| Project by mot | posted 514 days ago | 722 views | 0 times favorited | 19 comments | ![]() |
This project turned out to be a real albatross around my neck. I loved doing it, and I having it commissioned by my mother, for my father. However, I really bit off more than I could chew. This type of project is time consuming for me. It involved alot of sheet goods and my shop is small. I had to setup a way of knocking down the sheet goods in the garage, carrying them downstairs, cutting them, taking them back up stairs for finishing, then taking the back downstairs for assembly…then upstairs again to get them in the truck to take to my parents house.
This was, all the while, dealing with my profession, my wife’s profession, looking after our daughter and trying to be a husband to my pregnant wife.
I had set out to do this job in 30 days. It involved getting the office ceiling painted, getting the hardwood flooring down, building the cases, staining the thing to match the mahogany panelling, and getting it installed. Good thought. I guess.
Well, I didn’t want to paint the ceiling. The painter never showed up. I got to paint the ceiling. I hired out the hardwood floor. Mom and Dad picked the flooring. I told the hardwood guy. He said no problemo. Three weeks later, I asked him what his time frame was. You see, I had planned to get the flooring down right after I painted. This was going to be finished by day 5. Yeah right. At day 24, the flooring guys says, “So, what flooring did your dad pick out?” I could have killed him.
Anyway, the build went on. I learned that my shop is WAY too small to build so many cabinets. I learned about gel stains and got an HVLP sprayer to get the poly on to try and salvage some time. I got the base cabinets, countertop and doors installed, as well as the flooring and the ceiling done in the 30 day window. Then life got in the way.
To make a long and painful story short, this job got finished about a year later. I got the bookcases in, the mouldings and face frames installed. It got spun into closet doors and a new entry door, a new electrical circuit, a rearranging of his 1000 pound desk and when all was said and done, this is what the end result was. Here is a link to the picture on picasaweb. I didn’t take any construction shots because I was so frantic and harried that I really didn’t think about it, or if I did, I didn’t want to remember the process, only the outcome.
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
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19 comments so far
WayneC
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5685 posts in 579 days
posted 514 days ago
Well after all of that it turned out great.
-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov
oscorner
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4573 posts in 793 days
posted 514 days ago
Exellent work!
-- Jesus is Lord!
David
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1819 posts in 621 days
posted 514 days ago
WOW!
Excellent work.
-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com
MsDebbieP
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11909 posts in 642 days
posted 513 days ago
phew… I’m glad this is over as well—sounds like a lot of headaches!
But, as you say—the end result?!!!!! Well worth it.
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
VTWoody
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95 posts in 539 days
posted 513 days ago
Mot,
Those are gorgeous. I eventually want to do something similar in my own office/computer room.
Sawhorse
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272 posts in 922 days
posted 513 days ago
Even with all the frustration, and it still turns out looking Great!!! Woodworking Personified, eh?
-- Sawhorse - Sulphur Springs, TX - www.sawhorseworkshop.com
unisaw
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10 posts in 615 days
posted 513 days ago
Nice job. I love to here that a 30 day project took a year – happens to me ALL the time. I feel validated.
Karson
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12889 posts in 882 days
posted 513 days ago
Great job Mot. I hope that your parents were understanding about the delays.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
mot
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4837 posts in 518 days
posted 513 days ago
Thanks for the comments guys. My parents were very understanding of the delays. In fact, they later told me that they enjoyed a few good laughs about my 30 day time frame. My father wondered if I payed attention to the fact that I work, my wife works, my daughter was 5 and my wife was about to go on maternity leave…it’s pretty funny in retrospect. However, the thing I’ve still tried to remember is, I haven’t the room in my shop for this sort of size.
Have a great weekend folks!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
CharlieM1958
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4170 posts in 700 days
posted 512 days ago
Worth the effort!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
woodspar
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684 posts in 581 days
posted 512 days ago
What a project. I know about committing to a “project” for other family members. I am in the midst of such a one. It brings its own special challenges… :-)
-- John
cconway
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37 posts in 531 days
posted 508 days ago
Your time with this really paid off! I am sure your father loved it.
-- Charlie, Connecticut
Scoop
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10 posts in 511 days
posted 504 days ago
Wow. I’ve got a room that is destined to be a study someday. It will have a window seat 3 walls of bookcases, and one wall of cabinets with bookcases above.
Can I send you a gift card to your favorite woodworking store and pick your brain on the phone for half an hour?
mot
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4837 posts in 518 days
posted 503 days ago
You can pick my brain all you want without sending me the gift card. Go grab an application called Teamspeak (www.teamspeak.org) It’s a voice over IP application. Then we can chat without you speding the long distance charges as well. I keep a server open for some friends that I used to online game with, so it’s always on. Drop me a private message and we can hookup if you like!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
RonR
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68 posts in 490 days
posted 490 days ago
That is a really nice project! Excellent work. Must have been very difficult with all the sheet goods handling but you pulled it off. I’m sure your father must have loved it.
-- RonR, Massachusetts
TomFran
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2360 posts in 476 days
posted 475 days ago
Great job. I really appreciate your candor in telling us about all the headaches. It’s not all glory when we take on some of these projects.
-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28
Joe Anderson
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26 posts in 421 days
posted 416 days ago
Wow, That makes it so much more appreciated. I feel you pain, i have the wife , baby, job, etc… and no time… Very nice outcome. Looks so very professional… Thanks.
-- JAnderson: Columbus, OH
ND2ELK
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2461 posts in 256 days
posted 254 days ago
Nice Job! I remember I did some conference tables for the Bank of North Dakota. It was agreed that I would deliver them to the loading dock and they would move them in. Two days later I was called to come and repair them on site. The tops were scratched, top mouldings were broken off and one keel board was broken loose from a leg. They hired a moving company to get them in. Now for the rest of the story. . . They would not fit in the staircase so they took them up the closed in fire escape using block and tackle AFTER they took the roof off the fire escape, removed all the landing grates and took out the door on the top floor. I basically set up shop in the bank. One job I got paid twice for when it was all done. I have no idea what it cost to open up the fire escape and put it back. Thanks for the welcome.
-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa
rikkor
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7604 posts in 356 days
posted 253 days ago
Great story of a large project with plenty of pitfalls. AKA “real life.”
-- Maplewood, MN