Broken Horsey

This rocking horse was a gift to me from my grandpa when I was a boy. My parents saved it and passed it along to me when our first daughter was born. As you can surmise from the photo, it’s seen better days.

We didn’t have a convenient place to keep it in the house any more. When I set it on the patio for the girls to play with outside, Kristin warned me the weather would ruin it. I didn’t care. It’s just an old rocking horse.

It’s become unridable – even dangerous. Pieces of wood have splintered off, leaving lots of jagged edges. So I carried it out to the curb.

Jaimes, my five year old, came out and asked what I was doing. I explained that Horsey was falling apart so I was leaving him out with the trash. She protested. I put my hand on her shoulder as we stood looking at the neglected toy.

“It’s just a rocking horse,” I said.

“Bye, Horsey,” she said.

Jaimes went back into the yard, but I stood there a moment. I could remember being just a little taller than Horsey. I thought of my grandpa—my papa, who knew the toy maker who made the horse. Papa died in a car accident when I was 19. I thought about him—his gentle demeanor and terrible jokes. I thought about his car—the smell of Winston Lights in the red upholstery. I’m not a smoker, but I’ve always liked the smell of cigarette smoke because of the way his car smelt.

I thought about Horsey sitting alone at the city dump. Abandoned and utterly betrayed.

I turned and went inside. I’m a grown man and he… no, it is a wooden toy.

I thought about the other neglected things in my life. Our unfinished kitchen and bathroom. The half-demolished arbor that once covered the patio, protecting Horsey from the rain. Other responsibilities came to mind, like overdue oil changes, projects past deadline at work, and my inability to explain the Trinity to my children.

Horsey didn’t go to the dump. When I told Kristin I was sad about throwing him out, she said we could restore him instead. I told her it would be just one more unfinished project, mocking my shortcomings as a homeowner and as a man. When I started crying she walked out to the curb, picked him up and carried him into the garage.

I’m normally not sentimental, nor am I naturally sensitive toward sentimental people. But today an old, gracious rocking horse helped me see that there’s room for restoration. That all things are waiting to be redeemed.

How to make board & baton shutters in a weekend

Several months ago I posted some quick before & after shots of some board & baton shutters I made for the front of our house. A few people have asked me how I made them, so I thought I’d whip up a little how-to.

Assembly

These are just faux shutters – they don’t actually “shut.” The upshot is your measurements don’t have to be exact. In order to make them look functional, each shutter should be about half the width of the window.

shutters

For this project, I used fence boards because they are cheap, light-weight, and support the “cottage-chic” style we’re going for in the long run (so much more work to do). I played with different board counts and spacing widths before landing on five boards per shutter, each board being spaced 1/4 inch apart.

Once you have a plan, you’ll be able to cut the appropriate number of boards to length. Each of my shutters required seven boards. Five boards at exactly the height of the window and two horizontal boards to secure them at the top and bottom.

I decided to stain the wood before the shutters were assembled because I didn’t want any of the wood to be susceptible to rotting. Staining each board individually took an exceptionally long time and, in retrospect, I’m not convinced it made much of a difference. If I had got to do it again, I’d stain each shutter after it was assembled. Whether you’re painting or staining your shutters, use an outdoor material with a sealant and make sure to cover the front and back of the shutter.

During assembly, I used paint sticks between the boards at each end to keep them spaced evenly. When securing the cross boards, use a combination of wood glue and finishing nails. Use two nails on every vertical board at both the top and bottom of the shutter in order to keep it from getting wobbly.

Hanging

If you’re hanging shutters on a brick house like mine, be sure to use concrete anchors. The nice thing about these Tapcon anchors is that (a) they’re easy to spot because they’re blue and (b) they come with the masonry bit necessary for drilling into brick. For this project, I use 3/16″ x 2-3/4″ anchor screws.

screws

When you drill your pilot holes, drill into the mortar between the bricks and not into the bricks themselves. Drilling directly into brick will likely crack it, which would be a bummer.

screw-placement

My father-in-law helped me hang these and we whipped through all eight shutters in about an hour. It’s really a two man job. I don’t think I could have gotten them up evenly on my own.

I hope you found this little how-to helpful. If anything seems missing or is unclear, ask away in the comments. Likewise, if you’ve done this before and (more than likely) have done it better, please share your insight in the comments.

Before & After: Board & Baton Shutters

Before and after pictures of our new shutters

The other weekend was really windy and one of our vinyl shutters blew off. Suddenly replacing all of them became a priority. We didn’t have much of a budget, so I built these myself. Kristin’s dad (in the bottom photo) helped me cut all the wood and hang the assembled shutters.

It took me two Saturday afternoons to stain all the wood and a Saturday evening and Sunday morning to glue and nail the board and baton style shutters together. All in all, the project cost about $140 and I only got one splinter.