A Little DIY- all by myself . . . almost

I saw a picture on Pinterest . . . (haven't we all?)

old crate, pine cones, logs and lights make a cute christmas arrangement and decoration

I decided I really needed this in my life.  Something about it was perfection.
So . . . as we were cutting up trees and limbs from this summer, I had Doug cut me up some logs and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to either find the perfect crate, or build the perfect crate.

The perfect opportunity to build one presented itself, when Andrew's bed broke.  (Alexa initially broke it this summer, when she jumped on it, but it was repairable for a time, then it finally broke a couple of weeks ago).  He had a bunch of wooden slats to put his mattress on.  Doug being the smarty he is . . . saved them for me.

I wanted to make this crate ALL BY MYSELF.  Typically when I think up ideas, I tell Doug and then he becomes the engineer/boss and I become the gopher/get tools and hold stuff.  I wanted to be the boss and gopher of my own project.

It went fairly well . . .
These are not "exactly" even.  I measured and everything!  At first, I debated on measuring and marking again, but then I realized . . . wait a minute, Doug's not home so he won't know if I do it "my way."  hehehehehehhe
I decided to start "measuring" and cutting like this.  Who needs that old "Measure Twice, Cut Once?!" I measured once and cut them all . . . it worked great!

And I laughed, like a kid getting away with stealing cookies.  I did have a small mishap . . . 
You can't tell, but I accidentally put a bottom piece in the wrong spot, so I had to take them apart and re-do.  
Yeah- I used 2 drills.  One to drill holes and one to screw the screws.  I even used a level and a square.  At this point- Doug was home and DYING to offer thoughts/well meaning advice/ help.  It was killing him.  Which because I'm a bit stubborn, made me dig in my heels to do this all on my own.  However, I will admit, I did let him help when I was putting the slats on, and it was a lot easier once I did stop being a stubborn a$$ because he helped hold the slats on for me, and that was a LOT easier.  He even allowed me to the boss- sort of.  It was hard, and I know he performed a lot of self restraint, but he did it.  
  

So . . . here's the end result, almost.  It's not finished.  I have decided if I am going to paint it, stain it, or age it.  Once the Christmas season is for real upon us (not according to the stores, but according to MY timeline) I'll fill it in with some evergreen and lights.  While it's a bit bigger than I wanted it to be, it's perfect: I used up materials laying around, it was free, I did it by myself, it looks good, and I like it.  See?! Perfection!







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