When "building" the house, I acted as General Contractor. I didn't do any labor I wasn't licensed to do, but I did what manual labor I could and used others' insurance and bonding to help move things along under their umbrella, and ended up saving a lot of dough that way.
I have to admit that digging ditches by hand is unpleasant. That's the only job where you start at the top. I also have to admit that I learned about working your way up, literally. If I had it to do over again, apart from a couple design changes, I would have done a couple other things in a different order. Always get your yard lines in first: water, gas, and sewage while you're getting the foundation dug.
But I'm not here to write a recipe.
Apart from the landscaping, I've done some other trade-based work that I think is decent, and I wanted to showcase that. It's funny: lately I kind of miss making art, but I've been pretty damn productive the past couple years, always with more projects in the works (and always with some that will probably never come to fruition). So here's what else I've been up to:
HOME STUFF
I found the cabinet at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It was pretty much the perfect size for our bathroom. It took some searching to find the closet door, but that really brought the design together. Now we have a shallow broom closet and a bathroom cabinet/laundry hamper.
I kind of enjoy working with pre-existing pieces more than making things from scratch. I generally prefer to have a "problem to solve" than to design from scratch. I feel like the process is more interactive/surprising/dynamic that way. Above is the install all trimmed out, below is the cabinet painted to match the bathroom.
I wouldn't mind putting a cabinet door on the top, but that would only change the look, not the function. Not a top priority.
But there's more:
Working with more salvaged materials, I made some bookcases for the bedroom. The tops are laminated (doweled and glued-wish I'd had a better clamping setup, but they sanded out OK) cedar 2x4's made into a slab. Most of the carcass is 3/4" ply that I found on the street. Yes, that was pure luck. It had oddly been cut down to 7 feet long and not really anything else had been done to it, other than some running over. The tire tracks sanded out nicely.
I put 3/8" ply on the backs for rigidity. I had recently purchased a dado blade, so I put that to good use. The backs and most of the shelf joints were rabbeted, glued, and nailed. The tops are, too. The smaller shelf in the left hand one above is adjustable. Super easy to do: drill holes at regular intervals along the desired range of placement and use brass pegs to hold the shelf. All the carcass fronts are banded in 1/4" thick poplar. All the shelf fronts are banded with 1" thick strips of poplar for added strength under load. I hate cheap veneer edge banding and "deflection" under load.
The legs were the only significant material investment, but they were worth it. They bracket on very securely and they clear the baseboard.
I stained them with Danish oil, which gave me a little headache, even though I wore a respirator for most of it. Next time I'll wear the respirator when I mix the color. Live and learn.
I gotta say they sit pretty nicely in the room.
There were some work projects to be done, as well.
The most recent location we opened required a fair amount of build-out. I ended up stripping and grinding concrete, reconfiguring displays, framing walls, and doing some finish carpentry as well.
WORK STUFF:
Here's the big wall that we framed in two days. That was pretty fun.
Here's the new bathroom, stubbed out and framed. Of course the A/C guy didn't mark his compressor locations very well and got miffed at the wall locations. As if he were the one whose project it was. I asked him to spray paint his locations. That didn't end up happening. Would you notice four 1/4" holes in THAT ceiling? I sure didn't. We installed a drop ceiling in the bathroom and it all ended up working out.
And here you see the old countertop that I reworked. It was just laminate over framing and chipboard. I made it ADA-compliant (like the bathroom above), clad it in salvaged wood, and put the butcher block countertop on it with the help of our most recent cabinet guy. Finished with Tung oil, which I prefer to the Danish stuff. It may not look all that fancy, but the sides of this counter are actually on compound angles: the top sits farther out than the base. You can see a little bit of the ground concrete joint to the right, as well. I hope I never have to do that again.
The shelves you see against the wall were in the store already, but reconfigured by yours truly. The library card catalogs were UT Surplus auction.
MORE HOME STUFF:
The last project of recent note is the built-in couch. There's storage under the left side, and the seat cushion on the right actually rolls out on a track to become a bed.
There's obviously storage in and on the back of the thing, too.
I will admit that I'm not much of a tailor or upholsterer, but I covered the thing in beige cotton duck. I started cladding the right-hand wall with wood as part of this project. That will eventually be covered, but there's a folding table and bench to build into the wall first (there's already blocking for them in the framing), then fill in around. Then our "almost tiny" home will be complete. For now we eat outside or sitting on the couch. I don't mind. The wife might a little bit.
Again, lots of angles, space, proportions to consider. Again, I'm just a beginner when it comes to building furniture. But I consider this a successful first foray into built-in seating. Because it's really quite comfy and it's proven to be an efficient use of space.
And there you have it. You're pretty much up to date on the "making" I've been doing.
I have to admit that digging ditches by hand is unpleasant. That's the only job where you start at the top. I also have to admit that I learned about working your way up, literally. If I had it to do over again, apart from a couple design changes, I would have done a couple other things in a different order. Always get your yard lines in first: water, gas, and sewage while you're getting the foundation dug.
But I'm not here to write a recipe.
Apart from the landscaping, I've done some other trade-based work that I think is decent, and I wanted to showcase that. It's funny: lately I kind of miss making art, but I've been pretty damn productive the past couple years, always with more projects in the works (and always with some that will probably never come to fruition). So here's what else I've been up to:
HOME STUFF
I found the cabinet at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It was pretty much the perfect size for our bathroom. It took some searching to find the closet door, but that really brought the design together. Now we have a shallow broom closet and a bathroom cabinet/laundry hamper.
I wouldn't mind putting a cabinet door on the top, but that would only change the look, not the function. Not a top priority.
But there's more:
Working with more salvaged materials, I made some bookcases for the bedroom. The tops are laminated (doweled and glued-wish I'd had a better clamping setup, but they sanded out OK) cedar 2x4's made into a slab. Most of the carcass is 3/4" ply that I found on the street. Yes, that was pure luck. It had oddly been cut down to 7 feet long and not really anything else had been done to it, other than some running over. The tire tracks sanded out nicely.
I put 3/8" ply on the backs for rigidity. I had recently purchased a dado blade, so I put that to good use. The backs and most of the shelf joints were rabbeted, glued, and nailed. The tops are, too. The smaller shelf in the left hand one above is adjustable. Super easy to do: drill holes at regular intervals along the desired range of placement and use brass pegs to hold the shelf. All the carcass fronts are banded in 1/4" thick poplar. All the shelf fronts are banded with 1" thick strips of poplar for added strength under load. I hate cheap veneer edge banding and "deflection" under load.
The legs were the only significant material investment, but they were worth it. They bracket on very securely and they clear the baseboard.
I stained them with Danish oil, which gave me a little headache, even though I wore a respirator for most of it. Next time I'll wear the respirator when I mix the color. Live and learn.
There were some work projects to be done, as well.
The most recent location we opened required a fair amount of build-out. I ended up stripping and grinding concrete, reconfiguring displays, framing walls, and doing some finish carpentry as well.
WORK STUFF:
Here's the big wall that we framed in two days. That was pretty fun.
Here's the new bathroom, stubbed out and framed. Of course the A/C guy didn't mark his compressor locations very well and got miffed at the wall locations. As if he were the one whose project it was. I asked him to spray paint his locations. That didn't end up happening. Would you notice four 1/4" holes in THAT ceiling? I sure didn't. We installed a drop ceiling in the bathroom and it all ended up working out.
 |
| Bathroom |
 | ||
| Warehouse Dividing Wall (notice how it's woven into the pre-existing structural and electrical). |
And here you see the old countertop that I reworked. It was just laminate over framing and chipboard. I made it ADA-compliant (like the bathroom above), clad it in salvaged wood, and put the butcher block countertop on it with the help of our most recent cabinet guy. Finished with Tung oil, which I prefer to the Danish stuff. It may not look all that fancy, but the sides of this counter are actually on compound angles: the top sits farther out than the base. You can see a little bit of the ground concrete joint to the right, as well. I hope I never have to do that again.
The shelves you see against the wall were in the store already, but reconfigured by yours truly. The library card catalogs were UT Surplus auction.
MORE HOME STUFF:
The last project of recent note is the built-in couch. There's storage under the left side, and the seat cushion on the right actually rolls out on a track to become a bed.
There's obviously storage in and on the back of the thing, too.
Again, lots of angles, space, proportions to consider. Again, I'm just a beginner when it comes to building furniture. But I consider this a successful first foray into built-in seating. Because it's really quite comfy and it's proven to be an efficient use of space.
And there you have it. You're pretty much up to date on the "making" I've been doing.
