One of my never-ending house related projects is the backyard. There are a number of factors that make the backyard awkward, and a monumental task to accomplish. I would list all the problems with the backyard but I don’t want to wear out the keyboard.

My latest step in making the backyard functional was to install a sidewalk through an awkwardly large area that was probably supposed to be landscaped at one point. This sidewalk has three benefits:

• Makes use of the old bricks I found piled up in the front yard, therefore also de-cluttering the front yard.
• Provides a more natural and logical path to get from point A to B. The existing setup was kind of like going to Wichita by way of Kansas City and Salina – for those of you familiar with local geography.
• Divides the large awkward space into smaller, more manageable areas that I can more easily landscape.

I was very much intimidated by the idea of making a sidewalk but found it to be surprisingly easy. Sure, it’s not perfectly level, and the sides are a big jagged in spots, but overall I am extremely pleased with the results! In case you want to know how to make one of your own here is how it’s done:

The first step is to dig out a trench a few inches deep in the approximate shape of the sidewalk-to-be. Then line it with weed barrier. Use landscaping railing stuff (not sure what this product is actually called) to contain the sidewalk area. I used the recycled composite kind and found it extremely easy to work with, but you can also use plastic or metal.

Once all of the framework is in place, cover the area with a couple inches a sand and smooth it out.

Get some paving stones or bricks and arrange them however you want. Since this sidewalk was curved I had to use a chisel to break lots of bricks into odd shapes.

Once all of the pavers on in place, sprinkle the new sidewalk with sand and sweep it around to fill in all the gaps. This will help hold the pavers firmly into place.

Once the sidewalk is complete, begin using it by walking on it.

I have never been one to get terribly worked up about furniture or woodworking in general, but I’ve generally found making things out of wood to be quite enjoyable and rewarding. While my skillz are probably average at best, I can usually hold my own in a shop. I have been wanting a nice book case for awhile, and finally decided I would just try and make one. So in case you were wondering how to make a fairly simple, kind of antique looking book case…. today is your lucky day!

What’s interesting about this book case is not just that I made it, but what I made it out of. There was once a large black walnut tree growing into the side of the house. It was so close that a notch had to be cut in the guttering to make room for the trunk and about half of the branches hung directly over the roof and would keep me up all night long in the late summer because of the loud thuds of the walnuts dropping and rolling down the roof. So as much as it pained me to cut down such a magnificent tree, I felt the tree’s useful life as a feature in the lawn had run it’s course.

With the help of dad, the trunk was taken to a saw mill somewhere south of town and a few months later a bunch of walnut lumber came back and sat in my barn for about a year while I thought of good ways to use the cool wood. When I decided to make a bookcase I felt like it would be a good opportunity to get my feet wet with autocad. Plus, since this was by far the most complex thing i’ve ever built on my own, it would be good to have a nice set of technical drawings to make sure all the sizes work out correctly.

If you want to try to make the same cabinet, you can download my plans in a pdf format. I had no idea what I was doing so they probably suck as far as plans go, but it got the job done for me, with only a few fairly minor design flaws.

Here is the wood in it’s raw form after Jimmy helped me transport it from the barn to the shop. They were extremely rough as you can tell.

I used a planer to smooth the surface of the boards and get them to the correct thickness. Btw the planer is now one of my favorite machines in the shop, mainly because it shoots tons of sawdust everywhere and makes a huge mess. (note the snow shovel in the background)

Here I am using a simple radial arm saw to cut notches into the side pieces for the shelves to sit in.

Once all the pieces were cut, I assembled the body of the cabinet.

The doors and window panes were made out of a bunch of long skinny parts. I also put glass in the doors, but I had trouble with that part and was in a bad mood so I didn’t take any photos of that process.

Once it was all assembled it was ready to be transported home (again with the help of Jimmyjack) where I would put on the finishing touches!

I wanted the cabinet to match the existing woodwork of the staircase, which is also made from walnut. I figured since it’s 130 years old, the finish was likely an old-school type, called shellac, which also happens to be an organic substance. Shellac dries extremely fast and I had trouble deciding if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I found it difficult to keep the finish from looking splotchy in places but that’s probably because I had no idea what I was doing. The shellac did bring out some really sweet grain patterns in the wood though and it was almost a perfect match to the staircase.

Then I attached some magnetic door catches and some plain, but old looking knobs.

There was a lot more in between these steps obviously, but you get the idea. And now I have a pretty sweet book case made from scratch!

After 2 years of on and off construction I have finally completed my last major room overhaul – the upstairs bathroom. Other than the kitchen, this room required more TLC than any room in the house. Knowing that I would never want to use that bathroom ‘as-is’, it was decided to almost completely rebuild. It took a long time because A) I had another bathroom downstairs that worked and was somewhat clean, B) I am fairly busy and have plenty of other projects and C) apparently bathroom overhauls are expensive. Last night I made the finishing touches and today I got ready in this bathroom for the first time!

In October of 2006 with the help of Fatt Matt I started by tearing out the nasty sink, toilet, and medicine cabinet. I contemplated busting out the old tub, which was covered in decades of filth, but instead opted to have it refinished – which was a great decision.

I attempted to remove the existing light blue floor tile, but the tiles were about a 1/2″ thick and even using all kinds of tools and wreckless force, I couldn’t get them out. So I decided to tile over them. One of these days someone will decide my small white tiles are ugly as sin and tear them out to find the old, 1950s era tiles underneath and think they have struck gold.

I couldn’t find a medicine cabinet to fit the hole left by the old cabinet so I decided to build a new custom one myself out of scrap wood i found in the dumpster at work. I am probably more proud of the medicine cabinet than anything else in the bathroom!

And here we have the finished product!

Although this was the last major room remodel I had on my list of things to do… as with any home it will never be “done”.

If you’ve ever been in my backyard you’ve seen the tall privacy fence that encloses a large portion of my backyard. You’ve also seen that there are no obnoxious neighbors, storage facilities, industrial waste dumps, or any other kind of structure or entity that I would want privacy from. Sunday afternoon I was walking out my back door and noticed a section of the fence moving in the gusty winds, as if entertaining the idea of collaspsing. So I walked up to and gave it a hefty shove and stood there as the whole section of fence fell outward to the ground. It was like taking a deep breath of fresh air after being boxed in for entirely too long. Reminded me of the scene in Office Space where Peter randomly one day knocks over the walls of his cubicle to get a view of the outside world.

Sometimes we build walls all around us for various reasons, and sometimes it makes sense at the time. Then when we decide we no longer need that wall, it feels really good to take it down and see the other side.

Before:

After:

Just so you know, I spent the whole weekend sanding. It wasn’t a lot of fun, but I guess its just one more step in getting this house into shape. It’s actually starting to look nice I think! Saturday morning I rented this drum sander, which worked great until I got to the floors that have been covered with carpet… even the industrial grade 20 grit sand paper was no match for the finish on this floor, which appeared to be about a hundred years worth of stain, varnish, wax, and maybe even some coal soot, providing a pleasant aroma. For those who aren’t familiar with sandpaper – 20 grit is the equivalent of gravel, glued to a sheet of stiff paper.

As with most things I try to do, this 2 day project has turned into more of a week+ ordeal since i’ll now have to use chemicals around all the edges several times, then rent the edge sander a second time. Then i can put the finish down. THEN… it’s party time.