LIGHT HOUSE 2009

Girls Recognition Night: I don't know what the exact night was called, but the girls in the ward dress up and are recognized for all of the achievements through out the year. Sunny spent alot of time in the young women program and the girls in our ward are cool, fun, and good girls. So when they asked me to make a light house for their night, it was no problem helping out.

There are no directions on the internet for building a Lighthouse. Pretty much I had to figure the whole thing out in my head and then build it. After looking at a hundred pictures online, I decided to go with the standard hexagon shape design. I wanted to do this project by myself, but after I asked Sunny to print me some hexagons on paper from Auto CAD that I could use as a template, she jumped into the project. Then of course Wayne, the best neighbor in the world was there to give his opinion.

The supports are made from Redwood 1"x1" Normally I wouldn't use Redwood, but it was on clearance and was the best option for the money. Made for a sturdy Lighthouse.

The panels were tricky because they had to be cut perfect, and because the wood was so brittle the saw blade would leave jagged edges. Once cut however, I wanted to use my DeWalt cordless nail gun to anchor them in, but Sunny talked me out of it and we ended up gluing the panels on. The blue tape is used to hold the panels nice and tight in place while the glue drys.

I have been married to Sunny for 7 plus years and it doesn't matter how tired she is, how pregnant she is, she always gets involved in my projects and then she comes up with better ideas than I do on how to build the thing.

The light house turned out perfect. I added a light, plexiglass windows, a deck with railing and a nice paint job. When I went to paint the light house, I was remodeling the bathroom and thought I would use the unfinished room as a paint booth because the wind was blowing my spray paint when I tried painting it outside. Unfortunately paint fumes filled the house and because Sunny was pregnant she had to goto my moms house to spend the night. One note of mention is that it was a real struggle to keep the symmetry lined up. Because the Light House was almost 7ft tall, I had concerns the thing would be built crooked and give off an appearance of leaning. Fortunately it turned out perfect.

The top is made out of a bird house that I modified from Michaels and the light is an attic light that is pretty cheap at Home Depot. Sunny insisted on the plexiglass panels and I am glad she did, they do give off a more complete finish. There was a revolving light that I found online for $75, but just couldn't justify spending the money. Would have been cool though.