Life of Gregory D: Post 100

I started this blog 5 1/2 years ago as a means to share my projects with friends and family far away. I never though that I'd stay with it but here I am sitting at my 100th post!

I find it hard to imagine that I actually had 100 things to talk about on here. Without looking through my old posts I can only account for a couple dozen posts but that's why having a blog is so neat. Now I can go back and quickly flip through the list of past posts and see all of the major projects and events of my life.

It's gratifying to see everything you've accomplished over a set amount of time. Even looking at 1 or 2 years I'm always surprised by what took place.

So for my 100th post I am going to create an outline of the more significant posts over the past 5 1/2 years.

2006

Introduction - Met this girl who told me I should start a blog. (I would eventually date/propose/marry this girl.) I entered the bloggers world as a spike haired single guy with a list of projects a mile long. (Ok, the spike haired thing may have just been a crazy 5 minute phase before an overdue haircut.)

Back Porch - Built a deck floor and screened in my 12'x30' porch.

Potting Shed - Designed and built a 12x20' shed for my mum.

Kitchen After

Kitchen Renovation - A total renovation of my kitchen with custom built cabinetry. Not a great showing of craftsmanship but it was an improvement not too mention that it was my first real "fine" wood working project.

New Car - I bought my first new car. A 2007 Honda Element. 5 1/2 years later I still drive it every day, only have 45k miles on it, and its paid off!

Photography - I bought myself a DSLR camera which would lead me down an amazing path of 10k+ photos, some of which are good!

2007

Storage - I demolished all of my closet shelves and went with a nice wire shelf/bar system. Not a glamorous project but it sure helped me get organized.

Lighting - I began to dabble in designing and building various custom light fixtures for my house. Had a strong start but didn't last for more than a year.

Music - Music was a critical piece in my day to day life. I watched as many local / national concerts as I could (60+?), bought several hundred CD's, acquired way so many instruments that I had to replace my living room with a recording studio.

Dining Room - Taking the country out of the dining room (sitting room) with new paint and my first go at crown moulding.

Book Shelves - Took some generic book shelves and added custom caps and bases to them.

Proposal - After wearing her down I finally decided to reel her in and ask her to be my wife. She said 'yes' and made me one happy guy!

Garage / Work shop - A critical step in the process where I begin to buy power tools and eventually learn how to use them properly.

2008

Office Desk - Created from a reclaimed office door and trimmed out to make a killer 9'-9" dual computer desk.

Yarn Cabinet - My first furniture piece, a yarn cabinet for my fiancee.

Knitting - After spending lots of time with a knitter its just a matter of time before you start dabbling.

Bathroom Renovation - The ugly bathroom next to the garage got a make over in a big way!

Studio Computer / Karaoke Tower - Needing a quiet cabinet for my recording pc and a high platform for karaoking I built this from scraps in my garage.

Art Gallery - I converted my hallway to an art gallery so I could display my photography instead of storing them away on my computer. If there was an easier way to do this I'd love to do this again.

Foyer - I added some wood laminate flooring, base trim, fresh coat of paint, a new entry door and light. Made a much better first impression to visitors!

Painting - I invested in various paints, brushes and canvas to see what I could do. When it was all said and done I discovered I really enjoyed to use water color paints and would eventually create a few pieces... Hmm, I need to do this again soon!

Moving day - After pouring my efforts into fixing up my home I started drafting up ideas for my dream home. While on a random drive around a neighborhood we saw a house for sale. This is where we will start our lives together.

Settling in - After settling to our home we took on many projects including all new windows, window treatment, garage renovation (one of many), painting, rearranging furniture, undercabinet lighting in the kitchen, etc.

Wedding - Woo Hoo!

Honey Moon - Puerto Vallarta! And if the all-inclusive trip wasn't awesome enough we got vouchers from the resort AND airlines to return the following year for only a few hundred bucks!

2009

Half Bath - Renovation of our half bath. Luckily we were able to buy a lot of the fixtures we used at our last house.

Silk Screening - Got into making hundreds of silk screen t-shirts in my basement. If only I could master multiple colors!

Kayak - Designed and built my own wood strip kayak! This blog post quickly reached 1000 unique views!

Registered - I have taken and passed all of my tests. I am now a registered architect!

2010

Guest Bath - A total renovation to our half bath. You just have to check out the horrible before pics!

Walk in Closet - I split a long room into a more normal size room and created an epic walk in closet with 2 windows!

Settlers of Catan - Sculpted clay pieces, got into silicone molds and thermoplastic castings to create an entire 3d board game. This project has got me posted in several other blogs and has raked in a couple thousand unique visitors!