Homeschool desk

G worked on this desk for about 14 months. Woodworking is not his full time job and he likes to do a really good job. I came up with the idea (after reading several homeschooling blogs,) that it would be great if each student had a row of drawers. Each drawer would be for one subject. It helps alleviate the "when are we done?" and just helps everyone stay organized. We only have two official students this year, but a 3 year old gets his own set of drawers and the desk spaces wouldn't work out with only three, so a fourth was built for extra supplies. So 8 drawers times 4 rows equals 32 handmade dove-tailed drawers. They're gorgeous and very functional!

The top is so beautiful, I often tell the boys they can't use it for certain things. I don't want it all scratched up.

Anniversary Box

G made a box that was a 10 year anniversary present for me. It was made to hold the beautiful anniversary ring he bought me. It's curly maple and walnut.

Playroom Built-in

This was made oh, about 4 years ago probably, but I thought we'd put it up to show what my amazing husband is capable of. Now it is filled with toys and games and it has taken a lot of abuse, but it's still gorgeous and it holds a ton.

World's Best Mom

Made completely by a 6 year old. Well, the 4 and 2 year old helped with the oval in the back.

Coffee Table Makeover

I don't know what I was thinking when I took my light wood colored coffee table and painted it black and dinged it up. I never loved it, but it definitely hid the abuse of my 3 boys, so I lived with it. I finally got some inspiration (isn't that what Pinterest is all about?) and I re-did the makeover.

I sanded the top a lot to get out all of the holes we had gauged in it. Then I stained the top with a dark stain and I painted the legs white. Voila! I love it now.

J's Cooking Obsession

Because L has been getting so much praise for his scroll saw work, we decided J needed something to be proud of. I got him some kid cookbooks at the library and he has really loved learning to cook. He's only 4 so of course, he's quite limited with what he can do. In the past 4 days, he's made yogurt "sundaes," pizza rolls, turkey and bread rolls, chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows to dip for Easter dessert and hot dog pizza boats (which he didn't like.) He asked if I could teach him everything there is to know about cooking. Then he asked what all the knobs on the stove and oven and microwave do (I thought that was an adorable question to help him on his way to learn all about cooking.)

L's Scroll Saw Obsession

L has been asking for months if we could get a scroll saw. Gary didn't have a huge need so we held off. Gary still doesn't have a need, but we thought L would really like it. And he has. We've only had it a few weeks and he has turned out almost 30 animals. At first, he needed help from Daddy. He got frustrated and didn't think he could do it. But after a few animals, he went solo and is now much better than Daddy (Daddy hasn't had a chance to practice like L.) What he turns out is pretty amazing, especially for a 6 year old. He's even sold 9 of them now, so he can save for his new bike. He was ecstatic when he made his first sale (and he was excited for his 2nd and 3rd sale too.)

Filing Cabinet Makeover

I just love this fabric I bought for our homeschool room and initially I was going to get rid of this filing cabinet. Then I realized how much room I would be losing if I nixed the entire cabinet- it holds a whole lot. So I decided to make the best use of my leftover fabric and my ugly black filing cabinet. With many pins on pinterest for my inspiration, I mod-podged the fronts of the drawers. Super easy and super cute. Of course, I had bought thick upholstery fabric and now the drawer locks don't work because of that thickness, but oh well. Cuteness over function, right?

Homeschool Room Kid's Table

I'm so excited to share this because it has been a project I have majorly procrastinated on and now it is done! I took the table apart and sanded a little last September, I think. Gary kept reminding me that it was in the garage in his way. You know... out of sight, out of mind (for me.) Once I sanded the finish off all the pieces, I primed them, painted them white, covered the top with fabric and then the thickest vinyl I could find. The fabric and vinyl are stapled under. I just finished it today so we'll see how it stands up to the boys, but it's $2.17 worth of vinyl and less than a yard of fabric. Yay for hard work being done!

Homeschool room pillows

I am ok at sewing. I've made quilts, Halloween costumes, some clothes, baby things, etc. But, I had got away with never doing a zipper before. I knew the time had come to learn how to put in a zipper when I chose yellow, gray, and WHITE for our homeschool room. We have 3 boys! I wanted to be able to take the covers off and throw them in the washing machine. I found a tutorial to learn from here  www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/10/sewing-tips-installing-a-basic-zipper.html and I did it. I didn't even make a mistake. So not like me :)  I made three adorable pillow for our 3 adorable boys and I had to make an owl pillow because we are going to learn to be wise in this room. I used this tutorial
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/12/snuggly-owl-for-sewing-republic.html, but I didn't want it to be so big, so I left out the middle piece and just sewed the front to the back. I love how they all turned out.

Office Chair

I thought I had taken a before picture of my office chair, but I guess not. It's just a plain ugly office chair. I took it apart, added cute fabric and voila! done