Finishing touches

Principle 7: Design from patterns to details
There have been a bunch of jobs that I've been working on while the family have been in Japan visiting family. The types of things that I can live without doing, but haunt me every time I walk past them. The details.
The bathroom sink cover plate was quite a task, though a relatively small one. I tried to find a piece of timber that would cover the plumbing with a natural edge on the bottom. Of course there wasn't one suitable, so I had to make it up, gluing two pieces together.
I made up a template to get the shape that I was after and transferred this onto the red gum. Getting the curve to fit below the sink was a bit tricky without the right tools. A band saw would be great, but a drill and some wood files had to do.
I attached brackets to the inside and mounted the final piece from the back. It was oiled with linseed and painted with three coats of floor bio varnish so that it matched the rest of the bench.

Creating a template using cardboard to cover the plumbing

Cutting a curve through 35mm red gum using a drill

Joining two pieces of red gum using PVA glue and clamps

Finished job; sanded, linseed oiled and three coats of bio varnish

Principle 6: Produce no waste

When we moved in we were in such a rush that some of the I didn't get a chance to paint the floor as much as I would have liked. I gave the bathroom floor another six (or so?) coats of varnish to protect the timber, as it was beginning to show signs of water damage. I gave the toilet, hallway and kitchen floor another couple of coats after giving them a good clean and light sand.
The kitchen bench got another six or so coats too, as it too was showing signs of wear, and the silicon was touched up around the edges.
The Natural Timber Oil that I used for the north facing deck was very disappointing, but on the south side, where it is in shade and under cover it looks great. I decided to over paint the north deck with linseed oil instead, giving up on the 'polished' look, but re coated the south deck with the remaining timber oil as it has held up well. The north deck also needed some leveling out as the red gum had moved in places which created some tripping hazards.

Another six coats of vanish for the kitchen bench

Small areas of the red gum deck have moved and were planed and sanded back

Rather than continue to use the disappointing decking oil I decided to paint it with linseed oil

Front deck freshly recoated with Bio decking oil (2 coats)