Author: peterb51

2nd November 2022

I had a choice of jobs to work on today. I needed to make some progress on the refinishing of a small side table for the Indian guy up the road. It was something he had made himself out of some other piece of furniture. It was a little crude, and for me to refinish it I had to knock it apart, it was much easier to sand and strip the finish off. So I had that to do, plus Kelli wanted the drawers for the potbelly table that now resides in the house.

I had to make a new curved bottom for the two deep drawers that give the table that name. I used bendy ply which worked a treat. I need to add a second layer just to give it some strength.

Thirdly I had the get the hockey stick assemblies finished. Whilst I was working on the one I experimented with bendy ply to make a cover. I glued up two layers and used every clamp I had to hold it down. In my opinion it came out well, it held its shape, and just needs trimming.

This was a little controversial, because Elaine wanted to use a 10mm thick vinyl soffit material, I told her it would never bend round the radius, even if she heated it up. So there was a lot of tooing and frowing on messenger until she drove over to see it for herself. Reluctantly she agreed for me to make the second cover.

I worked late to get it glued and clamped up, and I’m not even getting paid!!

1st November 2022

I had a lot of small jobs to do to enable Kelli work on pieces whilst I was away at Elaine’s place.

I wanted to get as much time as I could because there was a lot still to do.

When I was eventually able to start, Elaine had to leave to do shopping and lunch, it meant I was under a time crunch to finish by the end of the day.

As it was, I couldn’t get it finished, my only option was to bring the two hockey stick assemblies back with me to finish in between some money paying jobs.

On the way back I had to pick up some things for Kelli from Nature’s Market then it was back to the house to finish a couple of jobs that she had been working on.

Kelli had completed a small dresser, changing its colour from black to grey, a good decision.

We took pictures outside, and it was posted straight away.

The major decision taken was to keep the potbelly bakers table and replace the white dresser in the living area.

Now we have another dresser to restore.

31st October 2022

It was a busy day, first Kyle returned to check the traps, and triumphantly announced that five of the little critters had been caught. He will be back in a couple of days to recheck everything again.

We then loaded the two mid century pieces into the back of the truck with inches to spare. They were so excited to buy it that they paid the full price in advance.

It was sad to see it finally leave the garage, but happy to know that it’s going to a new home where both pieces will be appreciated.

There was also another furniture piece to be collected. This was a combo, drawers with a small wardrobe, we have had one of these in the past, and it went quickly, hopefully this will go the same way.

I was due to return to Elaine’s to continue the work on the RV, this time I took my own tools.

I spent fours hours recutting and shaping two pairs of hockey sticks, the time just flew by, and I still didn’t finish.

By the time I got home Kelli had painted the frame of a potbellied bakers table, and stripped the top from another dresser, plus made a fantastic soup and apple crumble.

Of course it was Halloween, Kelli laid out the sweets we bought the other day in a bowl and rested it on a chair in the driveway. By eight thirty the bowl was empty, not even a wrapper was left, l’m not even convinced that it was kiddies that took them all.

30th October 2023

We both drove down to Elaine’s to test fit the hockey sticks that I had cut from her pattern. Both required a lot of fettling to get them to fit properly. It became evident that the pattern wasn’t accurate meaning I would have to remake one of them.

The real problem was finding tools that I could use, the barn was full, but being able to find them was impossible.

The project of converting the RV was started by Elaine and her husband, but tragically he died a couple of years ago leaving the project unfinished.

She is soldiering on trying to sort everything out, and getting the RV complete would be a good start.

This was the job that I didn’t want to do, and it’s ironic that I’m being dragged into it.

The person Elaine originally employed had let her down, she needed it finished because she planned to drive it down to Florida to hopefully sell it.

29th October 2022

Kelli had a doctors appointment in Zeeland, so it was a quick breakfast and out the door.

On the way back, I was planning to go to Menards for a few things, but Kelli, as Kelli does, had arranged to pick something up from an address on the north side of town.

Thank heavens it wasn’t a piece of furniture, instead she collected a small pottery flower holder, now I’m sure most people would want one, and I guess we are most people.

We then did some shopping, including buying sweets to feed any little darlings calling round on Halloween.

There were customers due to collect the dresser Kelli finished yesterday.

When they arrived they quickly, and quite roughly manhandled it into the back of the open truck despite me trying to help them, it’s a good job we give them touch-up because I’m sure when they take it off at the other end.

We finally finished the mid century style dresser and side table. They had been a Labour of love, stripping off the grey paint exposing the beautiful walnut veneer underneath. I had removed the plastic moulded drawer fronts and replaced them with a Shaker style door, in all it has taken over six months to get them to the final stage.

The lady that had just bought the dresser was interested, asking what the price would be, I said a number, and Kelli questioned it and suggested a lower one, Duh! Of course the person jumped on that number, I insisted on mine, but felt compelled to split the difference.

Kelli told her that she would advise them when the pieces would be ready and left it at that. What followed was a discussion on why the price difference made us look unprofessional, my reasoning was the uniqueness of the furniture style and the amount of time it took to make it look decent.

28th October 2022

The atmosphere in the house was fraught, there was going to be a lot of activity in the morning with two pieces being collected.

Kelli was on the phone to a pest control company, because where there is one mouse there will be more, and the thought of other sleepless nights was not a desirable one.

The terminator was due in the afternoon.

We had to collect a free dresser at midday, it was another bloody heavy piece that we struggled to fit in the truck. We had taken all the drawers out so they were balanced in any available space, sliding around as we drove back.

We took it straight to our storage facility, now there is quite a lot of stock in there.

Kelli started work on another piece, a dresser with two side doors.

A neighbour stopped round and asked if I could refinish a small side table, I told him to drop it round sometime.

Kyle was the name of the pest control man, a tall bushy bearded guy with a big voice and broad smile. He explained the procedure and set about placing bait boxes in various locations, this will be repeated when he returns on Monday.

In between all this activity I finished the reassembly of the kitchen cabinet. It looked like a television unit, because the client wanted to fit a microwave oven in it, now we have to wait for it to be delivered.

I then drove down to Elaine’s to finally fit the roof panel.

She had upholstered it with a painting of the universe, so when you laid in bed you could see the moon and stars.

The installation was a challenge even though the pilot hole were done, I had forgotten the magnetic screwdriver, and trying to fit the screws without it was bloody hard.

I tried using masking tape to stick the screw to the screwdriver, that sort of worked, but until Elaine found her magnetic screw driver it all went smoothly, and the universe is now above the bed.

I picked up another task, by my own making.

At the front of the RV, just behind the driver’s seat is a structure that hides a lot of wiring. This goes up one side across the roof and down the other.

I convinced Elaine that it would be easier to make it in three sections, so I took her patterns and a piece of plywood home to experiment with.

When I got back home Kelli informed me that a neighbour, Scott, had seen a side table by the side of the road, and as I wasn’t home, he volunteered to go back and pick it up.

He turned up a few minutes after I got back with this battered piece of furniture.

It needs a lot of love but we can bring it back to life.

27th October 2022

It’s difficult to know where to start because there was a lot going on, most of it not that good.

First we both note a noise we think was coming from the inside of the wall on Wednesday morning. It is typical, there will be creaks and groans from timber frames houses as the humidity changes, but this was a little different.

Not being experienced in strange noises in Michigan homes I needed to think of what I should do, however I got out of bed, got dressed and cleanly forgot about it, big mistake.

Going to bed on Wednesday night we heard it again, it wasn’t constant, but enough for us to lay there waiting for the next one.

Kelli was getting agitated because she knew she couldn’t sleep with any sound at all. She once had to remove the battery from a clock that was on the wall of a guest house we were staying at, so I knew it was bad.

I first went down into the crawl space, which is exactly what I had to do. Like a snake I made my way to the area under our bedroom, but there was no way for any creature to climb up the inside of the wall. Making my way back and out, I needed to try a different tack.

I needed to find out exactly where the sound was coming from, there was no point in hacking away at all our walls without narrowing its location.

I spent an hour or so on my tummy with my head in the corner against the two walls listening intently for any sound.

Then I heard it, I had found the place where the sound was coming from.

I went into the garage to find my plasterboard saw, a square and a pencil then back into the bedroom to start the cutting.

Kelli was still not amused, and decanted herself on the sofa.

I drew a rectangular shape on the wall just above the skirting board and started cutting. I had the area lit by a torch and I made the neatest cut that I could.

I then removed the cut panel and shoved my torch inside to illuminate the inside of the wall.

At first I couldn’t see anything, then I saw the little critter in the corner transfixed by the light from the torch.

“ How do I get it out?” I thought, I rushed back into the kitchen to get a glass jar not thinking that the bugger might jump out of the hole and hide somewhere else. Luckily it was still in the same place, so I lowered the jar into the wall cavity hoping it would run into it, which it did.

I was able to cover the end with a plastic coaster, and removed the jar with the mouse inside.

“What shall I do with it?” I asked Kelli, she didn’t care what I should do.

Then I did what I used to do back home, I took them for a drive in the country and let them loose, and that is exactly what I did.

Dresser in my night shorts, T-shirt and slippers I carried the jar and friend into the truck and set off to rehouse the intruder.

It was three in the morning by now, I was concerned what it might look like if I got stopped by a cop on night duty, I sure they’re is a city ordinance which stipulates what form of clothing should be worn in the early hours.

The rest of the night was hell, Kelli still couldn’t get to sleep even though the noise was no more, and she let me know she wasn’t happy.

I just wished that I could go back into the crawl space to get some peace and quiet.

26th October 2022

More leaves fell overnight covering the ground I had cleared yesterday, I had to expect that.

It didn’t take that long to rake up the new fall, and with my leaf claw it made short work of collecting the piles and depositing by the roadside.

There was a bit of rain in the morning, but once that stopped we had pictures to take.

One was the desk that we found by the side of the road, another was a smoking table and finally the “Pigs ear” the biggest number of finished pieces ever.

25th October 2022

Kelli woke up at 5.00am which basically means so do I. Therefore it started a bad day, she was in a bad mood for most of the day. I wanted a bit more sleep but it was impossible. There was door slamming, alway gets on my nerves, as I don’t see the point.

I had to go to Elaine’s to dry fit the ceiling panel. She had done her homework fitting the pads and brackets, so it should have been a relatively simple job to offer it up to the frame in the ceiling and mark through the bracket positions, but it wasn’t quite that simple.

Firstly we carried the panel in the wrong way round and had a lot of trouble trying to turn it over, then the brackets had to be sprung to get then to fit correctly, and then, as always the pointed thing to mark the holes was out of reach.

Once we organised ourselves I marked the hole positions on my side maybe a little too hard as part of the frame came away. Now I had another thing to fix. I noticed that the screws were a bit short with very little thread sticking out. Some longer screws were found and the piece refitted.

The panel went on again and some temporary screws inserted. Elaine was happy with it, now all she has to do is upholster it.

I helped remove it for the umpteenth time, and set off back home.

It is that time of the year when the leaves fall and require raking them into pile at the side of the road ready for the city leaf collectors to arrive.

The downside of having a double plot is the amount of ground that gets covered, and I say it every year there is bound to be more leaves because the bloody trees get bigger.

I managed to rake half the plot before the rain came, I will continue tomorrow.

Kelli had been busy painting the heavy rustic dresser nicknamed “Pig’s ear” because it will take a miracle to turn it into a silk purse.

24th October 2022

I didn’t sleep particularly well last night, it was humid, the sound of thunder and lightning flashes seemed to go on all though the early hours. We got up later than we had planned, had a large breakfast because we knew we had a busy day ahead.

First on our list was to visit someone who had contacted Kelli about painting some dining chairs and the skirt and legs of a dining table. That then became a call for help because the table top was scratched, and they wanted us to look at that, and the best way to do that was to do a home visit.

I had already worked out a price for the painting part, but not fully worked out the price for the table.

The house was in a fabulous setting, surrounded but trees on a serious size of real estate. “Mmmm,” I thought, “there’s some money here.”

We were met at the front of house and led inside to the dining room where the unfortunate table stood. The husband was obviously blamed for the accident, and not allowed to forget it. Kelli said that we repaired furniture and mended marriages, that got us off to a good start.

I had a good chance to examine the damage, there had been a point of impact and a Z shaped scratch. I had watched many YouTube videos of people repairing cracks and scratches on guitars. The damage was filled with layers of superglue, this was then scraped back with a razor blade and buffed out. Often this type of repair will disguise the damage, and although it couldn’t be felt, it could still be seen. This was the one option, the other was a full refinish. I gave them a price for that, but I suggested that I try to disguise it first and if that didn’t work, I would do the full Monty.

They didn’t bulk at the quotation which was quite unusual, often there is the sharp intake of breath and quiet sobbing, so this made a change. The inside of the house had a high vaulted ceiling with windows that went the full height. On every available space were stuffed animal heads, “Oh a hunter” I thought, “ I better make a good job of this otherwise my head might be up there with them”

We agree a time I could start, and made our way out and back to the truck.

On the was back Kelli spotted something on the side of the road. It was on my side, I didn’t see anything, the first I knew was when the truck spun on a sixpence.

What she had seen was a solid wood writing desk. There was a note on the top saying it was free but had a broken leg, that became evident when I lifted it.

The piano lid top was separate, but the plug hinges were still attached, although it had been left out in the rain it hadn’t effected it much, and a good wipe down with an old shirt did the job.

We loaded the bits into the truck and drove off to our next address to collect another dresser.

A little way down the road we found another desk by the side of the road. A quick about turn and an inspection showed that it was a particle board construction, so we left that one.

What Kelli hadn’t told me was we were going to collect a free window that had been converted into a sectional blackboard (the glass had been painted black) that was quite a journey, not sure if it was worth it.

Then it was on to collect the dresser. It was the same house where we had collected the two mid century pieces yesterday. However we were early and there was nobody there.

There was no point in hanging about so we drove back home.

It was later agreed to collect it from the couple’s main house on our side of town.

We were able to see the extent of the damage to the writing desk as soon as we unloaded it.

The legs were screw in type, but the one that dropped out was due to the insert had been pushed further inside and the threaded stud was not long enough to engage the thread.

By pulling out the stud a bit from the top of the leg solved that problem, I was able to screw it in tight.

The plug hinges needed a bit of attention, they were loose in the holes, so a little bit of epoxy resin helped retain them.

Then it was a clean and a polish and the piece came to life.

We later collected the other dresser to add to our vast collection.