The Medicine Chest (Drawer)

When we moved we put all our medical stuff into a small tote and just put it into a drawer until such time we could sort it out. Well this was the time, we now have an organized and tidy medicine drawer. It really looks worse than it is, mostly seasonal stuff, tums, cough drops and such. We aren't chronics or anything, just need a Tylenol or Advil once in a while.

Just piled up hard to get at.

Bottom insert, nice and organized.

Top tray, with what we use most.

Fits nicely into the middle drawer.

Nesting Boxes

The next step in this adventure is for the hens to start laying eggs, and to help them I've made some nesting boxes. There are many ways to do this and different philosophy's regarding it as well. But we are keeping it simple. Just an opening to hold a plastic bin, in which they'll build a nest and lay some eggs. To keep as much room as possible in their side of the hen house, it was all designed to have just an opening in the one wall and have the body of the boxes in the storage side, and as you can see it all worked out.

Just cut out the wall and add the boxes.

Bins for the nests.

We'll see if they require modifying later on.

Latest Addition

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so here is a look at our latest addition to the property. The Hen House. I started in May and have only a few little things to finish, like vent overs for the inside. It's only 8 x 12 with 6 ft 6 inch walls, but the roof line gives it lots of height and character. We have 11 chickens and soon we'll see how many we keep as layers and how many will go into the freezer. They have an 8 x 16 foot run, covered with, you guessed it, chicken wire, even the top to hopefully keep everything out, not just to keep them in. Here is a look at it's development.

Setting the footings.

Getting the floor joists in place.

Add two layers of 1 x 6 spruce flooring.

Put up a few walls.

Up go the rafters.

Cover it with sheathing.

Finish the roof off with steel.

Gable vents.

Half for the hens, all covered with wire.

They need a place to sit.

Can always use a bit of light.

Add the run and some stain.

Now we have a cute hen house and run.

Add A Little Snow - Remove A Little Snow

Well it's early February and this is only our second significant snow fall this season, I'm not complaining just stating facts. We got a bit over a foot of it, the bottom couple of inches are (were) wet and as the temperature dropped during the event the snow was a bit more softer. It took a while to remove it because this year I don't want to run out of room like last season, so I moved it all about 20 feet further. And this means moving more snow. It was sunny and not too windy so taking most of the day wasn't a problem. I even had to use the snow blower to clear the decks and a path for the dog. Enjoy the before and after pictures.

A Little More Organization

There is always room for a little more organization, so I built an open box with dividers to fit those hard to locate items and better utilized the space. All in a day's (mornings) work.

What was.

Is now better.

Snow Day

Today is our first Snow Day, and it's still coming down. I've cleared off the decks, made room to access to the shed and shop twice and will continue until it stops and I can get the tractor out. If I keep this up every few hours it wont' be as back as trying to shovel it all at once. Lets hope the rest of the season isn't like this or like last year.

Out the side door.

From the shop door.

A Little Organizing

My latest project for the kitchen was concentrated on one spot, a drawer, specifically the KFS drawer. It needed a little organizing, and to use the space a little smarter I did it in layers, just two. We had most of the items in a couple of drawers and this wasn't very efficient so this is our solution. The front two utensil holders slide form side to side to gain access to the space below and the back section is deeper to accommodate those items. So far so good we'll see once we start using it more.

Not very efficient. 

Hard to get at things.

Much better.

Slide the KFS to one side and get at the pizza cutter.

Move the two holders to the right and more KFS.

Mud And Tape, Once Again

Apparently it was time to mud around the patio door that was installed almost two years ago, oh ya lets change the colour of the room as well, after all it's been up for almost four years. I agree it was time. It didn't take long and there's more to do but for now the lions share is done and the new colour is nice. You can't see it in from the pictures but it is a little more green than is shows, not too much that is.

A little tape and mud.

Tiding up the wall.

Starting to look better.

Primer cleans it up.

Primer helps cover the old blue.

A new look.

A Closet Door

The closet door is in and looks good, but it was installed in a different location. It is still in the master closet, AKA the dressing room, but it is now the door to the closet in the closet. ReBecca had a crystal door knob and it fits the door perfectly. Now I have 4 more to do. These I may be doing from scratch and not modifying older ones, more of a custom fit. Good luck to me.

It looks great.

The Closet Door

This may be a typical closet door and is going in the usual place where the closet is (was) but with some modifications. The door way this door is going in doesn't just stop in a small closet it goes into ReBecca's closet, AKA "The Dressing Room". The door requires some modification, a bit narrower and longer. They were sized to width and then glued together with 16 large biscuit's, and form the side cut off I made an extension for the bottom. Once the extension was ready I secured it the same way and then carved out the profile to match the rest of the door. To paint it will be a challenge, I built a little jig to hold it off the table so I can turn it over several time to catch any drips, which will happen when using a brush with all the louvers. This is the primer coat and I think I'll try ReBecca's suggestion and spray paint the finished coats, this should give a better look.

Before the work.

After the primer coat is on.

You can see the jig in place. Actually screwed to the bench.

This worked very well, moving from font to back a lot.