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Category: wood working

  • Strawberries

    I have always wanted to be able to walk into my yard and pick strawberries whenever I wanted. I am not sure how many strawberry roots I have bought and planted and only gotten a small numbers of berries from…too many to count. I decided this would be the year I was going to concentrate on establishing the roots of some strawberry plants in order to have a bumper crop next year!

    After looking at several different plans, I decided to build a tower out of some cedar fence slats I had in the garage. It was pretty simple. I drilled holes in two sides and then put it together with a finishing nail gun and wood glue.

    I did put a soaker hose down the middle but it ended up rotting (it was kind of old) and so I pulled the whole thing out. I have read that people recommend a hose or pvc with holes drilled in it to allow water to get to the center. With a tower this small, it is really not necessary.

  • You are my sunshine

    We decided the bathroom would be gray and yellow with oil-rubbed bronze hardware.  I had my mind set that I wanted some flowers and sun something in the bathroom.  When the girls were little, I used to sing them “You are my sunshine” a lot.  It was also on a CD we wore out, so the saying means something to the girls.  I decided to make signs for the bathroom.

    I used some scrap wood we had in the back of the house and made 2 signs.

    I taped off a sun, and then painted.

    Then came the words.

    Sealed and the final product:

     

  • Building Cabinets- The Sinks

    This was the super fun part…NOT.  I dropped both sinks in and they fit like a glove!

    I will not tell you ALL about the difficulties with the hardware…but the biggest thing was the distance between the holes for the water lines, and the back of the 2×6 that was supporting the cabinets, was not enough room.  There was a lot of cursing, drilling and shipping to get the faucets to fit correctly.

    AND there were a lot of trips to HD to get things like a longer line for the cold water…yes, the guy in the plumbing department knew very well what I was doing by the end of this project!

    Had to take a break to put the medicine cabinet together.

    And I checked to make sure the drawers functioned correctly.

    Here was the most difficult task of all and took more than just a day to figure out.  I had to research the building codes to find out how to correctly install an additional drain pipe.  We did not want to break apart the wall to do this, so we opted to connect it to the original pipe.  I did find out it can be no more than 30″ from the main drainage pipe.  I also learned that it did not need a J trap on the second pipe.  That is there to prevent backup from sewage gases, and the first one accomplishes that.

    After a lot of curing again, and MANY more trips to HD, I was able to correctly install and tighten all the pipes so that there were no leaks.  Yay me!

    And the final product!!!  Running water, draining, and all!!!

  • Building Cabinets- The Doors

    As I waited for the mortar and grout to set on the counter, I continued working on the doors and drawer facings.  I had these wood knobs, and used a little metallic spray paint and some shellac to make the door knobs.

     

    (Taking a break to add the grout.)

    Putting the doors together.  I did not make the cuts 45% because I wanted a “farmhouse” kind of look.

    I used a table saw to cut out the back so that could glue in beadboard.  I did not use the dame kind that went on the walls, instead this kind is wood that snaps together, so it was double the thickness.

    I punted a bit here because I really did not know how i wanted to do this.  I glued on backing board on top of the back (and used a lot of clamps to make sure it stuck!).

    Next…putting in the sinks and plumbing…

  • Building Cabinets- Counter Top

    The next fun task was putting on the counter top and adding the sinks.  I wanted to tile, just because I had this vision in my mind of what the bathroom should look like.  The counter had to withstand the weight of tile, so I had to do some research on making sure the support was strong enough.

    Cutting the holes in the cement board.

    Whoops!  I forgot to take the middle part of the sink into account when cutting.

    I decided to do the tile on a diagonal.  It takes A LOT more time, but looks better.  And yes, I cut and laid every tile out before starting on actually putting it down.

    Up next…doors and hardware…

  • Building Cabinets- Part 2

    After remaking the drawers, I was glad I waited for the bottom drawer until the cabinets were finished.  See the large space at the bottom?  That is for a step-drawer, something I have seen done…but never like this.  I wanted mine functional, not just a step, so mine also was big enough to store rolls of toilet paper in.

    With the lid.

    This time I was careful about measuring to make sure the drawer was going to fit and work correctly!

    Now it was time to put the cabinets in place.  Yippee!!!

    Next up…adding the counter…

     

  • Building Cabinets

    Let ms start by saying…I have never built cabinets…or drawers in my life.  I am not sure I want to ever again, but maybe after having done it, I will try it again.

    The original plan was to use the existing cabinets and just cut out the drawer part and make it doors to cabinets.  After tearing them apart (because they were not real cabinets), nothing about them was salvageable.

    I set to work on plans for building.  I knew I wanted a pull out drawer for standing on, and a flip out part in front of the sink.  Beyond that, I was really open to what to do.  I search Ana-White and found some ideas, but nothing I could follow all the way, so a lot of this is made up as I went.

    First was the base of the cabinet (leaving the back open).

    Then I had to figure out the support for the sinks which would also be used as drawer guides.  This was just trial and error.  I really had no idea what I was doing.

    Here is where I ROYALLY messed up…I made the drawers next.  Wait until the VERY end to make the drawers.  I ended up having to make them twice because I messed up the dimensions so badly.  But here are pictures of making them…twice…

    As the girls helped with the drawers I continued on the main cabinets–adding more supports for the drawers.

    Using pocket holes, the bottom was attached.  They are starting to look like real cabinets!

    Next came the facing.  This is where it is important to have the measurements right so that the facing is flush with the drawer supports.

    Priming and painting…X2

    Adding the drawer slides:

    This is where measuring after you finish with the drawer slides (or really knowing you will be exact) will prevent having to remake the drawers.  I found that when I finished, I had not taken into account the wheel on the slide.  My drawers were a 1/4″ too big.  No bueno.  🙁

    More to come…

  • Playhouse Inside

    As promised, here is a look inside the playhouse:

    Part I
    Part II
    Part III
    Part IV
    Final

  • Playhouse- Final

    If you have been following my blog for more than 6 months, then you have seen the drama over our outdoor adventures.  For example the first phase of our playhouse here, and then the second part here, and the mistakes here, and then finishing up here.  I never did post the final pictures of it.  So here they are.  I will borrow a wide lens to take pictures of the inside later.

    The girls were excited that they have a door like Punky Brewster.  Yes…cause my girls have every episode of Punky memorized.

    There is electricity (an extension cord) running from the garage out to the top of the playhouse.  This plugs in the AC unit–YES it is HOT in Houston and I don’t want the girls dying of heat stroke–and it also gives them light in the playhouse.

    And in case you were wondering…I will NEVER be a roofer!  At least not in Houston!

    Part I
    Part II
    Part III
    Part IV
    Final

  • Playhouse- Part IV

    After working all weekend, *most* of the playhouse is finished.  Now it is just fine details that need to be added.

    This weekend, we had to finish the other 1/2 of the roof.  This time, we decided to put the shingles on the roof like roofers do.  Wade was able to get the plywood up on the rafters while I screwed it in.  We added the tar paper and then I shingled…in the dark since it was so darn hot outside.  This made for some interesting lines… 🙂  We realized as we got down to the very end, we were 2 shingles short.  UGH!!!  The next morning I headed back to HD to get 2 more.  Of course, I failed to get the right color so 2 shingles are tan instead of red.  I was NOT about to go back to HD for $2.  I put these last 2 shingles on at 7am…and I decided I WILL NOT BE A ROOFER in my next career!

    Now we are doing the details.  Wade helped me put most of the trim on.  The door is finished, but we need bigger hinges.  The inside is painted.  The only major thing we have left to do is the railing around the front.  This weekend…I am confident we will finish!  At least we better!

    Part I
    Part II
    Part III
    Part IV
    Final