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Powder Room Vanity: Drawers
The new powder room vanity will include two sliding drawers. Details on their construction are below. The steps are in construction order, though the recordings may have been created out of order 😉 I used Poplar S4S (Home Depot) rather than Walnut to save in cost. I purchased the Poplar at dimension, saving me from…
Louisville Bourbon & Sites (2 of 2)
Part 2 of 2: Louisville, KY: A roadtrip from Colorado to visit Kentucky Bourbon distilleries. I’m including other sites along the way since it may broaden the appeal for non-bourbon drinkers considering a trip to the Bluegrass State. Part 1 focused on sites outside Louisville. I’m including a number of Kentucky Distilleries in these posts,…
Kentucky Bourbon & Sites (1 of 2)
Part 1 of 2: Sites outside of Louisville: A roadtrip from Colorado to visit Kentucky Bourbon distilleries. I’m including other sites along the way since it may broaden the appeal for non-bourbon drinkers considering a trip to the Bluegrass State. Part 2 will focus on our stops in Louisville. I’ll also mention key sites that…
Scotland Whisky: Highlands, Speyside, & Lowlands (3 of 3)
Part 3 of 3: The distilleries we visited in the Highlands (& Islands), Speyside, and Lowlands. Related Posts: Note: All photos were taken by Kevin Bleicher and are not approved for re-posting or publication without permission. © 2023 Kevin Bleicher Highlands The Scottish Highlands includes the Northwestern region of Scotland and associated Islands (Including the…
Scotland Whisky: Islay (2 of 3)
Part 2 of 3: The distilleries we visited in Islay. Part 3 will include distilleries in many other regions. Stay tuned! Note: All photos were taken by Kevin Bleicher and are not approved for re-posting or publication without permission. © 2023 Kevin Bleicher Related Posts: My Scotland Whisky Experience (1 of 3) Scotland Whisky: Highlands,…
My Scotland Whisky Experience (1 of 3)
Part 1 of 3: An overview of my Scottish Distillery experiences. Parts 2 and 3 will list the specific distilleries we visited. Stay tuned! Note: All photos were taken by Kevin Bleicher and are not approved for re-posting or publication without permission. © 2023 Kevin Bleicher Related Posts: In May 2023 I joined a group…
Kentucky Bourbon Trail (& More)
I’m planning a trip to Kentucky this year. I visited many of these sites in the past, but this will be my first dedicated multi-day Bourbon Trail visit. Below is our itinerary, along with optional sites we may add if time permits. I’ll post a new blog entry with observations once we return. But for…
Taking a Cruise: Which Cruise Line?
I’ve often been asked about cruise preferences and discoveries over the years…. So this will be posting #1 for my newly created ‘Travel’ sub-page on WidgetWood.com :-). Other posts will follow (shore excursions, port considerations, travel agencies, hotels, loyalty programs, airlines, etc.). These are my personal preferences based on cruising experience. I’m not employed by…
Removing Wireless Phone Charger from 2022 F56 JCW Mini Cooper
I LOVE my 2022 F56 JCW Mini Cooper. The ONLY wart was the wireless phone charger installed in the armrest: It takes up a ton of space and it’s still too small to fit today’s larger cell phones (Samsung Ultra, Google Pixel Pro, … nope, I’m not prepared to provide a list of phones that…
Leica R Series: An Update
My collection of Leica R Series 35mm Film SLRs. Includes links and observations.
Make That a Double!
A good problem to have: running out of spots on your stave for your second set of Blanton’s Original Single Barrel stoppers.* But, with a stave, drill, and Forstner bit that’s a problem easily solved. Blanton’s tops off their amazing bottles of bourbon with these stoppers. Each has a letter near the lower rear hoof;…
My Musical Homecoming!
UPDATED 18-Aug-23: Added ‘Oto Music’ as my preferred Android-based mobile MP3 music player. UPDATED 5-Feb-24: Reverted to ‘Musicolet’ as my favorite Android Music Player (by far), once I discovered the ‘Pro’ version that supports ChromeCast. Tired of music streamers that either can’t find your library, plays selections out of order, or selects an unfamiliar version? …
Pegboard Work Surfaces
The Glowforge is an amazing tool for cutting, engraving, and etching thin wood, acrylic, leather, anodized metal, etc., but it’s not immediately obvious that it can also do the same with common thicker objects like wooden-handle utensils (pizza cutters, spatulas), etc. etc. Thicker objects require removal of the Glowforge’s “crumb tray” to make room under…
Glowforging Camera Shelf Tags
I proudly display a vast number of antique cameras on customized shelves (as noted elsewhere on this site). And despite their organization (I have paper tags on each camera that can be looked up via a spreadsheet and / or handy 3-ring binder) it can still be overwhelming to identify what you’re looking at. Most…
Basement Stairs Light
Full project photo album is HERE The top half of our basement stairwell seemed darker than usual with the trips to the freshly remodeled (and brighter) basement. The only light was at the bottom of the stairs on a 3-way switch; the top felt unsafe since it was noticeably darker. So…. how hard could it…
Leica R Series
In an earlier post (link) I declared my love for cameras and intent to blog about them. Refinishing the basement got in the way (as recent posts demonstrate), but that project is largely done and it’s time to refocus (ba dum dum). I have a diverse collection; my Leica R-Mount Series is my favorite series.…
Stairs: Part 8: Finished! Well, mostly….
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” The stair reconfiguration is done! Well, mostly. I still have a few things left to do but I’m not in a rush: Replace the brown-stained board on top of the open wall (still deciding what to do; thoughts?). I’m temporarily using the board that sat on top of…
Stairs: Part 7: Casing and Baseboards and Molding. Oh my!
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” Door Anatomy Diagram: See “Stairs: Part 6: Door Hanging” Now we’re in the home stretch! It’s time to add the casings to the door and baseboards on the floor! Baseboards: I’m adding baseboards to the entire basement. Why? The previous owner carpeted the lower few inches of the…
Stairs: Part 6: Door Hanging
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” The new wall at the base of the steps includes a new prehung door for entry into the unfinished basement area (aka, my workshop). I framed for the door in “Part 3”; unfortunately I didn’t measure correctly and I almost had a lot more work on my hands!…
Stairs: Part 5: Finishing
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” “A man has gotta know his limitations”. Well, perhaps not limitations, but certainly where time is better spent. Thus I hired a pair of amazing drywall experts to mud and texture the sheets of drywall I hung along the stairs. I’ve done smaller sections in the past, but…
Stairs: Part 4: Hanging Drywall
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” No new tools this time. Just measuring, snapping, hauling, fitting, and drywall screws. I measured and snapped the drywall in the garage where I had room to work. I ran a utility knife along the edge of an aluminum drywall T-square on the finished side, used my knee…
Stairs: Part 3: Framing
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” Every project requires a new tool. Or, put another way, why even bother starting a new project if a new tool isn’t under consideration? In this case: a DeWALT DWF83PL Pneumatic 21-Degree Collated Framing Nailer. I purchased it from Home Depot since they were throwing in a large…
Stairs: Part 2: Demolition Left
Background: See “Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right” “Demolition Left” begins like the right side: Remove the inside drywall and pry the top board off of the vertical studs. From there things differed, since I’m going to build (rather than remove) a wall and add a door at the bottom. I had a lot of options…
Stairs: Part 1: Demolition Right
Time to make the stairs to the basement more attractive and functional. They originally consisted of two half-walls with a polished wood top that served as a banister. This created a few issues: Blocks visibility into the finished area Doesn’t keep workshop dust from entering the finished area Old and tired looking So it’s time…
Cameras Need Support!
No, not emotional support. Rather, I needed a way to keep many of the cameras upright on the shelves. Enter the Glowforge! I created clear acrylic supports for the cameras that needed a little help. I included the identification tag (and logo where space permitted). Lens supports have a curved top for a finished look;…
Introducing…. Cameras!
I added a new section to the site: Cameras. The blog will include posts about the collection, individual cameras, companies, and helpful sites that make documentation a wee bit easier. But no worries! I’ll continue to blog about my lamps, Glowforge, carpentry, and home improvement as well. As always feedback is encouraged!
3) New Shelving: Shelves are Done!
Big news, the shelves are DONE! The molding is in place and it all looks great. Yes, they look like built-ins, so mission accomplished. 🙂 [For now] I’m hiding the shelf contents, so forgive the grayed polygons. They don’t take away from the work itself, however. The five IKEA shelves sitting on the platform. You…
2) New Shelving: Shelves in Place!
The IKEA Billy bookcases have been put into place! Again, the goal is to add enough molding and customization to hide the fact that they’re simple IKEA Billy bookshelves (with glass shelves and doors). On the next post I’ll cover the molding and additional hardware installed to make them look like custom built-ins. In line…
1) New Shelving: Preps
Our basement included (ugly) fixed shelves when we moved in…. Time to upgrade! Step one was removing the old shelves and prepping for the new. Which was harder than it sounds since the original custom shelving tightly fit the space with no vertical clearance for removal. I removed the molding (be sure to pre-cut the…
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