Noobies VÜ

Once again I take up my hammer to try and make some improvements to my house. This one is gonna take a little time though, couple weekends worth.
My house is an odd house dear readers, it's kind of a stupid house, it's also unique and I do like it, but damn, every time I try to improve it I run into the idiocy of the former owners.
It gets wretched hot upstairs and I have a real difficult time dealing with it. It's one of those things that I find myself surprised that the people who lived here previously tolerated it. 
I was dubious that there was any insulation on the rear wall and the outside sheathing is looking really bad so I decided to put up some vinyl siding. After an annoying experience with an asshat for customer service at Lowe's (apparently I shouldn't shop for things on Sundays- duh.) I wound up at Home Depot and I found some really inexpensive siding.
Just a little aside, Lowe's has a ton of siding on their website, but they tell you there are 4 profiles and 12 colors, I challenge someone to locate them. Home Depot on the other hand doesn't have anything on their site except for fixture mounts. WTF? This was the reason for my trip to Lowe's but look out! Lowe's doesn't carry siding in their stores, you have to special order (just don't try to look for samples on a Sunday). But Home Depot actually carries siding.
Back to the siding I found at HD. They had a single box of 4.5" double lap for $46! They only carry 5" double lap now I guess. I can also tell you a single box will help no one. Except me! I only have to cover the upper bit above the back roof and it's 32' x 32" and this is more than enough for that. Just FYI, a box of siding is normally $158.
Here's the tragic back of my house, don't judge me I have a budget. lol

 

 

All the projects I've done have been in other parts of the house but I finally decided I should do something in my master. Admittedly it's not like anyone else goes in there, but hey, I sleep there!
I've collected quite a few Egyptian objet d'art; papyrus, tiles, etc but no real place to put them. Then I decided I had a whole wall in my bedroom that I could put them on. 
The only real issue I had was figuring out how best to arrange them. I'm still not thrilled with the end result, but it's a start. Next up, new headboard, book cases and perhaps a spot of paint.
Forgive the wires and stuff from the TV, I just installed it and the shelf so I hadn't really cleaned up.

Since I have moved my TV upstairs I had this fabulous TV stand that I got just gathering dust in the living room looking sad with no real purpose. It was too low to really display much on it and I decided I might have a better use for it.
I've needed more storage for some things from the kitchen and I didn't have any place to store my "fancy" plates. It was still a bit short for that purpose but then I remembered some hardware I had from my old bookcase that I made a few years back but had to sadly dismantle. So I grabbed the stainless uprights and my drill and some more lumber and paint from Home Depot and made a stand to put the TV stand on.
It's not ideal, but it's functional and I don't have a wasted piece of furniture. :)

I have had my washer and dryer stacked since I got them a couple years ago. I have never really liked them like that but the cost of the snazzy pedestals that the manufacturer makes are stupid expensive. I've seen lots of how-to's online and finally decided I'd make my own.
The Supplies

 

  

This seems to happen quite frequently, well, relatively speaking anyway, I have become so lax in my posting that a year can come and go and I don't even notice. The only reason I did this time was because I was trying to show a friend a video that I knew I had posted on here. Yeah, I also learned that some of my videos no longer work. Booo for that.
So, what have I been up to, you may ask. Or not. But who cares? I'm gonna tell you anyway!
I've been doing a few projects around the house, nothing terribly earth shattering by any means but they do make the house more to my liking. Ohhh what I could do with a real budget. Or at least pay someone else to do.
I think the biggest project this year (and one that still isn't complete) is the upstairs floor. Thanks to a certain feline's propensity for peeing on the carpet in the hallway (BAD KITTY!) I found myself having to step up my timetable on replacing the carpet in the house with some wood flooring.
Of course the flooring I wanted couldn't just come off the shelf, no, that would be too easy. For some reason Lowe's and Home Depot both refuse to carry black or black toned flooring beyond the Jacobean Bamboo. That would be fine but I was advised against it as my house is too dry and the floor would likely crack in a few years unless I used a humidifier. If you've ever been in my house you'd know that was folly. har har
I did locate a lovely dark toned oak that had blue-gray graining. I really like it.
I tore the carpet out (ew, BAD KITTY) and was greeted with a sad sad subfloor. I had hoped to change it out but it would have been a huge job (of course, ALL my projects at this house go from small to huge). So, I suffered on. I do wonder if I might pull it all back up before I completely finish and try to do something about the subfloor. It is sooo uneven.