Bottle has prescription for doorstop solution

Editor's note: Follow the progress as the Hammonds' house takes shape by going to www.startribune.com/newhouse to visit their blog, and watch Homes for periodic updates.

I take a little time each day after work to attack one small project. Sometimes it's putting in doorstops, while other times it's cleaning dust that seems to float in the air and collect on every surface.

This week while installing doorstops I discovered that the one for the downstairs bathroom was about 1/8 inch short. The door hit the stop, but only the top metal area instead of the bottom rubber part. I needed something to raise the stopper about ¼ inch. As I looked for a solution, I noticed that Target's prescription containers come with a color-coded rubberized ring to tell prescriptions apart. The ring on one of our empty bottles was exactly the same size as the doorstop, so I fastened it under the stop. It was short enough that the doorstop was firmly secured but tall enough so that the door struck the rubberized pad.

We also finished the deck rail, which is made of perforated steel and upright support posts that have large circular laser-cut holes. The circular design elements are a sub-theme of the house used to contrast the many linear sliding planes that make up the home's structure.

We wanted the front awning to provide a fair amount of protection from the sun and rain but we didn't want it to have busy or distracting details such as posts or columns. We installed a red turnbuckle that allowed us to have a cantilevered awning that appears to float away from the house. I think we will leave it red because it's a nice contrast to the silver.

Jason Hammond is at hammond@mojosolo.com.