Built a miter saw fence

What I've learned so far about making square boxes (like for the built in bookshelf cabinet doors) is that all of the sides need to be cut perfect. 1/8" off is horrendous. For the cabinet doors, the sides are longer than the tops. Which means the sides need to be identical. The electric miter saw helps greatly with this: a cut can be made at 45 degrees in a few seconds. However, ensuring that each board is identical length takes a lot of work. Cutting too long and then trimming down slightly works just okay.

Miter table benches/fences can be bought, but I figured I could get a lot of the functionality of a miter fence by making one and save some money. So I did out of some scrap MDF I had from a previous project..

Now, all I need to do is get one board cut to the exact size I want it. Then, I adjust the little block on the left side and can then cut identical length pieces over and over again without ever measuring or remeasuring.

So now, what I'm going to do is cut all of the vertical pieces of wood for the cabinet doors with the block set at 30". Then, I'll move the block to cut at 16.75" and cut all of the tops and bottoms. Then assemble.

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New sconce shades

So we hated these country-esque glass shades on our wall sconces in the front room. Upon further research they aren't the standard 3.5" size but rather 2.25". Searching online provided few solutions.

So just change the sconces altogether? Well, the switch for these lights are at the sconce themself -- there is no wall switch that controls both. And finding newer sconces with switches on the sconce itself is difficult (either expensive or the options are uglier). Also we like how the older brass relates to the antiqued gold mirrors. What to do?

We gave up on it.

Until I spotted a glass shade at OSH this weekend that had the narrower base and in a more modern and simple shade. We were looking to spend $50 a sconce to replace them, but ended up paying $5.68 each for these shades! Score.

Weekly bookcase progress update

Another Sunday night and another update on the progress made to the bookshelf. Basically just did a bunch of priming this weekend. Getting close to applying the final color (semi gloss white).

Finally: Card Catalog

We've been looking for a card catalog cabinet for a long time. The hunt is over!

I saw this on Craigslist this morning while Rachel was trying on clothes in a store's dressing room. 6 hours later it's in Rachel's office. So excited. Oh yeah and it was $50!

 

For anyone not yet feeling it, here's some inspiration: 

 source: http://www.dreambookdesign.com/2010/06/turning-old-junk-to-beauty.html

A bit more kick protection

Picked up this door jamb plate (I was surprised that word has a b in it) and installed. There are eight 3.5" screws going into the door frame rather than two 2 inch screws. Maybe it'll require a few more kicks to kick it in now? For $14 pretty cheap peace of mind.

Built in bookshelf

Finished installing the molding and cutting the shelves this weekend. Next I need to build the cabinet doors and paint!

Letting the cat out

So we began letting Olive out into the backyard about a week ago. She's really enjoying herself; climbing trees, chasing bugs, etc. But not having a kitty door started to get annoying. She would come to the backdoor and meow, we'd let her in, she'd come in for 2 minutes and get some water and then go back to the door and meow to be let out. This got old pretty fast.

I began researching kitty doors, the better rated ones were going for $40. That seemed ridiculous, and we might want two of them so that the litter box could be placed in the garage and it didnt seem that complicated to make one. So I did.

Spent $5 on the black vinyl floor runner. The rest was made from wood I had. Even has a little door to prevent her from going out or something else from coming in. Still needs a little finishing such as painting and filling in the gaps between the hole in the door and the kitty door. Olive loves it and goes in and out and then in and out again.

 

More built in progress...

Added front facing and molding as well as patched some holes, doors are next.

Today's project...

Built this today:

What is it? Think of it as the first step to something like this:

The Garage part 1

I've intentionally not posted any photos of the garage, mainly because the only thing to see was how messy it is.

Well, it's still pretty messy, but making progress on organizing it.

I've built bin storage in the corner, hung the kayak from the ceiling, have a rack to store most of the bikes and got the first part of the workbech completed.

The cupboards are still mostly empty, so that's good. I have hooked up a stereo system my parents gave me for Christmas, so now I sweat away on the bike trainer with at least some music.

Front room updated

We went to IKEA over the weekend, and got a couch (You'll see that later) as well as new curtains for multiple rooms and a pair of wicker chairs for the front room.

The front room had this wood valance? above the curtains that just wasnt our style. And we wanted to update the curtains as well, which werent our style.

Before:

Took the wood valance down (it kind of came crashing down and Rachel had to rush to my rescue):

New curtains on new curtain rod, see the valance out on the porch?

They let a lot more light in, plus you can see the matching wicker chairs:

The Grey Bathroom

Well, we've finally made some good progress on the grey bathroom, enough to post some photos. All we really did was repaint it, but with all of the cabinetry it was a little tougher than most rooms.

Rachel bought the fish prints at HomeGoods and she's planning on filling the sink shelves with blue and clear glass stuff.

Were still planning on getting a new sink and new chrome faucet, but this is pretty good for now:

 

We have a real bedroom

So not only were we able to get our kitchen table completed this weekend, but also the Master Bedroom! This has been a major project from tearing up the carpet and refinishing the floors to replacing the old window with a non-cracked energy efficient one. As well as some modifications to the closet door, a new light and repainting everything.

It is finally livable! though it still doesnt have a door (that needs to be primed and painted). I was nice to be able to not have to decorate as we still had everything from our bedroom in Boston. 

 

Kitchen table is done!

Remember that kitchen table we bought awhile back? Mentioned here and here.

We got it for $75, but it was just too short. I raised it three inches as mentioned in the above link before being painted.

My dad painted it for Rachel and I using Kelly Moore Dura-Poxy which is a pretty durable paint for high traffic items. Dura Poxy needs a week or so to cure/harden, so we just moved it back into the kitchen this weekend! If such a thing existed at Crate and Barrel it'd probably be five times the amount we paid.

Before:

 

After: