I miss my four-legged friend

Just b/c I’m in the middle of a huge project doesn’t mean I have to completely give up on doing the occasional small job. Having this shop area set up has been one of the big unexpected pleasures of a move to the burbs. I might have put something together from time to time in the condo but nothing too great. I think I mentioned the writer’s desk before. I also had an old Notre Dame banner that I wanted to try and build a shadow box for; I ended up with a simple frame instead but it got lost somewhere in the move. Someday I’ll redo it.

Another casualty in the move was this framed picture of Payton (dude dropped an entire box of stuff putting it onto the truck for storage, completely wiped out. It wasn't pretty). It’s a print from a trip to the dog beach and was a housewarming present from some friends when we bought our condo. Sadly, we had to put Payton down last summer when we found out she had bone cancer that was quickly spreading from her shoulder. I loved that dog and miss her all the time. So needless to say I was upset when this frame ended up damaged in our move. It’s a good memory and I wanted to make sure it’s up at the new house in a worthy spot. 

Busted corner. That won't do at all.

Easy, chop some 1x2, glue and clamp.

There are other pictures of her up in the new house but this was one of my favorites. So with a cheap 8 foot strip of 1x2 pine I got a new frame together. With the first square of flat pieces, I surrounded that with a second square to make it a little more interesting. It looked good at that point but as a final product not so much…

Whoops. That's a little tight.

I wanted to reuse the glass and mat from the frame so I just had to build a frame with something to set it in. The first attempt ended up way too tight. A bulky frame is fine but there’s got to be room for the mat to help bring focus back to the actual picture. Luckily doing the same thing just bigger worked out fine and having done it once already worked in my favor. I kept things natural for now and found a good place on the wall. 

There, that looks better.

Payton would have loved our new house, and almost a year later I still miss her dearly. She was a good dog and I’m still waiting for it to feel right to put her ashes somewhere in the yard. We might get another dog someday, but Payton will always be my first dog and I’m glad to have her picture back up again.