DIY Home Recycling Center

Hey Kiddos.  Guess what?

I actually completed the project I said I was going to complete in Friday's post.

It's okay if you're shocked. I'm a little shocked myself.

And the best part? I made it entirely out of stuff I already had on hand. Most people probably don't have a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on their porch so if you wanted to make one too you'd have to buy some materials.

I didn't actually have a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood either. I had a 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" and a 4'x8' sheet of 1/4" plywood that I laminated together to make a 3/4" plywood. You should just buy a piece that's already the correct thickness, but I somehow ended up with these and I can't remember what my original plan for them was so I made what I needed.

I started on Friday after work by ripping both sheets down into 15 1/2" widths so I could pick them up by myself (if you're new here I'm seven months pregnant and I've finally realized that I can't do all the things I used to be able to do easily AND make a baby. I work slower, I take more breaks, and I ask for help a lot more than I'm used to). Then I glued them together into 1x16s, a brilliant invention of the lovely and talented Ana White, with regular wood glue making sure I glued the rough sides together. I stacked all three in a pile and added some other wood I had lying on the porch on top to help make sure they dried flat.

Then Saturday morning after we put together the crib (photos coming soon), I cut my 1x16s and built my recycling center according to Ana's Laundry Basket Dresser plan. I didn't have any metal angle and had some leftover particle board from the closet organizer I built over a year ago, so I ripped it to 1 1/2" widths and fashioned 2x2s by layering two of them. The particle board was already 15" or so wide so I just ripped in the direction that meant I didn't have to cut them. I finished off the afternoon by applying wood filler.

Sunday morning I sanded them down and gave them two coats or Glidden's Parchment White (leftover from the board and batten in the bedroom).

I let them dry while I helped Austin with yard work. Later, I moved them into the laundry room and slid in the baskets I bought back in December or so when I originally planned this project. I even sorted our recyclables into them.

It almost gives you the impression we're organized, huh? We'll go ahead and call this the original "Before" for the laundry room. I can't handle you knowing what this corner looked like prior to this weekend.

Laundry/Mud Room Makeover

You know how I told you my mom was here all last week and worked on projects all over the house and I would post about them?

This post is not about them.

It's about something I've wanted to do since the day we moved into our house, but haven't. It's about our laundry/mud room/only way to access the only bathroom on the main floor. It's so bad it's embarrassing. Really, I tell people they have to swear to love me anyway or just close their eyes before I tell them how to get to the bathroom. If you're seen my front porch you have some idea of how bad a room has to be before I get embarrassed by it.

The other part of this problem is that we are throwing two parties in the next couple of months that will require people to use the bathroom you can only get to through this room. Clearly, something must be done and must be done soon.

The problems in the two spaces are  actually linked. I bought the wood for a project that will handle quite a bit of the disorganization in the laundry room months ago and it's been on the front porch ever since. Operation Use and Remove commenced on the porch wood pile last weekend (posts to follow, I swear).

This weekend I'm taking on that big (physically big, but not actually hard) project and helping out both spaces.

What is this mystery project?

Ana White's Laundry Basket Dresser. I'm not actually planning to use it for laundry though. I'm going to use it to keep our recycling sorted. That's the plan for now anyway. I suppose I can always change my mind and use it for laundry.

I also REALLY want to coat the particle board walls and bare sheet rock ceiling with a couple layers of drywall compound and paint it a cheerful yellow. And some day I'd like to buy an inexpensive butcher block counter top from Ikea and make a wood base for the sink and install some new hardware to give it more of a farmhouse look, but I'll settle for tidy and unattractive at this point.

Austin said he'll assist in cutting down the 4x8 sheets of plywood tonight so I can put it together tomorrow. I'll try to remember to take before and after shots of both spaces. Not sure I'll be able to work up the courage to post before of either though.