Friday, December 31, 2021

Shelves for Ella

 My daughter wanted some extra storage in her room, so I whipped up some quick shelves. I had some 1x6 oak laying around, and some Spanish Oak stain by Old Masters leftover from another cool project. Add polyurethane and some stylish brackets, and I'm really pleased with how these turned out!


This took a lot of epoxy, still not sure I got it safe




I started with rough sawn oak, cut the boards to length, ripped the sides to width, then plane the faces flat. Once you're dressed all six sides, sand through the grits (80, 120, 180, 220, 320) and add the stain. This was a wiping stain, I love Old Masters products. Brush it on, wipe off 5 minutes later and that white oak is suddenly almost black.  Add a few coats of polyurethane and install the brackets. I found the brackets on Amazon.

She loves them! Who says you can't make teenagers happy?

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Banner Elk Update

 As we settled into the Banner Elk townhouse there was a need for a ton of updates. While I still have a long way to go, there are a few to start with. 

First, we got the fraud bed installed on the back porch. I had to cut off some scrap 4x4 PT posts to make legs for the bed, and attach those. Then cut off the existing hanging boards to make it fit in the space.


Complete with teenager

We also hung the TV on the wall. This is really cool.


Kelley had an idea for the bathroom, she found it on Pinterest. I liked it, so I built it. Basically we just replace the cabinet with some walnut shelves and a sink that sits on top. I have to start by gluing up the walnut panels

It starts with raw walnut

Rough cut to length, table saw to width, plane everything flat

Add biscuits and glue up the panels

Epoxy fill the knot holes

Large panels ready to use, these are about 23" deep and have a live edge front


Did another panel for a desk in the bedroom (below)

Before - cabinet

During? no cabinet

After - add live edge walnut panels, sink, faucet

Finito

These were all good additions to the townhouse. That bathroom especially turned out better than I expected. It was a great idea, and I had fun building it!

I work from home, so that really means work from anywhere. Here's the nook where I put a shelf to use as a work desk when I'm in the mountains with that other panel.



My brand on the shelf - Handmade by John Flynn


Finally, sometimes we bring the cat with us up there if we're going to be in the mountains for more than a few days. We needed a clean way for the cat to get to the top of the bunk beds, so I built a cat kingdom. Kelley found some old carpet at a thrift store so the cat can scratch and climb easily.


Now with some carpet

Installed

 

Notice how the cat kingdom overlaps the bunk beds - I measured that from memory!

These all turned out really great, but that's not the only custom stuff I had to build for this place. The tables are up next.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Finishing Graduate

 I finally did get all of the epoxy and varnish onto the 12' Wood Duck CLC kayak The Graduate. It cleaned up pretty good, I thought. After we finished, she launched!




Why not put a hole in the boat?





Got the kids out at the launch

No leaks! We're in Lake Raleigh on the NC State centennial campus




She was quite paranoid - and never gets into my boats




Graduate floats and paddles like a dream! She's fast and agile, ready for fishing. I'm going to enjoy this boat for a long time to come.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Time in the mountains

 If you've ever wondered why I love going to the NC mountains so much, this might explain it in pictures:

Yep, 110* when we left Raleigh, it did show 111* when we were on the highway

4 hours later and 3000 ft higher in elevation, only 68*. Amazing! I can't take the heat

Lena wanted to visit Foggy Pine Books after Tom Hanks did the super bowl commercial for them

Bigfoots baseball! Local small baseball games are the best


The Boone Bigfoot himself

July 4 fireworks at Sugar Mountain Ski Resort

Where else can you watch fireworks on a ski slope?

Out on a walk in Banner Elk

Just enjoying a cup of coffee on the back porch

It really is a magical place and I can't get enough of it up there in the summer.