Another bench and playing with a camera.....and our kitty

I wanted to make one more bench.  This one was for my master closet.  I currently use an old bar stool to sit on while I put my shoes on but my legs aren't quite long enough to make it comfortable.  I kept thinking I could do a better job on this one.  Well, I am not sure I did a better job, but I did learn some things.  I learned that wood filler works great for pocket holes.  I like it much better than using the Kreg pre shaped hole fillers. I learned that you can thin out stain with mineral spirits. I also learned that you have to be very careful when trying to make a pocket hole in a 2x2 using a double hole Kreg jig.

See where all that wood filler is?  That is where I blew out the side putting in a 2 1/2" pocket screw. My hole was too close to the edge.

 Wood filler in light orange.

 Sanded and ready to stain....

 Stained and wiped off.  It was still very dark, so I wiped just a few seconds after I painted the stain on.  I was using dark walnut, so really what should I have expected?  A dark stain!

 In the closet, ready for use.  Well, almost.  I still need to put a few coats of polycrylic on it.

A few years ago when I upgraded to an iPhone with the Portrait mode, I sold my DSLR camera.  It was too big to tote around and it seemed the iPhone took pics just as good.  Well, I miss the fun of trying to use a DSLR.  I cam across a really good buy in one recently, so I am again having fun playing with it.  Yes, the iPhone still takes great pics but I do want to learn more about how to take pictures using custom settings.  So i watched a very informative Youtube video today on my specific camera and had some fun.....

 I never get enough of this beautiful little room.

 Hobby Lobby fall faux flowers....

 One of my few real plants in the background.

I evidently hurt my back on the weekend bench project.  I could barely walk last night and am really taking it easy today.  Ice on the back, ibuprofen and rest.  Really wanted to run this morning when it was 60 degrees but I could barely walk.  It's the pits getting old!  But...I am very thankful to be able to take a day of rest and spend it watching a video to help me learn something new.

Almost forgot.....had to snap a pic of our one-eyed cat Jesse.  In his favorite chair on the screened porch.  We almost lost him last year with a nasty eye infection.  We chose to remove the eye when it wouldn't heal.  He has done great.  Even catches a few moles and rabbits with his one good eye.

DIY Bench

I finished another wood project today.  I have tried three different times to make a small bench for the grandkids room.  It is a small room and thought it would be nice to have something to sit on while a person puts on shoes, etc.

I challenged myself to only use the wood scraps I have.  I messed up quite a few inches of my 2x2 so I did go buy one more (only $2.19). I didn't have a plan but kind of made it up as I went along. Started out really simple.  Then added the piece across the bottom for  stability.  Then decided to try to do some X braces on each side.

 It was fun trying to figure out the angles, although it caused me to waste quite a few pieces of my 2x2 boards.

 Wasn't sure whether to stain or paint, so I stained first.  All the boards were pretty rough, with some of them having what I call "furry" sides to them.  Those were pretty difficult to sand, so basically I just gave up on sanding those smooth and tried to put the furry sides down or so they wouldn't show.

 It didn't look really bad, but didn't look good either.  Another mistake I made was buying wood putty rather than wood filler.  The putty said to stain the piece first.  Which I did.  Then decided I wanted sandable and stainable filler.  When I filled all the holes, after it was stained, well, let's just say that made it look worse.

 Then I decided to take a couple more 2x2 pieces and extend the bottom part to make a shelf.

 This was when I decided to chalk paint it.  I had some Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen, which was what I used on the little antique dresser in the room where this bench will go.

The mirror was gray too, but I just didn't like it so I painted it the wall color.  Don't really like that either, but I'll figure out something that might look better.  I'm thinking a smaller oval mirror with a simple brushed gold frame.  I'd like to add some gold accents around the house.

This was a fun project.  I feel like it is practical too.  Wood working is over for a while, now I need to get back to quilt making.