by wood work | Mar 30, 2020 | General
We switched over to a round dining table a couple of years ago, and we have LOVED it. Not only does it feel cozy and comfortable with just our family of five, but it’s easy to squeeze in 8-10 around it.
We built our own 60″ round dining table top, and it has held up extremely well over the last couple of years, despite heavy use from a family that lives, works and homeschools at home. The photo in this post was taken this week – it still looks brand new!
Here’s how to build your own 60″ round dining table top.
by wood work | Mar 30, 2020 | General
A couple years ago, we built a round dining table for our main family table, and we LOVE it! It has served us so well, feeling cozy with just our family, but easily adapting to more guests – just pull up a chair.
But the base wasn’t quite right for our family. We have a 1 year old who feeds herself. Food falls everywhere. And it’s hard to clean under the openings in the legs. And why on earth would I paint it white???
So I decided to keep the same tabletop, but change out the base to something simple and easy to clean around that is NOT white. Two 2×6 boards later ….
We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out and love the simple design that will make our life easier.
Video Tutorial
You can watch this table being built in our video tutorial here:
What About the Tabletop?
We built our own round dining tabletop in this post (with video tutorial) and it has held up well and been nothing but awesome for us. It wasn’t hard, but was definitely time consuming and made a big mess.
So if building a perfect round tabletop seems intimidating (or more mess than you want to sign up for), don’t worry! You can buy an unfinished round tabletop on Etsy for marginally more than materials.
Pinnable Image
If you have a second to pin, we greatly appreciate pinning and it helps our website out. Here’s an image you can use:
by wood work | Mar 30, 2020 | General
Almost a decade ago, I built my first A Frame Chicken Coop. And while that coop is still being used today, over the years of using it, I’ve found ways to improve it, and if I get a chance to build it all over again, this plan is how I would do it.
- Suitable for 3-5 chickens (perfect for most families)
- Easy to build design with off the shelf materials
- Designed to shed water and provide plenty of shelter for the chickens
- Built in nesting box
- Doors on each side for easy access and allowing chickens out to free range
by wood work | Mar 30, 2020 | General
Photo by Furniture Dreamer with increased raised bed height.
Build your own garden enclosure and keep your plants safe and contained!
- Minimal board cutting and less waste
- Beginner friendly – you’ll only need a drill and a saw to complete
- Finish in a weekend
- Built in raised beds for planting
- Keeps animals and pests out of the garden
- Keeps garden area enclosed
What type of wood to use?
The ideal wood choice is cedar. If you don’t have cedar or cedar is too expensive, you can use regular framing lumber. We recommend douglas fir if possible, treated with a non toxic exterior stain or oil (ask at your local hardware store stain for raised beds).
by wood work | Mar 30, 2020 | General
Burning wood for heat in Alaska has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. We love wood heat because it’s more cost effective than oil, is renewable, and harvesting wood is good for our forests – certainly more ideal than wildfires burning up the forests if they aren’t managed.
For our cabin, we need to store wood inside so it dries out and is free of snow, but the space is limited. So I designed a new project just for firewood.
We love that it functions like a console with useable space on top, but is designed to accommodate firewood. I’m going to warn you though – this project is HUGE – measure and make sure it fits before building.
Video Tutorial
In this video tutorial, we show all the steps on how we built it. Also watch if you want to add the hidden storage area.
