My Buddies at Home Depot

My son Noah is 5 which means he loves working with any kind of tools to build things, especially when he gets to help me on a project.

Last weekend we were painting our house and made a Home Depot run to buy paint. Before we left, Noah had to suit up in his work apron and, of course, his hard hat. The crew at Home Depot enjoyed seeing him and we had to get a picture with the 'snow man' in the tool rental department.

Now you know that we take our work very seriously around our house... :)

Merry Christmas!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Idea for Budding Carpenters

Anyone with small children should be teaching them the basics of carpentry and construction, wouldn't you agree?

Whatever your motivation, you might enjoy taking your kids to one of Home Depot's "Kid's Workshops". One Saturday a month, they offer free activities for kids. I took my three kiddos this morning and they had a blast. Abby (3) built a bean-bag toss game and Noah (5) built a helicopter. Anna (1.5) just watched. All of it was free. Of course, they're hoping that we will shop there. (I'm there nearly everyday during the week, so I'd say they owe me a helicopter or two... :)

I'm not really trying to promote Home Depot, however, my kids love doing these activities and getting to do some hammering and nailing. They even love getting dressed up in their orange aprons and look forward to going back the next time.

Next time, maybe they could do something with nail guns or at least a miter saw.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

A Beauty Treatment for Ugly Walls

We've been sorting through boxes to reclaim part of our house and we found an issue of House Beautiful from June 1953. It's really fascinating to see ways that our homes have changed, as well as our lifestyles over the past 56+ years.

One ad for Romany Tiles caught my eye that describes their ceramic tiles as "wear proof, fade proof, flame proof, stain proof- and so easy to keep clean." They call it "A Beauty Treatment for Ugly Walls." It reminds me of all the bathrooms in all those 50's ranch homes that I've seen covered with tile of all colors and designs. Usually it's still in great shape, so maybe Romany was right?

I also noticed at least two different ads for toilet seats. Of course, both are bold colors to match the tile & fixtures of the day. Olsonite is the brand for "America's Smartest Bathrooms", while Church Seats say they are "The Best Seat in The House". Kind of humorous today, I suppose.

The cover article is about a $20,000 house that utilizes low-cost production techniques with custom-design quality, including a refrigerator, washing machine, and a TV set! They also feature a house that they call suitable for families with an income of $7000 a year!

Things have certainly changed. Have they changed for the better? Perhaps it's doesn't matter, but what are we doing with the changes? Hopefully, it has increased our quality of life and not just are anxiety and busyness, right?

Something to think about next time you're admiring your generic white toilet seat... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Apartment Conversion Has Begun

Today was the day to begin a new project. We're converting part of our house into a one bedroom apartment. It will be a fun project for me because it includes so many different aspects from framing to tile and I get to work at home where my kids love to swing a hammer once in awhile, too!

After finishing our East Nashville renovation about a year ago, we ended up in a 60's split-level -ranch home in the Gra-Mar area of Inglewood. We loved the acre lot and our kids do too. However, most of the home was stuck in the 60's when we got it. That was fine because it gives me a project to work on and it's different than the old house renovation I had just finished (even though my heart is still in an old house somewhere...).

The downstairs portion of the house is just a little more than 500 square feet and already had the basic layout for an apartment without any drastic changes. The project will mainly involve adding a kitchen in the den against that wall in the above picture and enlarging the bedroom closet to accommodate a washer & dryer combo unit.

We started this morning with demolition. To have enough room for a stove and still have counter space, we decided to remove the stairs leading the upstairs part of the house and make the apartment a completely separate living area. This is fine, because we'll also gain some space upstairs by doing this.

We were careful to take the stairs apart in an orderly fashion and label all the pieces, just in case somebody (like me) wants to put them back down the road. We stacked all the pieces under the remaining stairs to be stored safe and sound. They'll thank me for that, I'm sure.

In the pictures you can see the progress we made today. That big hole in the block wall was where the return duct was for the HVAC system. We'll be moving that to the closet where it won't be in the way of the kitchen cabinets.

The goal is to finish in two weeks, or at least get very close to finished and welcome some lucky person(s) into their brand new apartment!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com