It's Not JUST a Ski Wax Table Anymore!!!!

Our dining room consisted of a buffet,  six chairs, a table and a SWIX brand ski waxing table.  When we needed to wax our skis we would take the loud ugly tablecloth off the ski wax table and wax the skis.  I noticed that when we had guests over, we would also hide things under there, like shoe boxes, tarps, small coolers, dust bunnies, large clumps of dog fur, etc.  It looked like this:

Anyway, I built a set of shelves with raised trim on the top that fit the ski waxing table very nicely.  Now, we have a great place to display some pretty wedding gifts, store our waxing supplies, AND wax our skis!  Also, during the summer when we aren't waxing skis, we can put a classy wood inset into this space and show it off.  During the winter, we have the SWIX tabletop in there that we can attach our clamps to.  One bizarre thing about this piece of furniture is that I accidentally made it at least 10" longer than my plans... Oops.  Measure twice, cut once?  Luckily, it still fit in the place it was intended, but displaced a garbage can and a floor lamp.     

This is made out of white wood, clear pine (trim), a billion Miller Dowels, and lot's of glue.  Miller Dowels > dowel pins (you don't need plus OR a guide!).  Check 'em out on amazon.com if you are curious, they really are brilliant.

I like the knots.

So, now we have a matching 3 piece dining room set: Buffet, Table, Ski waxing bench/shelves.

First Order of Business in New Shed- Make Larger Tabletop

My dad made our kitchen table for the first apartment that I had in Anchorage, which was in a fully furnished basement apartment.  It fit four people comfortably, but it was very small, due to the fact that it was built to fit our old apartment. 

So, once I had the space in the new shed, I put our new "wood shop" to the test and built a wider table top.  I built it out of oak that I found at Lowes for the trim, and pine (knotty and clear) for the middle and side pieces.  It was literally copied off of my dad's style, but I like his style!!!

Anyway, I just built the top, using biscuits to attach the planks and dowel pins + plugs to attach the trim on the outside. 

This is what it looked like most of the way through the biscuiting process:

Then, I obviously had to cut the short edges where all the pieces were different lengths.  First, I tried using a Jig saw, but it has a bendy blade and it wouldn't cut 90 degrees everywhere.  Then, Eric and I set it up to use the table saw... DISASTER.  Finally, I set up a bunch of guides and just used a circular saw.  The only problem there was that our blade was very very dull.  However, it cut just fine. 

When the pieces were put together, blemished filled with DAP, and sanded it looked like this:

Table top all but finished

At this point I was celebrating because, hey, it was sanded and "just had to be finished."  I learned a very important lesson in the coming days... varnishing is thankless, tedious, and boring.  It's still very important, but YEESH.  So, 4 days and 4 coats of satin minwax waterbased varnish later... I attached the table to the original stand that my dad made and... Viola!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!

Tiny House Project- Building a Shed

So, my parents came up to Alaska to visit us over Memorial Day weekend.  I wanted to keep them busy, so we tore down the blue shed in our back yard and built this giant shed to replace it.  Here's the Blue Shed during this past breakup:

I wanted to be sad about getting rid of it... I mean... it was so... blue.  However, the roof was leaking and there was a situation with some angry bees, and, well, it just had to go.

It turns out that in Anchorage, you do not need a permit to build a structure 200 sq feet or less.  So, we built a 10' x 16' shed.  Also, to clarify, when I say "shed" I mean "wood working shop."  Eric and I are not only boat people, we are also power tool and building things people... hence the blog... and the shed/wood shop.  Sometimes I start thinking about the... irony? intrigue? about building a structure to build things in.  It's like a Russian nesting doll... but really different.   OH! Also, in Anchorage, you don't need a permit to have an oil derrick on your land.  It's fascinating stuff.

When we knocked the blue shed down, our dog jumped on the roof and pranced around on the destroyed roof like she somehow had a large part in it.  It was funny, but then it got really inconvenient when we were trying to pull shingles off and she kept stepping on us.. and dangerously close to nails.  Eventually she went back to chasing and eating butterflies, bees, flies, reflections, and other things she saw as a threat.

Bella prancing around on the roof of the blue shed on day 1: Destruction Day

Alright, so the shed went up in 4 days.  1 day to destroy the old shed, 1 day for the floor, 1 day for the walls, and 1 day for the "roof."  It was constructed using 2 x 12", 2 x 6", 2 x 4", and SO much OSB and metal bits.

So, Day #2, we put together the floor on pier blocks out of 2 x 12s, OSB, cleats, and 2x6's.

Dad photo-bombing the floor picture

Day #3, we put up the walls and it started pouring rain on us.  So, we put together a tent shanty out of the old shed floor, where we put our miter saw on it's brand new stand (Ryobi, btw, makes a fantastic stand for a miter saw, we had previously set it on top of an old chest of drawers.. this is a MUCH more stable and awesome system).  One of the most interesting things about this day, to me, was that I sat down at the table in the morning with a pencil/paper and some coffee and worked out the cut list for each of the walls... including where the jack studs went and the headers over the windows.  Then, we cut all the pieces and it actually WORKED.

Wall number 1

Wearing all of my PPE cutting countless pieces of 2x4

Last wall!!!!

This was amusing, we had to cut the OSB out of the windows and door and my dad goes "you know, just cut it smoothly" and I was like, "Um, with this reciprocating saw?! Really?!"  It took a bit of getting used to, but I did it.

Day #3, Roof... well, making trusses and then putting at least OSB over them (and a blue tarp).  Eric took control of a lot of this day because I was worried about falling off the roof... so I made him do it?  Anyway, he has a better sense of balance than me, and subsequently he survived just fine.  Also, this day was very sunny.

We went back and forth on the pitch of the roof, but decided we wanted a lower pitched roof because at this point I was worried there would be formal complaints filed by our neighbors by how huge this shed was. 

Eric took this picture of me, my mom, and my dad.  I like it quite a bit.

End of day 4, not too bad, eh? The next day we went to work and dad put in the windows and the door.  Also, just so you know, there's a "Bone Yard" that sells cheap windows at SBS... they are windows that weren't picked up by people who ordered them, or have slight defects.  We got gorgeous windows... or rather, Eric and Dad got gorgeous windows.

Okay, I'm sure here is where I should tell the story of picking up a door at Lowes.  I went online and found a door that swings out.  The importance of an "outswing door" is that it takes up less room inside the shed.  Anyway, it said there were 4 in stock at the local Lowes.  So, while Eric and Dad took Bryn and Louis' truck to the dump filled with old shed for the umpteenth time, my mom and I headed to Lowes to pick up this door.

I try really really hard to keep an open mind and be patient when I go to Lowes.  Typically, the people there are really nice.  We ran into one of those nice people straight off when we picked up a new dead bolt and door handle for the our phantom new door.  Then, we headed to the door section and found yet ANOTHER friendly helpful person who was uncertain if the door was in stock, but was relieved when I handed him the item # that I'd recorded off of the internet.  He was very humble and admitted that he was a very new employee.  At one point, I asked what the difference was between a Right swinging door and a Left swinging door... he went and got someone who could answer my questions.

Yes, it turned out, he COULD answer my questions... Unfortunately, I wanted to put a lot of space between him and I the moment he opened his mouth.  My mom got very very quiet at this point.  I repeated my question- "What is the difference between a right and a left swinging door?  Specifically, on an out-swinging door."  His response?  We don't sell out-swinging doors here.  I pointed at the door that I wanted and I said, "What about that door, it's labelled as an out swinging door."  Again, his response was to deny that it existed, claiming it was mis-labelled.  At this point the new employee stepped in and said that it was an out-swinging door... the guy gave this poor fellow this crazy glare.  Anyway, I gave up trying to learn about this door, decided to purchase it, he helped me get it down, and then I wanted him to go away so I told him that I wanted to just "visit with the door" for a while.
As soon as they stepped away my mom made the comment that he did everything put pat me on the head and tell me it was going to be alright... The new guy nearly apologized to me... and we bought the door.

So, when we were done putting together the shed, we waited about a month or so and then got around to putting on the steel roof (again, this was more of an Eric project).  Anecdote of note here is: Steel roofing is really really really hard to score and break.   I cut 3 pieces and then got fed up and kicked the last piece and then Eric, thinking that I was over-reacting came off the roof to cut the 4th piece. Ha!  He got frustrated, too.  By then, I had calmed down and cut the last $*%&%(#&*$*%& piece.

Added a steel roof, soffit, windows

Added vinyl siding, insulation, electricity (two circuits!!!)

This is what it looks like inside.  It's very very bright and spacious!!!  I demanded that we put up bright orange peg board!!!

 So, that's our shed story.  I LOVE this space.  I think a lot of people expect that it's Eric's man-cave.  However, so far, the house ends up being his man-cave and the shed is where I spend my time building stuff.