Our CUSTOM cabinet makers didn't want to try this! Jeff got this hair brained idea that he could fit a garbage drawer in the end of our center island. Well, it worked! Our good friends Scott and Pam Gilson, donated the garbage drawer assembly from some cabinets they had made for them, where the garbage drawer didn't fit into the scheme of things. The BIG SCARY thing was drilling / cutting the hole into the end of the cabinet! Jeff made a template for this so the hole would be perfect. Once the hole was cut, he modified the garbage drawer assembly to fit the smaller width hole. The electrical fits to either side of the ball bearing slides, so it closes smoothly. Note the towel bars on either side. Another hair brained idea of Jeff's that turned out great! These are actually grab handles for a BOAT! Yes, a BOAT!

This is a water spigot that we have in our garage. It's about 3 feet off the floor so you don't have to bend down to turn the water on or off. This tiling was the "training ground" for Therese and Jeff doing the tile backsplash in their kitchen. It's just cheap 4x4 ceramic tile, with premixed white grout. Jeff did this in only a couple of hours, it went very fast. I think we have the skills to do the tiling in our kitchen now. Also, Jeff wants to make a backsplash like this under the cabinets in the garage. ALL THE WAY AROUND! See garage cabinet pictures.

Jeff made this in the spring of 2005. It's made from 3/4 inch double sided melamine (3/4 particle board covered with a THIN white laminate on both sides) Jeff had to get a new blade for the table saw so it would cut melamine without chipping the surface on either side. The end edges of the boards have an "iron-on" edging. This is the first time Jeff has used this stuff, so he had to buy an iron. $10 iron at Home Depot! The iron heats up the pre-applied glue on the backside of the edging, adhering the edging to the edge. He then just trimmed it with a utility knife.

Therese is happy with these. It took us over 2 years for find something both Jeff and Therese could agree on as far as color and style. We got lucky! These are stock fabric panels, and slightly modified curtain rods. (We just cut down the curtain rods to the short length you see) You also see our "remote controlled" blinds on the windows. They are battery powered to raise and lower, and are from Hunter Douglas. Jeff programmed the Pronto remote we have to open and close ALL 3 at once. Just another hair brained idea of Jeff's that AGAIN, turned out nice.

The garage heater was a MUST HAVE in this house / garage. Our garage is as large as the city would allow us, it's 996 sq. feet, with fully insulated walls (R11) and a fully insulated ceiling (R44). Always the innovator / BAD INFLUENCE Jeff's best friend Scott has one of these heaters in his garage, and it works great! It's a 50,000 BTU radiant heater that shoots 14 feet of FIRE down one 12 foot leg of the U-shaped tube, around the U another 2 feet, then out the back side of the garage. The FIRE heats the steel tube and radiates the heat into the room, heating the objects in the room and not the air. Jeff and Therese hung the heater from the ceiling themselves, with Jeff finishing it up by installing the electrical and vent pipe out the back of the garage. The gas part we left to the pro's! With the cheapest ($27) programmable Honeywell thermostat, it kicks on for the weekends when Jeff is usually working in the shop area of the garage. Yes those are recessed can lights in the garage. They work great in the garage, I would recommend them to everyone over florescent fixtures. To save money, you can get Compact Florescent lights bulbs for them too!

This is the door that leads from the deck into the laundry room and back hall of our house. We didn't want one of those normal swing open screen doors on it, so Jeff found this idea at Menards. It's a retractable screen door. The screen is pulled out of the cartridge on the left side of the door, and a full length magnetic strip on the right side holds the screen across the door opening. The screen rolls up in the cartridge on the left side of the door when not in use. It's firm to pull across, and a little tricky to retract into the cartridge. Jeff just thinks it needs a little "tweaking" and it'll be running smooth!

Jeff and Therese came up with a design for this 6 drawer island dresser. Jeff had to alter the design for ease of construction, being this was his 1st stained cabinet that could show all of it's flaws. (It has a couple but you have to look pretty hard to find them. You won't find them in these pictures) It's made from some maple face frames and birch veneer plywood. The birch give it the 2 tone characteristic. The drawers are a full extension epoxy coated steel side drawer with a melamine bottom and back. (The same drawers the rest of our house has in it) The formica top was made by Jeff also. It is left over formica material (FREE!) from him doing the formica top to his MONSTER desk in his office. You can also see in the background the melamine cubby (details above).