Some Assembly Required

I have been happily puttering away in my workshop....oh yes workshop, that brings up another distraction and unfortunate disappointment. I have been planning a shop on my property, big enough to house the bus, plus a workshop space, man hut, storage etc etc. So the size of the building was, well, significant, so the cost was going to be significant. I was prepared for that. The issues started when we realized I couldn't place the building in the location I wanted on the property because of a set back from the municipal road. So the only reasonable location was beside the house, which had lots of positives in terms of running services, access in and out....you get my drift. But...there is a slope to the land. Which means the engineers had to make sure the frost walls, footings pony walls...whatever they all are called...were strong enough for a building that size. Lets just say we could have built a sky scraper with the amount of concrete and rebar in the plans for this  thing. Unfortunately nothing in life is free, and the price tag matched the gargantuan amount of cement. I could justify a cost to a certain point but this was beyond what my conscience would allow.
In the end we are back to the drawing board, trying to think of what I can do to get a structure to protect Fillmore. All this to say that my work time has been shared between that project and this. Now I can focus a little more on this....for now....famous last words!.

Cabinets have been adorned with the hardware...

Doors and drawers reunited...

Now it's time to reunite all the pieces together. A little touch I wanted was power for 'devices' for kids and peoples traveling in the back. I found a funky USB and 110V power pod that I decided to insert into my cabinet top.





Then there was running all the electrical wire through the cabinets, my heart sank each time I had to make Swiss cheese out of the cabinet walls to accommodate furnace ducting, then wire runs...

I try to keep then small and clean

And see the odd beauty of it all

I've still got 'miles to go before I sleep' but things are looking good!

Putting up a front

The journey continues. I move forward one step at a time. I have been working on the drawer fronts for the back of the bus. Trimming them with some family significant Muvuli wood from east africa. After a good evening of putting 5 of these together and rehearsing  to my song list for the open mic night at our local pub, I finally had the presence of mind to film me putting the last drawer front together!

The two chest of drawers are complete enough to reinstall in the bus. I say complete enough because I still have to laminate a table top for the drivers side drawers out of the same clear fir that I used on the passenger side top from Michelle's family farm that Ron and I saved many years ago.


















I will spend a little time refining the corners. I don't want them to be so sharp, I would  rather they be a little less severe , I will gently round the mitred corner, just soften it a little.

Overall I am happy with how they turned out. The high gloss surface and the chrome button give it a nice finish.

Over the ground lay a carpet of white...

 Bright and sunny, cool and crisp.....what winter should be really. Maybe not for weeks at a time but definatley a few days strung together here and there to make sure you remember you live in Canada

 I was driving home from work yesterday and I had to stop. Although the picture does not do it justice, the field looked like a thick lush carpet rolled out for all to see. When I was growing up, I would see a field like this and just ache to drive a snowmobile through the fresh powder, bouncing from ski to ski floating on the powder cloud beneath me. But alas, it's not my land and I don't have a snowmobile, perhaps its better this way, now everyone can enjoy the fresh clean field.

 I know the saying is the" eyes are the window to the soul", but I love doors. They are like the first impression. A small statement to the world saying this is who we are

The vibrant colours of central america...

The ornate doors of east Africa...                                  And the humorous doors found along the way

My doors, aren't quite as ornate, or funny, but they have their own little nod to Michelle's family and their time in Kenya.

I cut back the drawer fronts and trimmed them with Muvuli

Looking pretty sharp in my humble opinion....I even got the nod from my 14 year old son, who said, those are lit.

One more time

I am not complaining, I design the thing to allow me to back up and re-do. It's a way to compensate for my poor planning, or ignorance to the order of business really. But the bottom line is I often feel like "I have been here before"

This time rather than pull Jeff away from something important.....like homework....I decided to reinstall the fridge on my own now that the 110V electrical wires and plugs have been installed on the passenger side.

Next was to put the final coat on the rear cabinets. After much effort using the HVLP spray gun, I decided to explore another option. Airless. After some research, some consultation with contractors, and reading what the oracle had to say on the subject, I decided to jump in head first, no toe dipping here kids! It was time to rebuild a spray booth

And a fine one it was/is....

The results were way better than expected. As my good buddy Harold told me....'this happens fast'..."this thing puts out a lot of paint, and fast!"

 So I was a little unprepared, I thought I could spray a few pieces and then move on to the rest another day. The set up process takes some time, the painting process takes seconds....so I really couldn't bear the thought of cleaning up, packing up and then setting up all over again. So some quick movements and I was able (with the help of Jeff) to move the big pieces and set up the table for all the door fronts.

 Then another 20 min of rookie clean up and we were all put away! The finish is great! Ill let things cure.....yes I got impatient and touched a piece leaving my finger prints on it....so I only have one piece from 14 that I have to re-do!