A new kind of project

it is the end of akacarolyn. i've decided to move into a different kind of blog. instead of my little narcissistic website (all me, all the time), i'm going to expand my scope a bit. a new blog to feature not only my work, but your work. i'll throw in some great diy projects from around the web. this will give me a chance to post more frequently as well. my new blog is imakeyoumake.blogspot.com . give me a couple of weeks to get it up and running. i hope you'll follow me over to this new blog. thank you for continuing to come back to akacarolyn week after week. i appreciate all of your support.

cheers!

carolyn

the beginnings of a home office desk

i'm working on turning our one spare bedroom into a home office/playroom/guest bedroom. a little lofty, considering the room is only 9' x 11'! my first project is building myself a little desk that can be tucked away when eden and i need some room to play. so, how about a desk that swivels?

i'm building a desk that is made up of two 12" x 48" x 6" tabletops that sit on top of a small storage unit. the storage unit rests against the wall and the two tabletops are parallel to the wall.

when i want to use the desk i swivel the two tabletops to meet and lock them together.

i have the table tops made. i just have to see if the way i imagine the tabletops swiveling will actually work. i can't have them scraping against each other when they swivel. i'll show you what i've come up with next week!

jumping off the fence

i've been humming and haaing about whether i should keep going with this blog. i've fallen in to the 'winter-is-coming' depression which grips at my heels for a couple of weeks every fall. you know the one where you dig out your old cozy sweatsuit, sit yourself in front of the new fall tv line-up and sink in to a fit of despair with your bag of ruffle chips and oreo cookies......no? maybe just me?

ok, ok...i'll snap out of it! actually, i'm entering into a new agreement with work that will see me have an even more flexible work arangement. so, now i have no excuse. and, a big thank you to my friend Sue (see her lightbox!) who gave me a little pep talk/kick in the pants this morning!

ok, i'm whipping out the table saw as we speak....!

thanks for bearing with me!

idon storage shelf

i know, i know....i took a little two week hiatus. i was busy building this....




this is my idon shelf (finally something named after my husband - he's been waiting awhile!). idon is an acronym for idea icon. this shelf is three rotating cubes within three cubbies. each cube is 6" x 6". i painted a different design on each of the sides and back to match up as you rotate the cube.


it funny how after you build something you think about how simple it was and what took so long?!

work in progress

i like doing this blog for two reasons - one, it gives me weekly goals and two, it's nice to have all of my projects in one place. but, on the flip side, i sometimes avoid more complicated projects in order to post once a week. i have a few big projects that i have stuck in my head that need to come out! the project i'm working on now is a little complicated. i spent last week working it out by building little models out of cardboard to make sure it would work. these boxes are going to eventually rotate!

i've approached the nova scotia designers crafts council to see if i can become a member. in order to become a member you have to submit three pieces to be judged. i'm hoping this one will work out as a submission. my jury session is october 10th...yikes! stay tuned!

crazy cool tables

i'm a bit of a new design junkie. i'm addicted to being wowed by other peoples ingenuity. these two tables definitely impress. i want the marble table above by tineke beunders . how clever and fun!


i love this musical coffee table by tor clausen, too. how much fun would this be with a couple of kids (or a couple of drinks!).

a baby duvet

what happened to summer? we've had to put the heat on two nights in a row! so, i thought it was time to make a little baby duvet for eden. luckily, my mum had an old duvet that she was happy to let me cut up! cutting up a duvet was crazy...i felt like i was working in a snowglobe for a couple of hours - down feathers everywhere! i'm still picking feathers out of my sewing machine.

out of one queen sized comforter i was able to make two baby duvets and one twin duvet. this one was covered with a cute hot pink fabric.

just two pieces of fabric sew together, a slot made for the duvet to fit through.

i'm going to pack away my sewing machine now and move back to the table saw! i have some projects stacking up in my head.

table cloth slipcover

this is a project born out of necessicity. i built two benches for my kitchen table over a year ago and made up little cushions for each. i covered them in a gorgeous green textured material...that just got demolished by eden and her new love of throwing food! so, off came the soiled green material, on goes a funky vinyl material.

not so easy to find a great pattern in vinyl. after a couple of trips to the local fabricville i was feeling discouraged. then i go shopping at the local superstore and see the summer stock of vinyl table cloths on sale for $1.99! gotta love that. a quick zip through the sewing machine and i've got myself some inexpensive and kid-proof covers for my cusions!

i seriously need to invest in some lighting and photography lessons. my pictures are dismal. i keep waiting for the sun to come out...but, after two months of rain it's not looking good! take a look at my blog of the week, heather bailey. her whole site is eye candy! her pictures put me to shame. so gorgeous!