fflintstone
Well-known member
I have always considered myself a frustrated mixed media artist. When I do a project I always put a little of myself into it. When I built my house (myself) I did it on a less than shoestring budget. That did not stop me from making it my own. Frugality and a desire for something unique inspires creativity.
When I built the home, I really liked the new age sun/moon/stars motif. The first picture is one of the gable end vent with sunrays over the cedar shake gable end wall. The second photo is the sun carving on the frieze board. And the next photo has a sun carving in a fascia board (along with bear paw prints).
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The next set of photos show some decorative weld beads applied to some metal support columns I fabed up. We have sun, moon, stars and bear paw prints again.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The next set of photos show my custom wood floor. At the time I did this almost 10 years ago, hardwood flooring was more expensive than it is today. I found a deal on grade B white oak for $0.90 per SF in a 1,000 SF lot. At the time read oak was almost $4 a SF @ home depot. Well there was at least 150 SF of unusable junk in that 1,000 SF. I had planed on putting decorative borders for the look and to reduce the amount of flooring I would need. I put my boarders in the upstairs floor and laid out the white oak. I used some of the junk oak boards with wormholes and defects. I placed them randomly in the floor and then put charm type trinkets in and then pored clear resin around them. I did this on the main floor as well. These little trinkets amaze children when they came to visit.
The boarders consist of wide maple, purpleheart, maple, black walnut, brass and black walnut. Despite having fairly wide boarders, the 150 SF of kindling in the lot didn’t leave me enough white oak to do the main floor. I got an idea to use a small amount of a few different exotic woods and put them randomly within the floor. At the time there were about a dozen “lumber liquidators” around the country. I drove a long way to the only one in the metro Detroit area and looked at a lot of samples. At the time they had minimum SF orders. I explained what I was trying to do and the manager let me order one or two boxes of multiple species of wood. I ended up maple, black walnut, ash, purpleheart, Australian cypress, Brazilian cherry, and zebrawood.
Using multiple species of wood and making it look random was a HUGE amount of extra work. First I had to alter the tongue, groove or both on the wood to fit with the oak. Then I had to count the number of white oak boards I had, and then exotics. It worked out that roughly 3 oak boards would go down then one exotic. Then the exotics had to be counted and a ratio created for how many maple, purpleheart, ETC. I used a checklist; kept woods in separate piles and would often try different pieces for a particular spot. I would not put exotics in the area that I was going to put cabinets or the island. (Main floor is a kitchen/great room). I am very pleased with the end result. The baseboards are reclaimed 70 year old white cedar, and the corner posts are zebrawood.
The pictures give an over all feel for what is accomplished.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
I used to mountain bike a lot it was my main hobby. The main floor bath has a bicycle motif. I made a handlebar towel rack. I made a vanity out of recycled white cedar. The countertop and sink are solid surface with black walnut laminated in the solid surface material. The bicycle theme continues with a rear derailleur for a handle in the vanity door. Not show is the Park Tools toilet paper dispenser.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The final pictures show the wrench handles on the kitchen cabinets of the former house. Also shown is the sun motif in a gable end vent of the same house.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
What little things have you personally done to make your home or your shop your own? Please post pictures. If you have something neat to show but didn’t do it you, please post but give credit to the creator! No shame in making enough money to pay other people to be creative.
When I built the home, I really liked the new age sun/moon/stars motif. The first picture is one of the gable end vent with sunrays over the cedar shake gable end wall. The second photo is the sun carving on the frieze board. And the next photo has a sun carving in a fascia board (along with bear paw prints).
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The next set of photos show some decorative weld beads applied to some metal support columns I fabed up. We have sun, moon, stars and bear paw prints again.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The next set of photos show my custom wood floor. At the time I did this almost 10 years ago, hardwood flooring was more expensive than it is today. I found a deal on grade B white oak for $0.90 per SF in a 1,000 SF lot. At the time read oak was almost $4 a SF @ home depot. Well there was at least 150 SF of unusable junk in that 1,000 SF. I had planed on putting decorative borders for the look and to reduce the amount of flooring I would need. I put my boarders in the upstairs floor and laid out the white oak. I used some of the junk oak boards with wormholes and defects. I placed them randomly in the floor and then put charm type trinkets in and then pored clear resin around them. I did this on the main floor as well. These little trinkets amaze children when they came to visit.
The boarders consist of wide maple, purpleheart, maple, black walnut, brass and black walnut. Despite having fairly wide boarders, the 150 SF of kindling in the lot didn’t leave me enough white oak to do the main floor. I got an idea to use a small amount of a few different exotic woods and put them randomly within the floor. At the time there were about a dozen “lumber liquidators” around the country. I drove a long way to the only one in the metro Detroit area and looked at a lot of samples. At the time they had minimum SF orders. I explained what I was trying to do and the manager let me order one or two boxes of multiple species of wood. I ended up maple, black walnut, ash, purpleheart, Australian cypress, Brazilian cherry, and zebrawood.
Using multiple species of wood and making it look random was a HUGE amount of extra work. First I had to alter the tongue, groove or both on the wood to fit with the oak. Then I had to count the number of white oak boards I had, and then exotics. It worked out that roughly 3 oak boards would go down then one exotic. Then the exotics had to be counted and a ratio created for how many maple, purpleheart, ETC. I used a checklist; kept woods in separate piles and would often try different pieces for a particular spot. I would not put exotics in the area that I was going to put cabinets or the island. (Main floor is a kitchen/great room). I am very pleased with the end result. The baseboards are reclaimed 70 year old white cedar, and the corner posts are zebrawood.
The pictures give an over all feel for what is accomplished.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
I used to mountain bike a lot it was my main hobby. The main floor bath has a bicycle motif. I made a handlebar towel rack. I made a vanity out of recycled white cedar. The countertop and sink are solid surface with black walnut laminated in the solid surface material. The bicycle theme continues with a rear derailleur for a handle in the vanity door. Not show is the Park Tools toilet paper dispenser.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
The final pictures show the wrench handles on the kitchen cabinets of the former house. Also shown is the sun motif in a gable end vent of the same house.
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
By fflintstone at 2011-01-25
What little things have you personally done to make your home or your shop your own? Please post pictures. If you have something neat to show but didn’t do it you, please post but give credit to the creator! No shame in making enough money to pay other people to be creative.
