{"id":1691,"date":"2018-03-10T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bellapamella.com\/blog\/?p=1691"},"modified":"2018-10-05T17:05:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T22:05:40","slug":"idea-95-get-creative-with-a-2x4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/idea-95-get-creative-with-a-2x4\/","title":{"rendered":"IDEA 95: GET CREATIVE WITH 2X4s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2x4_Bench_Top\"<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago my husband and I decided we needed to get out of the frozen tundra, so we took a road trip south to Wakulla Springs near Tallahassee Florida. It was there, on a hike, that I came across this beautiful, elegantly designed bench made entirely from 2x4s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_Bench_3-4\"<\/span><\/p>\n

There wasn’t an ounce of give in the bench. It was permanently fastened in place, presumably the legs were set into poured cement footings underground, much like a fence post would be.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_Bench_End\"<\/span><\/p>\n

It goes without saying, this solution was as sturdy as you like. After all, the 2×4 is the building block of most every house and building on the block. But what I really loved was the thoughtful way the bench was conceived, using no more and no less wood than was absolutely perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it made me wonder what else could be made out of 2x4s. So, of course, I Googled it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I shouldn’t be surprised that there are tons of posts about making things from 2x4s. After all, this is such an available and affordable source for wood. A 2×4 costs about $3. And it can be easily bought, brought home in your car, and cut up.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in my opinion there is a big difference in the project ideas out there. And I decided to collect and present to you MY idea of the coolest 2×4 projects. My criteria includes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022Finished piece has to be attractive, and un-2×4-like. (Crates, picnic tables and things like that are items I consider to be too 2×4-like).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022There has to be a reason to use a 2×4 as opposed to another form of wood (many designs call for slicing the 2×4 to make it into boards. In my book that’s too hard, and I would just buy boards. Or carving it into fancy moulding-again would make more sense just to buy the right molding).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022It can’t just be things cut into chunks and painted to look cute. (These are fine, but they’re more about the painting and less about the 2×4).<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed many (but not all) these tutorials “square up” the 2×4 first. I think removing those rounded edges looks awesome and makes a huge difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, here are a few projects some amazingly clever people are doing out there. In each case I’m linking to their tutorial as they need to get credit for such fine ideas!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_Vase_Shanty_2\"<\/span><\/p>\n

This beautiful vase idea is so elegant. You may say it broke one of my rules as this is not a 2×4, it’s actually a 2×6. But I think it would be lovely in a 2×4, and IMO even nicer if you sharpened the corners so they were perfectly crisp. But kudos to Shanty Chic for the idea and tutorial<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is another vase, this one a little more complicated to make, but equally elegant. Find the tutorial for this one here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_SQ_Vase_inf\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I love how this coffee table manages to be 2×4 and modern sculpture all at once. Find how to make it here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_Coffee_Table\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The couple who made it was inspired by this table<\/a>. I thought it very astute of them to make the connection between this table and their coffee table need.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_SQ_Table\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_Modern<\/span><\/p>\n

As the tutorial says: Less is more!\u00a0This bench<\/a> shows how classy the 2×4 looks when the edges are sharpened. And I love how the interlaced wood makes for a dovetail joint look. This thing is gorgeous.<\/span><\/p>\n

I absolutely love this lamp idea. If anyone makes this please send me the photo! So far there is just the drawing. Find the brilliant tutorial here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_TALL_Lamp\"<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s not to love about this extremely minimal wine rack<\/a>? I would probably sharpen up the edges and put the paint or stain inside the drilled holes as well. While I love the 2×4 idea, I would also want to hide its identity just a little more!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_TALL_WineRack\"<\/span><\/p>\n

While we’re talking simple, these 2x4s are cut and attached to form stair steps for the spice bottles<\/a> to be displayed. While the idea is simple, I like how care was taken to finish the project in a clean white semi-gloss, and the bottles were labeled so the spice names can be read in any row.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2x4_SQ_Easy<\/p>\n

Anyone who follows my posts knows I just love a project that looks far more expensive or difficult than it was. I can’t wait to try out some of these!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago my husband and I decided we needed to get out of the frozen tundra, so we took a road trip south to Wakulla Springs near Tallahassee Florida. It was there, on a hike, that I came across this beautiful, elegantly designed bench made entirely from 2x4s. There wasn’t an ounce of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,27,34,35,43,45,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1970,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions\/1970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellapamella.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}