Why pay for a fold down table make one yourself, i have

When i have occasion to go to Porto airport i like to have a wander around Ikea partly because they have a cafe and the soft drinks you serve yourself.

One day last year i saw a fold down table that i could use in my kitchen when it was finished with just fold it down out of the way. Now the kitchen is almost finished i decided to make my own fold down table. As i have a lot of very old Chestnut timber  that when planed down looks beautiful so i decided to have a go what could i loose.

Until my table saw arrived from the UK i had to go to my friend Chicco to get my timber cut down to size at his workshop.

The top is now waiting for a piano type hinge about 30 inch's long and then i can put it all together.  found a couple of small bits of hinge i found in a tool box but much to small for what i want it for.







I have been to all local builders merchants to try and get a piano hinge but i can't find one. Everywhere i go they say no sorry we don't have any. Even Chicco who makes furniture only had a type that was to wide, it was wider than the wood i used for the table top. So for the moment i am held up, to go to Coimbra to Leyroy Merlin is an hour drive and an hour back plus the cost of fuel just for a hinge. There is still one place left i can go to and i live in hope that maybe they will have what i want.

If you can dream it you can do it. Just believe

I am not lucky to have confidence in all i do so i practice as much as i can. Making the shelves in my kitchen i used lots of wood until i felt i had it right. The first lot of shelf brackets i threw away because i didn't like them because i had a vision of what i wanted and they where not right. It's easy to just put up shelves just like you would a book shelf but as the pictures below show i wanted  more something better.

The first problem was finding the right kind of shelf brackets and with that done i used a small sheet of plasterboard to get the effect i wanted right from what i had in my mind. That done i had to get my friend at the timber yard to cut my timber down to size because my new table saw had not arrived in time.

Each shelf has been varnished 6 times to give a perfect finish and between every 2 finishes i rubbed the shelves down again till it was just right.

Here are my shelves finished and stocked with some of my Herbs and Spices. Two more corners of my kitchen will also have the same shelves put up mainly because i have so many Herbs and Spices.









The reason for having the most amazing shelves up is i don't and won't have wall cupboards up i want better. I think i have given myself the best i could do But long time since the last Big But.

I hope that never having done a thing in my life because i was able to get others to do it for me i now can do things for myself.  Many people come to not just Portugal but to many others countries like me without any skills. My big wish is that i have inspired others to have a go all you need is to dream because " Dreams can come true " the pictures above show it has for me.

I am in the middle of other jobs and in time as they get finished more pictures will be on show.

If you can dream it you can do it.

Strawberries and Newcastle Brown Ale

Today has been about the best day for quite a while. Three Bottles of Newcastle Brown arrived and they where hand delivered after a very good XO cognac they are something special to drink. The same day i picked my first Strawberries of the season, only a few but it's the first day.

Just a few but many more to come.

While i was in Liverpool I had a drink in a bar only to find they don't stock Newcastle Brown now that was a shame. I had to have Magners.





















I have been waiting for a delivery for days and at last it arrived with my big table saw, 4 boxes of tea bags, a bag of 1,100 tea bags enough for a year or more. But most of all the special brackets for my shelves for the kitchen, the brackets will make the shelves look like they are just floating on the wall. I also  got myself a new Pillar drill a few weeks ago just so i could drill the holes accurate as a degree out would make the shelf just look odd. Tomorrow i will get started so it's no getting up late for me till the shelves are done and up ready for use.

The last bit done and the veranda is finished.

On Tuesday i finally finished my veranda. The finishing touch was to put a shaped piece of wood on the front at the top of veranda. Going back over 50 years my Dad built a green house in the rear of the house we had just moved into in Liverpool.

The pointy bit you see on my veranda was on the top of my Dad's green house but sadly last year it's use came to an end and i was given the pointy bit to keep.

Now 50 years later it was time to give some more life to the last part from my Dad's green house. I am also lucky to have my Dad's ladder and i used that to get up to put the pointy bit up in position. It still had the nails in that Dad used 50 years ago so i didn't even need nails. The last touch was i also had Dad's hammer that i remember from all those years ago.

So i used Dad's hammer to put up Dad's pointy bit and using Dad's ladder to do the job.

A fitting tribute to Dad, Thanks

I went on a Wild life Safari

While i was in Liverpool i went out with my son on a wild life Safari. We went in search of the famous Super lambanana only to be found here in Liverpool. As you can see these are just copies of the real Super Lambananas Being a protected species they are hard to find.

Lastly seen over 50 years ago is this giant spider Crab this one in the case is a  real one for display. But the ones in the wild are hard to find but we can make do with a stuffed one in a case.

To hot to work outside

I have been waiting for quite a while for the last of my tools to arrive. I had timber planks split to use to clad the windows and doors but needed my table saw to cut down my timber to the sizes i needed to carry on with the cladding of the windows and doors.

I started this today as it was to hot to work outside I have a lot of timber to get ready to take to Chicco to get it all split down so i can start to get the windows and doors finished.

This is my window with it's view and as you can see i have cut the first panel and it's in position while i cut the other panels

Here i have fitted the top panel and it's been fixed in position and once the silicon has cured then i can take the bits of timber holding it up away.

Sorry MUM

I am ashamed to admit that i forgot that it was my Mum's birthday on the 13th May. I have no excuse and i am ashamed to think i could make such a mistake.

One of my sisters even mentioned that she had put Mum's cards in a bag and i didn't even get the message from the hint i was given. I had on my calender Mum's birthday so really i had no excuse as even the date for my return was the 11th May.

SORRY

What no Newcastle Brown

I went over to Liverpool last week and after i arrived with my mate Paul who was going on to Scotland. We arrived in Liverpool city centre sometime after midnight and we needed a drink but where, just ask a cabbie and we where soon on our way to O'Neils bar. O'Neils by it's name is an Irish bar with loads f Guinness but what they didn't have was New Castle Brown, i had looked forward to a nice cold bottle of my favourite drink. I ended up having a pint of Magners only to have it ruined with ice and water from the ice bucket. Ok for Paul he just had a pint of Stella, way we were served we both got a shock or maybe we should have expected the price to be a bit more than in Portugal £7.55p wow that was a shock. For 2 bottles of Sagres or Superbock we pay about 1.60€ or a little more.

The noise i won't call it music was very loud, OK in the 60's we had loud music but the noise in O'Neils bar was from a very badly setup sound system it was just only a noise. So if you are going over to Liverpool and find yourself in Hanover Street and the corner of Wood Street avoid the noise in O'Neils bar.

I was in town with my granddaughter  on Saturday morning and she walked the legs and feet of me and by early afternoon my legs didn't want to work anymore. She had me in shops up and down stairs until we met up with my son and his other half and i was glad to see them if only for a rest. I thought i was fit but it seems i am not quite as fit as i thought i was.

My Mum was being taken away for a few days by one of my sisters and they where to leave Sunday morning early so i only got to see Mum for a few short hours. Only a few more hours and i would be at the airport again ready for my return to my home from home in Portugal. 

Back from Liverpool and i have a baby Chestnut

I have just had a few days away in my home town of Liverpool. When i arrived home i was eager to see how everything was growing in the few days i was gone. The biggest surprise was my baby Chestnut tree, my friend Paul gave me four Chestnuts to plant instead of to eat. The big surprise was to see that one of the four had started to grow it may only be a few inches but with care it will be ready to be planted out one day.

I won't give up hope that some of the others start to grow but one out of four isn't to bad.

Now i do need to find  somewhere to plant it when it's big enough.








More about my Liverpool trip later.

Time to clad the pillars

Confidence is a big thing. I am now starting to do another job and this is using a nice piece of hard wood to cover where i took out a wall in my lounge. I needed to leave a pillar and i decided to clad it in timber and having invested in the right tools it's time to start the job.

I want to do a rounded edge but first i need to cut some timber and practice. Measure twice cut once is good advice but the last thing i want is to then get it wrong. I cut a couple of pieces and used silicon to fix to the wall and wood glue to glue the two pieces together. Once the glue has dried i will get out my router and shape the corner, then sand and varnish. If after all this it comes out as i want i can then get Chicco the timber guy to cut more of my Chestnut timber down to size.

The pillar is about 8ft high so it's easy to make a mistake and spoil the effect i am after so that's why i am doing it this way first.