Hood River Workshop

[Denwood]

Christopher, the kitchen project is coming along nicely. I hear you on the dry wall/father-in-law comments. I have a pro doing my basement reno board/mud who is doing it in a 1/4 of the time at twice the quality I would do.

I see you are putting in open burners..have you considered an induction stove top?

On SmartThings, I have a lot of experience. We have two installs, one a commercial (9000 sq/ft with Vera) and my home with about 100 devices and Smarthings. We've cut our power use about 38% at home by automating.

I'll give you the skinny on SmartThings and lighting:

1. Stick to Philips Hue bulbs (you'll need their bridge/hub which you can buy as one of their starter kits.)
2. The Hue white A19 bulbs are $14 and have zero issues so far. Every other bulb manufacturer has caused some grief. Hue also has GU10 bulbs but they are full color and pricier at $49 each. I like the Philips because of the zero issues, and also zero noise when dimming them. Each bulb is dimmable...so you can just use a standard switch. I've also used EcoSmart zigbee bulbs from Home Depot, but these require occasional resets..unlike the Philips. GE Smart bulbs..also problematic.
3. If you want further control of lighting with a remote, the AEON 4 button remote is one of the few that is fully supported and works well. I have three of them.
4. The Logitech Harmony hub has SmartThings integration..and the Elite Hub combo includes a few buttons for lighting. This allows you to dim living room lights for example when turning on the TV. It's also the only universal remote system I've ever used which actually works for everything, including bluetooth for things like Wii and the Nexus streaming boxes we use.

PM if you have any questions

 

[drivesitfar]

Chris: i love the look of your new kitchen with the old cabinets. if you want to tell your wife you know a guy in Seattle that remodeled his kitchen 25 years ago and raised 5 kids in his house without backsplashes on his tile countertops the kitchen. my bride never seemed to like any of the choices and i wasn't in any hurry to tell her so now my kitchen needs remodeling again and maybe we'll have backsplashes in the new one.

i did build her a Pergola, remodel a full bath, make a 1/2 bath (1 bath with 5 kids wasn't doing so well) and a few other projects though in the 25 years. here's a pergola picture you might like to build someday cause i get a few compliments on it. first 3 pictures are just after i finished it and the one in the snow was last week's picture.

sorry i don't have a clue about your fire pit stove, but guessing from the size of your kitchen that you might want to put that in your next home.

good luck and keep up the great work and pictures. do you still have 2 feet of snow?

 

[drivesitfar]

Chris: sorry for cluttering up your thread with pictures of my stuff and i'll delete them if you ask me to.

anyway just bumping up your thread so others can see your work and also wondering if you are making any progress or has the 2 feet of snow slowed that down too?

cheers

 

[kjdhawkhill]

I'm glad Drives bumped this. I saw the opening post or two and forgot about it. I've only spent one long weekend in Hood River, but I really liked the town. I'd have liked it a lot better if I'd brought another bike and a riding buddy. The views from so many houses there are really great. I can only imagine how great they are from some of the more remote roads and trails further out of town.

Keep up the home redo- its looking great and I'm glad that you're able to keep a lot of original fittings. The house kitchen looks great.

 

[christopher.layton]

So Dropbox changed it's rules and apparently I can't host images in the public folder anymore. I have been dragging on uploading and re-attaching the images here. I'll say this, going through these old pictures is encouraging, sometimes it's easy to forget the progress made and dwell only on how slowly it feels that things are going.


Getting Caught up. I will split this into three posts:

Van Updates
The Great Bluestar Rebuild / kitchen progress
Shop Happenings

 

[christopher.layton]

"Van Updates"

We’re still loving the van and it continues to be a project. Last summer I ticked a few things off the list
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Because I’m running bigger tires, the spare won’t fit into the stock spare position under the front of the van, so I had to install a swing-away on the back, and since I was doing that, I put a ladder on the side to make it easier to reach the bikes. That was project number one last summer.

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After that I tackled a cheaper, more time-intensive project: redoing the panels and insulating behind them with acoustic/thermal insulation. I used 3Ms Thinsulate because it doesn’t absorb moisture. And rust is bad.

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I also took advantage of a square foot of unused space and built a toolbox.

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And replaced the table with one that matches the panels, out of Walnut

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Finally, I went ahead and mounted a solar panel to the top. I put it on a big piano hinge so that it is hidden from the ground but can tilt up when we’re camping and want a better angle to the sun.

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I'm going to try and hit a few smaller projects this summer, but haven't decided yet which....

 

[christopher.layton]

"The Great Bluestar Rebuild / kitchen progress"

About nine months ago I picked up my dream range at a price I could afford - with a catch: it was used and filthy dirty. It came with a good quality hood too! It's a Bluestar RNB open burner range.

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And...it sat in my garage for 9 months. The biggest impediment was that we didn't have Natural Gas to the house. Until this winter.... Cleaning time!

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It makes me wonder: how did it ever get this dirty? Who lets this range get to the state it was in? In total it took about 50 hours of cleaning to get it spiffed back up. One of the reasons I was so excited about is that it's pretty analog: no circuit boards, heavy duty stainless, simple, robust construction.

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And ... together:
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In other news, I couldn't find under-counter lights I was satisfied with so I build some using LED light strips and an AC/DC converter.
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Between the LED can lights and the under-counter lights, it's easy to get lots of light where I'm working and keep the lights from blinding everyone else. It was also important to me to keep the temperature the same from all the lights in the house.

Next up: final paint, floors, and backsplash.

 

[christopher.layton]

"Shop Happenings"

Not much, actually. The shop is pretty much in the same state as it was when we last saw it. I’m still using it to build projects, still planning to rebuild the shop….. and at this point, I am okay with this lack of forward movement. We have so many projects going at the moment that I am satisfied that the shop’s eventual remodeling and expansion are still in the plan. Dust collection, in particular, is desperately needed.

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As a teacher, summer is really prime shop time for me, and between van projects, I’ve mostly been building cabinetry.

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The most exciting tool acquisition has to be the tracksaw: it really makes breaking down plywood a breeze. I've been very happy with the combination of the Makita saw and my Fein Vacuum. Dust-free, clean, and straight cuts!

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[christopher.layton]

View media item 83060
Right now I’m working on a small kitchen. It’s paint grade, so built of poplar and 3/4” MDO with edge banding. The downside of a small shop is that there’s not much room to store half-finished projects, or to layout the kitchen.

Installing drawers. I am using pre-finished maple drawer sides, which really speeds up the drawer making, and is appropriate for this quality of kitchen:

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The cabinets don't go together in this sequence in the final kitchen, and there's room for a dishwasher and stove. On top are the parts for the fridge cabinet, which has to be assembled in place, due to the height of the ceiling.

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[madison069]

Seems like the shop is in order enough to do your projects!

I will soon be doing a kitchen remodel, but I plan to reuse the kitchen cabinets since they are in good shape and currently the wife likes the layout. I might change the cabinet doors but the biggest change will be moving the walls to make the kitchen bigger and connected to the dining room. Should be a fun project!

 

[christopher.layton]

Seems like the shop is in order enough to do your projects!

For the most part, but definitely not without its shortcomings and frustrations. One of the biggest is that in order work on the van I have to schlep tools around the house to the driveway.

I will soon be doing a kitchen remodel, but I plan to reuse the kitchen cabinets since they are in good shape and currently the wife likes the layout. I might change the cabinet doors but the biggest change will be moving the walls to make the kitchen bigger and connected to the dining room.

Sounds exactly like what we did. The 50's cabinets were in good condition, and so I only built new (matching) ones to accommodate the new fridge location, range size, and opening in the wall adjoining the living room.
Thanks for the comment!

 

[drivesitfar]

Chris: WELCOME BACK!!

sorry to hear Photobucket destroyed your thread too, but happy to see you are posting more pictures and still making progress in your shop and on your home.

are you still enjoying living in Hood River? I bet it's a blast on days like today and are the wind surfers still out there on the Columbia in mass?

nice work on the stove and i bet your wife was IMPRESSED!!

take care and have a great Mother's Day!!

 

[dchance]

Kitchen turned out nice and I like that you kept the hole in the wall to the living area.

Dwight

 

[christopher.layton]

Chris: WELCOME BACK!!

sorry to hear Photobucket destroyed your thread too, but happy to see you are posting more pictures and still making progress in your shop and on your home.

are you still enjoying living in Hood River? I bet it's a blast on days like today and are the wind surfers still out there on the Columbia in mass?

nice work on the stove and i bet your wife was IMPRESSED!!

take care and have a great Mother's Day!!

Thanks, And happy mothers day to your family as well! I've looked at the thread several times and was defeated by all those broken image links. Finally sat down and fixed it.

Hood River is fun this time of year. We went downtown and picked up a pizza from Double Mountain, it was hopping. It was also fun to see everyone out in their "fun cars" cruising around.

Thanks on the stove. The stove was actually for me since I do about 90 percent of the cooking (it's my primary 'hobby'). I wanted something more serious, than the basic electric stove we had, or even the pretty nice gas one we had at the last house. My wife was a little skeptical and didn't want it to overwhelm the whole kitchen or make it too industrial. We are both happy with it though. It's not too over-bearing to my wife, and I can put big pots and pans on the stovetop without crowding, and a whole commercial size sheet pan in the oven.

I think there are interesting parallels between kitchen tools and the sorts of tools that are often discussed on this board. Country of origin, build quality, the number of features (and whether they're even desirable over a more basic, robust and rebuildable tool): all of these are criteria when choosing kitchen tools.

 

[drivesitfar]

Chris: in this CHEAP THROW AWAY WORLD we've created it's sure nice to find that some companies still know how to build stuff to LAST.

I bet your town is a blast to live in this time of year and thanks for sharing.

post pictures of the surfers if you like watching them cause everytime i go there even if it's a bit cold they are fun to watch if they are out there.

keep up the great work and glad to have you back!!

 

[christopher.layton]

A quick, almost midsummer, update.

I've been working on cabinetry for a kitchen most of the summer, the install is in a couple weeks, and I'll be able to upload some pictures then. The shop is full:

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And it's still awaiting a re-build before I invest a ton of time outfitting the interior with storage, etc.

But! That time is drawing near: A couple days ago an arborist came and cleaned up the trees in the back corner (taking down a cedar that was growing between those two firs) and making space for a 20' Conex box that will store tool while the shop is rebuilt, and then be outfitted into my wife's home office / music studio. Forward movement is always encouraging!

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[christopher.layton]

For my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, we sent them away on a vacation this past weekend - three days at a classic hotel they'd been wanting to visit. Meanwhile, we tore out their kitchen, fixed electrical, put new floors in, and began to replace their cabinets with custom ones I made. Whew! Oh, and it was a surprise...
They’d taken most of the kitchen out a year ago, hoping to remodel, but got stuck on a few items, particularly with taking out the tile floors (which, admittedly, were a huge pain to take up). And so they’ve lived with half-a-kitchen for a while.
We weren’t able to get the upper cabinets in, real counters down, backsplash done, or plumbing dialed in in our three days because life isn’t like HGTV. But those are coming soon enough. Still, it was a huge surprise and blessing for them and has kindled excitement again in getting the project done.

Before:
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Ripping out the floor and old cabinets:
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Painting the cabinets (I used a small Graco airless - much better than HVLP):
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Laying new floors:
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Floor, electrical, drywall is done. Ready for Cabinets:
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And... right before they returned home:
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[bwap]

Just read through the thread, and man I'm jealous of your cabinet making skills!
And nice work on the in-laws in only 3 days!

 

[drivesitfar]

Chris: I bet your in laws were more than exstatic to see all the work that you did while you sent them to a B&B.

VERY WELL DONE SIR!!

best of luck finishing it up while they are home too.

i'm guessing you will eat well while working over there won't you?

 

[kruizer66]

Looking for some updates on -Hood River-?? What’s going on with shop rebuild?

 

[PatrickM]

Hey Chris, just stumbled upon this revived thread. What's the latest? I am nearby in Portland. I am originally from western Pennsylvania and grew up in NE Ohio. Moved to Seattle after college for a few years before making it to Portland. I've been up and down the east coast. Across the midwest and plains. California north to south....and I must say, there is no place in the USA like the PacNW, and I prefer Orygun over the other surrounding states. As you probably know, people in Portland have the coast not that far away and the mountain not that far away. After living here for over 20 years I have finally figured out, with my wife's better judgement and direction, that the mountain and gorge are more to our liking than the coast. We love hiking the gorge and the mountain. We love Parkdale, Hood River, the Washington side too. Her favorite winery is basically in a barn on the Washington side, very close to you. I am an air cooled VW and Porsche guy and have an older 911 but have owned air cooled Beetles in the past. That said, I have been dreaming of a Vanagon Westy for the past 10 years. I would love a Syncro version(ya, who wouldn't), but are pretty much outta my price range now. Anyway, great work on the woodworking, Vanagon, kitchen, in-laws kitchen, etc. Hope that you find the time to post some updates.
I added a pic of my 911 and a few buds with our cars on a socially distanced drive along HWY 14 not too far from you. A shot from said winery looking down on HR, and a pic of me and the family on a hike on the Washington side just east of Bingen at the Hidden Canyon Trailhead.


-Patrick