Summer & Fall Projects!
On top of these projects, while I was preparing the house for the new arrival, Rob put his project car Chelsey back together (and sold it!), plus did various repairs/upgrades to Edmund Fitzgravy (the boat).
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| We won't talk about why Rob had to fix the fiberglass other than to say that he's not going to be the one to teach Marcy to drive. Because it was his direction and not my boating that did the damage, right? ;) |
Marcy's Room
If you recall, late last fall I repainted our boring guest room, adding a little wainscotting too! This was in preparation for Baby BK that never arrived. But with Baby Snakes close (Marceline's nickname while in the womb), I chose to make some further updates.
1. Curtains!
To go with the adventuring theme (if you can call it that), I decided to purchase some fabric to make some badass space curtains. I found the perfect fabric, but fabric is so expensive! As such I ended up buying less than I needed, meaning I had to modify the pattern my mom had loaned me.
While I have a sewing machine and know the basics, other than a dress my mom helped me sew when I was fifteen, my sewing projects are limited. But, I have to say that if you can do woodworking, you can sew. It's the same concept - measure twice cut once, fitting pieces together to achieve a certain look (though instead of nails/screws you're using thread), and you're using a machine as well as hand tools (instead of hammer and drill, scissors and seam ripper).
Overall, while these curtains caused me quite a MEASURE of grief at times, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.
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for my little future astronaut |
2. Pictures!
For some reason no baby room is complete without pictures. While I'm not into cutesy stuff, I am fond of dinosaurs and spaceships, as well as wanting to encourage an adventurous spirit into my spawn, so I had an idea to get three pictures within this theme.
I found tons, but art that isn't generic isn't cheap, even from Etsy! I was looking at like $30 per print, + shipping, and the frame too! Then I realized on Etsy you can buy digital downloads of art in whatever size you want.
So we bought some RIBBA frames from IKEA that would hold an 11 x 14 picture, and I ordered these three awesome pics for like $5 each then sent them to Staples where it cost me $10 to print them. So I spent like $60 for 3 pictures total, which is pretty acceptable to me!
3. Bookshelves!
If you know me, you know I'm an obsessive book snob, so of course I need a bookshelf in the baby room! I saw some awesome ideas on Pinterest for inspiration.
Here is my terrible schematic/drawing that is barely decipherable, but basically I wanted three 2' long shelves. We used MDF, because, really, the kid is going to destroy them anyway, and I wanted them white.
Here's the tools I used:
- mitre saw
- table saw (one cut)
- measuring tape
- pencil
- jig saw
- belt sander
- wood glue - 18 Gauge nail gun
- 1-1/4" nails
- mouse sander
- wood filler
- sanding block
- primer
- Trim paint
- paintbrush
After cutting the pieces to the right sizes, I drew a curve on one of sides, then cut it out using the jig saw. I then used the cut piece as a template for the other five.
After this, I had some fun with our new belt sander (awesomely cheap garage sale find!) getting them all uniform in shape. Seriously, I could belt sand things all day. :)
Then it came to putting them together. A thin bead of glue, then the nail gun.
After the glue dried I used the mouse sander to even out places that weren't exactly level and rounding the edges so future astronaut won't bang her head reaching for War & Peace or Infinite Jest or whatever novels I'll put in there.
Then came wood filler for the nail holes as other faint lines, then I did a thin coat of primer and then paint!
And, voila! Bookshelves!
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| I took this pic months ago. Now there are too many books for the shelves! |
4. The Room Itself
What was originally my library, then a guest room, then our temporary TV room (during basement reno), then guest room/exercise room again, has now morphed into Marceline's room. Too bad she's 12 weeks old and never uses it. It's still my workout room more than anything.
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| Had to build a shelf as she has so many stuffed animals |
Garage Doors
Ok, the extent of work we put into this was me calling a couple places. We ended up going with Greg McAndrew Doors (I kept calling them Andrew McGreg for some reason) and they did a pretty bang-up job. We didn't even need to replace the motors.
In the spring we'll paint those fake shutters and the portholes the same colour as the doors.
Rob's Table
Rob found (was given? stole?) this wire reel from ... somewhere (probably work) to make a table.
So he sanded it down, stained it, sealed it, we put some pads on the bottom to protect the floor and now it's a games table/Marcy's basement change table.
Rob's Workbench
After getting rid of the car, Rob was determined to build some master workbench for the garage so we could fit the Subaru in there in winter. I was like "whatever" but it turned out to be very helpful for future projects + stores all the extra wood in our garage! Oh, and it's on wheels!
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| The back also extends for a double-wide work area |
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| Built in table saw |
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| mitre on top and planer easily accessed |
The Bar
This project has been dragging on for so long that my original pictures were in my 2016 photo album!
I believe the first thing Rob did was glue and lag-bolt together 6 massive pieces of old wood (I think from the Our Lady church in Guelph after they were thrown away). Then we spent a long time running the pieces through the planer.
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| Planing |
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| All 6 pieces attached but still rough |
Then we stained the bar!
After this came the hardest part. Rob wanted a very shiny surface so he decided to use this product. Four times. It took forever and Rob doesn't want to talk about it ever again (haha).
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| Makes for a shiny surface though! |
After we had a celebratory drink (probably - I can't remember!) we got to work on the base of the bar.
We built a frame and lined it with plywood.
Then we attached the pieces to the top and got to town covering them with these great ash wood planks. We used the nail gun because we didn't want screw holes (obviously) and it was way faster.
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| Would our lives have been easier not doing a bunch of 4" pieces? Perhaps. |
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| The decision to go arrow vs. vertical vs. horizontal was probably an hour in itself. |
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| That's how gd long we've been doing this stupid bar |
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| woot |
Months and Months passed. Every once and awhile I would suggest to Rob - "Shall we work on the bar today, good sir?" And he would say "No, madam, because I have other projects to do." In August we did manage to buy all the material and start it. We bought 2x3s, some thin plywood, and the shelves themselves, as well as some more of the ash wood.
First we stained the big sheets of plywood (using our old shitter garage doors as a backdrop and me, being pregnant, wearing as much safety gear as can be worn). Then we cut them and nailed them to the back and sides.
Then it drifted into low importance again. Finally, in late November I said: "I need this bar done by the new year. It's been dragging on too long..." So, around xmas when we had a few hours before our daily functions and we hacked away at it, finishing on the 30th!
After that we built nailer pieces for the top, bottom and sides (so there was something the nails could sink into when we installed the cover pieces.
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After that we covered these pieces with the ash wood, then installed the shelves themselves.
We also installed these cool fancy ... things that I had stained and painted months ago!
The entire thing really only took a few hours. I'm not sure why it dragged out so long!
FINALLY!
Next!
- THE SHED
- Rob's random wood fireplace purchase
- build the cabinet thing in the basement
- the other bathroom
- re-carpeting the upstairs
- windows in the basement
By the time all this is done Marcy will be in University. 😣
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