Pinspired By: Arm Rest Wrap

It's that time again!!! And by 'that time' I mean Pinterest Challenge time. It's that lovely time of year where Sherry and Katie B. challenge us to actually create something that we've pinned instead of just looking. While I don't really have a hard time being motivated to recreate my favorite pins (See my Pinspired By posts for more) I just love seeing a bunch of Pinterest projects all rounded up in one place. Four places are even better (Sherry's, Katie's, Kate's, and Michelle's)! Now on to the project!





At first I thought this would be a perfect time to start my decanter light project that I mentioned here. So I called around to some local glass shops looking for someone who could cut the bottoms off of the ones I picked up a few weeks ago. After calling a handful of places with no luck, I was referred to Bella Glass Studio. When I called to ask about my bottles, they said it would be no problem. Great!





So I grabbed my bottles and drove all the way to their studio to get this project started. Once there I told them my plans and handed over the bottles. Then I asked the all important question, How long will this take? Two to three days. Well since I decided to start this project yesterday, as in the day before the deadline, I was not going to be able to really even get started. Which brings me to my back up project. Here is my pin.





I love this idea! Especially since one side of our couch is right next to the walk way and we can't really put a side table there. The only downside to this item was its price tag. I'm all for Etsy sellers making some money and all but $300 for some reclaimed wood that sits on your arm rest seems a little outrageous to me. So I did what any handy girl like myself would do. I went to Lowes and bought a board for just under $5. After measuring the width of our arm rest plus the width two boards I came up with 8". For the sides I decided to keep those lengths even and just cut two 5" pieces. Unlike the inspiration piece I decided to use a butt joint so I could use my Kreg Jigg.





After drilling my pocket holes I realized that I didn't set the actual Jigg and had to redo the pocke holes. I couldn't really be bothered with this enough to recut my pieces, and besides, no one will see them anyway. Once the pocket holes were drilled and the sides were lined up I simple drove the screws in to hold everything together.







Now that the construction part is finished its time to sand. I used some 100 grit sand paper to smooth things out nicely. I had to spend a little more time on the cut edges, but it was no biggie. Once I sanded the thing I slapped some of that left over stain I had from the butcher block countertop.







It's amazing the difference the stain has on pine and oak. The wood grain is so much more noticeable here as opposed to the countertop. I still have to put a finish on it, but here's some shots of it in use!







Seriously, this was one of the easiest projects I've ever done. If I can drive all the way across town to drop off bottles, start laying hardwood flooring in the loft, AND have time to make this thing all before Matt got home from work at 5:00 then that should tell you how easy it was. Saving $295 on something like this is pretty sweet too!



So what did you make for the Summer Pintest Challenge? Did your original plan backfire? Wanna come help me lay some hardwood floors? Oh, and come back next week and I might just have some decanter lights to show you!