Category: Home DIY

Gardening, Home DIY, Living

Building a Raised Garden Bed

sharondashariee

Let the growing games begin!

  • Shipment from Amazon

This has been a thought in my mind for a few years.  After taking in gardening content for the purposes of growing food, attending classes, and stalking the amazing gardeners of Instagram, I am finally jumping out there with what I know to see what happens.

I ordered this raised garden bed on Amazon.  It was super easy to put together.  If I can harvest just one thing that is edible, I will be a happy woman.

As mentioned, I purchased this garden bed from Amazon.  This raised bed is not available directly through Amazon anymore, but there are a ton of options to choose from.

The pieces were packaged nice and secure.  Every piece was cut precisely, to allow the groves to slide into place.  There are no tools required to build the actual box.  You will only need a screwdriver to screw in the screws that attach to the decorative pieces on each corner of the raised bed.  I used a battery pack drill to do this, easy, but you can use a hand screwdriver with a little elbow grease.

The total build time took 22 minutes, from start to finish.  I built it alone, in my dining room.  No help is required.

This bed seems to be a great product and it gathers great reviews.  I paid $99.  The current cost of this specific raised bed at the time of this post is, $109.

This is where you can order the garden bed directly:  www.bestchoiceproducts.com

Added bonus: Free shipping, no minimum.

Do you have a home garden?  If so, what are you currently growing?  If not, what would you like to see me grow in my garden?

I hope you follow me along this journey.

Home DIY

$10 Blanket Ladder

sharondashariee

Have you guys seen these ladders that you hang blankets on?  They are a cute way to store your blankets and have them close-by when you want to snuggle up on the sofa and watch T.V.  Well, I wanted one, so I hopped on the internet to buy one but there were no blanket ladders less than $50.  That weekend I headed out to a few stores to buy one, cause certainly a retailer had to have these things for less. I spotted a cute one, I slowly approached and flipped the tag over, $125.  I said to myself, oh wow!  Blanket ladders are serious business. I guess I must make my own.  Click the *link in bio* to see how I created a blanket ladder for $10.

Back on my sofa, I open the app called Offer Up.  Offer Up is an app. where you can buy and sell items locally.  It’s basically an online yard sale.  It has an added feature where you can have an item shipped to you if it is not local.  I searched ladders within a 10-mile radius.  Just a regular, used, wooden ladder.  I found this one, listed for $15.  I asked my husband if he’d go with me to pick the ladder up (don’t ever go by yourself to pick these items up, stranger danger).  He agrees, even though he sees no purpose for a blanket ladder.  Just get a blanket from the linen closet when you’d like to have one, is how he sees it.

Anyhow, as I mentioned this system is like a yard sale, so my husband offers the seller $10 instead of $15 and the seller accepts.  You can also negotiate the price of the item prior to pick-up.  We get home and I start to break the ladder down because you only need one side for this project.  I wasn’t strong enough to tear the hardware away from the sides that held it together, so my husband assisted.  He used three tools, a drill, pliers and a hammer.  After he had the two sides separated, I removed the excess bolts, screws and metal straps.  Recycled the wood and metal from the other half that I wasn’t going to use.

I got a can of white spray paint, specifically for wood, that I bought at Home Depot but didn’t use.  My daughter (she never lets me leave her out when I’m DIYing) and I went outside, hand-sanded the ladder with a sheet of sandpaper torn in half, and then dusted it off with a cloth.  Laid the ladder down on a drop cloth and sprayed one side.  We let it dry for about an hour, turned it over and sprayed the other side.  Let it dry for another hour.  It was done.

The next day I purchased two blankets to match the space and hung them on the ladder.  I love that I completed this for only $10 and a few hours time.  Now, the blankets are on the floor or in-use more than they are on the ladder.  Why? Because I have kids, but hey at least they are putting the blankets to use is what I tell myself.