My Dad: Master Builder Extraordinaire

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Blog Post #39

By Tonya Graham McQuade

Since I wrote about my mom for Mother’s Day, it seems only fitting I should write about my father for Father’s Day. In my Mother’s Day post, I shared lots of photos of my mom’s sewing and craft creations. Here, I will share some of my father’s building projects – many of which adorn our house. And we just added a new one this week!

The first time I remember being really excited about my dad’s construction abilities was when I was ten years old and he built me a new bedroom set. I helped in its design, sanding, and painting – but it was he who built it so solidly that it is still in use today. 

After years of use by me in three different houses in Antioch, that bedroom set moved with me to various locations during my college years at UC Santa Barbara, then to my apartments in Santa Barbara and East Palo Alto, and eventually to my two homes in San Jose. Here in San Jose, I passed it on to my daughter Anna - who now has it in her office in her apartment in San Diego – painted brown instead of the “antique white” I chose all those years ago.

The next big building project that looms large in my memory is when my dad decided to build a house on Minta Lane in Antioch. For a time while I was in 8th grade, we moved into the old house at the front of the property while our family worked to build the new house behind it. THAT needs a whole post of its own, but here is a photo of the completed house as shown in our family “Christmas Card” photo in 1982.

The Minta Lane house, where my parents still live, is filled with furniture my dad has built – but so is our house here in San Jose. Almost every room features something my dad has designed, built, and delivered as a gift for us or the kids. Each piece is a reminder of the skill and work ethic he possesses, as well as the love and generosity he feels toward his family. Here I will share some of the photos and stories of his handiwork.

Two of the largest pieces he has made for us are the two different wall units we have in our living room and family room. The living room wall unit originally had a smaller piece in the middle designed for the smaller TV we used to have. (Remember those days?). Once we decided we wanted to buy a larger smart TV, my dad rebuilt that section for us, and I now use the small section in our dining room.

This is the wall unit in our living room - the folding doors hide our TV. 

The smaller original centerpiece now stands in our dining room.

Our family room wall unit used to have sliding video cabinets 

on the sides before we added a larger TV here as well.

Another treasured item in our living room is the table my dad made for Mike and me as a wedding gift. In his typical fashion, he “signed” the furniture – in this case, using a router (sometimes he leaves written messages underneath or on the sides of drawers). 

Mike & Tonya - August 23, 2003

When my scrapbooks were overflowing the shelves we had available, I asked my dad to build me a small cabinet for our family room to house my digital scrapbooks. So, he did. Merry Christmas! (You can see I also use it for all my Outlander and Harry potter books!)

The dining room also features some corner cabinets my dad helped Mike to build - helping to hone Mike’s building skills so he can do the wood projects he now so enjoys. My dad has also given him many tools to aid him in his craft. 

Soon after we were married in 2003, my dad helped Mike to extend the deck in our backyard so we could add a hot tub back; then, he helped Mike build a shed on the side of our house to store tools, bikes, paints, etc. His most obvious contribution to our backyard is the playhouse he built for Aaaron and Anna for Christmas in 2000 – it’s still there, now mostly as a storehouse for their old toys, but hopefully it can someday be put to use again by grandkids! 

Mike and my dad building an addition to our back deck – 

and Anna deciding it was the perfect stage before we put the hot tub on it!

Aaron & Anna’s Playhouse

My dad also came through when we needed new “grown up” furniture for Aaron’s room (Anna already had my old bedroom set). He built Aaron a bed with drawers, a wall unit, and a toy box. Then, later, when Aaron no longer needed a toy box, he converted it to a book shelf – which is what you can see in the picture below.

The middle section used to be a toy box. My dad designed it so that 

the front of the “toy box” became the shelf in the middle.

In the other upstairs “bedroom” that we use as an office, my dad built a wall of bookshelves for us – which, as you can see, are overflowing with books and CD’s (as is our whole house).

 

Even our laundry room and bathrooms feature items built by my dad. Over our washer and dryer hang three large cabinets he built when I first moved into this house, and in our two upstairs bathrooms, he built the vanities under the sinks. Here’s the one in our master bath:

The most recent addition to our master bedroom is the wall unit we added this week - the wall unit that used to belong to my parents. My dad recently built some new furniture for their room, so I asked if we could “inherit” the old set. It took some effort to get all these large pieces of furniture up the stairs to our room, and I sprained my ankle in the process (which has temporarily forced me to slow down a bit). But, we have now mostly settled into our new space – and I definitely love the extra storage! Mike and I each now have our own wardrobe, plus three large drawers on each side under the bed. 

Everything inside the house that my dad has built for us has been stained a Golden Oak color, which is what I also chose for our kitchen cabinets (which we ordered from Home Depot, not from my dad). When I chose that for the kitchen, I was told that oak cabinets were not really the modern style – that many people were redoing their kitchens to get rid of oak cabinets. Ask me if I care! LOL. 

As you can clearly see, I LOVE the look of oak, and I am EVER SO THANKFUL for the many things my father – a builder extraordinaire – has made for us through the years. What a gift to have so many handmade items in our home!