Furniture – Modern Anachronist

Sometimes it’s just your fear holding you back.

I’ve often considered making nicer projects in the wood shop, but up till now, I’ve pretty much limited myself to camping equipment.

Mostly it’s been fear that I can’t make something perfect. Add in the fact that I’m good at sourcing things that are pretty close to what I really want and then modifying them.

And it really kills me when people ask me if I built the cabinets in the dining room.

But it’s been itching at me. I keep kicking around ideas for custom cases for some older tools that don’t have them. And I keep coming up with excuses why I can’t do it.

Hanging plant rack

My wife’s friend has plants hanging from iron pipe on her front window. She’s been after me to recreate this for a few years now.

We bought the house from a flipper who “redid” the 45 year old kitchen. And by redid, I mean he replaced the old solid wood cabinets with the cheapest builder grade particleboard cabinets he could source. (My neighbors are still rocking the original cabinets, and while dated, theirs are holding up better than mine.)

After three years of use by my kids, hinge screws are starting to pull out of the cabinet frames.

Measure twice, check orientation, then cut.

While building kitchen Mk.2 I made a cutting error that cost me time and money to fix.

Glamping kitchen (Mk.2) {part 1}

The first version of the kitchen was made from low quality plywood that I had on-hand. It was never supposed to be used a second time, but I never found the time to remake it with better quality materials.

We’ve used it for at least seven years, and I think I’ve identified all the shortcomings.

Steel pins
Shelves aren’t interchangeable
Wasted space, shelves are too big for crates
Paper towels get rained on.
Doesn’t pack flat

Breakdown Table (Mk.3)

This portable table is part of our glamping setup. It’s made from a single sheet of plywood and uses zero hardware to hold it together. It breaks down flat for storage & transport.

It is Finished

Finally, six months behind schedule, my living room wall is finished.

Living room update (part 2)

Project creep (and my parts still aren’t in the country)

I’m sitting with the wife one evening talking about the wall. She mentions that a friend had a deep red accent wall and it looked great.

The entertainment center is going on the only wall in the room that works as an accent wall, now I have to paint it. Of course, the other walls in the room are a pale yellow and they will look terrible with red, so I have to paint the entire room.

Living Room Update (part 1)

A place for the grownups

The new house has both a family room and a living room, where the old house only had one, so I’ve been one entertainment system short since we moved. Also, my wife and I like to watch some things that a bit too adult for the wee ones, so it will be nice to be able to watch an episode of Vikings while they are playing on the Switch in another room

When I bought the seating last Christmas (we got volunteered to host and had ZERO furniture in the room) I decided that I was going to decorate this room.

I don’t believe there is a single room in the house that doesn’t have hand me down (or road side found) furniture. I want a room that looks designed & planned.

This is going to be a room for the grownups.

Birthday Chair for the Wife

Decided to make a nice chair for my wife to enjoy her garden. I did a google search for Adirondack chairs and asked her to pick the one she liked best. Thankfully she chose one that was within my abilities.

The fine folks at Lowe’s have the plans on their site.

Tag: Furniture