Playing with Wood

My whole life, my Dad has made me things with wood.  When I was a little girl, he made me my first tiny hopechest, and a beautiful cradle for my baby dolls.  When I turned 16 he made me a big beautiful Hopechest, fully lined with Cedar.  When I moved away to college, I was so blessed to have my Dad make me my bedside table, and a gorgeous jam cupboard.  I still have every single one of these things Daddy has made me!  I couldn't bear to part with any of them.  I cherish each and every one. 

In junior highschool, I LOVED shop class!  I loved working with the lathe, the band saw, and all the other tools.  As an adult, I've always had an interest in woodworking, (Dad sometimes let me 'help' him in the garage on projects as a kid, I loved getting my hands dirty!) but I've had little opportunity with 3 kiddies to try anything on my own.   

Enter the rainbarrel flood.

This spring we had a flood in our basement due to a rainbarrel overflowing...our basement has been torn to shreds.  What we found in the shreds was that there was NO insulation down there AT ALL.  Not really surprising to me, since it's freakin' cold ALL THE TIME...you don't need a fridge for your drinks in winter down there! lol   What did surprise me is that there was also no framing.  The basement was strapped, and drywalled.  In order to insulate we had to frame it.  Sigh.

Enter my hero...my Dad!

Dad comes to my rescue more often than anyone else I've ever known. lol  And he didn't fail me this time either.  He came up with all his tools, and started framing...but first, he taught me how to use the miter saw.  Can I just tell you that a miter saw is a beautiful thing?  It is.

Because of puppy problems, he had to return home with his baby before he could really teach me the ropes hands on regarding framing, but I'm a relatively quick learner, and since I've been watching my Dad my whole life, I had no trouble picking up some wood and starting to play.  As it turns out, I found a great guy to come and finish the basement framing, for a great price, and that freed up some of my mucho time this summer to play with the wood in my basement, and make the following!  :0) 

The first of two matching end tables for our deck.

This long table was my very first project.  We use it as a coffee table, and the kids sometimes use it as a little desk. 

This is the bench I made, in its new home, in our front garden!

And finally, I made a footrest for my Dad, as a late Father's Day gift, and a little box for my Mom.  She may use it as a planter, or just a basket in their home, for her crocheting.

Did I mention that ALL of this was made with wood otherwise headed to the dump?

The narrower pieces were all strapping from the basement that had to be removed for the framing to go up.  The 2X4's were remnants from the studs Dad cut and put in before he had to leave.

Watch the blog tomorrow for my DT reveal, and yet another use for 2X4 remnants. :0)