George's New Home

Last week, I dusted off my poor, ignored tools and put them to good use. While I don't claim to be any kind of master craftswoman, I do enjoy creating something tangible and useful with my hands. Mix that with my enjoyment of home decorating and coming up with solutions to problems, well, naturally that leads to building stuff for my house.

The current problem at hand was my inventive table I made several years ago to house our tortoise's cage. His name is George and he's been with Mike and I since early in our relationship. Obviously he's a part of the family and deserves a great roost. His address was a nice wide shelf with legs made of plumbing pieces that sat above the radiator in our living room. While this tall, narrow table made a great home for him with only adults living in the house, it was a little too wobbly with a toddler occasionally grabbing and shaking a leg. Since I didn't want George's big, heavy, glass atrium to land on top of Dylan's head, a new home was necessary.

Before - George's Place

I've never been a huge fan of radiator covers (preferring the more industrial\traditional look of the radiator) but to make the space usable and safe for Dylan, that was the obvious choice. I took some time researching some design ideas and spent a lot of time planning out the construction. Since my house has some craftsman influenced style and I like to play up that architectural look, I chose to make a slatted style cover. With my design and measurements in hand, the family headed to Home Depot last Sunday.

Dylan fell asleep so Mike stayed with him in the car while I checked out the lumber selection and did some figuring of what I wanted and how much of it I would need. An hour later, we were loading it up on top of the car and Dylan had gotten in a nice nap. To give me some time to start the work, the boys headed off to the grocery store. While they were gone, I was able to make all the cuts I needed. During Dylan's afternoon nap, I got most of it assembled, got a little more done with his "help" after he woke up (he basically walked all over it while I was trying to screw in my mending brackets) and finished the last of it after he went to bed.

The rest of the week was spent sanding and staining. By Saturday morning, I was ready for installation. The boys helped me (and Dylan learned a new word "drill") and in no time our new radiator cover\George's new home was ready for it's occupant.

The New Radiator Cover

A Closer Look

Since George's atrium is much deeper than the radiator cover needed to be, I brought back the top of his old table, set it on top and it was done!

After - George Is Home!

It wasn't a complicated project at all once I actually got started on it. The planning process was the toughest part. I'm very happy with the result. However, this was just my warm up project. Next I'm doing a radiator cover with flanking shelves, to look like a built in piece, in our sun room\playroom so we have a good storage spot for Dylan's growing book collection. I bought some of the lumber yesterday and will start construction this week. Likely the project will not be done before our Christmas travel\party commitments but I hope to have that finished project to show off early in the new year!