Woodworking/DIY/Home Improvement Mega Thread

[utee94]

I was originally going to put doors with woven wicker fronts on the bottom portions of the tall vertical bookcases, where the floor speakers go.  But my 17yo daughter saw the speakers without their front grills and noticed that the walnut veneers were a perfect match for the rest of the woodwork, and she also thought the fronts with the exposed speaker cones were "fire" so I decided to just go with it.  Saved me a couple hundred bucks in materials and probably 3 or 4 hours of paint and prep, so, bonus.

[FearlessF]

don't want that wicker soaking up the sound

[utee94]

don't want that wicker soaking up the sound

It's practically invisible as an acoustical barrier.  That's why it was so common in the 60s and 70s when people hid their speakers in their hi-fi credenzas.

But if the look of the exposed loudspeakers is "fire" to the kids, then I'm cool with it.  

She's already used the room several times when having friends over, they get a kick out of the turntable and CD player, actually having to pick out and handle the vinyl or the CD.

[utee94]

Oh and both kids actually came in on Sunday and spent an hour or two reading with me.  Picking out records or CDs, playing music, and reading.  It was really a lot of fun.

[FearlessF]

just like the good old days

[utee94]

Amen brutha.

Now that I have a separate room for the hi-fi, I've moved the turntable and amp and speakers out of the great room.  If I had NOT built the separate Vinyl Lounge with library wall, my plan was to build a mid-century modern hi-fi credenza.  I've always wanted to build something like this. I might do it anyway and just use it as a buffet/sideboard.

Something along these lines...

[utee94]

Next up, I've got to finish the built-in wardrobe project in the master bedroom.  I completed the wardrobes and we moved a lot of our clothes/accessories into them around 2 years ago, but I got stumped trying to work out the details of some of the finishing trim work and wasn't sure I could pull it off.  Specifically, mating new crown molding along the wardrobe wall, to the existing crown molding already running along the side walls.  This requires some pretty extensive coping, which is not my strength.

I've built the entire assembly so that it can be fairly easily removed by any future owners, so I didn't want to cut into the existing crown molding.  Rather, since the wardrobes effectively pull the rear wall forward by about 2', I just left the original crown molding back there, sitting just above the height of the wardrobes. The new crown molding at the front of the wardrobes will just intersect the existing side-wall crown molding at a new point.  Visually it will look as if it terminates right there, while only I will know that it actually continues down each side wall all the way to the rear wall, where the backs of the wardrobes are also secured.  The added complication is that there is a tray ceiling and the wardrobes just fit in under the edge of the dropped portion, before it rises another foot from a 9' to a 10' ceiling.

All of that to say, I got scared.  

The base molding was easy, I completed it within a day or two of assembling the wardrobes.  But the crown molding stumped me, I didn't want it to look cheesy, and so I balked.  I actually called out two of my normal carpenter/trim guys who've done work for me before in our rentals, and they're very reasonably priced in general, but they wanted quite a bit for what I know would just be less than an hour's worth of work for them, at their experience level.  I know, I know-- I'd be paying for the experience and the result, not the time.  But dropping that much money when I feel like I should be able to do it myself, is tough.

So anyway, given my fresh experience on the library wall, I think I'm ready to go back and tackle that project again, on my own.    Maybe...

[OrangeAfroMan]

Oh and both kids actually came in on Sunday and spent an hour or two reading with me.  Picking out records or CDs, playing music, and reading.  It was really a lot of fun.

My students enjoyed exploring tapes, CDs, and records.  2 even opened up the record player and observed each music type being played from the inside.  

[utee94]

Now that I'm finally finished with the library wall in the Vinyl Lounge, I have a couple other small projects lined up.

The kitchen vent hood is janky, the light stopped working 4 or 5 years ago, and the fan motor sounds like it's on its last legs.  Additionally, the gas cooktop itself is getting king of worn.  It still works fine, but all of the markings are long since gone, it has some pretty deep scratches in the stainless that aren't going to buff out easy, and it's an odd configuration where 4 burners sit to one side, and the controls take up way too much space on the other side.

I'm going to replace them both with more modern, updated stainless appliances.  The hood will be a more heavy duty, commercial model, and the cooktop will have 5 burners with the controls at the bottom in a configuration that makes much more sense.

Also, the downstairs guest bathroom needs to be painted and I think I'm going to change out all of the hardware and fixtures, and maybe put some board and batten paneling on the feature wall.

Pictures to come, I should be able to knock out some of that this weekend.

[betarhoalphadelta]

When I have a "forever house" I hope to have a nice powerful range, with one burner that is "wok ready" output. 

[utee94]

When I have a "forever house" I hope to have a nice powerful range, with one burner that is "wok ready" output.

Word.

The cooktop I'm looking at has a center burner that is 20,000 BTU.  It should do the trick.

Edit: Hmmm, doing a quick google search says commercial wok burners go from 50,000 to 100,000.  I don't think any of the internal gas lines in my home would support anything like that, I'd likely have to make a fresh run from the meter.  I guess I'll have to settle for a paltry 20K...

[847badgerfan]

Now that I'm finally finished with the library wall in the Vinyl Lounge, I have a couple other small projects lined up.

The kitchen vent hood is janky, the light stopped working 4 or 5 years ago, and the fan motor sounds like it's on its last legs.  Additionally, the gas cooktop itself is getting king of worn.  It still works fine, but all of the markings are long since gone, it has some pretty deep scratches in the stainless that aren't going to buff out easy, and it's an odd configuration where 4 burners sit to one side, and the controls take up way too much space on the other side.

I'm going to replace them both with more modern, updated stainless appliances.  The hood will be a more heavy duty, commercial model, and the cooktop will have 5 burners with the controls at the bottom in a configuration that makes much more sense.

Also, the downstairs guest bathroom needs to be painted and I think I'm going to change out all of the hardware and fixtures, and maybe put some board and batten paneling on the feature wall.

Pictures to come, I should be able to knock out some of that this weekend.

For the hood.. Kucht. I love it. Mine is the outdoor stainless model (salt air). The regular one is below.

KRH4815A – With Color Options – KUCHT Professional

[847badgerfan]

Word.

The cooktop I'm looking at has a center burner that is 20,000 BTU.  It should do the trick.

I recommend Wolf. It's what I would have if we had NG available here.

[utee94]

Woo, you have some expensive tastes, bf.


We're probably moving out of this house in 4-5 years so I'm not going to go crazy with the appliances.  Just something that'll do the trick.  The next owner can install the true commercial stuff if they want (and in our next home, I'll probably do the same!).