Tag: DIY

DIY Ottoman Tray for $27
After moving I decided to use my large ottoman as a coffee table so I needed a good size ottoman tray to put on it. I about went into cardiac arrest when I started finding large ones on-line for $80+. No way that was happening so I decided to make my own. This is a great beginner project due to its simplicity.

A friend had loaned me a Kreg jig to try so I thought a DIY ottoman tray project might be the perfect test. The gray stain was also a test since I would like to use that on a few pieces of furniture.

When looking at the total cost below I wouldn’t really include the cost of the stain in this project since I had to buy a quart and barely used a smidgen on the tray. The boards were knotty pine common boards.

Cost

Cutting List

I measured the ottoman and wanted a tray 28″ x 18″. The 1″ x 4″ is actually 3/4″ x 3 1/2″ so that changed the 18″ to 17 1/2″ which I was fine with. I cut:
- 5 boards to 28″
- 2 boards to 17 1/2″.
Assembling

I used the Kreg jig, but you could just as easily glue the edges and clamp the 5 boards together until the glue dries since the ends would hold the tray together. I drilled 2 pocket holes in the bottom side of 4 boards, glued the edges and then screwed all five boards together one at a time using clamps to hold everything in place while I put in the screws. This gave me a 28″ x 17 1/2″ solid board made from the 5 boards. Since the pocket screws are on the bottom of the tray I didn’t both to fill them with plugs. I did have to clean up the drill holes however.

I have to find out what I did wrong that would cause the wood curling around the pocket holes. I had to clean up all those splinters by hand.

To minimize screw holes I positioned the end pieces, glued them, clamped them tightly in place, flipped the tray over and used my nail gun to put small nails into each end board from the bottom. In retrospect I wonder if I should have screwed it from the bottom because after staining and finishing one corner of one end piece has lifted slightly from warping. It’s not bad though.

Using pocket screws to connect boards

At this point I picked out the hardware since I wanted to drill the screw holes for the handles before staining and finishing.

Finishing

I am switching to a coastal decor and wanted a weathered gray finish on the pine boards and black hardware. See my post on testing weathered gray wood stains — I used Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray 271 and love the color. See the brown knots and grain that still show through the gray stain? This is exactly the look I was going for so I’m very happy with the stain.

2 coats of stain

This is an oil based stain, but I wanted to use the water based poly finish that I already had. See my post on how to apply a water based poly over oil based stain.

3 coats of poly and handles attached

I wiped on 3 very thin coats of poly to protect it and added the handles when that was dry. Sorry — no pics of it in place since I haven’t recovered the ottoman yet. Right now my living room is a blend of how I want it to be (coastal cottage) and how it used to be and the mismatch isn’t good.

I love this DIY ottoman tray, along with how much it cost, and that I now have a solid surface on the ottoman I’m using for a coffee table. But I thinks it’s clear I need some mentoring on the use of a Keg jig.
September 26, 2014
Ideas for low cost curtain and curtain rod

This isn’t a DIY post, but suggestions of how to put curtains on a large window without spending a fortune. Not even close to a fortune.

I had some left over canvas and had already made a roman shade for the kitchen window over the sink so I wanted to stick with the canvas theme for the sliding door in the kitchen. I shopped curtains and rods and they were a lot more money than I was interested in spending on a house that I plan to sell in the not too distant future so I started researching how to do it for as little money as possible and still have it look great.

Curtain

I checked around and ended up getting a 9′ x 12′ canvas painters drop cloth at Harbor Freight for $14.99. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell them for around $20.

I wanted one solid curtain that would slide to one side of the sliding glass door. The only problem with the drop cloth was it’s size made it a beast to wash, iron, and run through the sewing machine.

I opted for a tab top curtain so that I wouldn’t have to purchase rings or any other hardware to hang it. I put the tabs on the back of the header so they don’t show when the curtain is hanging. $15 dollars for a curtain that covers a large window — what a deal.

There are a ton of great DIY blogs entries about using canvas drop clothes and making tab top curtains so you can bone up on ideas before starting your project.

Curtain Rod

Another blog supplied me with the idea to use metal conduit for the rod. I went to Lowe’s and purchased a 10 foot section of 1″ conduit for $6.77. I had already measured and determined what length I wanted the rod to be and was lucky enough to find a nice man at Lowe’s who cut it to size before I left the store.

I would have preferred a matte black to paint it with, but I already had a nearly full can of a hammered glossy black Rustoleum so I used that. Otherwise it would have been another $4 for paint.

You can spend some money on finding something fun to use as finials. I dug around the garage and found some wooden knobs that I sprayed with the same black paint and glued them in the ends of the conduit. Since one end was against the wall and the other end not far from the upper cabinets I didn’t feel they were a focal point.

Curtain Rod Brackets

1″ conduit is fairly heavy so I wanted strong supporting brackets for it. I ruled out the type of bracket on the left because it seemed like I could end up bending it down with repeatedly pulling the curtain back and forth.

I found the brackets on the right at Ebay for $5 each (I thought that was a somewhat ridiculous price).The design seemed like it would do a better job of supporting the heavy conduit. They were a matte black so I sprayed them with the Rustoleum so the rod and brackets would match. I mounted them with a good hollow wall anchor to make sure I wouldn’t be pulling them out of the wall.

The Result

I spent some time pleating the curtain after it was hung and for a grand total of $32 I have a great window covering on my sliding glass door that matches the curtain over the sink. I’m very happy with the result and that I will enjoy having and will be an asset when selling the house.

July 17, 2013

Tag: DIY

DIY Ottoman Tray for $27

Ideas for low cost curtain and curtain rod