garage goods: $100 corner re-do details

Our garage is a total basement wannabe. (We don't have a basement....it pains me.)

We HAVE to store lots of things in here and i am on a mission to make every corner work efficiently.

It's the first space we see when we come home and it's just stressful to walk into this mess every day.

After Jen revealed her garage a few months ago, I was really inspired,

especially by this little corner in her garage:

 {image via i heart organizing}

I bet that little corner is the most underutilized space in every garage in America.

It certainly was underutilized in my garage!

See those big huge slabs of counter top? Yeeeahhh......i may have been hording those...

...for eight a few years which may or may not have included two moves and three houses. It was time for them to GO!

Off to the Habitat ReStore!

I was also inspired by this photo from BHG. I love the use of pegboard and i have been dying to use it in a project.

 {image via bhg}

Ok here we go. 

I started with this table that my husband made long long ago. It was the desk he built for himself when we were in college.

I primed it with my favorite oil based Zinsser Cover Stain. I used a sponge brush and tossed the brush the trash for easy clean up!

Then I painted the table with two coats of a sample paint from Sherwin-Williams. (Note: sample paint is not durable. You will want to use a durable clear coat on top if you use it on something that will get a lot of use.)

I bought a peg board at Lowes. It comes in a few different sizes. This size is 4ft X 2ft.  Perfect for my space.

Enter my best friend spray paint!!!  This peg board really soaks up the paint, so I primed first. I think rolling the paint on would be a more efficient method, but I already had yellow spray paint.

I added a little strip of wood (on the right side) so that the peg board would fit nicely. See how that works? The board is screwed into the wood pieces on the right and left to allow space behind the board.

I also left a space of about an inch at the bottom of the board. (Unfortunately, we share our garage with gross little critters that like to crawl along that ledge. ewww...) The last thing I wanted was for one of our "friends" to get stuck behind the board. That would certainly not end well for anyone involved.

Next I hung the support strips for the shelves.

This required using power tools, a level, and some math. Impressive, aren't I?

These are the shelf brackets. They go into the white support strip things.

and there you have it!

Here is a break down of what I bought and how much it cost. (Store prices vs. online prices do vary. I find that things are usually cheaper in the store.)

FREE     table, already had

FREE     paint for table- Sherwin Williams sample paint, already had

FREE     spray paint and Zinsser primer, already had

$12.00  Real Organized 43 piece pegboard organizer kit (buy here)

$6.00    24"X48" pegboard  (buy similar here)

$28.00  2 rectangular galvanized bins bought at Lowes (similar here)

$12.00  6 single track shelf brackets (buy similar here)

$6.00    2 single track shelf tracks (buy here)

$30.00  3 melamine white shelves (similar here)

$8.00    4 yellow storage bins (similar here)

_______

$102.00 Total

*The cute little galvanized bin under the table is also from Lowes. I ended up returning it, as I didn't really need it. I think it was about $15-$20. It has a lid and would be perfect in the garage for dog food, potting soil, etc. 

**These specialty galvanized bins can be found in a few different departments at Lowes. Check the trash can isle or the closet and storage isle. There is also an area at Lowes near the paint brushes that has empty paint cans, buckets and other galvanized items. Check all three of these locations for handy storage.

***Other ways to save money would be to cut your own shelves...if you already have the wood on hand. I priced out whole pieces of plywood and also pre-cut wood boards. The price wouldn't have been much cheaper, and I would've had to take the time to prime and paint the boards.

I know in most of the country now is not a good time to be reorganizing the garage, given the weather. So, pin this bad boy and tuck it away for the spring! Your spring self will thank you.

xoxo,

Elisabeth

playroom goods: 3D magnetic bin numbers

i thought it would be fun to add a graphic punch in the playroom with numbers on the toy bins.

i liked the idea of the numbers being easily removable, so we can put the bins in proper order by simply moving the number and not the whole bin. wow, that sounds really lazy of us. now that i think of it, i'm not even sure why these bins need to be numbered or in proper order. oh, right...it's graphic and cute. good enough for me!

 {is anyone else slightly frightened by those barbie heads sticking out?}

i started with simple wood numbers from my local craft store.

hung the numbers on nails on a piece of plywood. 

sprayed them with primer.

topped with white spray paint. 

and yes, i had to flip the 5 and re-spray it, because apparently i don't know which way a 5 goes.

i bought this handy dandy adhesive magnetic tape at my local craft store. (which, by-the-way, isn't very "local". i live in a pretty sizable town and my closest big box craft store is a 20 minute drive. i know you are wondering how on earth i survive.)

 peel and stick.

put my coffee table books to use. (does anyone ever actually read those?)

and voila!

{these metal bins are from target, about 5 years ago. we will have them forever and always. love them.}

for the rest of the projects in this room, you can click on the brand new handy dandy tabs i added at the top of the blog, under the header. this is a new feature so please let me know if it isn't working correctly or if you can't find what you are looking for. thanks!

linking up here.

xoxo,

elisabeth

giddy goods: i heart spray paint!

i can hardly contain myself.
i'm just giddy about this project for the playroom...
want a sneak peak?
k, here you go.

some people use chin-up bars for chin-ups.
some people use them for drying chandeliers that have just been spray painted.
guess which one i am?

have a gooooood tuesday!!!
~elisabeth