Phase 1 of our "Big" Kennel Project is completed...Day 116 of our Productivty Project

A few days ago, I left Superman a hair raising status update on FB detailing how I'd spent the afternoon and evening in the garage playing with just about every power tool we own, plus paint.  I think he nearly had a heart attack, especially after I wouldn't tell him what I'd been working on.

Phase 1 - Finished!

I've finally done the last of the painting, so I can say we've finished Phase 1 of the Big Kennel Project and I'm ready to share the pictures of our progress to date.

This is where we began:



Dog kennel:  Unfinished dry wall, exposed insulation (thanks to Lucy!)
Unfinished fence boards to protect the drywall from the chewer (aka Lucy).
Basically, it was a terrible eyesore.

Honestly, the dog have never complained, but it was certainly an eyesore.  I've been promising Buttercup that I'd do something about it for more than a year and my productivity project seemed to have been the perfect motivation.  Still, we had the self-imposed constraint of using stuff we already had laying around to manage our transformation.  This had to be a completely free project.

Step 1 - Buttercup was itching to get painting, so I handed her the "mango madness" left from our formerly "Macaroni & Cheese" basement and set her free.

Buttercup makes quick work of the painting.

She made quick work of it, even with it needing two coats.  (We didn't primer first.)  After that, I got to work with the "construction" part of the project.

This wall needed to be insulated, so I used a box
cutter and a knife and cut a piece of rigid insulation to fit.

Since my plan was to use the leftover wainscoting from our bathroom project, I added 1x1 for structure.  The nails needed somewhere to go, right?

After that, I pieced together the wainscoting and installed it all.   The fiberglass insulation was fine, it just needed to get tucked.

It was hotter than heck in that get-up, but those are my "grungies", so that
is how I geared up for this project.  (Plus, I used my nifty work gloves my
sister sent me...they really project your hands, but your exposed fingertips
make working in them a breeze!

This is how the wainscoting part of the project turned out.  Doesn't it look fabulous?

Finished wainscoting and trim board...

After that, I added some trim boards and moulding, painted the fence boards, and added a decal for fun.

A few coats of paint did wonders for these boards!

 Phase 1 finished and we did it all with scrap materials we had in the garage.  It was a great way to get more familiar with all of our power tools.  Phase 2 will be astroturf, a new food dish holder, and a new dog bed.  Oh, as I'm looking at the picture, I'm thinking ceiling paint should be added to the list, too!

Phase 1 is Finished, but Phase 2 is bouncing around in my mind.

116 Days and counting til Superman comes home.  I'd say we get to count this one as productive, too, wouldn't you?

New Door Knob

The door from our garage to our backyard is in desperate need of replacing, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to make sure a door is true (and this one is definitely off-kilter).  That project will need to wait for Superman's return this fall.  In the meantime, though, I was more than willing to tackle the project of replacing the old door knob.  It turned out to be more complicated than an I anticipated, but still, I prevailed and the new door knob is working out beautifully.

New door knob with nifty patch job!

First, I took off the old door knob.  Easy peasy.  So easy, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Once the door knob and locking mechanism were removed, I was left with this hole.

This hole is way to big for a standard door knob.

I quickly determined that part of the problem with the old door knob was that the hole was actually too big for a standard door knob.  I was stumped...how to "patch" a hole in a door.  Then inspiration hit.  Back to Home Depot I went to get these plastic wall guards that protect wall from the damage done by kids slamming the door knob into the drywall.  These things are so handy...if you haven't used them, you'll thank me after you do.  (Not that my angels have ever put a dent or a hole in a wall, you understand.  They've always been paragons of restraint...NOT!)  These come in two sizes and I bought two of the larger size.  Back home again, I needed to drill door knob-sized holes in them before sticking them to the door.  There is actually a bit to do that job.

I think this is the size the previous owners used when they installed the original
door knob.  At close to 3", it is far too large.

This is the correct bit, but the wrong size.  I couldn't find the correct size, so I had to improvise.

I think the bit I used is for making counter-sink holes...maybe to seat washer and screws,
but I really don't know.  All I know is that I was able to make it work for my project.

Got out a scrap board, grabbed my husband's drill (mine didn't like the job), lay my plastic disk down (after figuring out where the hole needed to be--off-centered to work on the door), stepped on the disk to hold it in place (high-tech, I know), and drilled the hole.

Notice my foot holding the disk in place?  Necessity is the mother of weird techniques!
Thanks for letting me use your new drill, Honey.  It worked beautifully and had
a lot more power than mine.  You're too sweet!

After that, I fit the door knob in the new hole and then removed the covering from the adhesive tabs.  It was simple to fit the piece into the locking mechanism already in the door and then I just pressed firmly on the disk and the door was patched and my door knob was in the correct position.



By fitting the door knob mechanism in the hole before I put it through the door,
I had the opportunity to finesse it a bit to get it exactly the way I wanted it.

It was quick work to drill the hole in the other plastic disk and fit it properly. 



Felt pretty foolish when Valiant pointed out my error, but, hey, at least I knew
how to correct it!  Plus, I had canine supervision...they should have told me.

After that, I screwed it all together and was quite proud of myself...right up until Valiant asked me why I installed in backwards.  Sigh.

Now it is done correctly.  Even the dogs got bored by this point...

Pulled the door knob apart, turned the mechanism over, put it all back together, and we have a new door knob on our garage-to-backyard door.

Beautiful, isn't it?

 I confess, I felt pretty productive after I finished that little project.  Day 118 of Productivity can be considered successful!

Wood Shop - Finished!

Last spring I had the opportunity to take wood shop via continuing education classes.  I had so much fun (and learned so much), that I decided Valiant should take it when it was next offered. 

Picking straight boards...

Using the router...

to put the finishing touches on the pieces...

 Proud wood worker!

From picking out the wood to discovering that, like his father, he's allergic to wood shavings, Valiant made it through and has this amazing Adirondack chair to show for his labors. Pretty cool, isn't it?

Cat Boxes

You might remember that we expanded our family this spring.  We got three kittens in a two week period.  To say it has been a ton of chaotic fun would be an understatement.  Seriously...these little fuzzballs have been so delightful to have around, I already can't imagine life at home without them.

Unfortunately, with cats comes litter boxes and more cat food.  Bringing three kittens into our home had us going from one cat who was mostly an outdoor cat and never deigned to use a litter box to four cats, three of whom used litter boxes exclusively.  Throw in two dogs who think the stuff that goes into litter boxes is candy and that kitten food was a readily available snack.  This was making me crazy and not a "fun chaotic crazy".  With winter fast approaching, I knew I needed to come up with a solution because the dogs will be in the house 24/7 when the snow flies!

Have you see these?   These are cat boxes disguised and furniture and I love them.  They're just so much nicer than the standard blue plastic (why are they always blue?).

This one is $169 at csnstores (marked down from $279).  I can't spend $169 on a cat box...no way!

Look at this one!  It is from BigFatKittyCat and is $215 ($49 shipping).  It has compartments...which would be nice.

I can't afford any of these solutions!  (Who can?!)  So, with some missteps and some trepidation, I informed Superman that I needed to learn to use all of his super-cool garage toys:  table saw, miter saw, router, nail gun, and anything else that I noticed out there.  Superman is super-cool himself, so he spent a day teaching me how to use all of his neat toys (he shares nicely, too).    A new drill and some used saw horses, some wood putty and some sandpaper, a few coats of primer, some spray paint, a few hinges, and some plastic and silicon for flooring and I did it!  Two new cat boxes made with my own hands!  I'm so proud of myself, I can't tell you.

I made one with compartments for upstairs, but I'm thinking that I'll give it to the Divine Mrs. M (she has three cats and a dog as well as two big kids and baby!).  We don't really want to have it upstairs (we had planned to put it by the bedrooms) and if she can use it, I'd love for her to have it.

She's measuring to see if it will work in her laundry room.  I hope it does...if it could help her contain her chaos even a little bit, I'd love to help with that.

Here is the one I'm keeping for our downstairs bathroom.  (Right now there is a bowl of cat food on it  (which means the door to the bathroom has to be restricted from opening all the way to keep the dogs out, but in a few more months, the two youngest kittens will be eating from the bowl on the washer and the dog issues will be done.  I'll be able to work on this bathroom - can you see the new flooring we got in January?)

See?  The litter box is far enough back in the box that the dogs can get to it.  The plastic flooring sealed with silicon will make clean-up easy.

I think both boxes cost us about $40 in supplies compared with $500+ for the two I found online.   Oh, and we just measured our spaces, figured out what features we wanted and drew up plans for our cat boxes.  They turned out exactly as we'd planned. Can you believe it?  I'm just so excited and proud of myself.  Now I'm checking to see what Ana at Knock-Off Wood  has for me next!