Industrial Crate Coffee Table Instructions

So, I've wanted a coffee table for a long while now, but I wanted something that made a statement, that said something about us.  Of course, we could only find something like that at World Market or Pier 1 Imports.  But I don't have a budget that fits those stores.  Therefore, I turned to pinterest, and found this blog, diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com, where she used wine crates to make a coffee table.  Bingo!

For this fantastic piece of art you'll be creating, you'll need:

4 wine crates

4 round ball feet (whatever size, depending on how high you want it)

1 quart stain

2-3 foam brushes

Drop cloth

Sand paper

Short screws

Drill

So, I have been collecting Michael's 40% off coupons, and then my sweet mother-in-law came to town, and bought me my crates.

Originally they were $12.99, but with the coupons, they were $8 each.

Then, I needed to find a stain that I liked.  I don't really like red-based browns, like cherry, and some shades of mahogany, so I wanted to make sure I had a nice, dark brown.  You won't believe it, but this was the hardest part of the process!  The stain I liked was a new color they'd just added, so they didn't have a sample, and I'm a little indecisive, so it took a little longer than needed.

But finally, I settled on 1 quart of Honey, from Minway Polyshades (polyurethane and stain in one), and I love it!

The worst part of the process was the sanding.  The inside of the crates were still rough (one of them wasn't, and if I were doing this again, I would try to make sure they all were clean and sanded down, would've made it easier).  I've never worked with wood before, so I finally learned what "not going against the grain" means.  In this case, it was going side-to-side, rather than up and down.

Next came the staining.  I put down half the drop cloth (all my little patio needed), and started staining the inside first.  

The stain I got was really runny, and a crate being the shape and size it is (slats), it was very difficult to paint it, without dripping.  So, I simply started with the inside, going out, and then set it down on the edges (upside down).

I let them dry, and then stained them again.

I had bought some wood ball feet at Michael's for $1.34 each, and stained those too.

We bought some screws, Dan borrowed the screw driver from church (birthday present idea right there!), and he screwed it all together.  The crates weren't perfect, naturally, so he screwed them together in such away that the top was straight.  So,  the bottom wasn't as straight, which was fine, because on a carpeted floor, it shouldn't matter too much.

He put at least 5 screws on each connecting side.  One more if he felt it needed it.

Finally, he screwed on the feet, and was done.  We kept the middle free, and put a vase in it, for branches, or something like that in the future.
That night, we went to Michael's again, and found a couple things I couldn't live without, and lucky me, they were 50% off!

We liked that it was still "beachy", but with a modern twist.
Also, figured Bella wouldn't be as tempted to chew on it.

Love the color, it's bamboo, it was on sale...
what more do you need?

So, are you ready to see it?

Bella really likes it too!  Just have to learn to jump around it!

I just love how it turned out!

So!  There is my biggest project yet!  I love, love, love it, and it makes me happy every time I walk through the door!

Please leave your comments, and let me know if you have any thoughts, ideas or improvements.  If you're unable to comment, and have any ideas on how to fix THAT (which is a huge pain in my butt) please email me at abigailgracza@gmail.com.

Have a crafty day!

Bring the Beach Home - With a Sand Bowl

One of the many perks of living in Jacksonville, especially where we live, is its proximity to the beach.  I've never lived near the beach, the closest body of water I had growing up was the Danube, which is beautiful, but you only swim in it if you want to get radiation poisoning.  (Explains a lot about my brother, Jonathan)

So, it's a real treat to live only a 15-20 minute drive from 5 different beaches.  And we love it.  In fact, we love it so much, we decided to go with a beach theme in our living room. Not a nautical, lighthouse, blue and white kind of theme.  (Please don't take offense if this is you, just not our scene.)  We're using neutrals, with a couple featured colors.  About a month ago we found these great couch covers at Target, and these awesome kind of tribal-looking pillows that gave us the color-scheme.

Now, on to today's project.  Sand bowl.

What you'll need is:

Sand

White Elmer's School Glue

A bowl

Plastic wrap

Disposable bowl and spoon

And that's it!

Dan and I went to the beach a couple weeks ago, to go shelling, and we took a ziplock with us to get some local sand.

When we got home, I put the bag of sand in the freezer, to make sure all the critters that live in the sand died before I glued them to death.  (Apparently freezing to death is more humane, go figure.)

After three days in the freezer, I figured it was good to go.  

I used a disposable bowl and spoon to mix about a 1/2 up of sand with the white glue, until it has a runny texture.

Next, I wrapped a bowl I liked the size of in plastic wrap.

I poured a little bit of the sand mixture onto the bowl.  

Pour some, wait for it dry a little (hour or so), then pour a little again, wait, pour it again, wait... until it looks how you want it to.

Then you just have to wait.  I would say 72 hours.  Then, lift the plastic wrap off the bowl, then gently pull the wrap off the sand, and voila!

Now, I poured too much, and my first layer went a little crazy, so it pooled at the bottom.  I had to take some scissors to it, and cut it to where I liked it.

I tried to follow the natural lines, and give it the look of the "waves".  

After that, I simply sprayed a clear sealant, to harden it up a little bit, make it so it wouldn't crumble, and keep Bella from being tempted to chew on it.

And here's my awesome sand bowl!

I put sea glass in it, and set it on our new crate coffee table,
for which there will be a blog entry up very soon!

To help you out, here are a couple tips:

1. Start off only pouring a little bit at a time.  I poured too much, and it made everything else harder than it needed to be.  

2. Set the bowl on some plastic wrap, just in case it overflows. 

3. Try to get the plastic wrap under the sand mixture as wrinkle-free as possible, because the sand will mold to whatever it looks like.

4.  The more layers it has, the longer it'll take to dry, however the harder and sturdier it'll be too.

Hope that helped some people out there, who have seen this on pinterest, but felt it was too overwhelming.  It was super easy, inexpensive and fun!  In fact, I think I might have my kids make them for mother's day.

Enjoy!  Let me know if this works for you, if you've tried something else that worked better!

ps: I've changed every setting in the comments section, but people still aren't able to comment on my posts.  Any bloggers out there have any ideas on how to fix this?  I'd love any help I can get!  Email me at abigailgracza@gmail.com

We're Floridians!!!

For those of you who may not know, Dan and I moved to Florida 2 months ago, for a job he got as a youth pastor at a wonderful church in Jacksonville called First Coast Christian Center.  

For me, this meant that I was back on the job hunt.  I am very blessed, because I found two great jobs right away.  The first, is teaching ballet and jazz ballet to 3-4 and 5-7 year olds.  This is SO much fun, and I'm really enjoying the fact that I've found my way back to my childhood love like this.

My second, and "real" job is as a K4 VPK teacher.  I work at a wonderful Christian Private school, called Seacoast Christian Academy.  (The VPK program is public though.)  This position incorporates EVERYTHING that I love to do.  

But first, let's back up to the move.

We arrived on August 5th, after a two day trip in a moving van, with Bella sitting between Dan and I in the front seat.

Shhh... we gave her baby Benadril so she would sleep for most of the trip- she was the best behaved dog in the world!

We moved into our apartment, which we love very much.  There's a lake on the property, around which we take Bella for a walk every day.  Even though we live on a busy streat, our apartment building is so far back, we can't even hear street noise, which is great!  (I strongly dislike my itty-bitty kitchen, in which Dan and I bump butts while we're cooking, but hey!)

Best part is- we're 20 minutes away from the beach.  At first, Bella hated the beach, but she's really become quite the beach dog! 

This was Bella's first time with sand and water (besides baths).  She wasn't quite sure what to think...

Dan is so happy to be so close to the beach!  He could go every day!  And that first week- we nearly did!

I really love this picture of Bella and I.  We're loving the beach life!

My little beach baby.

On a date that ended with a walk on the beach - not too shabby!

So, this is our new life.  A new church family, new jobs, our pet baby (who we love and spoil too much), a new apartment and the beach. 

For your entertainment: