A Hutch for the Kitchen project!

In fabricating the new kitchen cabinets....the wife wanted to include a slide out garbage container deal.  Which is good...I would like to eliminated the sight of the garbage can from the kitchen also.  However, it cost us a few drawers.  To make up for that....and to make up for a coffer mug shelf and a spice cabinet that were also lost to the new remodel, I built this hutch to take up the slack.  Came out really great with slide out drawers on the bottom behind the doors...a large pull out drawer just below the counter top and then up above...a mug nook and slide out spice drawer, as well as some additional storage behind a pair of doors at the top. Some pics of it's fabrication:

Our kitchen remodel this summer

It's been a while since adding any new projects into my blog.  A good reason for that is that I was busy a bee renovating our kitchen.  Before even getting into the demo of the old kitchen, I was busy in the shop fabricating the new red oak cabinets that were going to be installed in the renovation.  Here - a few pics of the cabinet building:

  Those pictures being from the shop....here are a few of the kitchen remodel once the cabs were built and ready to install:

  It was a heck of a large job, but I have to say...very well worth the time and expense!

CPAP Cabinet

 For more years than I care to admit to...I have wanted/needed to build a small cabinet type piece of furniture for our bedroom to set my CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) machine on top of.  I'm not sure of just how long it has been since I started using the machine, but I can tell you that I have somewhere in the neighborhood of like 27,000 hours of use on one.  I had been using this ramshackle set up that was nowhere near sufficient for holding the machine, but for reasons only God knows...I never got around to building a replacement.  Well, since I retired...I have much more easily found the time to dedicate in the shop to things I have been meaning to fabricate.

 So, here is what I came up with - I sized it so that as the CPAP machine rests on top...the top of the machine was not a hindrance to me from reaching things on my nightstand. I wanted to make the cabinet in the same exact style of the rest of the bedroom furniture that I built for the bedroom (see elsewhere in this blog) but I could only basically copy the raised panel motif and the coloration difference between the panels and the rest of the casework.  I loved the coloration difference because it set apart the panels and highlighted them.  I was not able to match the style of "feet" in the corners from the other furniture.  The footprint of this small cabinet didn't allow for it, so I just winged it with a simple 45% angle up on each corner.

Forgot about these items

  I had for a long time wanted to build some outdoor tables to hold some planters for in front of our garage.  In doing a project for a co-worker a number of months ago...in return, besides paying me for building the project...he also gave me a darned good load of white oak that he had cut up on his property in Pennslvania.  I gladly took it and it was some very nice clear stock.  I made the tables and also the planters out of this stuff and I still have more of it left.  I also incorporated some walnut into the planters for visual interest. 

Walnut and Oak Picture Shelf

I had wanted to build a nice walnut and red oak picture shelf unit for quite a while.  But I never got around to doing it.  First, I had to wait for the supply of walnut that I had, to dry to a level where it was low enough to work with.  Then, other projects took over importance and the shelf just got put on the back burner.  Well I finally found time to do it and after literally weeks of churning around ideas in my head as to the design (which I am STILL not completely happy with) I finally got to building.  I did incorporate some new stuff in this project.  Wrapping the doors with an oak trim...using some spalted maple panels in the cabinet portion doors and sides and the most important element...I tried sliding dovetail joints for the first time with a relative degree of success.

  I finished the project and it sat around the shop - in the way - for about a month and a half.  Reason?  Because I told myself that it wouldn't be hung until we redid the family room where it was to be hung.  So, Karen and I finally got around to doing just that.  We wanted to rip up the old carpet and replace that and also sponge paint the walls.  Both of which ended up being a great choice.  The sponging turned out quite well and we are so happy with it.  I made a new walnut threshold for the entry doorway to the room and the room just feels like a completely new room.  We love it.

  So, here is the picture shelf hanging in its place.  Now all we need is to get some pictures on it.  I will probably end up making some picture frames such as the ones in this blog.  You can see them if you go back and search for them.  I am sure they are included in th archives.

New Address sign for our home

Another of my recent projects had me fabricating up a new address number sign for our home which would be hung out along Rt. 31 where we live here in Ringoes,NJ.  I had made one many years ago, but I made it out of wood that wasn't very durable for exterior use.  I painted it well to protect it from the weather, but weather is an everyday enemy and eventually, it caught up to it and it began to fall apart.  About two months ago... a co worker gave me a nice amount of white oak in partial payment for a project I had built for him.....see the nightstand down below.

   White oak stands up to the weather very well and I knew that this sign was going to be one of the things I used some of that white oak for.  I recycled the black plastic numbers from the old sign and finished this sign with Minwax Helmsman exterior finish and it really laid down a nice coat of finish on it and I am confident that this sign will last a long time signifying where we live.  I purchased a new post mount since the old one was just about rotted out of the ground and when I had the sign up and proud....I went a step further and mounted two solar activated spotlights on the crossmember above the sign and shining down on it.  They light it up nicely in the evening hours and now, visitors at night should have a relatively easy time of it finding us.

Remembering a Veteran

A co-worker who knew I dabbled in woodworking asked me if I could help him with something.  A relative of his...a veteran of one of the countries armed services had decided to throw out his service jacket and hat after it had been damaged in a flood where his basement had been under water.  The co-worker and his wife secured the jacket and hat...had them dry cleaned and they came out just fine.  He wanted me to build him a display unit for hanging on a wall that would feature the jacket and cap, along with a picture from back in his military days.  I was proud to help him and the project would be a simple one...with the exception of how to secure the items in the unit.  That problem was solved and it turned out fairly nicely.  Here it is just before I presented it to him.