DIY Honeycomb Hexagon Shelves

Post contains affiliate links; thanks for supporting Boxy Colonial! I know hexagon shelves are a dime a dozen these days, but I wanted to make some for Milo and August’s room because they’re awesome. We have a special affection for hexagons around here because two of our bathrooms came with hex tile. Our house had hexagons before hexagons were cool. … Continue reading

DIY Swing Set: Wrapping Things Up

The last of the swing set posts! Here we have the long promised cost breakdown, links back to all the posts in the series and a quick tour of the finished swing set, and some final thoughts about the whole big project. First off, here’s a quick rundown on what we built. The tower is six by six feet square … Continue reading

DIY Window Plant Shelf

shelves with plants

Thanks to BLACK+DECKER for sponsoring this post.   I am a lot like Laura Ingalls. Let me explain. We used to live in a (relatively) little house in the middle of (relatively) big woods. Now we live on our own very tiny prairie. At least when we moved in it was like a prairie, because it had been empty for … Continue reading

(Another) Big Wooden Whale

front view of finished whale

I know what you’re thinking: “Didn’t she just post about making a big wooden whale like eighteen months ago? Damn. Get some new ideas, lady!” And, frankly, I think you’re being a little hard on me. There are many differences between this whale and that whale: That whale’s tail does not flip up. That whale is stained dark walnut; the … Continue reading

New Red Beds and Our Homeright Paint Sprayer Experience

Kids’ new beds: painted! If you read a lot of blogs, you’ve probably seen Homeright paint spraying paraphernalia here and there because Homeright works with bloggers quite a bit. We did not get our paint sprayer for free. Not because we’re above all that (and, of course, I am so pure and noble and honest that I would not lie … Continue reading

Abe’s Backyard Play Kitchen

 I love Abe’s new play kitchen. I’ll just come right out with that. I am utterly charmed by it. I might redo my own kitchen as a grown-up version of it, complete with a mulch floor and non-functional plywood stove burners. I’m also excited that it was such a cheap, recycling-heavy project. Especially since I’m sort of shocked about how … Continue reading

DIY Swing Set, Part 1: What We Did for Spring Break

See the finished swing set here!    Post contains affiliate links; thanks for supporting Boxy Colonial! By this point in my life, I should probably have long since stopped being surprised every single time that projects go much faster in my head than they do in real life. I was pretty sure I was going to have a completely finished … Continue reading

Shaking Things Up in the Dining Room

  I’ve long found our dining room pleasant, but not especially exciting. My mom generously gave us the table and chairs AND the buffet as housewarming presents (she has a shop, so she can do these things more readily than many moms can). I went through a period where I wanted to paint the buffet, but I was forbidden from … Continue reading

Montessori-inspired DIY Toy Shelf for Abe

Little known fact about me: I went to a Montessori school from the time I was two until I was four. I don’t remember much about it; I remember that we weren’t allowed to talk about things that weren’t real, like Superman, inside the building; we had to wait until recess. And one time I wanted to sing a Christmas … Continue reading

Master Bath Tile Revealed at Last! and lessons learned from our first time tiling

Linking this post up with the Be Bold Challenge link party. I’d hoped to have a brand new bathroom project finished in time for it, but then I didn’t. But then I reflected and decided that tiling without a clue what we were doing was pretty damn bold of us. So. True to my word, I will not be making … Continue reading