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Category: Projects

A Treehouse for Nana (and Her Grandkids)
October 2, 2015
2193 Views

A Treehouse for Nana (and Her Grandkids)

Last Christmas, Leslie, her siblings, and their significant others agreed to give their mom a treehouse for Christmas. More specifically, the labor required to build a house in a tree, which, as it turns out, is a lot. Nana, as she is known to her grandkids, was plenty thrilled. Quitters Little did I know a sizeable segment of […]

DIY Pendant Light: Bright New Life for a Rusty Birdcage
January 2, 2015
1154 Views

DIY Pendant Light: Bright New Life for a Rusty Birdcage

A couple years ago, we found a rusty birdcage at a salvage shop. We buy lots of crap (old boards, mostly). The guy we buy crap from sometimes gives us crap. So, this birdcage was free. Some people have punch cards for the local deli. We apparently belong to an unofficial loyalty program at the local junk […]

December 26, 2014
560 Views

Merry Christmas from Hammer & Moxie

We were going to send you all a gift. It was on our list. But life got busy, and time got away. So a hammer with some pipe cleaners is all we could muster: Merry Christmas to you and yours. We hope it’s filled with much joy!

A Mistimed Christmas Wreath
December 11, 2014
547 Views

A Mistimed Christmas Wreath

I made a Christmas wreath. In October. (I didn’t say it was a good idea.) We were prepping our rental house for sale a couple months ago and had to trim yews and holly trees away from the house. I hated for all those beautiful greens to go to waste, and I didn’t have a project in the works, […]

Birdhouse Nursery Nightlights: Dad’s One Pre-Baby Contribution
December 3, 2014
1374 Views

Birdhouse Nursery Nightlights: Dad’s One Pre-Baby Contribution

Pregnancy is not my jam. I’ve never been pregnant, but I once spent ten months with a pregnant woman. Pregnancy was most definitely not Leslie’s jam, but by some biological/psychological miracle, her enthusiasm swelled along with her ankles. She read aloud each Baby Center update: “It’s the size of a poppy seed!” “A kumquat!” And […]

Homemade Chandelier with Irregular Globe Lighting
November 21, 2014
13796 Views

Homemade Chandelier with Irregular Globe Lighting

A few years ago Leslie asked if we could replace the stodgy-looking brass chandelier in our dining room. Lucky for her (me?), she filed her request during my Christmas break. I’d never made a chandelier, so I exhausted an entire day researching and hunting down lamp parts online. When Leslie returned from work, she found […]

WWII Ship Hatch Turned Coffee Table
November 19, 2014
66525 Views

WWII Ship Hatch Turned Coffee Table

Each fall, our neighborhood hosts a mass, coordinated garage sale. For one day, fifty-plus families throw their garbage in the yard instead of the dumpster, and people pay them for the opportunity to haul it away. We’ve become garage sale connoisseurs since Hannah came along, because children’s toys a) cost a fortune and b) should […]

DIY Wood Privacy Fence with Accent Lighting
October 8, 2014
48023 Views

DIY Wood Privacy Fence with Accent Lighting

Last year, we built a privacy fence at Leslie’s old house (at the time a rental property) to keep the neighbors’ brood of urban chickens at bay. On a deadline, but hoping to avoid mid-July heat and humidity, we picked a late-August weekend. It was 105º. This year, we built a privacy fence at our house. […]

Kitchen Renovation, Part 3: The Reveal
September 28, 2014
23487 Views

Kitchen Renovation, Part 3: The Reveal

RETROSPECTIVE: This kitchen remodel preceded Hammer & Moxie, so we don’t have comprehensive, quality photos of the step-by-step process. We’ve attempted to recount the experience in as much detail as possible, but we’re relying on fuzzy memories and fuzzier cell phone photos. Though this isn’t intended to be a tutorial, please feel free to ask how-to questions in […]

Kitchen Renovation, Part 2: Breaking Things & Building Things
September 21, 2014
16864 Views

Kitchen Renovation, Part 2: Breaking Things & Building Things

RETROSPECTIVE: This kitchen remodel preceded Hammer & Moxie, so we don’t have comprehensive, quality photos of the step-by-step process. We’ve attempted to recount the experience in as much detail as possible, but we’re relying on fuzzy memories and fuzzier cell phone photos. Though this isn’t intended to be a tutorial, please feel free to ask how-to questions in […]

Hammer & Moxie is a husband-and-wife, home improvement blog, cataloging our sometimes overzealous DIY projects in Saint Louis, MO.

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