Feb 29th - leap day

So today was a freebie day.   My flight is coming up and I need every day I could get - so I was happy to have Feb 29th, which only comes around once every 4 years.

I made a trip to Habitat and to Home Depot. I got the downstairs bathroom sink working.  I got the kitchen sink tightened up and cut all the pipes I needed to get the drain working, but lacked one piece, so I didnt put it together, then later when I was ready, realized I was out of glue.  I tried to fit our new medicine cabinet, but it wouldnt work, so I took out the old mirrors and took them over to the glass place and had the broken bits cut off, and then I put them back.  They're now 6 inches shorter.  I also removed a light which was unnecessary and the switch that went with it.  I built a new face for the area now exposed due to this missing light, but havent installed it yet.  I put the quarter-round up in the kitchen (no photos) and cut and mounted the last small piece of countertop.  Installed the track light and fixed the drywall around it.  Installed privacy film on the bathroom door and on the front lower windows.   Made some new light covers for the bathroom lights.

By the way, you feel very typical manly-man when you're completely under a sink with a couple of wrenches and only your legs are sticking out. 

 

 My workshop.  Thought I'd get one photo of it.  This is how I make straight cuts without a table-saw.  Clamping 2x4s to my wood at 1.25" away from my cut line. 

 Paint buckets are hanging on the 2x4s to give weight to my supports so they push the glass flat as the glue dries.

Feb 28th

Worked on painting a lot of little odds and ends - above windows and doors where the roller didn't reach, behind pipes, corners of ceilings (a lot of trimming still needs to be done), the door with the glass insert, a lot of white trim, and nooks and crannies in the kitchen.

Fanette and I always joked that we'd need to make the ceilings in the bedrooms all perfect because thats what people stare at the most.   As it turns out, the ceiling in the room I'm sleeping in had been patched, and i just kept looking at it.   I finally sanded/painted it today, seeing as i was taking out the sheets to be washed anyway -  that will probably surprise Fanette more than anything else I've done in the house.   While I had this paint out, I did around some of the other lights in the other rooms.


I changed out the switch for the front light.   We bought a timer switch, but it doesnt fit. 

I installed knobs on the sink and shower downstairs.

 

Had the heater guy come out and tune up the downstairs heater.  

 

Feb 27

Worked alone today - no visitors.  Ryan had to work and dad was busy.   Got a bit of a late start (10:30 rather than the usual 9:30) and then took a ride out to West Chester to buy a new stove to replace the broken one upstairs.  Then set about making the trim for the microwave and installing the countertop which was previously just resting on the cabinets.  Later I installed a proper box for the lights which will go on the wall (the old one just had wires coming through the wall - not up to code.  I mounted the cabinets on the other side of the oven (but haven't secured the countertop to it yet), and installed a backsplash behind the stove.

 

  

  

  

Its beginning to look more and more like a kitchen.

Feb 26

It was a busy day at the house here.   Both Ryan and Dad came over and did a lot.  

I started the day by doing a big clean.  That included organizing all my screws and nuts and bolts. 

Then the big project of the day was getting the microwave up.  There will be trim along the side. 

 Dad painted a lot of ceilings today and a little more trim.

Ryan fixed the gap in the window on the closet door with about 16 types of trim.

 Ryan got the underside of the sink looking pretty. 

And we ripped off the old light housing.   This fixture needed to be replaced and I figured why go through the trouble of fixing this one when its really ugly anyway. 

I drilled the hole for the vent pipe which means that we're able to mount the countertops tomorrow, then install the sink for real.    By the way, check out the cut I made for this sink.   It asked for 1/4 inch inside the actual edge of the sink - too close for my liking - no room for error.   So I cut 3/4 inch inside, and just made little cut-outs for the clips.  MUCH better. 



I also spent 45 minutes cleaning out the stove so we'll try firing it up tomorrow and see how that goes. 

Feb 25

Today was a fairly good day.  I woke up and fixed the basement door (not as easy as it should have been, of course) and did a couple little odds and ends.  When I woke up, it was beautiful and sunny out.   By the time I left to go to ReStore and HD, there were a few flakes.  By the time I was half way there it was a full on blizzard.   By the time I left ReStore, it had stopped and the sun was back out.   Very odd indeed.  

Anyway, today I worked mostly on electrical.  

 Put the pull light in the closet.


Ryan put another coat of spackle on all of this closet and about 6 other places which had been patched previously.

 Wired up the stove - it works, but there is a ton of cleaner chemicals in there that started to burn off, so I need to cool it down and really scrub it out.  

Added the light to the laundry room using wall-mount boxes and conduit.

Fixed the bathroom lights by tracking down the issue to this faulty GFI box.

Installed the new light in the front bedroom.

Installed the knobs on the doors on the front room.   Used kitchen knobs (Fanettes idea) and cut some pieces of threaded rod to make them fit.  I actually measured these out so they'd be at the same height, but they ended up being at different heights because the doors are not at the same height. 

Dad painted all the trim in the front room, and the hall, including the entrance way.

I ordered some orange fingernail polish and used it to pain the numbers on the window.   The glass paint I tried before did not work too well.

 I changed out the trim pieces on the shower and installed the new head and got the hot water working.   Later, I put up a new curtian and rod so I now have a working shower.   Just need to get some soap. 

The other day I thought curtains would look much better in here than blinds, so my mom and I went to the fabric store and found this nice fabric.  Its a much better looking pattern than the photos let on.  It was only $5/yd, so each window was $10 and I made the curtain rods for $1.50 each.   $23 for the whole thing here - not bad.   But that doesn't include whatever mom's going to charge me for the sewing.   ;-)   The curtains are nice, but in the photos it obscures how tall the room really is.   I think it makes the room look smaller.   I am 6 foot tall with a long reach and I can not touch the top of the window.

Well, its Saturday night - that means that I'm going to have 2 beers instead of one before going to bed.  Woo Hoo.  Party.