Michelle and I are enjoying our summer (and I hope you are too). I suppose if you are on the other side of the globe than keeping cozy with your winter (hard to envision winter when it’s 90 + out). We are doing a ‘best of besotted’ this week. These are the posts that you found the most interesting or shared with others (we thank you). Hopefully some of these posts will be new to you and just as exciting as it was for others. Enjoy!

I had been seeing these pipe shelves crop up all over the internet and really wanted to try my hand at making one; I had a couple of obstacles 1) I have a hard time following directions 2) I don’t own any real power tools (a drill + mini sander but those don’t really count now, do they?) My husband is not handy but he sure is handsome so there’s that. So here is my “Cliff” notes version of how this came about. Last summer I decided to give it a try. At Home Depot I eyed the plumbing pipes longingly (as one does) when a salesperson asked if he could help me, I told him that I wanted to make a pipe shelf but they didn’t have pipes in the sizes I needed and I didn’t have tools, (insert crazy look here) I showed him some on-line images, and he said no problem they could cut the pipes to any size I needed for a nominal fee. I went home and started figuring out my exact dimensions needed. This is important since a lot of the DIY instructions on-line are for what worked for that individual, if you are going to make this, make it so it works for you. I had a very long narrow closet where I wanted this to go, so I knew my boards/shelves needed to have a narrow profile (these were cut for free to size at Home Depot, I think Lowes does free cuts as well). I used the standard 2′ x 4’s. I chose to make my bottom shelf higher so I could fit my filing boxes in neatly, which were tall and narrow. I also added metal casters so I could easily roll the shelf out of the slim closet and could see everything. It was smooth sailing from there–sanding, stain + polyurethane for the aesthetics, for functionality, I used Gorilla glue and screws to get all the pipe flanges in place and that was it. It was a weekend project because of the staining and wood glue which needed to dry but it comes together so fast and it did not look like a DIY project, in fact I sold it for a pretty penny when I moved and that was out in the middle of nowhere (the photo above was from my Craigslist listing), just imagine if I lived in the city?! I am now wanting to make a whole studio space in our tiny city loft and this image has my wheels spinning.

If you need more detailed instructions for this project I have collected some here:

Industrial shelf (they set their shelves on top of the pipes instead of screwing them directly into the shelves like I did).

Here’s the same concept for a coffee table that I think looks equally as good and would probably be the easiest of all the pipe projects.

Be still my beating heart, the already lovely Roost just got even lovelier (hard to believe but it’s true!) My jaw is still on the floor…

I get a lot of emails each day, but one of my very favorites is the word of the day from Merriam Webster, it not only gives you the word + definition but also the pronunciation and in context examples! It makes me feel like I accomplished at least one great thing each day.

I haven’t been up for doing much lately, but I did download the Graveminder by Melissa Marr (it was on sale!). I am not a big fiction reader but when I do read it I always wonder why I don’t read it more often. I am not that deep into the book, but I’m already impressed with Ms. Marr’s imagination, how did she come up with such things? From the reviews this isn’t even her most creative book, my curiosity has been peaked.

On a whim the other night my husband and I watched Extreme Couponing, my husband is appalled by the stock piling and I agree there’s not a lot I could/would eat (100 packs of hot dogs anyone?) but gosh darn am I impressed by how much these couponers save. It has me motivated to look into it a little further, I found this site that gives you a crash course. I would love to have a stock pile of basics like laundry detergent, wouldn’t you?

The Visual Supply Company aka VSCO has just updated their VSCAM app and I love it even more (if that’s possible). I always recommend it as the app to get if you are trying to recreate that film look with your cameraphone. The app is free and has plenty of filter choices, scroll down here to see some awe inspiring sample images.

Couldn’t get enough of my blogging unsolicited blogging advice? Well here’s some more links to inspire more great content from Alt Summit!