Building Dreams with Eugene Tile
You ever get that itch, you know, the one that makes you want to grab a bunch of wood and just build something? Well, that’s pretty much how it starts for me. I was sitting at my kitchen table, coffee in one hand, staring out at my little backyard, and it suddenly hit me. I wanted to make a flower box. Nothing fancy, just a simple wooden box to hold the tulips my wife, Sarah, insisted we plant this spring.
So, off I went to my garage, which smells a bit like a mix of sawdust and that old motor oil I can’t seem to get rid of. I’ll tell you, the whole place needs a good cleaning, but that’s a different story. I grabbed my miter saw, which I recently got from my buddy Jim after he upgraded to something newer. It’s not a fancy brand like DeWalt, but it gets the job done. I also pulled out some old cedar I had lying around. It was rough and dusty but—oh man, does it smell good when you start cutting into it. Just takes me back to summer evenings spent hanging out with my dad in his workshop.
So there I was, ready to whip up this flower box. I figured it wouldn’t take long, and hey, how hard could it be? I even had the idea of using some of that Eugene Tile product I saw in the store. It promises to be super durable, and since I can be a bit clumsy—like last summer when I dropped a hammer right on my foot—I thought it’d be good to have in case it rains or something.
I marked my pieces, measuring twice, cutting once, but let me tell you, those numbers can get all twisted up in your head when you’re focused on that angle and that line. Anyway, I started piecing it together, and it looked… well, decent enough. But about halfway through, I realized I had this giant gap where the boards didn’t quite meet. Of course, I stood there just staring at it like a deer in headlights. It felt like a personal failure, to be honest.
I almost threw it all in the corner and called it a day. That’s when I remembered something my dad used to say: “Mistakes are just opportunities in disguise.” I chuckled to myself, thinking he’d probably say I wasn’t doing it right in the first place. But then again, those little blemishes are what make it all real, right? So, I made a quick trip to the hardware store, and with the smell of fresh wood and paint lingering in the air, I grabbed a tube of wood filler.
Now, applying the filler was a whole other adventure. I was trying not to overdo it—there’s an art to that, you know? You can’t just slop it on there like icing on a cake. And let me tell you, once it dried, I felt like it was a completely different project. Seriously, I didn’t even recognize my own work! I laughed out loud when it actually looked decent after sanding it down a bit. Who knew that ugly gap could transform into something I’d actually be proud of?
With a fresh coat of exterior paint—because, let’s face it, anything I do has to look nice, or Sarah will give me that look—I finally finished it. It was a beautiful shade of turquoise, a color I didn’t even know I could pick out. I swear, I stood back and admired it like a proud father. After a few hours of slapping it together, I finally had this flower box ready to rock.
It was the next afternoon when I dragged it outside to the garden. That’s when the best part happened. I had picked up some tulip bulbs, pink and soft yellow, and I could see Sarah’s eyes light up when I showed her the box. You’d think I just bought her a new car or something instead of a vessel for flowers. "You made this?" she said, her voice dripping with surprise and a hint of pride. The smile on her face made all those moments of doubt fade away. Those flower boxes ended up being a home for not just tulips but also a lot of laughter and memories as we planted them together.
Looking back, you know, it’s kind of funny—like, here I was all worried about a little gap in the wood, and it turned into a whole experience. Honestly, if you’re thinking about diving into woodwork or any project, I say just go for it. Make those mistakes, embrace them. They’re part of it all. You’ll end up with not just a product but also a story. And isn’t that what life’s really about?
