Category : Projects

Dismantling the Faux-erplace

Posted on: 26 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation, Projects

It was the wackiest thing in the house, bar-none, and now it’s just a Kilz-swipe away from complete extinction. In a sense, I feel bad about destroying such a one-of-a-kind design element. In another sense, not so much. Before vs. after: The cool thing is that if I reversed the order of the photos, it’d

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Plugger of Holes, Douser of Stains, Demolisher of Closets

Posted on: 24 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation, Projects

Woke up late. Went to the Home Despot twice (twice!) to buy hoses for my new used dryer only to find out I got a gas leak in that system somewhere (should I shut the gas off? no, I’m sure it’s harmless). Don’t imagine that’s all that interesting. But filling nail holes with putty? Spellbinding.

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How to Remove Shoe Moulding

Posted on: 23 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation, Projects

It’s pretty easy. Tools needed: Scraper/Putty Knife (3-inch or so). Small Wonder Bar/Pry Bar (6-inch or so). Hammer (normal variety). Step 1: Jam the scraper between the shoe moulding and the baseboard and wiggle it loose. If you’re lucky, the shoe moulding will come off completely. 2. If you’re less lucky (this is usually the

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Dark Day of the Edge Sander

Posted on: 23 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

The good news is that I’m now completely done sanding my floors I still have a lot more sanding to do. In the meantime, here are ten infuriating things about the edge sanding experience: I don’t think that thing has more than a square inch of actual sandaper-meets-floor surface on it. The pig tail cord

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800 Square Feet and a Cloud of Dust

Posted on: 20 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

I’m done with the drum sander. Could take it back this afternoon, but I paid for it through tomorrow morning at 10:46, so doggone it, I’m keeping it until tomorrow morning at 10:46. Plus I’m lazy and my back is sore. I think it’s more sore from manhandling the washing machine by myself than from

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Things I Now Know About the Guy Who Sold Me His Aunt’s Washing Machine

Posted on: 19 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation, Humanity

Nice guy, actually. I think I probably overpaid for the washer by $45, but there just aren’t many used washers available on the Pittsburgh Craigslist right now. I should probably have waited for the semester to be over, but I haven’t been able to locate a laundromat that isn’t in a scary ghost town part

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Of the Chisel and Gritted Tooth

Posted on: 18 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

I’m thinking of titling my blog posts like titles of Jack London novel chapters. Goal for today was to get the kitchen to a point where I could put it away for a few days while I work on getting the wood floors re-finished. Didn’t get as much done as I was hoping, but it’s

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The Kitchen Plan

Posted on: 17 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

I’m nowhere near done taking stuff out of the kitchen — there’s a pile of cabinets still, tiles still, walls full of glue, etc. Anyway. Once all that’s done, though, this is sort of the plan. Comments welcome. So yeah — it’s not a real detailed plan. Each square is six inches, the room is

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The Kitchen Must Die!

Posted on: 13 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

The cat urine smells bad, but it doesn’t trip me out to think about it. The crap that got left on the kitchen counter, though, that kind of trips me out. I don’t think I took a picture of it though as such. Kitchen Before: 1958: Alive and well as of a couple days ago.

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De-Stapling the Hardwoods

Posted on: 12 May 2010 /
Categories: Home Renovation

I was thinking that somehow I could do this home renovation thing the same way that I did the road trip last year vis a vis blog coverage. Probably not realistic. For one thing, it’s way, way too easy to jump around to different projects. For another thing: meh. But I’ll forge on. Try and

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