Hey there all! Hope you have had a great week and have an even better weekend planned! I'm back today to share a popular post from years ago with a little updated info.
This is a perfect example of buying vs. doing it yourself. I LOVE to DIY but there are definitely times I just want to buy an item. Believe me, I say do what you want (Cartman!) -- if it makes you happy to do it yourself, go for it. If you have the money and have no desire to DIY, buy the sucker.
I will say doing it yourself is usually cheaper. This is a good example. I was at Home Depot this week picking up flooring for the basement (more on that soon) and came across this fun new section:
I had to laugh because they are selling pallets now! I actually think this is quite brilliant. None of them are full sized pallets, just half, but still, it's a smart move on their part. It just made me laugh because you can get them for free some places. (Please check with a business before taking pallets though -- some will gladly pass them on, others will not.)
They had a bunch of other containers and ideas as well -- I love the cute photos they had above with ideas. My mouth did fall open when I saw the price of this one though:
And that's when I got to thinking about this old post. My DIY wood trough is one I get asked about a ton and it's really one of the simplest projects I've ever done. I used a nail gun but you could use clamps and glue or a hammer and nails do to it as well. Have the folks cut your wood if you don't have a saw.
I have two of these now and the possibilities with them are endless. I love filling them with greenery and lights at Christmas! They look great on a window sill or down the middle of a table -- they're great for filling odd spots.
Last year I placed one on the bookcase I built in our living room:
Here's the original tutorial for you! This is my post from years ago so if there are old references that's why. And my boy was just a baby back then! Sniff. Enjoy…
Today I wanted to share another how-to for a project from the family room redo. I’m almost done, I swear. :) When we moved the TV over the long dresser, it meant my accessory options dwindled quite a bit. Whatever I put on there had to be long and low…and I didn’t have anything that would work.
I lived with it for a few days and then an idea came to me. I love the look of the old wood troughs I’ve seen here and there online and in antique shops. I guess they’re called troughs – I have no idea.
I just love them. :)
I knew I could make my own, so that I did. I wanted it to be longer than the TV, so I needed something 48 inches long. I went out the garage and found a scrap of thick molding used as a chair rail in our powder room:
That room has been torn apart for months now. That is how I roll.
I used that as the base, or bottom of the container, because I knew it wouldn’t be seen. For the sides, I wanted a rustic, dark wood. So I dug around the garage some more. And I found some leftover cedar from our shutter fix out front. This is why I’m OK with the fact that we can’t walk through half of our garage. I keep all my scraps for just this. :)
The cedar has a rough side:
But that was a little too rough for me, so I went with the smooth side:
But it needed a little distressing. :)
I grabbed some tools:
And my assistant got to work:
For once Mommy said take the hammer and GO FOR IT.
We had a blast. :)
Afterwards this is what we had:
And after using a foam brush to apply a quick coat of this:
(I tell you what – stain lasts forever. I’ve had this little can for YEARS.)
We ended up with a beautiful, rustic piece of wood:
I put it together like I did the DIY window boxes I showed you here. Basically I glued and nailed the sides onto the sides of the bottom piece of wood, then capped each end off like so:
The rough end of the wood shows at each end, but that’s what I wanted. LOVE. By the way, this is so not perfect. There’s some gaps at the ends where wood meets wood -- I just put the not-perfect side on the back. :)
I envisioned big puffy hydrangeas spilling out of it when I made this thing, and they sure don’t disappoint:
It’s deep enough so I could just put little cups of water in there, then place the flowers in. :)
I LOVE IT!:
I’m quite giddy about it’s possibilities too – piled high with acorns and leaves for fall, greenery and ornaments at Christmas, grass and Easter eggs…I could go on and on! It’s the project that keeps on giving. :)
I love how it turned out, and I promise you can do one of these too. This one took about 40 minutes start to finish, but I used a compound saw and a nail gun, which definitely speeds up the process.
It could be done without either though – a hand saw and regular nails would work just fine (the nails would add to the rustic look!).
One more look at my DIY trough-thingamabob:
I love how well it fills in that awkward spot! If you decide to try it, I think the cedar was about $4 for an eight foot piece. You could use just about any kind of wood though – you’ll get the same effect with some distressing and stain.
This is such a simple and inexpensive project, I just had to bring it back out from the depths! :) Have a wonderful weekend my friends!
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