NYT - holiday shopping guide:

many of you know that i designed and made trays for my friends Chris and Mark at Haand this past summer. never in a million years did i think we would end up in the New York Times - holidays shopping guide section!! 

it is so very exciting and it has been such an honor and pleasure to work with these guys over the past few months. they are truly talented and wonderful!

some pics:

claudius volunteered to take some photos of some of my "production" work: 

here are a few highlights:

danke claudius!!

dresser make-over:

i have been looking for a new dresser for a while now

my old one has never really been big enough. 

sure, it fit my socks and underthings, but that was pretty much it -
-well, not really -
- because even when all things are clean at the same time and i try to put it away
things still wont all fit without jamming things in.
(granted that does not happen very often) 

more space was needed for t-shirts, jammies, what have you.

looking at ikea, looking here and there, looking all around. 

finally finding this ol' gem at D&J's in Orange, VA.

its dovetail drawers, and other lovely details made me fall in love with it.

purchasing it then i did not do, nor the next time i saw it when i continued my search. 

this was a risk, because good things don't stay around long at D&J's.

so when the third and fourth time came around and it was still there... 

....i got it...

figured it was meant to me mine.

 sandy and i sanded it down a bit - thinking we would just rough it up so we could paint it,
cause it was all stained dark brown and looked lifeless

but we soon discovered that it was mahogany veneer. 

we sure liked the looks of that!

so sanding it more and more and more was the game.

by hand, so we would not sand through that fine veneer.

that extra elbow grease was totally worth it:

new knobs and some oil made this dresser very happy.

cannot wait to give it a proper cleaning and bring it on home.

thank you sandy and claudius for your help on this beaut!

in the end, it was probably the same price (but probably still cheaper)
as if i had bought a new dresser at ikea or somehting.
but i am absolutely positive that not even a new one would have had this much character
and dove-tailed drawers!

day three:

today was a day of sanding, sanding sanding. 

hand sanding, machine sanding, scraping, etc. 

sides were cut and stained, and the first coat of oil put on the frames:

  

hopefully the metal can go on tomorrow.

will post an update.

thank you for reading.

getting jiggy with it: day two:

day two found me cleaning up and cutting my frames to size, then i built yet another jig for this project to route a grove that the metal and plywood will sit in:

 

then, because the grove right now is just wide enough to fit my plywood, i had to add a little bit more wood to the jig to make the grove wide enough to allow for the metal that will be lining the plywood.

finishing the groves today, then adding plywood and metal after the thing gets sanded!

progress is happening and i am thankful.

and have i mentioned that my sister Sandy is awesome? think i might on several occasions... anyways, while i was working on this, she went outside and vacuumed my car. oh yes. thank you!!!

new project! day one:

earlier this year i donated a piece "red barn" to the Penland Annual Benefit Auction. 

a couple that bid on my piece was not able to win it, therefore i was contacted and asked, if i were able to make them the same piece again, as they have a very cool glass sculpture that they want to display on it in their home.

due to not having the same roofing metal anymore to make the exact same table we decided to go with copper roofing instead, as the sculpture has copper accents in it.

after my 1947-ish bandsaw fell and busted some parts, it has been difficult finding and getting new parts. therefore, i have been putting this project off for a while. 

procrastinating.

i could not wait for the parts any longer, so i got over myself, 

and built this simple taper jig to cut the legs/parts for the frames.

best thing ever!!!

 

got all the parts cut, the angles lap-joints cut and the frames glued up!

will post more as the project progresses. thank you for reading.

montpelier hunt races:

before you all think that all we do is work, you are greatly mistaken. 

we went to the horse races at Montpelier the first Saturday of November and had a blast. 

between drinking beer, eating egg salad sandwiches and cheese, watching horses jump over hedges, jockeys falling off, visiting my friend maria pace at her booth of wonderful things, swinging by our friend ed's spot and being filled with all kinds of gourmet foods and drinks there, 

the weather was absolutely perfect and the colors gorgeous!

a fabulous November day - all around!

kicking ass doing maintenance around the house:

Having had my little sister Sandy visiting on and off for the past two months has been really wonderful. Not only is she wonderful company and fun to hang out with, but she has been an amazing help around the shop, the kitchen, and the house in general.

This past week we got a lot done!

We finished the downstairs bathroom after painting- installed a light, hung a new-to-the bathroom mirror and the shower rod back up, reorganized the guest room and moved furniture around after painting was finished there. 

In the shop we sanded trays for the "one kings lane" sale my HAAND buddies Mark and Chris had this past week - and of which i saw this ad on my Facebook page....what fun!

While in the studio we also "shabby-chiqued" up a chair I have had in a barn for 3 years to be a seating option in the guest room. We sanded it down, painted parts and reupholstered the seat in this awesome chevron burlap material: 

Wednesday we ran errands, finished up some loose ends, and dug a very very long ditch out to the chicken habitat to get electricity out there as we don't want the chicks to be cold this winter.
This way we can hook up a lamp, etc so they stay warm and get enough light to have them keep laying eggs through the winter.
At least that is the hope.
They are currently not laying very consistently.

Thursday we picked out a hopefully warm inviting paint color for the basement walls, as we will be transforming part of the basement into a second guest room, and started painting, patching holes and cleaning up!
Things are looking good and it is a nice feeling to get stuff done.
And an even nicer because you are doing it with someone else and not all alone.

Thursday evening, and all day Friday and Saturday i worked at the Inn, but Sunday we were productive again at the house by raking leaves, shredding them into mulch for the garden and bagging them. lots of work, and more on the way..... as we only got part of the yard

Thank you Sandy!!
you are awesome, and i would not get even half of it done without you here.
(Robert is not too shabby either)
Love you both!!

more preservation:

this weekend: apple sauce and dried peppers