Ode to a WoodChuck

My Dad, whose name is Chuck hence the title, is quite the woodworker as you all could see from my previous post about Chloe Jo's dresser. While growing up, we never used our garage to put our cars in. It was always Dad's shop. Let the cars get hail damage, but the saw stayed safe. Just kidding, Dad! I thought it would be fun to document all of the things around our home that were made by my Dad. There are quite a few so this post is long.Dad made this mirror for me when I was young. I can't remeber exactly how many years I've had it, but it's been a while. He also made one for my Mom and my sis.

This is a nightstand he made for me while I was in high school. My sis has one, also. Though I believe hers is more of an oak color whereas mine has a red tint.

Dad made my sis and I these bunkbeds for our cabbage patch dolls. We are obsessed with our dolls and that is what we played with the most while growing up. Again, hers is oak colored and mine is cherry. I've always had a soft spot for cherry stain. Love it! I use it as a shelf now because my CPK's won't fit anymore. I have too many.

He makes tons of these book shelves. I know they have a few at their house, my sis has one, and I have one. I don't know if my brothers have one. I assume they do. Then he has made them for other people, too. He's probably made 100 of them! Some have doors, some are completely open. Some have doors only on the bottom half. However they are made, they are wonderful to have. Plus, all the shelves except for the middle one are adjustable. Nice!

He made me this desk while I was in high school. Ignore the junk on the top. My husband has taken over this desk and he is a slob. He made desks for my brother, Shane's, kids too. This is the long drawer in the front. I just wanted to show how he routed my name in the wood. It's definitely a treasure.

Russ and Dad made two of these book shelves for Russ' school stuff. Again, Russ is a slob so ignore the fact that it's messy. They aren't finished because we thought they were going to go in Russ' office. But, alas, no job means no office at this point. Hopefully one day they will move to an office.

This is like the nightstand from above. Dad actually made this one for my brother, Jeremy. It was painted orange with white knobs and when Jeremy gave it to me, I decided that I didn't like the purple. Russ and I decided to paint it Arkansas Razorbacks colors (though Dad ended up painting it for us because he was impatient with us to get it out of his shop). Again, I hope this moves to Russ' office some day.

You've all seen pictures of this. It's Chloe Jo's dresser. If you look closely, there are two stripes across each drawer. Dad actually inlaid a piece of walnut to make those. He did an amazing job. And it is just the right size to put a removable chaning pad on.

This is my hope chest. He made one for me and one for my sister for Christmas one year. He loved calling them our "hopeless chests." Since we are both married now and I have a baby and she is going to have a baby (hop over to her blog and congratulate her!) then they aren't so hopeless anymore. He asked me if I was going to give mine to Chloe Jo to which I promptly said no. Though, after thinking about it more, I probably will eventually pass it to her.

During high school, my family had a Saturday night tradition. We would order calizone from Simple Simon's and watch Trading Spaces. During one episode, Amy Winn made a couple of bedside tables and Dad and I were talking about how nice they were. We then proceeded to make our own versions of the tables. This is one of the only projects that Dad and I did together. I don't particularly enjoy woodworking, but I do enjoy the memory of making these tables (there are actually two) with him.

My sister and I recieved a set of dishes from our Granny Tiger when we were little. There is a mug, a plate and a bowl in each set. Mine are pink glass and hers are blue glass. They have nursery rhyme pictures on them. Dad made these shelves to house those dishes. My dishes are in my curio cabinet now and I use the shelf for other things. He made them tiered just the right sizes for the plate to go on the bottom, the bowl in the middle, and the mug on the top. There are grooves on the bottom and middle shelves to set the plate and bowl in to let them stand. My sisters was oak colored and I picked my favorite cherry. My Mom has one of these, too.

I don't remember how I ended up with this shelf. Dad made it and I liked it so he gave it to me. And naturally, I picked cherry to stain it.

This is the my pride of things that Dad has made. This is Russ and I's wedding present and it houses our TV. Dad did an amazing job on it. The drawers are made so the top drawer, which is smaller than the bottom drawer, houses VHS tapes (though, we don't have any anymore so it actually has our Wii stuff in it) and the bottom drawer houses DVD's and CD's. He even stained it my favorite cherry stain!

Dad didn't actually make this high chair, but he did refinish it for me when I was a baby. Then my Aunt Diana painted the back of it. I've had it since the time I used it and now I get to use it with Chloe Jo. So special!

Last one. This is the other project that my Dad and I made together. I have a niece, Kaylee, who is disabled that I wanted as a flower girl for our wedding and Russ' niece, Alli, was only 1 at the time and I wanted her as a flower girl, also. So, in order to be able to do that, Dad and I made this wagon that was pulled down the aisle by my nephew, Blane. Now it is the home for my CPK's.

Dad enjoys woodworking so he has never used it as a source of income. He doesn't do many projects for people besides family. My family and I love the things he makes and we are all grateful for the beautiful furniture we have in our homes.

How much wood could a woodChuck chuck if a woodChuck could chuck wood....Chuck?