Kitchen Drawer Organizer

Back in the summer I picked up some ¾”x3” beech shorts at the wood store with the intention of building a drawer organizer for the kitchen cutlery drawer, which always looks messy.

I ripped the beech down into 1/8”x3” strips and laid them out into the pattern I wanted. With some glue and very carefully placed nails, I built the new organizer.

I gave it a couple of coats of clear poly and put it into the drawer. Oh, and also installed this dark grey rubber matting stuff. 

It looks so sharp with the light wood and the dark grey. Also so organized! Now I want to do the other utensil drawer.

And now we know: It’s quite difficult to get a nail gun to shoot into 1/8” material, there is a lot of patience require to line it up perfectly every time cause there is no room for error.

Maple Cutting Board

For the past month, I’ve been working on making a cutting board for my Mum for Christmas. I started by cutting a bunch of rectangular maple blocks and gluing them together in a stepping pattern.

Once all the blocks were in place, I trimmed it down on the table saw so it was a nice rectangle shape.

After a good sanding, I routered 2 ¼” grooves around the edges.

Finally it got 3 coats of butcher block conditioner. That stuff really deepens the colour and makes it look rich. 

And now we know: the product for wood boards and counters is fun to use, it’s got the consistency of hair gel and you just rub it in

Webbing Part 2

First on the plan for this weekend was finishing the webbing on the seat. I ran 3 more strips on each, running side to side and woven with the previous 3 rows.

Then I cut out additional curved pieces for the lower back and screwed them in place. I left these to the end to allow space for the seat webbing install. The back of seat webbing will now be attached to this curved piece.

Next I started on the webbing for the back. Same as the seat, 3 strips in each direction, but because of the curve these were not woven. 

Finally I covered the chairs in fabric. This will help keep the foam in place and from falling through the gaps in the webbing. 

And now we know: leave a gap of at least 1” between the seat and the lower back piece. Some of them I installed with less of a gap, thinking it would look better when upholstered, but having webbing plus 2 layers of fabric going through there is very tight.

Webbing Part 1

As a little more reinforcement for the chairs, I added an angled piece to each corner of the seat. Easy enough to cut, make the pocket holes, glue and screw in place...until you realize that 8 chairs means doing it 32 times!

Next I got to start on the webbing. Earlier this year I ordered a huge roll online and had it shipped to my in-laws who brought it back for me.

I started with the seats and did 3 strips front to back on each chair. 

And now we know: the online place had great quality webbing, it’s really easy to work from the roll and just pull out a section as you go

Sanding, Staining and Clear Coating Chair Legs

My husband ‘banned’ sanding indoors recently and unfortunately it is already cold here, so sanding the legs of these chairs was pretty unpleasant. Luckily it was only the legs though, as the rest will be covered when I upholster. 

Once sanded, I applied 2 coats of an oil based stain, same as my previous chairs, in a dark brown. It was very smelly in our house; ideally this would be done outside as well.

After a couple of days of drying, I gave them 2 coats of semi-gloss polycrylic. I actually used the same stuff as the hardwood floors upstairs as it has such a nice finish.

And now we know: don’t wear your respirator too tight, it makes your lips numb which feels super weird

Chair Frames Complete

With an extra long weekend giving me lots of time to work on my chairs, I got the frames completed for all 8 chairs. After a trip to the store for more wood, I finished cutting out all the back rails. They got clamped together and roughly sanded to ensure they were uniform in size.

The lower back rounded pieces got cut out and sanded.

Finally it was time to start assembly. The first step was attaching 2 back rails together with a curved piece at the top of the frame.

Then I built a jig to attach the side seat pieces to the front piece/front legs assembly. Since they are on a slight angle, this allows consistent and faster assembly.

All these seats and legs had to be stacked, cause I was running out of floor space at this point.

Next was attaching the front assemblies and back assemblies together and adding the curved piece at the back of the seat. This was the most pain in the butt part where I wished I had another set of hands, but I got through it and all the frames are complete

I love the way they look all lined up in my shop like this.

And now we know: always buy double the amount of screws you think you need, I had to make a second trip to the store for pocket hole screws

Making Chair Progress

This weekend I made great progress on my dining room chairs. I got a new tool to help make things easier...a benchtop bandsaw. After looking around for a few months and realizing there aren’t many options unless you want to spend $2000, I settled on this Rockwell one. It feels more durable and solid that any of the others in this price range.

Using the new bandsaw, I cut all the curved pieces for the top back, between the 2 back rails. These pieces are curved on both sides and are just over an inch wide.

Then I built a jig to help with the assembly of the front legs. It is just wood clamped to create a square corner, but it allowed me to quickly line up the pieces and have something solid to drill against.

I then assembled all 8 sets of legs, with a leg on each end and a straight piece between. These I had pre-cut and drilled for pocket holes. 

Since it was fairly nice out, ie not raining or snowing, I also got all the assembled legs sanded and they are ready for stain.

Finally I finished cutting out all the back rails...or finished as many as I could. I need to go buy more wood. Currently I have 9 out of 16 done.

And now we know: cutting with a bandsaw is different than any other saw I’ve used, most similar to a jigsaw. With a regular saw the blade is hard and you can push against is with the wood. With the bandsaw the blade flexes so too much pressure will cause it to cut wrong, you have to gently and slowly work the wood.

New Polka Dot Pillows

To go with the new couch, I bought fabric to make new pillows for the back room. It is black with grey polka dots and the piping will be red. Like always, the cat helped me cut it out.

I used red piping to trim out the grey and black fabric. 

The finished product is very cute, I rounded out the corners and synched in the sides a bit to make it fit snugly.

Also new in the room is the rug, it’s so pretty! The cat like it a little too much though, she started clawing it and ruined some of the tufting already.

And now we know: you find things at the most random times, I was ½ hour early to a party, decided to waste time in a Home Sense and happened to find this great rug.

Insulating the Front Attic

This weekend we finally insulated the second knee wall attic along the front of our house. Before it was filled with old blown in cellulose that was no longer doing the job and the walls had thin batts of insulation with paper backing.

So I donned my jumpsuit and headlamp and shoveled out all the old insulation, all 18 bags of it. This time around instead of carrying the bags though the house, Tom lowered them out the second bedroom window. Less dust equals a slightly happier husband during a reno. Then I vacuumed to make it even more clean in the attic

After a trip to Home Depot for 5 bags of insulation, I put in the wall batts and covered them with vapour barrier. This time we tried something different, I left the vapour barrier full width so it covers the wall, then continues onto the floor and about 18” up the other side wall. Hopefully this will help trap in the heat even more. 

 Finally we added insulation to the floor, the simplest and fastest portion of this project.

 Oh and I also attached some insulation and vapour barrier to the inside of the access door.

And now we know: this was definitely worth doing ourselves. We actually got a quote and it would have been $1200 just to remove the old stuff, never mind put in new. It was only about $250 for the new insulation and my labour is free!

Glad that is over though. I enjoy working on the house and I even don’t mind working in the attic, but the safety gear you have to wear is ridiculous and makes you so hot. Also the husband is so antsy about the dust 

Finishing the End Table

Back to work on that end table, I attached the legs to the box. I used screws from inside as well as glue. The hardest part was that my drill didn’t fit inside, so manual screwdriver in was.

 Then came 3 coats of clear coat over the stain

Next I attached the drawer front. I glued and nailed it in place, which in retrospect was a bad idea. It took 3 rounds of filler before the holes didn’t show.

 Once dry, I put a few coats of blue on the drawer front and edges and attached the handle

Here is the table sitting in place next to the sofa. I am happy with the shape, size and design, but am not 100% sure I like the blue with the wall colour. I’ll live with it for a while then I can always re-paint those parts.

And now we know: don’t nail through the front even if it is the easiest way to get the drawer front lined up properly. Bring your wall colour when you buy spray paint