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AMAZON HAUL

Sometimes you just want to know… what other people are buying off amazon, right? haha

Play Nine – The card game that took over our Dallas trip & we played with the basketball team. It’s fun even for my oldest who is 8 and super fun to adults whether theres just 2 of you or a group.

Cover your Assets- We LOVE this card game.  From 7 years old up, this is such a fun family game. We usually combine two decks (2 boxes) and play until the cards run out, and whoever has the most $$$ is the winner.

Game Organizer Slim Containers – I Saw SavanahKay share about these last year, and I’m excited to try them!! It comes in a pack of 10 and you basically toss all your board game pieces and boards into it and it makes storing games so much cleaner without all the bulky half broken boxes. 

Strap Ice/Heat Packs – I have a torn meniscus and from all the Crossfit workouts it seems to be getting inflamed, so I ordered some strap cold/heat packs that can stay in place while I still move around. These will definitely become lance’s new best friend as he battles his strained elbows (are we getting old or what?)

Eraseable Pens – This have been a game changer in my planner and notebooks. I hate scratching things out, but the way most erasable pens write… I dont like EXCEPT FOR THESE. I just ordered a few more in ballpoint because they had a 3 pack option… that delivered same day, but my favorite are the BOLD. They write so beatifuly and smooth and erase like a dream. 

Erasable Highlighters – Same brand as the pens, but in erasable highlight… WIN. They take a hot second to erase, and they aren’t as bright as a traditional highlighter. I just got them today so maybe they are just “ok” 

Ziploc Baggie Organizing Box – this might be “extra” and I could probably build one, but I impulsively purchased this one made out of wood and I’m pretty excited about it! 

Water Bottle Organizer – There are 3 things that I collect: Water bottles, planners, and blankets… I can’t ever have enough and it drives Lance bonkers.  He suggested we buy this water bottle organizer. I’m hopeful it’ll make our cabinet function so much better. 

Flush Trim Bit & Router

Want to take your builds to the next level? If you have some boards that are just a hair off, you can use a flush trim bit and a hand router to fix it in a jiffy! 

Lumber yard

Macbeaths Hardwood – Anytime I am looking for wood that isn’t typically found at Home Depot or Lowes I venture to MacBeaths Hardwood. They are located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. They have a huge selection of raw hardwood, milled hardwood, and plywood.  For the upcoming mudroom project I picked up some 3/4″ Hickory / Melamine Plywood. I plan to build the whole interior of the mudroom to look like Hickory so it’ll be wood inside, and then I’ll paint the doors and face frame so the lockers will be two toned. 

When you are looking for your own local lumber yard call around and make sure they are willing to mill the wood for you. That means they take the rough stuff and make the boards smooth and dimensional! 

Lazy Susan

2 years ago I built a 70″ dining table. We needed such a large dining table to comfortably sit our family for Sunday Dinners, but as one might imagine, a 70″ dining table is a little tricky to reach food so after years of stretched arms I finally build a lazy Susan that is budget friendly and very beginner DIY friendly. I found these precut circle boards at Lowes that range in size from 20″ all the way up to 36″.  I snagged a large 36″ one and this lazy Susan mount from amazon.  I attempted a few different stain combinations but ultimately settled on staining it with General Finishes Black Glaze.  I love the contrast it gives the table all while tying in the black frames of our chairs.  

Perk Energy & Chill

I really can’t get enough of this stuff. The Perk Energy is a non-coffee warm beverage. It is collagen + protein + caffeine so it really gives you a good pep in your step in the morning.  Chill does the opposite. It has magnesium, protein + collagen and helps you wind down and have a peaceful sleep. It doesn’t leave you feeling groggy in the morning which is so great. I have been drinking the Chai Latte flavor and the Mint Hot Chocolate for… 3 years now? And I still love it! Use my affiliate code: HONEYBUILTHOME for 10% off! They even have travel packs/variety test the flavor packs so you can find your favorite.

Pre-Workout

I recently switched to Just Ingredients Pre-workout.& I reached out and got a 10% off code for you! CODE: HONEYBUILTHOME for 10% off.
 I was feeling like I needed to cut down my caffeine and this has 1/2 of the caffeine of other pre-workouts and still gives me a pep to my step when I only take 1/2 a scoop. The flavor is pretty good too. My husband and brother in law have also made the switch to this clean pre-workout. 

The Famous Hair Towel and Pillow Towel

Y’all love this hair towel as much as I do! Its light weight, stays put, soft, and helps dry your hair without the bulky weight of a towel on your head straining your neck. I have 3 of them I rotate through and have gifted them to basically every woman in my life.  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE their pillow towel. This towel has elastic straps so it stays put on your pillow, a waterproof liner, and comes in some pretty cute prints.  You can use my code: HONEY30 for 30% off sitewide!

Lego Box

Over winter break it was our unfinished goal to organize all of our lego sets. We still have a ways to go, but these lego boxes from IKEA are awesome.  They were designed as a collaboration between Lego and IKEA.  They have a lego brick top so you can display your finished sets without them tipping over, and they are stackable.  We opted for the largest size because our sets are big, but they come in a few different sizes. 

Love Sac Sactional

We have now owned our LoveSac Sactional for 9 months and I owe you an update.  We are still SO HAPPY with it! We opted for a downfilled which cost more than standard, but less than love filled.  We thought the love filled didn’t offer enough support, and the standard doesn’t give it the sink in love sac feel.  I’ve successfully gotten a bunch of marker, food and blood stains out of the fabric. It is the most comfortable coach I’ve ever taken a nap on. It’s definitely an investment piece, but I love that you can update it just by getting new covers and you can even add additional seats so it grows with you from home to home. I wish I had a discount code for you, but check their site regularly. I’ve seen 15-20% off sales on there! 

How to create mood boards

There are several different programs you can use to make moldboards, my two top favorites are Pages (Mac’s version of Microsoft Word), and Canva.  Pages is free you can do it from your phone, iPad or computer so it’s my #1 go to.  Canva has a lot more features than pages and is great if you are making graphics, but you have to pay monthly to be able to erase the background from images. For a step by step on how to make mood boards on pages check out this blog post. 

How to draw Building Plans – Sketchup

Drawing up furniture plans can seem daunting. I teach the very basics of this process in DIY Beginner Basics on a free web based program called Sketchup.  Sketchup is similar to AutoCAD if you are familiar with construction architecture or interior design.  Sketchup has SO MANY THINGS you can do with it. Even I am still learning the intermediate ins and outs of sketchup. But if you want the very basics on how to get started as well as how to translate your plans into things you can build check out DIY Beginner Basics. Use code: HONEYBUILT10 for 10% off. 

Sister in Laws house

The week before Christmas my sister in law moved into her new construction home in Southern Utah! The only two things I have links for in her home are her rugs Monterey in the living room and Dauis in the kitchen. USE code HONEYBUILT60 gets you 60% off, and her sectional is from Interior Define linked here.  Her home was designed by Kelsey Crandall | Alika Design who did an outstanding job on the home’s finishes. The home is referred to as the Royal Ridge Home.

2 Photo/video Apps you Need

These two apps will change how you store, use, and watch all of your videos and photos on your phone.  I have upgraded to the paid version for both of them, but their free versions are also awesome.  

SLIDEBOX – organize your phone’s photos (and videos with the upgrade) by the swipe of your finger.  I share all the details in IG stories, you can rewatch them here, but this app is so simple to use in an hour could you have your entire phone’s photos organized into folders.  Since I use my phone for all of my DIY projects as well as family I categorize things by “family” and by “project” when I am done with a project, or a few times a year I will airdrop the entire folder to my external hard drive (well, to my computer, then to the external hard drive) and erase them from my phone. Doing it this way keeps them organized in their folders, but BEFORE I export and erase I turn them into a video using my 2nd favorite app. 

INSHOT – this is my go to app for video editing. It’s extremely user friendly unlike a lot of video editing softwares and once you save your video it doesn’t bog down your phone like iMovie does. For our family pictures and videos I first upload the videos into inshot, cut and crop the parts I want to save. Then I do a mass import of all of the photos, set them to a 1 second duration and add in some music.  

I then save the video to my external drive and upload it to my YouTube as an unlisted video. This makes it so you can share the link with friends and family, but it isn’t out there to the whole universe.  We frequently go back and watch all the videos we’ve made over the years when family is together. It’s one of my kids favorite things to watch! 

 

Rip Cut

What is that thing you are cutting the plywood with? Common question in DM’s as I built the mudroom lockers.  I use a regular circular saw, but I attach it to the Kreg Rip Cut which is a track guide system that allows you to cut repeat cuts without having to make any adjustments.  It keeps your boards straight, and its safer than trying to lift a full sheet of plywood onto a table saw when you are by yourself building.

Kreg Jig 720

I have a full IG story highlight bubble on all the different Kreg jigs, how to use them, what the pros and cons of each model are, and which one I like the most.  Long story short, the one you see me building with most frequent is the Kreg Jig 720.  It autoadjusts to the thickness of your wood, clamps the board in place for you. It’s one of the 6 tools I teach in DIY Beginner Basics.  You use it whenever you want to attach boards, but hide the screws. 

Kreg Clamps

There are 3 Kreg clamps I recommend. I will put them in order of how important I think they are for building as they are investment clamps ranging from $30-50

3″ Wood Clamp – This is my most used clamp. It holds two boards flush so you can secure them together. Used a lot when building face frames for cabinetry or cabinet doors. 

90 degree clamp – This one gives you a perfect right angle holding your boards together.  I would say this is my favorite of all the 90 degree clamps I have tried as its just one click of the lever and not lots of twisting and adjusting of the clamp, and more accurate than other 90 degree clamps. 

Right angle clamp – this clamp allows you to stick one end inside of the pocket hole and the other end flush on the 2nd board.  Sometimes it does tear the pocket hole open which is just esthetically annoying, but doesn’t compromise the joint. 

 

Tune into Stories

Be sure to tune into STORIES on Instagram @honeybuilthome each weekend – Thursday to Monday to see the tips, tricks, behind the scenes of all projects!