January, in short

So it's officially winter here - yuck.  I got a few things done despite the cold temps and snow that started to hit the ground in 2016.

It's also been a heck of a month migraine-wise, so I've been trying to feel less guilty about taking time to rest.  In between all of the social events of the holidays and early January, last Saturday was the first time I got to catch up on simply resting.  I'm not good at it, but I try.  Today I'm back at it in the woodshop, preparing for my goal this year which is...

Waugh Woodshop: Quilt Rack

I'm sure you remember your Grandma having one of these back in the day.  Well, call me old fashioned (a lot would) but in getting some of the hand-me-down quilts, and a few newer ones ourselves, I thought I should find a rack to put them on display.  Could I find one I liked?  Nope.  So I made it  :)

Waugh Woodshop: "Arrow" table

With Pinterest inspiring the nation, I was contacted about building a dining room table based on a coffee table that the client had seen on Pinterest.  Challenge accepted!

Hoosier progress

I can't believe it, I'm finally ready to say - the base of the hoosier is done!  It's a big accomplishment for me, as it challenged me to do a few things I'd never done before.  Aside from "make a cabinet", the foreign particulars included making a face frame and doors, making drawers with old-fashioned sliders, and installing pre-made sliders on other drawers.

Last weekend, I had a break from working on the commissioned dining room table I'm making (more to come on that in a future post!) and so I went down to the woodshop to get moving on the interior drawers of the hoosier.

Progress is my middle name

Well, no, it's Kathleen… but you get the idea.

After a lengthy woodshop hiatus, I've managed to get some work done down there in the past couple of weeks.  I'm now done all three drawers and the cabinet door, although I have to sort out a couple of hardware challenges before I can paint everything and put it together for use. GW made a very good point the other day; at least once the drawers and cabinet are done, we can use the base of the hoosier properly and stop using a bookshelf for a pantry.  Tee hee.

"Vintage" Shoe Rack

Despite me slowly piecing together the sunroom to make it an actual room to enjoy, there was still one hurdle that we couldn't get by; our shoes.  There isn't room in our back entryway to have our shoes go inside, so they stay in the sunroom. This also helps with keeping some dirt out of the house, but it did result in a big pile of shoes all the time.

The "before" photo was our latest great idea to make enough room for all of our shoes, but it didn't seem to last long as a solution.  My shoes were tucked in the back, and it wasn't really conducive to us both coming home at the same time which we do a lot.  Anyways…

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is many things to many people.  For me, it's about spending time with my Mum… and when us Ladies spend time together, we tend to get things done.  Hence the success of our Lady-Do Days!

Well, this year, I was lucky enough to get her as my sidekick from Saturday afternoon until early this afternoon.  Yay Us!  We got to catch up, have some good eats, jaunt around town, etc… and as it happens, get things done.  Not to say that GW and I aren't successful as well, but there's always an unspoken agreement with my Mum and I when we're doing a project.  We seem to think about the same next step at the same time and so one person ends up doing it while the other is taking the next step - does that make sense?

Anywho, thanks to my Mum, and a couple of hands from my Dad when he arrived today, I had a very productive weekend while GW was away.

Spring has Sprung!

Finally!  The warm weather has made it here to our fair town, and as a result, we've spent a few hours out in the yard trying to get things ready for the nice weather to stay.  Every year we're optimistic that we can win the battle of creating a low maintenance garden with the Jumanji we're blessed to own.  But, that's for another post…

Today I'm sharing a bit of what's (finally) been started in the kitchen on the new 'hoosier'!

Dollhouse Bookshelf

The second of the five requests that I got for the Waugh Woodshop all at the same time (oops, lol), was a custom dollhouse bookshelf.

I grabbed the measurements of the space they wanted to put it in, and also some photos of the furniture already in the room so that I could try and make it even slightly similar.  I can say that I don't know how successful I was on that last point, but it's cute nonetheless.

I wasn't able to find any pine boards deep enough (the deepest was 11.5" and even then, the boards were filled with knots and warped), so I used pine sanded plywood instead.

How To: The Workbench Plan

As I mentioned ages ago, I was going to write a post with some plan notes for the workbench I built last year with my Dad.  I started writing this at the time (thank goodness!) and didn't get around to posting it as it was sooooo long.  BUT, I've since had a direct request for it… so here it is!

I adapted the plan from one of my favourite websites, Ana-White.com.  Here's the link to the Workbench to Get the Job Done

… And here's my version!

Reclaimed snowflake decor

Now, the snowflake itself isn't reclaimed… I fear that simply isn't possible.  BUT, when this project was only a twinkle in my eye sometime last winter, I stumbled upon a pile of old wood at my parent's place.  They had taken a cistern out of their second floor bathroom at the farmhouse, and also removed all the wood that was there around the cistern itself.  It's tongue-and-groove wood, and had old paint and pencil marks and whatnot on it.  Yes please!!

Christmas Craft Exchange

Oh the weather outside is… weather :)   It's about that time of year again, when we start to freak out about the snow, and about the Christmas shopping, and about the Christmas eating and socializing… how will we fit it all in!?

A few weeks ago, I finally remembered to ask my girlfriend, Grandma Kelso, just what it would take for her to make me some crocheted dish cloths.  She's a super amazing crocheter (hunh, that's a word), and our cloths from Mom needed some extra friends in the rotation.  My payment was to be "one crafty item that fits in a Canada Post envelope".  Challenge accepted!

Kitchen retro-fit

This is our canvas

Since finishing the mug shelf, I've been spending whatever spare time I can manage down in the Waugh Woodshop trying to retro-fit kitchen cupboards for a friend who is selling her house in the Spring.

She was unfortunately blessed with having these horrendous melamine throw-backs.  The wooden 'handles' just scream of decades past, and when she was told by at least three other friends/companies that the only thing to do was spend at least $3k to replace them… I said NOT A CHANCE - let's see what I can do with this challenge.

Wedding gift: Mug shelf

This past weekend, we were blessed to be celebrating the marriage of GW's long-time friend and roommate (of 9 years).

For our wedding, they gave us a beautifully made serving platter.  Made by hand.  The bride does amazing pottery.

So, for their wedding, I thought we could return the favour with something that might suit the bride's hobby and be a unique gift in their home.  I found a photo of one that I liked, and then got the okay from the couple (no sense in spending all that time building it if they weren't interested) and got moving on building a mug display shelf!

The time has come!

Finally here, from lands afar 

I've tried writing this post four times now.  I'm just not sure how to start it.  I guess because it's something kind of big, and kind of important - to me anyways.  I'm not making a huge life change, so don't freak out.  But I am putting myself out there for the world to criticize, which is a risk in itself.

Having spent the last year doing custom wood projects, and three commissioned pieces… I thought it was time I made it semi-official, time to put together something that could speak for itself.

Allow me to introduce…

Re-warming an old house

Nope, this post isn't at all what you're thinking… we haven't done anything exciting and dramatic around here to cozy up our space.  Although, it is the season for log burning fires (soon!), turning the heat on (regretfully), and using every excuse possible to get a grande white chocolate mocha from Bucks ;)

This post is a bit of a sidetrack from Project Jumanji - instead it's a bit of helping someone else pretty up their space!

#ProductiveWeekend

Yup, it's only Saturday night and I'm already glowing inside from the productivity around here.  I think it's down to GW being up to a meeting by 9:30am, so I would have felt like a slug if I didn't get up and go too.  He also left me the car to go get wood, which meant that if I didn't get up and go, then he would have arranged alternate travel for nothing.

SO, as of 9:30, I was up, in the car and on my way to Starbucks then Lowe's so I could get some motivation ('Bucks) and some wood to build . . . .

Sunroom Sectional

So, I've been neglecting my blogging duties again - I'm sorry!  To be honest, there really hasn't been a lot going on here at good ol' Project Jumanji - not with projects anyways.

After my last post, we got deep into planning mode for our vacation!  We went to Venice and then on a cruise through the Greek Islands and down to Turkey.  It was two weeks of awesomeness.  Well worth the few years it took to save for the trip.  When we got back, I had a horrible cold, and then with some challenging weather I've been in and out of migraine hell basically since we returned. 

BUT, through this, I managed to spend a couple of hours with my sewing machine, and a couple more supervising GW so that we could get the sectional done for the sunroom.

Long awaited return!

Good morning all!  Another woodwork wedding project to share with you today, but first...

I realize it's been forever since I last posted (well, a month) but it's been a busy month.  After my last post, my life was filled with social appointments instead of 'designing and doing' around the house.  I had my sister's bachelorette, then my beautifying appointments leading up to her wedding the following weekend with "end of the school year" celebrations in-between.  It was certainly a whirlwind!  Once we congratulated the new couple, I got to building this post and then our computer died!

With many a phone call from GW, he successfully got MAC to cover the repairs, but it took a couple of weeks… so I was blog-frozen.  BUT, I'm Back!!!

Repurpose: a 'quick' fix

Sometimes with old houses, you just have to live with something the way it is... because to fix or repair it properly would open up 25 (literally) other problems and projects.  Okay, maybe not sometimes - maybe a lot of the time.  Us old-home owners call it "character"  ;)

You might recall that many moons ago, GW and I played plumber when we discovered a leaky wax ring on our toilet.  Our only toilet.  When we took the old one off, it was so old it broke and we had to buy a new one.  

When we put in the new one, it was much smaller, and unfortunately left a bit of "character" visible that I wasn't pleased with.