Bedroom desk:

My roommate, Dan, and I needed a place for our computers and a place to study. After visiting Ikea several times and not finding any desks that suited our needs, we decided to build our own.

We used melamine to build a single desk, in three pieces, along an 18 foot wall. The desk itself only has two legs; the rest of it is anchored to the wall.

Kitchen counter:

One of the shortcomings of the first apartment I lived in was the unusual lack of counter space in the kitchen. There was plenty of unused floor space, but no counter, so I drew up a plan for one and Dan-the-Man and I got to work.

This is made entirely of pine. The slats are removable and adjustable to accommodate any large objects that need to be placed on the floor below the counter.

We cut moulding from some 2x4s, mitered the ends, and attached them to the top to give a 1/4 inch lip around the surface. We then mixed and poured bar finish onto the top and blew hot air on it for about half an hour to release all the air bubbles.

This is the final product:

Homestar Runner character cutouts:

This is my tribute to one of the best internet cartoons out there. These are Strong Bad and The Cheat, from Homestar Runner, cut out and carved out of pine. The details were done with Dan's carving set that I found in the garage. The wood was painted with watercolor and then sealed with Varathane.

This is Strong Bad. The cutout is about 1.5 feet tall:

This is The Cheat, Strong Bad's sidekick:

Laminate flooring:

The previous owner of the condo decided it would be a good idea to repair his motorcycle inside the living room right on the carpet. Convenient for him, pain in the face for us. It left a huge black stain right in the middle of the room which would always reappear several hours after cleaning the carpet. After about a dozen failed attempts with the carpet cleaner, we decided to put in some cheap laminate flooring from Costco.

The result of hours of planning, measuring, and cutting:

Though no one can see it, we made sure to leave our mark by putting a large picture of a 1962 Shelby Cobra underneath this spot in the flooring. Why, you may ask? I wish I knew.

Pergola:

It's nice to have a balcony. It's not nice to get sunburned while on the balcony. Gary and I built a pergola to fix that.