I read A LOT of craftblogs, I love the huge amount of inspiration out there on the internet and the generosity of people wanting to share their skills with the world. So yesterday when I stumbled onto Knock Off Wood after finding a link on Craft Rookie, I was gobsmacked. I sat there for a couple of hours and read through Ana’s entire archive, and promptly made a list of every single project I wanted to make – preferably before the baby falls out.

Ana has developed plans to recreate (and improve on) pieces of furniture that would cost you hundreds, maybe even thousands from Pottery Barn, West Elm and other big department stores, and then she’s published them all (for free) on her blog, everything from simple benches to a four poster bed. Building yourself means you can guarantee the quality, make it in exactly the finish you desire, it saves you money and there is an awesome feeling of pride associated with using a piece of furniture that you’ve created with your own hands.

I have several projects that I’ve already picked out:

We come into our house via the garage and I would love to organise the garage so the sunhats, coats, school bags etc don’t just end up dumped in the laundry on the way in, so this entry way system is definitely on my list, I also love that it’s so easy to add to, so when number #3 needs his/her own space I could just put another locker and drawer set on the end.

Declan’s room needs more storage as his book collection almost doubled over Christmas, and I love the bin at the bottom of these shelves – great for cars and Little People that tend to end up scattered everywhere.

And the grand daddy of projects (which my husband is insisting he wouldn’t sleep on – he doesn’t trust my handiwork, that’s fine, he can move to the sofa!) is this queen size bed. I love beds with storage under them, so this would be absolutely perfect. I’m considering making this my big goal of the year, I figure if I can build my own bed then I can build anything, but I’m also a little daunted by the enormity of a project like this.

Unfortunately being very pregnant right now and feeling like my back is about to split it two, I don’t see any of these happening anytime soon, but I did have the crazy idea that I wanted to make something before I have this baby. Something inexpensive, simple and that we actually need. I was stumped for a little while, and then I looked at our two Ikea LACK tables that the kids use for playing/eating/drawing etc. one of which only has three legs (amusingly enough, 100% my fault – not the kids!), and the other has peeling veneer on the top that I tried to fix up with contact paper, and it hit me that I probably had my first project.

Just the table – so far I haven’t broken any of the ikea kids chairs, so they’re not required just yet. It’s simple, we need it (+ I love the storage) and it’s inexpensive – meaning when I bugger it up horribly I haven’t wasted our entire food budget for the month! I also love the idea of painting a road on the table top for my car obsessed kids.

I’m going to give myself three weeks to get started crank this table out. I’m 32 weeks at the moment and I certainly can’t see myself being all that willing to lug around wood and work with a jigsaw past 35 weeks. If I haven’t completed it by the 5th of February then I will officially hand in my electric drill and throw up my hands in surrender never to even consider woodwork ever again.

But if I do manage to make it, well then Dan better learn to love the smell of sawdust in the morning, because I intend to take over the garage even more so than I already have