Royals

We've been short one bathroom around here, since the Incredible Exploding Toilet Incident.  The situation has been Super Dreamy.  Seriously; there is nothing like four semi-adults battling for bathroom supremacy.  All the time.  I thought I knew my family pretty intimately, but it turns out I was wrong.  Turns out our toilette strategies differ greatly.  Some of us are in and out like a precision drill, taking care of business with speed and efficiency.  Others, however, prefer a more leisurely pace, substituting, it would seem, the Loo for the Library.  I worry that those in the first category have been secretly plotting the demise of those in the second.  Don't ask me how I know.

There are other privileged First World families who share one throne all the time, and let me tell you, my respect for their daily struggle has really skyrocketed.  But I digress.  Remember this?  

It's the Before photo of Lindsay and Campbell's gutted bathroom, post-water damage.

Blessedly, our homeowner's insurance provided new drywall, flooring, and a pretty new vanity.  Contractors even repainted for us, which was a huge bonus, because I am up to my lips in knitting at the moment, with no time for such things.  What insurance didn't pay for, sadly, was an actual new toilet, or a plumber to install one.  We scratched up enough scratch (Thank you, Ravelry Pattern Sales!) to buy a new Seat of Power, and settled in to wait until the funds accumulated to hire the plumber.

And you know how good I am at waiting.

After a truly interminable period of looking at the big toilet box and longing to see the thing installed (almost one whole day), the Huff Ladies hatched a Cunning Plan.  Lindsay and I decided we should look into just how difficult toilet installation is.  I mean, indoor plumbing was invented by (no disrespect), GUYS, right?  How complicated could it be? 

Would you believe it?  Our new Potty has its own Movie!  You have to watch this.  I find it hilarious, which probably tells you more about me than about the product:

CLICK HERE

And there's another movie, too, which explains step by step how to install one of these!

Armed with an ipad, a YouTube video, and the strong desire to git-er-done, Lindsay and I (Wo)manned up and did the deed:

We are the Tzarinas of Toilet.  The Princesses of Piddle.  The Dutchesses of Dooky.  The Soverigns of, well, you get the idea. 

Here's another After photo:

And lo, there was peace throughout the land.  It's Good to be Queens.
 

Regifted

For my 30th birthday (the first one), I was given a lovely set of patio furniture by my husband.  Not teak, but some other nice oily tropical hardwood, it withstood the ravages of thirteen several winters, without ever being covered or coddled.  Somewhere along the way the table fell to bits, and the cushions got lost in a move.  But the chairs and bench hung on, useful for piling stuff on if not much else, without a table.

Campbell was the first to point out that for a family with such a small house, we really don't spend much time in the back yard.  "How come we don't have a picnic table outside?"  How come, indeed!  In a fit of can-do spirit, I decreed that Campbell and I would build a new table together.  And build it we did:

Campbell became an expert power sander.

We felt pretty pleased with ourselves when the base was finished.

And once the  table top was on, we decided to try and resurrect our poor old chairs.  Every joint was loose.  All were covered with a combination of moss, mildew, and mold.  In our climate, we seldom have hard freezes, but the constant moisture turns everything green.  And Lo, there was MUCH sanding.  And yes, we did wear dust protection.  Yuck.  But miraculously, under all that grime, the hardwood was still rock solid.  With all their screws and bolts re-tightened, the chairs were really as good as new.  With one exception:  

This one had a massive crack along its top rail that required some persuasion back into position.  And its seat refused to quit wiggling, even after a second round of screw tightening.  I just couldn't bear to leave this soldier behind, though.  Sweaty and sunburned, and truly tired of the whole episode, I placed a number of new screws in strategic spots.  And by a number, I mean, like, a billion.  We can sell this chair for scrap metal.  It's got an infrastructure like Wolverine's skeleton now.

We put on a coat of pretty green stain (Lindsay picked the color: "Aligator") to seal the chairs.  We think we'll seal the table with something clear, later in the summer after it's had time to dry out a bit more.  We made it with decking cedar, which is really wet when you first get it.

We worked so hard, and feel so proud of our accomplishments.  Not only is the table just what we hoped it would be; we got the satisfaction of having rescued the pretty old chairs from the brink of mildew-struction.  And we did it all together.  It's like getting that lovely birthday present, all over again.  And of course, I'm still only 30, so it's like that stuff in the middle never happened.

Think I'll go knit outside for a while.

Stick it in a Drawer

If you have one, that is.  My new desk didn't yet, so I made some.  Pleased with myself?  Little bit.

I built plywood boxes to fit the lower cubbies in my desk.  The nice man at my home improvement center did the long cuts on a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2" plywood for me so I could fit it in my car.  Then I made the short cuts at home using my miter saw.  I put each one together with glue and nails, which I sunk with a nail set and covered with putty.  After sanding, I applied two coats of white satin paint.

To add the graphics, I printed out the words and numbers from my computer, then traced them onto the drawer fronts using graphite paper (thanks for the tip, Aunt Sally - I think graphite paper may change my life!).  Then I painted them on by hand with shiny black craft paint.  I added drawer pulls (aren't they cute? I can put labels in them, too.  Think it'll look dumb if they all say "YARN"?), and glued some long strips of craft felt to the bottoms so they slide easily.

And I even had enough plywood scraps left over to make this:

The file label is a little metal picture frame.  I removed the easel back and drilled holes on each side so I could screw it down.
The ribbon goes through two holes I drilled in the back, and it hangs from a simple coat hook (just like my glasses, on the right - which I can now find!).

All that's left is to add a couple of shelves to divide the upper cubbies for small items, and my Ikea Hack will be complete.  The details:

Materials
1    1/2 " x 4' x 8' plywood sheet
4    Drawer pulls
1    sheet craft felt
wood glue
1" ring shank panel nails
sandpaper (I used 80, then 220 grit in my palm sander)
white satin finish interior latex paint
black shiny finish craft paint
graphite tracing paper

Cut list (done at home improvement center - go when they're' not busy)
6    13" x 4'
1    12" x 4'

Cut list (done by me)
8    13" x 13" fronts & backs
8    13" x 14" sides
4    12" x 14" bottoms

And the little wall file was put together with scraps, which I didn't even bother measuring.  The side panels have straight backs, with fronts angled at 15º.  It ended up about 12" wide and 9" high.  I hit it with a couple of coats of black spray paint and hung it from a ribbon.  Done and Done.

Knitters can do anything, right?