More Garden Benches

When we were cleaning up for our holiday BBQ, Jeff made a snarky comment about our junk pile of wood on the side of the house. He was right, it looked bad. This is roughly how it looked over there, though the wood was stacked next to the house, not spread out all over the driveway. (This is a photo from last fall, I didn't think to take a recent one.)

It finally prompted me to use up the last of the good pieces of scrap wood. Since we were planning to have a BBQ, I thought it would be helpful to have more seating, and because we still had some short pieces of pressure-treated 4x4, I was able to reuse my plans from last year.

Jeff and I quickly sifted through the wood and found we had enough pressure-treated 4x4 to make two more benches and once we confirmed we could find enough long pieces, we spent about an hour cutting everything out. (We used whatever kind of wood was handy, without regard to the species, though most of what we had lying around was cedar and fir scraps from our fence and shed projects.)

Then I spent the next few days staining everything.

These benches went together pretty quickly. We decided to use fewer slats on the top this time around because we are hoping it will be easier to clean the seeds/leaves out of the gaps.

The old white bench was also partially disassembled/cleaned and restained with the green stain. I'm not sure how durable the finish will be since we applied green opaque stain over the top of the white opaque stain, but we won't be putting it back under the maple tree so hopefully, it won't need as much scrubbing.

The rest of the weathered wood I didn't think I would ever use went off to the dumps before the BBQ. So, while the side of the house still looks a little junky, it is better. I do hope we'll get the last of this stuff cleaned up this summer.

Outdoor Cooking

With no range in the kitchen, Jeff was motivated to pull our old camp cooker out of the shed. It was a lovely day to do some outdoor cooking.

This past week, he also finished gluing up the small stools we made out of scrap shiplap siding last fall. 

It was originally delayed because we were trying to figure out how to make them more durable than the original stools which were simply nailed together into end-grain. Then we got distracted (as so often happens). Finally, Jeff decided to cut some small pieces to go into the corners so he could screw into both edges.

We found some neat clamping straps to use during glue-up.

Finally, another project checked off the ToDo list. Now I just need to get the motivation to finish the back stairs. LOL

Paint Rack Finished

 And we finished another project!

We couldn't make the top shelf tall enough for gallons because we needed to clear a pipe sticking out of the wall behind it. We ended up installing leveling feet on the bottom which helped with our very uneven floor in the basement.

Once we got it all in one place, it's obvious we have a lot of paint. Too much. We have six cans of Hubbard Squash! I've clearly been guilty of buying paint when I couldn't get to it when it was inaccessible out in the garage. This will be much better and we should be able to avoid buying any more paint in the future, unless we decide to change colors, of course.

I also got the first coat of deck stain on the little stools this afternoon. I chose this green because it matches the green patio table quite well.

I'm also going to restain the bench from the Hidden Garden with this stain. The white doesn't work well as it always looks filthy because the maple leaves and seeds leave a black discoloration when it rains.

Shiplap Siding Stool Project

I've been continuing to clean up the pile of salvaged wood in our driveway. We had a few pieces of weathered and rather ratty pieces of shiplap siding leftover from the old garage. When I noticed them I remembered these benches we inherited from my Grandmother.

There used to be two of them, but the second one has literally fallen apart. They were built with redwood shiplap siding scraps and nails and they were clearly used as sawhorses a number of times because there is a fair amount of tool damage to them that pre-dated our ownership. 

I decided to try and make some new ones from the leftover siding.

I took some measurements off the old stool and cut out the siding. I had just enough pieces to make two stools. I then cut in the 5° angles. Jeff helped me assemble them with scraps on the backside to hold the pieces together while the glue dried. The wood still looks pretty rustic but looks considerably better after I spent a few minutes sanding them. I might do more sanding before I paint them.

Jeff actually routed out the curves in the base for me. I did one panel myself and had a lot of problems, and he ended up finishing them. (I'm still a little scared of the router.)

I decided to make pieced tops since we have an abundance of 2x4 and 2x6 short scraps. We actually fired up the planer for the first time since 2013 and cleaned them up because they were also pretty weathered. 

Last week we bought the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig and we thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out.

Tomorrow, after these are dry, we're going to round-over the edges then I'm going to paint them with a protective opaque stain before we do the final assembly.

Paint Can Rack

As part of our garage reorganization, we decided to move the leftover cans of paint into the basement. The basement has more consistent temperatures year-round and I think the paint will survive storage better. 

This is another salvaged wood project made from old timbers leftover from when we tore down the old garage. The plywood is pressure treated and is leftover from when we built the shed. I designed the rack last year, and we cut out the wood, but then it just sat. We're finally working on it.

When we returned to the project earlier this week, we realized not all of the 2x6s were cut accurately and the pieces were too short, so we evened them up and did a bit of a redesign. I haven't updated the design in SketchUp and I probably won't bother.

Homemade Cloches

I have been trying for nearly two months to plant seedlings in the front yard but every time we set them out, by the next day most of them have been pulled up out of the ground. I'm not sure if it's squirrels or the many ravens I've seen scrambling around in the beds, but I finally gave up.

Then when I was cruising around the internet, I saw a post about making your own chicken wire cloches. Most of the folks make them for some sort of artsy indoor use; I decided to try making some to cover the new plants.

We actually have quite a lot of chicken wire as we still haven't gotten rid of all the chicken wire we wrapped the chicken enclosure with back in 2012. It was nice to find something useful to use it for. Though, we have way more than we'll actually ever need unless we get chickens again.

My cloches aren't as fancy as the posts suggested making them. I just wrapped the chicken wire into a tube and twisted the wires together and sort of squished the top edges toward each other so it would be hard for a bird to poke its head inside.

We planted out some new plants yesterday and we tried installing the cloches over them. We shall see if they help. I hope they work.

Denim Totes Finished

I finished two denim tote bags made from old jeans for my WOOFA Challenge.

I finished the circle denim tote I started last month. Since I didn't trust the strength of the bag itself, I made a second bag from trigger fabric to line the interior. I made the handles out of waistbands removed from jeans. At Jeff's request, I made them long enough so he can wear them over his shoulder.

Then I finished a funky woven denim tote I started probably 3 years ago. At the time, I was on a tote bag sewing binge and I decided to get creative with strips of denim. I couldn't decide how to finish this tote so I just set it aside to finish later. Later finally came.

I'm not sure it will be very durable, because I didn't sew down those strips. I used wonder under to adhere them to a backing fabric.

I made the handles out of 6"-wide strips and folded them into quarters, with the edges on the inside.

I spent another day cleaning and organizing my sewing room. I went through every container and every drawer and sifted them. I reorganized all the Sterilite tubs and labeled them. I believe I have all my in-progress projects currently in my sewing room added to a spreadsheet. (I likely have more unfinished projects squirreled away in our basement storage; those I am not including right now.)

I did not make a list of every project I bought materials for but never got around to starting.

Firewood Rack

And we finished another salvage wood project! A firewood rack for the side of the house.

This project used up the last of the weathered 2x4s and fence slats. Some of the boards were pretty skanky but they worked fine for this purpose.

The rack is designed to sit on top of cinder blocks. Here is the original inspiration photo and the website: Firewood Rack Plan for Half Rick of Wood Built on Cinder Blocks

We'll put it in the queue and Jeff and Aaron will put it up on cinder blocks and level it in a few weeks. This should encourage us to hang on to some of the firewood kicking around the yard. It will also help us limit how much we keep because with how rarely we have fires, this amount of firewood should be plenty.

This is probably the last salvage project for a while since we are almost out of wood. We still have quite a few 2x6s left, but I'm not really finding projects that use them. I'm open to suggestions. LOL

Update later:

Garden Bench

We finished another project! I've been having a lot of fun building stuff with our giant pile of salvaged lumber. This time a small bench for our hidden garden.

I can't really say that we made it for free like many blogs do because ultimately we did buy the wood and the expensive white stain, just not for this project. But we spent no additional money to finish this project.

I decided to spend a bit more care with this wood because it is going to continue to live in the weather. First I sanded it, then I stained all of the edges with at least two coats of the opaque outdoor stain we used on the fence and pergola.

This bench was actually made from a mix of cedar and fir scraps. I think the cedar was leftover from our fence project and most of the fir was leftover from building the shed. But I'm pretty sure some of the sketchy boards we took 9-inch pieces from were still kicking around from when we demolished the old garage in 2012. There were some boards that were mostly rotted but if they had a good 9-inches, we cut it off and used it. The parts that were too far gone to use are now loaded in the back of the truck, bound for the Metro recycling center.

This will be its spot in the hidden garden. The guys have dug a trench to make a pad for it.

Potting Bench

I'm super excited about what we built from salvaged wood! Maybe you guys remember from the photos of the yard the mess of wood along the fence?

I offered it all, plus the big logs, for free on craigslist. Unsurprisingly, we had no takers for the lumber but plenty of people wanted the logs.

Yesterday, Aaron and Jeff worked on cleaning up this back area so they could start prepping the soil for planting. Jeff decided to just take all the wood to Metro for disposal; they would know what to do with well-weathered wood. But as they walked past with load after load of all that salvaged wood, I couldn't do it...

I ran into the house and looked up a few projects made from 2x4s and printed out the plans. We made the first one today!! A planting bench—just in time for my new seedling project.

We got this design from Ana White's website: Simple 2x4 Potting Bench. The design was super easy to follow and really the whole project took us maybe three hours. Jeff did make one modification from her plan. He didn't like the way the cross braces attached into the edge of the thin boards so he added another 2x4 for it to screw into.

The tabletop and shelf were finished with the old fence slats. The guys took the fence panels apart last night and Jeff cut the pieces down to size. I sanded the boards that went on the tabletop because they were a little splintery (is that a word?). Since they are wider than the 1x4s in her plan we had to adapt the design a bit; there are fewer slats and more overhang.

I'm still debating whether I'm going to do any more sanding of the horizontal surfaces before it moves into the basement. I may also finish the tabletop with varnish or something. I haven't decided. We also haven't installed the little shelf on the top yet. The fence boards were too thin to screw into the edge. I need to go dig through our scrap in the garage to find a better piece of wood.

Stay tuned for another project soon (I hope).

Goofing Off Sewing

After I got my sewing room chair mat, I was motivated to clean up the room and do some sewing. I had planned to finish my curtains, but unfortunately neither of my sewing machines are going to work for the project. I need to bring in the Pfaff for service.

So instead I made some cloth shopping bags. All these bags are made from large pieces of denim from dead jeans. This first bag is made entirely of dead jeans denim and a long piece of really cheap webbing. It's actually a really large bag, but Jeff decided it's the perfect size for the farmers market because it will comfortably hold a half-flat.

I also made two more bags in this heavy printed home dec fabric I bought on clearance for this project. The black pocket is made from more dead jeans denim.

To make these bags, I used this Railroad Tote design as inspiration, but I made quite a few changes.

I built my bags without a seam on the bottom. I hoped the bag would be stronger. I also finished my edge seams with a serger.

Interesting Reuses for Lath

Since our local landfill won't take plaster and lath, we have been exploring alternate ways to dispose of it. My original plan was to simply burn the lath, but I have since found some possibly better ways to use the lath.

Funnily, I didn't actually remember that this trash can I bought a couple years ago was made from lath. I think I'll run some of the pieces through our planer and see how they look.

Another imaginative use is where you simply glue the strips together along the wide sides.

There is actually a company in Seattle that makes a business of selling furniture made from reclaimed lath. This looks like a very interesting idea. I wonder if I'll ever get bored enough to start gluing lath together. LOL

There are some seriously cool projects made from salvaged lath. I'm quite sure I'm not this ambitious.

This one looks to be more within our skill set.

Why We Went Historic

I've been musing lately about why we made the choices we did during our renovation. First, I love looking at historic photos of bungalows and I wanted to live there. But, also, because of money.

I believed if we went for a style consistent with what might have been found in our house in 1912, give or take 10 years, then it would never change. I am not a purist; I don't need to live in a museum. I was perfectly happy to use modern reproductions of period fixtures. And I don't have to have brand name furniture, as long as it is built to look the same. But I wanted to live that bungalow dream.

I look out at some of the crazy kitchens on Pinterest and wonder what those folks were thinking. Highlighter green may be "hot" for kitchens right now, but in 5 years? I think not. I believe this kitchen is destined for white paint, which is a shame, because that wood is beautiful.

Source: durasupreme.com via Dura Supreme Cabinetry on Pinterest

We didn't choose to follow fads, because I believe in the long run, it's expensive. My thinking is we spent a lot of money on the ONE remodel we'll be doing and we'll get to enjoy the results until we decide we're ready to move into senior community quarters.

I'm sure some people will walk into our house and think it looks dated or dark. I think it looks "right," and really that's the important part. Because if I become unhappy with it, then I'll want to remodel. And remodeling is expensive. So, we tried to remodel once and to do it right. Time will only tell if we were successful.

I can only say one thing for sure: I will NEVER paint the woodwork. I'll move first.

Finally Started Our Closets

Jeff and I finally got around to starting our closets. We left it here:

And we're trying to get Jeff's closet here:

And my closet here:

A few weeks ago I scored a humungous pile of old 1x12 douglas fir from someone on craigslist. So, rather than go buy all this plywood (the stain grade stuff is around $100/sheet and we need 11), I thought it was worth a shot to see if we could get this old fir to work.

A couple days ago we cut all the pieces for Jeff's shelves and the two hanging-only sides. (I'm not ready to start working on the cubes yet.) I didn't have my camera on me when we worked on it, so no pictures of the stack of wood.

Then I spent a while sanding it, but the wood is fairly beat up on the finished side; I think these boards were installed as shelving in some sort of industrial setting. The underside actually still has a rough finish and I'm hoping it will clean up and will be our new "finished" side. I'm hoping for stain grade, or something close to it, here. We can probably deal with wood that is a bit less than 3/4" thick because these shelves are mostly going to be supported and we won't be storing a lot of weight on them.

I'd already ordered this DeWalt planer (and stand) and it came yesterday. So we just need to get it set up and give it a try. I also bought a tongue & groove router bit for the edge joints.

This project is probably going to take us a while. We're likely to work on it in fits and starts. Lately our weather has been too cold or too wet. When we can bear to work outside, we'll make progress.

Goofing Off

We've been totally goofing off this week. Jeff is enjoying playing an Xbox Oblivion game and I've been goofing off reading and playing on my computer. I should be sewing . . .

Anyway, while surfing on craigslist, I found someone selling a stack of 1x12 fir boards salvaged from a 1922 building. I emailed him and he offered to deliver for an extra $10 and we agreed. Since I hadn't actually seen the stack in person, I didn't realize quite how much of it there was.

Some of the boards were actually longer than our garage and we had to cut them down so we could fit them in and still close the garage door.

The stack is surely more than 2' high. I may actually have to re-sell some of it, because I'm not sure what we'll do with this much wood.

Though, if these boards clean up nice with a planer, I may have to redesign my closet interior to use this wood instead of plywood. If not, we'll probably use a bunch of it to build shelving in our front storage area.

We Built a Workbench

It's funny how we get distracted by projects that zoom right up to the top of the queue. Somehow I decided we needed to build this neat storage workbench from a pile of old timbers sitting in our yard. This is going to be a great place to store salvaged wood and sheets of plywood.

This is our very first woodworking project—without help from someone else.

It's not actually done yet—it's supposed to look like this. (We found the inspiration at the Family Handyman website.)

We've got the rest of the pieces—but we ran out of day. We worked until 9PM this evening, but didn't quite get it finished and I'm too impatient to actually wait until we finish to post about this project.

We're really pleased with ourselves. We built this from old timbers from the torn down garage. It took quite a bit of time to remove the nails, and then we worked around the nails we couldn't get out. (We bought a metal sensor at the recommendation of my woodworking class teacher last year.) Yesterday we worked on de-nailing and cutting the wood.

Then today we got to use our router to make dado joints! Another first for us.

And then we assembled the pieces. We needed to build four of these frames. This wood is really—what do you call it—rustic. There are rot spots, tons of nail holes and splitting throughout the boards. But it feels really good to be able to reuse part of the old garage. And I think those blemishes add character.

For the countertop, I bought a beech slab from IKEA earlier today because it was actually close to the price of a piece of good 3/4-inch plywood and it's definitely much prettier. I'd never been to IKEA before—what a wierd store. I'm not addicted.