Some people relax with a good book, a warm bath or a long walk.

Tony Miller prefers to relax by woodworking. He's made cabinets, benches and other furniture. But it's his last two projects that have some people taking notice of Miller's hobby.

Instead of a rocking horse, Miller made a rocking Harley Davidson. And with the help of his wife Lynda and his parents, Miller recently just completed converting a storage shed into a playhouse.

Thursday, he said he doesn't have children of his own, but has nieces and nephews he's made toys for, including a rocking horse. However, one rocking horse wasn't enough. But instead of a rocking horse the second time, he decided to go with a rocking motorcycle.

"It's something unique, different," he said.

He began the Harley in January 2003 and finished it two months later. He worked on it mostly part-time - weekends, sometimes after work.

"The little things like the shocks ... I made them to match the authentic ones," he said.

The mini-cycle is 4 feet long by 26 inches high, not counting the base.

Miller used four kinds of wood, mostly walnut, but also including oak, maple and cherry. He said he probably spent $600 just in wood to make the Harley. Walnut is not a real plentiful wood, he said, so that's where most of the cost came from for the Harley rocker.

Some people have expressed an interest in buying the wooden Harley from Miller, but as long as his nieces and nephews are enjoying it, he said, he probably won't sell it. It sits in the living room at his house.

As for the playhouse at his parents' house, Miller has not let his nieces and nephews see the inside of it while it was under construction. Saturday, each of his nieces and nephews will get a key to it and finally get to step inside. They also will host a party for the "grand opening" of the playhouse.

On the outside, the playhouse is white with a small yellow door.

Stepping inside, the color again is white but with varied sizes of colored dots along the wall that match the Winnie the Pooh border around the loft. The 12-foot-by-16-foot loft itself is big enough for Miller's 3-year-old niece or 25-year-old nephew to sleep on. On the opposite side of the room, a toy box lines the wall that one can sit on. In the middle is an inlaid checkerboard made of walnut and maple, left over from the Harley. The checkerboard serves as the toy box lid. Open it and underneath is a tray holding the checker pieces.

Regardless of the weather, the playhouse can be enjoyed year-round as it has lights and is heated.

"It stays very toasty," said Miller.

The light switches were placed at a lower level so all the little children can reach them.

"We wired the whole building up."

All that is left to do for the playhouse is finishing the concrete sidewalk and some landscaping. The building, with a 10-foot-high cathedral ceiling, is finished.

Miller said, "We started out with a smaller concept and it grew to this." [[In-content Ad]]