House Rehab – East English Village, Detroit

I bought a house in Detroit’s East English Village neighborhood this past April and have been rehabbing it over the last several months. The house was a foreclosure and had probably been vacant for just a year or so, but long enough that the garage door, water heater, and even all the door knobs from inside had been taken and scrapped. I even had some visitors while I was going through the closing process who stopped by to eat a bunch of pizza rolls and other microwaveable food, and I assume also sleep on the floor.

I wouldn’t call it done, because it probably never will be, but it’s close enough now that I can share some before and after photos.

I had a functional side door, but one of the first things I did was to put the front door back on and replace the locks. I also had a contractor put on a new roof, re-plumb the entire house, update the electrical, rebuild the furnace, and install a new water heater.

Garage:

Living Room:

Downstairs Bathroom:

Side Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Stairs/Hallway:

Midway through the progress…

Removing Boarded Windows:

Shoutout to my friend and now neighbor, Eric, who through this process: lent me a lawnmower, let me use the bathroom in his house while I was working on mine and had no running water, lent me tools (including a heat gun that I haven’t actually given him back yet), let me crash in his guest room longer than expected after my lease was up and house was still not ready, helped move furniture, and can be seen here taking a board off a window:

Back Bedroom:

Upstairs Bathroom:

Front Bedroom:

Side Table

I’m moving next weekend, so I decided to take some loose parts I had laying around and turn them into something I might be able to use in my new spot.

Floating Wine Holder

A good friend of mine was in town this summer after having travelled around for a year and before making a move to Alaska.

His girlfriend’s parents are really into wine and he asked if I could make a “floating wine holder” for them that he had seen online. I was skeptical the idea would even work, but I gave it a shot and am happy to say it worked out as planned.

I was even able to get access to a laser-etcher again to inscribe their name onto it.

Toy Chest

I had an idea awhile ago to make a toy chest for my niece and I finally had a chance to make it in time for her third birthday.

I used old floor boards from Reclaim Detroit for the walls and lid and hand-carved her initials on the front.

toy chest - open

Website

I decided to expand a bit on how much content was on my website. I have too many projects to keep track of to have them scattered about on different sites. Now they all have one home.

More new things to come.

Detroit Urban Craft Fair 2013

I just finished a great weekend at the Masonic Temple for this year’s Detroit Urban Craft Fair, selling some of my stuff and buying a few gifts in the process.

Special thanks to Handmade Detroit and Lish Dorset for holding the event and to Jodi Lynn and Scott for being super cool and having the unofficial after-after-party at The Fortress, a great artist’s space and studio here in Detroit.

Detroit Rulers

Laser-etching lots of rulers for the Detroit Urban Craft Fair in just over a week.

And yes, for any laser-experts out there, I know there shouldn’t be a flame. I adjusted the power down after this cut.

Bread Boards

Working on some new bread boards/cutting boards. Hopefully I’ll have another design or two for etching in the near future.

I’ve been asked a few times why I didn’t choose to make cutting boards in the shape of Michigan. I’ve made ones in the past, but I decided against making them now because a) they’re already being made locally and b) I felt like even though they were more work to make, they were actually a little less practical as cutting boards.

There’s something I enjoyed about a simple, slightly misshapen cutting board, so I cut them by hand, sanded them down, and finished them with mineral oil.