Out of the Ordinary Projects

I thought you would like to see some of the small miscellaneous projects I’ve worked on in recent months that were interesting but perhaps not big jobs that merit a whole post.

The first photo is a customized beverage/organizer for the console of a conversion van.  The second photo is a trophy/award cabinet made from parts of an old entertainment center.  The third photo is the family crest of our neighbor.  I researched her name, enlarged the design to make a pattern, then cut it out and painted it with acrylic paints.  The fourth photo is a cabinet that can be used for a variety of things..it is in the American Primitive style with a solid surface top.  It is perfect for any style of sink, but I think a top mount china bowl would look really nice.  The fifth photo is of a custom laundry cabinet that had to fit an odd size area alongside the washer and dryer.  It will get a granite top.  The sixth photo is a vanity I did for a close friend who often has small children visiting.  The bottom center drawer pulls out and becomes a step stool so the little ones can reach the sink.  When it’s no longer needed as a stool, it is easily converted to regular drawer. As you can see, I get asked to do a variety of different projects and am always looking for ways to build nice pieces from things that may usually be discarded.  I am also getting more and more requests for repair/refinishing of damaged antique furniture and am having a great time with this new venue.  Look for a future post on some of those type of projects.

Cypress is one of the woods that used to be used alot here in the South, but in more recent years not so much.   I recently had a job working with cypress as I had to match the existing wood work in a home that was completely trimmed out with this wood.  All the doors and cabinetry were cypress as well.  I love this wood as it has so much character and the patterns can vary from subtle to wild all in the same board.  The particulars of this project were to complete a large closet in the guest bedroom/office that had never been finished except for one shelf.  The opening was deep for a closet as well as tall.  Because the room is used for an office and guest space, the shelving, rods, and media compartments needed to be figured carefully to get the maximum usage.  Since cypress trim had been added (many years ago when the house was built) to the closet opening as well as the entry door and baseboards, matching the color was going to be tricky.  After a number of test runs, I finally came up with a perfect match in color.  Using the entry door style as a guide, I duplicated this style in the closet doors.  The doors over the top of the closet are hatch style, lifting up and locking into position, revealing deep storage bins for seasonal and bulky items.  The media doors are barrister style with tinted glass.

Friends of ours recently retired and moved to the family lake house south of Jacksonville.  The house had been in the family a long time and when our friends decided to move there, they decided a great deal of updating and improvement was needed.  For the past two years they have replaced windows, painted, cleaned, done extensive landscaping, and a whole variety of other necessary repairs and upgrades.  It is amazing what they have been able to accomplish working only part-time on the home as this was all done before they moved from the city and were still employed.  One of the drawbacks to this charming small lake house however is the lack of adequate storage for linens, clothing, books, seasonal house hold items, and a good place for the TV.  The room chosen for the storage cabinet is long and narrow with a window at one end. There was also the opening in the interior wall left by a window no longer installed that needed to be covered. They did not want anything real elaborate or to look like kitchen cabinets but it had to blend nicely with and not overpower the lovely antiques and other furniture in the room.  My solution was this multi-level curved cabinet which gave them tons of storage  and a very sturdy base for the TV.  A solid surface top was selected for the top on the lower section which also had a “knockout” to corral all the cords.  Beautiful hardware was chosen to complete the project and our friends couldn’t be happier with the outcome.  It’s always fun to leave your customers happy, but even more so when those customers are dear friends.

Punch list day.  This was the day (actually I spent nearly 2 full days) I focused on getting as many of the little details wrapped up.  The gas line has been installed and tested as has the electrical/plumbing systems.   The smoke detector and fire extinguisher are in there proper places.  Chris made a shower curtain to fit the tub (challenging because of the double curves to work around), and the step and bumper got a coat of paint.  The new sky lites are installed, the floor is mopped and the owner has a new coffee maker ready to go.   This has been a fun but challenging project and all and all it went really well.  So well in fact, I wouldn’t mind doing another RV.  The owner came out today to take it on it’s first weekend out and I am eager to know how well he and the trailer do this first time.  I spoke to him shortly after he left to see how it was handling on the road and he gave a good report

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The holding tank finally arrived and today after making two custom brackets, I got it attached to the underside of the RV.  Don’t you just love projects you have to do on your back underneath something?   Getting it in place allowed me to finally set the toilet and finish all the work in the lavatory area.  Chris spent a good part of the day sewing curtains for all the windows  and a privacy curtain for the lavatory area.   I finished the repair and refinishing on the couch frame and underneath storage after discovering some of the parts were missing.  I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t going back in like it should when I realized some key pieces were not there, so I had to make  some parts to replace those.  I took apart the folding table and found it was not repairable, so built a new improved model.  This folds up and slides in a tidy pocket alongside the couch.  The mattress arrived for the bed, as did one of the sky lites.  We are down to the final punch list and the owner and I are getting excited to see it all done and ready to go.

Wow, the list is getting shorter as we complete each task for the renovation and repair of this RV.  Painting is coming to a completion with the inside of the closets and cabinets now finished.  The woodwork around the toilet is in place, primed, sanded and painted.  The service doors are in place and remaining woodwork has been put up on the bench for repair and refinishing. You can see from the second photo how rough the finish is on the couch frame/cabinet.  I’ll need to reinforce some of the structure on this piece, then sand, stain, seal, and top coat the wood.

I’m working again today on the woodwork around the toilet, repairing the bottoms of the upper cabinets while Chris begins priming the remaining areas that need to be painted.  The woodwork requires alot  tedious cutting and fitting as each piece is different. The new gas tanks are here as well as some additional fixtures the owner brought over.  We find it challenging to work in such  a small space without getting into each others way.  I’ve also been busy with the caulking gun, sealing up any cracks and joints that may be a problem for moisture.  I always caulk any edges where water may seep in or cracks where dirt can be a problem.  For any beginners with using caulk, use a wet rag to wipe it down, the caulk will stay in the crack, but be removed from the adjoining surfaces leaving a nice clean sealed joint.

Now on the final stretch to finish this RV before Friday afternoon, this is the day for plumbing and wiring.  This is challenging work because of the tight spaces everything has to fit into.  I serviced the ac unit and put that back in place and also installed a nice light above the mirror above the toilet.  I straightened up the wiring harness for an outlet and switch  by the door, and installed new locks in the hatches and entry door.  Everything electrical is working properly once again.  The owner has just informed me that the holding tank he ordered will not arrive until Mon. of next week so much to his disappointment, he will not be taking the trailer on Fri.  This is not so good for him, but good for us as it gives us more time to address some of the problems that would have had to wait until later.  Onward.

This is the last day I will be working on the RV until next week.  I want to be able to have all the holes closed up so that in the event it rains while I’m away from this project, I won’t have to worry about leaks.  I installed the new hot water heater today, worked on the bumper area some, and put in the trim around the wheel wells.  The counter for the sink is built, sink set in place with the new faucet.  The refrigerator has arrived and is in place with the wooden end panel and cabinet doors below the sink refinished and hung.  Patches have been made to cover unneeded service ports and additional damaged partitions.  Urethane has been applied to the vanity top and shelf above the couch.  The owner has been by and is pleased with the progress thus far.

Well work is continuing at a break neck pace.  Today I installed the piece of obscure glass over the toilet area and then began the woodwork around the tub.  Chris reupholstered the front of the bed frame after I had repaired all the damaged parts on it.  I also refinished the cabinet doors and frame work below the bed frame.  Alot of the original mahogany paneling, partitions and cabinet doors is in pretty rough shape so I’m having to cut parts away and replace it with maple plywood which will be painted.  The “glory” work is done now, and we are entering the phase of doing alot of little puttery, time consuming jobs that are not as obvious as the new floor or paint job.  Never the less, it’s all part of the job, and when I turn this RV over to the owner I want to be able to say I did my best with the resources in hand.   Great craftsmanship is found not so much in the showy  big parts of a project, but in the little details that make everything else look wonderful and work smoothly.