Pallet Nightstand

After last year's Christmas present to my sister, this year (which ended six months ago - that tells you how far behind I am on blogging!) needed another pallet project to complement the first. A piece to help round out the bedroom set was in order, and a nightstand was the best choice overall. 

Ana White has a nice, simple little plan for a bedside nightstand.  It was fairly easy to adapt to use pallets instead of the covering pieces she used. 

Kreg Jig produced pocket holes to fit everything together.  Not too hard - just do a Google search for it and you'll find plenty of examples and tutorials. The frame pieces were all 2x4 stock that was ripped down to 1.5" on each side.  

The frame went together pretty simple, piece by piece: I attached the front and back bottom supports first, linking the left and right halves together. 

With them in place, I then connected the fronts to the backs.  

Thin (1x2) pieces were used as trim on the sides. A second lower support was added to the back here.  Note the plywood: that was originally supposed to be the backer behind the drawer, but I took it off because you could see the edge from the side, and it looked terrible. 

With the frame complete, you can then nail in the tops.  Pallet wood was prepared beforehand, and I used a brad nailer to connect them up. 

Keep them square and even, and clamp each piece in place and triple-check before you nail it down. 

Making a drawer for the nightstand was pretty basic.  Use a Kreg Jig to attach some 1x pine boards together, and you're all set.  

The drawer is just a box with a bottom - no big deal.  Add a false front of pallet wood to it later on, and drill for a drawer pull. 

I didn't take shots of the sides going in, but they were pretty simple too.  Nail in some more 1x stock to the inside to support the drawer, using a torpedo level to ensure that the front-to-back and side-to-side balance is level.  Be finicky about this - it'll dictate how well the drawer slides.

Add the false front to the drawer, squaring, clamping, and then nailing it into place. 

That's it!  A simple little build - follow the Ana White instructions, adjusting for your sizes as needed, and use pallet wood to trim out the top, sides, back, drawer front, and bottom shelf. This piece was meant to be pretty rustic, so I used wood from different pallets and didn't sand out the original marks and scuffs on the top.  I'm pretty pleased with the way it all turned out!

Spring Egg Wreath and Mantel

  

For all the projects we have been doing, only a few of them have made it to the blog!  We are finished with a major basement reconstruction, and have a baby due in the next few days, so blogging has unfortunately fallen to the bottom of our list of things to do!  Here's a catch-up post from spring.

Like usual with my projects, it started with a Pinterest search for 'egg wreath' ideas and came across this idea on Crafty Sisters to spray paint Easter eggs to use on a wreath.

  I had a bunch of eggs in my Easter decoration that I had used in the past so I dug those out and then asked Andrew what we had for white or light colored spray paint in the basement (He often will pick up half used cans of spray paint at yard sales for free, and they are great for projects like these). Well, turns out we had two cans of off-white textured spray paint. 

  I laid the eggs out on cardboard and spray painted them. In this picture you see some primary color eggs: I didn't end using those in the wreath because I liked the way the pastel ones looked better. Sadly, that meant I had to go buy another bag of Easter eggs - but they were $2 for 100 at Target.

  I had planned to fleck the eggs with brown or gray to give them a speckled looked but the textured paint gave them a flecked/speckled look all on its own so I just left them.

  I bought a grapevine wreath at Michael's for $5 and hot glue my painted eggs to it!

  It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! :)

   Here is in on my server mantel! The bunting I made for a bridal shower I hosted earlier this year and I bought the pussy willows and green vase at Michael's back in February.  Perrin things it's great to have a "tree" in the house.

 A close up of my pussywillows!

  Here is the link to the bunting pattern I used to make this. I love that you can print out the pattern and choose between four different sizes. I used the 4.5 inch one here, with six different colored papers. I love the way it turned out and have done a couple of different ones since then!

  I like the way my Spring Mantel turned out, simple but cute! (And it only cost me $7).

Supplies needed:
 * 60 plus Easter eggs
 * Grapevine Wreath
 * Textured Spray Paint
 * Hot Glue