Nithya Raman for LA Council District 4!

February 24, 2020

...a record of opposing housing and transportation improvements. This is an important election. City councilpersons in Los Angeles wield much more power than the mayor. CD 4 has a population of 253,000 people making it larger than most U.S. cities. If you live in CD4, a gerrymandered district covering Los Feliz, part of Koreatown, Sherman Oaks and North Hollywood please vote for Nithya Raman!...

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Unflipping the Gentrifence

Mr. Homegrown

January 24, 2020

Design

8 Comments

...n essential resource for anyone interested in historical preservation. I recycled all of the old gentrifence, but had to buy some more lumber to complete the project. To make the oddly shaped pickets, I used a combo of table saw cuts along with a jig for my jigsaw. Making jigs increases speed and safety. I’m not entirely happy with the metal handrail but, since I had it already, I didn’t want to let it go to waste. It’s functional and I don’t have...

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Open Floor Plan

Mr. Homegrown

March 28, 2018

Design

7 Comments

In a stunning bit of hypocrisy, we’re busy making the floor plan of our house a bit more open in spite of our rants and raves about the practice. Allow me to explain. Many years ago, when I installed our living room floor, I pulled up a baseboard and discovered that the wall between the living room and bedroom was of recent vintage. What we now use as a bedroom was originally a sitting room or dining room. And the two closets that share a wall be...

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What to Do With Junk Mail and Shredded Paper

Mr. Homegrown

July 23, 2018

Domesticus

23 Comments

...s with junk mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=i-_MQgYK6c0 Shredded Paper Animal bedding. Packing material. Make your own paper. Fire bricks with shredded paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHgBCvQ_-Qg I’ve also been pondering the possibility of making lumber with junk mail and/or shredded paper bound together with resin. I’m not the only person who’s had this idea but, unfortunately, it involves plastics which I don’t like to work...

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A Better Garage Organizational System

Mr. Homegrown

January 14, 2019

Design, Domesticus, Tidying up

11 Comments

...anges to the workshop I made in order to make it more useful for furniture making such as being sure that I could access my workbench from all sides, as well as improvements to the dust collection system. I can detail these changes in a future post but I’m more interested in showing that a well organized workshop can benefit any activity from sewing to gardening. Taking the time to plan a workspace makes work go much easier. Aesthetics are importa...

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