More tables!

A couple of weeks ago I finished up another project for the Docs.  I'm having such a good time helping them furnish their new home!  Thankfully, they like the "sophisticated, rustic" look - much easier when you don't have to worry about dings and dents in material!

Well, you remember that I finished up the coffee table with the classy legs.

Those legs were the most expensive material I've ever used on a piece of furniture!  So, for the end tables I made, we went with a different style - same finish and same 2x material, just slightly different base.  Design and plans from Ana-white.com.

The finish is the same as the coffee table, conditioner, dark walnut stain, sand, weathered oak stain, sand, white wash, sand, combination of dark walnut and weathered oak stains, sand, 3 coats of polyurethane in satin finish.

See the X design on the sides?  Angles and math involved here - ugh!  And, you can sure see the whiteish/gray on the base.  It really didn't look like that when I was working on it!

     

And, here they all are together!

Two more, for another room, to go!

Holiday gifts

Just a short post on a couple of things that were just darned fun to make.  I don't know how useful they'll be, but I loved how they looked!  So, lots of people on my gift list received one of these in one form or another.  (and I kept one for myself and I love it - I didn't think I'd use it, but I do.  In fact, I want one for work and for my bedroom, too - you haven't guessed what "it" is yet have you??)

And, before I show them to you, this is how they started out!  Slabs of cedar!  On my last trip to see logger daughter and SIL, logger SIL sent me home with a trunk load of cedar cut just for me!  The cedar would have made the car smell really good, but all it did was mask the awful smell of the oak that he also cut just for me!  I'm thankful for the oak, but all I can say is that is stinks to high heaven when it's wet!!  Thank goodness I had the cedar, too.

Love the live edge on this piece.  I don't know why it's called a live edge - the tree is dead.  

I don't have a planer, so I had to work with smaller pieces of wood.  And, in some cases I had to sand the heck out of the material to get a somewhat flat base.

Okay, here's what I made - ta da!

Do you know what they are???

Cell phone, tablet, Ipad stands!

This is just a teaser - I have to download/upload pictures for this gift.  Camper granddaughter's dad calls it the "walk in closet".

And, this was an experiment.  The knife block for Logger daughter and SIL.  He has some special knives that he uses when he's cutting his bucks.  He hides them so that they don't get put away with the other knives - says it will dull the blade!  So, I figured that he might like to have more space to store all the knives.  I used several blocks of cedar, ripped and "planed" on the table saw, joined with 1/4 inch hardwood pieces.
The front piece is just plain 4x4 fir - and even that was a bit big to get the angle right.  

 But, it works, and there is space for lots of knives!

And, that's what I did on my Christmas vacation!

I hope you did something  that brought you peace and pleasure.