I like making stuff, and I’m cheap, which has resulted in a lot of DIY projects in the last few years.
House Renovation
I have a good relationship with my landlord (my partner’s parents), so in 2021 I asked if I could renovate our space if they paid for the materials. I worked evenings and weekends alongside my full time job for 7 months during this project, but this was during peak covid so I didn’t have much else to do with my spare time.
It started with a modest scope, but once you start opening up walls in an old house you find a lot of things that need to be fixed. It was ton of fun though - my parents, my partner, and her parents all helped out during the project, and it made me briefly consider a career as a general contractor. But I have no desire to drive so that’s not happening. Check out the work I did in each room:
Rooms
Coffee Table
A circular table that nests with our circular ottoman. Also, in the last picture you can see my $10 home depot bucket cyclone filter for my shop vac.
Plant Benches
All of these used scrap wood leftover from other projects.
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Board Game Shelves
I love my board game collection and have always wanted to show off the box art. So I built some back-lit pine shelves for them.
Board Game Stands
Why stop at shelves? When game boxes sit upright they have a tendency to open up and warp the box, so I printed stands and corner braces to help them retain their shape.
Back Deck
Shoe Shelf
Some extra storage space and a shelf for keys and wallets etc.
Scrap Wood Projects
I had a lot of scrap material left over from my renovation project so I decided to make a couple useful things from them.
Workbench
Garbage Hut
Made from old studs and wood lathe. I did fill in the right side but forgot to take a picture in nice sunny weather.
Wood Storage/Pantry Shelves
A neighbour was throwing out a bunch of scrap wood so I turned it into shelves.
Bike Workstand
Proper stands cost $300 online!
Paper Towel Holder
Made from a broom handle, with printed compliant-mechanism mounts.
Light Box
A music-reactive light box present for my partner, made while I was back in university. Audio was sampled through a mic module and analyzed with a fast Fourier transform. Different LED colours were tied to the amplitudes of a couple frequency bands (base, midrange, etc). I put this setup on a small wooden base and made a translucent enclosure out of cut up CD cases scratched with sandpaper.
