Now that the master bathroom is largely under control (and mostly waiting on others, like the shower glass and countertop installers), we've turned to a pet project - building furniture! And by "we," I mostly mean Brian as my contribution here consists largely of helping to carry around the materials and cleaning up the sawdust. But it's all for a good cause as our kitchen is getting some new custom touches!
First up - I keep wanting to change the header picture (and maybe will get around to it one of these days!) but in the meantime, here are some updated pictures of the front of the house now that the trees and grasses we planted in the spring are filling in.
And onto the furniture building! This weekend was all about the prototypes - we're working on a live edge slab bar top for the kitchen island and a custom table for the banquette. For both, we bought beautiful walnut - a big slab for the bar top and some nice 3x3s for the table. Since we really only get one shot at installing both, we worked on finishing the slab and then set it up with 2x4s to see how it all worked. Brian will later weld up a steel frame to replace the wood. For the table, Brian built a prototype out of regular 4x4s and then will recreate the table later with the walnut now that he has all the measurements calculated. So, off the pictures...
 |
| Getting started - first we had to build a big work table in the basement to support the slab, which measured around 110" x 22" in its original form |
 |
| Getting everything level and starting with the router |
 |
| Here comes the sawdust! Using the router to level the slab |
 |
| We had to go back and forth with the router on both sides to get it ready |
 |
| Moving outdoors to cut the flat edge - we debated for awhile whether to keep the big knot or the smoother side but ultimately decided the knot might be a little too rustic looking |
 |
| Setting up to see how it looks! |
 |
| And now trimmed to fit the island |
 |
| Hello kitchen! Slab in place (with temporary 2 x 4s, not the steel that will eventually be installed) - and new custom-made table in the background! |
 |
| Another picture - eventually the table will be replaced with the walnut table legs too |
 |
| Close up of the table - still need new chairs, banquette seat cushion, paint, and, of course, walnut table legs, but not bad for a test run! |
 |
| And the bar top from the other side - we still need to finish it with oil and replace the 2x4s with a steel frame but it's starting to come together! |
