While focusing my efforts in the basement a couple weeks ago, I set my sights on "up-scaling" the bathroom with some visual improvements like installing board and batten wainscoting. A big thank you to Arrow Fasteners, maker of the iconic heavty duty T50 stapler. Before Aside from the Continue Reading
November 26, 2018
Kitchen Progress – Five Years Later
A while back I decided that in order to expedite completing this house before another 7 years passes, I needed to hire out a few things. Cabinet doors for the kitchen was one of those things. I measured all the cabinet openings for doors and drawer fronts-- three times to make sure I ordered the Continue Reading
November 15, 2018
Reducing Sound Between Rooms
When I built the walk-in pantry, I stole space from the hallway and master bedroom. They were both oversized and I had zero cares about stealing space from either. What I didn't anticipate was Madison's late night snack attacks...or the DING from the toaster before her early morning classes. I can Continue Reading
November 12, 2018
November House Update
The last two weeks have been all about drywall. Getting the basement ready for a LOT of drywall work. Wes and I continued sorting through our belongings and took a couple more truckloads to the donation center. We also made one trip to the dump. The belongings we kept where shoved into a corner of Continue Reading
October 25, 2018
Projects updates – because I did NOT stick to the loft.
Are you surprised? Although my plan was to work in the loft, finish it and then move down to the next floor, my plan changed. I was aware that my plans might change and therefore ok with changing them. I have to be flexible but I also need a plan or nothing would ever get done. So here's what I've Continue Reading
October 4, 2018
Progress in the Loft
I have to admit that I still haven't painted my front porch. It IS pressure washed but the weather has been too humid and/or rainy to paint. So I've been working inside and it has been AMAZING to get back to some of the projects that have been on hold since Calderwood. I am currently working in the Continue Reading
September 24, 2018
How to Clean a Garage Door and White Rubber Weather Stripping
Now that I'm completely done with Calderwood Cottage, I have all my tools back at my own house, including the pressure washer. I've been needing to pressure wash and repaint my front porch for a few years. Today the weather was beautiful, so I got started! I moved everything off the front porch and Continue Reading
September 10, 2018
Calderwood Cottage House Tour – Continued
Completing the Calderwood Cottage completed house tour today. Starting with the hallway that leads to the other bedrooms and the guest bathroom. Getting video footage while climbing the ladder into the loft was tricky. LOL We used one of the original doors to create another barn Continue Reading
September 9, 2018
Calderwood Cottage Completed
Y'all, Calderwood Cottage is finished and on the market! Calderwood Cottage Before Remember what it looked like when we bought it? We bought it on auction and didn't know what we were getting into. It was way more work than we planned or imagined. We worked a lot of long, looooong Continue Reading
July 31, 2018
French Cleat Storage for Track Saw Tracks
I'm focusing on small projects that I can do, here and there, until I get back to work on Calderwood. I recently put up a French cleat wall section in my workshop so I could put away some of the tools that don't fit in my drawer storage. Then I built some storage for all my track saw tracks. I had Continue Reading
June 20, 2018
Building Beams at Calderwood Cottage
We've completed round 3 at Calderwood Cottage and we're still not done but we made a lot of progress! We have an awesome new deck! And in the kitchen and living room, we added new, extended and bulked out some existing beams. Some of this work was simply for the look of it. most of the beam work Continue Reading
June 5, 2018
Finishing the Deck
We partnered with Wood, Naturally to build a deck at Calderwood Cottage. Phase two of this project was more effort than we planned for. However, it was totally worth the effort. It makes the whole house look bigger and provides additional space for outdoor living and entertaining. We had been Continue Reading
June 4, 2018
Building a Deck
Our cute little house looks so tiny nestled on it's 1.1 acre lot. We're pretty excited to partner with Wood, Naturally to build a deck. This project will create an outdoor living space, take advantage of the beautiful country views, and make our little Calderwood Cottage appear bigger! Clean Continue Reading
April 18, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 3 – part 2 (Floors)
Hallelujah, the drywall is hung, mudded AND we stayed up late and got up early to get it painted. Now it's time to get some floors installed! (At least ONE room before Sid get's here!) We received product from Armstrong Flooring, and were so excited to open that first box of Maple Engineered Continue Reading
April 17, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 3, part 1 – Over Budget and Behind Schedule
Hey guys, we're back! Over our 9 day holiday from working on Calderwood Cottage, we had time to look at our bank account and see how much money we've spent so far. "Big surprise" -- we're way over budget and way behind on our schedule. This is a special problem for us because our brother, Sid, is Continue Reading
April 6, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 2 (part 5)
Our goal is to get drywall up by the end of Round 2 with Calderwood Cottage. Now that we have plumbing, HVAC and electrical taken care of, so we can finally insulate. We are doing spray foam insulation. The ceilings are "closed cell" which is more expensive but the only way for us to take care of Continue Reading
April 4, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 2 (part 4)
October at Calderwood Cottage was 30 days of demo. During that time, we tore out the front porch enclosure. (Which stunk to high heaven!) We did not try to demo the brick steps at that time because we knew we'd be doing more brick work in round 2. Which is where we are now. Concrete Step Continue Reading
April 2, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 2 (part 3)
Today I'm showing the progress we've made on the back section of Calderwood Cottage. In part 2 I showed you all the digging we had to do in order to get the HVAC ductwork installed. Today I'm showing you what we've done in the back of the house.Back in October, when we fought Round 1 with this Continue Reading
March 28, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 2 (part 2)
Ok, so in part 1 of this saga, we were getting ready to have a new HVAC system installed. In order to make the air optimization engineer man happy with the placement of the return, we had to move the master bedroom doorway over and build a closet for the ductwork. Also, we had to dig a trench for Continue Reading
March 26, 2018
Calderwood Cottage – Round 2 (part 1)
Hey Guys! I finally had time to edit photos and write a few posts. Julie and I just spent another 3 1/2 weeks working on Calderwood Cottage! We were super enthusiastic to get started and had everything planned out and a strict schedule to maintain. (Because we want to finish this house in Julie's Continue Reading
February 21, 2018
Cabinet Hardware Jig – for Long Door Pulls
There are a lot of cabinet hardware jigs out there. I've used quite a few. Most of them work fine for standard 3" (maybe up to 4 or 5") pulls for door handles. And they leave a lot to be desired when drilling holes on wide surfaces, like drawer fronts. What if you have longer door pulls, like I did Continue Reading
February 19, 2018
Easy Lemon Drop Cookies
I had a hankering for cookies this weekend so I made Lemon Drop Cookies. Which is something because I hardly ever cook anymore. Wes has become our house chef ever since I (80% complete) remodeled the kitchen. Which I couldn't be happier about because I really don't enjoy cooking. I do like baking Continue Reading
February 16, 2018
Curved Pull-out Hamper Drawer
I showed you the pull out hamper in my linen cabinet but I saved the construction details for that drawer for a separate post. It's a little different from any of my other drawer tutorials because of the curved side detail. I built it with curved sides to transition from a taller front to shorter Continue Reading
February 14, 2018
How to Cut a Half Lap Joint on a Table Saw
Hey there Sawdust Girl Friends! It's been a really long time it seems since I was here sharing a project with you all!! I am excited to be back and sharing some great knowledge that I gained recently when Sandra pushed us all out of our comfort zones and challenged us to try a new joinery Continue Reading
February 12, 2018
Built-in Linen Cabinet
In addition to the mirrored pocket door, my latest completed project is the linen cabinet. WOOHOO!!! The carcass had been done for a while but I just got around to building the drawers and installing the doors that Cabinet Now sent me. Linen Cabinet Recap Looking back at all my video footage Continue Reading
February 9, 2018
Mirrored Pocket Door – Jack and Jill Bathroom Update
I'm so excited to tell you that I've finished 2 (yes--TWO) projects this week! One is the mirrored pocket door that leads from Madison's bedroom to the Jack and Jill bathroom. I love pocket doors. They don't take up floor space and they don't ever smack an unsuspecting occupant standing on the Continue Reading
January 28, 2018
Getting out of a slump and a Calderwood Cottage update
Hey guys! I wanted to be unveiling the finished linen closet in the Jack and Jill bathroom but it's still not done. Argh. It feels like I've been trudging through knee deep molasses to make any forward progression. Part of my problem has been my chaotic workshop. It's been a mess since October Continue Reading
January 24, 2018
How to Make a Dado Jig for Palm Router
Want to learn how to make a simple dado jig? Hey Sawdust Girl Readers! Happy New Year! It’s SG Squad member, Timisha here from ToolBox Divas. It has been a while since we last chatted. The holidays are a great time to spend with family and unwind. I can honestly say I did absolutely NOTHING. And I Continue Reading