Rolling Crate Cart

It's gotten colder and I'm at a loss as to how to poly the nightstand...so I've been letting it sit.  What a shock!  Little Boy has been wanting to do a project with me, so I pulled out the stuff to make 2 10$ ledges (11$ for me, to be more accurate) and a Vintage Crate Cart.  I didn't have any pallets to break down (still haven't worked up my nerve to ask anyone when I see them) so I checked all of my scraps and had just enough if I changed the slats...I had 3 1x4s instead of the 6 it called for, but, I DID have 2 1x3s and a 1x6, so I went with that.  It ends up being the same, height-wise, it just looks a teensy different.   I had had Orange cut down some 3/4" plywood for me yesterday.  I bought a 4x8 sheet and had 2 8" strips cut at 11 1/2".  This is just to have some '1x12' on hand that is the same size as Ana's crazy Alaskan 1x12, instead of being 1/4" narrower.  I'll use it when I don't feel like changing all the measurements in a plan to be 1/4" shorter on the cuts, or when something is going to be painted, versus stained.  I will probably end up using some of it for my Dad's table, but I'll do edge-banding on that.  SO!  Long story, slightly less long  I used the plywood for the 1x12 sides in the plan ;)

We went old school with it, so he could help as much as possible.  I used the jigsaw, and a plain hammer and nails for everything but the bottom.  It went pretty well, actually.  Neither of us had any injuries, except he wacked my thumb once.  It's not square, by about 1/3rd inch, which hurts me.  I'll live though!  He had a great time and it got the garage cleaner - I had set the stick of cleaning the garage and finding somewhere to store my wood stash (so much bigger than my yarn stash, but represents less $$$) before we could get started, and I'm glad I did!  We spent all afternoon on the crate, and never got to the ledges.

Once he went to bed, I drilled & jigsawed the handholds (SO uneven, ugh) and sanded the heck out of the whole thing.  I asked Little Boy how he wanted it finished and he said he wants paint & glitter. (I'd prefer a nice stain, maybe a stencil, and some poly)  Talking with the Husbeast tonight, he suggested a bright base colour and some large glitter bits, covered with poly or mod-podge or whatever.  He also suggested I sand down the upper corners, since LB is so clumsy these days.  So, after our playdate tomorrow morning, we'll prime it, then LB and I will head to Hobby Lobby to see what sort of decorations we can find, and Orange or Blue for some wheels!  I have a can of bright red paint in a cupboard from doing the stripes in his bedroom, hopefully that will be an approved colour (I also have a can of black...so maybe I'll do a stencil to satisfy me, and he can glitter everywhere else).  If not, we can always check the oops paint while we're out!

One Stained Nightstand

It almost sounds like a mess-up of one-night-stand ;)  Or a really bad (or good??) one-night-stand ;)

Anyhow!  Second coat of stain went on today during preschool.  Ana is SO right when she says it's all in the finishing, for so many things.  She was talking about the Kids Storage Chair (I need to get off my hiney, buy the wood for these and start building...I know at least one kid who is getting a pair of these for Christmas!), but it really applies to anything you build.  I haven't LOVED any piece until I've finished the finishing..I don't expect to super purple puffy heart this nightstand, but I like it a heck of a lot more now ;)

 2 coats of Minwax Walnut Gelstain.  I'll give it another light sanding tonight, vacuum/tack cloth it, then do 2 poly coats in satin this weekend.  One each day, super-light sandings in between.  It should be moved into the house Sunday, and then ready for use Tuesday!

I didn't have any major Finishing Fail happen with this piece.  I used the Walnut tinted wood filler for the nail & screw holes.  On the screw holes you can kind of see the darker circle if you look for it, but it's not a huge deal.  I tried to keep them centered so they'd look like intentional design if they showed ;)

I didn't sand this to a silky-perfection before finishing.  I wanted it to go with the 'reclaimed wood' look of the headboard.  I did a decent sand with 80 grit and called it good.  I wanted some of the hammer bangs and flaws to show through the stain.

Yes yes, horribly untidy garage.

Master Bathroom Blah

Current plans for the master bathroom - do the ceiling, paint the walls Valspar's 'Sea Salt', strip & stain the vanity cabinets a java or espresso colour.  New shower curtain & rug, new towel & TP holder, new cabinet hardware. 

I would LOVE to eventually build a new cabinet base, going with a standard width from Blue or Orange (I think 47" for a double sink?), buy a new top (although, I wouldn't mind saving the dough and doing a wood top with a crapton of poly.  But in spite of being a wood-lover, Husbeast is dead against this), replace the GIANT mirror with 2 smaller mirrors, build a floor-ceiling linen cabinet either right inside the door, or between the new vanity and the bog (either option would involve moving an electrical outlet).  New flooring.  I don't care what anymore, it's just ugly.  I wouldn't mind the new 'stone tile' mimic vinyl.  It looks really good, and seems to be a good choice for a budget redo.  Considering knocking into the wall to do some cubbie-shelves in between the studs (this could look nice in between the 2 mirrors).

Pipe-dreams - Replace the garden tub with a smaller jet tub.  It can fit 2, sure, but not the 4 we currently can get in there!  (Such a waste of a tub, we can't even use it, it's too big to fill!)  Put a shower in where the bog is.  Move the bog over (where my sink is), and then put in a smaller vanity, sacrificing a sink if need be or even part of my walk-in closet to make more room.  Heated stone floor.  Glass block window.

Pics from when we moved in -

Monday Monday..

Got the 3 windows upstairs washed & primed today.  Little Boy's bedroom, guest room, and the master bathroom windows.  They're all single-wide.  No rot, just flaking paint :)  Also, scrubbed/scraped/sanded/primed the peeling ceiling in the master bath.  I'm assuming the ceiling paint hasn't been done since the house was built 17 or 18 years ago.  It was flaking & peeling in random spots, so I'm not necessarily blaming humidity at this time.  Although, I've become a bit of a fan-Nazi for at least part of my shower! 

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll caulk any gaps and prime again.  They may or may not get properly painted Wednesday.  Two coats of primer should hold them through the winter!  I am so damned sick of windows.  Window painting, washing, maintenance, discovering they're rotten, trying to fit new windows into the budget, discovering the rotten part of the patio doors, even picking out a stupid blind or curtain for the kitchen sink window..anything with glass can kiss my ass at this point!

I'd rather spend Wednesday preschool time staining the nightstand!  I never got to work on it this weekend, time just ran away from me.

Saturday Plan

More winterising and trying to get stuff off the to-do list!

Husbeast is heading to Orange or Blue to get new weather stripping for all of the doors.  Also, he will be taking care of the TP holder that's come out of the wall in the little bathroom.  Needs to be moved over half an inch or needs a new anchor, we'll see.  Need to measure and cut the 2 pieces of baseboard that go next to the vanity in there.  (No, we haven't done that yet...yes, we did the vanity last MARCH!).  Replace the furnace filter.

I'm working on Sam's bedroom window, the guest room window, and the master bath window.  If I prime the little spots today and get them washed, then I can paint them properly Sunday & Monday (during preschool) and call that whole project done until next spring when we need to start replacing some of the windows :(  I need to take down screens, store them (in the laundry room..which needs tidying.  My main motivation for that is finding all of my giant fuzzy socks).  I would like to get the nightstand stained this weekend as well.  I can poly monday or wednesday.  It's supposed to be pretty nice this coming week, in the 50s and 60s!  Makes it less painful to have a window open for the day, that's for sure.

I have too many things I want to do, yet again.  I need to stop looking at plans and ideas and things other people are doing, get MY stuff done that NEEDS doing, and then I can start fun stuff again ;)

/ETA - Got the weather stripping & TP Holder done.  The weatherstripping of the front door took FOREVER and we needed to actually remove the door to complete it.  So, that's all that got done today.  I'll start the windows tomorrow, and the bathroom baseboard.  Husbeast is on tap for the furnace filter and we realised today we need to change the main duct to be mainly downstairs.  It's COZY upstairs, and cold down here.  It's a Fall/Spring task, we just forgot ;)

Awwww, I really DO love him!

I finally powered through and got my mojo back!  Brought everything inside to the dining room, so I could crank up some tunes and get this knocked out during preschool today.  Squared it all up, added the middle shelf & supports, and threw some 2" wood screws into the end of each support to just give it some added stability.  Made it just in time to get the Little Boy from preschool!

Nail & screw holes are filled.  Waiting for that to dry, then I'm going to be a cheater!  It seems I was off by about a mm on one board for each shelf, so I'm just going to clamp a guide on and run the circular saw along the edges tonight.  Then, sanding, prestain wood conditioner, stain and poly!

You'd better love this, Husbeast ;)

Winter project addition!

I've been really stumped about what to do with our dining room.  I am SO doing this, this winter - http://www.diynetwork.com/videos/how-to-install-wainscoting/59556.html  In white.  LOVE it!  Sadly, I think Husbeast won't, but he'll just be happy that something is getting done with that room.  I see this, plus a nice buffet/console table, and eventually a larger square table :)

Don't you also love my 500 paint test spots?  And the lameass chair rail?  I'm thinking with the wainscoting, I'll bring the height up a few inches so it comes in line with the pillars that seperate the living/dining.  We'll see.

Effing Windows!

That is one of the few really BAD things about this house that we didn't know about when we bought it.  Either the window was about to go bad, or WAS bad but you just couldn't tell quite yet.  I think they slapped a crapton of paint and epoxy over any bad spots and just crossed their fingers.  Next time we're house-hunting, I'm bringing a screwdriver and poking all of the frames to check for soft spots.

We knew the living room window and the one by the front door needed new outer panes because there was a BB hole in each (I have no idea...a local kid?  the dad?  the kid who used to live here?)...no biggie.  It wasn't leaking air into the house or anything.  But then we discovered the family room window had a really big rotten spot on the inside bottom corner.  Like, stick your finger through the damned frame cause it was soft and rotten :(  Contacted Pella, ordered the new window, their contractor came out THREE MONTHS LATER to install it for a gazillion dollars..it took 3 appointments to get him here.  THEN to top it all off, the j-hole didn't install it correctly so when we had a bad rain storm a month later, the TOP of the frame got soaked on the inside.  At least procrastination sometimes pays off, because I hadn't painted it yet...otherwise I never would have seen the wet till it was too late :(

This summer I was poking at the other windows, and decided to scrub/prime/paint them all again..Went to get started on the one in our room and the effing bottom is totally rotten.  So, I've been ignoring it in the hopes that it would fix itself or something..I don't know?  I just couldn't deal with another 700$ window and a crappyass installation.  A bit later, I had moved on and started the first floor windows.  When we discovered the damned effing dining room window is rotten as well.  And the kitchen sink one.  And the sliding glass door.  I was so angry and baffled and 'wtf'ing I spent a few evenings googling 'window repair' and 'window maintenance' and all that...We haven't been doing anything WRONG!  That was a big concern of mine, that we were causing it.  I can't speak for the people who owned the house before us though.  Until I stumbled upon a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer for our exact model of window, made and installed during certain years (when ours were) that they leak bigtime and cause early rotting.  Fucking-A! 

Here's what I have going on in our bedroom today -

 The whole bottom piece which has the opening/closing mechanism on it has seperated from the main window piece.  You can swing out the whole window, and still have the bottom piece up flush with the frame.

I ended up brushing out any loose bits, vacuuming it with an attachment, throwing a crap ton of glue in there, and clamping it.  I just want a seal so we can get through the winter before having it replaced.  I will happily buy a replacement window, but there is NO way I'm having one of their contractors install it.   Tuesday I will prime it, wednesday I will paint it.  Then probably seal the whole danged double window with that lovely winterising plastic stuff. 

Isn't home-ownership GRAND?!