This was my Christmas gift to Lauren this year! An Industrial Chic, Steampunk esque Chess set. I found the board on Etsy, and built the pieces out of nuts and bolts from the hardware store. I got one side rusted using Patina Blue solution, which I found from this sweet tutorial.

If you want to make your own, or you want a set, drop me a line!

Well, here is my next foray into the world of industrial chic design. As with my ladder shelf, this coffee table is made completely from reused items, right down to the screws. The top is made from hardwood flooring straight from a basketball court, which I found at Construction Junction. Also from CJ are the 2×4′s and legs, made from case iron pipe I cut down, and leveled off with adjustable pipe fittings as feet. The drawers are from an old filing cabinet I had in storage. It turned out to be a fun project, and it feels good to recycle old goods into some cool furniture.

Check out the pics below to see the steps I went through, and feel free to comment and let know what you think!

So I built some shelving out of a ladder last week, and figured I’d post some pictures, as well as a simplified tutorial. The process was pretty simple, and only took a few hours to build. It also cost me a whopping $2.50 for the whole thing, since I found two old ladders on Craigslist for 5 bucks.

The ladders were from Lousville Ladder Company, circa 1988. That officially makes this shelving only a few years younger than me

After cleaning the ladder, I took off the top rung, as well as the metal attachment on the side holding the ladder together. This was done by chiseling off the heads of the rivets. I just did this with a chisel and hammer, and made sure to wear thick gloves, because I like to miss and hit my hand from time to time.

Next, I measured the width of the shelves, and cut some old weather worn boards into the correct shelving length. I made sure to use some thicker boards, to the middles wouldn’t bow.

Then, I put my lader into my inset upside down, and laid in the boards, getting them all level. This took a good bit of shimmying on each end of the ladder, as the rungs on each side were not the same height to begin with. Once I got them level, I marked the spots on the wood, and gave each a dot of wood glue, just to keep them from sliding. Not too much though, as I would like to have the freedom to move this shelving later.

That’s just about it. I decorated the shelves up with some plants and the like, and ended up with some pretty cool shelving. Finally, as a bonus, I took the top rung that I had removed, and made it into a key hanger with some random hooks I had in my workroom. Now I just need to use the metal fasteners from the middle of the ladder for something, and I’ll have used every part of the ladder!

Once again, the folks at AIR never cease to amaze me. The girl working there, Jen, let Lauren and I stay late to get our pieces done, and we did our best to not disappoint.

Lauren got her robots prints together, a sweet piece drawn by her friend Andrew. As per usual, she shies away from the spotlight.

I finally got to put my one up flag idea into production, proving that not all of my ideas end up in the ether for eternity. And it actually came out pretty decent!

Now I can have the sweetest front porch in existence, one up flag flying in the wind.

So, my friend gave me a Star Wars record this weekend. I was of course excited, as I love everything Star Wars. I realized quickly though, two vital facts about the gift:

1. I do not own a record player. In fact, I don’t any tangible music player, other than an ipod, which doesn’t count.
2. The gift sucked. It turned out to be just quotes from the movie which, while cool in visual form, do translate to audio only for my listening pleasure.

I immediately decided upon another alternative. I had seen a post a while back on making records into bowls. I figured I’d try my hand at it. Since I’m chomping at the bit to add more ordered lists to this post, here were my steps:

1. Prehead oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place metal bowl upside down on cookie sheet.
3. Center record on top of bowl, and place the whole shebang in the oven.
4. Bake until it melts in the shape you want. This took me only five minutes, so don’t get ADD and burn your house down.

And Viola! A masterpiece for my coffee table. My remotes are no longer homeless.

Painted this for Lauren’s step mom and her dad. Turned out pretty decent for a three hour, off the cuff painting. This duo might just work out after all