the middle of the night as trees crashed down around us. We had made no preparations. I heard the roar of a waterfall as it cascaded into my basement. First I hurriedly ran all our camping gear upstairs (cook stove, lantern, etc.), then valuables were cleared from the first floor. After just 20 minutes it became eerily quiet... the basement was full... no more roar of water. I was about out of time. Anything remaining on the first floor was stacked on countertops and tables. Next, I ran outside and tied up the boat, it was already floating away, and we might need it to escape later. I wore a rock climbing harness to do this safely in the waist deep moving water. After the flood there was mud everywhere. The remnants of an old deck was left in my yard by the flood. I salvaged the old decking and used it to make a temporary side walk to keep us out of the mud as we cleaned up. I got old fire hose the fire department had culled out for free and screwed it to the boards... so in my case we really could roll up the sidewalk at night. I later made several more of these walkways, using pallet grade white oak. This was published as a tip for staying clean at muddy construction sites, but it was inspired by disaster: http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/tips/...

anything, and I don't really dig a fabric valance. Luckily we have lottsa scrap wood from building our kitchen cabinets,= this project was almost $ free!

It's an Industrial, Eclectic, super Chic Window treatment that I'm IN LOVE with!!

options..With a genius idea from Ana White I was able to build my own for under $15! It was a thirty minute project, no crazy construction skills required, just a drill and a circular saw! (If only the gardening itself was as easy!)

something unique, and we wanted it to match the existing barn and reclaimed brick patio. Even more – we wanted to make it from the left over recycled barn materials we already had on hand. The only other requirement was to make sure we had enough counter space on each side to be able to easily prepare food straight from the garden to the grill.

We finally decided on a simple straight line island design. 14′ long, with a 48″ grill and burner slide-in space in the middle. Each side would then be flanked by 5 foot overhanging counters. We made the width of the counter 34″ to give extra surface room to prepare and serve foods. With limited time before a looming barn party– we opted for a simple wooden top for now to match the farm table – however- as future time allows – we really want to replace with some stained concrete countertops.

THE BUILDING PROCESS

We first built a simple 2 x 4 stud frame, leaving a 48″ space in the middle and front for the grill and burners to slide in. We used treated wood for the bottom to sit on the brick pad – and then built the rest from standard 2x lumber. Next -we encased the inside of the grill area with cement board to protect the structure from the heat of the grill. Then sided the entire structure with more of the left over corrugated roofing and trimmed it out to match the barn.

All that was left was to slide in the grill – attach the top and the outdoor kitchen project was complete!

Jim and Mary - www.oldworldgardenfarms.com

go. So much fun to create! I love the little hedgehog and dog. I see other silhouettes in my future. ;)

cutting the boards to size and using wood glue to fasten the boards together. You could use this mason jar storage anywhere in your home. I chose to use the storage in our bathroom, it works great for q-tips and cotton balls!