My DIY Projects

Being a great dad is very time consuming. Between school, work, and the family there is not very much time for me. Its great that I do have a hobby I enjoy that is productive and improves my house. I really do enjoy learning and accomplishing do it yourself projects around the house. Below area a few from before Noah and of course more recent projects.

Shortly after we moved into our house in 2009 we knew we wanted to do something about the front porch lights. They were cheap builder grade lights and really didn't give any architectural appeal to the front porch. So finally 2 years after moving into the house we found the lights we wanted. We ordered three pendant lights as well as two sconces for a rainy day.

Here is the before picture of the porch 

After we ripped the lights down to discovered they really did need to be replaced

One other issue was they cut square holes around a circular box. This like all of my DIY projects turned into something a little harder then I thought it would be

So off to Home Depot again. After purchasing a Dremel Trio and some 1/4 inch pine board I was good to go. It was time to learn how to make my own circular trim

So after multiple attempts I finally got it right for one light. Now only two more to go! After few more hours and some paint we have the finished project

Next it was time to make my wife's vision a reality. She wanted a tile backslash. What my wife wants, my wife gets. So off to Home Depot we go!

Here is the before

And the After

After our kitchen tile project it was time to paint! I have always wanted a red dinning room. I figure since this is my house, I can have it now!

 Here is the before.

And the after.

Now we were getting into Spring time and noticed the office was warm. The builder told me that the supports they put in to hold lights up would support a fan.

Yea they lied. We had to cut a hole into the ceiling to replace the bracket to carry the weight of the fan. 

Of course after learning how to do drywall we got it somewhat presentable. 

Christmas came and went. With all the Home Depot gift cards I received I was able to buy a pneumatic nailing. Since I had this new toy what better thing to learn to do next then molding.  We decided we would install chair rail  and bead board on the bar. Then we would do a two tone paint in the living room 

And the finished product

Next came a spur of the moment project for our bathroom. We have always said our bathroom has a dark area over the tub. The only lights are the wall scone over the sink. So Why not add a light? This project turned into a massive overhaul also. 

Here is is the before

And the after 

Since we found out we were expecting my DIY projects went into overdrive. First was the nursery. This is one I take most pride in. This project included crown molding, char rail, lettering, painting, and closet organization. I love everything about it and I think it turned out awesome!

Next I moved next door to tackle the guest bathroom. This wasn't by choice but something happened in the bathroom the required applying kilts to the wall. I figure we might as well tackle the  Paint and crown molding then. 

I then continued on to the master bathroom. here is applied crown with decretive corners and a fresh coat of pain.

Few months later I moved on to the outside. Here I built a rationing wall that enclosed our flower bed. This helped level it off and stop the mass amounts to water from going down the hill between the houses. After doing this I see why stone workers charge so much. This was the hardest project I have completed to date.

After a hot and busy summer, fall started to take hold. We thought a screen porch would be nice. So we made one. I enclosed under the deck.

Remember my first project? The lights. Well 4 years later I finally got the outside sconces installed. For this project I had to pull to wire to the locations of the lights, install a new switch in the foyer, fish the wire from the basement. and wire it all up. I think it come out pretty well

My last project to date is ongoing. We all know I am a computer NERD. I have more devices that connect to the internet in my home then you could imagine. Even my thermostats connect to the internet to allow my to control them. With so many devices being wireless we noticed our nursery cam had a hard time streaming the video to our phones. So I have started wiring my house with CAT 6 ethernet wire. Eventually most devices will be wired and have static IP addresses assigned. To accomplish this I had to learn to obviously pull cable through walls, punch down the 4 pairs of wire inside ethernet cable, inset cut in boxes in drywall, wire up the ethernet ports in the wall. So far to date I have completed 7 ethernet drops. All of them terminate in the basement at a 24 port switch.

 I know its wired a little sloppy. All the wires will be tighten down once I computer the wiring.