MY LATEST DIY PROJECT
- Thread starter
- #42
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Working on this outhouse in bits and pieces, still. Got the seat box painted today and also the floor, first coat. This plywood just soaks in the paint, so even two coats is not enough for the lighter paints...I think I'm going to have to repeat the coat to the yellow in most areas of the plywood.
But...it's starting to shape up, if I do say so myself...very cheery place to sit and contemplate life while doing the necessary. Need to get it done before Saturday...going to have a bonfire/cookout to celebrate the ol' Bat's B-day and would like folks to use the outhouse if they can, instead of tracking in and out of the house all evening. Most won't use it anyway, but hope springs eternal.
But...it's starting to shape up, if I do say so myself...very cheery place to sit and contemplate life while doing the necessary. Need to get it done before Saturday...going to have a bonfire/cookout to celebrate the ol' Bat's B-day and would like folks to use the outhouse if they can, instead of tracking in and out of the house all evening. Most won't use it anyway, but hope springs eternal.
- Thread starter
- #43
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
It's not the most beautiful...I've seen WAY prettier outhouses. But it's FAR better than what we had!
Before....
After....
The magazine rack was $3 at Good Will, the sign was a buck from the same place, as was the tot toilet seat at $5. The miniature crate~now a book holder~ was also from GW for a dollar.
The window screens were from the Habitat store for a dollar each, the screen door was an old one that has been in my brother's basement, belonging to his house built in the early 1900s. I left the original finish and hardware on it. The back window was a screen from his old house as well.
The foundation was from reclaimed treated 4x4s, the tin on the roof left over from roofing the house. The TP holder was just reused from the old commode, with a fresh coat of paint.
The paints used were also here and already on hand, so if you are wondering why I used those colors it was because we had them. The house has the same exterior colors of brown and red, while the yellow is paint left over from our kitchen cabinets, the celery green from a refurbishing project.
Before....
After....
The magazine rack was $3 at Good Will, the sign was a buck from the same place, as was the tot toilet seat at $5. The miniature crate~now a book holder~ was also from GW for a dollar.
The window screens were from the Habitat store for a dollar each, the screen door was an old one that has been in my brother's basement, belonging to his house built in the early 1900s. I left the original finish and hardware on it. The back window was a screen from his old house as well.
The foundation was from reclaimed treated 4x4s, the tin on the roof left over from roofing the house. The TP holder was just reused from the old commode, with a fresh coat of paint.
The paints used were also here and already on hand, so if you are wondering why I used those colors it was because we had them. The house has the same exterior colors of brown and red, while the yellow is paint left over from our kitchen cabinets, the celery green from a refurbishing project.
milkmansdaughter
Super Self-Sufficient
You've really seen WAY prettier outhouses?? Really?? Your old one was prettier than most I've seen (and used!!) 
I guess I come from the wrong side of the tracks! I don't think it ever even occurred to me to try to make one so pretty. 
Bee, you and your mom do great work. It's a very pretty (and useful) addition to your property. I hope your company likes it and will avoid all tramping dirt through the house... (Although if there's a lot of company, especially with young teen boys, the women might want curtains.) Or do kids behave so much better now than when I was a kid?
I guess I come from the wrong side of the tracks! I don't think it ever even occurred to me to try to make one so pretty. Bee, you and your mom do great work. It's a very pretty (and useful) addition to your property. I hope your company likes it and will avoid all tramping dirt through the house... (Although if there's a lot of company, especially with young teen boys, the women might want curtains.) Or do kids behave so much better now than when I was a kid?
milkmansdaughter
Super Self-Sufficient
Btw, I love how economical it was for you to make this not only functional, but appealing as well. Really a very nice job!!
- Thread starter
- #47
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Nobody that modest in our family, I'm afraid. If a boy wants to look at these old ladies, he deserves every emotional scar he receives from that sight!
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
- Thread starter
- #49
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Now that the big job is done, I can move along to all the hundreds of little things that need doing. Fixing this or that, building a contraption for this or that, improving the ergonomics of this or that chore.
I love this kind of life!!!!
I love this kind of life!!!!
- Thread starter
- #50
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
@Joel_BC , I need your expertise and talent for invention. I need to devise a chicken skinner...my hands and arms are getting a little arthritic and weak when it comes to skinning old chickens. Those hides feel like they've been welded on lately!
I'm thinking of a vice like apparatus to clamp down on and hold the skinned down neck...it would have to have teeth for grasping that slender, slick object. I'd cape the neck down, slit up the breast, cut off wings. After that, I need to use the golf ball method of skinning on the cape and somehow pull mightily downward on that cape...would need some pulleys or some such to take the strain off my own body and onto the skinner.
The skin would be shucked down all the way to the tail, pause, cut that free, continue to pull it down off the legs until the feet could be cut off.
After the slit on the front and taking off the wings, the chicken would be lying front downward in the apparatus for ease in skinning the rest.
Any ideas?
I'm thinking of a vice like apparatus to clamp down on and hold the skinned down neck...it would have to have teeth for grasping that slender, slick object. I'd cape the neck down, slit up the breast, cut off wings. After that, I need to use the golf ball method of skinning on the cape and somehow pull mightily downward on that cape...would need some pulleys or some such to take the strain off my own body and onto the skinner.
The skin would be shucked down all the way to the tail, pause, cut that free, continue to pull it down off the legs until the feet could be cut off.
After the slit on the front and taking off the wings, the chicken would be lying front downward in the apparatus for ease in skinning the rest.
Any ideas?
