Twilight
Category Archives: House
Let’s catch up
Hi. Been a while, and I’ve been busy. The house itself is (mostly)* done (sort of) and so my attention has been turning to outside. Lots of gardening and landscaping, and a fun project or two thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look.
Sword making and restoration is not easy, but it’s fun. I made all new fittings for an old katana. Used curly maple for the handle and saya.
Came out great. The restored sword is light, quick, and very sharp. Good grip. Good balance. Very much ready for the zombie apocalypse.
We have frogs in our garden.
And birds.
And cats.
And bees.
And plants.
And more plants.
The pergola has kind of turned into a little shrine for relaxation and watching the world go by. I should spend more time there, I know. I put a wisteria in that planter bed behind the chairs, it should grow into the pergola nicely.
Made an outdoor table.
It’s such a nice place to sit and stare at the water.
Front planting beds are doing great.
Up the hill is where the shed is, and it’s like the Final Frontier. The last untouched remnant of the old house is up there, because except for the green paint that shed is just about how we found it. I made those stairs going up the rocks, and soon I’ll be putting a new deck up there and making the shed look nice.
The shop is looking great. Cabinets are all finished. I did the math: it’s 102 cubic feet of cabinet space that I added to the shop.
I added a TV to the shop. It’s great during hockey season. It also swings around so you can watch it while on the elliptical.
And I found some cool cabinet knobs.
Inky likes the beach. It has the biggest scratching posts.
Paths and Rocks and Things
For years, we lived with this thing:
You know, I’m not going to make fun of a beginner woodworker’s work, but this thing was ugly as hell. We kept it, because as you can see, it served a purpose, and despite being out in the elements for several years it did not fall apart. In all fairness, it did fall apart when I removed it because the wood was rotted so badly. But up until then, it did fine.
Here we go. New shelving made out of 4×4’s and 2×6’s. New deck for it to sit on, and the garbage bins are tucked back out of sight. New pavers and beach rocks for a path that is significantly less muddy than the previous path behind the house. Note the lighting, it’s so nice to be able to see back there. Any idea how much of a pain it is to carry a flashlight while taking out the trash? Yeah, enough of that.
I’ve even made a little bit of outdoor storage under the deck there. It’s not dry, but it’s a spot for empty pots and plastic bins and rocks and stuff.
These stairs are definitely not code. They’re dangerous even by my standards. Keeps you alert to have stairs like that.
A good piece of driftwood makes a nice handhold while climbing those stairs.
When digging out the ground for those pavers, I came across quite a few rocks that had to be dug out. It’s like pulling teeth out of the Earth. It’s bad enough that they weigh 100 pounds and they’re wet and slippery and you can’t get any grip on them, but they are rooted down there and you have to dig quite a ways under them to get them out.
This rock was right in the way of my path, in the way of progress. I dug about 18 inches down on both sides and I still couldn’t get under it. It’s just going to have to stay there. I’ll pour some concrete around it in the shape of a rectangle. Maybe no one will notice.
Considering the Before Picture, I think we’ve done well.
NO DEER ALLOWED (no exceptions)
We like to garden. We like to plant things and watch them grow. Gardens are not only a fantastic creative outlet, but they are a space of relaxation, meditation and tranquility. And bees.
We also like wildlife, something fairly abundant here. Birds, otters, raccoons, wild turkeys, eagles, minks, all sorts of wildlife. And we have deer.
This is what deer do to your plants. They defoliate them. Eat them to the stalks. Jamie, who loves animals, has been talking about getting a gun to take care of our deer problem. Yeah, it’s time. We need to build a deer fence.
This ground is extremely rocky. You can’t dig 4″ without hitting a rock the size of your head. I had a rock in one hole that took me two days to excavate. At another location, I had to move my post over about 16 inches because there was a boulder down there and I didn’t have a stick of dynamite to break it with. But on the bright side, it’s been raining daily for about a month so the ground was nice and soft. About eight holes was all I had to dig.
I used pressure treated lumber for posts, which is really awful stuff. It’s toxic, it’s a skin irritant, possibly carcinogenic, but it’ll last out here without rotting. That’s kind of what I was going for, fence posts that don’t rot in the first two years.
The shop was open late into the night just getting this done.
These are the 2×2 sticks to frame in the welded wire panels that will go into the fence. I wanted to saturate them in linseed oil before installation, such that all parts of them are completely protected. If you treat them after they’re installed, there are bare spots that water will eventually pool up inside and cause them to rot.
And we’re using two kinds of fencing: traditional wood posts with welded wire (above, left) and deer fence tied to iron T-posts (above, right). We went with the deer fence over the septic field, not only to save a bit of money but also to not disturb the septic field too much.
The finished portions look great. We have temporary gates and some temporary fence up right now, just to keep the deer out.
We’re putting raised planter beds in the middle. This ground digs poorly, very rocky, so we thought raised beds would really help. Right now, we just get to kill off the grass and get the ground ready for the beds.
The back deck has the biggest improvement so far. It just looks more finished. It’s not finished, not by a long shot, but it’s closer to what it’s going to look like
Definitely looking forward to being able to plant things without the risk they’re going to be defoliated by marauding deer in the night.
Strawberry, hens and chicks, sedum, … all deer food. And it’s all protected now, inside our little compound fence
The Log Conundrum
Is the house finished if we still have these big freaking logs set in the walls as corner posts? I don’t really feel like it’s my house while these logs are still here, providing living space to more insects than you’d find on the set of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. But like most islanders, we have to share our space with nature, at least a little bit.
There’s one in the corner in the picture above. You may not see it, for your eyes are probably drawn to that ridiculous old lamp and whatever gang graffiti was scrawled on its side. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it. There are huge logs in the corners of my house.
They roll down stairs, alone or in pairs. They’re big, they’re heavy, they’re wood. They’re logs! (don’t get the reference? click here…) And they came with my house. For better or for worse, I decided to keep them. Probably more of a pain to rip them out than it would be to just let them stay. Some people have even said that they like the logs. I think they’re all just saying that to be nice, though.
Okay, that’s it, that’s really every ‘before’ picture I have of the bedroom. We had taken the paneling out in the above pic to put in a new electrical box, many years ago. We did put the paneling back up when we were done. I don’t know why. Could have just left it like that.
Now, all the paneling is gone. New 4×4 beams are in place, partly aesthetic and partly structural – they really help tie this room to the rest of the house which has exposed beams everywhere, and they also help hold up the floor in the loft above. The logs don’t do a damn thing, except provide housing to wasps nesting for the winter.
To finish this room up, the bed had to come out and get set up in the living room for a few days. I used our dresser as a work table in the middle of the room. It’s a pretty solid dresser, made a great work space.
There’s an electric baseboard heater that’s more than a little ugly but puts out good heat, probably because it doesn’t have to be energy star compliant or some crap. It’s the kind of heater you can cook hot dogs on if you needed to. I painted it copper, made it a little more passable to look at.
Now we’re all done, logs and all. New lighting, new paint, new trim, new windowsills, new caulk, new paint, new everything. Only those logs remain, and at least I slathered them with spar urethane.
I encased the ends of the beams with brackets to conceal the joist hangers. I think my creativity was kind of running out at this point, but they look okay. Anyway, best solution I could come up with.
I really like the closet doors on their big barn door hardware. The space is a little tight and they could still use some adjusting but they look good to me.
The iron weighs more than the doors do.
New copper switchplates, custom made copper finger pulls for the doors.
Drawer No. 2 is obstructed by that big dresser, but you can still access the space through a trap door inside the closet. I’m hoping that dresser can move to another bedroom someday, if we add on to the house or something.
So, what are you thinking? “Hey, Joe? You know those big logs that washed up on the beach? I think we can use them for corner posts on the next house we build. Wouldn’t that be great?” Seriously, how many beers do you need to get to that point?
I guess I’ll call the house finished, logs and all.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel May Not be a Train
I’m almost done. I’m so close that I’m giddy with excitement.
Demolition has been completed. The old paneling is fully abated.
Insulation has been exposed. Scratchy, itchy insulation. At this time, it’s 77% fiberglass and 23% cobwebs.
Beetles were discovered. Colorful, iridescent beetles, and they labyrinth of tunnels they ate through our framing. The beetles were killed, and their tunnels filled with caulk – not because it does any good, but because I felt like it.
Closet doors were assembled, and they definitely don’t look store-bought.
They fit perfectly. Which is really unusual for me.
Wood has been purchased, enough to finish all the trim in the house. There’s so much wood in my shop now I barely have space for it all.
Each board has been cut, marked and labeled. Some boards have been labeled more than once, as I mis-cut pieces and had to make corrections changed my mind about what I wanted to do with them.
The windowsills are assembled. I have a particular style of windowsill that I like, which seems to require a few hours of assembly for each one I do. I swear, I am the undisputed master of doing things the hard way.
And as usual, cats were no help.
It’s almost a closet again
It’s been a trying few weeks. All our clothes and shoes have been scattered to the four corners of the house while I’ve been working on the closet. Our hanging clothes hung from one of the beams in the living room, blocking the television from my favorite chair. Shoes and boots have been on a towel next to the tv. Other shoes and boots are in a box out in the garage. Sweats and sweaters are on a high shelf in the laundry room. My jeans are on the bookshelf behind me.
It’s the War Zone. We’re used to it by now, and we know the drill. It doesn’t last forever, and when things go back where they belong, it’s refreshing to see the house all nice and clean. It’s like the day you put all the christmas decorations away. They’re nice to have out for a while, but eventually, you want your house back.
The drawer fronts came out great. Cannot complain. I just did simple tongue and groove with panels, which got glued and screwed to the drawer box. They should last the life of the house, or longer.
It’s really nice to be working with oak again. Hardwoods are hard to come by out here, and expensive. These are the frames that go on the built in boxes already in the closet.
I rarely do mitered joints (because I’m not very good at them) but the corners on this one came out pretty good. I cheated. Before I cut the strips, I cut one end of the board to 45 degrees, so that I had at least one perfectly clean miter without any tear-out or burn marks.
Everything installed pretty smoothly. A lot of math went into all that, and I guess I did it right this time because I didn’t have a whole lot of problems.
For closet doors, we got these hugely big rails for barn doors. This thing is very heavy and I had to put in a new header to support it. The header is bolted in place with these gigantic lag bolts and then reinforced with some additional framing. I think these are going to be the strongest doors in the house.
The hardware instructions were ridiculous enough, but I ended up modifying the install anyway so they were completely worthless to me. I ended up drilling holes in the brackets to accommodate another lag bolt to make sure it was secure enough. This steel was tougher than the cheap packaging would have you think it is. A hint: when drilling through thick metal use a little machine oil on your drill bit. It makes a big difference.
Nice! I don’t even need doors, I’ll be happy just looking at my open closet.
The drawers work great, very smooth operation.
Using a polished copper hanging rod really helps the clothes slide a little bit. The old rod was badly worn. Kind of looked like driftwood found on the beach.
Here’s the rails for the bypass barn doors. The house isn’t level but these needed to be, so they do look a little crooked if you stare at them long enough. But the last thing I needed were sliding closet doors that rolled out of place when you weren’t looking.
I do love the built-in drawers. Such a huge difference over the last ones.
Next up, I’ll make the Bam Doors … er, the Barn Doors for the closet.
The Domino Effect
Got a bunch of snow this week, way more than usual. Kind of a good thing, as it keeps my mind off of wanting to do landscaping and lets me focus on the project at hand. Let’s get this closet wrapped up.
I wanted to get the built-ins fully assembled this weekend but needed to get a bunch of things done first. That’s how these things go sometimes. I couldn’t get the final measurement on the front of the built ins until I finished the drywall, so I’d know exactly how wide it would be. So I figured I’d just do the two walls adjacent to the closet.
But that’s where the Thermo Stadt is, and I needed to relocate it so the new closet doors wouldn’t hit it. And it’s kind of a special one, it’s not just a little wire that can be moved easily. It’s 220 volt electrical wire. So I had to move the electrical box, move a couple of studs, re-frame the corner. No big deal, just added two hours to the project that I wasn’t planning on.
Oh, and did I mention the light switch at that corner extends out from the wall by about 3/4 inch? It’s always been that way, but now that I’m opening this wall up I may as well fix it. This will be my only opportunity.
And may as well keep putting up drywall. I had to dig those sheets out from underneath about 200 board feet of scrap. Now that I got them out may as well cover what I can.
So, yeah, I didn’t get a whole lot done on the built-ins. I got most of the frame cut out and dry fit into place. Still need to sand, join, glue, clamp, stain, poly, poly 2, poly 3, etc.
Everything fits nice and snug, though. This should be a strong built-in.
And if I decide I don’t want that Thermo Stadt anymore, I’ll have these industrial looking hooks I can hang a bathrobe from.
Last Look at the Old Closet
Closets get beat up over time, and because they’re usually full of things no one ever really sees the damage, and so they tend to get neglected and fall into disrepair. Our bedroom closet probably hasn’t been touched in 40 years, and it showed.
Here’s the last look at the old closet, just minutes before being smashed to pieces.
The closet rod was so old that we’d get wood dust on our clothes, scraped off by the hangers whenever they got moved. I don’t know where they found that old bracket in the middle, but the faded price tag on it said $1.49. That might have been a lot of money at the time.
They went really overkill on the nails, using those huge hot galvanized bastards that just weld themselves to the stud they’re nailed into. Steel was so hard you couldn’t even lop the heads off easily. Lots of swearing during this phase.
The wood is actually good old douglas fir. Well, knotty, warped, splintery, submerged in shellac, and someone rubbed wood putty into the holes with their thumb. Other than that, it’s good wood, and I was able to salvage about 20 board feet of it for a future project. I’m thinking of using it to make a big outdoor fire, but we’ll see.
While pulling those planks up, I found the Tomb of Lost Shoes!
This just annoys me – random, crooked coat hooks installed with bad screws into bad drywall. I like having lots of robe hooks, but neatly arranged and correctly installed. I’m funny that way, I guess.
After a few coats of Killz and latex paint, it’s looking and smelling much cleaner. This house has taught me to love the smell of fresh paint.
There we go. Nice wooden bracket, Lots of hooks in the back for belts and what not, an attractive copper rod to hang clothes from, and a nice flat melamine shelf to rest clothes on.
I like using copper pipe for closet rods. I reinforce them with a wooden dowel along the inside so they’re a little stronger and won’t bend so easy.
And the new drawers are fantastic. I still need to make the top and the face frame and drawer fronts. I’m doing everything out of red oak, though I need to use plywood for the lid. Yeah, I know that drawer #2 can’t open because a dresser is in the way, but I have a plan for that.
It really did snow this time.
