Barn Wood sign

We purchased 6 acres of land not to far from our home and there is a lot of work to be done. Our first project is tearing down a really old {nasty} barn that homeless people were using as a hotel and dump. That land got pretty abused up until now, but we are working to make it awesome. So, like I said first we are working on getting rid of that barn. And what comes with a really old barn? Awesome barn wood!! And lots of it :)

This is the barn. It’s not super big, but it is going to be a lot of work. We have only pulled off the tin around the outside of part of it, cleaned up some garbage and wire around it, and pulled part of the fence down.

I took home a few pieces of the old wood to see what my creative genes could come up with. I debated sanding it or not, but in the end I went ahead and sanded. It took some of the ‘barn wood’ look away, but it also brought out a really neat grain and character.

so much character!

It was a little bit longer than I wanted it, but I didn’t want to just cut it with the miter saw because it wouldn’t look authentic at all. So Grant pulled out the axe and tried chopping it to make it look more of a rustic looking cut.

Well, it totally backfired and the wood was shattered and was ruined. Project FAIL.

But I did salvage a small portion for a little sign on my front porch. I got the post idea HERE and I couldn’t do just a regular old WELCOME sign. I’m a very anti “everybody’s doing it” type of a person. This initials-in-the-tree idea came to me while I was running earlier that day. [side note: running is the best!]. I used a wood stain to make the heart and initials, but it kind of just looks like a sharpie, then sprayed it with a lacquer. Maybe I’ll have to make some adjustments with the initials and heart and either wood burn it or hand carve it like you are suppose to on tree trunks ;)

I have another project coming along for more of that barn wood. We’ll see if it actually turns out though!  What other projects would old weathered barn wood be perfect for? Give me some ideas!!

Upcycled Log Planter

I got the idea for this log planter from a random HGTV show that I watched years ago. It was a really easy project and took less than an hour to make. I’m sure I did it the hard way too!!

Surprisingly this log was not cut by Grant! Instead we got it from an empty lot that just cut down a bunch of trees so they can start building. Grant was given permission and already took the majority of the larger, longer logs, but I wanted a smaller one for this project.

I used a spade bit and drilled some holes pretty close together and fairly deep.

Then I used the hammer and chisel to get more of the guts out and smooth out the edges. I finished it by using the drill again and basically used it like a mixer to make the hole bigger and deeper.

I put a little dirt in it and then a couple free flowers we got from a local nursery. Pretty easy and super fast. I’m not the best green thumb out there, but hopefully they will actually keep growing and bloom! Now I want at least one more, but in a bigger log right next to this one by my front door.

 

 

Tools needed:  

*Drill
*Spade bit
*Hammer
*Chisel

 

 

**update** Grant came home from work and made the second one!
 

Custom House Number Display

We moved into our house in October 2009. Ever since I’ve been wanting to change the house number display because ours was hard to see, especially at night. I have been wanting to do something original and fun with our house numbers, not just numbers on the house siding by the door – boring (sorry if that’s the way you roll, I just wanted something different). I’m not a fan of “everyone else is doing it” styles and always try to be a little different than the rest. So this is what I came up with:

This is what our house number looked like, thanks to the builders and their wonderful placement. (I should have taken the picture from the road, for a real perspective.)

This was basically a project for Grant, all I did was give him my vision, pick out the rock and the numbers. He did all the rest! Thankfully my brother was willing to help with the rock. The one I picked out, as we were driving along on a gravel forest road, looked awesome from the truck and was still very awesome up close. But it was also very, very huge! Lets just say it was quite the process for these two to get it in the truck!

[first they rolled it up the bank so we could back the truck right under it]

[not as easy as it sounds, still had to move it on to the truck bed]

[and if you can’t tell, it was raining!]

It was also quite the ordeal getting it out of the truck and in the right spot! By this time it wasn’t just raining, it was also dark. They were troopers :)

We weighed the truck with the rock and without the rock, turns out it was over 600 lbs! Maneuvering a 600 lb rock to the perfect angle and location is not so easy. The next day Grant mixed some concrete and poured it around the base of the rock so it didn’t have a chance of moving (like tipping over and crushing our kiddos). It’s nice and solid now! He topped it off with some little rocks to cover the concrete.

Then came the fun part, putting on the numbers. Grant recently bought a concrete drill, which was perfect timing for this project. We placed the numbers.

He drilled the holes

Then we used E6000, of all things, and the screws that came with the numbers to attach them to the rock. Taped them in place and let it dry overnight

And now we have a darling display for our numbers. You can see the difference between the two (still need to take those numbers off the post!!)

I’m totally in love!! Thank goodness Grant is amazing! I give him my vision and he follows through, EVERY time! Love it :)

[the spotlight is a must. solar powered and now you can see the numbers at night!]

Project details:
*rock from the woods = free
*labor from husband and brother = free :)
*concrete left over from the neighbors building their fence = free
*house numbers = $1.86 each at Home Depot
*E6000 = already had it
*concrete drill = already had it
*spotlight = $5 at Target

Total for custom house number display = $10.58

**UPDATE**

I painted the inside of the plastic numbers, so you can see them a little better. I used model paint (from Michaels), which is water proof and will hopefully withstand Montana weather! I used silver, but I might put a top coat of white to make it stand out just a little more.

 

 

 

FEATURED ON:

Rainy day fun – RICE (and wheat)

The whole family has been down and out this week. It started with a cold and then little B man and Grant got a bit of pink eye to go along with it. It has been cold outside and we didn’t want to spread it to anyone else, so we were in the house A LOT this week. That means some very antsy kiddos.

Little G man didn’t get hit as hard as the other two so he was constantly needing some entertainment. [Unfortunately] we watched a lot of movies and cartoons, but we also did some preschool activities and other random stuff. He begged for me to pull out the rice/wheat for him to play in it. Along with playing in the kitchen sink, this is one of his absolute favorite inside activities. 

Growing up, my mom had a couple large Tupperware containers filled with rice that we could play with. It really is fun, like playing in the sand at the beach. But it does make quite the mess with little kids. When little G man was really little, I made him do it on the floor on top of a huge plastic table cloth. That way I could just pick up the table cloth and dump all the spilled rice back into the container. He is getting a lot better now that he is older and knows how to keep it in the bowl and pan.

I let little B man join the fun the next time we pulled it out and resorted to the tablecloth on the floor. Surprisingly it works really well and they keep most of it on the tablecloth.

I did have to threaten little G man a few times, “Everything not on the tablecloth gets swept up and thrown away”. He did a pretty good job keeping it on the tablecloth, and even though he dumped ALL of it out on the tablecloth, it was really easy to clean up. The rest of it on the floor was swept up and thrown away.

I added wheat to the rice because we got A TON of bags full of red winter wheat a couple years ago from the local university ag research program that was giving it away. So I figured why not use that to play with (since we obviously aren’t using it to make whole wheat bread…that’s a lot of work!).

I just need to get some fun toys for him to play with when they’re digging in the rice/wheat, like THIS or THIS. Not many things keep these guys entertained for very long, but playing in the rice is definitely one that they loves when, especially when they are stuck inside.