Bathroom: Phase One

Posted: May 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: bathroom, painting, repairs, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Six hours of work is all I could muster over this long, hot holiday weekend.  But it was enough to get me through Phase One of the bathroom renovation.

These were my supplies.  First step was to sand down the upper walls and door/window frames with my mouse sander.  I should have done the ceiling this way too, but I just couldn’t get the leverage to apply enough pressure.  Plus dust gets in your eyes real bad.

The worst part is by far the door frame.  I don’t know why it’s peeling so badly, but it was really coming off in huge sheets.  I made a pocket to store my putty knife between uses:

And then it was time to take off the mirror and medicine cabinet.  I really thought this mirror would need to be pried off and probably shatter.  Surprisingly it came of SUPER easily.  Too easily, in fact, it probably would have fallen down on its own soon.

But check out the fun surprises lurking behind it!

It’s gobs of black goo, stuck on there many years ago to hold the mirror up without any brackets/screws/nails/etc.  They were all hard as a rock, and stuck directly to some layer of glossy old yellow paint.  Oh and some kind of junction box I didn’t know was back there.  Great.

So I started scraping it all down with the flat side of a pry bar, which ultimately took off big chunks of wall with it.

So I tried to patch them as well as I could before putting the primer on.

See how flippin’ shiny these walls are?  This is why I also needed to rub down every surface with the liquid de-glosser before applying the primer.  It was hard to tell if it was doing it’s job or not.  The primer went on pretty well.  So…I guess it did?

And now after two coats of primer, we’re looking pretty good.

And aside from the mirror goo fiasco, the place really opened up when we took down the medicine cabinet.  It seals the deal for me that we’ll be sticking w/ open shelving for our little makeover.

It’s already looking so much brighter and clean.  I can’t wait to get the real paint up on the walls.

Here’s where we stand in the grand scheme of things:

  1. Sand down upper walls and door/window frames
  2. Remove mirror and medicine cabinet and sand walls below
  3. Apply liquid de-glosser to all upper walls and ceiling
  4. Apply heavy-duty primer to upper walls and ceiling
  5. Paint ceiling white
  6. Paint upper walls w/ Sherwin Williams Toque White
  7. Paint door/window frame and mid-rail moulding w/ Valspar Ultra White
  8. Remove old baseboards
  9. Repair gaps in lower walls
  10. Paint lower walls w/ dark teal (color TBD)
  11. Cut and install new baseboards to match the rest of the downstairs
  12. Paint new baseboards w/ Valspar Ultra White
  13. Buy/install new mirror
  14. Buy/install new medicine cabinet or shelves
  15. Install new wooden shelf over the sink
  16. (Possibly) buy and install a new sink faucet
  17. Make simple valance for window
  18. Find a properly-sized rug
  19. Raise shower bar higher and buy extra-long curtain
  20. Replace light fixture
  21. Accessorize.

Hydrangeas

Posted: May 23, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: garden, spring, yard | 6 Comments »

We have a wildly successful group of hydrangeas growing in front of our house.  They were pretty strong for the last two years, but I haven’t trimmed them back at all so this year they’ve exploded.

I think the location helps them do so well.  The front of our house really only gets partial sun throughout the day.  Most hot afternoons they tend to get droopy, but always perk back up overnight.

In an attempt to eventually create some balance, I picked up three new hydrangeas this year from Stanley’s Greenhouse in South Knoxville.  I got two big plants that looked similar to the type of plant thriving on the other side ($32 a pop).  And one smaller white hydrangea that was being sold already blooming in a smaller pot for the $15.

Should’a stuck to what I know.  Because the white one crapped out almost immediately after I put it in the ground.

The other two are doing good though.

I was hoping I could buy some that would bloom with that vibrant blue color.  But the kindly plant man told me that if I’ve already got pink ones on one side, these will also bloom pink.  Turns out that the color of the hydrangea flowers is 100% based on the makeup of the soil they’re planted in.

Some brief research has made me want to try some techniques next year to adjust the soil enough to produce those brilliant blue flowers.  It sounds like the key is to lower the pH of the soil by using compost, then adding a solution of aluminum sulfate around the base of the plant.

You might notice that the big one has a few purple-ish flowers around the front edge.  This is definitely more blue/purple than in years past.  I’m thinking that this could be due to the mulch that I put down a few weeks ago across the whole front bed.  I really only wedged in a little bit around the front of this massive plant, but it’s interesting that the front is where the blue flowers are sprouting up.

Hydrangeas are also awesome for cutting.  They don’t last all that long in water, but they sure do look nice while they’re there.

Last sumer I also experimented with drying hydrangeas, and I’d like to try that again this year.  They seem to hold up to be very sturdy when dried, versus other flowers that just kind of crumble when you touch them.

Has anyone else ever tried to change the color of your hydrangeas?  Is it worth a try?  Where the hell do I even get aluminum sulfate?

Fixing the Bathroom

Posted: May 20, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: bathroom, painting | 1 Comment »

The time has come.  After talking about it for over 2 years, this summer the bathroom shall be improved.

I know what you’re thinking… “it doesn’t look so bad.”  I know, from here it looks fine, which is why ultimately it wasn’t at the top of my list when we moved in.  The fixtures are fine, and the floor has new-ish neutral tiles that are in good shape. But when you look closer, it’s much less appealing.

If I had to take a guess at the history of this room, it would be as follows.  The original build had tiles going up the lower part of the walls.  At some point within the last 10-15 years, someone ripped out that original tile and put up some drywall in its place (currently painted green), along with new fixtures and floor tile.  During this process they did not touch the upper walls at all, so they’re still left with old-ass, chipping, glossy paint that’s probably full of lead.

Here’s the unpleasant view when you’re standing in the shower:

So I’ve started the process this weekend by sanding part of the upper wall surfaces and the door and doorframe.  I wore a little respirator mask, but here’s hoping I didn’t give myself lead poisoning.

The door and door frame is seriously chipping.  It’s in almost the same condition as the fireplace was before I painted it last year.

Even though I sanded the shit out of them, the walls are still pretty glossy.  So I’m thinking that a liquid deglosser product like this one may help the primer go on more effectively.

So if all goes as planned, I’d like to do all of this stuff by the end of the summer:

  1. Sand down upper walls and door/window frames
  2. Remove mirror and medicine cabinet and sand walls below
  3. Apply liquid de-glosser to all upper walls and ceiling
  4. Apply heavy-duty primer to upper walls and ceiling
  5. Paint ceiling white
  6. Paint upper walls w/ Sherwin Williams Toque White
  7. Paint door/window frame and mid-rail moulding w/ Valspar Ultra White
  8. Remove old baseboards
  9. Repair gaps in lower walls
  10. Paint lower walls w/ dark teal (color TBD)
  11. Cut and install new baseboards to match the rest of the downstairs
  12. Paint new baseboards w/ Valspar Ultra White
  13. Buy/install new mirror
  14. Buy/install new medicine cabinet or shelves
  15. Install new wooden shelf over the sink
  16. (Possibly) buy and install a new sink faucet
  17. Make simple valance for window
  18. Find a properly-sized rug
  19. Raise shower bar higher and buy extra-long curtain
  20. Replace light fixture
  21. Accessorize.

Whoa, that’s a long list.

I hope to get through the first four steps within the next week or so.  Someone, please hold me to that, k?

Simple Large-Scale Painting

Posted: May 16, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: crafts, decorating, guest room, painting | 2 Comments »

It’s been over nine months since we painted the walls in the downstairs bedroom, and I’ve yet to hang up any art.  I’ve got a few pieces on deck all framed and ready to go, but I’m undecided on placement.  So as a stalling mechanism, I decided to make something on the cheap to hang over the headboard.

I was inspired by this idea to create something “simple but striking” on my own to hang over the bed.  I do quite like the stark black and white look of hers, but wanted to tie in the magenta and blue/teal-ish colors I have going on in the room so far.

Now, please note that I don’t fancy myself an artist.  Sometimes I just like digging out the old paints from college and having a go at it.

I started out with a large pre-gessoed canvas ($24.99 at Hobby Lobby, sadly it was not half-off week on canvases).  Then I slopped on some pinky-orangey tones on one side and some bluey-greeney tones on the other side to serve as a “background”.

Then I made a tape line about five inches from the bottom of the canvas and used the black brushstrokes approach from zee inspiration painting.

But I wasn’t really digging it.  The blue area at the bottom just seemed like a disjointed afterthought.  So I made a straight black band across the bottom.

….And I still wasn’t really feeling it.  Now it just looked like a piece of electrical tape stretched across the bottom.  Squares!  Let’s make some squares out of it!

Errr, oops.  That was supposed to be grid of seven 4″x4″ squares.  My “measurements” were off.  Let’s blame it on the whiskey I was drinking during this process.  Better make that look intentional.

Eh, still a little weird.

Okay, there we go, I can live with that.  Still a touch of the blue in a little unexpected window at the bottom.  And if I get tired of those stupid squares, guess what?  I have more black paint.  But for now, that’ll do.

2012 Vegetable Garden

Posted: May 13, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: garden, spring | 1 Comment »

I learned a lot from last year’s highly ambitious garden.  Namely that I ought to work within the existing raised beds we have because tilling up fresh ground was a colossal waste of time.

When you look at this picture (taken yesterday) there’s not a trace of evidence that there was a huge patch of tilled ground in between the two beds.  The grass has completely taken back over.

But it’s all good.  I also realized last year that I let a lot of space in the large raised bed go to waste.  It’s probably in my best interest to pack the bed with as many veggies as possible,

So what have we got in the big bed this year?

  • 4 tomato plants (Cherokee Purple, Roma, Mr. Stripey, and Sweet 100)
  • 4 pepper plants (2 sweet and 2 hot)
  • 1 eggplant (Black Beauty)
  • 1 mound planted w/ zucchini seeds
  • 1 mound planted w/ cucumber seeds
  • 1 mound planted w/ yellow summer squash seeds
  • Scattered okra seeds along the edges and in the gaps

I originally started with purchased seedlings for the zucchini, squash, and cucumbers, but those little bastard rabbits got in there and ate them down to almost nothing.  So I bought a few seed packets, planted ‘em yesterday, and hoping for the best.

As you can see, there are already a hell of a lot of weeds.  Once the  squash and cucumbers take off, their big leaves should cover a lot of ground and keep the weeds down on this side of the bed.

For around the tomatoes and peppers I’m trying out the landscaping cloth for the first time.  Turns out one roll doesn’t go that far.  It’s supposed to be compost-able so that you can till it back into the soil next year.  I’m still real skeptical, though.  I think the weeds are just going to bust right through it before long.  They’re already trying to.

We have another existing bed back here, but this one is long and narrow, and the wood is pretty much fallen apart.  Nonetheless, I planted it with corn and green bean seeds that are just starting to come up.

I also have a few containers planted up on the corner of the deck.  This is where I grow my summer basil stockpile, as well as some parsley and cilantro.

I also decided to plant one more tomato up here in the big half barrel planter.  It’s the Bonnie “Patio” hybrid, and it’s received the honor of bearing the first fruit of the year.

Here’s hoping for another delicious produce season in our backyard.

Check out my gardens of the past: 2011, 2010, 2009  (I’ve come a long way in 3 years!)

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