Morning and boxes

I woke up this morning and started boxing dishes from the two corner cabinets, All the Green set are boxed. I hate mornings before work.

Getting ready to work on the Dining Room

That simple statement actually leads to a bit of work. In order to start the dining room, which by the way will help finish the kitchen since they share a wall and a ceiling, means cleaning it out. Cleaning out the Dining room means that the first requirement is to work on the basement, a bit. The Den has been the catchall for everything large and currently not needed, the Dining room has caught everything currently in use and items that were already there and need to be moved out. First this means all the power tools, hand tools, paint and supplies need to be put away. Now, putting the items away sounds like a quicker enterprise than it actually is. You see, most of the tools and supplies weren't here when this work was started and never had a home, hence...off to the basement to make an area for these to go.

The first step was to clear an area, yes the basement is as cluttered as the rest of the house was. With the community dumpster, I financed, now gone, this means clearing an area with the least amount of scrapping as possible. So the area selected is that between the hot-water heater and the oil tank.

I intend on repainting the entire basement walls and floor and making them a little more water tight. I picked up three gallons of Dry Loc for this purpose. If you have never used Dry-Loc it is sort of like painting with Silly Sand, (search your memory). It pours like mud, it loads onto a brush like mud, and it spreads like ... yes you guessed it...wet concrete.

I have decided to paint the north and south walls and the half north wall in gray, while the the longer east and west walls will be painted white. Actually not only will this give a nice off set, but I have already painted a section of the east wall near the washer and dryer in white, and the paint I picked up and started painting with was gray, so...decision made for me.

For storage I picked up two simple snap together steel and wood racks, one is still packaged and will be used on the wall near the washer while the other has been built and is now alongside the painted south wall.

The area behind the furnace has yet to be painted because i will be replacing the basement door and window first, and the area behind the oil tank still needs to be done, once the tank and area beneath it are cleaned.

The floor will be painted later and that paint I will bring up the wall about 6".

So, now with all the power equipment out of the way, it just leaves...

Everything else (sigh)

Consumer advisory

If you remember we bought and installed 3M grip strips on the ramp for the garage. They go on really easy, Just clean the surface, peal and place.

Back on July 24th, Julie placed them all...

As of December 22nd, two have peeled off and blown away, the rest are all lifting. The treads work great for grip but instead of counting on the adhesive backing I suggest picking up some real wood and universal bonding material and using it instead, perhaps Weldbond.

When you see something everyday, you don't see it

Really? A clothes line and clothes pins?
When was the last time they were used.

Funny thing is, everyday I walk under these, as a matter of fact thinking about it just now, there is a mechanical clothesline system above where I am taking the photo from. Had I actually thought about what it was I would have removed it years ago, but since it never dawned on me it is still in place. As a matter of fact when I spray painted the kitchen cabinet doors, it was those lines I hung the doors from.

Taking it easy

Since kneeling, crawling, squatting, or using the newly trimmed knee is not allowed and I am tired of sitting around getting nothing done, I decided to attack some light work. 

With most of the work requiring woodworking tools having been done for the time being, I decided to put them downstairs where they belong. This required, since tools don't seem to come with them, storage containers. It also requires shelving where there was none. So, new containers, new shelves, and ah...nowhere to put them. The basement has seen years of storing things, things that were set aside for future use and have continued to sit there since. 

The other problem is that since we started painting, there has been very little scrapping. Even so, amazingly, the 30yard dumpster has been slowly filling. Filling with garbage that I have never seen before, seems it has become a community disposal. Since it is nearing the point of being full I decided it would be nice if it had some of my trash in it, so I cleared out part of the basement which should serve both purposes, a place for shelves and junk out the door.

I even found a highchair and infant toy box, 

Also installed quick and easy door draft stops at the front and rear doors.

house on hold

Knee surgery

Devil box Work stopage

I have been getting things done around the house since there is little else to do with it dark when I go to work and dark when I come home. But...

With the upcoming surgery, I decided to get that box of Beezlebub up and working. If I am going to spend a few days almost immobile, I don't intend on just sitting in a chair staring at the walls.

So with the stand completed, Reuben came over to assist in lifting the unit into place. I did a quick connect and it is up and running.

Not everything is connected, I still have to set up the player, the XBox and such and actually run the cable to the different rooms including moving the router to the bedroom.

Now, in the middle of the room, there is a coffee table, a nice coffee table, wood with stone. It's really nice, it's also a tad large, and with the recliner and the reclining couch, it's in the way. Maybe it will go in the den...when I get there. Of  course, it will be there before I start working on that room, the den has become...a storage area.

That table has worked as a work storage area for quite a while now. Thats plaster dust all over it.

The problem isssssss...

The television is now connected, I sat back in the recliner at about ten last night, turned on the TV, and ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The Flloor...The Television...The knee

I have purposely not built the television stand and hooked up the television because TV, I find, keeps me from working. If there is no TV to veg in front of, then I have time to fix things, Plus it was working as an incentive to get the living room completed so it could be set up.

Well, next week, the 11th, I go in for knee surgery, this means no squatting, no kneeling, no over working the knee for a few days. There is no way I am going to be stuck in a house for Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, sitting staring at the walls. So I need to set up the television, this means building the new stand, which means, unless I want to take it all apart again, having the floor done.

let's face it, it needs work. last night after work, I got down on my knees with a pocket knife and chipped off all the little paint splotches from working on the stairs, walls and ceiling. Once that was done I vacuumed the floor and applied the water base sealant. 
I used Bona, which comes in High Gloss, Semi Gloss and Matte. Wanting to keep the livid in older home, (Not Museum floor) look I opted for matte.

You can see in the photo that I will be doing this floor in sections, you can see the sealed cleaned section and the not yet touched section. Furniture will have to be moved.

This morning, before work, I started the television stand...

Made in China, more on that here.

When buying home improvement items

I have come to realize how important it is to have your glasses with you. Your see sometimes, (often), what you think you are buying is not at all what you get. Case in point...

I would like to watch television, I miss tuning into BBC America World News before work. To watch television I have to un-box it and mount it. Before I can do that though I have to un-crate the Television stand. 

Buuut, the hardwood floor in the Living room is disgusting. It needs cleaning and resealing. On Saturday I started scrubbing, old school, just like in the old movies, hands and knees, a scrub brush, a bucket, some towels and Murphy's oil Soap. I started with the section of the floor that runs from the kitchen to the front vestibule. The floor came out nice, the floor grain is looking good, now for something to treat the floor.

Which by the way, is the reason for the first part of this post. I wandered through the labyrinth of Home Depot searching for a Hardwood floor finish. I was leaning towards old school style, wax.

I found a product by "Minwax", it is named, "Hardwood Floor Reviver". A product that revives hardwood floors, exactly what I was looking for. Or..was it. I purchased it. With the section done where the television needs to go, I need to do the floor in sections because of the furniture, it will be move the room, treat a section. Move the room treat a section. I pealed back the label on the back of the bottle for the application instructions. this is where you find the warning, do not use on untreated hardwood floors. What the product should say on the front, instead of hardwood floor Reviver is hardwood floor polyurethane repair. 

BRING GLASSES, peal and read instructions, not cover ads

NO GAS!!!!

Friday morning I threw a load of clothes from the washer into the dryer and a load of clothes into the washer, then went to work.

Laaaaater that day, I came home from work, took a set of Pork chops out of the fridge (boneless) grabbed some frozen peas and a couple potatoes for mashed potatoes and set the items on the counter. I headed down into the basement to pull the dryer clothes and move the others over. As I walked down the stairs I noticed that the dryer was running, nine hours of running. There was no warmth to the clothes but they were dry, I decided to walk upstairs and check the oven....no gas.

I called the Gas Company and because I do not have gas heat they would not make a delivery until "they said", Monday morning. 

Monday morning I did not go to work, I cut a moulding for installation, as I was mounting the gas company called and said they would be there in the afternoon, I complained. I went to work, at noon I left work and went home to wait for them, the arrived at 2:45pm.

Why did I post all that useless information, becauuuuuuse, 
being home, allowed me to get all the furniture moved, the mouldings installed along the baseboard, the mantle stained, and a few other tid-bits taken care of. I was going to build the television stand, but....the floor needs work and I don't want to have to move a stand with glass shelves (heavy) once it's in place.


I miss television.

Stairwell Ombre

The stair case risers will be paint ombre, First I want to know why Hombre and ombre are pronounced the same and second...what one has to do with the other.

When the treads are cleaned, possibly sanded, and re-stained, the up stairs doors and trim are painted, the ceiling at the top of the stairs gets a second coat, and stringers are repainted, Natalie will be painting the risers, just like seen below...

OK, that's a lie, 

They will be painted is a color progression, dark up towards light, based, (unlike the examples below) on the orangy brown woodish color of the wood trim.

Thinking about having the girls wear their painting clothes, so spills and splatters won't show..

Landings and Treads and Balusters...oh my

Work to do...the balusters need paint, The stringers need paint, The lower wall needs paint, the stairway walls need paint, The lower wall needs moulding cut and installed, the stairwell doors and trim need paint. The Newel Post needs paint...

Before,,,

Having brought the television upstairs I had a great incentive to get some work done.
Balusters..1 coat...

Balusters and lower wall completed

Stairway walls under attack

First coat on the stringer top

Second coat on stringer top and thin moulding applied

:Lower mouldings applied

Stairwell walls completed

Upper doors and trim, Tread sanding and staining, Stringer painting, Moulding placement, and riser ombre, are still needed. 

As far as the Living Room goes, there is just three moulding left to place, which I starred this morning (another story). The mantle trim needs staining and the floor cleaned (scrubbed) and coated.

A note here, Compact Florescent bulbs are not really compact, just the base is narrower, the bulbs themselves will not fit behind a glass shield.