I don’t remember where I saw this idea, but at some point
early on in having kids, I saw an example of someone using an old toy to create
some cool bookends. They cut the toy in half and re-attached them to the
bookends, which I thought was a neat way to incorporate something unique into a
room. But our oldest was young enough to not really be into anything at the
time, so the idea just kind of sat somewhere in my exhausted brain as I tried
to survive kid #1, and then #2.
Well it came bubbling back this weekend when I saw a seam in
the middle of a dinosaur kid #1 had buried in the sandbox. Suddenly I had the
perfect toy to try this on, just waiting to be ripped in half and put back
together as something new. And if it was buried in the sandbox odds are it
wouldn’t be missed, but it might add something to an already dinosaur-themed
room.
Getting the basics together was simple: tear the toy in
half, trim the plastic lip off, chop some spare boards to get a pair of
L-shaped bookends together. Easy so far.
plenty of materials around to use... |
Paint the bookends blue, the dinosaur white, and add some
black highlights to create a little visual interest. Okay, getting slightly
trickier but still not difficult.
I weirdly liked how these looked sticking off the box I used to paint them on. |
Finish the bookends with poly coat and attach the dinosaur
halves…okay, this part was a challenge.
After several glues and cursing, I think these are done. |
That’s what happens when your level of OCD is higher than
your skill level. It can be rewarding to just see how things come together as a
project happens, but the quiet voice in my head reminding me about that is
usually drowned out by the much louder inner monologue focusing on “WHY WON’T
THIS #$*%ING STAY WHERE I WANT IT TO?!” When that happens it’s usually time to
get out of the shop for a while.
The boy snuck into the garage at some point when I had the
pieces drying so he wasn’t surprised when I gave them to him, but he clearly
was looking forward to having something new to display. Now in the issue of
fairness I have to wait and see what toy of kid #2 I can destroy in the name of
DIY…
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