My First Solo Table Saw Project + New Bathroom Accessories

Two weekends ago we added another power tool to our collection, a table saw. And we couldn't be happier with it, since it has made working on our fireplace facade project go a lot quicker.

And while it has been more efficient for one of us (mostly my husband) to run the table saw while the other person supports the wood (mostly me) while building our fireplace facade, I couldn't resist trying out the saw for a little project of my own. I'm a lot more comfortable with table saws than circular saws anyway, probably because it reminds me of fond memories helping my dad build stuff in the garage growing up. Also, it helps that the saw blade is stationary, and I don't have to worry about it flying out of my hand like with a circular saw!

But it had been many, many years since I'd operated a table saw, so for my first solo project, I started small, with a little rustic tray for our downstairs bathroom counter top. I modeled it after this tutorial, but tailored the dimensions to hold the three apothecary jars I wanted to place in the tray. Just some scrap wood we had in the garage, a few passes through the table saw (using a push stick to keep my fingers safe when cutting narrow widths), some glue, nails and wood stain, and I had a little custom sized rustic tray (check out the tutorial I linked in for instructions). I even spruced it up further by adding some little green knobs to the sides.

Add This To My Vacation Destinations Wish List: Palm Island

I've been working on planning our next vacation, and came across an amazing sounding place that I wanted to share!

We are planning on taking a vacation for our three year wedding anniversary this summer, and have picked the Caribbean, since neither of us have been there, and it is pretty close proximity now that we live on the east coast. We are also looking for an experience that we've really never had before: an all inclusive resort.

In 2009 we stayed for two nights at an all inclusive in Puerto Vallarta, as part of a longer trip, but didn't really get to take advantage of a lot of the amenities since we were there for such a short time. My husband likes the fact that an all inclusive would mean we would mainly stay in one place and have lots of beach lounging time (since I tend to plan more elaborate trips with multiple hotel switches and non-stop activity), and I like the fact that a lot of activities are already built into the price, so I can satisfy my desire for snorkeling and adventures while he can just lie around all day.

I started my research with Fodor's 10 Best Caribbean All Inclusives for 2012. I went to all of the resort's websites (as well as all of the runner up resorts) and priced out at least a one week stay. Sadly, pretty much all of them were out of our ~$5,000 budget with air fare. All but one resort, the runner up for Best Beach, Palm Island.

And while we've decided that for this next trip, we want to go some place with a little more entertainment/nightlife options, this place is definitely getting filed away for a future trip! Doesn't a 135 acre all inclusive resort on a private island near Barbados sound divine for an ultimate "do nothing but relax on the beach" vacation?

Just look at these photos!

A Rookie (Painting) Mistake

I mentioned last week that I was doing a bit of furniture painting. Specifically, painting three bookshelves and an apothecary side table for the guest room.

I haven't done much furniture painting in the past, other than the headboard I made and spray painting some outdoor chairs. But I figured it couldn't be that hard, I'd just start with a coat of primer to make sure I get a good base for my paint.

See any problems?

Society6 Pillow Love

Man, have we been busy this week! We spent all last weekend working on our fireplace facade, and have been working on it every night this week until 10 or 11 at night. I should have lots to share after this next weekend!

And while time has been short to work on other things, I have managed to do quite a bit of online shopping, to start accessorizing some of our more neglected rooms. And one of the things I'm most excited about was delivered yesterday!

I don't know if you're familiar with Socitey6, but they are a great source for art prints, and even allow you to upload your own artwork to sell. I discovered them about a year ago when searching for art for the living room in our old house. So a few weeks ago I was happy to see on Pinterest that they'd started offering throw pillows.

And after browsing hundreds of pages of pillows, I bookmarked a TON of options. I'm not even kidding, their selection is amazing (and no, this isn't a sponsored post, I'm just really excited about all the options!). There were so many pillows I liked for our new family room couch, and narrowing it down wasn't easy. I even ended up playing around with Photoshop to look at the different options I was considering, and how they will go with our new 8' x 10' rug that I ordered (sadly, backordered until 2/1) and the coffee table we're planning to build.

And now they're here, bright and happy and making our new couch look a whole lot more cheerful!

Building a Fireplace Facade: The Design

As I mentioned earlier this week, the next couple of weekends we are going to be working on building a facade to cover our dated brick fireplace in our living room.

But before I get into the actual building steps, I wanted to share our vision and design!

This is actually something I've been wanting to do since before we even saw the house. Yes, you read that right. When looking at our house's listing photos, a good 6 months before we even started our house hunt, the two things that stood out to me were the fact that the open kitchen-breakfast nook-family room could easily be updated by removing some kitchen cabinets and a room dividing railing, and by updating the huge fireplace.

The first two steps toward updating this area of our house were done before we moved in. But until now we've still been living with the red brick, over 10 1/2 feet wide, floor to ceiling fireplace as-is.

From the beginning we've always planned on mounting our TV above the fireplace. To simulate that, we've had the TV up on a cabinet in front of the fireplace since we moved in, although this made the fireplace unusable.

The Next 6 Weeks

So, the holidays are over and decorations are put away, I'm mostly over the flu, and we're going to be having our first house guests in our new house at the end of February. What does this all mean?

To do list time!

We have got a whole heck of a lot that we want to get done in the next six weeks, especially after slacking off a bit on the home renovations the last few months of 2012. And because we had to go down the rabbit's hole with our never ending downstairs bathroom renovation, we're a lot further behind than we wanted to be in other areas of our house. So here's what we're hoping to tackle in the very near future, by room.

Guest bedroom:

• move unpacked boxes lining the wall to storage
• finish priming and painting closet and room doors white
• fix headboard and mount it to the wall (the headboard I made in the above picture is just propped against the wall, and the weight of it has made some of my wood puttied joints crack. I'm going to need to do some repair work on it and mount it properly so it doesn't happen again)
• hang curtains
• order supplies, make wall art and hang it
• paint three bookshelves and bedside apothecary table white
• assemble floor lamp
• get chair covers, arrange furniture
• wash bedding, make bed

Out Sick

Just thought I'd let anyone who was wondering know that no, I'm not dead (barely!).