Crates for Toys

I've been putting together Jude's toddler room and baby girl's room simultaneously. Jude's room was my last room (minus the basement) to decorate in the house. It has been in a very sad and plain state for the last year.  Awhile ago Jesse told me he wanted to decorate it with a John Deere theme, which put the project on hold because it took me a long time to wrap my brain around that.  Not being an Iowa native it's not quite as natural for me to put kelly green and bright yellow in the same room - in fact the idea made me twitch.  However, after lots of chatting, compromising and painting it's finally finished (with only a couple of small details yet to be accomplished), so I'll show it off tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have to brag about my first legitimate woodworking project.  Dad, this one's for you - you'll have to tell me what you think. I built four crates for his room - three to hold his toys and one for his books.

These three line the edge of his bed.

This one holds his books and acts as his nightstand.

Through the Shanty 2 Chic website I found another one called Ana White. She has a million free project plans - plus she does a great job of telling beginners how to get started. After looking through her site I just couldn't help myself but get to the store, buy a few essential tools and start building.

I worked on the crates off and on over the last couple of weeks. I probably spent 12 hours total on them. They're not perfect. I certainly split the wood here and there and my handles look a little shabby, but I got better with each one I put together.

All in all I'm pleased with the result and even more pleased to have tried something new!