Learning how buildings get put together has changed the way I see the world. For example, the first time I entered the tobacco barn pictured here, I thought of a cathedral. How something so large and lofty (and, in some places, so indifferent to perpendicularity), could stand so long in a Kentucky meadow, was nothing … Continue reading Upon Further Consideration
Someone recently asked if I had ever heard of Houzz.com, and all I could think was, "Do you mean the online rabbit hole where I chase my growing fascination for urban poultry into an infinite universe of lavish and lovely chicken coops?" Yes, I have heard of Houzz. An online platform for home improvement and design, … Continue reading Houzz Warming in Nashville
Long before I started collecting yellow power tools, I collected levels, those elegantly palindromic devices that can tell if a surface is out of synch with the Earth's horizon. I scoured estate sales in ranch houses built after World War II, the ones with pegboard-paneled basement workshops, where--I can only imagine--men of the Greatest Generation retreated … Continue reading My Level Best with My Best Level
Today's installment of "Building Shelf-Esteem with Buttercup" kicks off at the Nashville Habitat for Humanity Restore, which opened this month, combining under one 33,000-square-foot roof the homegoods and building materials of two former Nashville Restore locations. Housed in a former Kmart at the northwest corner of Harding Place and Nolensville Road, the expanded Restore has aisle upon … Continue reading Hello, Habitat
I wonder if Sleepy, Dopy, Doc and the gang ever haggled over which song to whistle. I mean, I wonder how things would have gone down if Happy and Bashful liked country, while Sneezy and Grumpy preferred rap. That's the kind of extreme musical dichotomy we faced when a subset of construction class wanted to listen … Continue reading Whistle While You Work
The Erma Bombeck book that we designated as our canary in the coal mine weathered the storms unscathed, so, satisfied with the waterproofing on our Little Free Library, we finally cut the ribbon. We still haven't got our official designation from the Little Free Library nonprofit, but that's simply because I still have too much paint … Continue reading The Library is Open
Big news: I finally finished the Little Free Library I've been building for months. This weekend, I attached a pane of plastic and all the brass hardware that I bought at an estate sale. I used my circular saw to fashion a stand out of a salvaged 4 x 4 post, and I finally conquered … Continue reading Library Project Almost in the Books
Since enrolling in construction school last year, I've been mulling over an idea for a business. The idea is to design and build freestanding rooms for people who long for "sacred spaces" that won't fit inside their houses. For example, I want a workshop. You might want a meditation chamber, a yoga room, or a … Continue reading Get a Room
Lately in construction school, I've been working on a side project to build cold frames for my garden, using salvaged windows and cedar planking. I've almost finished a prototype, but there's still one detail that needs to be changed before I embark on making a whole bunch of them. For the frame to slant properly … Continue reading Let’s Put a SawStop to This
This week, I attended an overnight retreat with some 40 student government presidents from Tennessee universities, community colleges and colleges of applied technology, hosted by the Tennessee Board of Regents. No, I am not the SGA president at TCAT Nashville, but our school's rep got called up to the Navy before the retreat, so the … Continue reading This One Time at Student Government Camp
Building Up Buttercup 