Potting Shed 3 - Potting Table Tutorial

The dimensions of my purchased potting table overwhelms the interior of  the Potting Shed. As I sat looking at the beautifully finished commercial table, I wondered, how difficult would it be to replicate a smaller version.

Materials Used:

           Note: finished dimensions will be based on your needs.

          1/4" square dowel rod.(6 pieces cut to the same height)

          (Popsicle, craft, lolly) sticks - (2) sizes: one wide, one thin

               The larger (wider) sticks are used, side-by-side, for the shelf and top.

               The smaller (thinner) sticks are used as braces.

          Round tooth picks (to make the hanging pegs under the top shelf)

          Cutting Tool

          Sandpaper

          Craft Glue

          Paint

Step One: Determine how tall you want your finished table and cut the (6) table legs. If you prefer, the table can be made without the middle legs.

Step Two:  Using the thinner of your craft sticks, cut (6) cross pieces. the length of the  pieces is determined by how wide you want your finished table. Put (2) aside for later.

Step Three:  Decide on the height of your shelf and glue the cross pieces to the legs, as shown: One cross piece on the inside left legs, two cross pieces to the center leg, one cross piece on the inside right leg. Let dry (very important) leave it alone until the cross pieces are firmly stuck.

Step Four: Using the larger craft sticks, cut, install, and glue the shelf pieces.

Step Five:  Attach the remaining two crosspieces. One to the top, left, outside legs and one to the top, right,outside legs.

Step Six:  Cut the larger craft sticks long enough to reach from the left outside cross piece to the right outside cross piece. Lay the larger sticks side-by-side and glue. Let dry.

Step Seven: The upper shelf can also be as wide and as deep as you desire. My upper shelf construction is two skinny sticks wide. Using the two-stick wide model, I was able to use one long skinny stick (toward the front of the table), add a skinny stick shelf midway, and lock it in place with two smaller skinny sticks.

Step Eight:

    The top is finished off with two larger craft sticks, glued together at a right angle. 

    The round toothpicks have been cut into pegs and glued to the back of the right angle .

Step Nine:  Sand any rough edges and paint as desired. 

In a later post, I will share my method for making the little stools.  Until then,

Happy Mini-ing!

Primrose Cottage - Siding Disaster

Note to self: Do not use water-based glue to install future birch siding strips! At the end of my last post, I congratulated myself for a job quickly and well done. This morning I awoke to find the overlapping sides of the birch siding strips curled up like a layered flipped hairdo.

This picture does not show the awful detail - take my word for it, it's a mess. The only solution I can think of is to grab a scraper and peel this stuff off.  Dealing with a disaster sometimes result in new directions. Instead of a traditional cottage with siding, I will now have a traditional cottage with a stucco exterior.

Doing the exterior in stucco eliminates the need to smooth out rough surfaces left after removing the siding. Scraping off this siding is an unplanned job, I do not want to spend time or effort sanding. I have some fine sand in my stock of supplies so getting the textured exterior will only require adding sand to my paint choice. 

Repeat note to self - always use the correct adhesive for the product you are gluing. Following this simple rule will save time and money.

Happy Mini-ing!

Primrose Cottage - Siding Installation

This is my first attempt to complete the exterior of a house with siding. I choose birch strips (they were on sale), drew guidelines similar to the method used for placing shingles and glued each strip directly to the house. 

                              

The foundation of the house is to be brick, so the siding starts  about two inches above the base of the house.

Once the guide lines are drawn and checked to make sure that they meet at the sides, adding the siding was quick and easy. 

All sides complete. Nothing to do now but admire the job and select paint colors.

Happy Mini-ing

Potting Shed 2

Still working on my little diversion. I enjoy working on a variety of projects at once. Probably not the best approach. This way, it seems as if it takes ages to totally complete any one project. But for now, at least until I complete the projects I've started this haphazard approach will do.

The shelves for the Potting Shed are completely  painted and installed.

The shingles were stained with a solution of water diluted acrylic paint. 

Lighting is provided by two LED's hidden under the front roof line.  To accommodate the LED light switch, a hole was cut into the wall panel. The hole needs trim, possibly very, very small quarter round.  

A shelf has been added to the window. Support bars are still needed on the sides. The wall shelves are staggered on this side to accommodate the potting bench.

Now that the shelves are in, I really want to start filling them up with all of the garden goodies one would expect to find in a potting shed and of course the little surprises that find there way into a shed but have absolutely no business being there.

Until next time - enjoy mini-ing.

Potting Shed 1

Garden Trellis

Took a little deviation today. Decided to do some work on my "Potting Shed". The trellis was built using skinny craft sticks. The flowers are made out of clay. The flowers were hot glued to some store bought greenery. Of course I can't use a glue gun without burning my fingers. My tip for today (can't remember where I read it) is keep a small bowl of water nearby when using a glue gun. Cool water gives instant relief to burned fingers. Happy mini-ing.