Been a Year Break

Well, how about that. I took a year off with no warning and then I came back with no warning. Not sure how long this will last though. I am a busy bee these days. Not only am I still working on the house (this half bath is going to make me lose my sanity I think) and started a new business in January of this year. I am now the proud owner of Calm Seas Business Services, LLC. Which is right now just a name of a business because I have not had time to get a customer. I am not sure how to even go about getting one, but I have a business and once I find another business in need of an accountant/bookkeeper I will be set. 

In other news, I am still at my old job which I still hate passionately. It pays the bills and thus I stay. Year after mind & sanity sucking year. For some fun news, I am remodeling my bathroom. Not the master bathroom yet. I WILL be doing that one, but I have to do the half bath downstairs so I know what I am up against. Get a little practical experience under my belt before I go doing a massive remodel upstairs. 

So far, the project has been crazy. Here is the lowdown. My totally yucky blah half bathroom before pictures.....

Seriously who puts in a red laminated counter top?

Corner of the mirror. I think I shall paint the mirror black.

I dislike the brown trim. I want to paint it white to match the rest of the rooms in the house.

I see you trying to look at that "awesome" floor in there. It is indeed linoleum flooring that is supposed to look like parquet flooring. Yikes. And it shows the 30 years or so of dirt no matter how much you clean it.

And have I even mentioned my super "special" light fixture above the mirror. I suppose it is supposed to look like flowers or something, but they look like creepy claws. Creepy I say!

I am definitely going to be doing some tile in there. I have some big plans you see. I want to do a similar look to this picture I found online. I just love this bathroom and the color is perfect!

 I want a new light fixture and hopefully I can get this one.

I am going to be getting my new sink at the Habitat for Humanity Restore in town. They have sinks for about $20-$30 and will work perfect for what I need. As for the vanity, it has to go and I will be building a new one (hopefully) that looks good and is simple and pretty in it's own way. :-)

I also want to do the tile that looks like wood planks. It might make me a hypocrite to bash linoleum for looking like wood, but then I do tile that looks like wood. It might, but I don't care. I went round and round trying to decide what would look smashing in there, but wouldn't break the bank and would hold up to young sons with questionable aim at the toilet moments. 

Top the new vanity off with a pretty new facet like this one and I will be a happy camper!

 Technically I have already begun this project, but the blog is so behind I thought I would give a nice summary, and then tomorrow I can get into the nitty gritty of how I did it and the massive hurdles I have encountered so far. Til tomorrow dear readers (if I have any left after a year break)....

Little Chairs, Little Chairs....

Been busy in my "real" life of accounting. being it is year end my hours are long and my sleep short. Which means I have had very little time for woodworking. I have managed to do a few lovely little projects for a few customers.

I made an all white art table with a opening for a box of crayons. Yes, it looks silly with just an open square on top. :-)

So here is a close up of what the box in the table will look like. The lid can be put on the box too and contain the crayons. This was before I painted the table.

I had a couple of boxes. They were the same size so the lady who bought the table can choose the container design.

So, then I did another art table and stained it with a cherry stain. I have since sanded it and gave it another round of stain to deepen the color. It came out super light the first time. I love how the different types of wood took the stain differently.

Then came my most recent mystery. How to modify my toddler chair and add arms. I tried a few things with the original toddler chair. This was my best result and I do not particularly like the arms. It may just be me. I am not sure. What do you think?

It limited the width of the seat a lot and I don't have my scroll saw out so I had to use my jigsaw and I think that may have contributed to my feelings. I don't think I cut the curves just right. Not bad, but also not good in my opinion.

So my final attempt was last night. I went out to the workbench because I was really feeling the itch to build. So I just started to build and created the plans as I went. This was the result. I wish I had made the back higher (which I will go back and do just because), but otherwise I like the little guy. The picture makes it look crazy, but the front legs are actually straight up and down and at nice 90 degree angles. The back legs are at a 15 degree angle to prevent any tipping backwards. It's a silly little chair which happens to be what my daughter calls the chair. She asks "Can I sit in the silly chair?" and I say yes. She is great about testing out the chairs and helps me make sure I have the right height on the arms and overall chair. :-)

I have not filled the holes from the pocket screws yet. I was still debating the overall design at this point.

So after all that and long hours (Including working Saturday) at my "real" job, I managed to get a few things done. Well I also got 2 more signs done, but since they are weeks overdue I feel little accomplishment in finishing those since I should have had them done before.

Happy New Year

Hello again!

Yes, I disappeared. I am sorry about that, but as I said the holidays would take over and then....well....I am back now.

First of all, some follow ups to old posts (does that sound better than just saying Old News?). I did indeed finish those toddler chairs for my daughter's daycare. I delivered them Jan 1st and I am quite happy that project is done. The kids are happy at the preschool/daycare as well. I still have them stop me and thank me periodically for the tables or chairs. Such sweet little 4-6 year-olds. They are not told to thank me, and yet they do. A great compliment given how brutally honest they can be sometimes. :-) So that is one more project off my board.

And now for some New News. I did some deep thinking over the holidays and New Year's. I first decided that I was ready to take control of my "side business" and actually make something of it. I got a Facebook page set up for Tabitha's Workbench. Almost the very next day I had an order from someone recommended to my page from a friend's daughter. She wanted an art table and toddler chair. Then another order from my friend for her grandson for an art table and toddler chair. It was exciting and awesome the power of putting myself out there. At the same time I got 2 orders for signs so that is on my plate as well.

Everything has been put off until after the weekend of the 7-8th. We went to the beach with friends and relaxed and had a great time. While there we discussed this new direction for me and my business. It became clear that having people come to me with orders was stressful. I mean, I love getting orders, but I also get stressed having orders out there. If I get sick, or it is freezing cold, or I just feel like doing nothing one night (I know, that NEVER happens, but it could some day) then I feel guilty. I talked it out with our friends and we talked about their friend's custom woodworking business. He is also feeling the pressure. In the end, I guess I came to the conclusion that I needed to be ahead of the game. Either I have a bunch of things built and available to sell, or I build whatever I want and then put that out there for sale or not depending on how I feel.

I did get the first art table built and toddler chair built. I have the second one cut out, but not assembled yet. I am going to cut a square out of the back center and drop in a plastic tub for crayons etc into the table and she wants it painted white. This is as far as I got before a massive migraine waylaid me for the last 3 days.

In this whirlwind of directions and options, leave it to me to also decide I just HAVE to remodel my bathroom. The fact is I have a SUPER small bathroom where it is hard to have 2 people standing there at once. The bathroom door opens and hits the toilet which is SO lovely with kids who barrel in there (because there is no such thing as privacy to a 3 year old). I can't tell you how many times we have to catch the door before it either knocks us in the knees or the door handle hits us as it is flung open. I want a pocket door! We only have a shower and no bath. Just a single sink with a decent sized vanity. On the flip side, the kids have a full tub/shower unit, a 100 inch wide vanity with double sink, a HUGE linen closet. ...... Really?.....How is that fair that the "Master" bathroom has to be so tiny? On the other side of the wall behind our vanity is the washer and dryer with their access from the hallway. Let's not even think about how much time THIS is going to take away from woodworking orders. I will make it work somehow.

Here are the blueprints which give you some idea of the layout of the two rooms. My tiny bathroom on the left and the kid's bathroom/guest bathroom is on the right.

So, I want that washer and dryer space for myself. Selfish....yes...but I REALLY want to have a nice deep soaker tub at some point to relax in on random evenings. The problem is we have to put the washer and dryer SOMEWHERE. The answer is of course to take away space from the kid's bathroom before they really understand what I am taking. As teenagers they may wish for more space, but I can't let that stop me or I will never get a decent bathtub!

Our dear friends have worked together to build an addition on their house and he used to be a contractor so he knows how to do a lot of this. I know how to do framing and flooring (even sub floors), and he also knows plumbing and dry-walling. He has a buddy who can do the electrical for a decent price. I might even be able to do this without going into debt. I just have to do 99.99% of the work myself (With professional guidance and permits/inspections of course). Totally do-able, right? haha, we shall see. Below is my idea of one possible way for this to work. I did forget to mark that I will have a pocket door instead of the existing door to the bathroom though. There will be a door to the bathroom on the right as well. I just haven't drawn it in yet. Not to mention we are now leaning toward a soaking tub and not a jetted tub.

Or this may be just another dream that I can't quite save up the money for. I will have to do some serious selling of furniture items at a true profit in order to save up for this. At least I have my husband on board as well as our friend's promise to come and help with every step of the way. Sigh, a girl can dream right?

Oh, and did I mention at my regular work we are going into year-end and the management team has decided to utilize me on 3-4 new massive projects that while fun, we keep me massively busy and stressed at work? Yeah....what is the test for crazy in situations like this?

Where Did The Year Go?

It seems like only yesterday it was spring and I was looking forward to starting the playhouse castle and I was ready for summer. I blink and the castle is built and we are looking at New Years to be next week! Eeeks.

I have been quite busy between working out, wrangling kids, staying up late finishing some orders and getting the courage up to start a Facebook page for my someday business. I got the 7 signs done and all but one are in the mail. Woohoo! The background color on one was taking longer than it should to get it right. I am not very good at painting small parts without painting outside the lines. Anyway, at least those are done and I could take the time to make some cute little toddler chairs.

They are BUILT!!! I actually think they are cuter than the first set, but I am not totally sure why. They still need to be stained and sealed, but it has been REALLY cold in the garage and with Christmas shopping happening, I am not having the time. :-( But soon, (next week) they will be done and I can deliver them!

I also finally set up my Facebook page for Tabitha's Workbench. I have not put anything really on there for sale yet, but I am working my way up. My best friend's daughter actually send someone to my page and she ordered one of these toddler chairs with a small art table for her daughter. I am very excited to make it for her. While I probably didn't charge as much as I was supposed to, I am going to chalk that up to experience and a discount that hopefully will mean she can write a little paragraph about how she likes the table and chair afterwards. As I said, a work in progress. 

And Christmas is this weekend. We leave tomorrow for my in laws so don't expect another post until after the holidays are over. I am just too busy to actually sit down and type up anything. I am doing this while wrapping presents as it is. Busy busy busy.

Happy Holidays everyone! Happy building!