My surprise from Haven!

Last week when I was giddy with excitement about all the fun from Haven I told you I had a surprise that I was holding out.

Ana White was one of the speakers at the conference and she is amazing!

She was sporting heels and perfect hair while she was making this locker cubby.

She even raffled a finished one away during the conference.

But, the one that Ana White made during the conference I got to take home!!!

I called hubbs squealing with delight and he was oh so happy to drive down to Atlanta in 5 o'clock rushhour traffic on 285 to get it for me.

I was one happy lady!

The only stipulation was it wasn't completely finished so we had to finish it ourselves. Of course I couldn't turn that down!

The next morning I started sanding it right away. Because of the oh so hot 105 degree weather here, I had to put the painting on hold for a few days.

During this time, I sprayed the shelf brackets with silver spray paint since the hooks and casters were silver and these were gold. Ana White kept saying "use what you have" when it comes to building.

Hubbs also had to cut some boards to make a backing for the smaller hooks.

We did this so the hooks could move with the shelves and therefore could be placed anywhere, no matter the height of the shelves. The amazing people from PureBond supplied the plywood for this project. This is some amazing stuff! It's sold at your local Home Depot. Hubbs was definitely impressed with the quality of the wood while he was cutting.

We also had to apply edging to the unfinished edges of the PureBond Plywood.

You don't have to do this, it just gives the piece a nice finished look. An iron and some foil helps to apply this stuff. (Disclaimer: I received a nasty burn on my leg while doing this. Don't leave the iron on the garage floor and then walk into it. Ouch!)

After tweeting back and forth with Ana White (yes I almost fell out of my chair numerous times) I decided on a gloss red.

This is made by Krylon and its specially formulated for metal, but it can be used on wood. It's an oil based paint and promises superior protection. I wanted to use this because the garage gets a lot of abuse and this cubby was going to have things thrown all over it. I'm looking forward to this piece lasting for YEARS with this paint!

When it was FINALLY under 100 and I could paint, I used my new Purdy brushes and got to work. Here it is in all it's glory!

It's right by the entrance from our garage to our kitchen. This area would often become the dumping grounds for shoes, bags, dog stuff, etc.

  

Now when you drive in it's so neat and organized!

Here's a close up of the shelves so you can see why we didn't attach the hooks to the back of the unit.

You can find the plans for this and many other DIY building projects at Ana White's Website.


Everytime I look at it, I'm reminded of my wonderful experience at Haven and getting to meet Ana!

I'm hoping to use some of her plans in the future for some building projects!

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