My Carpentry Projects

Whipple Bunk Bed

2012-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

The family I made this bunk bed for needed a bunk bed that was excactly 98" long. They wanted drawers under the bottom mattress and drawers under the steps up to the top bunk. They were thrilled with the outcome and I was thrilled to build it for them.

Laundry Cabinet

2011-12-14T06:25:00.001-08:00

I made this cabinet to go in a laundry room.

Parent's laundry room

2011-12-13T18:27:00.001-08:00

I built and painted these cabinets in my parent's laundry room.

Creative inquietudes

2011-12-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

In my free time I have been designing this house. As soon as I develop plans for this house and secure the financing, by whatever means necesarry, I am going to build it; I am hell-bent on that.

Hope Chest

2011-12-13T11:52:00.001-08:00

I made this little beast of a hope chest for a lady here in Heber, Az. I just hope her scrawny little daughter can move it because I made it out of 4x and 2x lumber. It probably weighs in at well over 100 lbs.

Shed door

2011-12-13T11:46:00.001-08:00

You may recognize this shed from my earlier posts. The bottom of the old door had rotted out and I wanted to put a rain guard on but I ended up destroying the old door in my disgust and anger. I secretly wanted an excuse to build a new door so I bought a dado blade for my table saw and slapped this new door together on Sunday afternoon.

Single Bed

2011-12-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

I made this bed for my room since I got rid of the bunk bed I built years ago. My brother Chip moved out so I had no need of a bunk bed anymore. I don't need a dressor since I have enough storage in the 8 drawers under the mattress. Because of the tall platform and the railing in the head piece and foot piece the bed is extremely stable. Even if I gained 600 lbs I don't think the bed would ever fall apart.

Whole Body Cleansing and Wellness

2011-12-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

I found a wonderful lady who runs a nutrition and healing business in Orem called Whole Body Cleansing and Wellness. She needed some shelving to display product in an office in her clinic. I built and painted the corner units and other little shelves seen here in her office. I took the door that was on her office and fitted it with a pane of glass so clients could look in and see the newly displayed product.

Back Stock Comics

2011-12-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

I built these drawer units for a comic book store in Provo. The store had no good way to display the thousands and thousands of back stock issues it had in inventory until I designed and created this 44 drawer unit with full extension drawer slides.

Bathroom Cabinets for Mom's friend

2011-12-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

My mother's friend needed to re-do her bathroom so I built these cabinets for her. The bathroom was small with an awkward layout but I think my mother's friend was pleased since I didn't charge her for the labor.

Basement framed in

2011-12-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

I finished the basement for a family in Provo after selling them my L shaped bunk bed. The father was eccentric and wanted small passage doors in all the walls for the kids to pass thru. He also wanted a castle. Unfortunately this man had champagne tastes on a beer budget so the castle never got finished. I framed the basement, did the finish carpentry and painted it as well. I now own a paint sprayer and do a decent job at painting.

Built in Armoire 2

2011-12-13T10:19:00.001-08:00

I was sick of the small closet that occupied this space in my house so I ripped it out and replaced it with this built in armoire I made. I made these doors and drawer fronts on my table saw. I put a new attic access in above in this hallway, along with a new can light since the old light disturbed the opening of the new cabinet doors.

3 small desks for 3 small boys

2011-12-13T10:16:00.001-08:00

It was Christmas 2010. I was supposed to make a small desk for a small boy. I had extra wood left over so I made all three desks.

L Shaped Bunk Bed

2011-12-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

It was summer 2010. I got laid off for a few days so i decided to build this bunk bed I had been dreaming about ever since I built the first one. It took me 5 weeks. This bed has 18 drawers.

Rambler

2010-07-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

I went back to work for the summer framing for Ben Barney. The residential construction market is not like it was a few years ago when I was working for him. Only the strong and the lean have survived the housing crisis. The price of labor is dirt cheap right now. I'm basically working for fun but it beats what I was doing last summer. He put me in charge for a few weeks while he and his other lead man went on vacation. This is a decent size rambler with a walk-out basement in Pleasant Grove. It was fun to work with mis antiguos amigos mexicanos who still work for him. This house was fun to frame.

Tray Ceiling

2010-06-29T19:22:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to rip out the ceiling in this bedroom for a long time. So I finally did. I replaced the flat, sagging, 8' garbage ceiling with this tray ceiling. The idiots who built my house tried to span 10' with a single 2 x 4 ceiling joist with no supports from the rafters. Thus the sagging. The idiot who "remodeled" the house only put new sheet rock on that old glittery pop-corn ceiling garbage. So I ripped all that trash out in one fail swoop. I had a blizzard of blown in insulation to deal with as I ripped it down. But me and Robert got it all cleaned up and put back in the attic.

After that it was rafter cutting- mayhem 2010. For a trucker Robert caught on pretty quick to the skill saw and he can still boast all his fingers. Then the sheet rock and texture kept me busy for a few nights afterward. I had Zoo Zoo paint everything because I fell ill due to seasonal allergies. Now that room feels bigger.

Neighbor's Fence

2010-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Back Yard fence my house

2010-04-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, ever since I did the fence on the side of my property I have wanted to do the back fence. So when the heavy winter snow knocked down the old garbage that was back there my neighbors decided to take me up on my offer to do a new fence. So here it is. I have to thank everyone who helped me out. Now I have fence lust and I want to do the other side fence. We'll see if I can con the landlord of the ajoining property into buying all the materials if I do all the labor.

Twin over Full Bunks

2010-03-13T19:58:00.001-08:00

I finished the twin over full bunk I started a little over a week ago. I have been scrambing like a mad man on cocaine but the beds went together nicely. I have a few little tricks up my sleeve that make my work go faster. Those idiots at Home Depot have to be so sick of seeing me there every day exchanging broken router bits or exchanging the wrong size bolts or hauling more lumber in the back of my Honda Civic than these wanna-be rednecks who drive lifted Double Extended Cab Super-Hemi Duramax Cummins Power Strokers will probably ever haul in thier lives. How many times have you seen a truck like the one I just described with something actually IN IT???

Mom and Dad's Bathroom Cabinets

2010-01-07T13:51:00.000-08:00

Well I have wanted to put cabinets down in the basement bathroom of my parent's house for years. I finally got around to it this year. I made them huge like this so my parents have room to hide more junk. I had them buy regular knotty pine from Home Depot because getting hard wood to the remote town they live in would have been a nightmare. I think they turned out fine for pine.

Double Armoire

2010-01-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

Melody wanted a place to put her clothes. She saw something she liked in some furniture store in the Valley so she sent me her sketch. She wanted me to match the bookcase I made for her last year. So I came up with this. It breaks apart into two units so it can be moved. It took forever but it went way more smoothly than last year because I learned so much on that one. This is my best work yet.

Blake in the Box

2010-01-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

I went down to AZ for 3 weeks during Christmas. I got to see my first nephew for the first time. I offered to make something for Loo Loo. He wanted to make a toy chest for his baby. So we designed one up and he and Randy helped me for 2 days and we came up with this. I had Loo Loo out hand crafting the little feet.

Bunk Beds

2009-12-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

I had about a week off classes over Thanksgiving break and the weather was lovely so I shot my wad of cash on some 4 x 4's and made a bunk bed I had always wanted to make. I made all the joints of mortise and tenon style. The bed has 6 18"deep drawers under each bunk. Now I can throw away the rinky dinky trash dressors in my room and me and Chippy can store everything that was in the dressors in the bunk bed drawers. This bed is too heavy. Me and Chip can barely lift it up. But at least one of these nights after a heavy snow when my 70 year old matchstick, chicken-coop roof falls in, Chip and i will survive thanks to this grotesque mamoth of a bunk bed I have made.

Jared's Deck Complete

2009-10-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

I finally finished Jared's deck today. I think it took about 6 weeks. I am very satisfied with the way it turned out. It was nice to work for Jared again. He always makes sure I have everything I need when I need it and when he sees I need help doing something he helps right away. Below are some more views of the deck.

Jared's deck under construction

2009-09-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

Jared called me over to fix his deck. The one that was there when they moved in was garbage. It looked like a 7th grader built it. Part of it was sitting down in the dirt rotting. It wasn't bolted to the house and it wasn't level. So we tore it apart and reused some of the lumber. We built the new one "from the top down". Instead of trying to guess at where to dig the holes and where to set the posts we built the frame on the ground then bolted it to the house then leveled it. It is held in place by temporary stakes. Then we hung the posts down into the holes temporarily bracing them plumb. Then we poured the concrete in the holes. When the concrete cures we will take off all the temporary braces and stakes. Most dummies and novices just go dig holes wherever, dump concrete in them and shove posts in. How are you supposed to get things plumb and level and square and parallel like that?
I will put up more pictures of the deck when I finish. So for all the millions and millions of readers that see this blog post you are just going to have to wait a few weeks until I update this post.

Built in Armoire at my house

2009-08-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I ripped out the old garbage shelf and drawers that were in the hallway and made the opening bigger. I put in this cabinet. It has a high rod behind locking doors to hang up clothes. It has 4 large locking drawers down low for more storage. Because the small bedroom doesn't have a closet this will nicely substitute for a closet.

Jared's Bathroom

2009-07-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

Jared called me over to finish his master bathroom. When they bought the house there was a doorway going from the master bathroom into the kitchen. In the corner of the bathroom there was an old tile shower. That was kind of weird so they wanted to rip out the shower and make a wall where the doorway was. So we ripped out the door and the old shower and filled in the wall there. The old tile shower had bad grout so water was leaking down into the basement. They installed a new tub there. I sheet rocked around it. Then I put cultured marble around the tub and put new vinyl flooring down. I put waterproof base around the floor and siliconed it in. Now there is a more watertight seal to the entire bathroom.

The pictures don't show it but I put the toilet back in and put the shower valve and tub spout and shower spout it. I put the exhaust fan and light in as well.

New Side Fence at my house

2009-06-20T20:26:00.001-07:00

This is the old garbage fence that I replaced. It was about ready to fall over on my driveway. It was very poorly constructed. It was crooked like a snake. The abortion doctors who built it just buried the posts in dirt so all the posts were rotting out beneath the surface of the ground.

My house didn't have curb appeal. The only thing this old fence was good for was to induce vomiting. So I rented a U-Haul and I ripped this garbage out one Saturday and hauled it off to the dump. At first I was like "I am just going to replace a few rotten posts. But the first planks I tore off I knew nothing was worth salvaging. So I committed to go all new.

A few weeks and thousands of dollars later; I have a strait, strong, level, plumb, privacy fence. I lost some property and I paid a concrete cutter to cut out some of my driveway but I have a strait fence now. "A good fence makes good neighbors" I like my neighbors so much better now that I have put a 7 ft tall fence between us.

I poured a concrete footing under all the posts so that way my fence isn't sitting in the dirt soaking up moisture. Now those mangy cat's can't get crawl under the fence into my yard.

I made it step down here so when pulling out of the driveway I can see what's in the street.

This shows the fence frame. I bought a cordless impact driver to drive the timber lock screws that lock the 4x4's above to the posts. The 4x4's above carry the weight of the pickets since I kept them 1/2 inch above the concrete. I don't want them sitting down in water.

Here is a view from the back yard. Notice how level the fence is. I bought a laser level and cut all the posts level since my lot is level I said "Why not have a level fence?"

I put a gate to close off the back yard from dogs and cats and vagabonds. It gives more privacy and security to my back yard.

I still have to put the bolts on so the gate can be locked. The gate is so heavy I had to rest it on the footing to keep it from pulling the fence out of plumb. It is a necessary evil but I don't mind because it will keep the fence from sagging over time.

I want to thank Chippy for all the hours he spent under my direction working on the fence. Even though I paid him for his time I feel like I got an excellent value from him. I also thank Alicia for spending a few hours one Saturday helping paint and install the pickets. What goes around comes around.

Garden Shed

2009-03-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

I built a garden shed for Garth. Now he can put his lawn mowers and garden machines and garden tools in here and keep them out of the rain and snow. It turned out nicer than I had excpected.

Jared's Basement

2009-03-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have been working on my uncle's basement for the past few months. We ripped out half of the old junk that someone else had "finished" and we finished it off right. We didn't just glue sheetrock to the concrete like the Morons who owned the house before him. We framed in 2 bedrooms and a food storage room. We installed all the framing our selfs. We did all the sheetrock. And I did the finish carpentry. I am pleased with how it turned out.

2009-02-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting this saw for years! This is a 12 inch dual bevel compound sliding miter saw by DeWalt. I bought it because I have my other miter saw down in AZ. I need to get set up here in UT to do my furniture projects. I am finishing my uncle's basement and I will need this saw for the finish carpentry.

Busy Christmas in Heber

2009-01-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

Here I am with a bookcase I did for a lady in Heber. It's hard to see but it has raised panel doors. I got a new router table so now I can do raised panel doors in my projects. I also made the crown moulding around the top on my router table. It was a fun project.

I tore out the old tile that was surrounding the tub in my parents bathroom. The grout had deteriorated away and water had gotten back there and molded the framing. So I ripped all that crap out and put up new cultured marble. I put in a new vinyl window while I was working right there too.

I went down to AZ for Christmas. I stripped the old shingles off my parent's roof. I nailed the roof deck down again to the trusses. I put new underlayment and Owen's Corning 50 year shingles on. A lot of my family helped. It turned out nice and we saved my parents thousands of dollars by doing the labor ourselves.

Mold eradication

2008-09-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

My bathroom had a mold infestation because the idiot I bought the house from did a horrible job on the finish plumbing. The shut off valve for the toilet was leaking and also the stop for the sink was put on loosely so whenever the water drained down the sink it would leak down the wall. I ripped out the black moldy base board. When my roommate left to Washington D C for the summer I ripped all that moldy crap completely out. I stripped the bathroom down to the studs. I ripped off the sub floor and exposed the joists. The joists were in decent shape but the whole floor was out of level. So I leveled the joists and replaced the sub floor. I replaced the toilet drain. I put in a brand new tub. I had to reconfigure the plumbing to accommodate the piece of crap vinyl shower that was in there before. Thank heavens for Shark Bite fittings. I put in a brand new 36 by 36 window in the bathroom so now the air can flow thru. I ripped down the old sagging crap 1/4 inch gypsum board ceiling and put in a tray cieling. Since the bathroom is so small having a higher ceiling makes it feel more roomy. I accidentally sliced thru an electrical wire with my sawzall so I had to run a new wire. I raised up the light in the bathroom. I had to re install the fart fan into the new ceiling. I secured the switch box to the wall better so the switches aren't falling out of the wall anymore. I ripped off the old crappy 2 foot wide door and replaced it with a door that is 4 inches wider. I put in cultured marble all the way around the tub. The shower head is now higher. I recessed 2 medicine cabinets in the wall. I made a little soap cove right next to the sink. I replaced the cartridge in the shower plumbing so now the faucet doesn't leak into the tub anymore. I made sure that hot water comes out of the hot water side now instead of the cold water side. I put the sink back in and this time made sure that the stop was tightened and wow it doesn't leak now. I put vinyl tiles down on the floor. I put plastic base board down and siliconed it in so water won't leak behind it. If you are tired from just reading this imagine that I did all this crap on weekends and after framing for at least 8 hours a day. My thanks to Chippy for financing this project for me. I spent all my money on wicked sick mean power tools so he came thru for me when I had to spend thousands of dollars on building materials. I can't complain about money because I saved heaps of it by doing all this myself. And it only took me about 5 weeks.

Tray Ceiling small bedroom

2008-05-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of a tray ceiling I framed in my house. The room I framed it in is a small bedroom. The ceiling was only 8 feet high. I raised it up another foot and a half. The room feels so much more spacious now. The sheet rock didn't turn out too bad for a framer did it?

Garth's deck

2008-05-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Last November I started a deck for my uncle Garth. I finally got around to finishing it in May.

Siding on Shed

2008-04-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have been laid off from work for a while so in my free time I finally put vinyl siding and aluminum soffit and fascia on my shed that I framed last summer with Randy.

Carpentry Projects Furniture

2008-02-26T10:43:00.001-08:00

I made this dresser out of Birch with Pine drawers. The drawers are 3/4" dovetailed pine with 3/4" pine bottoms. This dresser is way overbuilt and very heavy. There is a lot of wood in this dresser. It was my first piece out of hardwood. I designed it also. I design all my pieces.

This is a picture of some shelves I did in the shed below which I also did. My friend had the floor framed for his shed but he wanted me to build the rest of it. I even gave him a little attic in the rafters in which he can store more things.

These are shelves I built in my friend's garage. They stick out 2 feet from the wall. The top shelf is 8 feet high. They occupy 16 feet of the garage wall. Now he can get things off the garage floor so he can park his cars inside his garage.

This is a cabinet I made for a lady. She is going to put it above her computer. I don't have the tools to make a raised panel door so I improvised. The doors are still solid wood but just joined together a little differently. Can you see from the picture below how I joined the pieces? No, you really can't. You have to look closely at the cabinet to see how I joined the pieces together. It is not just glue either. It is almost indistinguishable.

The same lady also wanted a ladder display type shelf. So I designed this for her. The face frames give it all its strength. I use face frame construction in all my shelves and dressers and cabinets.

These are tombstone night stands I did for my little brother. Now he and his future wife can rest in peace knowing that if a satellite falls out of orbit and lands on their apartment and smashes the roof in at least what they put in their tombstone night stands will be spared. These are heavy I could barely pick up the carcasses (cabinet body) on my lomo (back) without the drawers. Again I used face frame construction, solid wood construction except the back which is way thicker than it should be, and dovetailed drawers.

The top drawers will be nice to hold watches, keys, cell phones, coins or whatever you carry in your pockets. A lamp could sit nicely on top. The bottom drawers could hold hand guns or files or sleeping pills or even dumb bells. I don't know what the slides are rated for but the drawer boxes could hold them.

This little shelf here goes along with the two dressers you will see below. I designed it like this so it wouldn't tip over so easily. I believe little girl's play horsies now occupy the shelves.

Here are the two matching dressers. You can really see the detail of the dovetailed drawers here.

Carpentry projects

2008-02-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hello. My name is Jonathan. I am posting pictures of carpentry projects I have done. I work as a residential framer. I like to make furniture also. I'm new at this blogging thing so forgive the initial awkwardness.

I built this deck at my parents house a few Christmas ago. I harvested the logs from the forest and de barked them myself with a scraper. The deck is just 2 x 6 joists lagged into the logs. The decking is just 2 x 6 studs on top of the joists. My mom just stains it to keep the water from destroying it.

This is me framing the roof on my tool house. I figured out how to cut the rafters the old school way.

These are cabinets I made inside of my tool house. They are nothing more than MDF. It is like a little kitchen inside. I love all the storage space. At the time of this photo I had not installed the drawers yet. They are in now. I only wish I had made more drawers. They are so convinent.

This is a picture of a house I did in Saratoga Springs. It is the first house I framed as foreman of a crew.

This is a house in Draper. The porch roof looks retarded because it is bieng held up temporarily because as much as I begged and pleaded I couldn't get any of the morons above me to get the pourch cap poured so I couldn't put my columns in yet.

This is a house i framed in Spanish Fork.