Years of Perfect Service, the Unfinished Tales

This island houses our kitchen garbage can in a full size drawer body on the end opposite the side shown in this photo. [ed: and what a nice freakin' blury photo this is of it!] The Trash Island is going on at least three years of service. Might have been four years ago now that I think about it. I designed it to be symmetrical, with panels on either end that masked whichever end was for the trash drawer. Not sure why I wanted it that way, but I thought, since it is on locking casters, it might be easier to move with a bar on either end, though in practice we just steer it by grabbing a hold of the honkin' Boos Block. 

For years I never got around to installing the panel opposite the drawer end. I had run out of Maple plywood and had no other projects going that required Maple. Yadda yadda yadda. One thing led to another and well, time flies; you've come to know the story if you DIY. 

Fast forward to this past weekend: I had been cutting birch plywood panels for the office remodel so I had plenty of stock on hand. I passed by the island on the way to the attic and paused for a brief estimate. I figured I could do it in less than 15 minutes. It ended up taking no more than 10 minutes for me to cut the panel to size, fit it and install the hardware. The panel isn't sealed or even edgebanded, but I think I'll leave it this way. As a memento of the years of looking at the unfinished end and hoping I could some day hang a towel there.

So hoist a cold one with me: Here's to finishing a job, but not getting overly concerned about how finished it really is.  And remember, no home improvement project is EVER over. Once you start building you won't stop until you die. And once you are dead, it's gonna be nice for your kids and those who might miss you to have things around to look at and wonder "why did he do it this way? why did he not edgeband?" I think it's because life itself is in every detail for DIY fabricators; even what look like mistakes are just life getting in the way. To really geek out, my life IS the metadata that exist around these projects you see on this blog. Their imperfection is perfection. Or as close as I want to come...

New Attic Office

Amid the daily grind, I've made some time in my schedule to make a mess of my attic office. The goal was to get things (everything) in drawers and in cabinets. I'm sick of the clutter of the home office. Well, that sickness won't go away overnight, not until drawers are made and cabinets have doors, but I think this is off to a good start.

Three cabinets have 3 or 4 drawers each, all 18" wide and ranging from 22" to 14" long, 8-10" deep. The rest are shelf units that will have framed doors with glass panels, or will have them and shelves once I'm done. It should all be done next week.

A lot has changed in 5 years, but it has gotten far better

These shelves immensely improved today, when I finished the radiator cover and fixed some nagging structural issues. In five years that it took to complete, our little daughter has grown into a charming smart lovely first grader; our two year old boy wonder is the leader of his preschool class and impresses all with his manners and humor; our beloved cat died, but we rescued a docile and beloved beagle, Pepper Rose, who we all call Rosie; I was laid off one year ago last Wednesday and nearly couldn't be happier.

Take care and make good things.