Rebuilding Front Steps

Our front steps had seen some better days, the weather was starting to take its toll. There were some boards that were starting to rot in places. So we took the opportunity to refresh things this weekend and replace the boards. We also made the steps a little narrower in the process so that they lined up with the walkway going up to the house. As originally built they did not line up with anything. Here is a picture of the steps before (with the first couple treads removed).

After all of the old treads were removed we snapped a line and cut to the new edge.

And here they are once they all had been cut.

The stringer that was on the far end was cleaned up to be reused.

Once the stringer was cleaned up it was put back into place on the new end of the steps.

 

Kristen was able to get some paint on the treads before they were cut.

Once they were cut to length and width they were painted again.

And here is the finished product with the little helper at the top of the stairs. They look almost the same as the originals except for two things. The new stairs are a little narrower and the treads have a 3/4 inch reveal around the front and sides.

Happy 4th!

Got up the American Flag buntings. Looking forward to a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary.

Spindles on the Front Deck

The spindles are now up on most of the deck. There is only one of the side pieces to go.
The top rails and spindles are attached using pocket screws. To put in the pocket screws the angled pockets are drilled with a jig and the Robertson washer head screws are used in the pockets to pull it tight. Once everything is in place angled plugs will be used to fill the holes. There is still quite a bit of sanding/filling/painting left on these but it is nice to get them out of the house and up.

Deck Spindle Work

We have been slowly progressing on the front porch spindles and rails. Had to make three jigs the other day to drill the holes for mounting all of the spindles in the correct locations. The first two pictures show the jig that was used on the front to drill a small pilot hole all the way through on the bottom railing piece.

You can see the small hole on the side that I use to line it up with the marks that I made for the spindle spacing.

The rail is then turned over and the holes are countersunk for the heads of the screws. I probably did not have to do this because the cedar is soft enough that the heads of the screws should be able to pull themselves flush.

Here is the second jig. Looks a lot like the first one but it is designed for the top rail piece. You can tell because the top piece does not have any bevel to it.

Here is the third jig for the day. It is used to drill a hole in the center of the spindles.


Here is what the panel looks like once all of the spindles are attached to the top and bottom rails.

Here is what it looks like just resting in place. The new top rails are still being put together so it will still be a little time before I can install them.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

Hanging Baskets

We hung the baskets up on the front porch today. They are still small but it's early in the season. In the last few weeks, they have grown so much already.

Deck Chairs

Here are a couple Adirondack chairs that we got for the front porch. The color matches the ceiling.

Front Planters

Here is a pot I made for the front porch.

Last year Tyler and I bought some large urns to plant flowers in out front. We never ended up using them because they seemed too big. Today we decided to put them down at the base of the hill on either side of the steps. This made them seem smaller and looked much better. I filled them with lots of flowers and hopefully they will fill in nicely. We did have to cut away some grass and place a couple pavers underneath them. We are also planning on filling the bases with concrete to make them heavier.

Milk Delivery Box

We were having a small issue at our house - what to do with all the dog poop bags once we got home from walks with Poppy. We have no outside trash can and really didn't want to put the bags inside our kitchen so we had been leaving them on the front porch. This was not very attractive so we came up with a solution. We decide to design and build an older looking crate for milk home delivery. Then, we could secretly just fill it with the bags and empty it once a week on trash day.

Here is Kristen's design as a stencil:
The completed box built by Tyler:
And the box on the front porch:

We think this will look much better and serve its purpose well.

Trying out the porch spindles

In addition to working on the fridge we have been slowly progressing along on the porch design getting all of the handrail stock and bottom stock cut. It will all be cedar so that it should not rot if the wood gets wet at all. I created a mockup of what the rail and base will look like with the spindles. There were a number of options for the top rail. Here they all are with the one that we are going with last.




Here is a quick picture of one of the top rails after it has been glued up. It is made of two pieces with a rabbet to accept the rail that captures the top of the rails.

Painting the Porch Spindles

We have started to paint all of the porch spindles. The first coat is on all of the pieces and they have been sanded once. Sanding the turned portions was not as difficult as it may seem because I was able to chuck each one in the lathe which made them real quick to sand. Only about 15 left to put the second coat of paint on!