Success - sort of!

Another drawer that works! Hooray for me.

Finally, last night after dinner I made my way out to the garage.  I was tired and really debated whether I wanted to work on this.  In the end, I told myself that I'd work only until 9 pm.  If I still wasn't getting these drawers to work by then, I'd worry about them later.

When I left the garage on Sunday I'd left the drawers in pieces.  My plan was to rebuild them and make every effort to get them square.  I built myself a jig - I guess that's what you'd call it.  Two square corners wide enough to hold the ends of the drawers.  I squared up one end, screwed it together, flipped it around and did the same with the other end.  Checked for square - success!  The new drawers ended up about a 1/2" shorter and deeper than the one drawer that work well from the get go (I had to use the material I had on hand - I'm trying to keep the costs down for my friend's sake!). But, the drawer fronts are all the same size so the slight difference won't be noticeable.

Perfect fit!

Two that fit!

 I was so sure that the problem drawer would work well that I put the drawer front on it before sliding it into the box.  Dang, dang, dang - it wasn't right, not even close.  It doesn't look bad here, but it is :-(

Still a problem!

I worked on it a bit, lowering and moving slides,  It moves all the way in now, but it's still not level or straight in the box.  If I can't finish this by Friday, this is going to be on hold for a while.  This weekend I start a new project, one that should be more straight forward.  Cabinets for the Docs-I do like making things for my kids!

Check back to see how this bed turns out - I can't wait to see either!

Nada, zip, nothing...

Well, I haven't received divine guidance regarding the drawers.

I really haven't had time to get back into the garage to work on the problem either.  After all, I did have to be available Monday night to pass out candy for Halloween, right?  I mean, I couldn't leave that job entirely up to Chinese Boy (CB) (Bobby's one-time name for Tony).  This was the first time he'd had this responsibility and I needed to make sure that he had a good understanding of what to do and when to do it.  There's just so much to know:  How quickly do you open the door; when you hear the kids, or when they ring the bell?  Do you try to scare them or just smile and laugh at their costumes?  Do you put the candy in their bags or let them reach in and grab?  How much candy do they get, a handful or just a piece?  If they look like they're 18 year old football players, do you give them candy or ask just what the heck they're doing trick or treating?

See what I mean?  It's not an easy task and, of course, I could not leave CB to do this on his own while I pondered the drawer problem! I had to be there.  And I was - in my PJs and bathrobe, sitting in my favorite chair, watching an old moving ("The In-laws" a funny, funny movie!).

Tuesday night I meet with my support group at the church.  I could have put some time in after that.  But, I wanted to be considerate of my neighbors and not subject them to my swearing the noisy drill - it was 9:30 at night.  They were all probably in bed!

So, tonight's the night.  I'm praying that between now and then the drawer fairies will be dancing around in my garage, doing their fairy magic, and that when I finally get the drawers remade and slide them into the drawer openings, THEY WILL, BY GOSH, SLIDE IN RIGHT!  (Those caps do not mean I'm angry, just that I'm just praying out loud!)

New projects...

The big things I've been working on do wear on me, and I have a few more big projects to do.  But, I like thinking about some small projects I could do that I could start and finish in just an hour or two.  Fun stuff!

What do you think - do you like this?  This one is made of reclaimed wood and is really rustic looking, but I might make it a little less rough.  Would you use it?

       

Then there's this.  I've made one of these and want to just keep making them - they're so cute.



Or, how about these?  I don't know why, but I have the urge to make these, lots of them!  Do you like them, too?  Which ones - rustic or white?

  

Okay, now I'm heading to bed.  The Good Wife is on tonight - one of my favorite TV shows!
Good night all.

Damned drawers!

What a day!  I'm still working on the day bed.  It's ready to be stained - almost.  Today I finished the face frames, filled and sanded, cut drawer fronts, and edged those drawer fronts.  Whew, I was feeling pretty good about maybe getting these parts over to my friend the designer.  It looked like all the pieces would line up and butt up against each other just the way they were supposed to (not without lots of redoing and fix'n, let me tell you!).  All I really had to do now was get the drawer fronts on the drawer bodies and I'd be ready to stain.

My euphoria was, sadly, short lived.  One front on and working on the second the ugly consequences of things being just a teensy bit out of square became very apparent!  I tried, I really, really tried to get those drawers right.  I'd finally gotten the "bad" drawer to work.  It wasn't right, and it wasn't pretty, but when the drawer was closed you wouldn't see how I'd made it work, and I was ready to just move on.  So, I started on the second drawer that had worked without any major adjustments.  I put on the drawer front and I was pretty darned close.  In retrospect I should have left that drawer front just as it was - BECAUSE, when I made the slight adjustment that I thought would improve the alignment, well, I have no idea what happened, but that darned drawer now wouldn't slide into the box!  In out, in out - nope, the right side was sticking out 1/4 inch from the face frame.  What could be wrong???  I looked, I moved the glide in the box, I moved the glide on the drawer.  I adjusted the right side, then the left.  Up, down, back, fore.  Nothing worked!

I'd like to say that I finally figured out what to do, but alas, I caved.  After hours and hours and hours pulling that danged drawer in and out (it weighs a ton, mind you, and it's big and bulky - I have a whole new crop of bruises on both my arms and legs!) I threw in the towel.  I did it nicely, nothing was thrown.  Children could be in the general area without worry - I wasn't swearing at all (by that point it I'd realized it was pretty useless!).  Nope, nothing sensational at all.  I just took off my apron, put the drill on the work bench, left the drawer body in pieces (more on this later) and shut the door.  I wasn't having fun right then.  I was done.

I hadn't made any plans for dinner, but I spent an enjoyable hour cooking a pretty darned good dinner from this and that, things I had on hand.  I even had a sip of red wine (vinegary or I would have had more than a sip!).  Now, I'm thinking I'll just go to bed.  Tomorrow's another day and another opportunity to make things work.  Maybe I'll dream of the solution to my problem - you think??  Even if the answer doesn't miraculously come to me, I'll figure it out.  Just not today...