Crunching Numbers

I have calculated the total cost of this project so far. I am actually calculating it based on what I used for the project and not what I spent in total. For example, I bought a quart of stain for $7.18 but I only used 1/2 of a quart for the project. Thus I am only putting $3.59 toward the cost of the table. I will be able to use the other half a can of stain on a different project or even on a bench assuming I need to build one to sell with the table.

Here is the breakdown thus far.....

Wood - $48.32
2 lbs of 2.5 inch #8 screws  - $11.88 (each box of screws is 1 lb and I used nearly all of 2 boxes)
6, 4inch #8 screws - $6.00 (these things were SPENDY!)
3 sets of plastic gloves for staining - .84 cents (yes I was totally up even these little costs)
Wood Conditioner, 1/10 of a quart - $1.10 (I probably used less than 1/10th of the quart but I made a guesstimate)
Stain, 1/2 of a quart - $3.59
Sandpaper about 4 sheets used - $2.12
Poly, 1/8 of a quart - $1.25

Total - $75.10

I am not adding in cost of wear and tear on my tools or my time which was less than 8 hours. Nor am I counting things I had on hand like brushes and paint thinner to clean the brushes etc.

But I do wonder what I can sell the table for online. Its beautiful and HEAVY, but I have not built any bench seats or chairs. Can you sell a table without that stuff?? 

A HEAVY Thing of Beauty

I usually have to balance life between the kids, work, and woodworking. There is an added corner of this blog. The more I work on projects, the less time I have to update the blog. Then if I take a night and update the blog, I don't have time to get anything on the projects done. haha.

I took Thursday and Friday of last week off. I wanted to rest up and finish up stuff around the house. On Thursday I was able to finish putting the table together, sand the heck out of it and then stain it. I spent all weekend contemplating what finish I wanted to use. I ended up choosing poly because its easy to go on and I know it will provide a good strong finish.

The ultimate question of what I will sell it for needs to be addressed. Tonight I put the first coat of Poly on it. I will probably sand it a little and add another layer of poly each night for a couple of nights until I think its done. I hope to put it out there to sell on Friday. I figure I will set the price high (at $500, yikes) and say "or best offer" that way I can see the range of prices that come back to me if anyone bothers to email about it. If everyone is offering 200 then I know that is more appropriate of a price. If people jump ont he 500 and I have it sold instantly, then I know its too low.

At least I hope it sells and doens't get ignored!

The table weighs a ton, but after this coat of poly, I have to say I think its beautiful! I need to take pictures of it with the poly on, but so far I have these pictures I can share with you.

I do hate how it looks so different in all the pictures. My camera and flash really can't capture the color and its been raining so I can't bring it outside. The last 2 pictures are the closest to the actual color I could get.

At least its done!

Quick Picture

Will update this entry soon. Just a quick picture for my father in law!

More Progress

I have made slow but steady progress each night. I go out there for an hour or so and piece by piece I am getting the table built. I still have TONS of sanding to do. Not to mention filling holes, staining etc. But its starting to take shape and I am loving it! I still have the last board to screw down, but I ran out of steam and time. Perhaps tomorrow night. I am taking Thursday and Friday off work, so I expect I will be working on this project again some more then.

In one picture you can see the boards don't line up perfectly along the breadboard end. I am still working on the perfect jig so I can be 100% sure I am cutting the end of my wood square with the circular saw. (Or I need to upgrade my miter saw to a compound miter saw)

So Little Time

I have not had much time, but I have squeezed in an hour here or there most nights. I was able to complete the legs as well as getting much of base done.

The hilarious part is that after seeing the base practically done, my husband smiled a little mischievous smile and mentioned that we could sell our table. Since he has been so against me building our own table since we already have 2 already. I find this hilarious that now he hinted about wanting to keep this one.

For the sake of the challenge, I wont keep this table but it does make me tempted to buy more wood soon!

Progress

First off I want to thank the great Anna. It is from Anna White that I got the plans for this table. Everything about her can be found on her website http://ana-white.com/ . Typically I draw up my own plans or take a mash-up of many people's plans and then make my own from there. This is one of the few times where I am actually using a plan from someone EXACTLY as they have it. If you remember the low loft bed I built for my son, you know I got that from Anna as well, but I made some modifications to make it a low loft bed and changed up the ladder.

But this time, I am not. I don't plan on changing a thing. Because of that, I have to give this shout out to her since I do intent to sell this. Normally I would only sell from my own design, but for this challenge I wanted to start out with something I knew I could do and I knew the cost up front. Anna's plans are simple and wonderful and are a great starting point for anyone wanting to try some of this on their own.

Progress has been slow, but with kids and life sucking job, there is precious little time I can give to this challenge. Monday I took on my first challenge. The NOTCH. I watched a few How-To videos. I did the first one, and it went really well. But then it happened.....I wanted to test to see if the 2x4 would fit into the notch. It was a bit tight and I tapped it a bit. And then.........

Ooops!!!! Well, that was a good lesson for me. I then decided to make my notches just a HAIR wider so I wouldn't accidentally do this again!

I am happy to say my next set of notches went much better!



I was only able to spend about 1.5 hours on those notches. The learning curve was pretty massive and I was pretty done at that point.

Tonight I was able to do a LOT more. Since I knew what I was doing and I had finally figured out the system, I turned out a lot more in a short amount of time. Again I only had 1.5 hours tonight, but I cut out the other 2 notches for the inside legs and then cut all 4 of the outside legs. Or was in the outside and 4 of the inside legs. Either way, I got a lot more done. My notches were starting to look pretty good by the end of it. :-)



If I can keep getting an hour in the garage or more each night, I should be able to have the table done and built by the end of this weekend. Woohoo!!!

And So I Begin

I went to big Blue on Friday night. I had only about 45 minutes until they closed, but I had my list in hand and I was ready! I purchased all the wood I needed to build my first project. I am going to begin with a farmhouse table. I also splurged on myself (with money outside the challenge) and bought myself some new earphones. My old ear protection was okay, but I had to then turn up my radio really loud to hear it over the muffling that obviously happens with hearing protection. Well, I bought myself one that has a built it AM/FM radio and a port for me to plug in my MP3 player (if I had one) or my phone even if I have music on there. For now, I am using it for just FM radio. The sound is great and I still get great muffling of the power tool noise. :-).

Saturday I had to work in the morning and then by the time I could stop and get out to the garage the kids were up and it was dinner time and then it was time to sleep finally. So today, Sunday I was determined to begin. Part of the challenge to really capture all costs involved. This includes my time. So not only will I tract my costs to the penny, but also my time as well. Today I was able to cut all of the wood except the last 7 boards which will be the actual table top.

I was very happy with my statistics so far.

Wood for project - $48.32 (yes, that is buying all the wood for the table!)

Time to cut almost all wood to length. 2 hours 10 minutes. (It took a bit to figure out how to cut some of it since they are heavier woods than I am used to).

Its a great beginning even if I would have liked to be faster at cutting it all. I did most all the cuts with the circular saw except the 2 x 2s which were light enough I could use my table saw with my sled jig thing on there. Makes it so I don't have to most the stuff from in front of my miter saw. :-) Some day I am going to sell that one and upgrade to a compound miter saw.

Anyway. Here is my progress so far. :-)

Once I get done cutting the 2x6s to length then I will be ready to begin to screw it all together! I can't wait!!

A Challenge to Myself

I have decided as a precursor to my 5 year plan, I am going to give myself a challenge. I am going to bet $300 on myself. Let me explain. I sold an extra bed we had for $300. Instead of being sensible and putting it into savings etc I am going to see what I can do with it.

The challenge is to see how much money I can turn it into. I will take that $300 and ONLY that $300 and build things to sell. I will document every penny and see what I can build and then sell. See if I can turn a profit, and if I can, I would like to see HOW much  I can make.

Its interesting. I could fail miserably and then I will be out the money. I would seriously hate to loose all that money, but part of this challenge is supposed to boost my confidence. I have to enter into this challenge believing that I can do it. That I have enough skill that someone would want to buy a table I built or a cabinet I build. I will have to plan carefully to make sure I don't overspend on wood.

Which means I will not be working on a single room for a bit. I will be probably staying up super late and not getting much rest during the week, but HEY it could be fun and a really interesting challenge. See what I can do with my own two hands. Woohoo!!

My Play Kitchen

Its not fancy. I simply drew a few squares on a piece of paper and tried to make sure I would not build it too big. I have not had very much time to work on it. Tonight I had 2 hours which was enough for me to build the second part. I did the first part (the fridge), 2 weekends ago. I know. I didn't even mention it during my last blog post, but I was distracted!

Anyway, It has only a small fridge, a sink and a stove/oven. That's it. Just keeping it simple. I wanted my daughter to have a place to store her toy foods and a place to entertain herself while I cooked dinner (this is ALWAYS my goal, but I never quite achieve kid free cooking).

So here is the progress so far. I still have a LOT more to do, but at least I have finally gotten started on it right?!