Noobies VÜ

It's been ages since I've last posted on here. Actually I think most of my blog posts start out with: it's been ages, it's been a long time, etc.
My amazing brother passed away a little over 4 months ago and though I'm not quite ready to write about that at this time, (as Legolas says in LOTR, "...for me the pain is all too near.") he is the cause of this post.
After he passed and I spent time in GA for the funeral his gorgeous wife Robin was so kind as to offer me the choice of a couple of his guitars. After conversing with his son Cameren, I chose a beautiful Lake Placid Blue Fender HSS Stratocaster and a kit Les Paul he had been fiddling with. He had the LP body prepped for paint and all the parts but he hadn't painted it or assembled it.
Robin showed me a video online of how he had wanted to paint it. It was a nifty technique called "dipping" where you actually float the paint on the surface of the water and swirl it together. Man, it looks really easy on the video. But there are things they don't tell you which I will share later. Anyhoo, so I knew the technique and I also had the paints (red, white, and blue) that he had picked up for just this project.

 

This video makes it all seem so easy but there are some things they don't go into, ambient temperature outside, that the guitar is actually quite buoyant, and the paint will skim up very quickly; I assume this is more a result of the outside temp than anything else.
I tried to do it earlier in the morning before it heated up much, but I think it was still a bit warm.
A few things conspired to make this a fail in the making.
I had to get some Borax and it turns out it had likely been on the shelf for ages at is was completely solid in the box, it was like a 4 pound powdery brick. So I had to break it up a bit, no biggie.
I did the shaky thing with the paints Chris bought, but I clearly should have opened them all up and really looked at them. I didn't realize until I started mixing that the paints were very old and had partially solidified. The red and blue seemed fine but the white was useless. :(
I of course didn't realize that until after I put in the red and blue. This is when I also learned that the paint was skimming and drying on the surface. I had read of this issue with Testors paints but these were Humbrols which all the forums said were best for this and didn't skim up as much. Again, I blame the temperature.
I still gave it a shot though, perhaps in retrospect I shouldn't have. :( as soon as I saw the paint starting to dry on the surface I should have passed it. But I didn't. I gave it a shot anyway.
This is when I learned how the guitar is very buoyant, you actually have to force it down. In watching the above video I never thought for a moment that they were putting effort into it.
So after I got it dunked and cleared the surface I pulled it out and I think this is where the biggest problem with swirl dipping lies, the paint is not even. The paint will pool and congeal in areas and it makes for an uneven and tragic coat.
So I tried, it looks wretched and I will have a job ahead of me re-sanding and priming the body for paint. I don't feel terrible about it, it is a kit guitar and I know it had been sitting for awhile. I also like to think Chris would have been as gung-ho to try. lol He likely would have been much more successful but...
So here are the before and after (for now) photos of my debacle. lol

At best it looks like Jackson Pollock's drop cloth, at worst it looks like a damn blood clot. 
Just hoping to find someone that can actually paint it for me. I'm personally not a huge red, white, and blue fan but I might see if I can come up with a graphic that can be done on it and get someone to execute it. 
I have ideas in mind, but they are mostly black and blue with some ghost flames or graphics of some sort. I'd like to integrate my tattoo that's for Dad and Chris into it (hell, I need to get that done first. lol).
So anyhoo, I made the effort, and if nothing else comes of it at least I made a new blog post. :) Chris was often on my ass about not posting lately. 

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

I pulled off the old sheathing to take a look at what was under it; I figured if I was going to side it I should go the extra mile and address the insulation as well.
This is what I found...

Last night and early this morning I put in more insulation (The big wads shoved inside the voids really don't offer much I don't think) and secured the sheathing a bit more effectively. Next weekend I install the siding! Hopefully.

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.

I'll probably wind up rearranging them eventually. I'm not sure I love them all blown on one wall, but for now...

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. :)

It holds my pier one dishes, crock pot and the huge pot my beloved brother got me for making gumbo! I plan on getting some baskets and cook books to put below. Storage is always good!

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

 And, the final product, (ignore my poor tiles, and yes, I know I'm gonna have to move those heavy ass machines and pedestal all over again when I fix them. I just don't know how to do the tile yet and I honestly didn't realize how big it really would wind up being. I overestimated the size I needed but I figured it was safer to be too big than too small.)

And there you have it. I'm happy with them and all told it was about $100 a pretty good bargain if you ask me. Just one of those pedestals is $299. I don't have storage in this but I have a few shelves so I think I'm okay with that.

So excited, I finally have my barn-style doors put in! They aren't completely done at this point.
I was able to make a couple of adjustments this morning that I had an epiphany about last night, so that was good. But I need to put on the hardware (handles) and finish putting the trim on beside the uprights to make it look purty. So how did this all begin? Here for your viewing pleasure, the tribulations of putting in doors in a house that didn't want them.

The people who owned the house before (not sure if it was them or the builders or someone in between, let's just leave it as the PODAs -previous owner dumb asses), apparently put doors in where there weren't any or at least changed it up. In painting the sunroom I discovered that there used to be a door into the dining room. It seems that the sunroom might have originally been open to the outside and was enclosed and then the door to the dining room covered and the door to the living room expanded. Or something. God knows. There were a couple of mysteries, I have stucco on the inside of the wall of the living room (covered now with drywall) and they chose to use scrap lumber for the framing. And when I say scrap, I mean they rummaged around in some scrap heap and then cobbled the frame together out of their discoveries. Really? I re-framed the whole doorway with 2x6 lumber WAY over-built. It cost me a whopping $36. Again I ask, really? Whenever they framed that door originally, I can guarantee the 2x4 wood that they used would not have cost more than $20. Stupid.
As you can see evidenced in the image below, they didn't just frame up the doorway with scrap they also built it out a bit to make it so the drywall was flush with the interior walls. The way they did that is lame as well, it would have been easier to simply build the frame mostly flush (accounting for drywall) in the first place instead of having to "shim" it out.
(as always, click to embiggen)

If you can't quite make out the bits check out the image below for a clearer picture.

Once I tore into the wall and got the whole frame removed (doors and windows above) I noticed some disturbing stuff, a good (or bad) amount of water damage- gonna have to figure out where the leak is, and some mold. GAH.

When I started to tear off the molding and casing some of the paint went with it. In HUGE pieces as you can see to the right of the doorway below. sigh. While I can frame and do nifty stuff like that I cannot drywall though I'd like to learn. But at this point it wasn't in the budget and I was worried about bringing in a "professional". For 1, I'm sure they would have told me a whole lot more was wrong and I honestly didn't want to know. And 2, it would have cost a lot I'm sure, and 3. I would have had to wait for their schedule. So I did what the PODAs did and just pretended the problem wasn't there. Sort of. I am aware of it and I hope to correct it once my skills are where they need to be.
All the framing I put up was simply in the doorway and it isn't load bearing, so I'm not too concerned, and the way I put it up I can easily pull it back down when I know how to fix the drywall. So for now, (could be decades let's be honest, I am my father's son) this will suffice.
In the image below you can see how the opening looks.

I had to narrow down the opening as the doors that were there before were 6' wide. The doors I am replacing them with are barely 5' but they are 8' tall which is why I had to tear everything out.

I chose to orient the doors all the way to the right (so the window AC can still blow into the living room to assist in cooling) so I had to make up the width on the left. I really had to think about this one for a bit as to how to cover the hole. Again, I don't drywall. So, I latched on the idea of making this wall a feature and tie in the stainless steel I used above the fireplace. Once I figure that out, it was on like donkey kong.

I had a hell of a time trying to find some barn door hardware that I could afford. The sleek modern stuff I wanted was $2000! WHAT?!

Lowe's and Home Depot were busts, but I did a search (thanks Google) and guess what? ACE Hardware to the rescue. So $150 odd bucks later I had hardware for me doors!

As for the doors, fantastic deal I happened to locate at the local ReStore (Habitat for Humanity), I had been looking for some time for some doors that would work and I happened to see them and thought they'd be perfect. Nice wood doors full panel and quite sleek and contemporary. They were raw and unfinished which suited me fine. Figured they'd be costly, but oh no, turns out the guy there wasn't supposed to accept them and he quoted us $20. For both! Tanya insisted on buying them for me to repay me for helping her with her water situation and I strapped em to the top o' me jeep and took em home. Where they sat for months.

The image below is the trial fit of the hardware and doors. I liked it immediately! The other doors swung out into the room and with the new couch just made the room seem really confined and much smaller than it was.
So the doors fit and all was well with the world. I found some stainless steel flashing at Home Depot (not where I got the stuff for the fireplace- this is important), and had to buy a 50' roll. Holy god! I only needed 16' but I was too lazy to run across town to Lowe's. I should have. This flashing was crap. Scraped up and was no where near as shiny and sleek looking. Of the 50' I was just able to pull out about 20' that wasn't marred or otherwise unattractive. Then came the hard part.

I had decided to wrap some 2x10s that I got to help me cover the hole on the left and then match the look on the right (and frankly help cover where the drywall was damaged from the water and the paint peeling off). Bending aluminum flashing did not turn out as easy as I thought it would. sigh. I was a DIY version of the keystone cops. So many things went wrong I can't even number them all. Suffice it to say it was a travesty. As you can see from the image below, trying to bend it with my fingers along a straight edge a little at a time was not good. Buckling and denting and crooked edges do not a pretty wrap make. sigh.

I soldiered on and kept hoping for the best but the minute I put them up and trimmed around them I knew it wasn't going to work. They looked just fine with the doors open (and let's be honest most of the time they would be), but once you closed them. GAH!
Buckle city. Just horrendous.

So I yanked them down and went on a quest for what I could do instead. Well I went to my trusted Lowe's and found some narrower flashing that was 25' in length and much cheaper and of much better quality. I didn't bend it around the posts instead I got some aluminum L channel and used that to frame them and I think it turned out marvelously! So much happier!

As you can see from the pics below I think it turned out really well. Maybe not perfect, but I am rarely completely satisfied with my projects since I can see all the flaws.

So ultimately, this is the run down: I ran the flashing to the ceiling, not certain I am going to keep it like that I do have an old framed photograph that was my father's that I might put up above the window to see how that looks, but I might just bring them down to the top of the window. I grabbed my drill and wire brush and scuffed up the track for the doors, thought that looked cool. I thought about doing it to the flashing (looks really nifty) but I didn't since then it wouldn't match the flashing above the fireplace. Then I located a piece of glass to use as a transom above the doors. $3 ReStore. So for cost I am into it $150 for the track and wheels, $20 for the doors, $3 for the window, $41 for the crap flashing, $23 for the good stuff, $36 for the framing lumber, roughly $25 for the trim, $14 for the handles, and $14 for the metal pieces I had to use to cover the old doorknob holes. Total price $326 oh and $24 for the paint but I'll be using that all around the house so I didn't figure that in. If you take off the doors, since I didn't pay for them, and if I could pretend the first flashing never happened, I almost got it done for less than $300. I feel pretty good about that. Time invested: 3 weekends, about 60 hours.

The results below, comments?
Open.
Closed. I will be rearranging where I put the shelves, the doors are really pretty and I'd like them to be seen. :o)

Future bits to be done: I'd like to put in glass, preferably some frosted stuff or something so we can get the light into the room even with them closed (the sunroom gets a little cooler in the winter) and then I need to finish the opposite side. Other than that, for the time being, I am mostly done. lol

It's true, my home is contagious!
I have the decorating bug, I've tried to find treatment but to no avail. Well (un)fortunately my roomie has found herself infected as well.
It started with painting her room; a lovely green shade, and finding herself a snazzy mirror to accent it as well.
It has since moved into her bathroom. The other roommate has moved on to greener pastures and with no plan on replacing him she took the opportunity to make her bathroom her own.
Originally she was going to go with a nice blue theme. But upon finding the following shower curtain everything changed! I present to you,
Symptom 1: A hideous bathroom. (as always, click to embiggin)

Treatment 1: a snazzy shower curtain!

Symptom 2: Ugly cabinet with uglier hardware and huge outlet gash.
Treatment 2: New color and hardware and snazzy outlet and cover!

Symptom 3: Hideous mirror (unseen light fixture) and cabinet.

Treatment 3: Fancy paint and hardware, and new clock, (unseen new fixture), more outlets and covers

Same Symptom as above, new angle more ugly

Treatment 3.1 New hardware for towels and the like!

I think the roomie did a fabulous job and I love the fact that she feels more comfortable now. It's always been my desire to have the roomies feel like they can dig in and make something more to their liking. Fortunately this is also to my liking. bonus all around!

I have conquered my wall!
I was concerned that I had wasted money on getting my new speakers and after a couple weeks of thinking I realized that I could make it work without any real modifications.
As you can see from the pic below I had NO extra space between my studs for my speaker placement. The only other thing I might do is use my Dremel and make a couple small reliefs in the studs so that I can engage the little clamps that hold the speakers in place, but the hole is tight enough, I don't know if it will be necessary.


You can see the mostly finished product below, all I have left to do is paint, but since I am changing the wall color it'll be a little bit before I jump into that part of the project.



Unfortunately I was stymied on being able to run the wires behind my trim along the floor. Sigh, I don't know what size of sill plate they used but it's not a 2x4, so I'll have to think about that one again too. I'm thinking I might use a second piece a trim above the first a little ways, maybe make it look like it's architectural if I can. About the only thing I can think of.

It would seem that every damn time I try to do something in my house I find some random thing that keeps me from doing so. Sigh. When I tried to mount my television on the wall I discovered that the studs were too far apart where I wanted to place it. I had to span the space between the two studs that were in the best place (read: closest to the center of the wall) so that I would have something to attach the mount to. So now I have these horrid lengths of 2x4 stuck on the wall. The tv mostly covers them, but from above (which you can see from the walkway upstairs) and from the side they are plainly visible. I realized that the studs were spaced farther apart then normal because of the AC vent that is in the wall. (for the uninitiated: most studs in residential construction are 16" on center- the two I needed were over 2 feet apart so the mount wouldn't reach).

After getting my new couch I decided that it is just too damn cluttered in the room and along that wall. I decided to de-clutter by replacing my current speakers (they are big floor speakers that had belonged to my father and sound really good but are a bit old, believe it or not I'm pretty sure they are older than I am- BIG EYES!) with some in-wall speakers.

Installing in-wall speakers does not concern me too much, cut a hole in the wall for the speaker and cut a hole in the bottom behind the floor molding to hide the wires and voila. Done. BUT my house had other ideas. First I had the studs I had to deal with to mount the tv, now I have to fight an over abundance of studs! My first thought was that the idiots were making up for the lack of studs in the middle of the wall. But then I thought that maybe it's to support the walkway above. I don't really know which of these is accurate. But regardless, I don't appear to have space enough (where I need it) to mount one of my damn speakers. All I need is 12" or so. Talk about frustrating. I may be able to get away with 8" but I am not even sure I have that. The speakers need to be 6-8' apart, (mine will be closer to 10' and the tv needs to be centered between them) so my options for placement are limited. the thing that sucks, the left hand speaker has plenty of space, the right... I have 4' to work with, and believe it or not, I have no option. there are that many damn studs or some other random obstacle. Sigh. Please see pic below for reference, the red are what I believe are studs.

I'm gonna see if I can squeeze out 8" since that is the bare minimum I can work with. We will see.

I got busy again this weekend (I just love having projects to do) and I covered my icky entryway floor with some new wood flooring. Okay, VINYL wood flooring, but I was mainly going for a look and I had a VERY limited budget to work with.Here is the before... (click to embiggen pix of course)


Yeah, it's not supposed to be bowed like that. hee hee. So I had to put in rafters at each of the posts. It comes down to the fact that I should have just poured concrete for the posts. The piers I used move in the ground so when I would increase the tension on the cables (or the wind kicked up and moved the awning material a bit) the posts would move. I didn't realize it was so bad until I started noticing how tight I was making the cables yet they kept getting loose. I thought that the turnbuckles were loosening. I was wrong. sigh.

I attacked my fireplace yet again. I wanted to have a mantle so I could decorate it. So, I ran to my local Home Depot, and grabbed a shelf and some brackets and a piece of wood, along with a nifty new jigsaw and set to work.
This is what I had the first morning, I think I made pretty good headway.
And voila, this morning, 2 days after starting I have made Mantle!
I wonder if it stands out enough really. It just looks like my stuff is floating on the fireplace now.
Opinions? I thought about maybe banding the front edge with stainless just to make it stand out more. (as always- click pix to embiggen)

Woo hoo! All my appliances are in!
Had the same installer as last time oh joy. Not a bad fella, but apparently he can't get to any appointment on time. What is that? The first time, for the range and mw, he went to La Verkin, this time, who the hell knows.
I was told by the company that he would be there between 12 and 2, closer to 12. So when did he roll in? Try just after 2.
I had already removed the original dishwasher, can I say ew? NASTY! When water is stagnant for any length of time it gets completely foul. It reeked like an open sewage pit. And of course it spilled onto the floor, the better to spread the wealth and stench.
So the new roomie (Corey) gave me a hand, whilst trying to keep from throwing up, and helped me get it out of the house (Thanks Corey!). It took a couple hours for the smell to dissipate but eventually it did and all was well, especially once we got the new one put in.
Of course you can see the new one in the pic below. (you can also see my new hardware that I put on the cabinets and drawers) OH and you can't see it in the photo but I also fixed the problem with the microwave where the door wouldn't open. Apparently I quite impressed the installer with my fancy work. go me.
(click to embiggin)

Woo hoo, I now have a new range and microwave! Both are a beautiful black and are marvelous, I can feel myself becoming more intelligent and prettier by the moment.
some picture goodness (as always, click to embiggen):


The installation was a bit of a mess, apparently the guy hasn't lived here long and went to LaVerkin instead of Ivins. (for those of you out of the area that's about 35 miles in the opposite direction) So I had to wait for him to get there. Killed my lunch hour. Then when he got there he had a few issues (not all of them sartorial but that was a biggie- look it up. lol) but I guess my cabinets had some hard wood to drill or whatever, my advice, get a new bit. After he finally got it in he went to open it and, I am sitting in the living room mind you, he pipes up, "uh-oh". Don't know about you but this is not a phrase I like hearing when someone is installing stuff. Turns out that Frigidaire didn't make it so the hinge on the door took no extra space. So, since the microwave is hard against the wall, when you open the door the front edge hits the wall before it's half way open. sigh... looks like I have a project ahead of me. I need to scootch the cupboards over half an inch or so. An hour later, appliances installed and all was mostly right with the world.

I also recently changed out my lighting fixture in the bathroom, the old one was hideous. A little before:


and after with dimming action:

Here we go!
This is what the Fireplace looks like now, scrapped off as much of the rust (well-done people) that I could and painted it with a high heat paint made for BBQ's and the polished up the shiny bits. Looks pretty good IMHO, just don't get too close, that rust did a job on the surface of it. I still need to frame in the stainless, but I need a chop saw before I can do that, so that's down the road.

And here be the kitchen. Still need some hardware, but I like the black cabinets a lot.

It's not quite done, but here is a view of my fireplace. (as always, click to embiggen)


Some people probably think i am crazy for blacking it out, but I just did not dig the previous look, plus, thanks to the brilliance of others, the brick was quite stained and the wood insert was, in a word, hih-dee-us. blah. No more!
I still need to frame the stainless and I might put up some fabu things I found at Pier 1 to cut the severity, but I don't know just yet.

Now this whole exercise, with the fireplace and kitchen, has really woken me up to the grossness and filth that some people live in. Mostly the kitchen. Do people (or these people more accurately) choose to live in this kind of filth or are they simply unaware of it? I was getting pretty grossed out by the amount of grease on the cupboard doors above the stove. Totally nasty. And I think it is very possible that if I were ever to meet the previous owners that I would likely do some talking with the back of my hand. What The Phuck man? The tape, seriously? That was the best you could do?
But then they did eventually put on child proof plastic dealies, on everything that opened. The linen closet doors, the doors for the laundry area, all the drawers and doors on the cabinets. For the love of god people, instead of putting that stuff everywhere, here's an idea, watch your damn kids. My mother was a firm believer in the idea that you teach your children what they can and cannot touch. She refused to put things out of reach or "child proof" our home. It made perfect sense, what happens if your precious offspring goes to a friend's home, or baby-sitter's and they don't have the same precautions you took? Teach your kids that what is under the sink, though tasty it may appear, is not for consumption. Knives are sharp, stoves are hot, and peoples' objet d'art are not toys.
I thought I was going to need a blow torch to get the little catches off the drawers, because the damn things wouldn't let me pull the drawer out so I could remove them. But by the grace of god and a pointy screwdriver I was finally able to Conan the damn things off the cabinet.
I am now at peace, mostly, and I am looking forward to completing my kitchen. hopefully putting the doors back on today, and then... hardware. Someday. Of course the stuff I like has to be just about the most expensive you can get. It's not THE most expensive, but in relation to other choices, its' not cheap.
psh. god I wanna slap some people.