Furla's House Sign

Although I have not really gone into my sign business yet, I wanted to share about this particular one. I have been avoiding it for awhile (so unlike me) because I wanted to make it really special and I really felt I was lacking in ability to actually do this.

She just bought a house and I offered to make her a sign for by the front door that says their name. They love wine and I wanted to do something with that in mind. I have gone back and forth on so many designs for it. I want to make it shaped like a bottle of wine. I want to be all fancy and inlay they whole bottle in another piece of wood so that the sign is square, but the bottle shape is there (obviously with a different stain color). No matter how I tried to work it up, it just wasn't working.

I think I have a better idea now what I will do. I think I will take a piece of my 1/2 wood and rout out the name using my sign maker jig. But instead of just routing the name in the wood. I am going to go all the way through the wood. So if you hold it up you can see through it. I will stain or paint this white so it will look a little like a label. Then I will inlay that piece of wood into a larger 3/4 inch piece of white wood I have sitting around. I can cut out it into the shape of a wine bottle and stain the 3/4 inch wood with a deep red color. So when the name is inlaid, you can see the red around it and through the letters.

I hope this will make it look like a wine bottle with a white label. I can use either my jigsaw or scroll saw to cut out the wine bottle shape and use my roundover bit in my router to round the edges. Seal it with my spray laquer I have for outdoor projects and it will be done.

I just have to have the time now. We are swamped this week preparing for my daughter Chloe's 1st birthday party. I have to bake a cake and decorate it and beg everyone's forgiveness since it will be lopsided and decorated horribly. Baking is NOT my forte, but at least it usually tastes great!

The Dining Room Benchseat

Here is another blast from the past. When we bought this house, we had the largest dining room we have ever had. The previous owners had a large table as well as a large desk and office space in there. We put our table in there and then we realized that there was A LOT of extra room. We had no need for office space so what did we want to do to fill the space. We toyed with the idea of bar area. We are not big drinkers (I really don't drink at all) but it seemed like someplace cool to put tall chairs and hang out with some sodas. Then we moved on to ideas of more seating. More specifically a breakfast bench and table. We looked around and priced them, but they all looked hard and uncomfortable.

My husband has a brother and SIL who combined have 4 kids. When they came to dinner (or really any group larger than us 3) we would run out of chairs. We figured having the second table would be great when they came to visit as well as great as a homework table or coloring table away from the main dining room table. We decided once again the best course of action was for me to build my own.

It came out to about 5 feet by 4 feet L shaped design. I researched how to build a bench using 2 x 4s and 3/4 inch MDF for the frame. The hard part was wanting to have it upholstered with a nice padded back and bottom. I found some nice green fabric and some 1 inch foam pieces. I am always shocked by the price of foam. Seriously! Is this a rare item or difficult to make that the price per sq ft is exorbinant? Either way, it was easily one of the more expensive parts of this project. 2x4s are super cheap and 2 sheets of MDF are also nor very expensive comparatively.

I created the basic shape with the 2x4s.


I added some posts to support the back.


I cut the pieces of MDF to fit. I laid them in place first to be sure I had the basic shape and fit I was looking for.


I did the next step in a very complicated way. I have no idea if it was the best way or the long difficult way. Either way, I upholstered each of the back peices seperately and then attached them. Same with the bottom. It wasn't easy, but I just keep finding ways to actually secure each piece and still upholster it at the same time. I used 1 inch thick foam for the back and 3 layers of the 1 inch foam on the bottom.


Here is the back and bottom all done.


I screwed the base pieces into place. It really started to take shape and feel complete here.


Some paint, some trim, and we had ourselves a cool new bench seat. All that it needs is a table right.......(see next blog for my favorite table)

The Puzzle

Here is something funny you should know about me if you happen to ever have a conversation with me in person. If during the conversation my eyes wander the room and then I look thoughtful and like I am not listening....I am building stuff in my head. My husband usually asks where I went and then answers himself that I must be building something in my head.

The thing is while I am driving, eating at a restaurant etc, there are things all around me. I am curious how they were built and if I could build it. Especially if there is cool woodworking or trim around me. I have to build it in my head so I can enjoy the craftsmanship.

So if I space out its not that you are not interesting enough, but it simply is that I am rude and can't stop myself from building the stuff I see around me in my mind. I laughed at myself today because I realized in my head it even has music. Or noise really. If you have ever played those Lego Star Wars Wii games and you find a pile of Lego's on the ground. You click the button to start building some item with them....yeah, that is the sound I hear in my head and see my hands flying through the process of building that mini wall or trim around a table or door.

Is this a bad sign of my mental stability?

A Little About Now

The past is fun to look at, but also really painful. While I am proud of the work, its also a little embarrassing to see the mistakes and shortcuts I took. They are not bad projects, but they make me think of the things I would like to redo or fix on them and I haven't gotten around to it. Because, well, let's face it. Its more fun to think of current projects than past ones.

So what are these current projects....hmm...let's see. There are those current ones I am actually working on and those I WANT to be working on.

In the first category there are those I am actually working on. I have a small sign business. They are signs with a small inlay (usually an animal and most often a monkey) and a child's name carved next to that. I bought a sign making template kit to rout out the names and I freehand for the inlay. They are not perfect, but are just charming enough to be perfect signs for kids rooms.

I suppose they could say just about anything though. From "Robert's Office" to "Library" etc. For now though they are sold on a friend of mine's website where she sells baby items. http://www.yourbabysneeds.com/pesi.html While this is a lot of fun and there is a steady stream of orders, its still just a hobby on the side.

I also have a 2 things I am "commissioned" to do. I am making a house sign for one lady in my mom's group. I admit I am stalling on this one. I know what I want to do and I know what I can do. Unfortunately I don't have the skills to do it as nice as I want to do it so I think I am stalling. I hate that. I also have another mom who asked me to try to build a birthing stool for her doula practice. If I do it really nicely and its portable she will tell the other doulas in her doula groups and I may get multiple orders for them. This project excites me and is super scary at the same time. I am so worried one will crack during delivery and either mom or baby could be hurt. I will test it all ways I can, but its still scary if I don't do it right.

What I want to do encompasses so much. I want to make some dollhouses, toy chests, kids toys and other items for an etsy shop and for friends. By biggest wall is money and time. Dear sweet time that I have so little of between the kids, the house and work. As it is every weekend this month we have plans and yet I have to find time in the evenings to get some orders done because I could use the money with my daughter's first birthday party happening at the end of the month.

Balancing time is the hardest thing. If I am in the garage and I can't always pop back in the house quickly to help with the kids and I lose track of time so I tend to not cook as well on days I am working. Plus weekends are only 2 days long. During the week I am working. I am on the road at 6am and I get off work at 4pm. It takes an hour to get back from work and then I pick up the kids at their daycare and preschools and then get home, throw together dinner, get them ready for bed (bottles, baths, story time, brushing teeth, pj's etc) and then Robert gets home somewhere in the middle of the bedtime routines for the kids. Finally they are both asleep and its nearly 8pm. I try to visit with Robert, pay bills, catch up on housework (I would say exercise too, but let's not start lying to each other this early in the blog relationship) and finally I crash asleep. Its not much time with the kids or my husband. So 2 days for a weekend means we are trying to spend time as a family, play, swim lessons etc, and if I spend 4-8 hours in the garage on either day, that is even less time with them.

Its hard to be a mom and have a hobby like this. I can't just bring my nearly 1 year old out there and while my 4 year old loves to come out, its a distraction and I have to watch to make sure he remembers the safety rules and has his ear protection on before I can start up any machine. It just takes longer to get stuff done. Plus, he is a very bright 4 year old who asks a million questions about everything and wants to build stuff like me. So I have to answer questions and distract him from asking to help build stuff when its not something he can help with.

All in all, I try to pack everything into a few hours each night and a little during the day on weekends. Its tiring, and really hard in the winter when its super cold in the garage, but its worth it when I can give someone a gift or place a new piece in our house.

Our Dream Nightstands

At this point, I should have found something small to practice using my tools with. Something simple.......yeah, not really the way I end up doing these projects. I went big and complicated next. Hee hee.

My husband and I are avid readers. We tend to have a LOT of books on our nightstands. I also have a pet peeve for having my clock below eye level when in bed. No matter where we had looked in the stores, we couldn’t find nightstands we liked. So we drew up what we would like in a dream nightstand. Basically we wanted larger drawers to hold books, a small drawer at the top for hair-ties, remotes etc. I had just bought myself a nice laptop and I voted for a laptop drawer so I could have a place to store my laptop. (I primarily used my laptop in bed and still do. I am not a desk kind of girl at home.) Lastly I wanted them to be tall enough that even with our taller bed, I could have my clock slightly above my eye level.

And so I drew up some plans. We decided on two 12” tall drawers for our books, one 6” drawer at the top and a 3-5 inch drawer for the laptop. I have to dig through my stuff to get my exact measurements out again. I can’t remember how we decided how deep to make it though. Pretty much laid in bed and measured out to where it seemed one should end.

I started with the same basic square with one support piece in the middle going across as I did with the bookshelf. For the top I added a nice large piece of pine and used the router on the edges to give it a nice look on top.

I looked up instructions on how to build a drawer online. For simplicity (and no guts to learn new stuff) I used butt joints again. I used ¾ inch wood for the front and back and ½ inch wood for the sides and ¼ inch stock for the bottom of the drawers. After a few tries I was able to get all the drawer sliders screwed in at the right height. Once all installed I cut some pieces for the drawer fronts. This was the hardest thing for me. I am still not sure the best way to do this so they end up lining up properly in the finished piece. Much like everything else I am sure its just practice until I learn some tricks for it. They don’t line up perfectly, but they work which is important. I added some hardware to the drawers and stained it to match our bed. Added some poly and I was done.

I want to rebuild mine. My husband seems to have taken good care of his, but my laptop drawer front has fallen off and I must have not made it perfectly square because the drawers are catching instead of sliding smooth as they did when I first built it. Still so much to learn, but they still function quite well. I would also like to sand it down and stain it a different color, fix the routered edges and seal with a lacquer or shellac for a smoother surface. I have learned so much more about everything which makes me want to redo nearly all parts of the nightstand. I love it, but I just wish I had built it knowing what I know now and not what I did then. I want to make better drawers too using box joints and dados etc. Everything functions on it as we wanted, I just want it perfect. Robert likes his just the way it is so I have not jumped to rebuild since he seems so happy with his. He doesn’t see the mistakes and just loves it since I built it. Sucker! Hee hee

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

After my husband (then boyfriend) and his son moved in with me, I realized we were sorely lacking in cabinets. They worked fine when it was just me and my cats, but another adult and numerous jars of babyfood later I needed something more. Since I had just gotten a bunch of tools I decided it was time to do something simple. I needed someplace to store extra boxes of soda and all the jars of baby food. So we figured why not have me build a simple bookshelf type thing to hold the extra cans of food. Like a makeshift pantry.

I bought a couple pieces of whitewood (the cheap stock from the big box stores). I measured the space next to the fridge and it was only about 8.5 inches deep, but 3-4 feet wide. Basically this would go on the side of the fridge. I still hadn't learned how to make my circular saw work all that well, but I had my table saw now that I could cut the pieces to length. I started out making a basic square. I laid it all out on my back patio trying to look like I knew what I was doing. I didn't, but how hard can it be to make a square right?

Turns out it CAN be hard, but I chose to ignore how hard it was. I was doing just plain old butt joints and screws. I was not trying to even countersink the screws or dado in the shelves. Just slap them against eachother and screw them together. I don't think I even used glue, eek. In the end I had a square box and I added a few shelves in the middle. I did make every attempt to attach the shelves at 90 degree anges so they would be level when I stood this up. Once I had it standing, it was....close. But Robert agreed that it was close enough that we could easily use it. Nothing was going to fall out and if anything it slanted slightly to the back so the jars would have slipped farther into the back of the unit.

I bought some 1/4 inch pine for the back of the unit. It gave it stability and looked nice when you looked in there. Some minor trouble with cutting the pieces perfectly square so when laid next to eachother there was no gap. But again we decided that the few tiny wholes would be obscured by jars of food. This was a servicable unit and not some fancy piece afterall.

With that done I set it in place. It looked okay, but looked.....unfinished somehow. I decided to cover the front of each of the shelves and the sides with 1x2 pieces of wood. I put the flat grain part out so instead of looking at the side of each shelf/board, you were looking at the face of the 1x2's. Feeling fancy I added some top and bottom moulding to fancy it up and even mitered the corners. Now I had a fairly dressed up simple shelf system. Its amazing how much nicer just adding those 1x2's made it.

By then I just couldn't stop. I wanted to make it even nicer. Feeling more confidant with each thing I added I wanted to go bold. I wanted to put on doors. I wanted to be able to keep the little man out of there. He was only about 12-16 months old around then and into everything. Since this was going to be on the side of the fridge I wasn't going to be able to attach it to the wall or anything like that. Building doors with a single handle high up seemed a simple solution.

The width posed a problem. I didn't know a lot about hinges and I was buying most pieces of wood already the correct size since I wasn't great at cutting sizes yet. Naturally the width of the piece was not able to be evenly divided by 2 for 2 doors. After much debate, Robert gave me the solution. Why not add 2 pieces of wood the side so that you can have something to attach the doors to and have them be the right width. Perfect right? It was!

I added 2 pieces of 1x4 I think on each side and then was able to have 2 doors each 16 inches wide. I used my new router table to make the inside seam more decorative. Added a few hinges and it was done. Sure the doors might not be 100% perfectly straight, but they closed and opened perfectly. With a little stain and a few layers of poly we had a fancy new pantry. I was pretty shocked and how nice this came out for being my first project.

Unstained (yet filled to see if it would work. It really held a lot of stuff. We really loved that)

Stained to match our existing cabinets. The stain and poly really made it look schnazzy.

The final pantry. We didn't even need to put a lock on the handle because in the end they were too high for L-man to reach.

The Greatest Gift

Sometimes the greatest gift you can receive is the freedom to pursue your dreams. For years I had wanted to build things, but I was hesitant to take that leap. Then I met my husband. He has always supported my dreams and once he learned about my secret dream, he decided I needed to stop talking and start doing. He got a tax return and had a little extra money and he wanted to make this happen. Robert told me his plan to buy me tools. I was told that I had no choice but to take the $$ and get all the "toys" I wanted. It was not a lot, but enough to open up this whole world of power tools to me.

I would never have done it without him pushing me to do it. I got myself my first table saw and router table, miter saw stand and a new brad nailer. I love that brad nailer....anyway....I also had gotten a jigsaw from my mom for Christmas so I was in heaven. Obviously I didn't buy top of the line, but rather found the nicest base level tools. Until I got my skills up, it would be a waste to go straight to high end.

I got some scrap wood and started practicing. I found many how-to videos online which was essential to learning to use the machines safely. There are a lot of dangers if you use them incorrectly or try to make them do something they are not designed to do.

For my momma friends who wanted to know what tools I am talking about. Let me see if I can help fill you in on these tools. The Circular Saw - This is handheld and can be one of your most useful tools. You can adjust how deep of a cut you are making as well as adjust it side to side to make angled cuts. For those of us starting out, use a straight edge to guide the saw. It makes life SOOO much easier.

Some things I learned.... For a year I avoided using this because it kept binding (getting stuck and not cutting) until I learned the most important trick. Don't make a deep cut with only one pass. I can't go in a straight line so I used a fixed guide. This means I can make multiple passes easily. When cutting something 3/4 of an inch thick, make 3 passes at 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch and then the 3/4 inch. If you do, this will run through the wood like a hot knife through butter. After learning that, I have decided to love this tool after all.

The Table Saw - I got this basic model of bench top table saw. This is great for cutting down large sheets of plywood and for ripping and crosscutting boards. Ripping is making a cut with the grain of the wood and crosscut is across the grain. This is very helpful for making a board the exact size you want it to be.

You can make a 45 degree cut with this and there are plenty of jigs (Templates or other helpful tools that assist you in making a repetitive cut) that you can make for this saw. I would love to upgrade my table saw. Its the one tool I feel limited with based on the model. It doesn't have a very large surface so its harder to balance a large sheet alone (I end up using the circular saw because of this) and I want to use the guide but it doesn't let you go out very far which is not good for a lot of my projects. I would love to upgrade to a cabinet makers table saw or contractors. Basically more powerful and a much larger surface area and width you can do with the guide.

My Miter Saw - This is a very useful machine. Makes a nice 90 degree cut and can also be adjusted to any angle. I use this a lot for a mitered corner where 2 pieces meet at 90 degree angle so each piece has to be cut to 45 degrees. The top of the saw can also be angled to do the angle that way. I use this a lot to cut boards to length and I do make a lot of mitered corners because I like the look a lot. My miter saw is a simple one. Just up and down cut. There are laser guided and ones you can pull back toward you for longer cuts, but I still use my simple one for most every project. Some day I may upgrade, but I haven't felt it really necessary as I have with the table saw.

My Jigsaw - This tool is used to make many different cuts. I use it when cutting out a shape and especially when cutting out the inside of something. For example cutting a square for an outlet to show through the backing of my built ins. Or cutting the opening in the front of a birdhouse. Anywhere you might not want to make a cut from the outside of a board. I have also use it to shape one of my signs to look like a surfboard. Mine doesn't have a lot of power and I can't always get the cut I want. This is probably because I don't use it much and without the practice there is no way to perfect technique.

My brad nailer - You attach this to an air compressor and I can nail in brads (small nails with no head on the top so they are barely seen. Also called finishing nails) up to 2 inches long. This is great for stabilizing an piece for extra assurance. I also use this when putting on trim. The nails are so small they don't split the trim piece and they go below the surface of the wood so with a touch of putty they are unseen when finished. I love the power, I love the feel of it. Its one of the tools that fits my hand nicely. A lot of tools are build with a man sized hand in mind. Despite abilities, my hands are sometimes too small for hold a tool and feel totally comfortable.

And finally my router table - While I now have 3 different routers, at the time I only got this one. The idea is you put the router bit in the router and you run the board along the guide and it will cut the edge with the bit. I used this for decorative edges on my pieces. I plan on getting a new upgraded router table for Christmas this year. This one annoys me. It does a fine job, but I can never get its stable enough. The screws come loose at the corners from the vibration of the machine etc. But it works for small jobs. Nowadays I find myself using my fixed base router and palm router (also called laminate trimmer) for my projects because they are just easier.

I am so thankful for my husband who gave me this gift. The tools were great, but the gift of encouragement and a push to follow my dream hobby has been the greatest gift of all. He had to move around schedules and his time so I could be in the garage making sawdust. While out there, he had to watch our son and sometimes that meant he couldn't relax with his hobby. I'll talk about the balance of time in another post. Hopefully now when I mentioned some of my tools, the mommas who read this will be a little less lost. Obviously I have WAY more tools than just these, but they are the backbone to all my projects. Thank you Dear Husband of Mine!

How My Journey Began

This story is long, but doing this all on my own got me excited to try some things I had always wanted to do, but I was scared I couldn’t do it. This is probably the longest post I will have, but it was extensive and taught me a lot.

Long ago (2005) I had just bought my second house. An actual stand alone house and not a condo like my first house. I was 27 years old single woman living alone. I got moved in and had bought a new refrigerator. I loved everything about my new house. People warned me that houses can be a lot more work than a condo, but little did I know how true that was.

It started one day about 2 months after I moved in. I went to grab a soda from the fridge and I looked down and thought my floor looked a little funny. A little bumpy you could say. I had a really bad feeling and pulled the fridge out from its nook. My heart sank into my stomach when I saw the floor under my new fridge looked like a wet book all warped and wrinkled. I looked at the hose from the fridge down into the floor and saw the telltale drip, drip, drip signaling the end of my good day.

I found my neighbor who showed me how to shut off the water at the street level since I couldn’t find the shut off just for the fridge. (We think it was actually under the house and I wasn’t ready to go under there) I pulled up on the hose and cut it off. Since I didn’t know the name of the metal things (coupling) I wanted to bring the piece with me to get a replacement. The guy at George Morland was awesome and for $1.80 he got me the new pieces I needed and he walked me though a step by step on how to fix the leak. It turned out the previous owners (in their moment of brilliance) had simply bent the hose in half and rubber banded it instead of finding the water shut-off. Because they kinked a rubber hose, it split a little like a straw can do and the fridge installers hadn’t noticed it when they installed my fridge. For the record I wasn't there for the installation. My best friend's husband had come over and let the installers in. He said that at the time neither of them saw any leaking. While it didn't leak then, it must have started fairly soon after that given the amount of damage I had. So for close to 2 months that little hose had dripped and dripped.

I also learned that when your fridge goes into a nook under some cabinets and you move it to find wet laminate flooring, the flooring WILL expand and you will NOT be able to move the fridge back into place as it will no longer fit under the cupboard. I HAD to address the floor because I didn't want my fridge to take up permanant residence in the middle of the room. My homeowner’s policy agents came out and took a look. Apparently if there is not a broken pipe gushing water against a wall, they will NOT cover it. They gave me some estimates for the repairs and it was a couple thousands of dollars! (Not counting what would happen if they found issues under the laminate) Needless to say after just purchasing this wonderful house, I had very little extra cash for these repairs.

So I did what all well adjusted person would do….I had a good cry. Then I decided I had no choice but to deal with it. I made some calls and my brothers convinced me that I could do the work myself. I went to Lowe’s and talked to the flooring guy about taking a class to learn how to replace laminate. They guy wasn’t busy and gave me a mini-class right there in the isle. How showed me how to measure and cut and how to put down the water barrier etc. I wrote up a budget for materials and some tools since I didn’t have any yet. I only had to get a group of friends together to get it done.

Well, turned out my ex-boyfriend disappeared when manual labor was involved and my best friend had plans so it was all me. Here is what I was up against.

I planned it for the 4th of July weekend since I had 3 day weekend. Lucky for me I had Jury duty the day before that so I had an extra day since we were dismissed early. I tore out all the old laminate and found 3 layers of linoleum below that. I now hate linoleum with good reason. I looked at the edge of the linoleum and I could see the MDF below that was wet. Called Lowe’s and asked if this was an issue I should address. Yes, I had to...insert more fear and trepidation here. Biting the bullet I then set about removing the 3 layers of linoleum and revealing the extent of the water damage. Once MDF gets wet, it may dry but will never have the structural stability of the original. Since this was my subfloor, I knew what I had to do.

(I will post the pictures into a seperate blog because I am getting irritated trying to add them into this one.)

I went BACK to the store yet again, I bought a circular saw and a miter saw (I realized I needed the miter saw for the new laminate so I broke down and bought it too.) My best friend had shown up once the project got this big and had helped me remove some of the laminate. She and I figured out how to set the circular saw and we cut out a small square in the middle to see what was below. I was sooo glad she found some time to help. I know she was busy, but it made all the difference with her help. My first use of the circular saw. It was AWESOME! Hahaha. We found the large beams with no water issues. So it looked as if it was only a subfloor level issue.

I used the circular saw to cut a perimeter around the wet area. This is where I have to admit I didn’t do everything I should have. I was going above and beyond myself here and I knew the water had gotten under the cabinets, but I just couldn’t find the courage to tear out cabinets to replace the subfloor below them. My only hope is the new owners of that house didn’t find extensive mold and forgive me for chickening out. Not to mention I just didn’t have the money to go that far. As it was I was blowing through my savings really fast. The materials for the floor were $450 I think and then I bought the miter saw and circular saw and a few small hand tools I would need for the flooring job. All in all I think this whole experience cost me about $700. I would have been more upset, but I knew a lot of that was the power tools and hand tools I could use again later.

So where was I…Yes, I cut the perimeter and given this was wet MDF it was NOT nice enough to come up in large pieces. I had to blow through hours of work breaking that out of there. Hammer and crowbar in hand, I worked my way through that mess. Yet ANOTEHR trip to Lowe’s and I got a sheet of MDF and cut it to size. I learned that you should use decking nails to nail in the floor. This will keep the nails from working their way out under the vibration of all that walking on it.

And finally, I could lay down the new laminate. I put the water barrier plastic down and got to work on the laminate. Once you learn the trick to ending one row and using that piece to begin the next, its not that hard. My only problem was my miter saw. It was awesome, but it couldn’t cut through the full depth of the piece of laminate. I have to flip it around and cut it again to make it all the way through. I was learning my circular saw hated me (I didn’t learn to use it properly until recently this year) so I wasn’t about to use it to cut through each board.

It was a battle, but I won. I blew through the floor in no time once I got in the groove. Miraculously I was able to get the whole thing done with the last piece going in Sunday night. I HURT something terrible. My hands had blisters, my knees didn’t forgive me for weeks, but I had done it. I had put in a whole new floor and part of the subfloor. I trimmed it out and I was sooo proud of myself. I had done it. I had actually done it.

True I did make mistakes. I should have torn out the cabinets to replace the subfloor under there. I should have thought about the dishwasher. I didn’t pull it out and I doubt it can ever be again without fixing the floor. I forgot you can pull those out and installed the floor right up against the base of it. Sorry new owners!!

While I was embarrassed for the mistakes, it still meant the world to me that I had done it myself with just a little help from my best friend. It looked WAY better than I expected it to. I was proud to show it off to people and show them what I had done for myself. It also gave me a world of courage to come up against any project and feel I can do it. I loved my new power tools and I was excited to learn how to use more. Growing up with my dad being a carpenter had made me always want to use tools. I just hadn’t bought any. Now I did and I wanted to build more and fix more. For 2 years I got to live there and look down and know that I had installed that floor! And best of all, my fridge wasn’t leaking anymore and still fit into the nook under the upper cabinet.

The Flooring Project

Here is the pictures of the flooring project. Its easier to just put them in a seperate blog.