No one carries Blanche de Chambly around here, but La Fin Du Monde, and it's 9% alcohol content, is seemingly readily available. There is a field trip to Discount Liquors in order methinks, we need to find more gluten free beers as well. (Lakefront's New Grist is the winner so far.)
Skelaxin is a muscle relaxer that I've been put on for my back. (Which would be one of the several reasons for there not being much progress on the house.) The combination of the two totally knocked me out last night. Guess those warnings about not mixing it with alcohol are to be heeded, although laying on the couch watching gymnastics until midnight could put anyone to sleep. I had a damn hard time getting up the stairs though.
The downstairs bathroom is mostly back together. It's livable for now, but the molding around the top needs to come down and be stripped, and the walls repainted. The hinges on the cabinet door were polished with the new grinder, but the door only got a fresh coat of paint, rather than stripped which should still be done... along with the door, window and trim. Later on we have to figure out what to do with the base tiles, which are ugly, and a couple are missing.
Polishing Cabinet Hardware
We have a 6" bench grinder that I bought with the specific purpose of polishing hardware in mind. (And of course it's a useful tool for other future purposes.) We got a fine wire wheel and a polishing wheel for it to do the refinishing, and so far I have a couple notes.
- Vice Grips are necessary for holding pieces without grinding your fingers off.
- Wear saftey glasses!
- Be very careful with things that have a chrome coating, it doesn't take much to go through it. It's best to use a grinder for solid metal fittings. The bathroom cabinet hinges are pretty well wrecked now, but the outside that shows turned out ok. Better than having to buy new ones for now.
- It's not really detail oriented enough for some things. The hinges are a funny shape with flats and bends and so it didn't get all the paint off. If I get around to doing the brass hinges from the kitchen this weekend, I'll post pictures. Use a Dremel for detail work.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Post Lady Loves Our House
It was so sweet, the Post-woman stopped in our driveway to hand deliver our mail and to tell us that she's always loved our house. Also, that if our mail ever gets messed up, that it only happens when she's on vacation. Heh.
It does stand out a bit, but it's small, and modest, and so I was just tickled that other people see the charm in it that we did.
It does stand out a bit, but it's small, and modest, and so I was just tickled that other people see the charm in it that we did.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Then the Motivation Subsides
Progress is pretty much at a standstill. The cats are still trying to coerce me into knitting - no matter where I try putting the yarn, Lola finds it and carries it around the house. The last free weekend we had, we spent moving the last of our junk out of the old place, and cleaning.
Gigi has been moved into the house, which was a fun experiment in figuring out ramps on the stairs and whatnot, but she's in her final resting spot, which is part of the reason why we chose this house - a somewhat useless spot in the entryway/living room that is the perfect size for a motorbike.
Gigi has been moved into the house, which was a fun experiment in figuring out ramps on the stairs and whatnot, but she's in her final resting spot, which is part of the reason why we chose this house - a somewhat useless spot in the entryway/living room that is the perfect size for a motorbike.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
My Cats Think I Should Knit More
Apparently, my cats are unimpressed with my efforts at home improving, and want me to go back to knitting.
I woke up Monday morning to this:
I'm pretty sure this one is the culprit.
After my husband pointed out the yarn farm to me, and left for work, I went back to sleep... until I noticed she'd also hidden one under the sheets. I still can't believe she carried every single one of them from the living room, up the stairs, and next to the bed.
I should have been mad, given that it was all nice, expensive one of a kind handspun yarn, but it was too funny... and she's just too sweet. (and none of it was damaged.)
I woke up Monday morning to this:
I'm pretty sure this one is the culprit.
After my husband pointed out the yarn farm to me, and left for work, I went back to sleep... until I noticed she'd also hidden one under the sheets. I still can't believe she carried every single one of them from the living room, up the stairs, and next to the bed.
I should have been mad, given that it was all nice, expensive one of a kind handspun yarn, but it was too funny... and she's just too sweet. (and none of it was damaged.)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tales of an Amateur Stripper
So what better way to spend an early Sunday morning, waiting for my husband to get out of bed so that we could get more piles of Crap from the old place, than with my pals Citristrip and Hyde the hand scraper(s).
I've learned one of the cardinal rules of home improving... and that is don't start a small project unless you're willing to tackle a bigger one. It all started innocently enough, I need to put our toiletries and miscellaneous bathroom accessories away, but have been unwilling to use the medicine cabinet as-was, I wanted to strip repaint it first. It smelled a little funny and there were stains and... well ew.
There were at least three coats of paint on the inside and on the shelves, and I thought I could get away with just the inside, leaving the door on. That didn't work out so well, and so after one round of stripping, the door had to come off along with the hardware all pried out and next thing I know I'm doing the whole thing. I counted five layers of paint on the outside. Two shades of beige, blue, yellow, and white.
Some tips on using this particular chemical stripper:
1. Use the right tools. The first time I tried applying it to the kitchen cupboard shelves, I didn't have any brushes in the house yet, and tried all kinds of things - putty knife, foam paint pad (Don't use these for this ever! They melt from the chemical), and finally a wadded up piece of paper towel. Use a brush. Use a metal paint scraper.
2. Be patient. I wanted instant gratification and scraped as soon as I'd finished applying. It works a little better if you let it sit at least half an hour. I didn't see any great benefit to letting it sit all day. Also, when there are several layers of paint, expect to have to re-do it a second time. Make sure you cover everything thoroughly. I erred on the side of using to much just to be sure, but missing spot will mean for sure having to go back a second time.
3. It's messy. There's no way to avoid it. It's kind of gross to use, but I had a whole bottle of it, and felt the need to used it all up. When it's gone, I'm going to try the heat gun method that everyone else seems to favor.
I've learned one of the cardinal rules of home improving... and that is don't start a small project unless you're willing to tackle a bigger one. It all started innocently enough, I need to put our toiletries and miscellaneous bathroom accessories away, but have been unwilling to use the medicine cabinet as-was, I wanted to strip repaint it first. It smelled a little funny and there were stains and... well ew.
There were at least three coats of paint on the inside and on the shelves, and I thought I could get away with just the inside, leaving the door on. That didn't work out so well, and so after one round of stripping, the door had to come off along with the hardware all pried out and next thing I know I'm doing the whole thing. I counted five layers of paint on the outside. Two shades of beige, blue, yellow, and white.
Some tips on using this particular chemical stripper:
1. Use the right tools. The first time I tried applying it to the kitchen cupboard shelves, I didn't have any brushes in the house yet, and tried all kinds of things - putty knife, foam paint pad (Don't use these for this ever! They melt from the chemical), and finally a wadded up piece of paper towel. Use a brush. Use a metal paint scraper.
2. Be patient. I wanted instant gratification and scraped as soon as I'd finished applying. It works a little better if you let it sit at least half an hour. I didn't see any great benefit to letting it sit all day. Also, when there are several layers of paint, expect to have to re-do it a second time. Make sure you cover everything thoroughly. I erred on the side of using to much just to be sure, but missing spot will mean for sure having to go back a second time.
3. It's messy. There's no way to avoid it. It's kind of gross to use, but I had a whole bottle of it, and felt the need to used it all up. When it's gone, I'm going to try the heat gun method that everyone else seems to favor.
Tinting Shellac
After putting a couple coats of straight amber shellac onto the shelves, it wasn't quite coming out the right color to match the rest of the woodwork. After a bit of research, it appears that TransTint is the best option.
Reddish Brown was selected as we're fond of reddish tinted woodwork over orangey-yellow. About half of a cleaned glass salsa jar was filled with shellac, and then about 3/4 of a tablespoon of dye was added and mixed up. What resulted was a very pretty reddish-brown. Be warned, the TransTint dyes are very potent stuff. I decided that the color was just a little too dark, and so further experimentation will have to happen.
So the shelves are reddish brown on one side, and lighter on the other. You can't see the tops really unless you're very tall, and even then I've covered them with grippy plastic mats.
Next up is refinishing the doors, and my husband needs to set up the bench grinder I got him over the weekend to polish all the old brass hinges. $65 for a tool that we'll have other uses for vs. $100 for new matching hinges. Unfortunately none of the knobs and pulls will match as they're newer and look like they're supposed to be fake old bronze with a heavy patina.
Reddish Brown was selected as we're fond of reddish tinted woodwork over orangey-yellow. About half of a cleaned glass salsa jar was filled with shellac, and then about 3/4 of a tablespoon of dye was added and mixed up. What resulted was a very pretty reddish-brown. Be warned, the TransTint dyes are very potent stuff. I decided that the color was just a little too dark, and so further experimentation will have to happen.
So the shelves are reddish brown on one side, and lighter on the other. You can't see the tops really unless you're very tall, and even then I've covered them with grippy plastic mats.
Next up is refinishing the doors, and my husband needs to set up the bench grinder I got him over the weekend to polish all the old brass hinges. $65 for a tool that we'll have other uses for vs. $100 for new matching hinges. Unfortunately none of the knobs and pulls will match as they're newer and look like they're supposed to be fake old bronze with a heavy patina.
Kitchen - More Progress
The shelves are as done as they're going to get. To be honest, I'm not entirely happy with them. If you look closely, there's a lot of unevenness to the finish, and I really should have put a layer of SealCoat on. They look good from a distance though, and I learned a bit about the application of shellac.
...and this is both of them, and a good example of why I'm always shooting close-ups of the one cabinet. Our house is a sty, a clutter of plastic bags, painting implements, screws, hinges, and our actual living stuff.
...and this is both of them, and a good example of why I'm always shooting close-ups of the one cabinet. Our house is a sty, a clutter of plastic bags, painting implements, screws, hinges, and our actual living stuff.
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