MY LATEST DIY PROJECT

[Beekissed]

Rebuilding and improving an outhouse here this year...

Before and during pics....this little outhouse is 25 yrs old and has an antique commode in it. We were going to reuse that commode but it cracked as they were removing it, so now it's going to become a planter.

Your basic little brown house...the floor keeps flooding in hard rains, the door sticks on the ground when trying to open it, it's claustrophobic, it doesn't have enough light and air, so we are replacing it.

Demo begins...

The new one faces in a different direction...this allows it to catch the prevailing winds, gives it a great view from the throne, so to speak, and is raised up on 4x4s so the runoff doesn't enter the structure.

We're trying to go as cheap as possible by reusing some materials, using materials we had on hand and also getting some free or cheap items. The window screens above were $1 ea. at the Habitat store. We were able to reuse some of the lumber from the old outhouse as well as some old 4x4s from my son's house where he took down a few old gates.

This old screen door(below) was in the basement of my brother's house that was built in the early 1900s. I love it! We were going to repaint it, but I love the patina on this door and will leave it as is. Using a screen door and blocking off the bottom half to the view of others, will give us more light and air and reduce the claustrophobic feeling of being enclosed in a room that small.

This outhouse is a two holer while the other was a single. We decided to incorporate a child's potty next to the larger one so that the grandchildren don't have to run all the way in the house when they want to go and won't feel intimidated by trying to balance on the big pot with all that dark space underneath.

 

[TexasLisa]

I LOVE IT!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Getting the roof panels on the outhouse today...Mom's the roof guy, I just aid and assist her getting them up there, handing her tools, getting them aligned. Already bloodied her thumb, so blood, sweat and no tears have been applied to this outhouse.

Meanwhile I'm finally getting around to doing garden gates again, placing a landscape sill on the main small gate,mounting the other new/old other small gate, placing a cross piece on that gate's posts so I can mount the CP piece that will form a trellis that goes all the way around the gate, forming an arbor trellis.

Also cutting down a little rolling cabinet/entertainment stand, removing the casters, flipping it upside down to form a wall cabinet in the outhouse. Will paint it before installing, of course...going to paint it celery green.

May or may not use the nice castors from that on the bottom of my larger gates that I'll be doing to replace the large CP gate. If not, then I'll use them when I redo a small two drawer stand I got at GW awhile back...that will eventually be the little girl's nightstand. That will be painted the celery green as well.

If I can get to it, I may also cut down a wooden youth bed we got at GW a long while back and turn it into a mini wooden glider like the big red one we have in the yard. That will be painted sky blue and be placed in Joel's BTE, right in the middle of the sunflower "house". Little girls will be able to sit in the sunflower house and glide back and forth.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Love ALL of those ideas! Can't wait for the pics!

 

[Beekissed]

Well...we got the roof on, got the sill on the main garden gate and an extra board on the bottom to keep the juniors out of there...they keep getting in there every time Mamas pass by, then they can't get out again as Mamas keep strolling onward.

Then got the other small CP gate replaced...that required splicing together a small picket gate with a section of picket fencing~old stuff removed from my son's yard, removing a heavy cross brace and replacing it with a sticker(free wood pieces from Lowe's), then mounting it up...this is one heavy gate, so I just couldn't get it right until Mom came to help me hold it while I screwed in the hinges. I must of rehung that gate and changed all the fixtures 3 times before I finally got some help and got it right.

Gate is a tad crooked because that gate post has moved inward over the past 3 yrs and I could only compensate so much for it and still get ground clearance.

Got the cross piece over that gate, but it just barely fits, so everything is very primitive looking, to say the least.

Will mount the piece of CP up there today so my mater can climb it and will also plant a piece of honeysuckle on both sides so they can get a good start on climbing it and covering all my mistakes up there.

Got tool clips mounted up on the gates and on posts in the garden...got those tool clips mounted on a little board at a yard sale for $1. I removed them from the board and scattered them around the garden on the posts and gates so wherever I am and I need to put down a tool for the day, there will be one close by. They are going to come in handy.

Got the holes cut in the seats of the outhouse...need to go out there and grind the edges down and sand them, as well as the corner of the bench/seats, prior to painting. Not that anyone will be sitting directly on those holes but I don't like leaving them jagged edged.

Got ran in the house by a freak rain shower that was not predicted at all...NICE! We really needed it and now there is steam rising from the ground, it's been that hot here today.

 

[Beekissed]

Mom and I are finally able to get back to finishing out the new outhouse. Trying to level the dirt around it now to create a level entry way and prior to putting down landscaping. Will use black edging to divert runoff away from the base of the building, while also confining the lava rock to one place so the chickens can't kick it out.

Using those rubber pavers for the entry...I love those things. A bit more pricey than stone pavers but will hold up under freezing and thawing, excess traffic, and will mold more easily to uneven contours of the ground, so when the soil moves over time, they move with it but don't stick up where you can trip over them.

After this task, we'll cut some trim to cover various gaps in the plywood where things weren't quite squared and such. One whole section of the seat box I'm removing and recutting wood to fit that as my boy got in a bit of a hurry at the end and wasn't quite as diligent about his measuring. Just minor things here and there prior to the painting.

Can't wait to get it painted and done!

I know this sounds sort of crazy, but this little building has become my favorite structure on the land....it's breezy, shady, light and the new wood smells so good. I'm looking around all the time for a cute repurposing to make a magazine/book rack in there....some piece of interesting looking metal that I can use~saw some bedspring coils at the Restore store the other day and thought a couple of those mounted to the wall would hold a few magazines. Found some nice signage at Good Will the other day for a few bucks, for putting on the wall.

 

[TexasLisa]

We need pictures when it is done Bee. You all are amazing!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I'm taking one of our wood boxes and am working on a small rooster roost for nighttime. I have two young roosters and separated them out into their own yard today, but they need something more secure for the night.
I ran out of light before I finished so the boys got to sleep with the girls for one more night.
But here's what I've got so far...
I took one of these boxes and took the supports off of the bottom. Then I tipped it on its side and put the 4x4s under the new "bottom". This will keep it off the ground. New top and new front off. (Had to take the back off, lower it to line it up, and reattach it.) Added a 2x2 perch across the center. Cut plywood for my new roof. Pulled out chicken wire to use in top of roof for air.
The wood boxes were free and we had everything else already here. I even reused the nails. So far if I was adding for cost, I'd be out one 2x2 (although the only new wood I used was for the perch), a half piece of plywood, and a few short finishing nails. I even found some old shingles in the shed from a previous owner!
So far the hardest part was getting those 4x4's off the bottom. The (8? per support) nails were 3" into the 4x4's! Someone had no intention of ever dismantling these boxes!
I'll try to finish tomorrow and will post more pictures.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

We finished the rooster house today. Can you still pick out the original crate we used? I'll tell you, this is one spoiled rooster! There are a few trim things to finish like the edges of the roof, and adding a door. Don't look to closely at the paint job, but overall, I'm really pleased. Right now it's drying overnight. But not bad since almost all of it was from wood we had on the property already...

 

[Beekissed]

Nice looking conversion on that crate! Very cute!

We're still not completely finished with our outhouse redo as life interrupted and drew us away from the homestead for a couple of weeks and now we are playing catch up. Both mowers down for the count and both people down in health a bit too, so it's a slow catch up.

Bought more lava rock today to finish out the landscaping, new wood for trimming out the windows and door frame and also bought more paint for the exterior. Painting it to match the house and woodshed so it would blend rather than stick out like a sore thumb.

Still need to cut and put in some quarter round where the seat joins the wall and such, then paint the interior. Also need to cut and mount the eave on the back to shoot the rainwater runoff out and away from the base of the building.

Need to get it done before next week...hope to have a little company for an apple sauce/butter stir off then and have it ready in case folks want to try it out.

Found a brand new, heavy duty metal magazine rack at Good Will this week to mount up in there~$3. It has three compartments, plenty for kid's books and magazines alike. We don't do many magazines here so will be trolling the free old subscriptions at our libraries for interesting mags to place in there.

Can't wait to have that project finished so I can roll on to other projects waiting in the wings.