Making the Most of It - Part 2

Finally made it back from the store and built the storage benches. As some of you may know, completing a project with little kids in the house can be a bit of a challenge. My wife just doubles or triples the estimated time I think it will take.

I picked up one sheet of 1/2" birch plywood and ripped it into 15 3/4" strips. "Rip" is carpentry lingo for cutting wood in the direction of the grain. The sales associate at your local home improvement store can usually do this if you have lots of patience and a nice smile, and if they have a panel saw.

Considering the width of the saw blade, or the kerf, this dimension gave me 3 pieces from a 48" wide sheet.  I used these strips of plywood to make the walls and top of the benches. The box dimensions are 45" x 15" and 42" x 15". So my cut list included: 2 at 45", 2 at 42", and since the boxes are 15" deep and the plywood is 1/2" thick the side pieces are 14" long. And I needed 4 of those. I measured each piece, made a line with a square, and carefully made the cuts with my handy circular saw.  Since the kids were around we put on our sunglasses and made a "cover your ears" game out of it before each cut.

These parts for the storage benches were fastened together with screws using a cordless drill. It could also be done with a hammer and nails or a nail gun if you've got all the right stuff. Screwing it together makes it a bit stronger and easier to assemble. Plus, it is much quieter, which is what I like.

After I assembled the sides of the two boxes I connected them together in a L-shape and set them in the corner of the deck. I wanted to trim the outside of the benches with mahogany deck boards to go with my boat theme. The actual dimensions of the boards are 1" thick by 3 1/2" wide. At the lumber yard the proper lingo for this is five-quarter (5/4") by four. When the boards are first cut out of the tree they are actually 1.25" by 4", but after drying and a little planing they shrink. Starting from the top I just measured the sides and cut each piece to length. I alternated the rows of boards to overlap differently at the outside corners. A little bit of extra detail like this goes along way to improve the overall look. I secured them from the back so the screws wouldn't be visible.

With the last strip of plywood left, I cut a piece to fit over the top of each box and overlap the deck boards. The next phase of this project will be to upholster the tops of the benches. I need to find some cool fabric and thick foam, so I will have to leave it like this until I do. At least now, the space can be used as another play area. As you can see the masking tape has been replaced with beautiful chalk drawings.

To be continued...

Outdoor Project - Making the Most of It, Part 1

The four of us, actually five, if you count our big hairy dog, live in an apartment building in the city. We have lived here only a few months, but really enjoy the dynamics of the world around us. We're up on the third floor and our only immediate access to that outside world is a 58 inch by 90 inch balcony right off the kitchen. That's only about 37 square feet. But, it's ours, so we're going to make the most of it.

For this outdoor project, the goal is to make seating with a table and plenty of extra storage. I haven't found anything anywhere that would fit in our space, so the best solution to utilize the entire space will have to be totally custom, and that's right up my alley. I have decided to use the concepts taken from a boats cockpit and create bench seats with storage beneath and a table top that can be easily stowed.

I begin by marking out a footprint of where seating and a table will be to get a feel for the space. I use masking tape just like Les Nessman, the odd newsman on the 80's hit show, WKRP in Cincinnati, did to mark his imaginary office walls. I also take into account the path of the door's swing, and where one may stand as they go in and out. From this, I can get the measurements I will need to construct the storage boxes that will be below the cushioned bench seating and also the table with the hinged top that can fold down. After I sketch out the designs, it is off to the store to get the materials I need for the first phase of this outdoor project.

Please send home improvement questions to John, our resident carpenter, and creator of Via Toy Box. He will answer each question via email and post one question and answer every week.

Hanging Around - How to Easily Put Up Big Pictures

Hanging a piece of wall art can make a big impact in the room and your psyche, especially if you get satisfaction from doing it yourself. If you are a bit hesitant to tackle this kind of job, I will show you a few things to help bolster your confidence and get it done right. Just remember that if you do it, you can put up whatever you want, wherever you want.

The best tools for this job are a measuring tape, a phillips screw driver, and a pencil. If you had a little level, too, that would be very helpful, but you could just eye it. You will also need drywall screws, or coarse threaded screws 1 1/2" to 2" long. These fasteners work very well in most types of wall surfaces like, lath and plaster or sheetrock. Plus, this way there is no loud banging with a hammer to wake up a sleeping child or make your thumb black and blue.

Speaking of which, a good rule of thumb when hanging things on the wall is to center the piece at eye level. Of course, there are always exceptions, but generally this works well. So, the center of most pictures would be between 60" and 66".

Once you decide on the location, use your measuring tape to find where the center of your picture will be. You may want to center it between the end of the wall and a window or between a door and the fireplace. Whatever the case, find the center and put a light pencil mark about 5 feet up from the floor. Now, locate the hanging device on the back of your piece. This could be a wire stretched across, two hooks (one on each side), or simply the top of the canvas frame. Measure the distance between the center of the piece and the hanger. Make another mark on the wall that distance above the first mark.

I recommend using at least 2 screws so the picture stays level. For the piece that has 2 separate hooks on the back, measure the distance between them. Center that measurement between your highest mark on the wall and make 2 more little marks. If you have a wire or just a wood frame space the 2 marks about the same distance as one-third the width of your piece. Make sure the 2 marks are level and insert the screws on the marks at a slight downward angle into the wall at least 3/4" deep. Be sure enough of the screw head protrudes to catch the hooks, wire, or frame. Now stand back and admire your accomplishment.

Please send home improvement questions to John, our resident carpenter, and creator of Via Toy Box. He will answer each question via email and post one question and answer every week.

Ready, Set, Kindergarten!

Most kids have probably gone back to school by now, but today is the first day, ever, for my oldest little girl. It's a big day, there is no doubt about it. Kindergarten! We've picked out the backpack and school supplies, met the teacher at the ice cream social, attended the orientation, and, of course, made a visit to the hair salon.  She is ready and set, it's time to go.

It's an emotional day. Mommies may cry, kids may be nervous, but this dad is excited to start the school kid stage. I did okay with the baby and toddler stages minus the need for a little more sleep. I haven't forgotten the middle of the night patience building exercises rocking her back to sleep or the constant surveillance when she started cruising and climbing around on everything. Looking back now, time may have flown by, but living it sometimes felt like slow motion. And that's good because the moments were important, and I will never have them again.

I complained a few years ago to my father-in-law, who raised four daughters, that taking care of babies was so hard. When I said that I couldn't wait until they got a little older he just laughed. I asked him what was so funny and he said, "because you think it gets easier." Regardless, let's get on with it. I am ready and set, so let's go to kindergarten.

To help her feel a bit more like a big girl, we put together a little care package to give her at the end of the day. My wife got the idea from a friend and visited the dollar section at the local Target. This fancy old basket of goodies includes things like nail polish, lip balm, and bath beads. There is nothing like a relaxing soak in the bathtub to relieve the stresses of a day at school.

Chapman School is for the Birds

In our Portland neighborhood there is a natural phenomenon that has happened every September for the past eighty plus years. Thousands of Vaux's Swifts on their migration south stop off for an extended stay in the brick chimney at Chapman Elementary School. Each evening at dusk they fly in and gather together after their day trips throughout the area and settle in for a good night rest. Hundreds of onlookers congregate on the hill and the soccer field to watch these little birds form a tornado-like swirl right before they head down into the smokestack until morning.

They haven't quite made it here in mass, yet. The Swifts usually have the most numbers the last two weeks of this month. Check out this video and others like it to see something truly astounding.