DIY Toddler Tower

Baby D loves to bake with me---especially muffins, but really anything I mix together.  As soon as I ask, "Do you want to help Lovey cook?".   He rushes to pull the step stool out from beside the refrigerator.  When we made macaroons for the delivery nurses, he became very distressed that I needed to stand on "my 'tool" to reach the food coloring.

I like having him help and love it when Michael and Adellelyn have wanted to help me as well, but have felt very uneasy about him standing on the step-stool at times.  Because it is slanted, he can't get as close to the cabinet as needed and if he should lose his balance or step backwards, he would hit a very hard tile floor.

At one of the schools I worked with, they have Toddler Towers in their toddler classrooms so that the children can reach the cabinets in a safe way.  They are adjustable and awesome, but also big, bulky and expensive.  To the tune of $150-200 expensive.

Enter one of my grand ideas.  I found directions for a DIY Toddler Tower over on Ana White's website.  After showing it to Ron, we decided that we could build one ourselves and even make it so that it would fold up for storage.

I measured and Ron cut.

As I eluded on my Instagram photo of this step, building projects are sometimes a bit stressful for our relationship.  We have very different ways of approaching things like this and we both can become a bit "snippy" about it.  Such was the case this time, as well, but fortunately, those moments don't last long and we are soon working together again.

Then we assembled.
The directions were easy to follow, with the exception of the part about adding hinges.   The directions only said to purchase 8 sets of sturdy hinges, and we soon realized that half of the ones we bought were too large for the boards.  So, back to Lowe's I went to exchange the hinges.  The other part that was tricky was where to put the hinges.  The included drawing shows half of them on the inside and half of them on the outside.  We couldn't figure out any possible way for that to work, so we placed all of our hinges on the inside.

That meant that our front and back boards had to be placed on the outside of legs, which left a space between the front and the platform that I was worried about feet slipping into.

Adding a scrap of wood to both the front and back fixed that problem and the rest went together just fine.

I sanded and painted the tower and had the chance to try it out this afternoon.  (Please ignore the very messy counter top--it's real life).

It worked great!!

Baby D was a little bit hesitant to climb up the rungs by himself, but it is just as easy to lift him up onto the platform while he is this small.

The front fits flat against the cabinets and hits just below the counter top, which is perfect.

I like that it has the curved sides to hold onto--particularly when I need to step away to get an ingredient.

Of course, being at counter level means that he can reach my iPad and swipe away recipes.  And steal blueberries from the pie.  But, it also means we can cook together much more easily and safely.

The cost of all our supplies was about $35.00 (hinges were the most expensive part of the supplies).
Now, excuse me while I add a scoop of ice cream to our bowls of Berry Crisp. (For our very simple, yummy recipe, click here.)

Bathroom Remodel and A New Headboard

Better late than never, huh?  Earlier this spring, Ron and I undertook a remodel of our guest bathroom.  The room is very small-a narrow rectangle-with 1950's circa tile work throughout.  Since a complete overhaul was not in our budget, we decided to do what we could to brighten and lighten the area.  Fortunately, the tile is shades of gray, which is a bit easier to work with than the greens and pinks that seem to also have been popular during that time frame. I don't really have any "before" pictures, but years ago, I had stucco-ed the walls and used paint and glaze.  I never really liked it, but couldn't afford to do anything to change it at the time.  (here's one little corner, to give you an idea of what it was like before)

This time, Ron and I decided to put up white bead board.  During this portion of the remodel, Ron and I were reminded of how different our methods of remodeling are.  They say that a marriage is tested during any sort of remodeling project and I agree.  There were a couple of exchanges on how to cut the boards---we were probably saying the same thing, but in different ways---before I decided this would be a project that would be better left to him and his way of thinking things through.  I was there if he needed me to hold or carry boards, but otherwise I kept my distance.  :-)

I turned my attention to painting the new headboard that Ron had built for me as a Christmas present. I used Annie Sloan chalk paint, added a touch of dark finishing wax to the moldings and finished it off with the Annie Sloan wax.  (did I mention that Joy ate the very expensive wax brush that I had splurged on???---I ended up using an old t-shirt instead and it worked just fine).

Once the bead board was installed in the bathroom, Ron added molding at the bottom and re-installed the crown molding.

Things didn't fit exactly, so it was soon time for me to step in as chief caulker and painter.
I tried to set the camera up in the hallway to capture us working together, but the space is so tight, it was difficult.  The pictures were just plain awkward, at best.

Once the paint was dry, things were looking so much better.  I added some small ruffles to the existing shower curtain and we added a new light fixture.

When I was at Round Top, I looked for a few decorative accessories.   Unlike some of my "antique-ing buddies", I tend to be drawn to the industrial pieces and love the idea of breathing new life into them with a touch of paint and a pair of pliers.  This past week, I was finally able to tackle those projects and Ron helped me get things hung up.
**I bought the wire basket and chamber cups at Round Top and filled them with things for our guests.   I'd saved the hand-stamped ribbon from a gift that Valine gave me.

***I'd also bought a piece of ceiling tile back in March.  I gave one square off to give to Callie and painted the other one blue to match the ruffles on the shower curtain.  I turned up the corners with pliers and used glued a metal flower to the middle (to echo the flower on the window valance).

***The window valance only needed to be hung, but finding the right kind of hardware was a bit of a challenge.  I'm trying to decide whether or not paint the brackets white.

And here how it all looks now:

 The shelf that is hanging on the wall was painted blue to match the tin piece.

Update on the Summer Re-Do

Finally, this was the year I've been able to remodel the computer room/guest/Dan's bedroom.   Several weeks ago, Jordan was able to devote 5 days (give or take a few) to the project and it was looking great!

After debating about what kind of desktop to use, Jordan and I finally decided that he would build it himself with nice oak lumber that I purchased.  He did an awesome job!  

I stained it dark.


Ron and I bought paint and got to work  on the walls, ceiling and woodwork.  It was already primed white, so that made the job much easier.

I really wanted to add a clear, hard finish to the top, but my experience with polyurethane has not been great and I wanted something less sticky and more durable.  I decided to take a risk and try out Glaze Coat--an epoxy resin formula that you mix together and spread on.  But, I was chicken!   I read the directions numerous times and thought about the procedure for several days before actually tackling the project.

Ron helped.  He mixed while I watched the timer, then we both spread at the same time because it is such a large surface and time is limited when working with the product.

First we did a "sealer coat".  (Ron blew out any bubbles on the surface).

That went well and within 24 hours it was ready for the top coat.   This time we weren't worried.  We mixed and spread and waited.  And waited.   And waited.  

While the finish looks great, only about 2/3 of the desk actually cured properly.   The other 1/3 is left with a slightly "tacky" feel.   I searched online for any instructions or troubleshooting information I could find, but came up completely blank.  So, I found an email address of what I THOUGHT was the company and sent them a letter asking for advice as to how to proceed.

They were prompt in their response and after a few emails back and forth for clarification about the process we used, etc., they gave me instructions of how to HOPEFULLY fix it!  It involves sanding, wiping, re-mixing and a new spread.  We're trying that tonight---keep your fingers crossed that this time it works the way it is supposed to!!

Veggie Garden

Ever since I saw Callie's small raised bed, I've been wanting to try my hand at a vegetable garden as well.  When I was growing up, we always had a garden and I have good memories of green beans and such growing out in the plot.  To till up a whole garden plot has always been a bit too overwhelming to me, but a raised bed seems so much more manageable somehow.

I have been doing a little research online and pinning pictures and instructions.  You can see my Gardening 101 board here.   (I don't know what happened to the "embed" feature of Pinterest, but it suddenly got much more complicated and so these are just "cut and pasted". )

get thisBuilding a raised garden bed-5
get this10 raised bed garden ideas
get thisvegetable garden planner---you can plot your own "square foot garden"!
Ron agreed to help me build the frame, so I ordered some Cedar boards.  I thought about using fence planks, as described in several of the articles (much cheaper), but the area I had available was too long for a fence post and I really wanted 8" sides instead of 6".   The boards were more expensive than fence planks, but I know the cedar will last much longer than regular lumber and it looks better, too, so we splurged.

This weekend, with items on our "to do list" being checked off one by one, we decided to put together the frame.   Ron did a great job measuring and cutting and being sure everything was square.  I pretty much just watched or held boards still.


We cut the stakes out of a 2x4 and screwed them in place on the outside of the frame.


There was a beautiful sunset while we worked.


After pounding it into the ground the next day(Ron did that part without me---the ground was so hard from lack of rain), it was ready to be filled with dirt.   Ron brought all the bags of topsoil and compost around for me (which was a pleasant surprise), so that the next morning I could fill and mix it.


It took a lot of bags, and it was hard to mix it, but I finally got the bed filled and ready for planting.

Don't you love the brand of products??  Hopefully, the seeds we sow will grow into "hapi" plants!

I need to finalize my plans and get some seeds in the ground.  Maybe we'll do some of that this weekend while the grandkids are here!