Finished Frame & drywall

Frame dryfit into spot, then secured in place with screws

drywall to finish off the new half wall.  The idea here was to allow the person to sit and have something behind them while they put on shoes or chatted.  Across the entry way is a set of coat hooks and in the garage an additional set of coat hooks for the folks to be able to keep jackets off the floor or bench...and I need to re-wash the bench...white gets dirty fast :)

How to frame in less than two hours

The little arrows tell you which side of the line you cut on

dryfit the frame

pre-drill the holes

check that it's square

dry fit the frame onto the wall (making new shelf)

Copper Pot Holder for your wall

This is an easy project that can be done in under an hour.  You will need a specific tool - a copper pipe slicer (about $30) or if you can borrow one - that works too.

Went to the plumbing aisle at Home Depot and got the following parts:

as you can see - there is a 45 degree angle piece, a connector and a male/female attachment
along with another piece that has screw holes already attached - they fit regular screws

you can either glue this or not - I just wanted a little extra holding strength

Used Gorilla Glue (fav glue)

screw into stud

finished product

cutter - I used this to cut the pipe about 4" 

Getting rid of a smoked mirror wall

So how do you get rid of a smoked mirrored wall?  You cover it!

So my brother and I did this over a weekend and it did take the two of us.

Before picture - 14' wide x 12' high

Cover the wall with plywood - using special screws - the mirrors
were screwed and glued - so they weren't coming down

Used 1x3 to build a frame

Cut out a 'window' and plugged in a regular mirror (6'x3')

Insulated with sound insulation - this is an attached wall to another unit and
so sound insulation was critical

Cover with drywall 

And....you are done.  Tape, mud and paint when ready.  This treatment has significantly reduced the noise we could hear from next door and it got rid of the smokey mirrors :)

Entertainment Centre

OK - so this takes two - one person who has an eye for detail and a second (me) who can do the rest :)

This took months - mainly though because I get distracted easily.  The unit is 8' wide by 12' high and has a fireplace in the centre.  We used maple plywood and locked everything in place via routing out the edges and then screwed it all in.  The centre piece - was hard because it's mounted using bolts and it's heavy!

Frame out the entertainment centre, after the new window was installed

Pull out the drywall - so you can run electrical and cable

Instal plywood where the TV will sit - and make sure electrical is cut out

New fireplace

Framing out the fireplace - the biggest issue is installing the metal and heat resistant drywall

The metal has to be at or above the triangle pieces to meet code and not catch fire

Starting to take shape - the cabinets and AV unit are now attached

Removable shelving has been added

Frame around the rest of the unit, including the fireplace itself

Ready for staining

1st coat - looks barny - which would be great, but I'm going for a sub-modern look
(a mix of art deco, mid-century modern and bauhaus)

Final coat on

With backlit LED lighting - oh and the window has an electronic window shade

 So...it took a few months to finish, but it's awesome and I couldn't have done it without help from my brother.  Onto the next project!