I am still working on my master bedroom makeover.  I spent today painting Handy Hubby’s nightstand.

Between coats of paint, I was able to put together theses industrial inspired candle holders.

These were super quick and easy to make, however they were not as inexpensive as I had hoped they would be.  I saw this idea in Good Housekeeping Magazine and thought it would only be a few dollars per holder but after a trip to Home Depot, it turned out to be more like $14 dollars per holder.

Okay ready for the tutorial?  Step 1.  Buy gas pipe fittings.  Step 2.  Stack your fittings up and screw them together.   Step 3. (optional) paint.  I wanted an aged, rusty look so I spray painted my parts with two coats of flat black.  I then did a very light coat of  textured paint (Rust-oleum Autumn Brown).  That’s it.  Hope you all are having a wonderful week.  I hope you will stay tuned for a few more mini reveals before the big reveal which will be next week if all goes well.   I am linking up with Beneath My Heart.  Please stop by and visit Traci’s Best DIY Projects of May Linky Party.  Please stop by and visit Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors for her Saturday Nite Special Linky Party.

     I love this little bench.  It has been so perfect for so many different uses.  It has been a settee set against a wall and piled with pillows in my family room.  I have used it as a coffee table (click on the link for a tutorial on upholstering) in my living room.   And now I’m using it as seating in my master bedroom.   It has been very easy (and inexpensive) to reinvent each time.  I bought this soft green material from Hancock Fabrics over the weekend.  It was marked 50% off.  It was a remnant but it was just enough to recover the bench and make two toss pillows for the bed.  Not too bad for under $10.  It ties in nicely with the new green paint on the nightstands (well nightstand, I have to finish the other one this week).  I have also been working on creating some accessories for the room and am excited to share them soon.

     If you’ve been following me for a while, you might remember the “Cause I Don’t Want a Stripper in My Bedroom” post.  Well, good weather is finally here so I decided to strip my nightstands and stain them (I moved this nightstand back in after I was done with the stripper).  Nice plan in theory but… seems like fate has thrown a monkey wrench into my plan.  I thought my nightstands were solid wood.  If you look inside, all you see is solid wood unless you happen to look up.  The top is a piece of particle board.  I had a choice, I could remove the top and replace it with a wooden top or, I could paint the dresser a new color.  I went with the second choice.  I had some leftover paint from repainting my kitchen cabinets so I thought that would be a good choice.

The color is “Olive Branch” by Benjamin Moore.  I had it mixed half strength.

I used a black glaze on this nightstand (above picture is after application, but before removal of glaze).

It’s not what I had originally planned but I like the way it turned out.  It’s lighter and fresher and fits in nicely with the new color scheme (more reveals coming soon).

One last picture of the glazed details and glass knobs.  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hello Everyone, here is the wheel tutorial I promised.  It may be a long post but don’t worry about that.  The steps are quick and easy.  Here are the materials you will need for this project (materials pictured are for one wheel).

Two handy panels or one sheet of 1/2 inch plywood.

Two flat, plain, steel strips 1  1/4″ x 1/8″ x 48″

Two 1/2″ bronze flange bearings

Step One:

     Decide what you would like your wheel to look like.  I looked online until I found a look I liked and would be easy to reproduce for my first woodworking project.  I wanted my wheels to be 15 inches in diameter so I set my trammel to 7 1/2″, half of 15″,  to draw my circle on the plywood ( pictured below).

Step Two:

     My wheel design called for six holes (spokes).  A quick and easy way to get perfect spacing is to use a protractor. I drew a line across the circle.  I then placed the hole in the protractor directly over the hole created by the trammel in step one and lined my line up with the line on the protractor,  mark the 60 and 120 degree marks.  Now take a yard stick and draw lines on your marks through the circle.

Step Three:

     I used a compass to mark the center of my little circles (spokes).  I set the compass at 3 3/4″ because that is where I wanted the center of my circles.  Place the point of the compass at the junction where each straight line meets the curve of the circle and mark with the pencil end on all six lines.

Step Four:

     Now you have all the markings you will need, time to start cutting. Use a jigsaw or coping saw to cut  the perimeter of the wheel.  I used a 3″ hole saw attachment on my husband’s drill to cut out the holes (spokes).  I placed the drill bit directly over the mark I made with the compass in step three.  If you don’t have a hole saw attachment, you could draw the little circles with the compass and cut them out with a jigsaw or coping saw.  Drill the center hole with a 3/4″ spade drill bit, use a bit of epoxy and glue the 1/2″ bronze flange bearing in the center.

Step Five:

     Once everything is all drilled and cut, it is time to wrap the steel strap around the wheel.  To find out the length of steel needed, multiply the diameter of your circle (15″ in my case) by pi (3.14). My steel needed to be 47.1″ long.  It is best to cut the steel a little long and trim the excess after it is wrapped around the wheel center. This will produce a tighter seam. After the steel is cut, mark a line down the center of the steel on one side.  On the opposite side mark  two lines.  Each line should be marked 3/8″  from the outer edge and run the length of the steel.  These two lines will help you keep your wheel centered on the steel as you bend the steel around the wheel.  The single line goes on the outside to help keep the screws centered.  Drill a 5/32″ hole in this single line, 1/2″ from the end. Drill the rest of the holes every 3 inches.  Using a countersink bit, widen these holes into an inverted cone shape. This will allow the #6 x 5/8″ screws to sit flush with the outer rim. It will probably be easier to have a partner help you with this next part. Drill a 3/32″ pilot hole through the steel counter sink hole. The plywood center will split if a pilot hole is not used.  Now use screws to secure the steel to the wheel.  I used wood screws and a screwdriver.  After each screw is secure, bend the steel around the wheel.  After the steel was bent and secured around the wheel, I used my husband’s air grinder to smooth down the screw heads that were not level. You may also use a file or a Dremel for this.  The holes in the screw heads were then filled with autobody spot putty. Let the putty dry and then sand smooth.

Step Six:

     Paint.  If you have any bad spots (knots etc) fill them with wood filler, dry, and sand smooth.  I didn’t prime this wheel.  If you want to take that step, it will help hide the plywood texture.  I used a textured spray paint to hide the plywood texture on this wheel.  I used Rust-oleum multicolored texture in Autumn Brown.  I also used Rust-oleum in a flat  black.  I layered the two together.  This is where you can get a little artistic depending on the look you want to achieve.  I wanted a fairly uniform, rusted look.

     This one wheel cost just over $18.  I think we could have saved a little money if we had got a sheet of plywood.  I think we could have got the price down to around $14.50 per wheel.  Of course price depends on what supplies you have on hand.  We had all the tools and hardware on hand.  My husband also had the bronze flange on hand (these are inexpensive and can be found at any hardware store).  The steel was $7.34.  The plywood was $7.40.  Both of these were purchased at Home depot.  The spray paint was purchased at Wal-Mart.  Each can was around $3.50.  I think the two cans can easily cover two wheels.

     I strongly suggest that you hop on over to my husbands blog and read through his tutorial for making this wheel.  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope this tutorial helps!  Feel free to contact us if you need further tips or assistance.  And please, share your results with us.

Linking Up With:

         My husband and I have received many requests for advice from people wanting to make a warehouse cart coffee table of their own. You can see the original post here. I did a post here, offering tips for building a table of your own. But tips are not the same as a tutorial, so I have decided to make a new table from scratch and document it. I am going to build it using only ordinary tools and materials.

     Most of the questions we receive are in regards to the wheels. Not many people are able to weld their own wheels like my husband did. Many people are having trouble finding wheels at all or if they find suitable wheels, they are outrageously expensive. So Handy (and creative) Hubby came up with an idea for building wheels that anyone can do. Yep, that’s right; I made this wheel from scratch. It was quick and easy and inexpensive. So, are you intrigued? Sorry, I hate to bait and run but, I am too tired to do the wheel tutorial tonight. It will be up soon though, I promise.