Whenever we tackle a DIY project around our house both big { Painting our Entire House, Laying Sod, Refinishing our Hardwood Floors } and small { Painting a Mirror, Re-doing a Bench } I try and make sure we already have the tools we need to start the project, or what tools we need to buy. Nothing is worse then being in a midst of a project and realizing you have to make a trip to the local Home Improvement store, because popping into those stores its never a in out and thing. Soon we will starting to work on our built-in bookcase for our living room { read more about that here } and I wanted to make sure when have the majority of tools needed and what we need to buy. This made me think about DIY tools that are a must, when your a Beginner DIYer, Intermediate DIYer and Going Pro DIYer

Beginner DIYer Tools

The basics will help you make over that thrift store dresser in no time

Beginner Tools:

Philips and Flat Head Screwdriver, Good Paint Brush { I prefer Purdy Paintbrushes } Painters Tape, Large & Mini Paint Roller { keep extra rollers on hand } extra , Hammer, Metal Tape Measure { at least 20ft } 3Ft Level, Caulk & Wood Filler, KILZ Primer & Stain-blocker, Sand Blocks, and TSP. Its's always good to have extra screws, nails, and sanding blocks on hand.

Intermediate DIYer Tools

This is where your start adding a little power to your tool box to get the job done a little faster

Intermediate Tools:

Jig Saw, Power Drill, Skill Saw, Miter Saw, Power Sander { keep various grit and papers on hand the lower the girt Number the more it sands, the higher number sanding paper is for finishing } Wet Dry Vacuum, Metal ladder and Saw Horses and Kreg Jig Master

Going Pro DIYer Tools

This tools are great when you start tackling larger projects. I'm skipping over the big pricey power tools { Floor Sanders, Paint Sprayer because you can always rent those }

Going Pro Tools:

Air Compressor with attachments, Table Saw, Router and Grinder

Since we bought our home three years ago, we've bought all the Basics tools and used then all many times. The basic tools you will use over and over again. We have most of the Intermediate tools, we buy what we need, when we need it.

Our next tool purchase will be a small air compressor with attachments, oh how I want a brad nailer! lol

What tools are you wanting to add to your tool box?

I popped into Cost Plus over the weekend to look around and hopefully get an early start in buying outdoor dining stuff { cups, plates and bowls } we plan on doing lots of outdoor dining Spring though Fall this. turns out I was a a tad bit early to start shopping for outdoor dining stuff, they had a bunch of cute Easter Decor stuff, but I don't decorate for Easter. Anyways, I started looking around some more to out items on my mental 'I Want This' don't we all all one of these lists?

When I came across the perfect addition for my dining room. As you know we have a small eat-in kitchen dining room, its more like a dining nook. But I prefer to call it a our Dining Room :) Our current dining setup is simple we have a dark wood dining table that refinished and four upholstered Ikea chairs (Which have held up well the past few years) We now also have Avery's highchair in our dining room too and a buffet I re-did. This is what I want for my dining room, the Concrete Hayden Dining Bench. I snapped this with my camera phone, the picture by no means does this lovely seat justice.

Picture below from their website. In real life the color is more of a softer medium grey. I love its clean modern lines and dark wood feet. I think the color would look perfect in our dining room and with perfect with the curtains I sewed for the dining room over the Summer.

I really want to add this to our dining room, it would create a more banquette feeling in the small room. It's a large seat 67 inches wide! Here's what I envision, the banquette would go on our back wall where the window is and we would only use or two existing chairs. I would sell the pair or store them in our garage { for living room use if we have a lot of people over } With the addition of such a large seat, our buffet would likely go bye bye. The tiny room would appear too crowed. Which is fine, because we'll soon have extra counter space and cabinet space when we build a small butlers pantry in our kitchen.

I love these dining rooms below, my vision come to life.

{ via House & Home }

Small dining room with a banquette bench

{ via Decorpad }

I love the picture below, exactly how i want mine small dining room area to feel, polished pretty and relaxed.

{ via Hand Made Home }

Hopefully we'll have a new dining room addition soon, be like most DIYers we have a priority project list { Built-in Bookcases, Backyard prettying up to do and our kitchen, and DIY Ottoman } so sadly for now this banquette is at the bottom of the list, but if there was some major Cost Plus dining sale or I got an amazing coupon it might come home much sooner. Oh and when we get it I'll scotch guard the heck out of it!

edit: The banquette bench is $ 449.99 from Cost Plus World Market

Question, anything you've spotted recently that's on your 'I Want This List' ?