Bench

• August 17th, 2007 • 0 Comments • construction, studio •

Great googly-moogly it’s hot outside. It rained a bit last night and today so the air is like a sponge. Nevertheless, I finished my new workbench today!

The whole thing cost me under $30, not including the generous supply of screws I keep on hand. For my first bench, I must say I’m pleased with myself. I had the chipboard cut while at Home Depot (There’s a Home Depot only a minute from my house!) and cut all of the studs myself. Sawing lumber on a muggy August day by hand outright sucks. But I did it! I even managed to cut the shelf supports at an angle without a miter box. He ain’t the prettiest thing in the world, but nice and sturdy. And cheap. Take that pre-fab workbenches.

Baby Steps

• August 15th, 2007 • 0 Comments • cleaning, construction, studio •

I think I sweated about 2 gallons of liquid today. It’s pretty damn hot in the new garage studio. Unfortunately, my father brought to light a development I hadn’t considered in my endeavor to climate control the place. The walls of the garage aren’t insulated. Heck, the house was built in 1974, I don’t think people were so big on spending time in the garage back then. Nowadays you can buy whole furniture sets to spend time in your garage with your beloved vehicle; I reckon in the 70s folks didn’t see the point of that when you had an entire living room in which to spend time.

While I wasn’t going to live in there, I was at least hoping to tack a window-mounted A/C unit in the window. My ultimate scheme was to insulate and seal the garage door thus ensuring my sanctum sanctorum was bearable in the Texas summer. After speaking to dad on the phone last night, I chopped a hole in the wall and disappointedly stared at the emptiness within. Ah well. Just means my drafting and computers must stay inside.

Meanwhile, I’ve been ripping down the ancient and poorly-built cabinets mounted by the previous tenent. One can admire how he built them out of scrap wood, but they were curiously overbuilt in places, while left dangerously underbuilt in others. For example, the framwork was constructed out of 1/2 inch fiberboard with five countersunk screws holding the shelves in place. But the entire structure was affixed to the wall by only four 1 1/2 inch screws that were attached to the cabinet framework with cheap wood paneling. It almost makes my head hurt to think about them. How they stayed up all those years is a mystery.

Of course, before all of my shelving and whatnot goes up on the wall, I must give the walls a coat of Kilz. Structurally the walls are ok, but guh-ross! My shop will not look this disgusting.

Where were you?

• August 13th, 2007 • 0 Comments • news •

Why I haven’t posted since April:

That’s right; I’m now the owner of a new two car garage complete with a little window! Michael and I bought ourselves a pimpin’ 1970s split level house with all kinds of crazy goings on inside. While we closed back in July, I’ve been working on the multitude of glorious repairs inside the rest of the house, not to mention re-painting my kitchen.

My kitchen! Oh I love saying that.

I assure you there will be pictures of me actually assembling that pile of boxes and furniture into a functioning workshop. I’m excited about having so many new projects to do; my hands have calluses again. Calluses. I haven’t had those since I lost the garage at the apartment. No more cramped quarters, no more bathroom photo studio, no more lack of studio sink…excuse me while I go hyperventilate into a bag.