Done!

From this...

To this.

We finished our new TV cabinet. And we love it. It fits in the room so much better than the big armoire we had in this spot. We are having a bit of trouble believing that we built it from scratch, but I've got photos to prove that we did. Hidden behind the door on the left is the woofer for our speaker system. I designed this so that it would hold the woofer in the cabinet. One less speaker out on the floor. But in case we eventually decide to have a system installed in the ceiling, we put in peg holes in both cabinet door spaces. All of the shelves are adjustable. I wanted this piece to be as flexible as possible.

Not bad for a few weekends of work and a bit of lumber and trim. Now I think I'm going to go watch a movie. And mull over the next project.

Here We Go Again...

Evidently it's time for Larry and me to embark on another building project. I thought I would be working on loom as my next major project here at the house, but there's been a change of plans.

A month or so ago, I mentioned to Larry that I was thinking about getting rid of the 'armoire'/entertainment cabinet in the den. This particular piece of furniture is approximately 40" wide, 20" deep and about 7' tall. For a while I've been thinking about what to do with it or about it as it's just a little overpowering in its current location. Plus, I knew that sooner or later Larry would be wanting a larger TV set. Not to mention that from my favorite chair, I can't see about 2 inches or more of the screen due to the way the doors on this piece are designed.

Originally I had thought about finding an old buffet or similar piece that we could repurpose as a TV/media stand. But after spending some time antiquing this weekend and not finding anything that would work, I began to think about designing something that would work for our equipment. The sense of urgency on getting something in place was due to Larry deciding that it was time to go for a bigger set. He found a really good price on one and ending up buying it on Saturday. So, we spent a good part of yesterday afternoon looking online for anything that would fit my aesthetic requirements. Nothing did. So, I sat down with pencil and graph paper and came up with this:

It's a take on a buffet, but it's designed to fit our equipment. The unit measures 52" wide, by 20" deep and 38" high. The box measures 26" high. In the center it has adjustable open shelves that measure 20"wide, and then 2 12" wide doors on either side. The doors will be open frames with curtains of gathered tulle inserted in the openings. It will be trimmed out with molding along the edge of the table top and on the bottom (shown). I plan on painting it white with the center shelving part painted a pale aqua, which will give the den an additional spot of color.

We went out this afternoon and bought the materials. I have done the measurements for the box, so hopefully Larry will be able to make those cuts tomorrow and we'll get the basic box together. We're hoping that we can be ready for me to start painting next weekend.

Progress Report

The good news is that the major construction work on the studio is done. The last building project was a stand for my table loom. I had been keeping this loom on my childrens' old play table. It was a less than satisfactory solution, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted for a stand. I'm glad I waited until we did the studio, because once I got the closet done, I decided I needed a simple stand that would be on castors and enable me to store this loom in the closet. So, I built it one night about a week or so ago. I used the same type of wood and construction techniques as we used on the worktable. I still need to sand and paint it, then we can put the castors on and it will be done.

Here's the loom on the stand in position in the closet. I like that I'll be able to put a storage container under the loom and still roll it out easily when I want to work on it. This shot also shows the pegboard wall we put in the closet to hide the box for the built-in shelving.

This is the finished worktable and the metal draftsman's chair I bought in Warrenton. I do plan on making a cushion for the stool.

The worktable from the shelving side. These are going to come in very handy for in-progress projects.

The chair and table were the idea of my neighbor Sally, who came over to check out progress on the room one night and said, "You know what you need in here? A comfy chair that someone could sit in to knit while other people are working." I found the little table first when I was at Warrenton, and couldn't resist it. After all, the knitter in question will need somewhere to put her wine glass. And it will also do double duty as a night stand when we have to use the room as a guest room. The chair was also bought at Warrenton. I saw it on my first trip, but didn't even ask how much it was. Then I couldn't get it out of my mind. So, a week later, when I was on my way back from Austin with my daughter, we stopped and went looking for the booth where I had seen 'the chair.' Luckily it was stil there and I was able to make a great deal for it. It's extremely comfortable and I love it. The picture above the shelves was another Warrenton purchase.

Another view of the chair and table. The items leaning against the wall are parts from the floor loom, which will go in that space.

I have a lot of small jobs left to do in the studio, plus I haven't even started on restoring the floor loom yet, but we've been taking advantage of some nice weather to take care of another project I dreamed up outside. For many years now, we've had a large assortment of plants in pots lining the iron fence between the house and garage. But while this did occasionally look nice, most of the time that area was a mess and a pain to clean up thanks to the two large oak trees in our back yard. And since this area get some of the best light in our yard, we need it for some of the plants we like to grow. Like tomatoes and peppers. But we've had less than stellar success growing them in pots. So, we decided to build two large planters on either side of the gate.

These are the planters after we finished construction. We used 6"x2"x8' or 10' cedar boards. It was a little tricky to make them fit as we had to build trapezoidal shapes to fit snugly into the two spaces. The finished units are each 18" deep. We stacked the layers on top of each other and fastened them together with metal strips inside the units. We then lined them with weed cloth and filled them with a mixture of old leaves (they'll compost in the units), top soil and garden soil. Then today, we planted them.

Here are the finished units. I love the way they look and the extra space I have for plants. I have a mixture of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in them. We still need to finish installing an irrigation system which will work on a battery-operated timer. Hopefully we'll be able to get that done tomorrow.

Not bad for a week's work. The rest of the backyard will take a little longer. We lost quite a lot to the cold weather we had this year. I'm currently trying to figure out what I want to go along the house where we had some huge hibiscus bushes. I can't say that I will miss the hibiscus as they had gotten out of control. But I am not looking forward to digging their remains up. Whatever goes in that bed will definitely be smaller. For now though, it's time for bed. There's still a lot of things left to be done this weekend.