment.

Happy Friday to all you AWESOME followers. Go find, be, do something that excites you!

Peace, Koko 🙂

 

Nightstand: Clever + Hip + Repurpose

Recycling a drum set no longer being used.

Hello my Awesomenesses! (A Koko word) 😉

Remember the post on DIY Dog Bed; I made it out of an old drum set? Well, this nightstand is made from more of that same set.

This is also a great way to “store” drums. Nostalgia says, “Don’t get rid of it!” And besides, you never know when you might want to play them again. Just for old times sake!

Isn’t the grain of the natural wood beautiful? My son lovingly refinished it. This was his first set given to him when he was five! The snare is at the bottom. Makes for a nice sturdy base.

Can you see the iPhone charger? Very handy!

One more look!

Nightstands can be made from many things; A cute wooden chair, old suitcases piled up one on top of the other, stacks of books, magazines, wooden crates, and even an old drum set!

Let your imagination soar! Now, go create your own unique nightstand!

Thank you so much for reading!

Love and Peace,

Koko

DIY Shelves Made Easy

Custom built is the way to go when you have an odd corner. I tried using a metal shelf and various other “shelves”, yet none really worked. So leaving me with no choice…I had to break out the tools! Keep in mind, if I can you can! Here we go…

This is what I had in my arsenal: Needle nose plier, counter sink drill bit, drill, level, pencil, hammer, nail punch, tape measure, stud finder. (Not shown; 1/16th drill bit, 1 1/2″ screws, 1 1/2″ finishing nails.)

Compressor. Lugging this guy up two flights of stairs wasn’t easy. 47 pounds of awkwardness!

Nail gun; This needs to be hooked up to the air compressor (pic above) to work. I wasn’t sure if I needed this to help me hold the wood as it was just me building this. I ended up not needing it.

Here’s the corner of my frustration! Teehee. Glass-eyed tree frog (on the left) painted by me for my son when he was 3. That was forever ago! Like two decades! 😉

I measured the space and cut the wood. Cleats are 1×1’s, front facing pieces are 1×2’s and the shelf itself are 3/4″ plywood. I bought furniture grade as I wanted pretty wood and very straight pieces to work with. Using a chop saw I cut the cleats and facing pieces. For the plywood I used a skill saw. You can ask a person at your local wood store to cut them for you. Some places charge per cut, but some do it out of the goodness of their hearts!

Using the stud finder, look for a stud. As you can see, my stud finder lies! No worries though, it will be covered by the cleat.

Eureka, I found two studs!

I attached the back cleat first. Double/triple checking the level. Then I attached the side cleats.

First shelf done. Checking the level.

As I finished each “cleat” section I added the shelf board so I could accurately measure the space I wanted in between each shelf.

The ladder needed to come into play for the top two shelves. Being short has its downfalls, but it’s a good thing I can climb like a monkey!

Almost done!

The finishing front pieces. (Check out the Garmin Vivosmart HR i’m wearing. Yes, there will be a review on this.)

I didn’t want to risk splitting the wood, so I predrilled tiny holes using 1/16th drill bit.

Carefully I nailed finishing nails across. Four nails along each piece. Using the nail punch, tap each nail in about a millimeter. Fill with wood putty to disguise the hole! Tip: You can make a wood filler using wood glue and fine sawdust!

All done. You can stain and seal using poly urethane. I like the natural look so I won’t be staining this.

Recap in video below…

All done! Insert happy dance here *

This would be great for folded sweaters, jeans, extra blankets, pillows, books, etc.

I just added a quilt to finish off the seating area.

Now this awkward space is a pretty space. I may sneak into my sons room to read in this “now” adorable nook! The view from that window is incredible!

Make spaces work for you. If you can’t find just the right piece to make it work…don’t be afraid to build it! If I can, you can. I’m not a pro by any means, but I like to make things, so I try.

I love all your comments. You make my day and I very much appreciate all your “likes” and “follows” and “shares”.

Be well and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cheers, Koko

DIY Simple Wall Fix In Seconds

Remember the desk I repurposed? (see it here) The wall I’m referring to is the wall I see when I am creating at my desk. I had troubles doing anything with ugly holes staring back at me the whole time! I’m talking at least 20 unsightly holes! I took a shelving system down because something I am building will be in it’s place: Hopefully sooner than later, (waiting for my order to come in). Back to the ugly holes in the wall…I needed a quick fix.

My solution…

See how to “DIY” lampshade here. Great place to set my computer glasses!

Yes, a door! Voila! The ugly sight was fixed in seconds. (I will do a proper job with spackle later…) Since this is what I see…I wanted to pretty-it-up, by adding the antlers and it was simple enough to do…

The string was something I had on hand. It was too thin so I braided three strands for a thicker “rope”.

Seeing a wall full of this was not very inspirational.

I screwed in two of theses hooks. (See tip below for easy pilot hole start.)

Tip: You need a nail and a hammer…But keep in mind you want the nail you use to be thinner than the screw, otherwise the screw will not have something to bite into.

Tap the nail in (Not too far. Just a few taps will do.) See the hole near the right side of the nail?

Tapping in a pilot hole helps to guide the screw in. Just screw in the screw!

If you have an unsightly wall, you can fix it fast, by using an old door, new door, shoji screen, even a lovely quilt. This quick fix allows me to breathe easier seeing something pretty until I can get to repairing it.

Here’s to making the life around you beautiful. Peace, Koko❀

Mouse over the pics below to see the caption…Something I didn’t know! Found out accidentally! Teehee!

Pretty at night!

The antlers are not real!

 

DIY – Make Your Own Bed Frame

If you can’t find a bed frame that you like…build it!

I’ve never found a bed frame I was happy with. It started with making bed frames for my kids at all stages of them growing up. I wanted them to have as much play space as possible because every kid needs space to make epic Lego scenes or twirl around to their heart’s content, am I right?! So their beds were built up high so they could play underneath (ie; camping reading nook etc.) and as they got older, desks were built-to-suit to fit nicely under.

I wanted a frame high enough to keep the dogs off of the bed. So this is my build…

3/4″ Plywood: 2 sheets, depending on what size frame you are building.

4×4’s Legs: However long you need, buy accordingly.

2×4’s Sides, top and bottom of frame: However long you need depending on building for twin or queen or king. Also 2×4’s for the underside of the frame for support. (see photos below).

6″ Carriage bolts, 2 per leg = 8

Hex nuts for the carriage bolts = 8, one per bolt.

Washers = 8, one per bolt.

“L” brackets for support on the underside of the frame.

Felt for each feet to prevent scratching of your wood floors as well as a buffer between the 4×4’s and the 2×4’s (see picture below).

Paint or stain

Tools:

Chop saw

Skill saw

Hammer

Wrench – Proper size to use on hex bolts.

Drill with proper size drill bit to drill holes. Also, drill for screwing screws into 2×4’s.

Screws or nails

Clamps – trigger clamps

Measuring tape

I want to start off by introducing this tip…This is felt. I buy it by the sheet and cut it to suit. I use them under most furniture to help me move them around the room without needing any help whatsoever! How cool is that!?

See the felt? I doubled the felt because this build is heavy! I was all out of dark brown felt, though the white isn’t really noticeable. I could take a marker and color the edges…again, not a big deal. 😉

The basic build is to first figure out the height you want the frame to be. Don’t forget to account for the measurement of the plywood on top. In this build I used 3/4″ plywood.

I used 4×4 for the legs. I wanted the chunky look, plus it’s very sturdy. I measured for the height and cut the 4×4 using a chop saw.

Measuring out for a queen size I measured and cut 2×4’s for the frame to go around the entire bed. You can screw or nail the 2×4 together creating a “box”.

To attach the legs onto the 2×4 “frame” you can use trigger clamps to hold the 4×4 into the corner so you can pre-drill for the carriage bolts. I pre-drilled one hole per side corner off setting them so one is closer to the top on one side and one is closer to the bottom. I drilled through the 2×4 into the 4×4 all the way through!

After the holes are pre-drilled I inserted the carriage bolt. This is where the hammer is needed to pound the bolt through. Once the bolt is through I used a washer and then a hex nut to secure the 4×4 in place. Before I go on I want to mention: Before the legs are set into the corner, I cut felt to put in the corner before I placed the 4×4 leg. The felt is to prevent the wood rubbing against each other.

What do you think of the floors? It took me a day and a half to lay the wood and one day to stain and seal. A walk through post about the floors coming: please stay tuned!

After the legs are bolted in place, I cut the plywood to fit using a skill saw. Drill the plywood into the 2×4 sides.

Here you can see the felt in places where the 4×4 would touch the 2×4 sides. And you can see how I’ve off set the bolts.

Here you can see I’ve run 2×4’s across the underside of the frame. This is for support. I also used “L” brackets for more support.

At this point you can leave the wood natural, paint it, or stain. I chose to stain it. I had left over stain from doing the floors. I just rubbed the stain in and let dry. I then did one coat of water based poly on it.

Kitty approves!  I need to do this technique on the lamps so they look like they match! Woohoo, another project. 😀

Tips:

If you have trouble finding 4×4’s you can use 2×4’s for the legs using 2-2×4’s in an “L” fashion.

When building a high frame such as a bunk bed style on top and say a desk area under, use 2×4 supports on three sides.  And for the ladder you can add more 2×4’s for the rungs.

Buy untreated wood only. You don’t want pressure treated! Some stores don’t carry untreated in the stores, but may be able to order it. ASK!

If you can’t find the right bed frame…build it!

If you want to see what I’m up to, follow me on instagram or twitter. I put up different things that don’t always make it onto the blog.

Share your smiles and your good wishes around. You never know who might need it! Now go out and be awesome!  Best, Koko ❀

Simple Wall Shelf (part 2)

I wrote a post here… about building a convenient hall shelf somewhere, anywhere; this post is showing you that I’ve added hooks.

It made the shelf even more “convenient”.  Those headphones you see pictured have been sat down and misplaced more times than I can count.  I use them all the time when vacuuming and mowing the lawn.

Okay so I mentioned that I wanted to add these dragonfly hooks that I had.  Well I did.  I had actually done them awhile back and never posted, but you know how life is…?

I really like the added detail.  It really pulls it all together.  Makes for a great spot to hang my purse or a dog leash or just nothing at all. And yes it does make me smile every time I walk past!

To everyone out there, find your smile daily.  Just look, it’s out there.  Here’s to the small joys every day! Right BV?  Peace all! Koko

Convenient Hall Shelf…Where did I put my keys?

Simple shelf anyone can incorporate into any space.

In my front door entry way there is a long hall that leads into the kitchen.  There is a 1/2 bathroom on the left side of this hall and on the right there is a small closet and stairway leading up to the bedrooms, game room, bathrooms, etc.

The space is to narrow for a cabinet, and even if I were to make one, there is an air conditioning and heating vent that cannot be blocked.  I thought about making a thin table, but I was concerned if I made one too narrow, it could easily be knocked over.  (kitties, doggies, and wild adults live here!)

This is what I came up with.

The countersunk screws are just above the orange dots you see in pic. 2nd pic you can see the countersunk screws; I used 3.

Great spot for sunglasses and glasses alike! Keys too! A candle? 😀

This project was super simple.  A 2×4 and a 1×6 (which we all know that lumber is never true to the size. The sign clearly says 1×6…but actually it’s 1×5 1/2.) If it’s a 1×6 then it should measure exactly 1×6. Oh well…Let’s move on.  I cut both boards equally the length I needed for the space.  I wanted it sturdy which is why I used the 2×4 as the “base”.  I countersunk the screws in both top board and bottom board.  Basically I screwed the 2×4 to the wall (They are into studs in the wall. If not, your shelf will wobble and may fall down eventually.)  I then screwed the 1×6 into the 2×4.  See… simple! The project took about 20 minutes, counting cutting the boards.  I then stained it the same color I stained the hardwood floors upstairs that I laid last year. (I will show you pictures of that project another time.)

If you have a challenging space that just needs a shelf, give this one a try.  You can also use a wider top board such as a 1×8.

Remember to find studs in your wall to drill into. They do make these (see picture below) cool wall anchors, but I wouldn’t use them for an entire length of shelf.

I bought these on a whim, not sure if i’d use them…guess what? Very handy these guys are! 😛

It could work if you found two studs to anchor shelf into and if you need one more hold, then these wall anchors can do the job.  I try to always have at least two screws into wall studs; depends on how long the space is and how much weight you will put on it.  *Never use these wall anchors in the ceiling! One thing to have a shelf fall, but not something from above! Find studs! Have I made my point 😉 ?

Also remember my previous post…an organized home is a happy one.  Shelves can really help you in that department.  This would be great in a closet or awkward space too!

Please like, follow and share…your support means the world to me!

….Koko<3