Category Archives: Home Improvement

Concealing Mistakes

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Shawn Nichols

With the decision to create breadboard ends made, the focus quickly turned to sourcing  material. As I’ve lamented in the past, my part of Cleveland is a bit of a hardwood desert. I only needed one 6″ wide x 48″ … Continue reading →

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Failure & Wisdom

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Shawn Nichols

With the two huge slabs sufficiently flat, I was eager to apply glue and bust out the long clamps. Fortunately, my beard accumulated a touch more gray since my last large panel glue up. Therefore, I spent a full night’s … Continue reading →

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Properly Built Dining Tables Start With Large Televisions

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Shawn Nichols

Where were we? The base was done but the top needed attention. Nature did most of the heavy lifting on the tabletop. I just needed to position the grain correctly and concentrate on tight joinery. The only downside of these … Continue reading →

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George Walker Comes to My House (kinda)

Posted on October 29, 2016 by Shawn Nichols

Just to be clear, George has never been to my actual house. However, when I noticed my front porch column was completely rotted, my first thought was to bust out my copy of  By Hand & Eye. My next stop was … Continue reading →

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Finishing Up the Barn Board (For Now)

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Shawn Nichols

On a steamy summer Friday, I reluctantly traded happy hour for a date with my three season room. First, I examined the boards for any signs of bugs and lucky didn’t find any, but I did see a lot of white … Continue reading →

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My B-52’s Impression

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Shawn Nichols

Like most things these days, it all started on Pinterest. If you aren’t using this resource as a tool to share with your spouse, better half, co-designer, or clients you’re truly missing out. Get to pinning. After looking around for … Continue reading →

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Working With Reclaimed Barn Board

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Shawn Nichols

If you followed the blog last year, you might recall The Big Reno, which was an HGTV-style down-to-the-studs, open-up-the-walls, live-in-a-construction-zone experience. It’s not for the faint of heart, but the results are worth it. The plan was to have 75% … Continue reading →

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Milking It – Part III: Fin

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Shawn Nichols

I finished up the milk painted bench and I’m happy to report it’s been in use for about two weeks. My experience with “Real” milk paint wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. The acrylic stuff from General Finishes that I … Continue reading →

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Milking It – Part II

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Shawn Nichols

After reading all the good advice today (thanks everyone!) I was quite confident going into coat two. I mixed everything at the 2:1 ratio of water to paint like yesterday. I sanded with 320 grit sanding pad and removed the … Continue reading →

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Milking It – Part I

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Shawn Nichols

I tried my hand at milk paint tonight (Real Milk Paint). I followed the instructions from company with the ratio provided by Chris’ in a recent post. I was a bit shocked by the “foaminess” or “thickness” of the consistency. My … Continue reading →

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