It took me longer than someone who does it all the time but they look good.

Since you can't buy 3 plank stringers from Home Depot I made 8 of my own out of 4 2x12x8's.
I may put a nice face board in front of the steps, I haven't decided yet.



If you remember (or just look at my previous posts) that the deck only had a small set of steps on one side.



Now stepping is available from both sides. Woohoo.

Before and After pictures of my deck. All of the handrails were completely removed and rebuilt from scratch. Only one deck board had to be replaced.

I was able to reuse 75% of the wood I removed. The deck had some obvious flaws, I've fixed most of them.




I added a new opening to this side, steps will be made soon.




The old steps were sinking in the ground because there was no support under them. I removed them and created a new wider opening. Steps coming soon.
I've designed special risers for both sides but I have to wait until I get the wood to make them. Wood is expensive.




And here you can see the walkway I'm building that will join the steps.

In the spirit of WYWO (While You Were Out), I attempt a makeover of our bedroom in one day. I did it by myself for my wife on Mother's Day 2004.

Karen was gone for the day and I had 12 hours to remake the bedroom.

She was gone on Saturday visiting her mother which gave me the day before Mother's Day to show her how much I appreciate and Love her.

I recorded key points throughout the makeover and will be putting together a video that I post online.

The new bedroom included a new ceiling fan, alarm clock, , I built a new head board that looks like a Torii and a bed frame that sets on the floor with side boards and two window valences and two shelves. Some staging was also done.

Tags: While You Were Out

I just finished a project I started yesterday when we got home from my Mom's for Easter egg hunts.

When I got home yesterday I decided to fix a couple things that had been bothering me since I moved into my new house.

The light switch in the basement, it's a three way switch and the one at the bottom of the stairs was not on the same side of the wall as the one at the top of the stairs.
You guessed it, it was on the opposite side of the wall, in the room to the left instead of being in the staircase.

That took me about 30 minutes to switch. Kill the breaker, pull the wiring, cut a hole in the staircase side of the wall, place the new box, run the wiring in the new box, hook up the switch, turn on the power and you're done.

Then I moved on to the more annoying of the two projects, my basement door opened the wrong way. When you pull a basement door open the light switch is suppose to be closest to the door knob.
Not mine. You would pull the door open and reach past the hinges to turn on the light. My light switch is on the left hand side and my door pulled open to the left which meant it also blocked the walk way from the living room to the kitchen, very annoying.

This took a little longer. Mark opposite side of door frame for hinges, chisel out 3 areas for hinges to rest, cut 3 additional grooves in door and reverse hinges, drill hole and chisel area for door bracket, reverse cat door (yes cat door), sand down door where it touches and shouldn't, apply spackle in all old holes (three times throughout the next day), attach door, reverse door knob, done for the night go to bed.

Next morning applied more spackle, sanded spackle down to proper depth (using RIDGID Wet/Dry Vac to minimize dust), remove one hinge and the door bracket, paint them and reinstall pieces, continue one hinge at a time until all painting is completed as well as painting over spackle that covers the old holes. And were done

Once I got the paint on it was hard to tell that the door was even reversed, but now it opens the correct way and I'm happy.

Would have been sooner if it weren't for those meddling kids, jk.

Well after months of anguish, tears and blood this piece is finally finished. Honestly, it took Karen longer than she would have liked but it came together nicely.

It's hard to see the depth in these photos but the piece is very nice.



Top view gives you a better idea of it's depth.



Side view shows off it's profile.



And finally the back.

Turning big pieces of wood into little pieces of wood.

I've been doing a lot of tech support this week, so I thought I would get those tools I wrote about earlier.

I have the sander and the vac, and I'll probably use them tomorrow. I'll give a full review after.

Sweet, power tools.

Karen finished up the artwork on Monday and now I just need to finish the frame. I need to sand the inside down a little, I'll be picking up a sander and vac tonight.

After doing tons of research (that's what I do) I've found a new Brand of tools, RIDGID. They are fantastically made and do very well in the ratings (Consumer Reports).

So these are the items I will be getting tonight.

Wet/Dry Vac $69.97
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/12-Gallon-Vac/index.htm Hi-res image

Finishing Sander $49.97
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/R2500-Quarter-Sheet-Sander/ Hi-res image

All at Home Depot.

The vac can be hooked up to both the sander and saw for an extra clean work environment. It can also be used to blow (good option to blow Karen's artwork to remove dust).

The sander has holes on the bottom to suck up dust as it's sanded.

This is next on the list.

Miter Saw $299
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/MS1250LZ/ Hi-res image

The saw is a 12" model with a frickin laser, but that's not why I picked it. This brand is awesome, they rate very well and their stuff is not the status quo.

I'd rather have this monster
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/MS1290LZ/ Hi-res image

I think this one is to much for me, but I'd take it anyway.

Maybe I'll get the saw in a few months.

Tags: RIDGID

Last night when I got home I glued the box I had built to the frame my wife wanted to use.

I put plenty of glue on both pieces and then put a 8 pound weight on each corner to hold it still while the glue dries.

When I get home tonight I'll put in some nails for stability and then build the actual box that goes inside with the artwork.

I'll be returning that Miter Box I bought, It did the job but at the same time it was a pain to saw all those pieces by hand.

My wife made a great piece of western art for a co-worker but they wanted something a little more rustic (what the hell is that?).

This is what the piece currently looks like.



Anyway, she ordered a new frame that was made of old grayed barn wood, but they got the sizes all wrong and it was one of the worst frames I've seen.

I told Karen (my wife) to keep the current piece, because it's great and just make her co-worker a new piece, she agreed.

So I told Karen to get me a miter box and I will build her a frame (display case 4" deep) out of the bad frame she ordered. Well I got it last night from Sears and well I just have to say that it was not what I expected. It was kinda cheap and small, but it did the job. One part of the frame is drying now from being glued and nailed.

Tonight I glue the front of the frame to the box.

Well after weeks of Karen trying to decide what to do about the western piece, I told her she should leave it alone and make a new one with a different frame. She agreed and we got one. Now I have to do is build the box so she can get working on the piece. We went to The Spaghetti Shop after for dinner and it was good.

First I measured the window (34") and then I went and found an animal cushion close to that size and would fit properly.
It was a simple matter of using high grade 3/4" plywood, wood molding, molding corners, wood glue, a few nails and some white spray paint.
After it was finished I screwed it into the window sill with 3" wood screws and added the two support brackets.





Pictured below is my cat Brisco and he is a large tomcat.




I have three large cats and two of them fit comfortably in the bed.




The corner post make nice face scratchers.

Tags: Cat Bed