Building with Wood, Part I

I wanted to wait until we were finished building our masterpiece, but I'll end up with way too many pictures and you'll get bored.

So... here's the beginning. We're building a box for the patio where we can keep all of our cushions. I found Ana's blog Knock-Off Wood right before we bought our new house, and I've been dreaming about building things ever since.  Since it involves power tools, Zac was in.

We have grand plans for a table, craft desk and sewing desk, office furniture, etc., but we decided to start with something clearly labeled BEGINNER so that whatever we mess up won't be on something we hope to have forever (ie: dining room table and chairs).

We started with a big pile of wood (they're 8 feet long!) which was probably the most overwhelming part.

My good-looking and talented boyfriend soon cut it down to size, with a lot of help from me. And I'm serious about that! I did the measuring and moving of boards. Important work!

By the end of the day yesterday, we had made this!

I built this piece today while Zac was at work - by myself!  Is it perfect? Nope. Is it totally awesome? Yes! I built that BY MYSELF.  Pretty much, that means I rock.

Sanding this small piece already had me re-evaluating how much I want to refinish the kitchen cabinets!

Not a bad start, right??

Oh - and what happens when you don't have a garage and you're worried about rain during your building project? Your dining room looks like this:

YUCK!

We can't do anything tomorrow (both of us have to work late) but hopefully by Thursday we'll have everything put together.  It's going to get a pretty color paint, which is the only thing left to surprise you with, so you'll have to wait for that!