Bathroom in Victorian Village.

I don't have the before pics, but it was in desperate need of a makeover. It was carrot orange painted, one small light sconce over the sink, no shelves, linoleum floor, plastic tub surround.  It looks a little better now.  The floor which you can't see is tiled with a similar pattern as the tub surround.

Clintonville barn door

I was sent a photo of what Lauryn wanted in her living room.  She sent me two seperate pictures of what she wanted.  One of the sliding barn door, and one of the built in shelves.  The barn door was a bit more cut and dry.  We'll see about the shelves.

Its not quite a "before" picture, as I had already put up the rail that the door will ride on

Its oak, matching the oak in the house.  It didn't come from home depot, it came from an oak tree cut down to make room for a cell tower in southern ohio.

shelves to come

There ....

Another deck ...with no final pictures.

This deck was done also a few years ago using the composite (half wood and half recycled plastic.  The house was in desperate need of some back yard  help.

Deck replacement in Dublin a few years ago

This client wanted to replace the slightly deteriorating painted redwood deck that overlooked his backyard and the Scioto River.  He chose a completely synthetic deckboard made from recycled plastic.  It promised to be totally maintenance free.   I had never worked with the material before, and found after reading the mfg's installation instructions that it expands and contracts greatly with temperature.  A 16ft board would be 2 inches shorter at 20 degrees then at 90 degrees.  I never did see how the deck looked in its cold state, but it did look great in its warm state with no shrinkage.

Start of FC front desk..

I cut this out obviously (or maybe not) with an acetylene torch from 1/4" steel.  A plasma cutter might have been a little cleaner, and a water jet immaculately clean lines.  Clean lines aren't what defines the Ohio Fit Club brand.  Roughness and rustiness  were a better match...Rawness.  This will end up embedded  in the in the desk front at Fit Club....maybe with some back lighting.

The steel before the torch...

The desk.  I only did the metal walls and the sign the top of the desk remains the original door(s) that made up the desktop originally.

HOPE

Maybe things are changing.  There isn't much evidence for this argument, but there is hope.  A few really smart friends (Kim,Lisa,Lauryn), a few great websites, and .a look around.

Individualism, art, appreciation for recycling and reusing, a need for connection, there's more, but it all is leading to what I hope is some sort of very quiet revolution. 

Corporations are solely based on making money.  The board of directors of a corporation answers to the stockholders whose main goal is to increase their wealth.  Financial wealth is a goal for many people.  We have all been sold in this country that money buys happiness.  Watch television it's there either blatantly (ie drive a  whateverhighpricecar and life will be great, the sun will shine, your spouse will be hot, your house will be gorgeous, and the dog will even be well behaved) obvious or its hidden in the programming.

To make the most money off an item, say a one of a kind necklace,  a corporation would not hire an individual to make 400 of them.  The piece would get sent off somewhere(another country) and a mold would be made.  With that mold 1000 necklaces a day could be made(in another country think sweatshop), every one of them exactly the same, and with the current chain of dispersal they could be shipped to every city in our country, all very cheaply of course.   Viola, they sell xxxxxxx number of the really cool necklaces at xxxxxx price and all the shareholders make a little money and corporate whatevers get their bonuses and life goes on where everyone has the same necklace.  Please feel free to expand on that idea...its easy...try!

I'm am (obviously) so hoping that we all are seeing the light.  The light of individualism,  where you walk in to someones house and  you are either appalled or intrigued or in love or just plain hate it.  Of course, individualism extends way past the inside of a house.

Beautiful Examples of individualism can be found here....

http://www.kimberlypotterf.com/

http://www.ohiofitclub.com/blog/

http://laurynbyrdy.com/

http://www.lampworkvessel.com/

http://abkitchendesigns.com/

http://www.etsy.com/

Concrete Desk

the melamine with the blue painters tape so the caulkin goes on smooth....

The detail of the caulking in the corner.....

a closer look

melamine ready with the caulking.....

the rebar...the reinforcing mesh and the bolts welded to the flatrod placed in the mold to accept the base of the desk later

The Desk top after 3 days in the mold....the concrete didn't mix well in my wheel barrow so it left alot of voids to be filled...which actually added character to the top...

A pic of the slots for the biscuits that joined the 3 pieces of 8/4 oak that formed the legs.....

a bit of a profile shot of one of the legs for the base with the stabilizing pieces stuck thru with no half dowels in them yet

the stabilizers temporarily stuck in without the half dowels

everything kind of stuck together...with the top on....no trim yet around the top....no stain on the base...but a big mess to clean up...My harn looks like a sawdust bomb went off

Stained....as dark as I could find....still a few hours of work to do on it...sealing and trimming the top....bolting it all together......but...you get the idea



studio floor, laminate

This is...obviously a before shot...the bit of wall there is also my doing

Another from before...

A link to Lauryns website

Lauryn Byrdy Photography

Some frames...



a small sample made from some left over wood...



made from some oak I had laying around inlaid with a bit of metal painted black...Bonfonte designs asked for a frame with a "wine country" theme...

These frames are a work in progress ... enjoyable work.

Lauryn Byrdy Photography studio sign

Heres a bit...maybe a third step...

The "Byrdy" is temporarily done from thinner steel with little legs welded to it...not painted yet....I did decide against the metal "byrdy"...it would have rusted no matter how nicely I painted it...then the rust would have bled all over the sign

These are the framing pieces for the floating frame

Logo a bit further along....the stick ....is just a prop

removing the rest of the "meat" around the sign...done outside ...it was such a gorgeous winter day...big snowflakes...nice

It's a ton of work getting to this point....



things kind of ..placed together...but still much work to be done.  The framing hasn't been glued or joined yet....

complete sign....enamel and byrdy added along with sign squared in frame

side view showing  quarter inch releif in the box frame..

Home ....at last

waitin for the ...bus

I hope she liked it...

We talked about a white washed distressed wood frame with a similar build to the other sign posted on here..a floating sort of sign.  Lauryn's needed to be two sided so the floating part was harder......but it is working out.   There is still much work to be done beyond these pictures..... but I'll post the finals when finished.  OK...so the finals are posted.