I’ve changed my mind….or have I

Plans change. Ideas are fluid. Inspiration goes in and out like the tide. Every other day I get an idea, play with it in my head a while, and then drop it….or maybe I don’t. Recently there was the wine rack idea. I played with that for a while and then dropped it. I then had an idea to add another piece of trim under the redwood counter in the kitchen. I saw a picture some place very recently of a kitchen counter with a piece of trim under the edge of the counter. I thought it looked really nice and I was going to add it to my counter. There was a problem, though. There always is.

When I made the counter I made it 3/4 of an inch too short. It’s amazing how these things happen. On the one open end it only hangs over the edge of the cabinets about a half inch. On the front edge it hangs out a little over an inch. When I decided to add the trim piece I had forgotten about this little faux pa. Yesterday I started to make the trim and realized that anything I make must be less than a half inch thick or it will stick out on that one side. That is not very thick. Also, because I had milled the grooves in the apron part just under the sink the trim piece could only be about an inch high. I’m limited to a very small piece of trim. I started to think it would look lost under there and decided not to do it. Then I decided to do it anyway, and then I changed my mind back. Then later I changed my mind again. This went on most of the morning yesterday.

Finally about 3 o’clock I decided to do. I first thought about doing a very small piece of crown molding and just doing the front. I actually made a 3-foot piece of crown molding on the table saw that had about a 1-inch profile on it. I then decided it would look stupid to have it only on the front so I dropped the idea. I then gave up on the whole idea and decided it was not worth the hassle.

Then I changed my mind.

I went back out to the garage and made up 14 feet of 3/8 X 1 inch trim with a slight ogee on it. I took it in to the kitchen and held in place and thought it looked nice. I went back out to the garage and oiled it with some BLO & turpentine. I thought that today I would put a couple of coats of shellac on it and then install it this afternoon. Then this morning I decided I didn’t like it. It was too small after all. It’s still sitting in the garage right now but now I’m thinking I might go ahead and put it up. I can tack it in to place with some small nails and not drive them all the way in. After a few days, if I don’t like it I can get rid of it.

Then today I was out walking and I had another idea. The columns I made for the porch always seemed a little plane. They're nice, and have a nice cap, some trim around the bottom, and nice beveled edges. Still, they have always seemed to lack something. The big columns from 1895 all have flutes on them but I couldn't figure out how to do that in my meager wood shop. Now I’m thinking I can add reeds to the front of the ones I made. It shouldn’t too difficult. I have a router bit that will do a half inch bull nose. I can just make bull noses and then cut them off and it will give me a half round reed that I can nail to the front of the post. I’m thinking 3 reeds with a long one in the middle and 2 shorter ones on either side.

The trick, of course, is going to be making them and getting them installed before I change my mind.

Oops, too late….or is it?