Woodwork with Penny

In my proper job I use 3D Cad, I draw mechanical handling equipment and although I find it interesting most people zone out if I chat about it.

One big bonus is that I have the software at home, ready for my own small projects. 

On Thursday I thought 'Wouldn't it be nice to have a bee hive in my garden, but without huge amount of bees and the white suits'

So fast forward to Thursday lunch time and I'm at the wood yard ordering my wood!

 

On Sunday morning, fuelled with tea and assisted by Penny the dog, we made a start on my beehive.

The rest of the family went to the cinema.

Penny was my only assistant BUT she doesn't like me sawing wood or using the drill or hammering nails, she sit in the house and watches through the door.

She does like off cuts of wood, which she carries onto the the grass to chew!!!

So the finished bee hive. 

It has a hinged lid and now contains my trowel and kneeling pad.

Doesn't she look proud of her achievement.

Also Penny doesn't make cups of tea, she doesn't put away tools or sweep up and in case of an emergency (if I cut my finger off with the saw) she cannot phone for help BUT she looks pretty . . . . .

Summer Holiday - Snap of the Day

Earlier in the Holidays we did a bit of Mum/Son DIY.

We made a planter for an ugly/shady area in our garden. The ferns went in on wednesday, all we need now is some barkchip mulch to finish it off.

Summer Holiday - Snap of the Day

Last week, as my Son painted the shed I began the epic task of painting the fence.

Sunday afternoon I finished the fence around the back of the house.

Eighteen fence panels, all painted BLACK!!

I love it, it really shows off the plants. Just got the panels round the front to do . . . . 

(I realise black isn't to everyone's taste, but I love it) 

Summer Holiday - Snap of the Day

Boys can multitask!! Yes on Friday my son painted the shed whilst talking non stop.......

So the shed got painted and I learned things I didn't know about YouTube, Xbox games, etc,etc.

Summer Holiday - Snap of the Day

Tuesdays challenge - keep the boy off technology during the day whilst staying home.

Maybe a bit of woodwork will do the trick.

The power tools always help, he's keen to use the drill but sawing semi wet wood is a job for Mum (so I'm told)

We did finish our new garden planter it just needs filling up. So a successful day.

Sand, paint, repeat. . . . .

It feels like forever since I posted on my Blog.

Over the last few weeks I've been mainly sanding and painting.

The hallway was first, it was very stressful, gloss paint takes ages to dry and could ruin a school uniform in seconds!!!!

Whilst sanding, previous layers of paint began to show through, orange and green!!!!

Wow I can hardly imagine our small hallway with orange or green woodwork.

The sitting room was next, all the furniture moved and the woodwork painted.

For the last few weeks I done a lot of shouting 'wet paint'.

Then the carpet was removed, hallelujah, bye bye pink carpet!!

Having had weeks of no paid work I've thrown myself into the DIY, so on Wednesday I was pleased and panicked to finally receive a small amount of work. Pleased for obvious reasons but a bit panicked as I've got loads more painting to do . . . . . 

So we had a day with no carpet, keeping our fingers crossed the carpet fitters didn't cancel.

Then on Thursday, after moving the last of the furniture into the kitchen (what a squeeze) they arrived. 

So we know have beautiful new carpet in the sitting room and on the stairs and landing. After years of old carpet it feels lovely. The next room to receive new carpet will be my daughters room which needs a full repaint!!! (She wants a different colour)

Our little Bugsy has been slowing down for a few weeks, he seemed happy enough just not as quick to run down stairs for his breakfast. Sadly this week he passed away.

Weekend work and weekend walking.

Last week we continued to tidy up our hallway.

 I've painted all the walls and before I painted the woodwork we needed to sort out the floor.

Its going to be carpet for the stairs but we bought laminate for the ground floor.

This weekend we needed to fit the quadrant piece around the edge and we have our favourite house guest here to help!!! Always just where you're working.

After lunch we headed out to the little village of Chipping for a walk.

Hoping to exhaust the dog and the children!!

The weather was glorious

The signs of Autumn . . . . . 

Beautiful views (of walks for another day)

Back towards the village, passing the once bustling chair factory.

Down the little steps to the stream. Daughter taking photos and the dog (and nearly my other half) taking a dip.

Are we a dog family? 

On a nice sunny day, ooh yes!

Give the girl a seat.

Before the summer holidays my Daughter had a incident with her chair!!

She said due to the amount of homework she gets, she had overused her chair and split it!!

It should have been a simple fix, but it got put off and put off.

Last week, with the homework season looming, we had a trip to the fabric shop to buy some sturdy fabric.

The plan was to 'wing it', you know, when you start in a rush with no real plan other than to get it done.

In an effort to make it strong I nearly made it too fat to fit the grooves, but with an extra pair of hand to thread the fabric and dowels into the grooves, it was done.

So the finished chair, ready for testing . . . . 

Don't sit like that, sit nicely . . . . 

And don't just sit in the middle of the kitchen, be off with you child . . . . 

Making a rabbit hutch in a day (well nearly)

So if you read my blog you will know that we have a new rabbit.

We needed a hutch and fast. BB8 (The Rabbit) was living in the garage in a dog crate, being lifted out on nice days and put back at night.

I know you can buy hutches at big named pet stores and that would be quick and the cost didn't put me off. But I've always ended up with very 'chewy' rabbits and I'm not convinced they are rabbit proof.

So with an eye on cost (I haven't grown my money tree yet) we headed to the local wood yard, this is where driving a small family bus comes in handy, although it was pretty close to Sons head!!. I'd already done some sketching, size calculations and located a space outside for the finished hutch!!!

I managed to get some roofing material off my brother-in-law and bought some mesh from the DIY store.

Everything was ready when we got back from York, we just needed a sunny day.

I had my sketches (on the back of a school letter) to refer to and any minor changes took place as we put it together.

All went well, just stopping for food it was nearly all done in the day.

With the roof attached, it was watertight.

Sunday morning we attached the catches ready for him to move in.

We've attached a run to the front so he can 'play out' but the little beast can jump out, from a standing start, straight over the top!! So he needs supervision until I can sort out a mesh/net top.

But hes still a handsome chap.