Testing Out My Carpentry Muscles

Know this:

if you haven't been to Ana White's site you are seriously missing out.

If thats you, head over there right now and take a few minutes to see what all the fuss is about.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

source

Please tell me you laughed at that photo.

Ana's site is pure gold to us DIYers who desire cool furniture on a tight budget. 

You don't even want to know how many furniture plans I have on my to-do list over there.

But as crafty as I might think myself to be,

building furniture is still a bit intimidating to me.

So I decided to start small.

This is Ana's vintage step stool.




So very cute and functional!


If you recall, we have a toddler who is at the tail end of the adventure called potty training,
and doing a mighty great job of it if I do say so myself.

Chalk it up to incredible genetics.



Lucky for us, Kendry's bathroom was apparently designed with kiddos in mind; the toilet and the vanity are below the standard height.

But the kiddo could still use a little help at this stage;
after all, his current motto is "I can do it myself!"

Ana's step stool made perfect sense as the first true test of my building skills. Plus, I don't think you can have too many step stools when you have a kiddo in the house.

I used our circular saw and jig saw to cut my wood, all of which was pulled from our scrap wood pile.
{ Three cheers for saving some moolah! }

I did modify Ana's dimensions a bit as I didn't want my stool to be quite as big as hers.

Then I pieced it together with wood glue and screws. I coated it with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Cream, did a little sandpaper distressing and coated it with Annie Sloan wax.

Here is my final product:

Kendry loves it. Hooray!
It allows him to reach his bathroom sink perfectly.

The toilet, not so much.
With two steps this step stool is actually too high for his small toilet.


You know that game where you fall backwards and trust that the person behind you is going to catch your fall?

Now picture Kendry as the faller and the toilet as the catcher.
Kendry reaches the top step but then he has to fall backwards to sit on the toilet seat.

Not quite what I was aiming for.

You mommies of little boys know exactly what I mean when I say that my son does not need any more distractions in the bathroom than he already has.

Case in point:
A few weeks ago Kendry was on the potty when Daddy called out from the other room.
DADDY:  "How you doin' in there, bud?"
KENDRY:  "I'm washing my leg!"

Uh-oh.

Potty Training 101: toilet water is icky!
Icky icky icky!


Anyway...
back to the step stool.

As much as I love it, this particular style may not work after all for Kendry's bathroom. I may send it off to Grandma Mikki's house, where the three grandkids can use it in her bathroom.
(Surprise, Mikki!)

Then I think I will head back to the drawing board and modify Ana's plans to make a stool with one step instead of two.

But hey, I can build furniture!
Who knew?!




Before I go, here is the kiddo after he barged into my photo shoot.

Am I the only one singing "Fat man in a little coat...fat man in a little coooat..."?

{I dedicate that song to Justin and Angel - lotsa love to you both!}