The past few weekends have been filled with rugby (and some rain) so I haven't done anything large. I did finally hang most of the speakers for the surround sound though, that was pretty exciting. Still have to hang the very back one, and paint the speaker wire.
But - before I embarked on the backyard work, I did finally finish making a kitchen plan. My kitchen is lacking in the most basic and useful of things - counter space - and definitely needs some upgrading! It does have a lot of doorways in it though, so I could definitely use some advice and ideas. Anyone? Bueller?
Funny, it took me less time to build the fence then to blog about it... It's been a busy week ;) So - last Sat was gorgeous, so I planned to get as much fencing done as I could. Those grapes really wanted to be planted! And after putting up one side of the fence last week, I knew what I was doing (sort of...) and figured I could just power through it.
After a bit of a struggle moving the relatively full composter, I was off and running. Dug the holes (burying a mouse carcass as part of that, ew) - took a food break. Cut the 4x4's and nailed in the first lattice sheet - took a food break. Cut the lattice for the filler portion - took a - you get the idea ;) I now know why construction workers always seem to be on break and eating! I got one side of the fence totally done, and then it was time to figure out how to raise the fence off the ground. Last week I had 3 friends to help, but this week only Erin was around. Luckily, we're pretty used to figuring out how to do things by ourselves - and Erin was feeling pretty smart. We raised one side of the fence, then Erin held it while I went from post to post in the middle, raising them and propping them on a sawhorse, chair and a shovel to keep them up. Then we inched them higher, moving the everything again to hold them up. Finally we had it high enough that it dropped into the holes, and Erin held it while I packed the holes in. Done!
The back wall was slightly trickier as we couldn't build it in pieces and drop it in as we did on the side. After digging out a rather large piece of slate/flagstone, I sunk the middle pole, and Erin held the lattice while I got the edges attached. All this with a rapt audience of 2 little boys from the house behind us - I am pretty excited not to have them staring at me everytime I'm in the yard now!
I shifted the composter to the back corner, moved the lilacs to a sunnier part of the yard - and collapsed into a chair with a beer. And it was good ;)
On Sun we did get the grapes in the ground - whew! Now just the top part of the right fence to go, and the part the goes along the concrete. Not so much looking forward to drilling the holes for the brackets...
I'm not sure I really like the way the lattice bows and separates where the pieces fit together. Should I try something to attach the pieces together better? What do you all think? (And yeah Dad, I figured out how to cut it - but cutting an 8' length when you are rather short not so easy... Esp when there are staples in the wood...).
So from here:
To here:
Slideshow (yeah, I know I'm bad at taking pics while working):
I know you all thought I was just slacking, but really I was just planning. (Ok, and slightly slacking). But with the arrival of my birthday present of grape plants (thanks Dad), it was time to kick the backyard fence plan into high gear, so those grape plants can be planted! Luckily, as part of the "planning" period, I had already measured the backyard. So I whipped up a quick plan, and headed off to Lowe's on Sun to gather supplies.
As per usual, several lessons were learned. 1. If planning on renting a truck on Easter, it might behoove you to actually verify the rental place is open. 2. When buying enough lumber to make a fence, additional helpers to carry the lumber might also be a good idea (thank heavens no burpees were required yesterday!). 3. No, you definitely didn't do the math right. But what is a project unless you have to return to Lowe's at some point for more supplies?
But no matter, the materials were secured, and two good friends appeared, bringing both muscles and much more brain power than I had left. And look - we went from nothing to 3/4 of a fence, in really only a couple hours of actual working time! H did a great job digging 20" holes while I cut the posts, and all 3 of us attached the lattice (2 legs not required to use a hammer...). The addition of a third friend allowed us to actually get the fence upright and set. Super exciting! Yes, it's slightly crooked in spots, and certainly not flawless, but really - so am I, so it's just a reflection of my personality, really ;) And it looks SO much better than what was there before!
And now time for a little advice from those who are slightly more experienced (Dad? Dave?); I need to cut the lattice lengthwise to fill the top gaps. But it doesn't sit flat on the sawhorses, it's not sturdy enough, it bows and kind of flops around. So what's the best way to cut it? Thoughts?
Looks like Saturday will be sunny and nice - anyone up for phase 2 on fence work?Slideshow:
That would be - what, 907? - on the list of things I wish I knew before buying a house... Those involved in/sucked into the house since its purchase might remember that the hallway came wallpapered, in a mildly unattractive (though could have been worse) floral pattern. I of course did not like said wallpaper, and when we discovered during initial renovations how easily it came off, my crew of marvelous helpers yanked it all down.
You know what's under wallpaper? A sh*tton of paste. And cracks in the plaster, bad plaster patch jobs, and crumbly plaster. So before I can repaint the hallway, I have to a) finish removing the paste, b) fix the plaster, and c) take care of the spots on the ceiling with peeling paint. Last weekend I finally spent some time removing wallpaper paste. On a great note, it comes off quite well with the aid of water with vinegar, a scraper and a sponge. On a depressing note, I think 2 hrs gave me about a 5' x 5' area of clean wall. Um - and tedious jobs like washing walls are not my favorite things to do. I prefer things requiring brain power... At my current rate of progress, it may be July before the walls are ready!
Moral - perhaps I should have learned to like the wallpaper...
I managed to get the outlet/switch into the wall in the bathroom! And shockingly, it did not require another trip to the hardware store. Just some tape (thanks for the hint Casey), a chisel, hammer, vacuum, googles - and an exercise in patience. Note - my patience muscle is now really sore. But it's in and attached, even if not a perfect vertical. But honestly, I really do want to redo that bathroom at some point, so I wasn't going to spend too much time trying to make it less crooked... It works and it sort of looks normal!
The frustrating part for me is when I plan to do a project, and end up completely derailed because something else in the house goes awry and requires immediate and time-sucking repair. Case in point - last weekend I broke the light switch in the downstairs bathroom. How? I tried to turn it on. Oops. These things happen, old house...
Luckily I had a spare, so I started the replacement process. 30 min later, with a little help from Dad, the new switch and outlet was attached and working - and hanging out of the wall, as it's too big to fit in the hole in the tile made for the original outlet! Therefore, I will be spending part of this weekend with a hammer and chisel, trying to make the outlet go into the wall without destroying the surrounding tile. (Sidenote - I hate the downstairs bathroom anyway, why must it keep having issues that require my time when I just want it to survive until I can destroy it and replace with something better?) That was so not on my project list for the weekend! Anyone want to bet on how long this little task takes?
Well - I was. So I took a rather long (and rather needed) break from home repair. Slowly trying to work my way back in though. Last weekend I had goals of hanging the curtain rods I finally bought for the living room - which were to replace the ugly ones that came with the house - and working on stripping more wallpaper paste off the hallway walls. With typical Sarah time estimation skills, the curtain rod hanging took much too long (don't ask. let's just say going up and down ladders after working out does not make for speedy home repair), so there was no paste stripping. But I'm back on the horse, look for more work done - or started - soon!
Once again - saved by my friends. I've been trying to work on the dining room forever, with a goal of having it "finished" for Thanksgiving. The brain and the brawn did a ton of work - but there was still a ton left to do. Once we got back from Nationals (and recovered from the party), we had 10 days to finish the sanding of the patched walls and ceiling, fill any spots that needed help (and then re-sand), and prime and paint the walls, ceiling, and moldings. Anything else that got done would be icing on the cake.
Everything was going according to the master plan (even though I scheduled myself to sand while hungover - dumb, dumb, dumb... but effective!) until some of the skim coating started pulling away from the evil wall. (It's evil because it needed so much work). Then it needed special primer (which smelled like painting with nail polish remover!), another layer of compound, which needed more sanding, which needed more priming... All of which had to be squeezed in during the week after work so that we'd have time to paint! It was only managed thanks to one very determined friend...
And then the weekend rolled around, with another layer of primer necessary, and all the painting. So - friends to the rescue yet again. A bunch of people came over on a chilly Saturday, and did amazing work. By the end of the day on Sun we had the entire dining room painted, the loose paint from the bathroom chipped off and the bathroom primed, the linoleum up on the dining room floor (that one was all Baj, great work!), and the furniture in the dining room! Scraped in under the wire. Thank heavens for amazing friends, yet again!So we went from here:to here:Slide show of the mass effort:
Finally, a picture of the mouse in Erin's bed. I wish we had video of our heroic capturing efforts, but sadly our hands were fully occupied. So you'll just have to imagine lightening fast reflexes with a tupperware container (mine), screaming and jumping (Erin's), and determined hunting (Stiletto's)...
In Erin's bed to be precise. With some belated assistance from the cat, I caught it and threw it outside. I'll blog the full amusing story later - but any suggestions for vermin control that we can use with a cat in the house would be greatly appreciated...
