This morning we were at Lowes and ran into the bi-monthly kids’ workshop in progress. They were putting together a smal tic-tac-toe toy and David was instantly hooked. Since they were wrapping up, we bought the smallest hammer we could find for him and took one of the kits home with us.
Later in the day after his nap, we got to work in the basement.
Here’s to David’s first building project! More photos in the gallery.
This weekend I built the second step stool for David, this one for an upstairs bathroom.
I also got both sanded, primed, and covered in a coat or two of paint. One red, one white. The white was so we could turn David loose on it to make it his own. With Mom’s help, 30 minutes, and a few tubes of paint, he deemed it complete. There is no mistaking it, it’s his!
As always, Mr. Serious:
Here’s our work, side-by-side. I’m happy with how they turned out and they should last beyond their need.
So that’s what we did this afternoon; it was fun and provided a nice little diversion on this cold, cold January Sunday. If you’d like to see a few more photos of David’s artistic process, they’re in the photo gallery.
Today I made a step stool for David, it give him just enough height so he can reach the faucet and wash his hands. All that’s left is to sand and paint it.
Ana has already put in another order for one for upstairs.
The hippo is back, this time as a picture frame for Ana’s desk (to hold a picture of David… on a hippo)
Last weekend I purchased a few cheap boards of wood to get some practice on my scroll saw. What better way to test it out than to cut out the hippo again? It takes alot of patience and concentration for me at this point - if you go too fast or turn too quickly, the blade will snap and scare the hell out of you. It’s not perfect, but by the time I got to the oval I was able to make it in almost one continuous cut around.
I started this project on the weekend of January 25th, and here on March 6th my camera cabinet sits completed and filled with my gear. It turned out WAY better than I hoped and expected and I don’t have to hide it in a corner. I normally wouldn’t have gone for the gold hardware, but we wanted it to match the piano that’s in the same room.
It’s made of Red Oak, stained with 2 coats of Minwax Red Oak oil-based stain, and finished with 2 coats of polyurethane.
This photo reminds me that I need to get the magnetic door closers.
Here’s the inside – storage for my camera bags on the bottom and lenses on the shelf (all but one lens, which I used to take this).
And the drawer is full of the numerous accessories, plus the camera.
Feels good to finally have it done and to be happy with the results. Photos from the build here. A big thanks to dad for coming over tonight to help me move it upstairs, it’s a little too big for one person.
I did lots of sanding on Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday morning. And tonight I was able to apply the first coat of stain.
So far I’m fairly pleased with the results. I can see a few spots where I screwed up and must not have sanded all of the wood glue remnants, the jury is out on whether or not I’m going to do anything about the blatant ones. So I guess I should say it looks pretty good, and looks fantastic if I squint 
I’ll let this dry over night, hopefully it’ll be ready for another application in the morning.
Update: Here’s what it looks like Sunday night, after 2 coats of stain.
This evening I finished the remaining work on the cabinet construction.
Here’s a photo of how my camera bags fit – not too shabby. The lenses will go on the shelf and the camera in the drawer with all of other accessories.
While I’m glad to have it all completely built finally, I’m pretty nervous about staining it. I’ve never stained anything before, and I’d really hate to ruin this thing.
8 Hours. That’s how long the project book said it would take to make the book case I designed my camera cabinet off of. Ha! I can’t even count how many hours I’ve put in on this thing now – probably another 6 or so this weekend. I’m slow.
I made quite a bit of progress in the past couple days: top trim; adjustable shelf; researched, bought hinges; made and hanged(?) the doors; and got almost halfway done making the trim for the doors. I also picked out a couple sample stains and tried them out on some of the scrap wood. I think I’ll be going with a couple coats of Minwax Red Oak over the Red Mahogany, but we’ll see.
Here’s where it stands tonight (more photos here)..
Bits left: finish making and installing door trim; make the back; sand; stain; poly.