Saturday 27 September 2008

Skeletons in the Closet

How familiar is this situation? This is my side door closet area. And just to note; it's not that we are a messy family, it's just that there is nowhere to put anything. So this weekend I am whipping together a really basic closet organizer to help alleviate this major disaster. It's definitely nothing fancy and to tell you the truth, is completely made out of scrap lumber I have stored in my garage. I'll post the final project on here when I get it installed.

This time it's about using scrap material in order to solve a problem and not so much about aesthetics.

On a completely different topic, I spent some time also assessing damage control on our old camper trailer. We've only had the unit for about 2 years from a family friend who gave it to us for free (pretty sweet deal). However, the trailer is also just about 40 years old and time has not been so kind to it. But once I got into the nooks and crannies of the unit, I came to realize that it mostly just needs some cosmetic upgrading.

The reason I mention any of this on the site is because Chris and I were talking about how much of the unit could be rebuilt to make it more practical. This could involve rebuilding or redesigning some of the cabinets and crevices and even installing new lighting and enhanced features such as a radio, tv and other assorted low voltage accessories that are available today. Basically, we would like to take an old trailer and make it into a modern one without taking away from it's original look and design too much. If we could pull something like that off, who knows where future projects could take us? Is it possible to flip trailers?

The best part about this project is that much of it CAN be done during the winter months as most of the work would be interior. However, my wife does not agree that we should restore it because our minivan is not designed to pull it. As it stands right now, we can't take it anywhere unless we get someone else with a truck to pull it for us. She's convinced that we should sell it for whatever we can get and buy ourselves a tent trailer that we can store in our yard in the winter. It is more practical because we CAN pull it with our van, but a tent trailer is not nearly as rugged or waterproof. Anyone care to comment?

Tuesday 16 September 2008

New Projects on the Way

Wow, it's been a VERY busy summer this year for Chris and I. So many personal obligations have come into play, leaving room for little else. Chris has been plugging away at his house for most of the summer landscaping his yard, building a deck and new rooms in his basement including his home theatre.

I spent most of my summer finishing my fireplace and family room. My neighbour across the street who owns her own interior design company hasn't had much for us to do right now. Things are slow in business everywhere and financial analysts are predicting that it may not get better for awhile. The good part is, this is the perfect time for us to spend time designing as much material as possible so we can be ready when the work starts coming in.

One project I intend to tackle this fall is to rebuild the side door coat closet. Currently, it has no practical storage usage and everything just winds up on the floor such as shoes and coats. Of course, it's going to get worse in the winter when mittens and hats are also involved. So my new project is to rework that area by building a custom shelving unit in there.

So far, my winter project is to frame in the hallway in my basement and to redo my family room coffee table which has taken a severe beating over the last few years from the kids. The table was only made out of soft pine so it didn't take long for the kids to dent the life out of it.

I was also given an old version of a well known CAD program and intend to spend the winter learning how to use it for all of my future furniture designs. Knowing how to use that program will make my designs not only more professional, but will make them easier to plan out with much more accuracy.