I Built Something to Sit Upon... An Adirondack Chair!

Our front porch scene has been sorely lacking in, well, everything (I just can't get into wreaths...?  Is that a question?).  But especially a place in which to place one's bum.  SO, why not put our massive tool accumulation to work and build a freaking chair, right???

It all started when a customer wanted a wooden sign for his business bigger than my scroll saw could reach.  This "necessitated" the purchase of a jig saw, which "necessitated" the purchase of saw horses.  But the ones at Home Depot were $19 A PIECE (that's the equivalent of 38 candy bars, for heaven's sake) and were kind of sad looking.  So since I have an awesome cousin who gave me a bunch of scrap wood, I built these puppies for freeeeezies, which is a special feeling, Lloyd.   (And PS--how liberating to be able to make signs as big as a house if needed...or I suppose as big as a sheet of plywood...reign it in, Sam.)

So I found these sweet-easy chair plans from ana-white.com (who is, no kidding, an inspiration), had long-lost Dane give me some drill tips for dummies (thanks, Dane; you're an inspiration, too), and got to work. 

And a couple hours and only some mild frustration later, we have something that resembles a chair!  And that jig saw came in handy in removing sharp-corner-eye-poking possibilities and adding sweet, sweet style to a square chair.  (Also, forgive our super messy garage..we have yet to clean up after our wood install..)

 And then I made that pose from the second season of FX's Justified because I felt so cool.  I unfortunately did not look as cool as I felt.  Maybe it's the stroller behind me..

 Christian and I debated on whether a cherry or dark walnut stain would look better, and I'm feeling prrretty good about how the walnut turned out.  Also, it took forever to get every nook and cranny.

 And there you have it.  One accessory to a big, sad, and lonely porch.  But Christian will probably make another chair to match (awwww, cute - His and Hers porch chairs, right?).  And I'm thinking maybe a little matching table for our cool glasses of lemonade...  That never happens.  But you never know...now that we have A porch chair...
PS--If you were wondering--amazingly comfy, it being made of wood and all...

Finished Hardwood Heaven

I meant to post about our finished hardwoods several weeks ago, but the house hasn't been presentable enough for an after shot until now.  It's a curious feeling to be putting toys and junk away while a baby is simultaneously taking them out from the other side...every few hours...every single day... and the existential musings ensue...  

Anywho, I'm a big sucker for before and after pictures.  Particularly the home improvement variety.  So these yummy hardwood floors are just step one in my evil master plan to give our house a facelift.  Soon to come are wainscoting, fresh paint, crown moulding, and actual home decor, weee!

So without further ado, here are the before pics one more time, featuring sad, bubbly linoleum and copious amounts of tragically tan carpet:

And after a good deal of pleasurable power tool usage, some mixed feeling about destroying perfectly adequate carpet, and only occasional swearing (hint: 99% of that didn't come from me...), I give you das hardwood!

 Is this how you place an area rug?  I have absolutely no idea...  This isn't even mine..

And we stinking love it.  It really classes up the joint.  And it surprisingly makes it feel bigger, too--I think that's because we removed the line separating the threshold from living room to kitchen, and the little entryway square.  

And then, since we need to pop that base moulding back on, I got to buy yet another power tool (evil laugh).  And this cordless nail gun ranks up there among my favorite new toys.  It's just scrumptious and did a great job.  And I always used to think, "Why do people bother filling in the nail holes?  Nobody looks down there anyway, and they'd be super tiny.."  But I get it now.  It looks like little bugs on there, which I clearly cannot abide.  So I got some niiiice practice in with a caulk gun, got those nails filled in and the seam along the wall looking prrrrretty good, I'd say.

The main downside with dark floors is that crumbs show up real easily.  And let's say you have a baby who likes to throw 99% of his food on the floor, this would hypothetically equate to sweeping several times a day.  Hint: Baby Jack throws 99% of his food on the floor :/  Grumble grumble grumble...  But we're pretty happy phase one of master plan is finito!