Arts and Crafts

I took a moment during my lunch break to make use of some power tools we have at work that I don't have at my house, figuring that having appropriate materials on hand is half (maybe a third) of the battle on some of home projects.

I have made little to no progress in over a year on finishing off the door between the kitchen and now the espresso room. I got a new door that provided the ability to install a pet door for when animal egress is needed. That new door is pretty plain, even with the chalkboard I added. The remainder of the plan is to build a crown molding shelf to hold the simple necessities, like chalk and eraser, and frame the board with some casing prior to painting the door.

I picked out some casing from the warehouse and made a few quick cuts so I would be able to get it home. I decided that some 1" x 6" ultralite (coated MDF) would be perfect for the top of the shelf. Just to hedge my bets, I made some cuts on the ultralight since 6" would stick out quite a bit from the door. I located some crown moulding that was left over from another job and cut a few lengths since there will be some practice cuts made since compound mitering is involved. If time allows this evening post time trial and following events, I will make some cuts and do a quick dry fit to make sure it will all work. When the time comes, all of the parts will come back to work where I can use more fun tools, like the nail gun, to get everything glued and tacked together.

Thanks to convenient window shopping provided by the internet, I have a few ideas about what size window box liners are available. I'm going to take a stab at making the boxes/liner holders from some of the material I have leftover from the garage. Using pressure treated 2" x 6" for ends and "ribs" should provide enough of a framework to allow me to use the extra siding for the front, back, and side caps. I will be able to make the boxes the exact length I want. I will paint them with the same paint I used on the garage, so they'll blend right in when nothing is growing. I don't really look forward to making cuts on the cementitious siding, I now know how to/not to do it. Planning counts as progress right?