One thing I enjoyed in 2008 was having an actual workshop. At our old house I had to drag all the tools out of the basement for each project and put them away each day. It wasn’t very productive. Carla is amazed at the speed projects are completed now. Here are some of the projects I completed last year.

Street Sign

Carved Street Sign

Carved Street Sign

Since we have a new house we needed a new street sign. I have decided everything I do should be a little bit different or unique so the sign has some curves and it is my first attempt at carving wood. I used my Dremel to carve the numbers and the carving looks very good from the street. We initially used some synthetic gold leaf but it soon lost it shine and Carla replaced it with real gold leaf.

Garden Shed

Garden Shed Under Consturction

Garden Shed Under Construction

Believe it or not, we need storage! A bigger house and not enough places to store stuff. How’d that happen? One the first projects was a garden shed for Carla. We have storage for garden implements and a work area for potting plants, etc. I put two small skylights in the roof so there is lots of light inside yet it minimizes security issues. We used some wood paneling that is similar to the house and white trim so it matches nicely.

Studio and Office in the Basement

The basement was unfinished when we moved in and we did the drywall, installed a floor and built a wall. I installed two doors and trimmed the windows. I haven’t finished the ceiling as I mount stuff to the ceiling for the studio. Along the back wall I built some shelves for storage and created panels to hang in front of the shelves. The panels are painted white on one side and black on the other. Since the panels are movable I can hang them in front of the shelves or along the walls to add and subtract light for studio work. I made some little round shelves for the computer speakers and built a nice shelf along the ledges for books and other stuff. It was first time I used a bevel gauge and the biscuit cutter I inherited from Dad. The results look great!

Ian’s Fire Pit

Ian\'s Fire Pit

Ian's Fire Pit

Every pyromaniac needs an outlet so I bought some bricks one day from one of my customers so Ian could build a fire pit. Since then he has been adding benches built from blocks of wood and 2x6s and keeping his friends warm and entertained.

Coffee Table for Ashley

Carving the Legs

Carving the Legs

Ashley decided to move out and she went shopping for furniture. Any decent quality furniture was out of her price range so she asked me to make a coffee table for her. This was another opportunity to create something unique and since Ashley loves shoes I decided to use boots for the table legs. I found some good pictures to use as a pattern on the Jimmy Choo website. I used the bandsaw to rough cut the shape of the boots and a rasp and sandpaper to finish the shape.  Once the heels and ankles started to feel real good (too good) I knew I had the shape right. A picture of the finished table was featured on the Wood magazine website. Quite an accomplishment for my first piece of furniture!

I also made a TV stand for her as well but due to time constraints it was very basic.

Jimmy Choo Boots Table

Jimmy Choo Boots Table

Other Projects

We completed quite few other projects as well.

  • Built in counters in Carla’s sewing room for her sewing machine and cutting material.
  • Wall hangers in the laundry room to hang shirts and clothes from the dryer.
  • Work bench in the workshop for easy access to tools while working.
  • Workstation for the mitre saw and bench for the lathe.
  • Workstation for the router table.
  • Storage shed for wood under the deck.
  • Storage area for the garbage cans and recycling bin.