So, as you might expect, I've been busy. I got some projects done that have been on my list for months. One has been on a list for years! Let me tell ya' about them.
First up, I built an outdoor storage rack for my garbage cans.
When I posted this picture to Facebook over the weekend, I was asked by Ms. Tanya why people do this. I believe her thought was "why would anyone want to lift a full can up onto these things?"
If you live in La Crosse, you already know what I'm about to say. In June, the city implemented new garbage rules. All garbage had to be in a can with a lid. It's dumb. Ridiculous. Absolutely asinine. I can barely fill a 39-gallon bag half full with my weekly garbage.
Outside the service door on the garage, leading into the backyard, I have a 39-gallon can that sits with a bag in it at all times. Full "doggie bags" are deposited there upon returning from a walk. Brownie boxes, cereal boxes, and soda case boxes get deposited there when empty. On the night before pickup, I would just gather up the bag and throw it out next to my driveway.
My house boarders an alley, but I don't use the alley. My house/garage/driveway faces the street. I would never put a garbage can out by my driveway on pickup day because I didn't want it blowing out into the street while I was at work.
As a result of these new rules and my location, I decided to start using the alley for garbage collection instead. I also decided to buy a second garbage can so that I could leave the existing can where it is.
So, Ms. Tanya, all I do on the morning of garbage collection is throw my half-full bag into this can that never leaves the stand by the alley. I'm not sure if that makes more sense to you or not.
By the way, here is the AMAZING miter saw I borrowed from the neighbor to build this. (I sent the pic to my mom with the caption "Christmas gift idea".)
Project #2 - which is really #3 but it's boring, so I don't want to leave it to the end, for excitement purposes and all - was to spray paint my mailbox.
Oddly enough, I have hated that mailbox since BEFORE I bought the house. I had these grand plans that replacing that mailbox would be the first thing I did when I moved in. I quickly learned that changing mailboxes was not at the top of a first-time homeowners list of things to do. Instead, yesterday, I painted it. It's black. It matches my shutters now. It used to be rust colored. Probably because it's rusty. You get the picture.
Finally, the big project. The one that's been on my list for YEARS.
Many of you have either been to my house or seen pictures of the novel feature in my kitchen. I refer to it as "the nook." This isn't the greatest picture, but you get the jist of it being sorta' U-shaped.
The reason this project has taken so long is that what I ended up doing was Plan C. Plan A was to just saw off what I refer to as the seats, put hinges on, and away we go! However, the backsplash tile was laid OVER the seats. The bottom row of tile would have had to come off. As much as I hate that flippin' tile, I didn't even want to tackle that. I wasn't sure if it would come off, would it break the following row of tile, would I have to try to retile with something close to fill a gap?
Plan B was to just cut a rectangle in the middle of the seat tops for access to the space inside. This seemed like the ultimate plan. I had it all planned out. I was all ready to start cutting Saturday afternoon. Then it dawned on me. These benches were meant to be sat on. If I cut holes out of the middle of them, no matter how much I do to secure that the "lid" stays flush and secure, those benches would never hold weight again.
(sigh)
Ironically, my neighbor stopped over Saturday afternoon and sat on one of those benches for about an hour. I knew my concern was legitimate, so I sat (no pun intended) on the project again. (NOTE: Please do not think that my neighbor's weight confirmed my suspicious. I only bring it up because rarely does anyone sit there. As soon as I question whether or not it can hold a person's weight, I actually have someone who sits there for an hour.)
If you can't pop off the tops in any way, can you get at the space from the side?
Hmmmmmmmmm
Why, yes....yes you can.
As I started drilling the starter holes for the saw, I discovered where the studs were. I had to readjust my original plan for size and spacing. That's why you can see all the shotty craftsmanship. Once I got it open, my main goal was to look for mice droppings. It's gross, I know. However, I want to store food in here. I needed to get a sense of what was going on. It was mostly just sawdust, a few pieces of scrap lumber, cobwebs, and dead spiders. Nothing that the shop vac wouldn't take care of!
Once that was all cleaned out, I shoved as much batt insulation into the U curve from this hole that I could possible manage. I figure anything is better than nothing in regards to warmth and keeping the critters out. Once that was done, I added a piece of plywood about 10" in from the right side of the hole as a "wall" between storage and the rest of the bench. I added 1" styrofoam in between all the studs as insulation. At that point, I added a vapor barrier along the sides and the bottom. Over top of the bottom I added a piece of plywood for the floor.
Once that was all done, I started to think that this space might get too hot/cold/damp. Since there was nothing more I could do easily to control that, I decided to just cut a hole in the space and add a vent cover. I have no idea if this idea will work or if it was dumb, but it sounded good at the time.
Getting to this point was about all my back could handle on Sunday. Plus, I picked up some cheap wallboard at Menards that I was painting white for the doors. I needed to give it a couple of coats and let it dry before I could put the handle and hinges on.
Here is the finished product. I don't think it looks too bad!
It was time to see if there was enough room to move my food from a plastic tote in the basement into this space. Here is the tote...empty. No idea how many gallons it is, but you get the picture.
It all fit!
And I added a cheesy tap light to the top!
Unfortunately, when I opened up the other side to do this same thing, I encountered something much different. I discovered the slanted studs for the stairs to the basement. I had already cut out the hole, and I had extra insulation, so I just insulated the two stud frames that were exposed.
Here is the view now with both doors attached and the table moved back into that spot. Yes, both doors actually open and clear the table legs!
Thus concludes the Labor Day 2012 project story!
