commuting surprise

I have a couple of outstanding projects I'll post on when they get more finished, but I did want to share a run in I had on the way home yesterday. Thankfully not an actual run-in.

So I came across this guy in the road on the way home last night. Probably not going anywhere, just happy to have a sunny warm spot. But having seen the aftermath of another squished turtle in the road earlier in the spring, I didn't want this guy getting run over and moved him to the side of the road.

I couldn't hold him, the bike, and a phone at the same time so I didn't take a pic of him getting carried, but I hope he didn't mind moving out of the traffic path.

So that's all. Really busy with work, school, and the kids, and a bike ride like that is enough to keep me sane most days.

Upholstery is not in my wheel house.

But when has that stopped me?

We have a dining room set from World Market that's about 6-years old. The table and bench are in good shape, but the chairs started shedding their covers at an alarming rate this winter. I took one of the chairs into the garage this winter to try and take it apart to see if I could get it down to a seat cushion to re-upholster. Eventually I did, and even got the back off too to see if I could sew a new one (I could not).

Ugh. How exactly do I do this?

This chair has been in the garage since March, and this weekend we finally made it to a fabric store to see what we should try to put on it. I guess it's good that we waited, b/c four yards of the fabric we choose was going to be over $120, but there was a 60% off coupon in their app for Memorial Day. At least that way if I fucked up I wouldn't feel $120-bad.

And this was the first one, I figured out the corners after this. 

But getting the fabric on the seat cushion is easy enough. I wasn't going to mess with cushions so all I had to do was staple the new stuff on and re-attach the cushion. I might not have been technically correct but it looks way better and hopefully will hold up for a while. And none of this meant new tools; a screwdriver to start the staples, pliers to pull them out, a staple gun to put stuff back on. After the first one I got the system down and could turn them around pretty quickly while watching tv. 

At first glance it doesn't look horrible.

Sewing the back, not so much! I pulled two seams on the old cover to make a traceable pattern, and the fit actually wasn't too terrible. The stitching is god awful though.

Yeah, that's not a look I'm happy with.

So I have three mis-matched chairs while I track down a sewing machine to try again with. I can live with that as long as I don't have to pull any more staples any time soon. That was a pain in the ass.

re-doing cleat shelves

I had to spend the weekend downtown for a grad program residency, but before I left I had some time Thursday morning to redo my cleat shelves in the garage. I needed a chance to clean up a little and appreciated the chance to get a project done.

My circular saw fell off it's shelf this winter, taking down two of the bottom cleats on the way down. It's my fault for not make sure it was properly balanced; I was pissed about losing my shelf space. So I came up with a plan to add some back, but also get the circular saw a little sturdier on the wall.

Instead of individual cleats I picked up a 2x4 plywood and put it on the wall with construction adhesive, drywall anchors, and a line of wood screws in a stud. I think this should hold it.

With that up I put one of the old box shelves back up after popping the cleat off. I kregged it right to the board. Same with the circular saw shelf, more glue and a couple of wood screws through the back.

Add in another shelf cleat that I can figure out later and I think I've gotten a good deal of storage back. The bigger shelf is sturdy enough to stay on the floor, the table saw goes up against the wall, and I've got a spot for just about everything.

The best part was I could watch/listen to John Oliver while I was working. This set up is working well; if the dog was interested in staying in the shop vs the yard it'd be just about perfect.