Archive for the 'Project Hutchinson' Category

Louise and I need a shoe rack that looks nice. I decided to design something pretty in Sketchup. Here is what I came up with while on vacation:

The vertical side pieces have a slight curve to them, and the bottom pieces have a slight arch. I’m planning on using cherry for the outside, and staining the outer pieces slightly darker than the inside sheet pieces (which will be 1/2″ cherry ply). The shelves will be 3/4″ maple. The overall size will be 52″ tall by 28″ wide by 16″ deep.

Download the Sketchup file (coming soon, email me to get it).

The remodeling project continues! We ordered carpet after I finished painting the built-in dresser frames. Unfortunately it was a big ordeal when we went through Home Depot. the color and manufacturer that happened to make the stainmaster carpet we wanted had a two week lead time. No problem. Two weeks later they call us and said they made it but didn’t pass inspection. We figured that was okay, and just decided to stick with it. Two weeks further on they called again and said the same thing! So, at this point we picked out a different color/kind that was manufactured by a different company. A little over two weeks later it was delivered and installed.

The weight set sort of takes up too much room, but I’ve promised to start using it. True to my word, I used it the first day, and I was sore for the next three.

Almost all the drawers are done for the dressers; well, I have them all made, and I just have to spray the last four of them — I couldn’t do them all at one time since I didn’t have enough room in the garage.

How about a before picture for comparison:

I did everything myself, aside from installing the carpet. Except for painting the walls! Louise painted all the walls.

Before shot of the above area:

Well, I’ll still have to do the trim…but that can wait.

Before — there was a closet in the corner that I thought was ugly and removed. I rebuilt the wall and drywalled it:

That’s all folks!

The built-in dressers are coming along. Here’s the first set in front of the bathroom. Louise picked the color.

Here’s the big pile of maple and poplar that I got for the project:

Building the face frame was super fast and easy to do with pocket jointery:

I wanted to start work on my built in dressers for the upstairs, but first I needed an out feed table for the tablesaw. I wanted something that doubled as a work space, and added some additional storage. I also wanted a built-in sanding table, but I decided to do that another day.

So, using some pocket hole joints, old 2×4s and 2×6s ripped clean and glued together, I made a really rock solid outfeed table. The top is two pieces of 3/4″ MDF glued and screwed together, with counter top stuff on the top to protect it and add a smooth surface to slide pieces of wood on.

It went together really fast, and has already been a great help. In particular, it makes sawing long pieces much safer, as they just catch onto the outfeed table instead of dropping down.

In the above picture, you can also see the updated router table that I made.

….built-in “knee wall” dressers for the upstairs!

Here’s a couple of pictures from SketchUp. I will give anyone the models, if they are interested in seeing how I designed them.

I purchased a bunch of wood from aura hardwoods yesterday, and I’m hoping to start building tonight!

I’ve been working quite a bit on our upstairs remodel project.

I removed an old closet, and installed lighting in the ceiling. This helps tremendously with the look and feel of the room; it was always dark and shady, mainly because there was no built-in lighting. I also framed the wall in preparation for a door and drywall:

I removed the old drywall on the side. I’m planning on building built-in dressers.

The back window was a single half-triangle. It look completely out of place and asymmetric, and because the windows didn’t open, it would get really hot and stuffy in the room. So, I framed out an opening for another half-triangle, and two lower windows that would open:

Here’s the same wall with the windows installed:

Unfortunately, the new window (on the left) didn’t have the same frame; it was wooden, and is all they offered. I had to end up building a matching wooden frame for the old window.

The other half of the upstairs already had matching triangle windows, but the windows underneath were slat-opening. They are horribly energy inefficient, and two of the four didn’t open. I removed them, and you can see the replacements waiting for me to put them in:

Finally, there were two more opaque windows that didn’t open. One was cracked, and the other one I accidentally cracked while messing with the drywall by it, so we had to get some new ones. We went with vertically opening ones, but the main problem was installing them. There wasn’t quite enough space to use the latter, so I had to drop a climbing rope from the chimney and hang from it to install the windows. The hardest part was lugging back up the 3/4 plywood and nailing it back on (all, by myself!). It was a nightmare to do, and the project isn’t 100% done, as I still have to put trim around the windows.

Before the siding went up:

Anyways, I’ve been doing the drywall work, and starting to tape and mud.

No not 3.1 or Xp.

I’m back to working on my eternal house project. I finished the baseboards for the downstairs, so now it is time to tackle the upstairs. The upstairs is really rough.

First off, there are these weird vents that don’t do anything. It was also surrounded in an ugly wood paneling box, which I already removed:

The back bedroom has only one half of a triangle window. Plus, it doesn’t open. So, I ordered a matching window, and two smaller horizontal ones fore below it that can open and let in some air.

Then there is the matter of the ugly drywall on the left, which consumes up valuable space. My idea is to build cupboards the better utilize the space:

Louise had the idea to get rid of this closet. It is super-ugly!

The room at the top of the stairs has horrible slat windows. I ordered two new ones to replace them. Also..more ugly wood paneling!

There are two frosted windows that you can barley see in this picture below. The one on the right is cracked. The one on the left wasn’t until I accidentally cracked it. I’ll have to get two more windows to replace them.

Louise getting rid of some of the drywall. I had to convince her to come upstairs and whack the wall a few times with the hammer. It’s fun, and how often do you get to do something like that?

Baseboards are nearly done! Project hutchinson moves one step closer to being done.

iPhone pics: