Forbes’ annual list of America’s best undergraduate institutions. Click here to see the full list. From the website: “Our annual ranking of the 650 best undergraduate institutions focuses on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt. Unlike other lists, we pointedly ignore ephemeral measures such as school “reputation” and ill-conceived metrics that reward wasteful spending.”

After checking out the list, it’s interesting how the smaller schools in Iowa do so much better than the larger ones, considering nearly everyone I know says the small schools are not as good as the public universities. The results for Iowa of the schools that qualified in the top 650 nationally, along with their national ranking:

• #68 Grinnell College, annual tuition $49,062, enrollment 1,688
• #139 Luther College, annual tuition $42,720, enrollment 2,519
• #157 Wartburg College (my alma mater!), annual tuition $39,395, enrollment 1,800
• #204 Coe College, annual tuition $41,750, enrollment 1,300
• #271 Cornell College, annual tuition $42,820, enrollment 1,133
• #290 Simpson College, annual tuition $38,156, enrollment 2,025
• #302 Drake University, annual tuition $39,550, enrollment 5,653
• #305 Clarke University, annual tuition $35,490, enrollment 1,202
• #328 Dordt College, annual tuition $33,900, enrollment 1,322
• #352 Northwestern College, annual tuition $34,438, enrollment 1,206
• #429 Central College, annual tuition $38,962, enrollment 1,636
• #434 University of Iowa, annual tuition $36,649, enrollment 28,987
• #514 Iowa State University, annual tuition $30,487, enrollment 27,945
• #517 University of Northern Iowa, annual tuition $26,992, enrollment 13,303

So maybe the larger schools with lower tuition may NOT be the best deal, eh? Of course, I’ve said this for years (so has the wife). But many friends blindly look at the initial tuition numbers and then look elsewhere.

The final chapter! So I’m done with the nightstands. And the headboard. And they are all in place in our freshly-painted bedroom. And it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. The color of the bedroom is called Almond, and really sets off the headboard and nightstands. Here’s the final pics I’m going to post:

The sealant I used to attach the ceramic tile to the nightstand frame is showing as white, but will dry as clear (according to the instructions on the sealant). I took these pictures at 2:30 this afternoon and now the sealant is almost completely clear. Also, I’ll have to get Casey to get us matching lamps; the ones you see here are just two lamps that we had that will work for now.

I still have to do some touch-up on the paint. Some places didn’t get enough and there are streaks in my current paint job. Also I’m not particularly pleased with the paint job I did on the corner of the wall and ceiling. But I do have some ceiling paint and can touch it up as well. All in all, it’s a pretty good job and (most importantly) Casey is pleased!

So… Now I have the second coat of polyurethane on the nightstands and headboard. I also have a third coat on the “high traffic” areas: the shelf, the front faces, top areas, etc. And it’s not the basic stuff, it’s Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane; this stuff is almost like putting down a coat of metal on it. I’ve seen this stuff last 15 years without any change in the finish on some items I’ve built in the past. So the finish on these items will last probably longer than we need it to.

I’ve mounted the duplex outlet at the rear of the nightstands and wired in an extension cord cut to connect to the duplex outlet. All that’s left to do with these is to mount the front handle and cut the ceramic tile down to size and then glue in the ceramic tile. Next weekend I’ll paint the bedroom and move the furniture around, taking out the existing “cobbled-together” headboard and setting up the new headboard and nightstands. It will be busy but it will be great to finally get that done!

And now the photos:

OK, so it’s been a while. I’ve been pretty busy on other things and haven’t had a lot of time to spend on the nightstands… until the last couple of days. So I’ve got the drawers assembled, well at least the boxes for them. Then after a bunch of sanding and staining, here’s the result:

Next up: a few days to put a few coats of urethane on the headboard and nightstands. I still have a little assembly to do, but I want at least one coat of polyurethane down before I do the drawer glides and put the face on the drawer front.

Well, with the last three weeks of my life being dominated by Neocon, I can now get back to working on the nightstands. I did some things, but I’m limited because I’ve only got a few clamps and there’s a lot of gluing going on at this stage.

I machined each leg first by cutting a rabbet joint to accept the shelf and second by using a roundover bit with the router. Then sanded a LOT. Next I cut a 1×2 down to two 1×1′s to be the edge of the shelf and then cut a rabbet joint in it to accept the 1/4″ plywood that is the shelf. I then glued the 1×1′s to the plywood, opposite sides per day since I only have two long clamps – one of the pictures shows this for the shelf on the second nightstand. Next day I glued the other two sides to the plywood. Then assembled the legs to the box and inserted the shelf. I used screws and glue and clamped it all together. One day later I got what you see in the pictures.

There’s still a LOT to do: finish up the front edge with a 1×2 at the bottom, make the drawer, mount a duplex outlet facing the bottom, install the ceramic tile top, stain and seal all of it. But…. I’m a little farther along the way now.

So I’m done with the headboard except for the two to three coats of polyurethane I’m going to brush on and I thought I’d get the nightstands done next. That way I can brush on the urethane on all and not worry about stirring up the dust that would stick to the finished products.

I actually worked on the first part early this week. I cut 1×4′s down to 1×2′s and glued them together to make 2×2′s. You see, Menards doesn’t carry 2x lumber in hickory. I stated this in an earlier post about the headboard. And since I’ve only got 8 clamps, I could only glue up two legs at a time: four clamps each on two different legs, and each night gluing up two more legs (the glue has to dry for 24 hours according to the label).

Today was cutting on the table saw. I cut the 2×2 legs of the nightstands to be even on the glued sides – approximately 1/16th of an inch off each side 8 times. Then I cut the 1×6′s that are going to be the sides, front and back at the top. I also cut a simple rabbet joint that will accept the ceramic tile that will be the top of the nightstand, as well as a simple rabbet joint for the back end of the nightstand. After cutting them out on the table saw and making sure the rabbet joints were clean using a Dremel tool (well, the Menards version of a Dremel tool!), I dry-fitted the parts to make sure they were a good fit. Then it was glue the pieces, clamp them and then run two screws into the back side of each one. I drilled a 1/2″ hole about 1/4″ deep and then continued with the pilot hole for the screw; after the screw is in place, I glued a plug to cover the hole. Right now, the plugs stick out but they’ll be sanded later. Lots of stuff to do before then.

And now… the photos:

So now the headboard is assembled and stained. It looks pretty good, even if I do say so myself. It’s in a modified (my own version) Shaker style. I like it and most importantly, Casey likes it. I have yet to put multiple coats of polyurethane on it, but I’ll probably hold off on that until I get the “matching” nightstands done. There are a few details that have to be worked out yet, but I hope they look as nice.

So the wife and I had been looking for quite a while for a new headboard. I’d say it’s about time. The headboard we are currently using I “modified” years ago when we went from a waterbed to a box springs and mattress bed. Basically I cut one of the side rails of the waterbed in two and used the two parts to hold up the bookshelf-style headboard we had on the waterbed. It wasn’t pretty but at the time we didn’t have the cash or the time to go looking for a new headboard. Then, after about 8-10 years we got a Select Comfort mattress – you know, the “sleep number” bed. I really like the new mattress, but it is a bit lower than the box spring and mattress.

So we went out looking. And kept looking. And looked some more. We went to furniture stores. We went to bed stores. We went to woodworking shops. We found a couple of headboards that were nice but we didn’t want the entire bed frame; we just wanted the headboard. And they were expensive…. some went for over $1500 just for a headboard. The ones in our unspoken price range were flimsy and cheesy looking. We even went to a local business who built our kitchen cabinets. They do custom woodwork for anything, including custom design. Their offer was a bit high as well.

After all the looking we were getting a bit frustrated. So I decided that I’ll make a headboard. The wife was OK with that. Next, we had to decide on a design. After much debate a Shaker design was what we decided on. It helped that our son had a Shaker style headboard for her to see. Next, we had to decide on the wood to use. It came down to maple or hickory, and the wife decided hickory. All decisions were made, so now it’s time to buy wood. Off to Menards!

Menards can be frustrating at times, and this was one. The Menards in town does not carry hickory 4×4′s in stock. And if I order them, they are simply glued 1×4′s instead of a true 4×4. Well, I can do that! So I did. I glued up four 1×4′s to make a 4×4. I made two of them for the posts and then went to a friend who had a planer and evened up the sides and – voila! – two 4×4 posts! Then I used a roundover bit on the router to smooth out the corners of the 4×4′s.

Also, Menards does not have hickory veneer plywood, only oak. So I got birch plywood for the recessed panels. Yeah, birch is a much lighter wood, but hopefully with the stain on it won’t be too noticeable. Of course, the birch recessed panels will be at the mattress level so they won’t be too visible.

Everything is sanded smooth, so I’m now at the point where I need to stain all the wood to make the finish more consistent. So here’s the photos:
      

Well, at least new to me. I’ve been searching for several months now online using Auto Trader. Doing searches with and ever-increasing radius, and I couldn’t find a good deal. Well I couldn’t find a deal that was what I considered worthwhile. I could find a number of the vehicles I wanted but never at the price I was willing to pay with the mileage as low as I wanted. So this weekend KC and I went over to Des Moines to visit the kids and the granddaughter and decided, “Why don’t I try the search here?” Just for fun, I plugged in the numbers and whaddyaknow? I found one vehicle that was priced suitably (even lower than I was hoping) so KC and I went over to check it out. It was at Willis Auto Mart on the west side.

We got there at about 4:00pm and test-drove. I liked the attitude of the salesman, who said “Just take it for a drive – see you soon”. No license copy, no keys held, just drive. Gotta like that amount of trust! The test drive proved a lot. There was more room in this vehicle than in other similar models I had test drove (probably due to the lack of a sunroof). It rode wonderfully and handled very well. Quiet, turned nice; we even went on I-235 a bit just to see how it did on interstate driving. All VERY well. When we got back it was a whirlwind. We decided (after some hemming and hawing) to buy it. The place closed at 5:00pm, but the whirlwind ensued. They stayed late and got all the paperwork taken care of. At 7:00pm we drove off with the vehicle.

What vehicle, you ask? My Ridgeline!! It’s a 2006 Honda Ridgeline with only 44,000 miles on it. Awesome vehicle! Gets roughly the same mileage as My Element did but has more room, a larger engine and is a pickup so it has a bed.

Ever wonder what happens when there are spiderwebs between the joists of your deck after a snow/ice storm? Here’s what happens:

So yeah, I’m still in the middle of working on the family room floor. I’m in a bit of a stopping point right now. Nothing serious, I just have a few other things to get done. Today, we got some throw rugs at Menards; non-skid throw rugs, that is. Placed them in front of our couches and they look pretty good. Also got three other non-skid throw rugs for the base of the stairs, the entry from the garage and the entry from the patio. However, KC decided she wanted the landing done with the same laminate wood flooring that I’m using in the basement. Well, we call it the “landing”; we live in a split foyer which from the entry to the house you can go upstairs or downstairs – you enter to the “landing”.

Well, I *THOUGHT* I could get it done in a day. I definitely underestimated the work to do here, but have like 95% of it done. The worst part of the whole thing was there were two, yes *TWO* layers of linoleum under the carpet that I had laid there. The carpet had some stains so it definitely needed to be replaced and the laminate wood flooring is a good choice. So I started mid-morning. Forgot the “before” pictures, so here’s the early pictures with the linoleum up. One side has the sound deadener down.

So after a few hours of work (and lunch and dinner in there as well!!) here’s the result:

As you can see, I have one piece of quarter-round and the “cap” at the edge of the stairs to put down yet. I want to paint at least 2 more coats of black paint on the edge of the stair tread, so it won’t be until tomorrow afternoon that I’m completely done, but HEY! I’ll be done with that!

So yeah, it’s been a while. I’ve been doing a lot of little things. Since my computer desk is actually attached to the wall, I removed the legs and put in angle support braces. I also cleaned up the cables and set up cable management ties and such under the computer desk. Now there’s a lot of foot room under there, even with my server and the under-desk file cabinets:

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I also got more of the floor done today. Zach came over and helped me out, which was great@! We got the rest of the main area of the family room done, as well as one of the closets. Of course, Zach brought Laura over! Zach also had an ulterior motive: he wanted to see how the laminate wood flooring went together and learn the secrets of how it went together and how to clean up small errors, and he accomplished that!

So I’ve got one closet left, and it poses a problem because I’ve got some support wood directly on the existing carpet. I’ll need to redo that, hopefully without having to empty the closet. And I also have the computer room to do. Of course, it’s only about 10′x10′ so it should go pretty quick, once I move the five drawer lateral file in there. And then, of course, the baseboard trim and the door casing trim.