Backyard Gazebo - Part 1

One item I was determined to get in the backyard somehow was a gazebo. Not huge. Big enough to accommodate a few friends and our bevies if we were unfortunate enough to be caught in an evening rain. Or big enough for Mr. Mel and I to veg out in with a couple of books to escape the hot afternoon sun. Although Mr. Mel insists that it's sole purpose is to host his weekly poker game! Men...ugh.

I had a wish list:

• built in benches
• electricity for lighting
• privacy screens

We're lucky enough to have a couple of friends who are journeyman electricians, so one came to help me along to get the power pulled from the house, trenched, and connected to the gazebo.

I found a free plan for a square gazebo online (I am all about the freebies). I found this one at Treated Wood.

I called on my cousin to help me out with this project. He's built a gazebo for himself, and is pretty much an ace at anything carpentry, so I knew he was the right man for the job!

Our gazebo will sit on grade, instead of on piles or footings. We created a base at each corner, filled and tamped, and used concrete blocks that the corner posts will rest on. We have really stable, sandy soil so this base will work well.

All our supplies have arrived, and we set up shop. I was in power tool heaven!

We followed the building plan and, slowly, the gazebo started taking shape. We did end up making some modifications to beef up the structure as the wind out here can gust at 80 km/hr (that's about 49 mph for my American friends).

 

 

 

Installing the roof and shingles was definitely not something I wanted to do as I am totally, absolutely terrified of heights. Mr. Mel was excited to participate in this build, so took this on and he and my cousin did  a great job! 

I decided to switch up the railing design a bit to allow a bit more privacy. This involved using many wicked awesome power tools. It made me a happy girl!

It took a full weekend and a week of evenings to get this built, which was much longer than I thought it would take. But it's finally done! I can't wait to get to work decorating this space and use it as our little backyard hideaway. (P.S. those are, indeed, my deck stairs in the background...more on that later)

Lots of activity going on here lately. I'll post an update soon!

Cubby Desk

** I apologize in advance for the craptastic photo quality...we're having camera issues over at the White City Project **

Our home office project is well under way, but one item was holding things up. I searched high and low for a small desk to fit in our 39" alcove to no avail.

A second workspace was a must for this space and the alcove seemed the perfect place to tuck one away. I wanted to do this room on a relatively small budget so it limited my options to buy new but, no matter how hard I looked, I just couldn't find anything used that would fit.

I finally decided to just build in a worktop and I found a great photo of just what I was thinking of.

I started by drawing up a sketch with your measurements. Don't skip this step or bad things will happen. Bad, baaaad things. Not that I would know from experience, of course. It's just what I've been told ::whistling::  Once you have a drawing, it'll actually be easier to improvise a bit, if you're so inclined wink wink 

The height of my desk will be 30", including a 1/2" thick MDF desktop and 24" deep. I mounted 2x4 lumber to the walls at 29 1/2". I painted these the same colour as my walls before I moved on. I didn't bother filling the screw holes because no one will see them anyway.

Then I mounted a 1x4 apron to the ends of the 2x4s across the front of the desk.

Here's my favourite part! I bought two 4" corner blocks and two fancy shmancy polyurethane corbels from Rona and mounted them on each end of the desk using brad nails. These are purely decorative so don't need any heavy duty fasteners. I filled in the space between the blocks with another piece of 1x4 so the profile of the apron would be even. I used liquid nails on the tops of the wall mounts to attach the 1/2" MDF top.

After filling and sanding all of the visible nail/screw holes, I gave the entire desk a prime and coat of a greeny-taupe colour mistint I had kicking around my paint stash, followed by a few coats of Varethane to protect it.

I used a hole saw (one of the most rad drill attachments ever, in my humble opinion) to make a cut for a desk grommet that I bought from a local office supply store to keep my cords organized.

I am thrilled with how this desk turned out! And I was so tickled when Mr. Mel saw it and said simply, "Honey, I love that desk". Awwww, thanks, hun.

Before anyone feels it necessary to point it out, I am well aware that there are a few gaps around the desktop. Geez Louise, nothing is ever square! But in the end, all I needed was a spot for me to plop down and do some bloggin' so I am not concerned with the little imperfections of it. If I had it to do over again, I would have made my own cuts of the desktop (not have the hardware store do it) to ensure a perfect fit. Ya live, ya learn.

Cost breakdown for this project:
$53 for corbels and decorative blocks
$39 for lumber and MDF (I had to buy an entire sheet of MDF so I have a bunch leftover)
$3 for desk grommet
$0 for paint
Total cost = $95