4 Men 1 Lady

This past Saturday my little man and I had the whole day to play while the three older men when outrigger canoeing on the Great Salt Lake.  Our first stop…the car wash.  His ABSOLUTE favorite!  Next, we hit up a few thrift and consignment stores…an activity I could never get away with with my older two boys.  I love the toddler years because everything is an adventure.  On the other hand, it makes for a very interesting experience in the store (bull in a china shop comes to mind).  I scored a few things that I’m thrilled with.  My first finds were some vintage wooden boxes and lots of hemp rope.  I love the patina and rustic-ness of the boxes.

Here’s how my first little makeover went down…

I new right away I wanted to make handles for the boxes with the rope.
I first tied knots on the inside of the box to secure the handle but because of the size of the rope, the knots were HUGE and stuck way too far in to the box.

So instead, my wonderful Mr. suggested these hose clamps which worked as a perfect alternative to the massive knots.

Nice, eh?!

To make them mobile we then put 4 little caster wheels on the bottom of each corner.

Toy box, storage box, book box…whatevs!

A few days ago I introduced you to my fave new online store for vintage and antique pieces called Cabootle
(you can see previous post here about how pleased I am with their customer service).
I scored these two vintage collectables.  Now let me show you how I used them.

This vintage Coca-Cola crate and printer’s tray have been put to good use at my house.

If you have kids, you know they collect stuff.
Lots and lots of stuff.
Pebbles, legos, erasers, marbles, you name it, it’s probably in one of these boy’s drawers.
As much as I complain about the clutter, it’s kind of interesting to see what little treasures fascinate them.

The other day I dumped out their junk collection drawer then put the printer’s tray in front of them and let them organize to their heart’s desire.

Now their collected treasure’s have a home.

When it’s neatly organized it’s really sort of a neat little display.

As for the Coca-Cola crate…you may remember I used it as a drink tray / caddy on my new diy patio table.

But it also makes a great little shelf when leaned on it’s side for more little boy’s treasures.

Cabootle has more great vintage finds including more printer’s trays and crates.

Don’t forget, you can get a 25% discount off your order of $50. or more until July 12, 2013!
Use code “4men1lady” at checkout to redeem.

You can also follow Cabootle on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instragram.

Disclosure:
I was given the above two pieces to review their site. All thoughts and opinions are unbiased and 100% my own.

I’ve been shopping around for a patio table but just couldn’t seem to find the perfect one.  When you can’t find one, make one!  As promised I’m back with the tutorial for making your own table made from some boards and plumbing pipe that I featured in my recent patio makeover.  I found all my supplies (except one little piece) from Home Depot.  That one little piece was only because I wanted to put my table on casters and have it be mobile (completely optional).

 I first started by purchasing 2 – 2 x 12 x 10 boards (which if you measure them, they are really 1-1/2 x 11-1/4).  I had an employee cut the two boards in half (for free) so I had 4 boards which measured 60 inches long each.  My plan was to use all 4 but the table was too deep for my liking so I opted to use 3 of the 4 instead.

I gave them a light sanding with 220 grit sand paper to make sure my surface would accept the stain evenly.
Next I applied my stain. My first coat I applied with a sponge brush ever so carefully. It took FOREVER so on the next coat I opted for what I call the “dump and wipe” method.  It was much quicker and I learned I didn’t need to be quite so careful.

(Products I used).

To secure the three boards that would be the table top I (the Mr., I mean) attached 1 x 4′s on the underside with screws.  Then the pipe base was attached to the 1 x 4′s.  I also stained and Urethaned the 1 x 4′s on the bottom just because I wanted to make sure if you caught a glance it would be an ugly, unfinished board that stuck out.

Once all the pieces were put together this is what it looked like.  It was SUPER EASY and actually kind of fun.  The Mr. told my 5 year old the pipes were one big giant puzzle that needed to put together.  They put the pipe base together in about 20 minutes.  You’ll notice that my after picture shows the pipe in black, not silver as pictured here.  Home Depot actually sells black pipe but it’s not suitable for outdoors and will rust.  Instead, you need to get the silver pipe and spray paint it (if you so desire).
Another tip regarding plumbing pipes: Home Depot will cut all your pipes and thread them for free. Make sure to test the cut and thread by twisting it into a flange or t-joint.  If it doesn’t twist on easily, either have them adjust the cut of the machine or have them re-thread the pipe which should also do the trick.

This is the only piece I didn’t get from Home Depot.  Because I put my table on casters I needed a fitting that would accept the threaded stem of the wheel.  It’s a little plastic
1 -1/8 socket that you hammer in to the 4 pipes.  I found it at A1 Casters and they were $1.00 each.  The casters fit almost perfectly.  Nothing that a little epoxy over night couldn’t perfect.  Casters found here.  Plastic socket found here.

TA-DA!

I can’t tell you how much I’m loving this table!  We eat ALL our meals on it, roll it to the side when we’re done then spray off the patio with the hose.
Talk about the perfect scenario with kids!

*If you decide not to put your table on casters you’ll need to compensate the height of your pipes (or whatever you opt for table feet) approx 5 inches.
*I made this a 6 person table.  I wanted at least 6 inches of overhang on both ends of the table to accomodate a chair each.  If however, you just want your table to be a 4 person table you could expand the 39.5 inch long pipe to approx 50 inches, thus giving the four more leg and elbow room.

Click here to see details on my other plumbing pipe project.

Pretty please, show me some love if you liked this project.  Thumbs up, Tweet, Facebook and/or Pin!