The Storage Unit

Jess's profession has caused her to collect quite a few pieces of equipment, cameras, reflectors, props, etc. Until now they have been stored in our never-been-used-as-a-dining-room dining room. In an effort to make that a functional room again, she asked me to build her a storage unit for the office, and a new project was born.



I had trouble with the original design. I knew she wanted a cubicle format and I wanted simple 3/4 inch dividers with 1.5 inch outer borders, but I couldn't figure out how to assemble it. In a moment of brilliance, (I won't tell you where I was when I had it) I made the interior pieces interlocking. It was a simple matter to add the double-layer outer border and facing boards.



With a bunch of putty, caulking, and spray paint (my new best friend) I had a finished project. I then called on my muscle (Becca) to help me move it into the office. As it turned out...I mean, exactly how I planned it, if I had built it 1/4 inch bigger in any dimension, it would not have gone through the hallway into the room. It looks pretty nice, though, huh?

The Garden part 1

Jess came to me a while ago saying she wanted me to create a garden for her to plant some chicken teriyaki. I thought cool! I didn't know you could do that. Needless to say I got started immediately.



After doing some research and consulting the experts (Kelly and Lance) we decided on a relatively unconventional method known as the weedless garden. Basically, you start by putting down wet newspaper. It sounds strange, I know but the idea is that it will kill the grass below, not let new weeds up, will let our plants' roots down, and will eventually decay and go away. That's my understanding.



We chose a design with 6 beds that mound above ground. I build a quick frame which I then positioned, filled with soil and organic compost, then removed to do the next one. It made the process easy. Our little wheelbarrow was a life saver transporting the soil from the pile to the garden.



Eventually, the beds will have wood chip paths all around that will let us access all parts easily. The idea here is we never walk in the beds themselves, which means we don't have to til the soil each year.



I then surrounded the garden itself with about 7 inches of dirt we can use to plant flowers or whatever we would like. I left a break in the front which will allow us to enter the garden area. I know it looks like a garden someone used to litter in, but the next steps will be to put down newspaper over the path areas and then lay down the wood chips. It will make a huge difference. Stay tuned for part 2.

First Shelf Complete

Finally finding a little free time, I managed to finish off one of my shelf projects. Jess had asked for a long skinny shelf for the bedroom for pictures and miscellaneous items. I started by cutting a five foot by 5 inch piece of pine and sanding it down really nice, including a quick sand over the corners to take the sharpness off. I also cut blanks for the three supports and, using a template and my scroll saw, cut them to the shape I wanted.



After attaching the supports, I used two coats of some nice spray paint with a satin finish. It made painting extremely easy and quick. I did sand a little between with a fine piece of sand paper so the last coat went on real smooth. Here you can see it hung in our bedroom.

Another work bench?

That's right. Right on the heals of finishing the workbench for my shop, it is time to build another one.

A few weeks ago was the spring work party for Abby's school. This is a pretty cool system where one parent of each kid show up on a Saturday to help clean/fix the school. Projects included anything from painting to electrical, drainage systems to repairing the fence line. It was actually a lot of fun. Several of the moms conspired to get pregnant during this time period so a lot of the dads attended.

One project I noticed on the list was a take home project to build a kids sized work bench. It looked pretty fun and I knew I had the tools to do it so I volunteered. They even had the plans for it already.

Here are the materials. I have already cut them to size using my table saw and miter saw. This is nothing fancy, just a piece of plywood and some two by fours.



The bench is designed to disassemble for easy transport and perhaps storage during winter. It is meant to be outside so I modified the plans a little to use exterior galvanized screws and bolts as opposed to nails. The left and right side/leg sections are assembled as well as the bottom shelf and the bench top. Here you can see all 4 pieces fully assembled and sanded. We wouldn't want sharp coners or splinters of course.



And finally we have the finished, assembled product. Pretty neat, huh? I can't wait to see the kids play with it.

(And yes, I did actually finish one of my projects. Now back to the storage unit, long shelf, box shelf, garden, and abacus.)