Bike Art Fence

This does not have anything to do with actual church building but it does with the grounds. There was a pile of old bikes in our back yard that have rusted chains and cables and gummed up bearings. So I decided to make a "Bike Fence" out of them. I stripped off the cables, brakes, gear shifters and took off the tires and tubes. Then I painted them black and attached them end to end.

Vanities for the Half Baths

We needed to put in two half baths or water closets for use with the chapel.  There was an old existing bath that had been converted into a laundry room with a couple of closets next to it.  So we took out the walls in between and put in two WC's.  There needed to be enough counter space for brides and such to do make up in there.  So we got the idea of using a table for the counter, or half of a table.

We used some L brackets to mount it to the wall, then needed to cut hole in it for the sink and put a back splash on it as well.

It also needed some more height to get it counter at the right level so we also added sofa legs to the table legs which gave us another four inches.

Then finally we painted them (we have two, one for each WC)  to  match the tile and wall paper.

Here is the final results, or almost final the mirror is a temporary item.

A New Floor for the New Stage and Room

Macae's brother and his family wanted to use the chapel for an open house for their son's wedding so we had to rush through a lot of the wall patching, and painting.  Not to mention putting in the sub floor on the stage and the new oak floor for the whole room.  So I missed photographing a few steps in the process but the results are great.  We had some pros come in and finish the hard wood for us and it still only got finished the day before the open house.  The open space on the left of the stage will be for storage.

The room dressed up pretty nice for the open house.  We still need to have the floor sanded and a clear sealer put on it though.  As well as a bunch of other detail work.

From Pulpit to a Stage

Part of what we wanted to use the chapel for is so Macae can have her children's drama performances in it.  With the pulpit / stand in the corner it made for an awkward stage area.   One thought was to remove the stand completely, another was to make one big stage all the way across.  Finally we decided to keep the levels that were already on the stand on the right of the chapel, mirror them on the left and then fill the levels in in the center.

First we had to take the pulpit and panels off and remove all of that beautiful orange carpet.  You will notice that the panels on the window have been removed also.  When the outside wall was being repaired they did a back fill of cement to keep the new cinder block and old adobe together.  In the process the cement seeped in behind the panels so the had to betaken down so they could be reset.

With the panels and podium gone you can better see the different levels we wanted to carry across to the other side.

When we took the old treads off of the step we noticed that it had been remodeled at least once before.

 With most of the framing done it gives you a better idea of the shape of things.  If you refer back to the images of the support beams that were used to hold up the ceiling when the wall was being repaired you will see where we got almost all of the lumber to frame the stage in with.  I was a little upset when the workmen cut the beams in half when they took them down but we were still able to salvage most of it.

Here is the final result after the new floor was put in and drapery were hung to hide the old organ loft or grid.

Scraping, Priming & Painting

While the contractor was working on the inside of the chapel I was climbing up and down ladders on the outside of the chapel.  All of the wood trim on the building is weathered and in need of a face lift.  I started on the back of he chapel because it was the easiest to get to.  That said, the roof pitch was pretty steep, coupled with a lot of loose paint flakes, dirt, and old bird nests, it was down right scary up there.  I finally nailed 2x4's on the roof to give me better footing.  I also rigged up some scaffolding to get to some of the higher areas on the west side.  I will not be that lucky on the front, I will have to rent a forty foot ladder to reach all of that.

Anyway, first I scraped off all the old loose paint, either nailed down the loose wood trim or replace some that had fallen off and patched up several bird holes, where starlings had gotten into the rafters to make nests.  Then I used caulk for the smaller gaps between trim layers and spray in foam for the bigger ones.  Next I painted the bare spots with primer.

There are six of these little roof returns or "bird beaks" on the chapel and  vestry.  They all needed to be re-roofed as part of the process.

Finally, I was able to add the final coat of brown paint to make it look complete again.  Sort of like cleansing it from leaperacy and making it whole again.

New Trim to Look Old

With the posts all covered, we added a little trim to tie the new in with the old.

Ceiling Supports and Crown Molding

After the cement footings were poured, the actual support beams and the only real header, were put into place.  The support beams ended up being a little farther out from the window than planned because of the old log cross joists under the floor.  The large "L" brackets show where the supports are bolted to the main joists.

Because the support beams were not equally spaced on each side of the entry doors, with the suggestion of Macae's mom, two other fake beams and a fake header were put in place to balance things out and made for a grand entry look.  

You can also see that there is a heavy duty crown molding being added.  It is a 2 x 12 that is to make the walls fall straight down in an earth quake instead of falling over on people that may be in the room.

To help balance out the room left to right fake support beams and headers were added to the windows on the west side of the chapel as well.

Then all of the wood was covered with dry wall board which also helped to soften the overall look of the room.