Everyone loves the sound of water trickling: its relaxing, soothing, and transports us to a warm, sunshiny place out in the woods near a stream where we can get away. The trouble is: recreating this feeling and sound at home while at the same time not spending a fortune. I’ve wanted a fountain at our house for a long time, and I finally bit the bullet and built a small pond in the backyard (click the link to see the article on how to build that) but I also wanted …
Wireless Inductive Phone Charger
For many modern phones, wireless charging is now a reality. A large amount of current Android phones have this ability (iphones do not yet…. sad day) and if yours does, you can build this super cool bedside or desk dock for your phone. You only need a few parts and block of wood. Before we dig in, lets quickly look at the pro’s and con’s of wireless charging and why you might want to tackle this project. Let’s get started. For parts, you’ll need the following: …
Wireless Outdoor Patio Speakers
One of our favorite things is to sit outside on the back porch on a nice cool night and read a book while the chickens cluck themselves to sleep and the garden pond trickles in the background. But sometimes you just want to listen to your favorite jams while hanging out with friends, so I set out to install speakers in the backyard. I found out that there are tons of ways to accomplish this, from trendy looking waterproof speakers to hidden rock speakers you put in the landscaping, but …
Retractable Jewelry Shelf
My wife didn’t really have a “good” storage place for jewelry, and she had to go out of town for a few days, so I thought I’d make a place for her to store some rings, earrings, and necklaces that would be a dedicated spot close to where she gets ready in the morning. I scoured the internet for cool ideas and settled on modifying an existing plan that I found. The original shelf is called the “secret floating shelf” located on rogueengineer.com. The spot where this shelf needed …
Sunbeam Flashlight
I’ve been wanting a slightly more powerful flashlight for a while now. I’ve got some brothers-in-law that have built their own flashlights and they are crazy bright and crazy small. I also wanted it to be inexpensive, so mine definitely didn’t end up being small. Its 18″ long and weighs about 2lbs. But it is CRAZY bright. Like it puts my car headlights to shame. Total cost for me was about $25, but I had some parts lying around. (metal grates, screws, wire, superglue, battery) You’ll need some tools to …
Side Burner Alcohol Camping Stove Build
A couple weeks ago, we went camping with some friends. Which is my jam. But in the interest of not spending all our money on cool camping gear, I decided I wanted to try my hand at building a small alcohol stove. I did a lot of research on which types of stoves are best and there are a lot of pro’s and con’s for each type, but in the end I settled on a basic sideburner design. This stove can burn denatured alcohol (ethanol), HEET, and pure rubbing …
A Hammock Inside?! Yes, Please.
My wife and I love hammocks, and I had an idea… Lets put one inside. At first, my wife was like “you’re crazy, but if you can do it so that it looks really nice, go for it.” So I did. I put a lot of thought into where it would go and how it would hang and how to adjust it and how to make it so you can get it out of the way easily. Here’s what I’ve got: Besides a hammock you’ll need the following: On one …