Custom DIY Bike Storage.

The finished project!

Geoff and I live in a little tiny apartment. We have two [assembled] bikes and with the shortage of space, we were tired of leaning them against our furniture. After sifting through a few blogs and online shopping for suitable storage, we knew that we only had one option: make our own.

Lovely little Make It / Fix It Pad by KNOCKKNOCK.

So we made a plan. Materials needed: Wood (plaques? We weren't entirely sure until we got to the store), hooks (again, we were winging this), spray paint, book tags, wood stain, drill, stud finder, hammer and nails, level, measuring tape, countersink, and one of my old typewriters.


So since we already had the tools we needed, we only spent a grand total of $38. We made sure to grab the spray paint in matte black to match the hook we had picked up. Oh, the hooks? Yeah, that was a tough decision. We grabbed these guys from Lowe's. They're suppose to slip over a rail that they sell in the same aisle, but considering that we needed to be roughly 7-8" away from the wall, we guessed that we could put the extra half inch or so to good use. And we did.


We marked two holes in the base of each hook and then Geoff and his muscles used the drill right through 'em! After the first hole, we used a larger bit to widen the hole so that it would be easier for us during a later step.


We braved the cold, taped off the rubber-covered hook parts and sprayed the bases and book tags with a matte black spray paint. It only took us about two coats and it dried really quickly... thankfully! Brrr!


While that was happening, I set up my little spot to stain the plaques. We picked up a water-based stain on sale for about five dollars in a nice chestnut color. I'm totally in love with this stain. It only took about fifteen to give these little guys color. The can says to allow it to dry for three hours. Honestly, we gave it about half an hour and got too impatient. It was dry to the touch, so we decided to go ahead and pre-cut holes with the countersink.


Our cat has this obsession with running into the kitchen as fast as possible and sliding across the sink rug. So that's why it's all crumbled in this photo. But don't mind that. Geoff and his knowledge of power tools came in handy and I learned a lot that I otherwise probably wouldn't have picked up. Yay! Pre-drilling!


Math. Math. Math. Okay, so it wasn't anything in depth, but we had to take some pretty specific measurements to ensure that we weren't going to screw this up. The bottom of my top tube to the floor is roughly 29". This measurement gave us a good idea of where to place the first plaque. We finally bought a stud finder and there was a stud exactly where we wanted to hang them all along. The luck, right? So drill 'em in! I'm sure our creepy neighbor was downright annoyed with the drill on our partnering wall, but, uh, he's creepy.


Would this blog post be complete without a photo of me nailing on the book plates? We planned ahead of time to have the book plates and hooks cover our original screws. I used one of my typewriters to create the labels. It definitely added a little something extra to them. And could we get any cheesier/cuter than classy "HIS" and "HERS" labels...?


The final step was drilling in the hooks. The black spray paint ended up looking awesome. We used long enough screws that passed through the wood and into the stud again. We figured that it was better to be safe than sorry!



So here we have it! Before and after! The room feels a lot bigger without these two cycles hanging out against our desks and book shelves. I hope it gives you some ideas on how to make your own bike storage — long live DIY and attractive racks!

If you want to see any of these photos larger, hop on over to my Flickr for full sized views!

Modern Paint by Number Kits

State Bird Series - Ohio

This was bound to happen sooner or later. I started an Etsy shop specifically for my hand-drawn paint by number kits. What can I say? I'm a bit obsessed. I've started the shop with my state bird series. So far I have Ohio and the Northern Cardinal listed, but am definitely open to custom requests. I love this concept.

I have plans to release other states very soon, as well as various other themes (a US presidents theme? An animal series? Bicycles, of course!). Keep an eye on the store and I'll be sure to update you on what's happening!

While pretty bare at the moment, go ahead and get familiar with Quaint by Number on Etsy. And if you have an ideas, leave a comment or send me a message! If I use your idea, you'll get a special discount code for your purchase.

Retail Shopping

Today I had to drop Geoffrey off at the airport and since I was on that side of town, I decided to stop at the Apple Store to have my iPhone looked at. Anywho, it's in a big mall, and there are these little bike shorts that I spied on F21's website (great for going under skirts).

Today was kind of crappy-rainy and Easton is an outdoor mall. So I walked to F21 which is newly remodeled and too big for its own good. I spent a good ten minutes looking for a section that resembled their "active wear" or "basics." Here and there I spotted cute things and checked the price tags. I started asking myself, is it silly when $10.50 seems like a high price for something? I thought about this on my drive home and realized how much I dislike retail shopping as a whole.

I guess it has its time and place (like when I couldn't find a good bowler anywhere and ended up picking one up from Aldo while I was browsing for oxfords). I work in retail so I suppose I also see the fast cycle of marking up and marking down. Plus, do any of us really believe that these items will someday become vintage? Perhaps the higher labels, but F21 and the like only last a few washes before they're pilled and their seams are weak.

So is $10-$20 too much for a dress at a mall store? To me, yes. Sure, it's a quick fix if you need something right this second and don't want to search, but in the long run, you're not getting a good product for your buck.

I ended up finding my bike shorts (not in black, though) in grey and white. They were under $4 each, and something that I have a hard time finding, so I bought them. I actually felt wasteful about carrying the F21 bag to my car, so I put it in my purse after checking out. After the mall, I did some thrift therapy and bought myself three skirts and two belts for under ten dollars. That's a deal to me. All vintage and all unique. I'd rather spend my time looking for treasures than settling for something less!

Does anyone else do this? Are there any retail locations that you frequent and feel there's a good balance between quality and price?

Live Every Week Like It's Shark Week

Blue Shark Porcelain Figure on Etsy

I can't even express how excited I am about this shark. Geoff shot me a look of don't-buy-that as I squealed with excitement upon the treasure. If we had a two bedroom (ie, one bedroom, one studio room), I would totally stash this away for myself in my work area. Alas, we are still in this onesie and he doesn't appreciate the awesomeness of this fish, so I'm putting this on Etsy for your lovely home. Check it out on my Etsy shop!

Featured Four Etsy Listings

1. Vintage Floral Scarf, $12
2. Grey Grandpa Oversized Cardigan, $21.50 Sold
3. Unique Vintage Yellow Bow Tie Blouse, $21
4. Vintage Edward Irish Linen Sleeveless Shirt, $19.50 Sold

I have a few items that I need to photograph and list! I'm very excited about them too. I'll leave you with these hints: blouses, spring, tooled belts, Bass cowgirl boots. Oh my!

Moving to Blogger.

Originally, the Mini Penny blog was living over on Tumblr. While I love Tumblr (the design, the community, the simplicity), I'm feeling as though Blogger is a better platform for the content of MP. Sometimes I just want to talk and talk and talk, and well, Tumblr isn't built for that.

So for those of you who were already following me on Tumblr, please bear with me while I work out the Blogger kinks. To be honest this is my first time using this blogging outlet, so it might take me a second to get the hang of it.

Meanwhile, what should you expect to see here? Rather than redundant posts of "Hi, I have this for sale," I hope to spread a little more information regarding my personal style and fashion inspiration (possibly via my Lookbook account?) and other tidbits that I find interesting.

I plan on making the same transformation with my Twitter, so be prepared! Comments are enabled, so if there are any suggestions of items you'd like to see, let me know!