Mahogany Cabinet Doors. Part 2

These photos are a little late in posting, but here are the final photos of the mahogany doors and drawers in action. With custom cabinet faces, marble counters, under mount sinks, and custom mirror frames.

Rockscape With Prescape

Your Houston Handyman and Prescape Houston join forces again. 

As always it was a pleasure working with Mike from Prescape Houston to transform this back yard, front beds and driveway with beautiful and low maintenance rock-scapes. Combining decomposed granite, flagstone, black star, marble boulders and some hard work. See for yourself. 

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Restoring a Gate From the 1800s

The Gate as it was Delivered

This Gate, (originally built in the 1800s) was delivered to my shop in the condition you see to the right. Even the joints that were still held together were more bonded by paint and rusted nails then by the integrity of the wood. Under the paint, even the apparently salvageable areas were a rotted mess. In this case, I opted to create a replica instead of attempting to repair the existing gate.

The first step would be to reassemble the gate with the fragments I had, so I could begin the replication process as accurately as possible. The result is what you see here. As is evident int he picture, the posts to either side of the gate were in need of work as well. I am told the original posts were not cemented in, merely buried, as a result they rotted off from ground level down.

Some assembly required.

So I started with a hefty stack of Douglas Fir, a common lumber for exterior doors and windows. Then starting from the center and working my way outward, I began to copy the gate one piece at a time.

With this one all I had to do was build it and prime it, the delivery and installation falls to another crew. But there you have it, a complete replica complete with the curly bit on top. (and yes, "curly bit" is the technical term.)

Mahogany Cabinet Doors

10 handmade, mahogany cabinet doors where built today, glued and drying. Tomorrow they will be ready for stain and sealer.  

Custom Cabinets

We are in the process of refacing these cabinets with solid mahogany, and rebuilding the drawers out of birch, with mahogany faces. We just finished installing and adjusting the soft closing slides, and tomorrow we install granite and build the doors. 

Q&A #0001

Question:

I recently changed all the light bulbs in my house from incandescent to energy saving CFL bulbs in an effort to reduce energy cost. Now my dimmer switches don't dim the lights, they are either on or off. Why is that?

Answer:

Most CFL light bulbs, though energy efficient, are not dimmable. Dimmable CFL bulbs are available and will work with your existing dimmer switches. Just be sure the package says "dimmable" and that the total wattage of the bulbs you are using doesn't exceed the dimmers maximum capacity, usually 600 watts. 

Dream Harbor Studios

Last week I spent some time in Austin with my friends from Dream Harbor studios to help them complete their lounge. These guys are putting together a top notch studio and were great to work with. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.


If you need any recording, mixing, mastering or other audio work done, contact Chris at Dream Harbor Studios.

Painting around the skylights

Painting the accent walls in the waiting lounge.

Installed accent lighting, outlets and switches.

Preparing the floor.

Laying down moisture barrier.

Installing snap-together flooring.

And there you have it. 

If you have any questions or need help with your home or office improvement project, give me a call at (832) 797-5481. 

Natural stone pathway

A natural stone pathway using flagstones and blackstar filler. Special thanks to our friends at Prescape Houston for this beautiful low maintenance pathway.

Cracking paint.

Pealing paint on your windows? Catch it now before your wood begins to rot. 

1.) scrape off lose paint.

2.) sand smooth the areas you scraped.

3.) Prime the exposed wood.

4.) repaint the area.

Drywall Repair Tutorial

The water damage shown in this photo was caused by a leaky roof. After completing repairs to the roof, I was able to begin repairs to the interior.

In this instance there are three elements to restore.
a.) the tape that joins the seam between sheets of drywall.
b.) the joint compound, aka: mud, that creates a level surface.
And...
c.) the texture, in this case a medium orange peel.

Step 1.

Remove any obstacles to your work. IE: outlet covers, switch plates and in this case vent covers. Basically, anything that might get in the way of the smooth surface you will be trying to create.

The Damage.

As you can see in this photo, the water caused the paint to peel and the paper tape that was sealing the joints in the drywall to separate and begin to fall away.

Step 2.

Using a utility knife or other sharp edged tool, cut away any peeling material as well as any that is separated but not yet peeling. Anything separated will tend to peel once you apply the joint compound.

Step 3.

Using a putty knife,(here, showing a 4 inch medium stiffnes puddy knife) scrape away any loose debris, high edges, and anything else that doesn't belong.

Step 4. 

Using a self adhesive mesh tape cover the exposed seam between the sheets of drywall. I got this mesh tape at Home Depot, but it is available in most home improvement stores.

In some cases the adhesive backing, that the mesh tape is sold with, doesn't do the job and you have peeling tape like the picture to the right.

Although you don't have to solve this and can use your layer of joint compound to essentially glue the mesh tape to the drywall, I have another solution that has several benefits.

Step 5.

In the case of your tape not sticking to the chaulky surface of the drywall, you may need to help things out a bit. I recommend using a spray adhesive to keep the tape in place.

One of the main benefits of this method is that you don't have the tape folding and shifting as you apply the joint compound.

Step 6.

Using the putty knife again, smooth out any wrinkles in the tape before it adheres to strongly to the spray adhesive. 

Step 7.

Apply a thin coat of joint compound to the area, let it dry then apply a second coat as smoothly as you can. When the second coat dries sand off any ridges or bumps with a medium grit sanding block. 

Step 8.

Here I used a spray can of orange peel texture. Testing the size and pattern of the spray on a piece of cardboard, adjust the knob on the can till the spray matches the walls you are repairing. Then, using circular motions, spray the patched area until coated evenly.

Step 9.

Once the texture is dry you are ready for paint. I got a paint match by bringing a sample of the peeling paint into Sherwin Williams.  For an area this small you can use either a brush or roller to apply the paint. 

There you have it, my first home improvement Tutorial. I hope you found this informative. If you have any home improvement questions you can contact me here. 

Happy home improving!