I haven't been sitting by the pool...

No siree, Bob.  Not me.  The truth is that a dip in the pool has sounded really, really good several times over the past couple of weeks.  But, as soon as I'd walk through the front door and the air conditioned, cool air hit me, I lost all interest in going back outside!

So, I just worked until I felt like I couldn't afford to sweat any more (yes, in this case "perspired" wouldn't even come close to describing the sweating I did in our triple digit weather!).

I have a couple of things going, but I'm going to show you the one I'm closest to finishing.  Just a couple more knobs and it's ready to be delivered.  This is a dresser/armoire that a friend needed to fit into a narrow, not too deep niche in her bedroom.  She's run out of room and wanted something to store the things they don't use very often.  So, this is about 14" deep x 37" wide x 83" tall.

I'm always surprised at the cost for lumber to make anything, but especially when it's for something this large.  I have a better understanding of Don's dilemma when he was bidding jobs - it just seems like too much money!  So, for this I used Pure Bond birch plywood for the parts that you see - sides, doors and drawers.  And, then I used a pretty rough plywood for the interior dividers.  I ripped poplar to trim all the edges, so you can't tell at all,  and the rougher stuff was 50% of the cost of the birch plywood! 

It doesn't look like much right here, does it?

My friend wanted drawers - all the way to the top of this thing!  Even though she assured me that she was just going to store stuff she wouldn't need very often (if at all) in those upper drawers, and that she'd get a ladder to get into them, I just could not build it like that!  So, because I'm a bit stubborn, and want to do things my way, their cabinet will have 4 drawers and an upper cabinet area with a middle shelf,  behind doors they can open to access whatever they store in there!  I sure hope they're happy with that!

Then I built drawers - yes, those are more BIG drawers, which I swore I wouldn't do anymore!  These aren't as big as the ones in the Doc's bed, but still darned BIG!  They fit, and they work - I'm still not good at getting things square, and I certainly didn't get any better with this, but something seemed to work right this time!  But, Elsa, you'll still need to remember that you can't over stuff these!
 

I wanted it to be close in style to the furniture they have so I added some pretty trim to the BIG drawers.

And, pretty soon it looked like this! (not the best picture...)  It was tall to begin with, then I decided to add some crown moulding - I managed to get the miters cut, just don't ask me how!  Upside down and backwards - I'd heard Don tell someone that's how you cut crown.  That's what I did, but I still can't figure out why or how it worked!

Fitting doors and drawers into the openings, flush, like these are, isn't as easy as it is to make the doors and drawers with overlays.  But, the furniture they have fits flush, so that's what I did with this.  I know my friend will read this so I probably shouldn't say this, but those doors are not perfect!  They open and close, but I think the wood was a bit warped, and as I said, this isn't perfectly square.  I messed with them, and messed with them some more, then I came back the next day and messed with them again.  Finally, I reminded myself that I am not a pro, and I knew that if I kept at it I would probably make them worse!  They work, and they are what they are - I hope the flaws can be overlooked!  My friends are close to my age so I'm hoping that their vision is as poor as mine and that they won't even notice the imperfections!  When I was sewing for my kids, everything I ever made ended up having blood specs on it (and more often than not, straight pins still in the seams).  The girls actually started looking for those little spots of blood and would remind their kids that was proof that it was made by Grandma with lots of love just for them!  Maybe my friends will embrace the imperfections in that same way - proof that this was made with love, just for them!  

Here it is with most of the knobs.

And, up a bit closer so you can see the pretty stain (Minwax Walnut Stain) .  The color is actually somewhere between what you see on the drawers and in the side view of the cabinet.  It's a really pretty color.  I have to say that this stain job went much better than my last one - Thank God!  It's still not as good as Don would have done, but since I'm not a pro, and don't even pretend to be, I'm can't be too concerned about it!  I'd just drive myself crazy and this is supposed to be fun!

It's going to be delivered next week and maybe I'll get a picture of it in place.  If I do, I'll be sure to post it here for you to see.  For now, it's nice to see it standing tall, and finished, in my garage!

Reclaim and Reuse...

A year or so ago, well before I started blogging about my projects, I built a patio table and chairs.  I just wanted to see if I could follow a plan and do it.  Well, I struggled, as it seems I do with just about everything!  But, in the end, I was pretty pleased, and very surprised, with my efforts.

I used regular old 2x4's for the legs on the table and the chairs.  I had to shape the chair legs, and this was before I had a jig saw and was too afraid to use the circular saw.  I used select pine for the table top and the slats on the chairs.  I stained it and sprayed a coat of polyurethane on it, but the intention was to put a couple good coats of sealer on it.

I'm sure you can guess that those good intentions were never acted upon.  Can you guess how well these fared outside in the rain and sun of sunny California?  Not well!!  In fact, here's what it looked like yesterday in my garage.

Never one to let things go to waste, I'd asked that the pieces be dropped off at my house.  I spent 2 hours Friday morning turning this pile of scrap into clean, reclaimed lumber.  It was loaded with nails and screws, and that all had to be removed before storing.  Let me tell you, it wasn't long after I started that I was sure I was crazy and should have had a bonfire with this stuff!  Those two hours of prying out nails with a pair of pliers wreaked havoc on my fingers and wrists!

 But, finally I was finished and had a nice stack of 1x2, 1x3, and 2x2 slightly used select pine.  Wait a minute, what are those 4x4's doing there??  They weren't in the table - I think I got a drop off bonus!

Oh, and see all that tall lumber?  That's cedar that logger SIL sent home with me back in May.  In my trunk! I'm itching to use it, I just have no imagination and can't think of anything to build - Any ideas?  Let me know if you think of something!  

Oh, and another bonus - see that pile of screws in the middle of the picture above?  Those were good pocket-hole screws.  I don't waste those, ever, they are way more expensive than just regular screws.

All in all, I spent 2 hours doing something very boring, tedious, and sometimes painful.  But, in the end I have some lumber with character to use on some of my next projects.

And, my Grandma would be proud to see that I was trying to live her "waste not want not" philosophy.