Category : Projects

Cold Chisel, Warm Heart

For some reason I knocked all the tiles off before I demolished the walls. It was sort of fun chiseling them off, but just unnecessary. I suppose I did it that way because all the write-ups I found online talked about knocking tiles off so that they could be reused. In my case, no, I

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Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen

The kitchen has been opened up. The new gaping hole isn’t finished off at all yet, but still: the kitchen has been opened up. Makes a much bigger difference than the photos can convey — a lot more light gets in there and the kitchen now feels like it’s sort of part of the same

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Red Roof On

Cost me $4,500 or something crazy, you’d think I’d be willing to take a real photograph of it. It’s probably raining outside though. Or it’s hot. Either way. The new roof is sort of a reddish brown. You can’t really see the color in the photo. Cell phone pic. It’s been weird having people come

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Some Painted Rooms, Whatever

Posting about Half Dome and Boundary Waters was a lot more engaging. Try it yourself, prove me wrong. (Or right.) Tape ball, before and after: Weight: 0. Weight: equivalent to three rolls of 1 1/2-inch masking tape, three spiders, and a gnat carcass. I kind of like sticking random bug bodies into tape balls. Or at

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The Color Wheel of Misfortune

More like “bad decisions” than “misfortune”. Or maybe more like “difficult, non-binding decisions that could not be made without investment of time and money”. Something like that. It’s taken too long to paint the three rooms I’m painting and part of the deal has been color decisions. Before I moved out here, I was thinking

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Latex Paint Dripping on a Human Face — Forever

Painting has taken a long time. It will continue to take a long time. I’d never done ceilings before. It turns out a lot of paint falls onto your face, some gets in your eyes, and especially when you’re trying to do it in low light, it’s pretty hard to see what areas you’ve coated

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I Kilzed It

I’m becoming increasingly incredulous that anything I have posted or will post regarding the renovations of my house has been, will be, or will have been interesting. With that in mind, I applied primer to my walls and ceiling prior to painting. That’s right: primer. Kilz is the brand name of the primer. It seals

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Blue Tape Special

Painting preparation, the great American pastime. Because the cat urine stench alone wasn’t enough to peel paint off the walls. Filling holes. It’s a metal thing nailed into the drywall that kept the tiles in. Hadn’t realized my baseboards were this ugly. The dropping of cloth is complete. Lacks drama. Not edgy enough. It’s 7:12

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Kitchen Plan II: Revenge of the Kitchen

Kind of hit a setback in the blogging department when my laptop’s video card went south on Friday night and stayed there. Laptop is currently north of here, at a shop, getting fixed. Supposedly. It might be fixed under recall — I’m pressing my thumbs in hopeful anticipation. Here’s another thought on the kitchen. It’s

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I Love the Smell of Polyurethane in the Morning

Smells like… victory. Seriously. First coat. The finished wood doesn’t actually look as dark as this. Now I just gotta wait another 72 hours for it to cure. Depending on the lighting, I either really like the natural wood (no stain) look or have continued misgivings about it. Natural light: looks great. Artificial: misgivings. It’s unfair

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