Debbie Does Yoga

Okay, so I should preface this post by saying that I've had some extra time on my hands on account of my job being eliminated six months ago.  After much initial panic, leading into depression after the loss of a sibling, and my husband then proposing the concept of me "not working" for a while, well I guess I have embarked on my mid-life crisis.  I'm 43 and for the first time since I was 14 I am a non income generator with a surplus of time.   Delightful, right?  Time to pause and reflect, time to explore, time to outline and define the next chapter.  Easier said than done for someone who is slightly hyper-active and extremely distracted.

It all started with Amazon local and a super deal on a month of unlimited yoga classes.  Yoga... it spoke to me.  I set out to see if distracted debbie can find Zen.

I decided to start with the class called Beginning Vinyasa.  Going into it I realize this may not have been a wise choice as the description says that it is a "fairly athletic workout".  Keeping in mind that I am rather chubby and have only made it to the gym half a dozen times in the last few months, three of which have been in the last 3 weeks.  No problem.  It's yoga, breathing and relaxing, how "athletic" can it be?

After grabbing a mat, some blocks, straps, a blanket, towel and some bean bag thingy like the woman in front of me I set out to find a spot.  Just my luck, the only spot not right in the front next to the instructor is in the back row right next to some guy that I will describe as a younger leaner version of Mr. Big (the TV character, not the band from the 80's).  So after debating my two crappy options, I go with the spot in the back row next to Mr. Big light because at least this way nobody will be staring at my ass.  I set up my mat according to how others have done, sit criss-cross applesauce to copy my fellow zen seekers in some stretches.  The instructor enters and I feel a little confidence boost in the fact that she is somewhat chubby too.  Let's go, I can totally do this!

I was doing pretty good with the breathing and posture.  Then right about when things turned into a game of solo Twister as a farm animal with multiple personality disorder, I realize I have to pee.  Not knowing if it is proper yoga etiquette to excuse oneself to use the restroom, I tried to put my bladder out of my mind and surrender myself to Vinyasa.  I sucked it up as the movements got more ambitious.  My decision to take the spot in the back row was validated as we downward dogged until my wrists began to wobble and while this weeble wobbled, she did not fall down.  After much planking, reaching, and some pose that resembled surfing... all while inhaling and exhaling at the right time, it was time to lay back and put the bean bag thingy on my eyes and relax.  Relax!  A word that my brain receives as a challenge in rapid fire streaming of random thoughts.  The lights are very dim and the music, something I imagine from Bali, or India is intended to help one relax.  The instructor speaks softly about embracing being at rest, etc.  Right!  I can't rest because all I can think about is how the humming, mumbling vocals in the music possess a tone and reverb akin to Eddie Vedder.  Not so much angsty Eddie, more of a Ukelele songs after first partaking in some herbal refreshments type of Eddie.  So then, while I am supposed to be embracing "rest" my mind is simultaneously fixated on the spasm in my butt and planning Eddie's next solo project for a righteous yoga soundtrack.  I wonder if I could "rest" to that?

While I may not have found Zen, nor successfully executed every pose to it's fullest potential, I consider it a success because I didn't pee myself, fall down, or pass out.  In fact, Mr. Big light was way more wobbly than me, in fact he almost fell at one point, not that I was checking him out or anything.  As I was using the yoga studio restroom I happened upon a list of yoga etiquette and helpful tips.  "Do not eat or drink an hour prior to class."  Note to self, skip the Grande Oprah Chai latte on your way to the next yoga class. 

Namaste!

Solar Upcycled Chandelier

I found this old chandelier at my local salvage building supply store for $3.00.  Nothing special, but nice bones.  I thought it would be fun to add some color and solar light to make this a fun and functional accent light on my back porch deck.

I started by taking the light fixture apart and then snipping and removing all of the wires.

Next I primed and painted.  I painted the metal pieces with a metalic oil rubbed bronze and the center spindle a pop of blue.

Reassembled.

Since I would not be using any glass globes I inserted some weatherstripping foam tubing to keep the socket from moving around.

I purchased some dollar store solar yard lights for $1 each.  The ones I bought were too wide to set inside the socket securely so I inserted a ball of epoxy in the socket, then pressed the light int it and twisted to seat it securely.

Here is the finished solar chandelier in both daylight and at night.

Recycled Closet Door Raised Bed

Re-purpose old bi-fold closet doors into raised planter beds.  I picked up my bi-fold doors at Habitat For Humanity ReStore for about $5 per pair.  The doors each measured about 6' 6" long and were 12" wide, perfect dimensions for the sides of a raised bed.  I cut some 12" x 2" boards 3' long to use as the ends.  I simply attached the bi-fold doors to the boards with 2.5" screws and that was that.

Cheap, easy, and eco-friendly!  

Notes: 

Use solid wood bi-fold doors, not the newer kind you see that are mostly constructed of mdf.

Girl Scout Daisy Headband

I wanted a good way to keep a visual of our troop in a crowd of Daisies at Daisy Days, so I created these unique headbands.  It worked, our girls were very easy to spot.

I started with these Dollar Tree headbands.  I removed the butterflies and saved them to use for another project.

Next, I cut all the Daisy petals and center out of felt and attached to felt backing with hot glue.  Once set, I cut around the shape of the Daisy.

Turn flower face down with the light blue petal at the "12 o'clock" placement and place a quarter size glob of hot glue in the center.  Hold the tip of the headband antenna flat into the glob of glue and place a small square of felt on top.  Press down until glue sets.  My apologies for not getting a photo of this step.

Here is the finished product.  Time consuming but worth it.  Imagine a troop of 1st graders wearing these... very cute!

Recycled Chair Swing

I saw a picture of a chair swing one day and loved it but didn't have a good spot for one, until now that is.  We had an existing deck swing that was a rope hammock style chair swing and it was great until it "wore out", and by wore out I mean that my 6 year old brandishing scissors resulted in a giant hole right where one would sit.  Serendipity... a wonderful excuse to make a recycled chair swing.

This is an ideal project to recycle a broken chair that you hate to just throw away.  I didn't have a broken chair so I picked one up at Goodwill for a few bucks.  Here is the "before" of our chair.

I planned to string rope directly through the chair seat, so I started by drilling my four holes.  After the holes were drilled I cut off the legs.

Now time for a shiny fresh coat of paint.  I used Rustoleum 2X primer/paint in a semi gloss indoor/outdoor and bravely let my daughter pick out the color.  I was so sure she would try to talk me into pink, but she surprised me and went for a nice warm orange.

Lastly, I strung the rope and used a figure eight knot that the guy at Home Depot assured me would be strong.  I attached the swing rope to some chain using large "S" hooks, chain and mounted it to the deck arbor beam using a swing-set screw kit.

This was a very quick and easy weekend project.  The chair, paint, rope and hardware cost about $25.

DIY Butcher Block Countertop

I love the look of a butcher block counter top, especially paired with white painted cabinets.  This project is one more little piece of the greater puzzle that is our longestcheapestkitchenmakeoverever!  As with every other aspect of our kitchen makeover I have been looking for ways to get the look I want while re-purposing items and seeking out salvage sources for materials whenever possible.  It is my two birds with one stone approach, both kind to my wallet and kind to the planet.

In researching options for an economical butcher block style counter top I found methods all over the spectrum in terms of expense and degree of difficulty.  While I am fairly adventurous when it comes to tackling the DIY unknown, I am well aware of my limits in patience and skills set.  Two methods caught my eye that seemed doable and when I stumbled across some bundles of scrap oak flooring at Habitat For Humanity ReStore it was decided which method I would tackle.

I have taken to swinging by my local HFH ReStore now whenever I am in the vicinity because good stuff doesn't last long and you never know what items might have been marked down up to 75% off the already low prices.  It was one of these visits that I stumbled upon plastic wrapped bundles of unfinished brand new tongue and groove oak flooring scraps marked down to just $3.50 per bundle.  There were about 10 scrap planks per bundle varying in size from 12-18 inches in length.  I grabbed the four bundles that they had figuring that it would be more than enough for my counter top project.  This small counter top used 2 full bundles ( 20 scrap planks), that is $7.00 in wood materials.  Add in 2 tubes of liquid nails ($6 rounded up), a small tin of stain/poly ($6 rounded up), and you have a counter top for roughly $19.00 and I'm pretty sure that you can't beat that with other low cost solutions such as laminate or tile.  Although I must admit that I also used a thin plywood base for this project which I had in my scrap pile, so I guess the project could have cost a bit more if I had needed to purchase some plywood.

I should also mention that the base cabinets that this counter top is for were also salvage cabinets from Habitat For Humanity for the bargain of $30, the book case attached on the far right was constructed out of wood I salvaged from some cabinets that we removed above our peninsula.

Here is how we tackled the counter top:

I started by cutting a plywood base to the dimensions of the cabinets and anchored the plywood to the cabinet.

Using liquid nails I began installing the wood flooring on top of the plywood.  I chose to lay it starting in the far right corner with the groove sides to the back and right edges.  This leaves the tongue sides facing outward.  Use a hammer as needed to set the planks tight.

You will end up with some uneven edges on the left end, I trimmed those with a saw after they were set.
You might have some high low spots at the plank joints, so sand those smooth.  I sanded with a rough grit to level out the high low spots then finished off with a fine grit to give a very smooth finish.  I shaped the sharp corner with the sander to create a smooth rounded corner for safety and aesthetics.  I had originally planned to trim off the tongue for a straight edge and then add a trim piece.  My husband said he liked the shape of the tongue edge and that gave me a convenient out as my confidence was wavering as I faced the task of achieving a straight edge.  By leaving the tongue edge it gives the appearance of a decorative router edge.

After the boards were sanded smooth and wiped down with a damp cloth, it was time to stain.  I opted to go with an all-in-one stain and poly in Pecan with a satin finish.

The Pecan stain gave the oak a little more warmth and depth without being too dark.  Just the right amount of contrast to the white cabinets.

I will be adding a thin strip of white trim where the cabinet base and plywood meet for a more finished look. I am happy with the look of the white and butcher block.

Well I hope this simple and budget friendly project will inspire you to re-think how you see materials.  Flooring isn't just for floors.  Thank you for stopping by!

Salvage Headboard Bench

I am so excited to have finally finished this little bench for my backyard!

This project was another born out of distraction while visiting Habitat For Humanity ReStore in search of materials for one project or another.  It happens nearly every time, I'm heading back to the cabinets or tile and this little voice in my head shouts,"Squirrel"!  In this case a cute old worn oak headboard and footboard with a $5 price tag jumped out at me.  As soon as I saw it a picture popped into my head of exactly what it would look like as a bench and I knew I must take it home.  Like many of my projects born out of distraction, this one got tabled for a while before I could get back to it, so it sat in the garage for many months... okay about a year... in which time it annoyed the crap out of my beloved garage hogging husband.

I began by cutting the footboard so that it could be used as the sides of the bench.  Depending how deep you want the bench to be, you can either cut it in half, or take a strip out of the middle to get the desired width for the sides.

The next step was to cut wood to build a seat box.  You can use 2x4's, but I just used what I had in my scrap pile, which was slightly smaller.  Cut the 4 strips according to your desired dimensions so that the seat box can be attached to the headboard flush on the sides.

Next, you want to attach your pieces to build your seat box.  If you are using 2x4's you should be able to assemble the box with screws.  I opted to use some "L" brackets because my boards were smaller than 2x4 and I wanted to avoid splitting.  You can see that my shorter cuts for the side are thinner than the longer front and back pieces and that is because I was using wood from my scrap pile.  The thicker pieces were the leftover crosspieces from a cedar picket fence panel and the thinner pieces were once part of a sofa that we dismantled for recycling.

I then attached the seat box directly to the bench back (headboard).  I measured and attached it to achieve a 17" standard seat height.

 

Next step, attach the footboard sides fastening it to both the sides of the headboard and the seat box.  I chose to add some additional "L" brackets to the underside of the seat box and headboard/footboard pieces for added support.

Lastly, I cut some scrap boards from the kids old play structure to form the seat top and fastened them to the seat box.

Finally, the fun part!  I used Rustoleum outdoor/indoor paint in Maui Blue to give this little salvage scrap bench a fun pop of color.  I used one yard of outdoor fabric in a fun print to sew a seat pad cover,which I then stuffed with an old queen size mattress pad.  

This was a very quick and budget friendly project. Total spent was only $33

- headboard/footboard $5

- scrap wood $free

- paint $16

- fabric $12

- mattress pad for seat filler $free

Thank you for stopping by and I hope this post will inspire you to get out there to your local salvage store or garage sales and tackle your own upcycle project.