Friday night we had a little date night to Lowes where we checked out some carpet.
Saturday morning I went to the house to wait for the refrigerator repair man to repair our refrigerator, unfortunately they sent out a set up technician and not someone who could actually work on the refrigerator, so I had to get that rescheduled. I mopped the walls for the brown paint and touched up some cabinets before going to my hs reunion (10 years!)
Sunday Mum, Dad, and Andrew came to the house to help paint. We knocked out the rolling of the brown (Dad did at least), Mum and I started some trim. Andrew rolled the doors and swept the pool. Everyone was suitably impressed by my water fountains over the pool. Eddie has taken to calling them my show stoppers. :)
On Monday, Eddie's Grandpa Mario, Grandma Esther, and Dru came over to finish all the painting. Dru rolled the closets. Grandpa Mario did touch ups in all the rooms and cutting of the brown. Grandma Esther, Dru and I did baseboards. The carpet guy came to measure and said that all the facts and figures would be in by this evening. The refrigerator repairman came, fixed the refrigerator (woot), and chatted for a bit.
Jeff and his mom Pam came to check the house out. Eddie's eliciting Pam's decorating advice. I want to elicit Jeff's crazy bargaining skills! Pam also offered to come over and weed on her off days, an offer I am more than willing to take her up on.
Today was a non house day. Tomorrow starts with a trip to the dealership and then cleaning: dusting the fans, scrubbing the bathroom, sweeping/mopping the floors. Minor painting: white touch up the cabinets, brown on the trim in the door jambs, spackle then paint the new wooden piece to the linen cabinet, MAYBE some ceiling paint if it's not too high up... Then furniture shopping with Eduardo.
Showing posts with label d.i.y.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label d.i.y.. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
DIY of the Day (Yesterday)
Went yesterday to Lowe's (my new favorite store!...) to find caulk and a gun to caulk the baseboards and walls. One girl came to help me choose the right caulk and a gun to use. After she left, I found myself trying to figure out how to load the gun. Luckily two other guys happened by and I was able to ask them. I felt really silly not knowing how to load the gun...but then neither did one of the workers...so I felt a little better. My caulk lines were pretty straight and looked clean, it wasn't until I smoothed the caulk with my finger that it got onto the wall, and then stuck in funny patterns because of the surface of the wall. I learned that if I didn't release the tension, caulk would continue to shoot out of the gun with reckless abandon for any floor surface nearby! I also learned that I didn't have to pull on the trigger the whole time, but could pull the trigger, move the gun, and then release the trigger and tension and continue moving the gun until it stopped which would make it a little (lot) cleaner.
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| Tools of the day |
DIY Disaster!
Monday we experienced a slight (major?) problem. The up side was the refrigerator was delivered. The down side was when we went to attach the hose from the refrigerator to the wall, it was the wrong size. The Sears guy said that you could just twist it off, but when Eddie tried, something was broken off from a pipe!! So we ended up calling Ray's neighbor Rudy, who came on Tuesday morning to install the part. Once it was installed, the water didn't seem to be working, so Eddie's dad played with it, and at least got the water dispensing from the fridge, but the ice wasn't being made. AND on Wednesday, the refrigerator/freezer still wasn't cold... So someone should be coming today.
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| Our ginormous refrigerator |
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| The hole in the wall I chiseled so we could get a better view of the pipe or whatever was back there. |
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| The piece we were supposed to be able to just twist off... not so much. Fail Sears man |
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| Replacement part we bought for the job |
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| Definitely not a DIY job with the soldering... |
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Catching up...
Wow, so I guess I've fallen behind a smidge with the daily updates with the house... to recap last week:
Eddie's Grandpa Mario worked his sprinkler magic and fixed our valves in the back yard. Now all the sprinklers work, yay!
In the same vein, and on one of our many trips to Lowes, Eddie bought new sprinkler heads to shoot water in the appropriate directions for the raised beds in the back. He also fiddled around until he got the right water flow for various sprinklers in the front and back.
While Grandpa Mario fixed sprinklers, Grandma Esther was a weeding machine! She cleared out the grass/weeds from around the palm tree and in one of the beds!
I started prepping the walls to be painted with this super cool putty stuff! It starts out pink, but then turns white to let you know when it's dry and able to be painted on. :) I'm super impressed!
After watching my painful attempts at painting the cabinets, Grandpa Mario informed me that I was using the wrong kind of brush, so the next time I saw him, he had bought us a "good" brush. :)
I've still been working on the cabinet doors, painting brown and white doors. Even with my labelling system, I mispainted a door, so we had to sand it down and start over again...at least it was only one door. We finished the brown doors and Eddie's dad reinstalled them for me (the first time upside down...which neither he nor I caught). I have two doors that need a couple more coats of white, and one long door that needs both sides painted, but other than that, I have all the other white doors ready to put their hardware back on and reinstall them.
With the weather being kind of funky, I took a break about halfway during the week and headed to Fullerton.
When I returned this weekend, we did some painting! These are the 3 color choices for the bedrooms:
The previously green room
The previously pink room
And finally, we've gotten to estimates about a custom closet in the master bedroom... one guy quoted $1895, the other lady quoted $1531, but the first guy said he'd beat competitor's prices and Eddie likes the hanging bar more in the first guy's closets...I like the price of the second lady. I guess we'll see what happens, as we're meeting with the first guy again tomorrow. In the mean time, we're also prepping the closet for any work to be done.
Tomorrow I'm picking up the mail key, waiting for the refrigerator to be delivered, finishing the white cabinet doors, putting the electrical socket plates back on, taping the master bedroom, double checking the spackle, and maybe taping the hall, entry, living rooms...
Ack. I want the kitchen cabinets DONE like yesterday!
Eddie's Grandpa Mario worked his sprinkler magic and fixed our valves in the back yard. Now all the sprinklers work, yay!
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| Look how beautiful the sprinkler valves are! |
In the same vein, and on one of our many trips to Lowes, Eddie bought new sprinkler heads to shoot water in the appropriate directions for the raised beds in the back. He also fiddled around until he got the right water flow for various sprinklers in the front and back.
While Grandpa Mario fixed sprinklers, Grandma Esther was a weeding machine! She cleared out the grass/weeds from around the palm tree and in one of the beds!
I started prepping the walls to be painted with this super cool putty stuff! It starts out pink, but then turns white to let you know when it's dry and able to be painted on. :) I'm super impressed!
After watching my painful attempts at painting the cabinets, Grandpa Mario informed me that I was using the wrong kind of brush, so the next time I saw him, he had bought us a "good" brush. :)
I've still been working on the cabinet doors, painting brown and white doors. Even with my labelling system, I mispainted a door, so we had to sand it down and start over again...at least it was only one door. We finished the brown doors and Eddie's dad reinstalled them for me (the first time upside down...which neither he nor I caught). I have two doors that need a couple more coats of white, and one long door that needs both sides painted, but other than that, I have all the other white doors ready to put their hardware back on and reinstall them.
With the weather being kind of funky, I took a break about halfway during the week and headed to Fullerton.
When I returned this weekend, we did some painting! These are the 3 color choices for the bedrooms:
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| for the master bedroom; I'm envisioning blue, brown/black, white... |
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| For "Alex's Room," formerly the pink room; chosen by Alex, channeling UFC gray... I'm thinking some combination with yellow and maybe purple?...:  |
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| A popping, energetic green for the green room; makes me think of islands... |
The previously green room
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| Before |
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| After |
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| Before |
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| Dru and Eddie's mom painting |
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| Doing the detailed painting |
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| Roller King |
And finally, we've gotten to estimates about a custom closet in the master bedroom... one guy quoted $1895, the other lady quoted $1531, but the first guy said he'd beat competitor's prices and Eddie likes the hanging bar more in the first guy's closets...I like the price of the second lady. I guess we'll see what happens, as we're meeting with the first guy again tomorrow. In the mean time, we're also prepping the closet for any work to be done.
Tomorrow I'm picking up the mail key, waiting for the refrigerator to be delivered, finishing the white cabinet doors, putting the electrical socket plates back on, taping the master bedroom, double checking the spackle, and maybe taping the hall, entry, living rooms...
Ack. I want the kitchen cabinets DONE like yesterday!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Cabinets Day 4
Painting for Day 4 started out a little slower than planned...
A little paint buying, or rather MISbuying, ... but here are the results!
Compared to:
A little paint buying, or rather MISbuying, ... but here are the results!
Compared to:
Sunday, October 3, 2010
*yawn*
I am so unbelievably tired! Probably because I was up by 5:45 to be ready for 6:30 Mass.
In any case, another busy, productive day. Another trip to Lowes (two actually).
We started the day off with a trip to the MoVal Lowes to pick up the brown paint (Chocolate Chunk...a special Valspar match to the Dunn Edwards color...) and another toilet valve. We headed to Eddie's parents house for the weed wacker and lawn mower. Then we headed to get started working at the house.
I finished off whatever contact papering I could do. Actually I ran out of contact paper so then I started painting the frames of the lower cabinets. Eddie found some white spray paint and tried it on a door. He liked what he saw, so we decided to hit up Lowes on our lunch break. While I contact papered and painted, Eddie worked in the yard, mowing the lawn, fixing the sprinklers, trimming back a tree, falling of the ladder...all that good stuff.
Our Subway lunch finished, we hit up Lowes yet again this time for a sample sized Swiss Coffee for the top cabinets. Eddie was pulling for a pure white, but I wasn't too keen on the idea, I think from something I had read somewhere or other. In any case, we decided on the Swiss Coffee because it was light enough for him, but not pure white for me.
I think our visions are different... I'm channeling "Old World" ...
I think he's channeling something more...contemporary?
In any case, another busy, productive day. Another trip to Lowes (two actually).
We started the day off with a trip to the MoVal Lowes to pick up the brown paint (Chocolate Chunk...a special Valspar match to the Dunn Edwards color...) and another toilet valve. We headed to Eddie's parents house for the weed wacker and lawn mower. Then we headed to get started working at the house.
I finished off whatever contact papering I could do. Actually I ran out of contact paper so then I started painting the frames of the lower cabinets. Eddie found some white spray paint and tried it on a door. He liked what he saw, so we decided to hit up Lowes on our lunch break. While I contact papered and painted, Eddie worked in the yard, mowing the lawn, fixing the sprinklers, trimming back a tree, falling of the ladder...all that good stuff.
Our Subway lunch finished, we hit up Lowes yet again this time for a sample sized Swiss Coffee for the top cabinets. Eddie was pulling for a pure white, but I wasn't too keen on the idea, I think from something I had read somewhere or other. In any case, we decided on the Swiss Coffee because it was light enough for him, but not pure white for me.
I think our visions are different... I'm channeling "Old World" ...
I think he's channeling something more...contemporary?
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Kitchen Cabinets Day 2
So today we got the cabinets cleaned and sanded.
-Side bar- Our day started off with a bargain buy! Just before driving to the new house, we passed a garage sale and a big piece caught Eddie's eye. It was a little bar. So Eddie practiced his (illegal U turns and parking) bargaining skills for a bar which the owner assured was just like the bars in Vegas (?). We loaded it into the back of the Jeep and I had to hop in the back seat to hold onto the bar because it stuck out!
We also made a side trip to Tennessee Gardens, but that's a whole other blog. ;)
So back to the cleaning of the cabinets. Oh ew, I had to clean out what had to some mouse's vacation home...coffee filters, tea bags, and a pot holder. Ugh. I knew as soon as I saw the shredded paper there had been some Mickey living there at some point. I could also tell which cupboards were used for the previous owner's baking...powdered sugar, frosting, etc. Also, there seemed to be a lot of melted chocolate everywhere! It wasn't even centrally located, just random drawers and shelves had melted chocolate. After Pine Soling everything, I got some of the cupboards contact papered...what I learned:
Lowes = Danger Will Robinson!
We spent probably an hour plus at Lowes today! Surprisingly we only picked up a toilet valve, a paint roller, sponges for the roller, and the paint. We ended up still picking a brown...one with less black. We tested it on the unpainted wood usually covered by the refrigerator. We'll do the painting tomorrow. While at Lowes we also looked at some cabinets...which the guy said we should not order unfinished, but rather choose the style and stain we liked and to order it ... more for a remodel than for just working on the doors. We also looked at some tile for our bathroom and browsed in general.
I'm going to show Eddie a white and brown cabinet mix...I'll save the pix and post them later.
-Side bar- Our day started off with a bargain buy! Just before driving to the new house, we passed a garage sale and a big piece caught Eddie's eye. It was a little bar. So Eddie practiced his (illegal U turns and parking) bargaining skills for a bar which the owner assured was just like the bars in Vegas (?). We loaded it into the back of the Jeep and I had to hop in the back seat to hold onto the bar because it stuck out!
We also made a side trip to Tennessee Gardens, but that's a whole other blog. ;)
So back to the cleaning of the cabinets. Oh ew, I had to clean out what had to some mouse's vacation home...coffee filters, tea bags, and a pot holder. Ugh. I knew as soon as I saw the shredded paper there had been some Mickey living there at some point. I could also tell which cupboards were used for the previous owner's baking...powdered sugar, frosting, etc. Also, there seemed to be a lot of melted chocolate everywhere! It wasn't even centrally located, just random drawers and shelves had melted chocolate. After Pine Soling everything, I got some of the cupboards contact papered...what I learned:
- Work with smaller pieces
- Measurements are important
- Contact paper can be pulled up
Lowes = Danger Will Robinson!
We spent probably an hour plus at Lowes today! Surprisingly we only picked up a toilet valve, a paint roller, sponges for the roller, and the paint. We ended up still picking a brown...one with less black. We tested it on the unpainted wood usually covered by the refrigerator. We'll do the painting tomorrow. While at Lowes we also looked at some cabinets...which the guy said we should not order unfinished, but rather choose the style and stain we liked and to order it ... more for a remodel than for just working on the doors. We also looked at some tile for our bathroom and browsed in general.
I'm going to show Eddie a white and brown cabinet mix...I'll save the pix and post them later.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Kitchen Cabinets Day 1
Yuck. I hate cleaning, but cleaning I did today. Scrubbed down the kitchen cabinets, mopped up the floor a smidge. Taped up the walls. Took off the doors and other hardware.
Thanks to Eddie's mom, dad, cousin, grandpa, and grandma who came to help us!
Eddie's Grandma Esther and I tackled the cabinets, while Eddie and his Grandpa Mario walked around looking at all the honey dos. Then Eddie's parents and Grandma Esther took charge of the yard work.
And the evening ended on a lovely note:
Tomorrow's agenda: Buying paint (a door's in the car to match at Lowes/Home Depot) and contact paper, sanding, cleaning cabinets, and painting
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| Sans cupboard doors |
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| Seriously shed some sweat doin' work today |
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| Next step, cleaning and papering |
Thanks to Eddie's mom, dad, cousin, grandpa, and grandma who came to help us!
Eddie's Grandma Esther and I tackled the cabinets, while Eddie and his Grandpa Mario walked around looking at all the honey dos. Then Eddie's parents and Grandma Esther took charge of the yard work.
Eddie's parents saved the day with the power screwdriver which made our job taking off the doors SO much easier!
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| Grandpa Mario and I fixed a new stopper in this toilet |
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| This whole fixture needs to be fixed |
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| We have the part, we just needed the tools...Monday |
Tomorrow's agenda: Buying paint (a door's in the car to match at Lowes/Home Depot) and contact paper, sanding, cleaning cabinets, and painting
It's Official!
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| The keys to the house |
Yesterday I started measuring to figure out how much paint we'll need. If anyone was watching, they'd probably have gotten a good laugh as I wrestled with the tape measure. :)
Today I'm going to the house to measure and scrub down the cabinets because we're starting with them first. I also will start taping some stuff.
We still haven't quite decided on the color... I realized that we can't change the color of the kitchen because it's one whole wall with the rest of the dining and living and hallway! ... So I guess I'm stuck with the mocha...well actually compared to some of the paint chips I brought back from Home Depot on Wednesday, it's actually more of a taupe. And from looking at various pictures online, I think it's best we stick with that darker brown... I can probably bring in more color around the window and maybe above the cabinets or at the breakfast bar... I'd like to stay away from brown and blue...maybe orange and brown?...there are are a lot of kitchens with brown and white...and all our appliances will be white...
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| Where I plan to have a kitchen window herb garden Need to set up some shelves Also will add color to kitchen with "window treatments" |
After scrubbing down the cabinets today, we'll start taking off the doors and hardware and start sanding it down. The flat surfaces seem easy enough, I'm worried about the cabinet molding (?). I guess we'd do that by hand? We'll go get the paint tonight and tomorrow is marked for painting.
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