Home improvement and smaller DIY projects

[Driber]

I was just talking with one of the forum members here about my latest DIY project, and it got me thinking:

What do you guys do yourselves at home and can ya'll show us some pics of it?

I love doing just about any kind of DIY and I'm interested to see what everyone here has made for their own home

[Driber]

D'OH, posted this thread in the wrong forum by accident

Moved it to Community Chat.

[KoolKat]

I recently bought and put together this:



It's not much, but I felt really proud of myself when I'd finished.

I also unwrapped and put the feet on the couch we got delivered last week.

[Driber]

Cheat!

[BLOWHARD]

I do what ever is needed, even electrical and plumbing, although I'm not too good at either of those. I haven't built anything in a long time but I've built lots of furniture, mostly with 3/4 oak or maple plywood. Cabinets, book cases, desks, picture frames etc. I'm pretty hand with saws and whatnot...and I still have all my fingers even after running wood shop at a college

[Driber]

Any pics?

[BLOWHARD]

uh...I've got this online but it's not much to see...


I should have used brass screws on that piano hinge huh?
That one has 10mm thick glass I got from a broken light table top. It is SUPER heavy and pretty hard to cut.

Two frames I made for my paintings, one mahogany and other maple, both with 5 segment tennoned arches.


Everything else I've made, from tables to turned bowls were before digital cameras. I'll see if I can find old photos to scan.

Or did you mean pictures of all my fingers?

[Driber]

You mean after all that DIY, you were still left with more than a single digit?

Sure, lets see it!

And that display case looks pretty nice

But a 1 CM thick glass door, you say? Jesus, how the hell is that hinge even holding that

Thank god for plexiglass, lol.

[BLOWHARD]

It was a REALLY nice expensive piece of glass with one corner broken off and the school was throwing it out. O grabbed it out of the trash! Yep, it's HEAVY, that's why all the screws and the heavy duty piano hinge
I'll dig through those old photos tonight.

[jakobsen]

"Looks like I'm'a do everything myself,
Maybe I could use some help,
But hell, if you want somethin' done right?
You got to do it yourself." Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)

As a cabinetmaker and furniture designer I do everything at home(takes lot of time but I like it)... from underfloor heating to custom kitchen set.
ALAMP(made out of $4 fruit plate, fitting is secret going to brand it)


I will later post some few other things later.

[KoolKat]

Originally Posted by Driber

Cheat!

Aw, no fair. I didn't even read the instructions. I baked and iced a cake from scratch for my mum's birthday last week - does that count?

Usually my fiancé insists on doing all DIY in the house - I think he feels it's his thing.

[Driber]

^ When it comes to DIY, all men are basically still primates, KoolKat!

I also wouldn't allow any handy-man to come into my house and fix something which I can do myself

@jakobsen: A fruit bowl for a lamp cover - clever idea!

Anything else you can share?

Originally Posted by BLOWHARD

I'll dig through those old photos tonight.

Found any yet?

[jakobsen]

Originally Posted by Driber

Anything else you can share?

This is Light Switch.
Case is aluminum(made by CNC operator, from my drawing), insides are from soviet switch, while switch itself is vintage faucet. It turns 360 degree both directions, every 90 degree it switch on/off no matter direction.
Only one made(just an experiment)

[Driber]

Wow, I really love your creativity!

And those electrical wires, are they from a clothes iron by any chance?

[BLOWHARD]

Cool! Did you hand wrap those wires?

Sorry Driber, I had forgotten about that stuff. And now I'm pretty busy but if you keep bugging me I'll get to it. I'm curious what I have pictures of too.

[jakobsen]

Thanks.
Wires are not hand wraped(that would take some time ) or clothes iron(dat's what I'll probably use for my next project), I got them from old military factory.

[BLOWHARD]

Hey Jakobsen, I'm interested in what the rest of your designer house decor looks like? A good mix of surplus and traditional?

OK Driber, you asked for it. Almost more arts/crafts rather than DIY...but I did do it myself

Here's a telephone stand I made for a friend's wedding gift, early 1990s, all oak, no nails, one drawer. This was WAY back when people had wired telephones of course


A series of Christmas gifts, also early 90s -

Coffee chest, about 8 inches wide, white oak/zebra wood/bubinga/purple heart/cork, no stain, clear oil finish.

I had ment to fume the oak but I ran out of time

Incense box, wenge/zebra wood/maple, no stain, clear oil finish.


Frames with hand marbled matts.


Speaking of marbling, I picked that up while I was in college, late 80s. I had to learn it myself from reading books. It's NOT easy, especially not traditional paper marbling!!!
I made shirts, papers and yards or fabric but it didn't ever go anywhere and I'm not much of a self marketer or businessman!



Sorry about the picture quality, that was the dark ages of crummy 1 hour photo
I'm sure I have more photos of furniture somewhere...but where???

[Driber]

Nice pics, BH! (or Dave, whichever you use today )

I especially like the incense box. Very nice!

No nails in the telephone stand, you say? So woodplugs and woodglue?

Originally Posted by BLOWHARD

Hey Jakobsen, I'm interested in what the rest of your designer house decor looks like?

Ditto

Originally Posted by BLOWHARD

This was WAY back when people had wired telephones of course

A wired phone, you say?

Oh, oh, you mean like connected to a USB port for charging the battery! Gotcha!

[jakobsen]

Originally Posted by Driber

A wired phone, you say?
Oh, oh, you mean like connected to a USB port for charging the battery! Gotcha!

Originally Posted by BLOWHARD

Hey Jakobsen, I'm interested in what the rest of your designer house decor looks like? A good mix of surplus and traditional?

BW, I have to say I like all of your works, but T-shirt looks marvelous, makes me want to try to create one too. Do you remember how does that technique is called?

This is from room with switch.



I can't find pics of many works made for friends, lost since most was taken with non wired phone.

[Driber]

Oh my lord, that's one hell of a funky floor! I love it!

Did you make that entirely yourself? If so, how?

And I see you really love tearing down those walls

[jakobsen]

Yes, most was done by my self.
Making that floor was bit of pain, hardest was to tear lot and lot of magazines and finding good images.
First goes varnish, while its liquid placed pictures then again varnish (3-4 coats). Again, it was experiment, and I'm still thinking was that worth spent time and money.

[Driber]

Awesome

Did the varnish "muffle" the clarity of the magazine pictures at all?

I found that most varnish, even those which state that they are supposed to be "transparent" still make the surface underneath a bit less clear.

And did you apply the second layer of varnish intermediately after placing the pictures, or did you let the layer of varnish between the floor and the pictures harden first?

[BLOWHARD]

NICE ROOM!!!! The floor is neat. I dig the mix of styles of the cabinet! Tell me about the exposed wood, is that some kind of extra thick cabinet grade plywood or is it a laminate or what? it's really nice.

Do you remember how does that technique is called?

It's called marbling. You'll find it in antique books, end pages and other parts of really old books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_marbling


Traditionally it's done with pigments with "things" mixed in so they'll float when they're laid out on water, or a jellied substance for fabric, and then you use various comb like tools to manipulate the pigments until you get a pattern you like. Then you lay your paper or fabric over it.
You can do a quick dirty method with thinned oil paints on water. For fabrics I used fabric fast acrylics.
It's pretty wacky. You can get basic results pretty easy but to get really quality results it takes a lot of practice and trial and error. Plus all factors like temperature, humidity and the purity of water and pigment used are super important.
I bet there are good websites and videos on how to do it now. I did that stuff in the early days of the internet, 88-90. I didn't even have a computer then

[jakobsen]

Originally Posted by Driber

Awesome

Did the varnish "muffle" the clarity of the magazine pictures at all?

And did you apply the second layer of varnish intermediately after placing the pictures, or did you let the layer of varnish between the floor and the pictures harden first?

This floor varnish was on water base and it's pretty clear. Thees new water base varnishes don't yellow with time so much, and they don't give hallucinations!
I put second coat right after placing pictures.
There is one problem using water varnish, since if you place paper in water it will get corded. It takes lot of time to get it straight.

Originally Posted by BLOWHARD

NICE ROOM!!!! The floor is neat. I dig the mix of styles of the cabinet! Tell me about the exposed wood, is that some kind of extra thick cabinet grade plywood or is it a laminate or what? it's really nice.

Its extra thick 40mm plywood... what makes this cabinet weight a ton.
Thanks for info about marbling! Will try it some day.

[Driber]

Originally Posted by jakobsen

There is one problem using water varnish, since if you place paper in water it will get corded. It takes lot of time to get it straight.

So how exactly did you get it straight?