Just a thought......

You know, I had a thought which is unusual for me because I try not to think.

With all the house bloggers and renovation lurkers out there, and you know who you are, we ought to be able to barter and trade skills or services amoungst ourselves in order to achieve our ultimate goal of having the perfect house.

I don't need a lot of stuff, but I do need a huge 5 panel door and I need the tip of my volute replaced. (That sounds painful!) The volute is the bottom part of a handrail for my stairs. These could easily be made by someone with a wood shop in their garage. I don't have a garage, we had to tear it down. The only wood shop tool I have is an old table saw that I bought at an auction. Though the wife said I could have a router for my birthday this month! (That's because she wants the holes in the floor fixed nicely). I also need a fireplace horseshoe for our marble fireplace. In the future I will need some manual labor to haul slate tile to my third floor and maybe someone who knows a thing or five about making copper box gutters. I will need a garage built and a foundation poured for it. Oh and the wife would like some landscaping done on our weed encrusted slope.

What do I have to trade? Well, I can paint stuff very well (but not pictures). If you click HERE you can see some of the kinds of things I have painted for our house. I seem to be able to refinish woodwork quite well and I have a floor sander. I have also made a concrete counter top but transporting one could prove difficult. I could reproduce some hardware in pewter and in the future hope to do some cold cast bronze reproductions of some of our door hardware (because none of it matches and it is quite unusual because it is made of a composite material). I can tuck point quite well and have roofing skills. Any thoughts on this?

OK, I'll try not to think any more....