^Looks good. I like the gray much better. Kinda iffy on painting the chair railing the same color as the wall. Too expensive to have it blend in, but that's a preference thing.

10/23/2013 7:37:54 PM

Looks good. Would have been nice if the wood was in a good position to stain it or something but it looks good how you finished it as well Looks like a great house with some some screwy finishes from the previous owner too.

We refinished a vintage coffee table this past week. This is how it looked in the store-front:



It was a really cool table with a style that matched ours well and it's solid wood (maple I think?). It was structurally in good shape and the finish was great everywhere except for the very-worn top. Ink stains, condensation stains, lots of deep scratches and surface scratches were all over it:



I used my Dremel Multi-max with the sanding attachment and went 80 grit -> 120 -> 240 -> 320 -> 400. Then we finished with Watco Danish Oil in natural/untinted finish, just following the instructions on the can.

This is a quick picture of how it turned out:



[Edited on October 24, 2013 at 10:13 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2013 10:12:28 PM

pulled out the carpet and linoleum this weekend and installed laminate.







[Edited on October 28, 2013 at 12:54 PM. Reason : .]

10/28/2013 12:53:14 PM

^looks a lot better!

10/29/2013 8:17:41 PM

Renovating a 3 bedroom town house in Richmond right now, but here's two cool projects I'm building on the side.


I made the build plan from a friend's table down in Florida when I was there Sunday. Thought it was cool and making my own derivative from it. Plan to make a convertible poker table top with maybe a wine cooler fridge into the base. I'll have to play with dimensions later next week since I'm customizing for a friend's apartment.


Need I say more? Halloween project building right now. Only two days left to build. Just some wood and PVC pipes.

10/29/2013 8:24:13 PM

Terrorist

10/29/2013 8:43:04 PM

Semi DIY project here? As part of our bonus room makover, we got two vintage pieces reupholstered. We spent a lot of time hunting down the perfect chair at thrift stores and ended up with a great, high-quality early-60s piece that just had really dingy fabric and needed a small face-lift. We picked out the fabric and detailed exactly how we wanted it finished.

Additionally, the sofa we used is 31 years old. My parents bought it before I was born and I have many pictures of myself on it as a baby and child growing up. They were going to junk it when they moved into their new house, but I really loved the minimalist frame for a sectional. I normally do not like many sectional sofas, but this one seemed like it was going to work really well. It needed new foam, the springs needed to be re-tied, and we bought the fabric, and detailed out all the changes we wanted to make.

The upholsterer did a really good job following all of my picky and detailed instructions. The only mistake he made was that we asked for 2 bench cushions on the seat of the sofa instead of 5 individual seat cushions and he accidentally did 5 individual seat cushions. I still think it would have looked sleeker with the 2 bench seat cushions and it would have been a more dramatic transformation but it still looks good and the quality of his work for his price was great. My wife can do some reupholstery but these two projects would have taken way too long for us to do right now with everything else we have going on.

I can safely say we probably saved $2000 to $2500 on these pieces in total getting used pieces reupholstered versus buying pieces of similar quality and style brand new. (We knew exactly what we wanted, but did not want to spend that kind of money in this bonus room).

Chair Before:



Chair after:


Sofa before:


Sofa after:



[Edited on November 10, 2013 at 4:15 PM. Reason : tags]

11/10/2013 4:12:46 PM

not nearly as impressive as most of you guys, but I've started on my garage workbench/storage project.

Phase 1 was a work bench with storage and to frame in my water tank to keep stuff out of the area/protect it. Shelving underneath it and on the walls to come. If you're wondering why it looks like 2 benches beside each other, the idea was to have completely independent benches in case the water tank has to be repaired/replaced - either portion can be easily removed, depending on the needs.









Not sure what I want to do along the wall that's at the right end of the bench. Need more bench area and storage, but that little wall for my water tank may come in handy for hanging things. What's there now is just temporary (I was bored and playing with my auto hammer that I never use)

[Edited on November 10, 2013 at 6:20 PM. Reason : .]

11/10/2013 6:17:02 PM

Guess I'm the only one left or my work is that bad

Phase 2 complete (lower/small workbench). Phase 3 beginning (french cleat). It doesn't seem as sturdy as I was thinking (the upper part seems a lot looser/wants to roll out easier than I had thought). I cut roughly 3" high cleats (from bottom edge to top of bias) at a 45; 2x3" screws in each stud. Guess I just need more verticals that cross the upper/lower assembly seam?

11/18/2013 1:32:49 PM

CalledToArms - how much did it cost to do the reupholstery?

11/18/2013 3:35:31 PM

^^ your work isn't bad. I really need to do build something similar but smaller in our garage but lots of other projects have taken precedence (some of which would have benefited from a better work area ironically). I like the thinking ahead in terms of getting to the water tank when needed down the road.

^ It will vary with a few different factors. I'll break down the costs somewhat for each item:

Chair:
-We purchased our own fabric. We bought it online via Jo-Ann for something like 60% off. You can spend as little or as much as you want on fabric so this can vary a lot. We had a manufacturer and series we had used before and been happy with at a reasonable price so we got it at 60% off Jo-Ann's price (other online-only stores carried it for probably 30-40% less than Jo-Ann's regularly). 7 yards of our fabric = $125.
-Labor + materials for the actual reupholstery was about $400. It included stripping it completely to the frame, fixing an exposed leg joint that had some structural damage, and then completely all new foam.

Sofa:
-Same story on the fabric, but 25 yards = $450.
-Same story on the labor & materials. He also re-tied the springs because they were sagging badly. The cost here was around $1150. That included a few hundred dollars for new, high-quality foam in both the back and seat cushions. I opted for the higher quality at the last minute (I was already going with a good kind but bumped it up a notch) since these pieces are in our upstairs living area which we plan to be the more lounge-y area / get more wear and tear than our downstairs furniture.

It wasn't "cheap" but it also saved a lot for comparable quality items. For example, two similar chairs I really like from a manufacturer who checks all my quality boxes (our downstairs sofa is from them):


$1100


$1300

And for the sofa, a few comparable quality items brand new:


$4000


$3200

All-in we saved at least 50% compared to new equivalents.

[Edited on November 18, 2013 at 4:17 PM. Reason : ]

11/18/2013 3:56:01 PM

Little DIY art project:




And here it is hanging in our bedroom. Also provided is a quick picture of our bedroom before we did all the work. In addition to the art in this shot, we also added flat-board chair-rail, trimmed out all the windows and painted the whole room.





[Edited on November 25, 2013 at 9:58 PM. Reason : ]

11/25/2013 9:55:04 PM

Did you make the "before" shot of the bedroom as "first year living out of a dorm" as possible to make the "after" shot better?? I think it's only missing a Scarface, Animal House, or 2pac poster.

All jokes aside...after picture looks great. As I was scrolling down I was like..."this picture is going to stand out like a sore thumb"...then the rest of the room came into view and I changed it to..."that looks really nice."

11/26/2013 8:40:54 AM

I thought it was a stock photo.

ha. awesome job. please come home with me.

11/26/2013 8:42:24 AM

haha. I actually didn't try and make it too poor-bachelor like. A lot of the before pictures in our house were taken on move-in day 3.5 years ago or soon after and they were just camera-phone pictures that really meant to serve as a back-up/placeholder for "before" pictures. However, in a lot of rooms I forgot how bad the before pictures really were until I was digging them up on my computer and we had already started a lot of the new work and it was too late to take better before pictures in some areas.

It wasn't that intentional but rather a big technology upgrade over 3.5 years combined with move-in disorganization vs final product. And yes, most of the furniture that was in the house on move-in day was college apartment furniture too

Glad you guys liked it though I know it's a little funky, but we were going for this modern Scandinavian type look in our room. I decided our bedroom was a good place to be a little crazy with the colors.

11/26/2013 8:58:10 AM

Quote :

"A lot of the before pictures in our house were taken on move-in day 3.5 years ago"

that makes more sense. i was trying to find anything similar from the old pic to the new and couldn't identify anything, except *maybe* the blinds!

11/26/2013 2:06:32 PM

haha yeah. Nearly all of the work in there has taken place in the past year, I just didn't have any other pictures of our room from move-in until we started working.

And the blinds are technically the same. They are nice blinds but were all beige which clashed with our white trim we installed everywhere. So, since they were removable blinds (they "lay" on the adjustment strings as opposed to the kind that have the string threaded through the blinds), we actually removed and painted each slat white and then put them back in. We have done that in nearly every window so far Time-consuming but much, much cheaper than new blinds.

[Edited on November 26, 2013 at 2:19 PM. Reason : ]

11/26/2013 2:18:53 PM

^Great work, dude. The window trim work and flat chair rail are awesome. Wall color choice is great!

11/27/2013 9:45:41 AM

Thanks! We put up chair rail in two other rooms earlier in our house and went with the more standard profile, but now I really wish we had used the flat-board trim in those rooms as well because it really meshed with our style much better.

11/27/2013 10:47:10 AM

I fucking love that nightstand

11/27/2013 2:05:45 PM

That's one of my favorite things in the room for sure. We purchased it from West Elm.

11/27/2013 2:30:30 PM

just went through and read pages 10-18. Damn some of you people are talented. I wouldn't know where to even begin with alot of the stuff I saw. I'm working on two projects right now that I may snap some pictures of and upload on here in the future. One, I'm almost done with however and you wouldn't really be able to see the difference from now til the end product.

12/5/2013 4:12:30 AM

Design/structural questions:

I am looking at building a storage loft in my garage. It will be within a roughly 8x8, 3-sided nook.

Normal construction plans:

(2) girders on 2 side walls
(1) rim joist on the back wall
(front is open)
(6) internal joists + joist hangers for attaching to girders @16" OC from center of structure
(2) 2x4s turned on face for ledgers (attached to bottom of girders)
1/2" plywood sheeting

Since this will be about 8.5' overhead (bottom of structure), I don't plan on putting anything all heavy up here (so no large point loads, but the overall load could be quite a bit). So my questions:

- 2x6 or 2x8s all around?

- The front edge will be somewhat blocked by my garage door. I plan on leaving enough room to allow a ladder + person to get up on the loft from the front edge. But should I also include a scuttle in the middle for better access to the entire loft? I can imagine this thing being full of stuff, and if you can only access it from 1 side, then it's pain to get to stuff in the back. A scuttle in the middle would provide easier access to the entire area. This would obviously cut down on storage space, but I'm not all that concerned about it. My friend did something very similar and he is quite happy with a central access point.

- If I go with a scuttle, do I need to double up the joists or cross-members?



[Edited on December 5, 2013 at 9:47 AM. Reason : thanks]

12/5/2013 9:46:48 AM

I would double joist the scuttle myself. May not be entirely necessary depending on what you are putting in the surrounding area, but it would definitely be peace of mind.

12/7/2013 2:09:07 PM

12/9/2013 11:35:11 AM

^^^do you think you'd need a ledger if you were using hangers? maybe i'm just misreading what you're saying, especially the 2x4 turned on face part

and I think you'd be fine to not double joist at the scuttle. you'd only be spanning 8 feet. plus any load on either side of the scuttle would be sufficiently carried by the 'cut' joists on either side, which will presumably bear on hangers between the girder and header (and the header bearing on hangers to each joist). but the cost and difficulty of doubling the joists are both pretty low, so I say go for it. I think if you were cutting existing load bearing joists elsewhere (i.e. associated with a floor or roof trusses etc), I would without a doubt double them up.

and I would think 2x6 would do just fine. IMO the most important thing is finding where to anchor the girders

12/9/2013 3:38:50 PM

Nothing too impressive, but I added two 2.5' extensions to my 8' x 7' Lifetime shed...making it an 8' x 12' shed. Basically had to separate my shed in the middle, pull it apart, and then build in the extensions. Wife was impressed because it took two guys (a friend and I) to build the shed the first time...and it was difficult because we had no solid base and my buddy who was in charge of the directions kept fucking shit up. It took us all friggin day. The extension part was done by my lonesome and mostly in the pouring rain...and I somehow finished it in 4 hours...just in time to shower and go to a friend's dinner party.

Now we actually have an "aisle" in our shed and don't have tip toe around objects like its a mine field in order to get anything. My grown up Erector Set project :

(last two pictures were taken at night when it was foggy...apologies for shitty quality)

12/9/2013 6:29:22 PM

^^thanks. I kinda fubar'd my thinking/description there. I really meant 2x4 ledgers or joist hangers. I'm leaning towards hangars, as a personal preference.

I'll anchor the girders (and the rim joist) into the existing wall studs. (3)x3"/stud wood screws good enough or do I need to step up to lag screws (or 4" wood screws or so called structural screws)? The studs are behind drywall, but I've got a stud finder that's about 75% accurate it's always easy to tell when you miss a stud.

My gut feeling was to double the joists and cross-members for the scuttle. Probably overkill, but it seems that 3/3 of us so far say go for it.

[Edited on December 9, 2013 at 6:49 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2013 6:43:10 PM

yeah I'd go 3" minimum on the screws - you'll lose at least 2" on the 2x and drywall

and you wouldn''t hurt anything by sinking more than 3 screws on each side, just in case you don't get enough grab on one or two

12/9/2013 8:38:55 PM

put some shelves in one of my attics. also used some wasted space between the roof rafters for wrapping paper storage.

Just used those prefab adjustable shelf units. A bit expensive, but quick and easy.

12/14/2013 4:37:55 PM

^^ I always use lag screws on my projects. Mostly because I like the bolt head and ease that creates. I always throw a washer on, and then tighten down with a socket wrench.

12/15/2013 3:29:53 PM

Just finished increasing my usable closet space.
We have 9' ceilings downstairs, and the closets are finished the full height.
The closet doors aren't even 7' tall, which makes for a lot of unusable space because of how shallow this closet is (24").

First, we cut the 2' x 4' opening, then trimmed it with 1/4" board.


Then we found similar moulding and painted it all to match.


We are going to hang a fabric curtain, either texture/patern or tapestry, to block the opening.

We plan to store all of our luggage and rarely used items in the hole.

12/23/2013 2:47:23 PM

I like that use of space

12/23/2013 4:20:41 PM

that's great.

12/23/2013 8:03:38 PM

Built a pretty cool little flip-down workbench yesterday. It's a little larger than 24" x 48". I've got it set up as a pocket-hole drilling station and also for assembling cornhole boards. It flips down nice and flat against the wall so it's completely out of the way when not in use.





The hinges even have intermediate locking locations so I an set it on an angle and use gravity to square everything up before clamping/assembling....



I put it on my french-cleat system so I can move it around really easily if my situation dictates a change in shop layout...

1/6/2014 9:29:43 AM

very nice

1/6/2014 10:42:48 AM

^^ I've been planning on building one of those for a while. Where did you get the locking hinges? I haven't been able to fnd them locally.

[Edited on January 6, 2014 at 12:43 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2014 12:42:19 PM

^They are impossible to find locally, in my experience. I got these at homedepot.com, but no stores stock them. They have 12" and 16" models available. There are also some that you can snag via Amazon.com, the prices were pretty comparable. Just search "folding shelf bracket" on either site.

A quick caution, alignment of these is critical. My first attempt they weren't parallel enough and they bound up upon folding in. I ended up having to attach the top with only one screw in each hinge, then laid down and aligned the hinges while they were folded, marked, unfold, then fasten. It was a hassle but the result was well worth the PITA.

1/6/2014 12:57:11 PM

Cool. Thanks for the information. This might motivate me to actually build it. How about the french-cleat. Is it stable workbench? I like that idea but just curious if it moves around any or rocks when you are working on it.

1/7/2014 9:35:25 PM

Just posted a vanity in classifieds if anyone is looking to upgrade

1/10/2014 3:45:20 PM

^^It's surprisingly solid and doesn't waiver a bit. I probably wouldn't use it to hammer on or use a press on, but it's pretty damn sturdy.

I did bolster the french cleat hanging a bit by zapping a screw through the 2x4 into the wall rail. I thought about taking a 3" screw through the 2x4 and go into the stud, but it wasn't necessary. Even if you don't use a french cleat and instead you just go straight into the studs, I'd suggest using some sort of "feet" for the brackets so they aren't sitting on (and eventually crushing) the drywall.

1/10/2014 4:44:28 PM

I really enjoy this thread. Does anyone have any updates?

1/22/2014 9:40:22 PM

Just redid 2 bathrooms, the living room and the entire second floor.

New toilet, floor, vanity, sink mirror fixtures and paint.




New fixtures, mirrors, floor, paint


No more wires, new furniture, lighting.


Widened the driveway to park the trailer next to the garage.


Second floor loft


[Edited on February 17, 2014 at 6:09 PM. Reason : .]

2/17/2014 6:08:42 PM

Nice! What kind of flooring is that on the second floor loft? I really like it. I should post some pictures of our new floors downstairs, but we want to do a different kind of wood upstairs

We have the exact same fireplace.

2/17/2014 8:36:08 PM

^^Very nice! I love the green walls in the living room and the first/smaller bathroom. Are they both the same color?

[Edited on February 17, 2014 at 10:04 PM. Reason : .]

2/17/2014 10:03:48 PM

Tool question in relation to an upcoming project...

What do you guys recommend for a power saw?? I've borrowed a friend's saw for past projects, but now that I've extended the shed for extra tool room and have a few projects coming up, I'm going to get my own. First project will be a raised garden bed. I don't plan on building houses, but I want something that can do mid-sized projects and last for a while. Thoughts?

2/17/2014 10:19:15 PM

any decent name brand handheld circular saw will do. don't get a cordless. don't fool with gimmicky lasers and such.

2/18/2014 6:39:19 AM

Mid-price range?

2/18/2014 7:18:42 AM

The floor upstairs was a clearance laminate I got at Lumber liquidators, cant remember the name. I wanted the same bamboo that I put downstairs but it was discontinued and couldnt find anything to match exactly, so I went with something completely different.

The green in the living room and the half bath is the same.

Only thing left to do is the master bedroom and bath.

Also finished the guest room:

2/18/2014 7:32:24 AM

put together some stalls for composting and a rough screening system. chickenwire sucks.

2/18/2014 9:01:11 AM