Saturday, December 3, 2011

Projects

Most of our blogs have been about travel, but we also enjoy a great many projects when we're at home.
 When we bought our house, it had some beautiful views, but it lacked character.
 Here is what the area in the above photo looks like now.  Penny made the pillows on the sofa and Ted mounted the TV and the floating shelves.
 Penny made these curtains for the great room.
 The bedroom also had great views, but was very plain.
 Penny made these curtains and most of the pillows on the bed.
She also made the pillow on this chair and re-upholstered the foot stool beside it.  In the background are more curtains she made. 
 This was an unfinished "crawl space".  A door from the lower hallway led to an immediate five foot drop here.
 Ted turned it into a convenient storage room.
 This was another "crawl space".
 Ted had always wanted a wood shop, so he claimed the space and made his shop in it.  It is still very much a work in progress, but it is now quite functional.  Much of the wood used to build it was rescued from the trash pile that accumulated when the house next door was built.  It has a built in compressed air system and vacuum dust extractors connected to all of the tools.
 This is the beginnings of a wine cabinet.  The concrete slab and the concrete back wall are both below grade and maintain an excellent, steady temperature.  The top and sides are insulated with one layer of R-30 and one layer of R-19 insulation.  Still a long way to go here.  More play time for Ted.
 In the meantime, our daughter, Erin, bought her first house.  It is new construction and needed a lot of decoration, so Penny made a quilt for her wall.
Erin picked out the colors and selected this pattern, appropriately named Buzz Saw, and Penny made it.  Ted will hang it for Erin on her next day off.