Been Busy, baby on the way...Three Projects Done, Many to go...

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. I've been a little busy. Three of my most recent projects are photographed below. The projects not pictured include cleaning out the garage to make room for a work area which took a while to set up as well. Tamra manages the list of projects that need to be completed and/or purchased before Abby arrives. I'll post a financial update soon. We've made some headway on our student loans :) thanks to that government rebate check.

project #1:

Project one, above, is a leg and support it attaches to for Tamra's dresser. She'll be happy the dresser is off the floor now that she's growing and leaning will be getting more difficult. Two legs and the support needed to be built. They're connected by lag bolts into t-nuts. My chest is next on the repair list. The drawers are falling apart. We opted to buy tools instead of a bedroom set. We'll save hundreds of dollars repairing what we have and we'll have tools to keep :) that we can use to repair things in the future (dressers cost a couple hundred dollars).

project #2"

Project two, above, is the bunk beds. The bunk bed set we bought for only $179 at Kmart. That's one of the best deals we found so far, but after this I'll be glad if I never see a screw driver or allen wrench again! The bottom bunk is in the family room. My mom can use it when she comes in October. Of course, bunk beds meant buying sheets, mattresses and mattress covers.

project #3:

Project three, above, was a deck gate (built from scratch). I wanted it to match the deck as much as possible. I guess the paint was a bit off, but oh well, it will do until the deck is repainted. This gate is a lot better and I feel more secure with this than the baby gate we had pressured between the two posts (feared one of the kids would lean and it would give way). This will make the yard more usable since we can just open it up and head down. I learned not to assume things. The two deck posts at the top of the stairs ended up not being parallel (wider at top than at bottom) and the spindles I bought from home depot were not identically cut (The decorative insert part varied within the 36 inch posts by up to a half inch).

Here's a picture of the gate from outside the deck (oops, noticed camera focused on Nemo Umbrella (kids patio set handed down from Tamra's coworker)).