Bathroom: Phase One
Posted: May 28, 2012 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:
Sand down upper walls and door/window framesRemove mirror and medicine cabinet and sand walls belowApply liquid de-glosser to all upper walls and ceilingApply heavy-duty primer to upper walls and ceiling- Paint ceiling white
- Paint upper walls w/ Sherwin Williams Toque White
- Paint door/window frame and mid-rail moulding w/ Valspar Ultra White
- Remove old baseboards
- Repair gaps in lower walls
- Paint lower walls w/ dark teal (color TBD)
- Cut and install new baseboards to match the rest of the downstairs
- Paint new baseboards w/ Valspar Ultra White
- Buy/install new mirror
- Buy/install new medicine cabinet or shelves
- Install new wooden shelf over the sink
- (Possibly) buy and install a new sink faucet
- Make simple valance for window
- Find a properly-sized rug
- Raise shower bar higher and buy extra-long curtain
- Replace light fixture
- Accessorize.
Mailbox
Posted: April 22, 2012 Filed under: repairs, spring, yard 2 Comments »
I loathed our old mailbox. Here it is two years ago, looking shitty and crooked in the foreground.
That ratty vine growing around it made some pretty purple flowers for about one week of the year. The rest of the time it either looked like this or an overgrown rat’s nest that covered the entire mailbox. Some strong storms this winter made it even more crooked, and eventually knocked it over entirely. I rejoiced when I came home one day to see it completely overturned, because there would be no more excuses to put off the task of replacing it.
So I away I went to gather supplies. The gentleman working in Home Depot said they were all sold out of mailbox posts but I could “easily” make one for about $8 in supplies. I politely told him that that would never happen and drove over to Lowes.
I also needed to pick up some concrete to pour in the hole to make sure this thing never falls over again. So with a standard pressure-treated post, oversized white steel mailbox, mounting board, and 60lb. bag of Quikrete, I spent about $52.
We dug a hole about 2 feet deep, put the post in and tightly packed the dry Quikrete in the hole around the post. Then we dumped a bucket or two of water in there on top, letting it soak in.
At this point it’s already very stable, but it’s your last chance to make sure it’s level. We did pretty well to eyeball it though, it was almost exactly level already.
Then finally the next day we could add the new oversized white steel box on top.
Oooooohhhhhh. It’s so classy. Like those stylish numbers? They’re from the aptly named ModernHouseNumbers.com. A little pricey at $17 for two sets (4 digits on each side of the mailbox) but so lovely.
Now when people drive by they’ll understand that we appreciate nice fonts. Right? Wrong, this is north Knoxville, they’ll probably hit it with a car or BB gun.
The next weekend I cleaned up the rocks around the base and planted some flower-like things. I honestly forget the type of plant this is already, but it should bloom with little purple and white flowers soon. And they should not grow into a wild tangled vine that engulfs the entire mailbox.
I’m in love with it. I never had a regular mailbox growing up in Columbia because the hippies thought it would foster a better sense of community to have industrial steel group mailboxes at one central point on the block. I think this is a lot better.
LIST
Posted: June 5, 2011 Filed under: bathroom, decorating, dining room, guest room, home buying, kitchen, living room, repairs, yard 2 Comments »
After three weekends in a row of chopping, hauling and stacking wood from the tree, I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed. There’s still a lot more work to do, and more than anything it’s derailed my progress on other house projects.
So I’ve taken a cue from the work life, and made a list. Whenever you get overwhelmed, just stop for two minutes and make a list, put it in order of urgency, then just do it. If it works there, it’ll work at home, right?
Well, this list started getting a little long. It’s realistically a very long-term to-do list, (very roughly) listed in order of priority. It could easily be 5 years before we get to many of these items, especially all that upstairs crap.
But I thought by sharing it here, it could create some vague pressure to actually do these things. And it’s going to feel effin’ AWESEOME to cross things off. It always does.
- Remove all tree logs, limbs, and branches
- Repair broken fence panels
- Plant 4-6 Leyland Cypress trees along fence to replace privacy of tree
- Trim dogwood limbs in front yard
- Install new mailbox
- Plant long bed across side yard fence line
- Re-screen porch
- Tear down old deck and build kickass new one
- Paint front stoop
- Locate or build barn door and install on sliding track
- Buy light colored area rug
- Buy more appropriate coffee table
- Hang art wall behind sofa
- DIY art for frame on top shelf of built-in
- Macrame hanging planter for corner
- Remove crappy baseboards, marble shelf, mirror, light fixture
- Sand down all trim and walls
- Remove rusty shower curtain rod
- Paint uppers and ceiling w/ Kilz primer, then off-white paint
- Paint lowers in peacock blue
- Cut and install new baseboards
- Paint all trim
- Install new shower curtain rod at ceiling height
- Buy and install new mirror
- Buy and install new shelf
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Buy extra-long shower curtain and liner
Hallway:
- Paint all trim and backs of doors
- Paint walls w/ Glidden Inverness (need additional quart)
- Have 2×12”s cut to length at Home Depot for additional closet shelves
- Buy small trashcan/canister for dog food
- Buy short runner rug
- Hang small stuff on the open wall
- Paint all surfaces (walls need primer)
- Re-arrange furniture
- DIY upholstered headboard
- Buy cheap metal bed frame to get boxs pring off of the floor
- Buy 3-drawer dresser
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Buy 2 nightstands or side tables
- Buy 1 table lamp
- Buy and install new curtain rods
- Buy/make curtain panels
- Buy new duvet or quilt, other linens
- Accessorize.
- Organize closet and utilize dresser drawers
Stairs:
- Paint all surfaces
- Buy and install new light fixture
- Have new carpet installed
- Re-attach existing hand rail
Master Bedroom:
- Paint uppers off white
- Paint lowers navy blue
- Have new carpet installed
- DIY headboard of some kind
- Buy 2 dressers
- Buy 2 lamps
- Install long shelves to serve as night stands
- Buy and install new curtain rod
- Buy/make curtain panels
- Buy new duvet or quilt, other linens
- Seriously organize walk-in closet to utilize space and store small items
- Accessorize.
Master Bathroom:
- Build shower stall and remove tub (professional plumbing)
- Build built-in cabinetry to fill empty wall
- Replace vanity with pedestal sink
- Tile floor
- Paint all surfaces (walls and trim will all need primer)
- Buy long credenza or buffet to replace kitchen cart
- Buy more attractive garbage/recycling can solution
- Repaint trim (when Schooner gets older/lazier)
- Have gas line run into kitchen
- Buy new gas range
- Buy and install new countertops
- Buy and install a white subway tile backsplash
- Buy and install new sink and faucet
Office:
Nothing! (Unless it needs to turn into some other sort of room in the future.)
Living Room Paint
Posted: January 9, 2011 Filed under: living room, painting, repairs 4 Comments »
I painted the ceiling! Huzzah!
We burned a few test fires with the trial run painted patch, and it looked a-okay, so I went ahead and did it. Overall, looks great. It’s just flat white ceiling paint, but even that change makes the room much brighter.
One little issue was this crazy spot that just started bubbling up as the paint dried. It was completely smooth there before I started, so who the hell knows what went wrong. It looks like we’ll have to do a plaster patch there like we did in the office ceiling. Eventually…
Speaking of plaster patches, you may have noticed in a few other pictures of this room that there’s a big, bumpy rift in the wall over the fireplace. We think it’s basically an issue of the old plaster walls settling over the years, but the stone chimney not settling with them.
It doesn’t particularly bother me since it sort of falls into that “gives it character” category. But now Danny is talking about sanding the whole area down and re-plastering it. This sounds kind of scary to me, and I don’t know if I approve.
In other news, I spent $10 on samples of three nearly identical paint colors. You know, since I haven’t agonized enough over the perfect grey paint.
I’m feeling most confident about the one on the bottom, which is Benjamin Moore Sea Froth, although the one in the middle is a close second (Benjamin Moore Portland Grey). I like Sea Froth because it’s warmer than the other two. More brownish-grey. The pictures above don’t necessarily read the real colors that well. But on my monitor, the swatch picture below looks pretty true to the real color.
The bottom two in the lineup are Benjamin Moore colors, but I had them matched to Behr at Home Depot. The only place to get Benjamin Moore paints around here is Ace Hardware, which isn’t super close to our house. It doesn’t really matter though, because the best thing about Benjamin Moore is the color selection. Any standard Home Depot or Lowes paint will do, and they’ll match the colors from anywhere. Remember the TV commercial where a guy takes in a basketball for the Lowes guy to match the color?
So what do you think? Sea Froth? Portland Grey? Shut the hell up and pick one? Yeah.
The Woes of Home Ownership
Posted: May 3, 2010 Filed under: home buying, repairs 2 Comments »After all the fun, exciting, creative things I’ve gotten to do in the past two months, here’s the reality check. There’s no more landlord to call when something breaks. It’s all you. Since the home inspection we knew there was some kind of issue with the plumbing around the washing machine in the basement, and over the last few weeks it’s escalated.
Before recently, I had never considered the way a washing machine functions. When we lived in Bay Ridge it was the little Chinese man’s problem at the laundromat, I just paid him all my quarters to handle it. Clean water comes into the washer, and dirty water comes out of it when it spins, right? And if the dirty water doesn’t come out, then the washer’s broken, right? Not exactly.
Before our inspection, the previous owner had the washer draining into the sump pump well. Like most sump pumps, it pumps the ground water away from your foundation and into the yard away from the house. Thus, she was pumping dirty clothes water into the backyard. This is called grey water, and it’s illegal here. And if its illegal in Knoxville, it’s probably illegal in most every city in America. But before we bought the house, we requested she fix it. When we closed on the house, it was all hooked back up to the wastewater system as it should be. Seemed easy, but the question remained of why the hell did she have it all half-assed in the first place?
It turned out that even in its “fixed” state, the waste water from the washer was not being pumped strongly enough to actually reach the wastewater line, about seven feet up at the base of the basement ceiling. Turns out that even a brand new $1200 washing machine couldn’t pump water through these jacked up, poorly installed lines. Even if the pipes were put in with more care, 12 feet is quite a distance for a washer, apparently. The washer is doing its job, but the bad pipe scenario just lets the dirty water slowly drip back into the basin. And its gross.
The plumber (that we found through friends) says that the most efficient way to fix the issue permanently was to install an external pump that takes the wastewater and pumps it up with some serious power to the main wastewater line. So we’re taking his word for it, and hoping that after he finishes tomorrow the problem will be solved.
And to top it off, this is what we came home to last Tuesday:
Yep, that’s a massive tree limb balanced precariously on the back of our house after a storm blew through. It was far too big to let Danny climb up there and try to saw it apart himself. So to the tune of $400, we had to call a tree service and have it professionally removed.
With these (mostly) unexpected expenses…my new furniture dreams have to be put on hold for another month or two. Along with my new camera dreams. And the new TV dreams that have been pushed back in that corner for years now.
To make myself feel better (or worse, probably worse) I’m going to paint the kitchen blue this weekend. Inspired by this borrowed Sherwin Williams deck from a kind co-worker, I’m feeling the “Icelandic” shade. It’s the second page from the left, second lightest shade. And for about $30, it’s an aesthetic home improvement I can afford. Let’s see how this goes…
