It’s a trap

Hopefully we’ll manage to trap the tiny ones! The screen porch came with a basically useless screen door. The bugs (and toddlers) just flew/walked right through it. Something obviously had to be done, but there was no budget for a new door. Thank goodness for bulk item pick up! Some one had a solid wood bottom screen door in their pile, so I crammed that thing in the van so fast! It’s definitely not new, but call it character and all is well! A bit of sanding/filling/gluing, rescreening with the old door screen,  hardware laying around in a closet, and new hinges and paint, and we’ve got my favorite kind of project: rescued and nearly free!

Don’t mind the Happy Halloween banner. We’ll redecorate eventually. Maybe in time for the 4th of July.

This is a joke, right?

Because seriously. This can’t actually be happening.

40 square foot pit of Hell weekend update:

After scrubbing, scraping, scouring, and plumbing, we FINALLY had the bathroom in a state where a shower could happen this afternoon! Sure, the faucet and sink weren’t quite done, but no matter. The toilet and shower were a go!

So, I grabbed the shampoo and a towel, and jumped in! The new showerhead is AMAZING!

And then? The handles fell off. I’m not even kidding. It sounds like a joke, right? But it’s true.  

Bathroom of doom update

Of course there’s an update. Of course more seemingly simple things are anything but.

We figured that we really were out of potential for crazy stuff, but the heater proved us wrong! Plugged it in, watched the fan inside whirl around, heat started coming out, high fives!

I started making breakfast, decided to check on the heater again….. nada. Joe stopped on his way out the door to flip the breaker, and we turned it back on. He headed off to work, and I washed the dishes. Checked on the heater again, and surprise! It’s not working.

A bit more investigating reveals that the outlets in the whole kitchen and the bathroom run off of the same circuit! So you can microwave something, turn on the dishwasher, vacuum that side of the house, or be warm in the bathroom. But not be warm and do any of the others.

Checked off the to do list: install bathroom heater.

Added to the to do list: rewire the entire house.

I thought checking things off was supposed to make lists shorter?

Smooth sailing

Obviously that’s a lie. Because nothing around here ever is with a project. The latest fun?

That pipe I mentioned was even more ridiculous than we could’ve ever anticipated. Highlights include the actual drain pipe disintegrating, and drilling a 4″ hole in the tile.

And wires wrapped with a paper sleeve in the ceiling light fixture. And no grounding wire of course. Wonder how old it really is…. Anyway, it’s replaced. And grounded.

And finally, home depot sells 1/2″ fip supply lines. And 1/2″ shut off valves. But not 1/2″ fip to 1/2″ fip shut off valves. Or any adapters that will work. And we can’t really reach the connection to the faucet well to change the lines, and can’t find the right shut off valves anywhere. So still no water. Awesome.

And finally, frog tape failed us big time! It was actually probably more human error than anything, but it was nearly impossible to seal the edges of the tape well on the ceiling due to the tall ceilings and bathroom configuration, so we had tons of bleeding from the wall paint. Maybe crown moulding some day to cover it?

And because I like to end with good news, the heater and porcelain cabinet knobs should arrive today!

Still to do:
Get water. Somehow.
Figure out flange situation for drain from Hell.
Clean.
Remove rust stains from tile.
Install heater.
Install knobs.
One more coat of paint on door.
Pray. Be thankful for another “done for now” and super pretty room!
Win the lotto so we can actually do full, down to the studs remodel of all bathrooms and kitchen.
Take long bath with biiiiiiig glass of wine.

Well of course not

I mean, obviously, one would certainly not expect there to be an electrical box behind the vanity light. That’d be crazy. Clearly, conduit and a metal plate are all one needs to mount a light.

For that matter, it’s TOTALLY normal to sauder? weld? permanently join in some fashion, a sink drain pipe directly to the surface of the tile under the sink. Because, really. There need not be an explanation for such obvious choices.

Again I say, I can’t make this stuff up.

In good news, the vanity light is now installed (with an electrical box thankyouverymuch), the walls are painted ($2 oops quart was plenty! Whew!), and the (second) sink hasn’t fallen!! Progress!

On the twelfth sink of Christmas …

Or something like that. But seriously, we own12, TWELVE!, sinks.

Our latest one was actually a $30 score at the Habitat ReStore. Or as I prefer, Mecca. There we were, ready to buy two doors for another for project similar to the amazing bookcase of wonder my husband built. And then an amazing porcelain sink just jumped into our cart. Magic.

That was Friday. Saturday, we figured we have a new sink, why not renovate the bathroom! Rightthisveryminute! We’re nothing if not crazy. So we did.

The plan! (See, we had a plan!):
1) Shut off water to the sink.
1.5) Disconnect supply lines and drain.
2) Pull cabinet/counter/sink out and haul outside.
3) Clean floor.
4) Hang new sink from wall and install pedestal base.

Exactly one of these happened as planned.

Reality:
1) First shut off valve snaps right off in Joe’s hand. Can’t turn the stub. Have to shut off water to house.
1.25) Hey kids! Let’s go to grandma’s house! (Thanks for babysitting grandma & grandpa!)
1.3) Buy valves at second trip to hardware store of the day, since we couldn’t see what size pipe we had, and therefore had to buy valves in all the sizes.
1.5) We can’t replace the valves because the cabinet is ridiculous and in the way. So we pull the sink and counter off (which weren’t connected to anything except the supply lines and drain…. definitely not the wall or cabinet). Then we snip the supply lines to the sink. WITH WIRE CUTTERS. I can’t make this stuff up! I don’t know what that stuff was, but plumbing lines? Um, no.
2) We pound on the metal cabinet a bit, break parts of it, determine we should just haul it outside in 1 big, heavy piece.
3) Joe swept up many inches deep piles of rust, with a bag of cotton balls,a match, and someone’s resume thrown in for good measure, and cleaned the floor. The one step that was mostly as anticipated!
3.1) With all obstructions gone, Joe can get access to the broken valve. He gets the stub off. Oh looky, the pipe from the wall is rusted, broken, and full of…..? At least we know what size it is now! Thank God for pipe wrenches. Joe got them both out of the wall, without having to damage the tile!
3.2) Hello again home depot! Return things, buy more things. Forget a few things of course.
3.5) Install new supplies, New shut off valves, forget to replace the flanges (whatever, well get the hinged kind), turn the water back on to the house! No leaks!
4) New sink is still on the floor.

To make things more fun, trying to find a compatible walk mount, short spout reach, three hole faucet is proving challenging, even for my super shopping skills. So the adventure continues!

Before

Eeewwww

Ew. Ewewewew.

Done!

Reclaimed and upcycled bookcase

Upcycled door and reclaimed lumber bookcase…. or adventures in hoarding random house parts. Either way, we now have a home for our homeschooling materials!

A tail of a mouse, or kid, and a cookie, or advent calendar.

If you give a kid an advent calendar, they’ll want to eat that days chocolate.
To get the chocolate, they’ll get it out of the fridge.
While getting it out of the fridge, they’ll knock over a glass of carrot juice.
The carrot juice will spill off the”spill safe”shelves all over the fridge.
While cleaning the carrot juice, mom will remember it’s been about 6 months since she cleaned the whole fridge
The mom will regret not having scrubbed it for six months. A lot.
If you give a mouse, err kid, an advent calendar, the mom will suddenly have a new fridge (with real spill safe shelves) on your Christmas list.

Deck update

Apparently I can’t come up with even bad puns at 1am for clever post titles. Deck progressed is rapid, awesome, and loud. We leave everyday when the sawing and pounding start so the girls can get to sleep for their naps.

So far we love the dry lock aluminum decking. It looks great and feels incredibly solid.

Here’s what things look like, from ground level, as of this evening.

And my girls, because they’re adorable.

Eating room

Ha! My phone auto mis-corrected “dining room” for the title. Still appropriate, so it stays.

Before the dining room, aka eating room sees any changes from the work on the deck, namely switching out the windows for patio doors, I wanted to grab some “before” pictures.

The plan is to paint, replace the uuugly ceiling fan, trim room with arch way, doorway, and crown moldings, and add wainscotting. And maybe a picture rail. The husband only knows of some of these plans. 😉 The budget, or lack there of, will determine how much if this gets done soon. And the husband’s level of excitement. Me thinks we may just paint.

So guess what costs Five THOUSAND DOLLARS? French doors. Seriously. Our windows are huge, so getting 8′ doors or shorter ones+ transom in anything other than vinyl is insanely expensive. Thank goodness for craigslist! We found a set of solid wood 8′ tall inswing French doors with no center post (exactly what we were looking for) for $300. Much better.

The Cargo desk was a $40 score at one of my favorite thrift stores a few months ago. Not sure where it will live long term, but for now it’s in here. The table was Joe’s. The chairs are mis matched free ones we’ve been lucky to find or were given. Matching, or at least coordinating ones, might eventually happen. The door is beautiful and I want to refinish it as art, but I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it, so it’ll likely get craigslisted. The table against it is just there to keep anyone from knocking the door down and being hurt since it weighs a ton.

Hanging art also gets tacked onto the to do list.