A Day in the Life of The Workshop.

Maybe it was a Month. A Busy Month!

Barnboard looks good, especially on a sunny day!

I think I focussed on building various models of birdhouses for about ten years. And over those ten years I purchased a lot of woodworking tools and raised a lot of dust and had a very good time. Oh, and I painted a lot of trim and roofs and front porches and fences... ad infinitum!!

In order to catch the eye of prospective buyers - and neighbourhood birds - I added various details that were, at the very least, colourful.

Photos from along the way:

Always lots of trim!

 Little Free Library, not so little, not so free : ) ready to pack 

into my Honda Civic

One of my cedar bird feeders in a former student's backyardigan.

 A slate roofing shingle bears decades of dust - in an intriguing design!

 It looks to me like an island landscape from Northern Ontario

 I framed the slate shingle and called it "The North Country"

 This photo may show the cedar bird feeder featured a few photos above

 This is my largest, most-complicated birdhouse. It is parked on the north

side of Labatt Park, home of London Majors baseball team.

 It was stolen from its first location, damaged, but recovered and repaired!

 Note the baseball-themed bench below the baseball-themed birdhouse

I did take breaks from the dust. I would sometimes fire up my motorcycle and head toward Lake Erie.

 I would take short walks on long piers

And even in Port Burwell I would focus on small details

Please link to A Little Library from 2015.

Photos GH

Little Library from 2015.

The Cedar was the Best in Town.

This photo was taken a couple of years later. Signage repair!

My car stops for old lumber on the curb. In that way I occasionally rescue some of the finest woods in all the land, including the rich, aromatic, old, western cedar 2x4s (from an old backyard swing set) I later used in a little library.

Photos from along the way:

 Old western cedar stock fills the shop with rich smells

Lots of pencil work with some designs

 We're ready for a shed-style roof

 I'm building two at one time for a mother and her daughter

 I'm thinking about an original sign for over the door

 The front door takes lots of time, as does the snake

 Get back in here!

 More decoration for the sides of the library

 Very good fit : )

 Library in place in Old East London

Back in the workshop - the snake made a getaway!! 

The two I made from the rescued cedar were the most complicated - solar panel lights on the larger model - but they stand to this day, new signage and all!

Please link to Build a Library. Dig a Hole.

Photos GH

A Busy Workshop and Basement

Feeder, Log Cabins, Rustics and More.

A Mourning Dove likes hanging out on board a pine feeder

My last entry, re the last workshop project for a client in 2019, said a few words about cedar feeders. And recently, while reviewing and organizing deep, digital photo files, I came across three photos of a dove hogging space inside my own feeder.

Doves are like cows. They really like to graze for a long while before moving to a nearby shady spot.

I must have taken the three photos just before entering the workshop because the next 7 photos reveal birdhouse projects "in progress" just a few feet away from the feeder:

 Parts for a log cabin; sanded, stacked and ready for assembly

 My own design; a small house w side apartment

Faces and roof slats ready to attach to tiers of logs

 Old-style cabin, with butt ends jutting out 3/4 inch approx.

 Bottom left roof slat can be removed for spring clean-out

A perch will be attached before the cabins go inside the house (storage)

My basement provides adequate room for birdhouse storage, and if the workshop is too dusty or too busy (every surface covered!) I will set up a paint station there as well.

 A large house w side apartment from old cedar

 A birdhouse w curved roof takes a lot more work but they sell like hotcakes!!

 Shoe stretchers from a defunct, London shoe company. I will frame these!

Rare shot of two pink birdhouses. Sold!!

I think I took 1,000 or more photos every year in the workshop.

So, fasten your seatbelt! : )

Please link to Cedar Feeder

Photos GH