Welcome to my blog! It really sometimes gets hectic to sit down and write a blog daily, when u are a working mom with office and home activities to tend to. I still getting used to it, may be in some time i will be able to sneak in some time to write a blog daily. I am so totally inspired by the wonderful blogs i have read and moreover this is what my blog is about .... ORGANIZING...so time organizing is a part of it!
Today i am going to show you my another DIY project (well i will not take credit for it, infact not even 10%). The credit goes to my super talented hubby who has created this as more of a need than a decorative project to pass out time.
We have a spare window on the other side (not facing outside ) in our living room which faces the other apartments in our area, so there is no much view. Hence it generally (can say, always) remains closed.(I am constantly referring to "we" here, which is understood that my hubby too is very much actively involved). We thought of sealing this window by covering it, but even though it was not functional it was imparting quite a bit light in to the living room..(and everyone knows, how important and desirable it is for sunlight is to come to your living rooms, when u stay in most populated city like Mumbai and all you get to view is only buildings and buildings surrounding each other blocking the rays.)
So we let it be, but not wanting it to lay idle as there was quite space in front of it which could accommodate a small closet. I did a lot of internet search of how the space can be utilized and zeroed in on to a display shelf for our beautiful collections (well not much right now!). We were to get the work hired and contacted few carpenters/contractors for this job. The amount we required to spend on this really seemed not justifiable for this small makeover purpose. We then thought of taking the matters in our own hand. We already had a spare blocks of wood left after we made our closet done, which was kept aside (we did not throw it, knowing the price of each square feet of wood here in India, it comes to quite a good amount). We searched for an image as we wanted from an internet and the cut out wood pieces in to the required lengths (we hired few helpers for some hours on labor to cut and saw the wood and Sorry, i do not have the cutting pictures of the wood). Once all the pieces were cut, they were fixed in to the form a shelf and fitted in to the window slot. We got some wooden strips as a border for the shelf to make it look more of a built in shelf.
We thought of painting these wooden shelves with black oil paint color, but the paint did not go well as the wood was absorbing color and was not looking even. so my hubby got some stains (polish) in red and black color. We stained the border in red and the inner sections in black (stains were much better than the oil paint, as it also gave that typical antique look to the shelf). So our shelf was ready in few hours (Staining too did not take time to dry!)... something we were looking for ward to. This DIY turned out to be done in less than 1/4th of the amount quoted by the carpenter.
Now since this is made, what to do with it was our next question? we decided to but few show pieces to display on the shelf..But then again this would be a splurge! finally i (this time, its only me) thought of arranging my kiddo's toys in the shelf. The toy basket was just overflowing with his toys and he had lost count of his innumerable toys and sometimes even forgot they existed. Whenever we go out and pass by a toy shop, seeing the toy display, he insists on having a new toy, which is really irking for me as i am the one who always have to sort his all new brought toys. His most toys are in all good condition which i cannot even purge..
So i arranged all the toys (not all, almost 50%) which he usually plays with, on to the shelf..and voila, it really looked good and my kiddo too liked it..Now he too does not have to dig in to the toy basket to find his toy and he calls our shelf as his little Toy Shop..(and that's true! it can give any small toy shop a competition for it varieties). ..
Finally, i am so happy with this DIY project and love the way it is now used..(We have decided wherever possible we will save money by trying to do things on our own and we tend to admire it more too!)
Today i am going to show you my another DIY project (well i will not take credit for it, infact not even 10%). The credit goes to my super talented hubby who has created this as more of a need than a decorative project to pass out time.
We have a spare window on the other side (not facing outside ) in our living room which faces the other apartments in our area, so there is no much view. Hence it generally (can say, always) remains closed.(I am constantly referring to "we" here, which is understood that my hubby too is very much actively involved). We thought of sealing this window by covering it, but even though it was not functional it was imparting quite a bit light in to the living room..(and everyone knows, how important and desirable it is for sunlight is to come to your living rooms, when u stay in most populated city like Mumbai and all you get to view is only buildings and buildings surrounding each other blocking the rays.)
So we let it be, but not wanting it to lay idle as there was quite space in front of it which could accommodate a small closet. I did a lot of internet search of how the space can be utilized and zeroed in on to a display shelf for our beautiful collections (well not much right now!). We were to get the work hired and contacted few carpenters/contractors for this job. The amount we required to spend on this really seemed not justifiable for this small makeover purpose. We then thought of taking the matters in our own hand. We already had a spare blocks of wood left after we made our closet done, which was kept aside (we did not throw it, knowing the price of each square feet of wood here in India, it comes to quite a good amount). We searched for an image as we wanted from an internet and the cut out wood pieces in to the required lengths (we hired few helpers for some hours on labor to cut and saw the wood and Sorry, i do not have the cutting pictures of the wood). Once all the pieces were cut, they were fixed in to the form a shelf and fitted in to the window slot. We got some wooden strips as a border for the shelf to make it look more of a built in shelf.
We thought of painting these wooden shelves with black oil paint color, but the paint did not go well as the wood was absorbing color and was not looking even. so my hubby got some stains (polish) in red and black color. We stained the border in red and the inner sections in black (stains were much better than the oil paint, as it also gave that typical antique look to the shelf). So our shelf was ready in few hours (Staining too did not take time to dry!)... something we were looking for ward to. This DIY turned out to be done in less than 1/4th of the amount quoted by the carpenter.
Now since this is made, what to do with it was our next question? we decided to but few show pieces to display on the shelf..But then again this would be a splurge! finally i (this time, its only me) thought of arranging my kiddo's toys in the shelf. The toy basket was just overflowing with his toys and he had lost count of his innumerable toys and sometimes even forgot they existed. Whenever we go out and pass by a toy shop, seeing the toy display, he insists on having a new toy, which is really irking for me as i am the one who always have to sort his all new brought toys. His most toys are in all good condition which i cannot even purge..
So i arranged all the toys (not all, almost 50%) which he usually plays with, on to the shelf..and voila, it really looked good and my kiddo too liked it..Now he too does not have to dig in to the toy basket to find his toy and he calls our shelf as his little Toy Shop..(and that's true! it can give any small toy shop a competition for it varieties). ..
Finally, i am so happy with this DIY project and love the way it is now used..(We have decided wherever possible we will save money by trying to do things on our own and we tend to admire it more too!)
Well we still have some spare wooden blocks left, so we taken up the next DIY "Name plate" creation project. Will blog on it soon.
To be more honest, by the time, i finished writing this blog, i completely forgot that i had kept rice to cook. Its only when i got the burning smell that i realized it. see i said it earlier, i am still getting used to time managing! (I have a very useful feature "Kitchen Timer" downloaded on my Nokia N8 for these times, but i rarely use it..Now i think i should start using it to avoid these in future..
Take care and thank you for visiting!
Shilpa
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