Really sort of a chill weekend up here. It has rained most of the time. So Saturday we went to Valley Head and did some pickin' for cabin stuff and found a few neat things to hang on the wall.

An old pair of 1959 wooden snow skis. On the back side they have a thin metal edge about 1/16" thick and 3/16" wide screwed to the outer edges of the skis with little countersunk flat head screws. Pretty cool. $25 I put them above our closets in the bedroom...



I've had this relief map for a few years, and finally got to put it up. I made a frame for it and put it in the hallway between the guest bedroom and the upstairs bath. This way guest can look out at the view and know what mountains they are seeing in the distance...



Probably the find of Saturday was this wooden sled. Not only is it unique in the fact that it's all wood, but you fold that metal cross brace and the whole thing folds up. I think it was for carrying stuff and being pulled behind a horse. It's got to be the only one like it in Alabama. The brand is "Snocraft" and it's made in Norway, Maine. I thought it looked good in the stairwell beneath the "Flexible Flyer." $35



It wasn't all goofing off this weekend. I got to designing some shelves in my mind for the kitchen and thinking how I could basically hang them from the joists above and use stuff I already had. So I took the Acadia butcher block 12" x 36" slabs I had and measured 1 1/2" in from the corners and drilled some 3/4" holes with a spade bit. Then I drilled some 1/8" holes perpendicular to those for some trim screws. I used 1/2" conduit for the hanger rods and drilled holes that matched the holes in the shelving and pinned them in with the trim screws.

I didn't want the whole shelving unit to sway, so I measured and cut up some left over 1/4" steel cable I had and made some tension bracing by drilling 1/4" holes on an angle about 1/2" in from the back edge of the shelving and just like the conduit hangers. I threaded the cable into the holes and then pinned the cable in using perpendicular trim screws. it worked like a charm. I now have some minimalist, industrial, open shelving for the kitchen. All we need to do is finish the wood and hang them. I built 2 sets for either side of the sink and these turned out so well, I may do 2 more sets for either side of the stainless range hood.

When you envision something like this in your head yo never know just how it's going to turn out so you try to curb your enthusiasm.