THE CAVENDER DIARY

I know y’all are expecting some big master bathroom reveal. And it’s coming. I promise. We are sooo close to done; fixtures have all been installed, I hung the new door last night, and shower glass should be installed this week. (Fingers crossed)

In the meantime, here’s a little tease. After much debate about what to hang on the “toilet wall alcove” we landed on a couple reclaimed wood shelves.

We already have some of those important manly elements represented in our new master bathroom; rocks (the shower floor) and metal (the sink base). Now we need some wood. Not a lot, just some. I could easily buy something new, like these shelves from the Target.

But, come on. Y’all know me better than that. Why on earth would I pay ($34.99 EACH?!?!?) for something that I can easily fish out of a semi-dirty, hopefully vermin-free dumpster? I wouldn’t.

I drive by this one particular dumpster a couple of times a week. It’s near my work warehouse, where we keep our sets and props.

The thing about dumpster diving is that it’s kinda legal. Technically, trash is considered public domain. (I know this because private investigators are legally allowed to riffle through trash cans on TV shows. At least Jim Rockford could, anyway. Don’t like it, get a shredder. Just sayin’.) Now here’s why I think it’s kinda legal to dig through other people’s trash; If someone is paying for a dumpster, I’m pretty sure that they still own everything in it. Because I don’t want to encounter the trash owners, (any more that I already have), I do most of my dumpster diving on the weekends. Diving at night would work too, under the cover of darkness and all….but, ya know, rats. They’re always a possibility. So, weekend daytime diving is for me.

I found plenty of good, workable, free wood right here.

After pulling out a few nails, and cutting each board to 34″ long, I gave them a good scrubbing with warm soapy water and an extremely stiff, extremely cheap, brush. They are going into my house after all. (Now here’s the thing about wood, it expands when it’s wet. So I let them dry in the Texas sun for about a week)

Because our master bathroom is mostly shades of blue and grey, I brushed a little grey stain over my boards and quickly realized my mistake.

They were TOO grey now.

They look painted…..and not very reclaimed.

This kind of trial and error usually results in some pretty great ideas….and this time was no exception. I just loaded my Mouse sander with the heaviest grit sandpaper I could find (80 grit, I think) and went to town on them.

Way, more, much better…

In fact, now they look more like driftwood. Remember the “beach” vibe we wanted?

No? That’s OK, It was a long time ago…..

I was devising several complicated ways to hang my shelves and landed on simple 1X1 boards painted white and nailed to the wall abouy 8 inches apart. I was further swayed by the fact that I already had a few 1X1s in the garage. Making this project even slightly more free. Wining.

Each reclaimed board just rests on these brackets…like so,

Then we loaded them up with all our beach memory jars. If y’all have forgotten, we collect a handful of shells, sea glass, sand, and anything else we find on the beach every time we take a vacation…..then slip it all into a vintage jar.

I think we’re loving this….

And notice there are still a few empty jars…

HHHHmmmm,

Looks like someone needs a beach vacation soon.