Website of Jason Lopes

I’m going to start from my yard and work from back to front.  That’s where I think I can make the most progress and see a big return on investment, time-wise.

Here is the concept for my workshop.  This is a rough draft and will be modified about one million times.

I’ve been really into playing around with Sketchup so I figured I’d continue publishing options for our home, even if it will be another year or two before I can get started on them.  This will help me review all of these concepts so that I can sit down with architect in a few years and make them a reality.

I’m still looking for that golden moment of inspiration.  The idea that will truly give me the vision for what steps I should take to finish remodeling my house.  Many of my first choices were hastily made and now I’m feeling a bit of remorse.  More recently I’ve been taking my time and really trying to implement what I’m envisioning but it’s proving harder than I thought it would be.  I guess this will be one of those things that is forever a work in progress.  I had a five year plan to have my home up to my standards but clearly it will take longer.  Until then I’ll refine certain concepts over time and hope that things work out.  I guess these are some starting points:

I’m not sure what happened but recently something really kicked my ass into gear and I have been working non-stop on little projects that I had been putting off for a really long time.  Most of my efforts have been focused on setting up my garage workshop.  It’s been slow-going since I have very limited space (about 200 square feet) and I have very large tools (table saw, drill press, and sliding miter saw).  I want to plan the workshop carefully so I can make the most out of the little space that I have.

I’ll post pictures of the garage itself soon but so far I’ve:

• Run a 60 amp service from my main breaker panel to a main lug in the garage using 6/3, 4 wire cable.  This will allow me to be able to have 110v or 220v circuits from the same lug.  While all of my tools are currently 110, my table saw can be rewired for 220 which I may end up doing so I’m less likely to trip a breaker.
• Mounted a pair of B&W WM6s on the wall connected to a Marantz SR4021 receiver.  The source is a Slim Devices (aka Logitech) Squeezebox Duet.  (The WM6s sound awesome, by the way.)
• Installed 2 Fluorescent light fixtures in the ceiling controlled by an Insteon remote.
• Installed a bunch of shelving on the wall that I reclaimed from the remnants of a Poliform Zoe bed that was (partially) shipped to me.  When the company never shipped me the full bedroom set or replaced the damaged pieces I bought the bed locally and disputed the charge.  I was credited back the full amount but, for whatever reason, they didn’t want the bed back.

I have a few three, and four, day weekends coming up so hopefully I’ll be able to finish up my work in the garage and then start working on the deck, which reminds me… I still need to finish designing planning that.

I’ve got a bunch of projects lined up for this Spring and Summer.  While my priorities lie in finishing the renovations in my basement, I’m already trying to visualize the deck I hope to build this year.  If all goes well, I’ll hopefully be able to get around to starting this before June.

For my own personal reference, here is concept 1:

This will evolve as I have time to take more accurate measurements but for now, it’s a start.  I still haven’t even decided what materials to use.  Ipê seems to be a popular choice but some favor composites.  It’s difficult to determine what the more eco-friendly option is since even the composite manufacturers try to market themselves as "Green."  I suppose I still have time to decide.