But, my husband is proficient at finding stuff to put in there. Heavens, I can't even take pictures right now because it's so messy. Hard to prove the benefits when there's a major project strewn all over, preventing me from doing anything else, lol.
But today's topic isn't about organization (phew!), it's about an ironing board. And here's what happened. . . I work for (with?) a Habitat ReStore. And they ended up with a dozen or so of these:
I instantly recognized the necessity of owning this item. If I had had the room, I would have bought all of them, but one was all I could afford (monetary and space-wise). And the plan was to put it where Gram's old ironing board sat. But the ironing board was still necessary, so now what?
Then I get a brilliant idea -- I should just make a new one that fits on top of this thing. Yeah, and then it would be bigger which would be much better than the regular one I was using. I'm so smart!
Except that about 1,000 other women have had the same idea. In fact, Martha Stewart has a very nice YouTube on it (which is good, since I forgot to take pictures again). I don't know how to connect it, and I'm not sure on the legality, so I'm just going to say to go to www.marthastewart.com and search "oversized ironing board". Since I started collecting supplies before I watched Martha's video, mine differs slightly. BUT, there's another awesome one out there involving folding a towel in half and some padding to make a "pillowcase" for a rough piece of wood. Also a slick idea.
So for mine, I found a scrap piece of wood at my Habitat ReStore -- there were choices, but I picked up something like shelving material. Then I had my father-in-law cut it to the specific dimensions of the top of my cabinet.
I purchased enough firm loft batting (not thick and not thin), to double cover one side of the board and wrap around a few inches (two layers). Martha had access to another kind of material, but I found this to work just fine. I laid the batting down and smoothed it out so there were no wrinkles. I had my husband help me lay my rather large and awkward board on the center of the batting. Then, using an electric staple-gun, I started stapling it to the back (bottom?), stretching and pulling taut as much as possible. Move the board away to a) check for wrinkles and smoothness, and b) prepare the next layer.
I had also purchased some silver / heat resistant material. I asked at the fabric store, "What do I need to make my own ironing board?", and this was the only thing they knew of. Ah well. Again, lay it flat, working out any wrinkles, but only a single layer this time. Carefully place the board, finished side down, and proceed to staple the silver fabric to the back, pulling up and taut. I chose to make each layer a little bigger than the one before so that I could cover the staples before (and affix through the new material to the wood without any of the other stuff in the way). Again, move the board away, checking for wrinkles and smoothness and clearing a space to do the final layer.
Finally, I get to the pretty stuff. I found absolutely beautiful Christmas fabric, $2 a yard. One of my sources recommended dark colors -- they show the wear less than light colors. Lay the fabric, presentation side down, flat, and without wrinkles. Lay the board top down, position it so the part that you're most interested in seeing is centered on the board.
Here, it's most important to have enough cloth to lap beyond the prior two layers (three?), because when the pretty wears out (or wears on you, lol), you can easily rip it off and replace it without having to do anything else.
One bit of advice from Martha was to "glue" a heavy duty piece of fabric over the staples to protect any tabletops you might work on -- I chose to buy ironable latch hook rug binding and I worked half of it under as I stapled the pretty piece on the back. Again, pull up and taut as you work. The corners are tricky, but they will be underneath, so how obsessive compulsive you are about perfect corners is entirely up to you. Once the stapling was done, I simply folded the binding over and used my ironing board for the first time, to stick the binding over the staples.
Once done, I simply laid it on top of my cabinet. I was thinking of putting hinges on the back side, so if I wanted a work surface, all I'd need to do is lift, but then I decided I preferred it portable. After all, it would be easier to iron a quilt top on my dining room table than on a cabinet tucked up against a wall, right?
Here's the finished project:
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