Rain Gutter Bookshelves...

Tyler put up some rain gutter bookshelves in the kids play room....(yes those are rain gutters that you find at the home improvement store!)

Here is where I first saw these....she has a tutorial!

Front Porch Railing....Finally done!

A year ago we bought our home....You can see the before at the top of my blog....We are still working on the other parts of the front yard...Lots more to be done!

The deck railing didn't take too long, but the weather kinda lengthened the process of touch up painting. It turned out so well. Tyler simply amazes me with his talents. I tell him I want a railing out front and this is what he creates....without drawing it out or anything....I am the opposite I have to write everything down and think about it forever before I even begin. But when I told him what I wanted he created it even better then I had imagined it!!

Tyler built the pole that is out in front and I painted it to match the other poles on the deck. He built every part of the railing. It took lots of cutting, painting, screws and nails. We have been busy. He also made the hand railing along the side so it is easier to get up the stairs now. I absolutely love it!

Headboard (how to added, see bottom)

Before.... So we decided our room needed a little makeover. We got new bedding and new end tables, we also etched the small glass windows above the bed. Last week I painted the whole room and this week we made a headboard...here are the results!!

After....

I know...It's awesome!!

Here is a link to where I saw the headboard.....brassy apple headboard

How we did it....We used a piece of plywood and cut to width of our bed (ours is a Cal King). Bought the fabric (fake leather stuff) from JoAnns in the home decorating fabric section, half off of course. Also bought the batting (we did not use foam just 2 layers of the thickest batting) with a coupon. The fabric cover buttons can also be found at JoAnn's but our fabric was too big to actually push in the button so I just sewed the fabric and tightened it around the button (first I added our tough, thick string to the button) that is the part you will put through the hole in the board and staple to the back. You can also just buy buttons that match your material. Here are the step by step instructions...

1. Cut plywood to size and drill holes where you want your buttons.

2. Cover wood with 2 layers of batting (or foam and then batting) and staple.

3. Cover batting with Fabric, pull tight and staple all the way around.

4. From the back you can locate the holes you drilled for the buttons, just push a nail through to the front, you can make a big needle by twisting up a piece of wire to pull the string on your button through the hole (see pic)

5. Pull button string through and staple well to back of board (we then hammered down the staples to make sure they were tight)

6. Finally drill 2x4's or we used 1x2's to the back of the board (the height you want the board to stand behind your bed. (see pic) Then just prop it up behind your bed:)