My Birthday Present - Raised Bedding Box

For months,I've been asking my hubby to make me some raised bedding boxes for the backyard. My girls have been begging to plant a garden, and I wanted to spruce up "the jungle" a little bit. I searched the internet for different plans and styles and chose one that was easy, cheap, and would fit the ideas I had in mind for them.

Here is the current condition of our backyard - don't judge, it's not bad, but it is our first summer in our new house and there is a lot of work to do. On the left side over by the bedding box, is what we used to call "the jungle." It was the only spot that grass wasn't planted and was way too overgrown for my lawnmower. So, this weekend we finally got it weed-eated. It looks soooo much better, but now we have to do something with the backyard. The grass is a whole other project, but well worth it to have a place for my kiddos to play.


Before


Before


After (weeks of countless hours spent outside. It's huge, you know!)


Before


After

So, we just made the first one and we'll be trying it out soon. The plan is to eventually, probably over the next few years as money allows, to line the back of the fence with these boxes and make one a sand box for the kids and more space for the garden and flowers, etc. It is my birthday this week so I think he finally got around to building it, instead of doing more of his own projects, just for that. I'm so excited, either way.

I researched how they were made and made my own dimensions and "instructed" my husband how to do it. I haven't felt like using the power tools lately, with my stomach getting in the way and all. (30wks now!).

Our bedding box ended up being 8' x 4'. "They" recommended the widest you make a box as 4' so you can reach the middle from any side of the box.

Also, we used 8' x 2' x 12' for the edges @ approx. $10 each, and 4' x 4' x 8' (with half left over) for the posts @ approx. $10. Plus, about five dollars extra for screws and bolts to make it extremely sturdy. So, total, the one box cost us about $35 to build. Not too bad when you look at some of the prices they charge for the pre-made kits. I don't even think we had to do any of the cuts ourselves. We just had them cut to the right sizes at the Home Depot where we bought them, which makes it a whole lot easier to fit in the back of our short bed truck. Really, the only things you need besides the wood are screws, bolts (optional, my hubby is just very OCD), a drill and screwdriver to put it together. Not too bad.

Here are some of my favorite plans/pictures from different sites that might be helpful in your search if you want to build some, too.



Knock-Off Wood - I love this blog! She is soooo talented and even if you've never picked up so much as a hammer and nails, she inspires you to build all sorts of stuff, and makes it look so easy, and its all FREE! Here's the link to her version of raised garden beds.



Sunset.com has this really great picture and instructions on how to make one, but the price was way more than I built mine for.



My high school friend Whitney made some great-looking raised beds for someone and they turned out great. This is also another way to build them.

Better Homes & Gardens has a little article on how to build raised bed gardens.



This Old House has a nice design and plans for one here too.



Popular Mechanics has a really detailed article on how to build them, too.

Hopefully this has served as some inspiration and you'll go out there and build your own raised garden bed. DIY and cheap!

Baby Shower Gifts/Fun Projects

I've been super busy on e-bay lately. I've had some custom orders for my baby stuff on top of what I already do to try and make a little extra money for my hubby to pursue his hobby (rocks, fossils = boring + very expensive). But he works all day and I am lucky enough to get to stay home with our girls. So it is a fair trade I think.

Here are some of the diaper clutches that I have made recently.

















Anyway, I have been making diaper clutches/pouches, burp cloths and diaper wipes cases lately. I love, love, love the minky on this custom order I did for a lady.





I love how they turned out so much that I made a few for myself. I'm having baby number 3 in July. It is a boy and I have 2 girls = everything pink and girly at my house. Just another excuse to craft/create! Like I needed one anyway.





I made a pink set to list for sale on e-bay. If you are interested leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll link you directly to the listing.







Here is a diaper wipes case I made awhile back that I still love!





I also make nursing covers/poncho's that I sell on e-bay. They aren't like the ones you strap onto your neck and only cover the front. I made it like a poncho so that your back is covered, too. I don't particularly want my back hanging out along with my front! I make them in tons of color, too. I just haven't gotten around to taking the pictures of them because my big old belly makes it difficult to take photos, as you can see.







Here's why I love them sooooo much. When my second daughter was one week old(!!!) my 4 year old was admitted to the ER and then later the hospital while visiting her Grandma's house. I ended up spending four days by her side, going with her to x-rays and scans all around the hospital - all while trying to hold and nurse a newborn baby. I was constantly feeding her while walking up and down the halls for different tests. The poncho was a lifesaver, really! My front and back was covered all while nursing my baby and passing numerous strangers in the hallway. Did I mention my husband was out of town during all of this??? My mother-in-law was a godsend during this. She even spent the night so that I could get an actual nights sleep! So grateful that we all got through it, and I'm sooooo glad I had that nursing cover/poncho.

Anyway, now that you've heard entirely too much about my life, I just wanted to share with you all the fun stuff that I've been up to lately. Besides anticipating and getting ready for our new baby.

Faux Custom Bookshelf's

Okay, here is my “custom” bookshelf’s for our new house. Since we weren’t able to sell our house in Nevada before we moved back to Utah and bought our new house, we are very, VERY tight with our budget. Sooooo……here was our solution to the tight budget, a near empty room and years and years and years of books being packed into boxes while we moved a gazillion times. (Seriously…this was our 7th move in 3 years-Whew!) I LOVE to read and I’ve even sold a ton of them on Amazon, so this is not very many compared to what we had as college students.

We went to Walmart and bought their plain black bookshelf’s for $29, although they are frequently on sale for $25. After we had put them together, we bought some molding and trim at good old Home Depot and painted it black. (I used matte black spray paint, because I am impatient and wanted them to be finished NOW.)



Total cost of this bookshelf unit was around $120 when all was finished. (Actually, now that I think back, our in-laws bought the bookshelf’s for us as a house-warming gift, so technically they were free.) No complaints.



After cutting and measuring all the pieces, we attached them first with wood glue and then teensy tiny nails. As you can see in the photos that I’m not quite done filling in the holes and fixing all the little spots, but hey, I have to kids and I’m 6 months pregnant. I’ve got more important things to do. Like, sewing and anything else I don’t really feel like doing right this minute. Know what I mean?

Anyway, we also wanted them to be moveable in case we ever do move again. (I’ve already told my hubby that I will NEVER move again and that he can commute as long as he needs to, but I’m staying put! lol!) (Crossing my fingers…and toes…and legs…)

So, we made cuts between each of the bookshelf’s so that they could be pulled apart if needed or could be slid close together so they look like a built-in, one-piece unit. As you can see I haven’t gotten my hubby to get them as close together as they could and should be, but hey, I’m basically lazy and I’m pretty happy with them anyway.



On another note, I have to say that everything in this room, aside from very few items, was either hand-me-down’s we got as newlyweds, given to us since then, or bought and fixed up from a thrift store.



The little stand with the lamp on it, was a hand-me-down and is still in need of a good painting. The couch was $20 from DI and I just bought a couch cover to make it a little more attractive (okay, a lot more). The coffee table was from DI for $10 and I sanded it down, fixed the drawer and painted it black. The brown, gorgeous, wing-back chair in front of the bookcase was given to us by my in-laws. (I’m kicking myself right now, because I found a nicer one at DI for $20 which I was too chicken to buy because of all the moving and inconvenience it would be to grab it that minute, that they replaced it with and gave us the brown chair.) It is soooo comfy anyway and in pretty good shape. Not even any wear and tear on the velvet fabric. It’s my reading chair. Most days you can find me there with a good book or reading my scriptures whenever I can pull away from the kids for more than 3o seconds.

The one item that was pretty spendy was the large picture hanging above the couch. I love, love, love this picture. I got it for Christmas a few years back when Deseret Book does all their artwork on sale for 50% off. So instead of $300, my hubby picked it up for $150. (With a lot of hinting and nagging.) It is called “Oh, Jerusalem” by Greg Olsen.





The gold and black chair, which I am extremely proud of, was my very first attempt at upholstering anything. It used to be a funny shade of green. We got two of them from my in-laws, so I spent HOURS taking one apart, painted it black and purchased some fabric for under $20 from Hobby Lobby and improvised until I was happy with it. Let me tell you that nail head trim may be pretty, but it is no easy thing to get them on straight and anywhere near perfect. Just don’t look too closely at mine. I found the pillow on the chair from DI last week for $1.

Here’s a picture of the other chair that hasn’t been redone yet. I use it as my reading chair in my master bedroom. See the lamp on the table, which was also hand-me-down free, I picked up the pair of them for $5 at the DI. So gorgeous!



Do you see that tiny little shelf up in the top right hand corner? I bought about a gazillion of these because I love them and they are easy to put up by myself. They are only $5 each at the Home Depot.

Okay, so I made the curtains and pillows on the couch, but when I trimmed the curtains, I wasn’t very patient and trimmed them too short. So, the plan is to buy some fringe or beads or something and attach them to the bottom. But…not until the budget allows that.

Hey, I never claimed to be perfect. Still trying on that one…

On that note, I’m not very good at arranging things so they look good together. HELP! Any suggestions would be most welcomed! I’m slowly, but surely, putting my home together. It really is the second home I’ve ever owned, but our first house that we own in Nevada, I didn’t feel like I had enough time to really decorate it. We built it, lived in it for 9 months and got recruited back to Utah. Hardest decision we’ve ever had to make, but well worth it. It’s soooo good to be back.

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