DIY state of mind

How many of you ladies out there always seem to come up with another DIY project that will be just right for your husband to help out on right as he has started to believe you have no more in mind? Just me? Poor Pat ;)

Pat is finishing up school so I am the main bread winner of our family. He'll be finished in about 40ish days (I swear I'm not counting down) and then he'll be out in the real world. Prayers for a great job opportunity for him would be greatly appreciated!

One full-time income + one part-time income = not whole lot of money. 

B + Pottery Barn catalog + Anthropologie = a whole lot of money.

I think it's pretty safe to say that I have champagne taste on a beer salary. I'm always that person who walks into a store and goes "Ooooh, that's pretty!!" and it's the most expensive thing in the store. Every single time. It's a talent.

Learning this about myself has allowed us to get creative with making our house into a home on a small budget. We know to go check out the Rooms to Go Outlet early on Saturday, and I've learned to Pinterest/Google great furniture making websites. Y'all, I am about to give you a gift because the website I am about to share is one that has single handily given us the building plans for almost all of the furniture in the main room in our house. http://ana-white.com/ - bookmark, star, favorite, whatever that website. You will not regret it!

So far we have made two things, and Pat now has two more on his to-do list... I'll be breaking that news to him when he gets home from coaching tonight :)

What we've made:

I cannot brag on Pat and his building skills enough. Even our landlord has asked him to build him a TV stand. I also can't brag on how much of a money saver those two pieces of furniture are. A similar table at Pottery Barn costs almost $2,000. That just was not going to happen. Our table cost us just a little over $100. You can't beat that!

On our to-do list:

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This coffee table would match our console table. The only changes we would make would be taking the "X" accent and metal features off.

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We would make the same changes to the two end tables we will eventually make. The coffee table is a priority for me right now so two of those pretties will just have to wait.

DIY has been so great for both Pat and I. We get to build together, tell people we built the furniture in our house and save money! Those are all wins in my book.

Do you have any DIY projects lined up? I would love to hear about them!

DIY Glass Jug Lamps

Y'all might think I'm pulling your leg when you see just how easy it is to make these babies. Not to mention how cheap it is. 

Maybe it's the love of all things rustic and southern in me, but I have been obsessed with glass jug lamps for awhile now. I looked around at multiple different stores, and I quickly learned that I was obsessed with their lamps but not their prices. There is no way I could ever rationalize spending $100-300 on a lamp. That works for some people, but I'm cheap. I'm not afraid to say it. I want to make our house a home, but I also would rather spend my money on things like traveling. Anyway, back to our originally scheduled programming...

Here is what you'll need-

Pat is using the apple juice to make apple cider in our basement

A glass jug, vase, container, whatever you want to make your lamp out of. We got ours at the local farmer's market (Dekalb Farmers Market) we go to every weekend. They cost $10 each. I have seen glass jugs in consignment stores go for $40 so buying these and using the apple juice to make our own apple cider seemed like a steal.

Lamp making kit and stoppers

Go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and go to the lighting section. There you should find kits to make your own lamps. The ones we got cost $11 each. We had to get rubber stoppers because the Home Depot by us didn't have cork stoppers big enough. When they get back in stock we plan on getting some because I just like the look of cork better. You can barely see the rubber now, but I know what's there... and well, you know once a woman gets something into her head it just stays there and festers until it's taken care of.

Here is an example of a good cork stopper to use- http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-9-Tapered-Cork-83668/202210188?keyword=cork+stopper

If you have kept up so far that means it only costs $21 to make each lamp!!! I got our lamp shades at Target and they were $20 each. I don't include that in the price to make the lamp because some people are just lucky enough to have some sitting around. I'm secretly jealous of you if you are one of those people :)

A quick step-by-step-

- First you will need to wash and rinse out the jug. Let it air dry over night.

- To drill a hole in the glass you will need a diamond drill bit. Since we have been building so much furniture and making these lamps we already had one in our arsenal of tools.
I don't have any pictures of us drilling the hole because I was holding the jug and Pat was drilling. It really is very easy! Place your jug in your kitchen sink and run water over the spot you want to drill your hole at. Run water over that spot the hole time you are drilling. Next, drill your hole, but do not stop drilling until you have drilled the whole way through the jug. Yes, your arms might hurt or tickle, but it will be over soon! It took us about one minute to drill a hole in the back of the jug. 

- Rinse out your jug after drilling a hole in it. This will get rid of all the glass pieces that have accumulated in the jug. Once again, let it air dry over night.

- Next follow the instructions on your lamp kit and put it in to your cork or rubber stopper. You will have to fashion a hole into your cork/stopper so the kit will sit firmly on top of the jug.

- Next put a light bulb in, put a lamp shade on and plug that baby in!

Bam! You have a lamp :)

Well, that turned out a lot longer then I thought it would. Bless you, if you stuck around that long. You are a good friend :)