unbelievable... again

The tree got some more play on another great blog.  I'm glad people out there find it interesting, hopefully it gave some people some ideas or ambition to try something like this themselves.

DIY Christmas Tree on Design Sprout

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O Tannenbaum

So this is a time of cheer, a time to be near; to family, friends, and loved ones.  Also a time to decorate the place you live with decorations and ornaments to remind us of the spirit of the Christmas season. Most normal people buy a fake tree, or cut a tree from a tree farm. Then they bring it to their residence and place some decorations and lights on it and make it fit their style or taste of their ideal Christmas. I've always had an apartment, haven't had many decorations, haven't had much space for a large tree. So I haven't acquired many of the decorations and lights for Christmas time. I had three strands of lights, green, red, and white; their most famous use for was a party I had four years ago at the beginning of December. One of the best memories that ended up being the beginning of so many more.  Anyway, I basically have no other decorations for a tree. I always wanted a modern, chic, interesting tree but I didn't want to spend a lot of money this year on decorations or a tree because I'd rather spend that money giving presents to others.  So what's a guy like me to do for a tree?  I needed to come up with something fast because I've been preoccupied.  Well, why not build a tree?  I used all reused items I have laying around. I've changed a lot of things around here so I had some things that I could put to use. It's not exactly super chic because I busted it out very quickly, but it gets the job done, I spent a total of $2 to get a plug, and it brings some Christmas cheer.  Its pseudo modern in its shape, definitely industrial in nature. This was something fun to do Hopefully this shows that you don't have to buy everything at a store, with some creativity and some ambition you can make something out of nothing.  Some of the best decorations or gifts are the ones you put some love and/or work into, remember that when you are giving someone a gift this year!

2x4's, framing nails, green vinyl covered chain link fence, string, paper, wrapping paper cut into decorations, the lights I had, an old chandelier, wire, and of course I had to use a little bit of duct tape!

follow this link for the pics...
O Tannenbaum Pics

where the party shower ends

No its not a previously unknown work by Shel Silverstein.  This is literally where the party shower ends.  After demolishing the walls the plumbing Christmas tree (as my plumber so eloquently put it) was hanging freely.  So the three shower head monstrosity was taken down and lines capped.. So technically the party shower could be reincarnated. I should probably put a voting app on the blog to see what the readers think. But I digress, this, along with some other plumbing and gas lines were cleaned up and simplified. This should make things a little bit safer by removing the excess gas piping, connections, and bad valves that had been put in over the years.

basement waste - again

This really makes me sick but theres not much I can do about it, its what was here already. Thats right, this is the second dumpster full of basement stuff.  So if you were counting thats almost 30 cubic yards of stuff that was crammed in the basement, not including the stuff I saved for reuse. Happily no more dumpster in the driveway, makes it look a little less like a foreclosure or construction site.  Hopefully this stuff makes some nice wood chips and other items once its sorted and recycled.  That's the bar top by the way, popular with all that have seen.

basement waste

The unfortunate part of demolition is waste. Less is more, the famous quote by Mies. That's what I'll be doing after the basement is cleaned up. But til then this 15 cubic yard dumpster is packed tight, with more to be taken away. A lesson for everyone, if you don't need it and can do something just as well without more stuff, make it happen. The first step is reduce. The good thing about this waste is that it will be separated and recycled. I saved what I could for future use, but so much was riddled with excessive nails that it would have taken weeks to remove all of them. So for now this is taken away and move onto more removal. More to come...