See how we built brand new office cabinets with a herringbone countertop for our home office makeover.
If you haven’t heard, we are expecting a baby in September! We are extremely excited about the new member of Gray House Studio and to begin all the fun nursery projects that are ahead of us. Speaking of the nursery, when we found out we were expecting one of the first things that popped into our head was, where are we going to put the nursery?
After some deliberating, we decided that as of now the best location for the nursery would be our extra room that is currently my office. That means my office is jumping across the hall to the front room next to our library. I am a little sad to leave this room but I am a glass half full kind of girl and am taking advantage of this move by convincing Brent to help me to create the office I always wanted in the new space.
Brent is is going above and beyond to help me transform this space, especially since I have been a little down for the count the past few months (so many naps). I literally fell asleep in a chair in the garage while he was working. Ha.
Our first DIY project in our home office was to build office cabinets that spanned one entire wall of the room. Currently, if my office is a mess, I can just shut the door and visitors will never know it is there. But now that I will be working out of the front of our home, the office will be the first room guests see when they walk in our door and there are no doors to hide behind. I need all the help I can get to keep this new space nice and organized.
My dream was to have a wall of gray office cabinets in this space and the past month Brent has been working his butt off to make this a reality and the cabinets he built turned out AMAZING! From just a few sheets of plywood he made my organization dreams come true and he did it all for around $300.
This project was a big one and between me falling down on the photographing job (so many naps) and lots of late nights working to get the cabinets finished as fast as possible, we didn’t document as much as we intended so this isn’t as much a tutorial as a behind the scenes look at how these cabinets came together but we do have tutorials on how to build and install the drawers and how to create the herringbone countertop that you can check out.
Our office cabinets came together in eight phases:
1. Building the base/frame.
2. Building and installing the drawers
3. Building the drawer faces and the doors
4. Painting the drawer faces and doors.
5. Painting the base/frame
6. Attaching the drawer faces and installing the doors
7. Building and attaching the wood herringbone countertop
8. Attaching the hardware
1: BUILDING THE BASE OF OUR OFFICE CABINETS
^^^ For the base of our cabinets we used one sheet of 3/4″ plywood.
^^^ Brent used the table saw to cut the sheet of plywood into to four pieces. These pieces are the sides of our cabinets so he cut them to the height and depth the cabinets needed to be to fit the space.
^^^ He used a framing square to mark where the toe kick would be on the bottom front of each of the four boards.
^^^ Then using the table saw he cut this square piece out each of the the boards.
^^^ Next, Brent cut the horizontal braces that would connect the sides of our base together.
^^^ After he made all of the cuts, we had the pieces ready to start building the base.
^^^ For the top back horizontal brace, he used a nail gun to secure two boards together in an L shape to make a stronger brace to support the countertop and allow us to anchor the cabinets to the wall.
^^^ Brent used wood glue, a nail gun, and finishing nails to build the base. It came together rather quickly and after he finished one side he had to build the second side of the base. Then he added the shelves in the middle of each base. Check out a little behind the scenes video of how this part of the cabinet building process came together here.
^^^ Once both sides of the base were finished, we brought them into the room.
^^^ We attached the two pieces together with additional braces. The middle section would eventually become large drawers.
^^^ Next, Brent worked on creating the frame of the base. He use the miter saw to cut the pieces down to the correct length.
^^^ He used the table saw to cut the pieces down to the correct width.
^^^ To attach the frame to the base, he put wood glue on the back of the pieces and held them in place with painters tape while they dried.
^^^ Now that our base was built and our frame attached, we were ready to start building the drawers.
2: BUILDING & INSTALLING THE DRAWERS
We needed four doors and five drawers for our office cabinets. Brent was able to get his drawer building technique down to be as efficient and quick as possible which meant this part of the project went quickly. If you are interested in how we built and installed the drawers in our cabinets, check out our drawer building tutorial.
3: BUILDING THE DRAWER FACES AND DOORS
We used 1×2 select pine for our doors and drawer faces. To attach the rails and stiles together Brent used pocket hole screws. For the recessed piece in the center we used 1/2″ plywood that was glued to the backside of the frame.
4: PAINTING THE DRAWER FACES AND
DOORS
When it came time to paint the doors and drawer faces we went to my trusted paint guru, my dad, to help us pick out the right type of paint for our office cabinets. We used the ProClassic® interior waterbased paint from Sherwin-Williams.
I wanted the cabinets to be just slightly darker than the walls so we chose to go with Dovetail SW 7018 because it is on the same color swatch as our walls, Mindful Gray, just two shades darker and Dovetail is already on the walls in my current office so we knew we liked the color.
My dad has a spray gun and was kind enough to spray a few coats of paint on all of our of our doors and drawer faces for us. He even delivered them to our house when he was done. Thanks Dad! They turned out great!
5: PAINTING THE BASE
Next we took the same paint used on the doors and drawers and painted the base and frame of our cabinets. We put on one light coat on, let it dry, sanded it down, and then put a second coat on. We were just intending to paint the frame of the cabinets but then ended up painting the entire thing including the inside. I am glad we did because it makes it feel complete.
6: ATTACHING THE DRAWER FACES & INSTALLING THE DOORS
To attach the drawer faces to our drawers we used double sided tape to hold the piece to the drawer while we secured it with screws through the drawer from the back. We started with the three middle drawers then worked our way outwards.
We ran into a slight hiccup with our doors and the hinges we had purchased. They were too big and because our doors are so close together, when they would open they would rub against the drawers. We ended up using the smaller hinges from our IKEA bookshelf doors and they worked like a charm!
After all the doors and drawers faces were on, our base was finished!
7: BUILD WOOD HERRINGBONE COUNTERTOP
Then it was time to focus on the countertop for the cabinets. We kicked around several different ideas before deciding that since the countertop was more for decor purpose and wouldn’t get a lot of heavy use, it was a great time to try a herringbone pattern that we have been wanting to make. We plan on making the top of our coffee table in our library also with a herringbone pattern so it should all tie in nicely together.
I have to say, I am pretty impressed with how Brent made this herringbone countertop. I love the pattern and of course that is is stained in our favorite Kona colored stain. You can check out the full tutorial on making a DIY herringbone countertop here.
8: ATTACH HARDWARE
Finally, we added the hardware. I had my eye on these drawer pulls from Rejuvenation but at $55 a piece, we couldn’t afford them especially since we needed to buy nine of them so we took to Amazon and after lots of searching, wouldn’t you know we found some that were pretty dang similar for only $9.48 a piece. That was a happy day indeed.
After the cabinets were finished, it took me about two days to move everything from my old office into my new cabinets and it felt so nice to purge things that were not needed and give the things I do need a place of their own to go back to. I have said it time and time again but I truly believe the key to organization is having specific places to put items back after use. Everything fit perfectly in the new cabinets and I even had a little extra space.
We are really happy with how our office cabinets turned out and are excited to continue working on our home office makeover. Our next project is build a brand new desk that will better fit in this space. I can’t wait!
We are making over our backyard this spring! Here are our back patio ideas for redoing the outdoor space.
Spring has always been my favorite time of the year. Mostly because my birthday is during spring (yay for April birthdays) but also because it is the best time of the year to spend outside here in Houston before it gets miserably hot.
One of the features that sold us on our home was the backyard. It is small but it backs up to a greenbelt which means there is not a house directly behind us, just lots of tall trees. It is a gorgeous and peaceful view because we have a low iron-rod fence.
Current Back Patio
The back patio on the other hand leaves more to be desired. It is just two slabs of cracked concrete with two chairs on it. If you have been following along for awhile now you might remember that revamping our back patio was on our home renovation goals of 2015. Sadly, it didn’t make the cut in 2015 but this spring we are determined to make the space more inviting, comfortable and cozy so we can enjoy our beautiful view.
Currently, our concrete slabs are a mess, there is absolutely no landscaping, and minimal mismatched furniture is scattered on our bare patio so this outdoor space is in some serious need of TLC.
Back Patio Ideas
We will be giving our concrete a refresh with some stain and add a new fire pit area with crushed granite as well as lots of new flowerbeds and landscaping.
We plan on creating three defined spaces on our patio: a dining area, a lounging area and a conversational/fire pit area. We will also have a separate little grilling area. We feel like by creating these spaces our back patio will feel much more complete and as if the pieces we are adding are intentional. As well as just provide a more cohesive and cozy feel with plenty of space for entertaining. While browsing online, we found a nice selection of bright colored decor pieces on the At Home website that will help us capture our vision.
Dining Area
If you remember from our canopy of string lights, I am a big fan of the backyard in Parenthood. We have our string lights, so now I want an outdoor dining area to gather around and eat outside. We will build our table but the accent pieces in this area will really make the space complete.
We would love to put bright wicker chairs from At Home around the table to brighten up the space and add lanterns and a planter to the table. Then round out the space with a bright blue plant stand in the corner with a nice, big plant.
Lounge Area
I love reading and I find reading outside relaxing, so I am really excited to create a cozy lounge area in the far corner of our patio. To refresh this section, we plan on building a sectional and adding bright colored cushions on the seating as well as lots of vibrant, plush pillows. A large offset umbrella would be much needed to provide shade over the sectional.
A bold blue rug would be perfect under the sectional and coffee table to define the lounging space and tie in the blue and green colors in the pillows and chairs around the outdoor table. I would love to include some side tables on the side of the sectional. A couple of interesting planters on the coffee table filled with succulents will complete the space.
Fire Pit Area
We will create a brand new space off the patio with a fire pit. We will build our fire pit in the center and put our orange zero gravity chairs around the fire pit with a side table between the chairs.
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When it comes to an outdoor refresh for spring, bright colored decor and lots of greenery come to mind. Our house is fairly neutral so the back patio is our chance to incorporate our favorite colors and surround the patio with lots of plants.
We are really excited to start making our back patio ideas a reality and can’t wait to start our backyard projects and to go shopping for decor pieces at At Home to transform our sad outdoor space into a backyard oasis.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of At Home. The opinions and text are all mine.
When you live somewhere for several years your home becomes the setting of many stories and memories. If you are like us, sometimes a house even gets a few stories of its own. There are many running jokes between Courtney and I referring to peculiar things about our home.
First there is Walter the friendly ghost who receives AARP magazines and is always leaving the garage door open and the toilet seat up. Then there was Henry, the friendly red bird that peacefully eats bird food outside while telepathically communicating with our cat Jake. And, we must not forget the monster that lives in our laundry room that eats socks. It is still up in the air if the sock monster prefers clean or dirty socks.
We are well aware that each of the previously mentioned stories are mostly fictional but one thing we are sure of is that inevitably the hamsters that turn the big wheel in the air-conditioner always go on strike when the weather turns hot.
Last year, the first week the weather got above 90 degrees we caved and called the repair man when the inside of our house finally reach 85 degrees. After spending a small fortune to replace all the A/C components in the attic, we slept easy all summer in our cool house. But, wouldn’t you know the first weekend it heated up this year the temperature slowly climbed in our house but our A/C would not kick on.
Determined to not spend a fortune again this year, I set out to figure out how to fix it myself. (spoiler alert) After a late night we were able to fix the A/C problem ourselves because luckily it was due to the thermostat and not the air conditioner itself. Below is how we tested our thermostat and compressor to determine which one was causing the air conditioning system to fail.
How to Replace a Thermostat Video
In the video below I will show how to test to see if it is in fact the thermostat that is not working and then the steps to replacing a thermostat.
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We chose to replace our thermostat with a Honeywell WiFi thermostat because this will allow us to control the thermostat from anywhere and eventually incorporate it into a smart home system. Plus, this is the least expensive smart thermostat costing only $87.99.
1. Test the Thermostat
The first thing we did was change the batteries to double check that the batteries weren’t the issue. After changing the batteries we turned the temperature down to see if the compressor would turn on but nothing happened.
Once we tried the cool mode, we flipped the switch on the thermostat to heat and turned the temperature up. Once on heat mode, the heat kicked on. Because the thermostat was able to turn on the heat, we couldn’t be confident that the thermostat was broken. There was a chance that something was wrong with the compressor.
The next step was to check if the A/C could be hardwired on, bypassing the thermostat. If hard-wiring the A/C on worked we would know the thermostat needs to be replaced.
2. Test the Compressor
Once the thermostat is removed from the wall there should be several colored wires exposed.
Red Wire: Power (24 volt)
White Wire: Heater
Yellow Wire: Compressor
Green Wire: Fan
By using a wire to connect the red wire to the yellow wire the compressor should turn on. If the compressor does not turn on than the problem is the compressor not the thermostat. In our case the compressor did turn on, indicating that the thermostat was not working.
(The red wire should only be 24 volts but it can still create a small shock)
3. Turn Off Breaker
Although the 24 volt power line doesn’t pose any huge safety concerns, it is good practice to always turn the breaker off before disconnecting any wires. The two breakers to turn off are labeled A/C and furnace in our house.
4. Check the Wires
After installing the new thermostat back plate we realized the new Honeywell WiFi thermostat needs a 5th wire, the “C” wire. In hindsight this is a good thing to check when purchasing a new thermostat although it is getting harder to find thermostats that don’t need a “C” wire.
Luckily, we were able to locate the 5th wire. It was snipped off because it was not needed for the old thermostat. We were able to pull the the wire out from inside the wall and strip the wire making it usable.
5. Hook Up the Thermostat
Each color wire connects to the screw terminal with the matching initial.
Green Wire to G
White wire to W
Red Wire to R
Yellow Wire to Y
With all the wires connected, we popped on the front of the thermostat and turned the breakers back on. The nice thing about replacing the thermostat with a “C” wire thermostat is there are no batteries required.
We have our fingers crossed that this is the extent of our Spring air conditioner problems. At least next year the troubleshooting will be easier because there is only one component left in our air conditioning system that has not been replaced.
Today is all about new projects and a new room makeover as we start planning our home office.
For as long as I worked in a cubicle I dreamed of having my own office. And not just any office, an office I could design and decorate myself … and preferably at home. When we were looking for our house two years ago the number one item on my list was a room that could be our home office. When we found our house with the perfect room for my office that even had the french doors I wanted, I finally made the leap to starting my own web development business and working out of the office in our home.
I have been really happy ever since. I still love this room, mostly because it is the room in our home that I spend the most time in during the day. For the most part I had it decorated close to what I wanted. I love the large desk which was the very first piece of furniture Brent ever made me.
But while it was close to what I wanted my office to be, it wasn’t quite there yet. I didn’t have that deep down gut feeling that this room was 100% finished. Obviously because it didn’t have the wood floors I wanted yet but also because of lack of organization. The large black shelves are from my first apartment and while they worked fine in that space and have been okay in this space, sometimes I feel like they are swallowing the room and making it feel smaller than it is.
My office was at the bottom of the list when it came to rooms to work on (our garage/shop is always at the top but consistently gets bumped, poor Brent) until suddenly we decided to shuffle some rooms around. Just like the guest room makeover, something comes up and the list goes out the window and suddenly we find ourselves knee deep planning a makeover in a room we weren’t expecting. And I couldn’t be happier.
We are now starting the process of moving my office across the hall to the open room that is now our “studio” aka empty room we shoot our videos in that is next to our library. I’m saying bye to my french doors even though I will be looking straight at them from my new desk view and I am even saying bye to my current desk. I am super sad about this because Brent built it for me. He is not sentimental in the slightest when it comes to furniture. I’m all, “But you made it for me!” His response, “I’ll make you a new one.” Luckily, I found it a good home where I know it will be appreciated and get a lot of use.
Our thinking was if we are going to spend the time to move everything, we might as well take the time to make it feel 100% right. So that means new desk, new storage solution (custom built cabinets, yay!) and some other really fun projects that we are really excited to tackle.
You may be wondering why I am moving my office out of the perfect office room. Well, that is because… it’s a surprise. Gray House Studio always seems to have exciting things on the horizon these days and we can’t wait to share what we have coming up next. But you will have to wait just a little bit longer to find out…
Planning Our Home Office
Now, sit back, relax and let me walk you through how we are planning our home office. If this were Fixer Upper I would have homemade cookies warm from the oven and freshly squeezed lemonade in mason jars garnished with lemon slices for you. Good thing you can’t see through the computer at what is really sitting on my table right now as I type this (a half eaten package of Twizzlers).
Here are our ideas and inspirations for how we want to transform this room into my perfect work environment.
Geometric Rug
It is not in the budget or time frame to do wood floors yet, sigh, but one improvement we can make right away is to add a large rug. I plan on having my desk float in the middle of the room. I am not very productive when I stare at a wall but that means cords will have to make their way to the wall somehow and a large rug is the perfect way to hide and keep me from tripping over the cords. I really like this rug, it is neutral but has a fun pattern to keep it interesting.
New Wood Deskinspired by display at Restoration Hardware
I still can’t believe I have to part with that huge desk Brent built me but one weekend when Brent and I were window display shopping, that is where we go around and act like weirdos by taking pictures of all the store displays to get ideas for our home, we came across this really cool wooden table at Restoration Hardware used to display teas. We both instantly knew it was the perfect inspiration for the new desk we would build for our home office. We are pretty excited about this project.
ÄPPLARÖ Wall Panels
These wall panels from IKEA really have me thinking about creating a large indoor plant wall display on the wall behind my desk. I am not sure if we would modify this exact piece or make our own wall trellis of sorts to pull off this look. My web development business is named Naturally Design so I really like the idea of incorporating a lot of natural elements and what is cooler than a plant wall display?
Plants, Lots of Plants
Like I mentioned before, I really want to incorporate a lot of greenery in this room especially on the accent wall. I am 50/50 on whether I want to really step up my game in trying to keep plants alive or just get realistic looking faux plants. Maybe I will do half and half.
Cabinets
The cabinets are the first project we will be building and I am really excited about this project. It is the first time we will build custom cabinets, dipping our toes in the water before we do the bathrooms or kitchen I suppose. I can’t wait to finally have a designated space to organize all my office supplies and files. The best part of DIY, being able to build pieces that exactly fit your needs. We plan on painting them a nice gray color and then adding a butcher block top.
Gray Chevron Chair
As you can see in the picture above, I already have this chair in my office. I got it a year or two ago and love it. It is comfy for my clients to sit for long client meetings and it isnt’ too big so it fits well in the space and of course it is my signature neutral with a fun pattern. Because obviously I am slightly afraid of color, well except in the guest room. This chair makes the cut and will be moving across the hall.
Wood and Metal Desk Tray
I love organizing and I love paper so I really love this wood and metal desk tray. I am looking forward to tackling a few smaller DIY organization projects for my office with Brent like building a similar tray, a computer stand, business card holders, and maybe a new iPad stand.
Office Print
I am planning on having the pops of color in this room come in the form of some fun and motivational framed prints to display in the office. This one seems appropriate since I spend so much time here.
That is what we have planned for the next two months. I am pretty excited and thankful that Brent has graciously set aside his long overdue garage makeover to help me make this room feel 100% finished. Be sure to follow along as we post all of the projects we build for this room as well as stay tuned for our final reveal of our new home office.
Behind the Scenes: Cabinet Building Part 1
We have started a vlog! We thought it would be fun to share what really happens during our project building sessions, the good, the bad, the funny and maybe the mundane (Brent gives a short math lesson and then realizes he did the math wrong). In this vlog we are working on the first part of our cabinet building project and Brent gets a little sidetracked.
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