March 07, 2009
well, here we are in virginia...
...again. this weekend we attack the dreaded kitchen. which still has stuff in it, and other interesting challenges. the goal is to paint the exteriors of the cabinets white, change out the hardware (some of which will need new holes drilled), put paintable wallpaper over the existing wallpaper (it was all we could find) and, hopefully, paint the wallpaper. and paint all the trim white including yet another window.
it's a short weekend, we mainly have tomorrow to work. jason is downstairs right now doing... something. i refuse to work after a full day at work then a four hour drive. but - it's his house. i'm just the helper.
this evening we planned that i would email him just before i left work, and he'd go to the q shack to pick up dinner. it worked out perfectly and he arrived just minutes after i did. i was plowing into my cobb salad many hours earlier than we normally eat at what is, i think, my ideal time to eat dinner. i told him that any time he wants to do that, it's just fine with me.
just two more weekends before the house is deemed complete, or as complete as it is going to be. next weekend is the yard sale and moving the tools in a u-haul, which i'm dreading. but then just one weekend of cleanup after that, and we're done.
i'm still blown away by how fantastic the fireplace looks now that it's been painted. we'll have pictures of it later this weekend.
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'March 02, 2009
the white ride
despite dire warnings from teh internets, our ride home was quite safe and quite beautiful. no traffic, no ice, no downed trees, no snow on the road... but snow, snow, snow everywhere around us, on every branch of every tree, on every rolling hill...
me: now see, i actually know the lyrics to the songs on this channel.
jason: really? what is he saying?
me: "i am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. i am the son, and the heir, of nothing in particular."
jason: really? i can't hear anything he's saying.
me: really. oh, and, "i am human and i need to be loved - just like everybody else does."
we painted more today, and j installed shoe moulding in the living room - which has had baseboards but no shoe or cap. i also painted the brick around the fireplace. it had been badly dry brushed or sponge painted the same dingy mauve-brown as the rest of the room. the difference is stunning. we used a sandy tan color on the brick and bright white on the wood mantle. i couldn't stop looking at it when it was done.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:05 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'February 23, 2009
The work on the house
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:38 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'December 28, 2008
grrl paint.
we're in Va for several days working on J's house. the goal is to get it on the market very soon. to that end i have started painting the living and dining rooms. well - the living room. the previous owner painted the living room a dingy brown both on the walls and ceiling and left the old dirty beige trim color as it was. the dining room is painted an equally dingy green - both walls and ceiling again. in this room it appears that a chair rail of sorts was added above some form of wainscoting. some of the trim was painted a light, creamy yellow and some of it was left dingy beige.
dinge. dinge i say.
the walls and ceilings in these rooms have also been textured with stucco, which means they drink the paint. J has five gallons of flat, pale beige paint - i bet i use all five before it's all said and done.
today i didn't feel well after breakfast so i didn't get as much done as i would have liked - only about half the living room, and only one coat. it'll need two. trim won't happen during this trip.
j is catching up on many weeks of yard work while i paint. he was in shock over the difference the new paint is making already when he came in for the evening. "why didn't I do this when I first moved in?" well, now we know. the House of the Future will have flooring and walls sorted before we move in. and anything else we can afford to do.
anyway, i'm sure we'll post pictures at some point in the process. ah, jason has just entered stage right with a camera, and he's taking photos. excellent.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'October 15, 2007
straight and clean
they say this about old volkswagens: straight and clean. means it's probably never been wrecked, no rust, that sort of thing.
i can't say that the windows in the back bedroom are truly straight and clean, because that would have taken a week of work, but they're much straighter and much cleaner now.
there's still much to paint, but i got a lot done this weekend.
Posted by spacegrrl at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'September 25, 2007
the massive painting project
the wall color is complete; the cabinet interiors are complete, and the exteriors are under way. tonight i got a first coat in the baseboards and door moulding, and they will definitely need a second coat.
so fascinating.
i took pictures.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'September 22, 2007
paint tired
i guess i worked for about five hours on the massive painting project. between the room itself and all the furniture i'm painting to go in it, i think i'm maybe a third of the way through what i need to do. i suspected it would take longer than the weekend and now i'm sure it will. that's fine; i'll get the bulk of it done this weekend and that will motivate me to finish it completely.
moses seems to have bounced back after his bad morning yesterday. he was being really cute and wanting to wrestle and stuff this afternoon, which always makes me feel reassured that he's feeling okay. he got me pretty good a couple of times, too. i figure he can't be feeling that bad if he can still move that fast.
anyway, now i'm really tired. i got all cleaned up (i have to admit, i took a shower that lasted more than four minutes. does that mean i don't get to shower tomorrow?) and i think i'm going to get some chinese takeout and relax with one of the netflixen that have been languishing in my living room for some weeks now.
tomorrow the ladder work begins. ugh.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:33 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'September 13, 2007
freakout!
and i don't mean the good, frank zappa kind of freakout, either.
i just moved most of the rest of the back bedroom into the rest of the house. now i feel overwhelmed by it all, and i swear... it's tempting to take tomorrow off and take as much of it as possible to the scrap exchange and goodwill.
seriously-- me and mo in the house like this is one thing, and it's not a great thing. me, j, puppeh and kitteh? what was i thinking??
sigh.
the other thing is that i'm not sure that my furniture plan is going to work. i've got the two big tables in the center of the room now, and they really dominate it. now that i think about it, i think i tried something like that in my old apartment, and it was kind of impractical. maybe i need to keep them in an L shape.
moving all of that stuff, i felt the weight of all of those possessions. i really remember that feeling from my 20's when my whole living space was one big crap pile. i REALLY want to be free of it.
:|:
i didn't hear back from the vet today on moses' test results, so i guess i will hear tomorrow. maybe no news is good news, or something.
he's been great this evening, following me around the house and just generally acting normal and happy.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:15 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'August 22, 2007
welcome to my crap pile
interesting items found in the crap pile tonight:
a vintage dictating machine that has never worked...
a "solid state" tape recorder that defies any current definition of the term "solid state"...
do you want an inflatable black widow spider?
a bell that makes a beautiful sound, which i shall keep...
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'July 30, 2007
condo time
so the other day the roof leaked right into the living room, and i haven't yet paid the roofer for the last job. add that to all the usual house stuff and there are days when i think maybe i should just live in a condo in Cary. of course, then i'd have to live in Cary, which would make for a short commute and the total and complete loss of my soul.
so what about condos in durham? wow, do you know how nice of a condo i could buy in durham? really nice. like, big kitchen with an island and pretty new appliances.
eh, i know i wouldn't really want to, but sometimes home ownership doesn't seem worth it.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:44 PM | Comments (5)
Category: renovatin'July 25, 2007
clutter war: the chronically disorganized
A rich set of links i found today. Almost every one I know has at one time or another expressed distress over their clutter, lack of organization, and inability to overcome problems in organizing, cleaning and running their household. I also feel an almost constant sense of disquiet about my house. Via the web site of a local professional organizer, I found the web site of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.
If you feel like you're at the mercy of your house or your stuff, you should read this stuff.
Clutter hoarding scale. A tool for assessing the degree to which a person is suffering from chronic disorganization. From your typical messy house to the full-blown trash house.
Fact sheets about chronic disorganization
I'll quote from the one called "Common characteristics of the Chronically Disorganized"...
- Accumulates large quantities of objects, documents, papers or possessions beyond apparent necessity or pleasure
- Has difficulty parting with things and letting go
- Has a wide range of interests and many uncompleted projects
- Needs visual "clues" as reminders to take action
Interestingly, I can relate to a lot of the home-specific traits (such as no household calendar in use, cluttered living areas, multiple project begun but not finished) this document goes on to list, but few of the work-specific traits.
Addictive tendencies that can cause chronic disorganization:
Collection addiction (I can't find a specific link but I think this one is fairly self-explanatory)
I have seen aspects of all of these addictions in my co-workers, in myself, and in friends; it's disturbing to find it all laid out in black and white even though i've suspected for years that there are identifiable things going on that drive people to collect gadgets, toys, information, and other things.
it's not that we don't all lead functional lives, but i am completely sick of the constant state of ack that i live in. i have some situational problems (half my weekends cannot be devoted to surmounting my household problems or doing maintenance chores; i have renovation work to do to my house, such as in the basement) but although i have largely curbed my tendency to accumulate junk, i still accumulate things and remain adept at rationalizing everything i purchase or obtain. at the same time, the items i identify that need to leave the house often remain in a "staging area" for months at a time while i fail to get them to goodwill or on the company bulletin board for re-sale.
in somewhat related news, i met today with a basement waterproofer recommended by a neighbor who has been down a path similar to mine. it looks like i also need to get quotes on gutter repair/upgrade/replacement.
Posted by spacegrrl at 01:21 AM | Comments (4)
Category: renovatin'July 11, 2007
the irritations shall continue until your attitude improves, missy!
i was honestly going to write this nice blog entry called "my summer vacation, by spaceCLOVEgrrlPOD". after all the complaining, it seemed like a good idea.
and i will, but that is not the blog entry i shall write tonight.
yes, i went shopping tonight (which was quite pleasant) for some new bedding, and full of happy anticipation i walked into the house planning to wash the new sheets and get them right on the bed.
i walked in the door and said to the cat, "it smells like dog in here."
i walked into the kitchen and realized that it did not smell like dog. it smelled like dishwasher waste water was covering the kitchen floor.
funny how the nose can be fooled.
it took two bathmats and about five towels to get all the water up.
of course, moses followed me into the kitchen and before i could begin my triage efforts, headed for his bowl-- which was where an electrical cord lay on the ground, near but not in water. i snatched him up and locked him into the back bedroom.
i had to pull the appliances out from the walls to get all the water (and wet crap under the appliances). and of course, the cherry on the icing on the cake was the massive coughing fit that gripped me when i went into the basement with the basket of wet towels.
gaak.
i mean, like the mp3 mishap, this is my own fault. i keep band-aid-ing the u-bend under the kitchen sink when i should get someone in to fix it properly.
i still like to complain.
:|:
on the up side, moses seems to be himself again, normal appetite, following me around the house, sleeping on the bed with me at night, and acting all happy and affectionate.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:16 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'May 06, 2007
house, house, house
saturday morning began with a visit from roto-rooter to do a video inspection of my basement drains. i don't feel like re-writing what i wrote to J yesterday about it, so i am repurposing it here:
we ran water into the basement floor drains to determine that they connect to the larger central drain which has access to the drains. (i'll show you). he ran the camera through that drain out as far as he could get it. it went about 18 feet, i think, and then he couldn't get it farther, although we couldn't really see an obstruction. he got out an echolocation (?) device and ran it over the front yard in the location where he thought he'd gotten the camera. it appears that drain heads down to street level to the terra cotta drain opening in the curb, which i may not have shown you-- it's near the driveway of the rental house. that opening has been blocked for years. we theorized that there's a point at about the brick retaining wall where that water is just going out into the soil of the front yard but we could not see for sure. he said he could have someone with a bigger/longer camera come out and try to go farther with it and make a better determination of where the blockage or whatever is.
he charged me $85 for his time, nothing extra for the camera. he said to get roots out of a drain would be $220 plus another $85 or something to treat the roots (which i believe discourages them from growing back in too quickly).
he said the reason the cast iron drain started working again is because when i stopped running water through it, the roots dried out and died off.
i believe i am going to have him come out and root out the cast iron drain. my aboveground solution isn't working and it should be possible to get the drain working again.
as for the drains in the basement and the remaining mystery of where that water is going... that seems less important. the drains don't back up and the water is being carried at least down to the brick wall. that's not the side of the house with the real water problem. and rooting out terra cotta is problematic. digging in there to replace the terra cotta would also be problematic because of the retaining wall and the fact that the water main is there, and who knows what other services.
later in the afternoon, i went on the preservation tour in trinity park. i toured eleven houses and a church (with pipe organ recital) in four hours and it's all kind of a blur. the highlight of the tour, for me, was the first house i saw, a large traditional style house on Watts street where some really stunning design and restoration work had been done.
i am biased, but i really think my neighborhood had a more satisfying array of houses on the tour last year! trinity park is known for having some of the most astounding old houses in durham, in a variety of styles, and really relatively few were on the tour.
in the evening i met up with d&s and georg at federal which is much improved now that students are gone. no trouble getting a table on a saturday night, and no smoke.
this morning i went back to bed after breakfast and wound up sleeping another four hours! guess i needed it. then s called and we walked up to the bull durham house which was open today. ok, so i'm still a bungalow kind of girl, but wow. that house is totally amazing. i wrote to j and told him that if he and i were in the market for a house together in durham right now, i'd be making a pitch for that house. it's at a stage where so much work has been done that it's really move-in ready, but there's obvious things that could be done to take it to the next level. plus the fenced back yard is vast, with a dog pen inside it, a three car garage, and big back deck in addition to the wraparound sittin' porch.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:25 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'December 26, 2006
the house in 2006
i just ran across the big huge list of house things i wanted to accomplish in 2006. so how much did i get done?
the basement
I got an estimate from lindsley waterproofing and did not at all like their approach to the problem, and after talking with neighbors decided to work on my gutters. i've added some downspout extensions and replaced one wayward gutter, but i'm not sure this has done much good. i'm adding more downspout extensions and am now considering calling a gutter company to see if having the gutters replaced-- possibly with larger, covered gutters-- might help.
anyway, the basement isn't dry, so i didn't achieve my goal this year but i guess some progress has been made.
i did paint an old desk that had been in the kitchen, and i've put it in the laundry area of the basement. this has actually really helped the laundry area be more functional.
kitchen
this is where i've made the greatest strides. i've kitted the kitchen out with a lot of new pots, pans and utensils, and i cannot emphasize enough what a difference this makes. i bought two new appliances, a smooth surface electric range to replace the hideous monstrosity that i lived with for seven years, and a portable dishwasher, the first dishwasher i've ever had. the dining room was treated to new chairs and i've put new window treatments in both rooms. finally, my friends helped me paint both rooms. i love my kitchen now.
exterior trim
i never did anything about the exterior trim. it's badly overdue for attention.
floor refinishing
i never got any estimates on having the floors refinished.
outdoor living
i didn't do everything i set out to do but i accomplished a lot. my back screen porch is very livable now instead of being dirty and occupied by broken down, mis-matched makeshift furniture. i have a working gas grill, and i have a new lawnmower that did make a big difference in how well i maintained my yard.
the one thing i didn't do was get my pool set up. however, at the end of the season i had a mental breakthrough and came up with a practical way to create a level surface for the pool. i have no doubt that i will get the pool set up next season.
lawn and garden
definitely my best year yet for the lawn and garden, although that's not saying much.
I did not really do anything about the weedy-ness of my lawn (except a lot of research), but oh well. i don't feel too bad about that, and i have a good idea of what to do next year.
my biggest accomplishment was transforming the raised bed from noxious weed farm into an herb and lettuce garden. i didn't follow through throughout the season as well as i could have but in the end i definitely made a lasting improvement in that area.
i did plant some shrubs in the bare area around my walnut tree, and applied fertilizer diligently to the stunted holly next to it, to no real avail. there's still a huge blank spot there, and i'm not sure what to do about it.
another huge accomplishment was the reclamation of the beds lining the sides of the back yard. there's a lot more work that i could do with those beds, like defining the edge with mondo grass, but now i know how trivial it is to get mulch delivered which will make maintenance of this area much easier.
bedroom
the bedroom didn't appear on the big list o' house stuff but i got a bee in my bonnet about the bedroom a few months ago. i decided it was time the furniture better matched the paint. i painted my bed and my bedside tables, and replaced the bed side lamps and throw rugs. kind of startling what a difference this made. there's still a few things i'd like to do, such as replace my dresser and add a wardrobe.
i realize this probably isn't the most interesting blog entry i could write, but it helps me a lot to see what i've accomplished this year. i tend to focus on what i still have left to do, and lose sight of the improvements i've made. i always hear critical voices in my head that don't understand why i haven't taken care of this or that. well, screw you, critical voices! i've been busy taking care of other things.
so for next year? the basement, the exterior trim, and... we'll see!
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:04 AM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'November 20, 2006
rich creamery butter
the color mary selected is called "melted butter".
today we had a focus group to talk about the intranet at work. for almost ten years now i have worked on the intranet and we've never had a focus group before. it just never occured to us to gather user input in that way.
it was really cool-- i sat in the room as the "subject matter expert". but wow did it screw up my day. i thought i'd get a chance to eat a proper lunch and run to the post office at 2 when it ended, but that didn't happen. i got to run out for food at around 4, and then i got caught in the hall by people wanting to discuss the focus group and i didn't actually eat until 5. i was loopy and tired and stressed and just felt bad, not a big shocker after skipping lunch.
on the way home from work i got a quart of Melted Butter and some sanding supplies, and laid into the kitchen again when i got home. not having a functioning kitchen is becoming a real problem. as i write this i'm now ravenously hungry at the inconvenient hour of 9pm when i imagine most of the places i'd want to eat are closed.
so anyway, the new color definitely looks better than the old yellow but i hesitate to commit to it without seeing it in daylight. but i desperately want to finish this project tomorrow night, put my kitchen back in order and then prepare for thanksgiving.
we've got another focus group tomorrow.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:12 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'November 19, 2006
do what mary says
so this morning i woke up knowing the yellow in the kitchen is wrong. it's too green. and it needs to be semi-gloss, not satin, and i need to really sand those areas where the paint peeled.
shayne came over and she finished up the second color coat in the dining room while i knocked out the cabinets and some of the trim in the kitchen.
she went home and brought back her yellow paint samples. i was deep in indecision mode. we pondered samples over sandwiches. sarah came in.
so sarah worked on trim in the dining room and i worked on the kitchen some more and i deferred the decision on yellow.
then mary walked in. there was nothing we could really give her to do. she has great taste and good color sense. so i gave her a swatch of the dining room paint, a spare floor tile, and sent her to the store to pick out a new yellow.
she brought back many samples-- but of course, she had a favorite. so that is what i'll try. it looks very harmonious with the dining room paint sample. we'll see!
as a bonus i fixed some peeling paint in an adjoining door frame, painted the bathroom window which has never looked right (my theory: it was primered, but someone forgot to actually paint it), and painted the wood window switch plate that J trimmed to fit the awkward bathroom switch.
i am very sore. tomorrow: sanding. after all of this, painting the walls of the kitchen is going to be cake.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:08 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'November 18, 2006
so tired.
tomorrow: second color coat; all the trim, including the cabinets.
:|:
also, feline disapproval.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'painting day one
today and tomorrow i am painting my kitchen and dining area. i've done almost everything i had planned to do in preparation, except for washing the walls with TSP. the furniture and appliances are all moved around, the paint and supplies are bought, and i even woke up and got breakfast right on time.
my plan is to work from 10am until dinner time tonight, and then again tomorrow. i've got some helper elves coming over tomorrow to help carry me through the second day, which will be great. i am sure i'll need a boost right around then.
the kitchen is going to be a deeper yellow with bright white cabinets and trim; the dining area is going to be a sort of coffee with cream color. i'm really attracted to the idea of a very fresh green in the kitchen, but because the floor is a deep green, green walls would be way too much green.
this will get rid of the last of the very pale yellow that the previous owner painted everywhere in the house. now that the kitchen is much better lit, and has more white appliances in it, it's clear to me that it needs a deeper color so it doesn't look so stark.
in the dining area i've got such strong color on the table and chairs that a neutral seemed in order. i want that room to feel a lot closer and warmer.
of course, i had to pack up all the crazy salt and pepper shakers that were sitting on shelves in the dining area. i'll be ditching those shelves since they don't fit in with the room, and i'm thinking now of putting in a series of smaller shelves that spread the collection across the whole wall and make it easier to see. the room is too small to put any kind of storage furniture on the one blank wall, so i might as well use it for decoration. and maybe making that wall more detailed will cut down on the echo-ey-ness of the room.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'October 30, 2006
high efficiency model
sunday morning, we carefully avoided the kitchen full of dirty dishes.
we went out to breakfast.
after breakfast, j suggested that i buy that dishwasher i've been planning to get. so i did. it arrived this morning.
it's a portable, just like both of my grandmothers had. it's (pretty much) the first time i've had a dishwasher since i moved out of my mom's house, about 18 years ago.
it's... very novel. a big box of electricity and water is sitting in my house. i guess that's not much different from a washing machine.
i have to say that it is nice not to have to hand wash that big stack o' dishes. my back always hurts when i do a lot of dishes all at once, and there's no place to dry them all.
anyway, this is an improvement in a lot of ways... i'll gain some counter space, and of course dirty dishes can be stored in the washer rather than on the counter.
perhaps boring to some people but quite exciting to me :)
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:25 PM | Comments (5)
Category: renovatin'July 15, 2006
no joy in the bedroom
today i drove out to downtown raleigh to visit father & son antiques, which now has little in the way of furniture and has trended toward being a hipster vintage clothes store. (of course-- is there any other kind?)
after ten minutes of being lost in the construction zone that is our state's capitol (despite having directions from father and son to my next destination) i successfully pointed the spacepod toward pittsboro, nc, home of beggars and choosers. i blew past the raleigh flea market because i was concerned that if i stopped i wouldn't make it to b&c before closing time.
as it turns out, there was no way i could make it before closing time... because they're closed all fucking summer, dammit. i hit a couple of other places in pittsboro but their antique stores are too high-end for me, and besides a seven-foot-high french antique armoire probably wouldn't, you know, work in my circa 1946 bedroom.
i did some searching on ebay this morning, and nothing seemed to be catching my eye but i'll keep looking there.
this was all brought about by the sudden (though a long time in coming) realization that i'm tired of my bedroom furniture being almost entirely semi-decrepit yard sale crap that is completely mismatched and doesn't compliment the gorgeous color i painted the room over a year ago.
:|:
last night i ate at city beverage for the first time. it's a cute little place, with apparent pretentions of being a tiki bar, though we didn't entirely realize that until we were seated (after a very long wait at the bar) and they handed us a huge menu of tiki drinks along with the dinner menu.
the food was ok, but we all found our dishes to be overly flavorful. i can't remember ever hearing that criticism of food before, but there you have it. in addition, my dish was over-salted.
afterwards, s. and i met xta for a trashy girl movie featuring meryl streep channelling cruella deville (or at least her hair), which was actually quite enjoyable.
in fact, meryl streep's hair was almost a separate character in the movie. somehow, her hair spoke volumes.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:04 PM | Comments (3)
Category: renovatin'June 14, 2006
Not for the squeamish: basement drain
I photographed the large drain in my basement floor. The flash reveals more about its structure than I could tell from the basement lighting. If you know something about old houses, and aren't too squeamish, please take a look and let me know what you think.
the diameter of the drain pipe inside this drain is about the same as the drain pipes outside the house that lead to the storm sewer. note that both of the pipes that go to the street gutter are clogged with tree roots, so the fact that water doesn't back up in this drain (as far as i can tell) is a little mysterious, maybe it goes to the sanitary sewer. The other two basement drains have also always drained pretty fast, some of the fastest drains in the whole house.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'May 24, 2006
Goodbye to The Icky Sticky Stove
My house was without a doubt the nicest, most livable house I saw while house-hunting. There was one obvious eyesore: the stove.
I can't afford to renovate my kitchen, but I can replace the stove. Provided all goes well tomorrow morning, my bright, lovely new stove shall arrive, and the rusty hulking mass shall depart to the landfill.
I've posted a little ode to the crusty old stove here on flickr.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:03 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'April 25, 2006
notes during big rain
the basement is wet. not a-river-runs-through-it wet, but there's more than just a little dampness, and from all the usual places.
i decided to see what happens during a Live Rain Situation.
i've always been able to hear and see water splashing over the sides of the gutters that are right over the outdoor stairwell that goes down into the basement. this has always been a trouble area.
so, the gutters were recently cleaned, and the drain at the bottom of the stairwell is pretty clear, but there's still plenty of water coming in that way. and i checked with a flashlight, and those gutters are still overflowing, which they should not be if they are clean. so WTF?
could be a downspout clog, especially on one of them. when i was working on that downspout a few weeks ago, i could tell i wasn't the first person to mess with it. somewhere along the line, someone ran that downspout into an underground drain, not the kind that originally came with the house, but the black flexible kind you get at lowes, and bury, and hope for the best.
i think the best may no longer be happening. mainly, i'm concerned that the gutter wasn't properly cleaned (or it filled with crap again), or there's a clog in the part of the downspout that is above ground. this gutter is particularly high up and over a stairwell, which is why i hire someone else to clean it in the first place. that should make it fairly interesting to troubleshoot. oh, and i think the power line for the house comes in right under it. good times.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'April 11, 2006
last year's obsession
ooh, look! real simple has an article about how to organize your basement.
this year, it's my yard. last year, it was my basement. or was that the year before? or have i been obsessing about my basement off and on for the last six years? yeah, ok, probably. that's one advantage of the drought-- i can switch to a different obsession.
via lifehacker.
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
Category: renovatin'March 22, 2006
Cooperative Extension Calendar for March
Oh, how I wish I'd been smart enough to look for this when I first moved into my house. The NC Cooperative Extension has a calendar for the Triangle area that tells you what to do each month. For gardening morons like me, this is a great "words of one syllable" guide.
Looks like I need to table my impulses to salt the earth of my back yard so i can establish a lawn that is actually composed of grass. They really emphasize planting fescue lawns, which are planted in the fall.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:40 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'January 23, 2006
the big list
I guess I probably do this, or something like it, every year: I outline a list of things I need to do with the house.
I don't usually get much of it done, but it's good to know what's on the list.
In no particular order, here's the list for 2006:
Posted by spacegrrl at 03:44 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'December 30, 2005
the kitchen follies!
this is so boring that i can barely write about it. you will be fascinated to know that i cleaned the top of my refrigerator (where the appliances live), which was completely disgusting, and then cleaned the appliances, which were slightly less disgusting. well, except for the waffle iron, which i have sadly decided must go. i love that waffle iron and hosted many good brunches with it, but it's probably sixty years old and i don't know how gran kept it as clean as she did for so long. i just don't have the housekeeping chops.
so add waffle iron to the list of things i'll be replacing.
the kitchen aid has to stay on the counter; it's too heavy to lift, but i moved the food processor to the newly clean refrigerator top. that was really all it took to free up the counter on the other side of the sink, and now i have much more free counter space. almost double.
see, i told you this was boring. to you. to me, it is quite thrilling.
and oh, there is more yet to come! you'll see!
also, i got my hair cut. finally. why did it take 36 years before someone put a layer in my hair? it looks so much better this way. if only i had known.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:46 PM | Comments (2)
Category: renovatin'December 29, 2005
sometimes a band-aid is better than a gaping wound...
...even if what's really needed is major surgery.
my kitchen needs major surgery; i've known this for quite a while. it needs a renovation, but that won't be happening any time soon.
so, band-aids it is.
utensils. i think it's time that my love of rusty vintage kitchen utensils be retired. seriously. i bought a microplane. it makes me want to grate again.
lighting. it was pointed out to me recently that a single 40-watt bulb in the overhead might be insufficient lighting for a kitchen, a suggestion backed up by the fact that i often turn on the dining room light when making food, because it's the only way i can even begin to see what i'm doing.
today, i replaced the 40-watt with a 100-watt, replaced the bulb in the over-sink fixture, causing it to work for the first time since i moved in. i put in an under-cabinet light that makes everything look pretty, even the dirt that i can now see very clearly.
there's more to this project, but i won't spoil the surprises. you'll just have to wait for it to unfold.
i know you're dying to see how it all goes down.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:15 PM | Comments (1)
Category: renovatin'June 16, 2005
addendum
- jb discovered some heat damage to beams in the crawlspace. this is very mysterious because there is no source of heat in that area, and the old oil tank wasn't on that side of the house. was there a fire? some other source of heat there at one time?
- of course, now the basement floor is dryer than it has been in a year. i think this is the time of year when it really dries out-- maybe the heat + the dehumidifier is particularly effective. i'm not saying that it's actually dry, mind you. just... more dry.
- i think yesterday was an exercise in how much of home renovation is mental. i really over-estimated the scale of the project. it just seemed insurmountable to me-- and in reality, i think it took maybe an hour. having done it, i feel much more in charge of the situation. hopefully, i'll be tackling my own crap pile that looms down there (which is all small stuff that i can throw in my green trash bin-- doesn't need a special pickup by the city).
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'summer cleaning is way more hardcore than spring cleaning
if only because you have to do it in 95 degree heat and eleven thousand percent humidity.
so yesterday i ran home from work and immediately began hauling crap out of the basement. i was ready for long hours of heavy labor, sweat, filth, and exhaustion. rick! showed up after a little while, and then jb came. and then poof! in no time at all, the three of us had knocked it all out. the crawlspace is cleaned out and the big crap is out on the curb.
having gone through what was in the crawlspace, it's abundantly clear that the previous owner of my house simply used it as a trash dump. it wasn't just scrap lumber which she may have had good intentions of saving; there was a big piece of filthy foam rubber, aluminum siding, and various other bits and bobs that i can't imagine having much use for.
so anyway, i got to go to pizza palace after all. which was awesome. after anticipating an evening of total un-fun, i actually wound up having a pretty good time.
and rick and jb are super awesome for helping, too. wow.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'June 15, 2005
sleeping with the lights on
so last night i braved my bed, but kept a light on and had the cat come sleep with me. and kept the a/c a lot cooler than usual. the thinking being that cockroaches don't like light, cold, or predatory animals that will eat them.
as i was drifting off, i thought i felt one on my neck and freaked out, but never saw the thing and fell asleep a short while later. moseman woke me up at 5 to be fed (which is why i don't normally let him sleep on the bed with me at night), and then again at 7:30, but otherwise the night passed peacefully enough.
i filled the birdfeeder on the back patio and this is now a source of great entertainment for Certain People living in this household. he's out on the porch right now, in fact, enjoying the show.
tonight i'm going to get all the crap out of the basement, and it sounds as if i may have a few helping hands, which is exciting. i'm so very ready to make real progress on this project.
i hate my kitchen more and more. as my mom put it, now that i've decided to hate it, i really hate it. i know i don't have the smallest kitchen in durham, in fact i know at least two households who have smaller kitchens and believe me, i have no idea how they turn out the amazing food they make in those teeny little counter space deprived kitchens. that doesn't make me hate my kitchen any less. after the basement, it is next on the list, baby.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:27 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'June 13, 2005
war.
i walked down into the basement last week and it was worse than i'd ever seen it. stagnant, dank, damp, disgusting.
this weekend, i scrubbed the floor down again, actually it was more like half the entire floor, not just the laundry area. i moved a lot of stuff around and got at some floor space i'd never gotten at before.
when it was all said and done, it seemed like an exercise in futility. nearly a gallon of oxi-clean barely did anything... and with the constant influx of water, it'll just happen all over again.
so just now i called a waterproofing company to come out and give me an estimate. i think i've paid down enough of my debt that i can go forward with this project.
and i called durham one call. much of the problem down there is the large amount of crap left by the previous owner (and, ok, some crap of my own). they are going to schedule a bulky item curbside pickup for me. i just have to get it out to the curb.
i know this is a long shot-- but if anyone is willing to help me carry stuff to the curb, i would be eternally in your debt. i will only get 24 hours notice of when the pickup will happen, but i think i should go ahead and start piling things on the curb right away. i've got some big items, like leftover wood from the building of the screened porch, that is gonna be hard for me to carry alone.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:41 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'May 07, 2005
"Welcome to the 1st National Bank Building. My name is lisa."
my shift as a HPSD tour docent began at 3:20pm; my training consisted of reading through a page of information at 3:05pm, and hearing the previous docent's speil at 3:19pm. over the course of the next three hours, i told 133 people the following information about 123 W. Main St:
"The building was built in 1915 when the 1st National Bank outgrew their original location. They commissioned archictect Frank Pierce Milton to build this building for them in the Neo-Classical style that was popular at the turn of the century. If you look around the lobby, you can see many original architectural details, such as the carved marble staircase and elaborate plaster ceiling, which has been restored. Also original is the ironwork canopy over the front entryway, which has kind of an interesting story behind it. About five years ago, it was removed. At the time, newspaper stories stated the reason as being that it was a safety hazard. However, I have had people come through today and tell me that other rumors were floating around Durham as to the real reason it was removed. It was lost after it was removed. About a year ago, someone spotted it in a local ironwork shop, recognized it for what it was, and they were able to bring it back and mount it on the building again. If you look through these glass doors, you can see the original bank vault, which they have left open so people can get a look at it. After you've seen the vault, if you wish you can take the elevator up to the seventh floor to see some of the offices that have been renovated."
My favorite tour-go-ers were a group of three gray-haired hippies who good-naturedly asked me every possible question. I don't think i've ever said, "I don't know" so many times in a row, but they were very cool about it and we had a good laugh. I can't remember all of their questions, but i seem to recall: "Where were the original elevators? How long has Otis been making elevators? Where was the vault made? Do they still use the vault for money? Are the logo colors of the bank the reason the ceiling of the lobby was painted sky blue? Do the people at Duke mind that the ceiling is Carolina blue?"
My second favorite tour-go-er was the last one. I had sent the other two volunteers off on their way, and was basically holding down the fort until I was officially relieved. A young man in faded black jeans and a studded leather jacket grasping a tour booklet wandered by and I asked him if he wanted to tour the building? He came in and as we were talking, he told me that he lives in a condo in downtown in a Deco building called the Snow building. He looked like he was about my age. I was charmed by the idea of a guy my age who still clings firmly to the old-school punk rock, and lives in a condo downtown, which he likes because it's totally quiet in the evenings and weekends. My kinda guy.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'May 03, 2005
Be an old home tour volunteer!
It sounds like HPSD is looking for volunteers for this Saturday's old home tour in Durham. I think I am going to volunteer-- come join me!
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 20, 2005
the ambitious plan
tonight i finally sat down and ran through my budget. i think i would like to take a very agressive approach to getting the hvac debt paid off, and at the same time stop using my credit card as much as possible. what i've decided to do is to try to be extremely strict with general shopping and day-to-day expenditures, rather than cutting out things like dsl, cable, tivo, and netflix. eliminating those things would save me some money, but not enough to make a big difference.
i do get a kick out of figuring out creative uses for limited resources, so i hope i can do this without feeling very deprived. i can always remind myself of my projected budget surplus figure and what a difference that will make in the debt.
one sad aspect of this is that i'll have to pass up an opportunity to rent a really nice garage space that's only a block away from me. i went to look at it today. it would be the perfect place to allow me to do the westy's body work myself, including painting, but i can't do it right now.
anyway, we'll see if i have the discipline to make it for a month and a half (i can't believe there's still two freaking weeks left in this month). or longer!
let me know if you'd like to go yard sale-ing with me sometime! i'll have to find some way to express my shopping impulses...
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 16, 2005
not quite finished
the guys definitely didn't finish today. the new a/c compressor isn't there-- and the old one still is.
a lot of cleanup occured in the basement and back yard. there's also a lot of mud and standing water. the standing water is interesting. this is kind of new. this might require professional intervention.
it looks as if they installed the humidifier on the furnace today. i see no evidence of a humidistat however.
the entryway to the crawlspace from the basement is now almost completely occupied by two enormous trunk lines-- a supply, and the giant return. both fully insulated. i'm not too sad about this although it'll make it trickier to get that damn scrap lumber out of the crawlspace.
the other giant supply trunk hangs low in front of the staircase to the basement. this is kind of a bummer but you know, its a basement. it's use is utility, not living area.
what i am bummed about is that they didn't use the outside wall vent for my bedroom, and the old outside wall vent-- which was a return in the old system-- is still there, does not appear to be sealed off, and is mysteriously blowing warm air. now, i have to say that my bedroom was the warmest it has ever been last night. but that's something that i want to get straight. if it's now a supply, it should at least be insulated, and i wanna know why new ductwork wasn't installed.
the house is overall feeling very comfortable and i think the general comfort level is a lot better-- cold spots have disappeared. the notion of putting the supply vents on the outside wall and installing a central return was absolutely the right way to go.
they did a nice job of finishing off the holes they had to cut for the central return and i'm very pleased with the position of the grate and its appearance. it is high up on a wall in the hallway, a very typical location and well away from the debris that settles on the floor. the install looks clean and professional.
so i guess i won't sleep in tomorrow morning as i'd hoped, since they obviously need to spend another day on this job. nevertheless, since i no longer feel the need to work at home, and since the house is super cozy, i feel a lot less discombobulated and headed back to being, you know, my usual happy go lucky self. ha.
d. told me today that i handled all of this pretty well, but i sound like i need a vacation. he's not wrong. i so wish i could go camping in the westy! but not until she is roadworthy again.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 14, 2005
SOON
soon i will walk through the house with bare feet
soon i will hug moses on the bed and not have to close the door after me
soon i can go to the basement and do laundry and not worry about dragging it through mud
soon i can walk into the kitchen without a shock of cold air
soon my bathroom floor will be clean
soon my hall floor will be clean
soon
:|:
jason came over after dinner at federal and he said, you know, i don't know how you've done it.
got to federal and immediately started yelling at people. seriously, i never do that kind of thing. i had no idea i was so fucking cranky and felt so crappy until i sat down at the table. i think i was really, really hungry and didn't realize it somehow. there was lots of geeky talk about star trek which i found immensely cheering. it was helpful that a particular member of the wxdu staff who is both supremely geeky and supremely funny was on hand to chill the shit out.
i don't know, i didn't feel like apologizing. usually i apologize when i lose my shit
i've gotta get the dirty cold hallway ready tonight so they can come saw a hole in the lath and plaster and jesus, i hope i made the right decision to let them cut holes in the house. i guess anything that goes wrong can be repaired.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'the things you learn
the contractors just told me that my bathroom was apparently remodeled at some point to include a very small linen closet. the wall was moved forward and a new toilet pipe was installed. the old pipe is still there. so they came upstairs asking where the second bathroom was, thinking there were two back-to-back. that explains the odd little extra space on the back bedroom closet-- that space used to be part of the bathroom! this is all over the crawlspace which is one reason i never noticed it, i never go into the crawlspace.
not sure how i feel about this. the closet is nice and i make very good use of it, but the bathroom is insanely small. it was a good quality remodel, though, so i feel pretty good about it. when i put a pedestal sink in, the bathroom is going to feel a lot larger.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 11, 2005
ready to begin
i anxiously await the arrival of the contractors!
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 10, 2005
keeping the home fires burning
so tonight's lesson is: building a fire is key. certainly i'm just in a better mood, but a fire makes a big difference, not just in how warm the house feels, but in the general cheerfulness level of the living room. physical warmth and... ok, don't gag. emotional warmth.
i also took d.'s suggestion and boiled water on the stove in the kitchen. that plus my humidifier heated the kitchen to the point that i opened the curtain between the two rooms and let the moist heat mingle with the dry heat of the fireplace.
i've gotten a lot done tonight, and of course that keeps me warm and energized, also. the "shower stall" is completely down now. the floor of the basement around the furnace and in the probable new position of the furnace is fairly clear.
i've also pushed many gallons of water into drains. i dunno, it's just kind of a habit. it's sort of meditative :)
as i contemplate the floor, and the valleys and ripples the water has worn in it, i'm starting to wonder if what i really need is new concrete down there. i wonder how much it would cost to have a new floor poured? it seems like too large of a job for me to do myself, even if i could divide it into sections. at the very least, i'm going to have to level the areas with grooves with small amounts of new cement before i seal it.
still a few more things to do before bed... tape on the glass of the windows that are near a duct, so they survive the duct being taken out (hopefully); take the trash out.
tomorrow should be interesting.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 07, 2005
demolition time! boo-yah!
it's a warm day and i'm in a damn good mood.
my hvac contractor just left. we sorted out the routing of the new central return and the exact way the unused old returns will be blocked off (from the back, with insulation, so in the living area the appearance will not change). i'll be able to remove the grates at my liesure, sandblast them and repaint them.
demolition of the old system should begin this week! and of course, he was tickled pink when i showed him the nice, clear entryway into the basement.
oh, but the demolition doesn't stop there! i took at look at that crazy fiberglass "shower stall" thing and i think it's going to be easy to remove. it was a very slapdash job. i have NO IDEA why someone put that damn thing in. i can't wait to take it out, and it'll make work easier on the installers. and since my contractor is considering moving the location of the furnace, when the shower stall thing is gone, i'll have a huge open space in which i can build a workshop-- and it's also one of the dryest parts of the basement.
today i went to the local mega-lo-hardware-mart and purchased what i am fondly calling my $45 Water Intrusion Solution. three extenders for the gutter pipes, to route water away from the foundation, and a can of quick-patch. this stuff can be shoved into holes in masonry that actually have water coming in actively, and it requires a respirator and eye protection.
and i am totally psyched to try it out! for the last five years, i have been water's bitch. it has come in and i have patiently shoved it into the drains, sucked it out of the air with machinery, and tried to pretend it wasn't killing my house. now i have a tool that may actually keep it out and i'm eager to try it out.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'basement "before" documentation
part of the problem in the basement is lighting, so these flash photos are actually showing me things more clearly than i've been able to see them until now.
after working in the basement this weekend, i was feeling energized and encouraged to deal with it. i decided i can try some DIY stuff to reduce the water intrusion, and it won't really hurt. i can always give up later and call in the professionals if i need to, but since i have no desire to turn this into a finished room, i don't need to make it bone dry... just stop the damage.
the photos are making me feel a little more discouraged though.
anyway. goals are to get the water intrusion level down; seal the floor; paint the walls; restore or replace the door to the outside; take out that shower stall thing; restore or replace the windows; build some good shelving and work space.
i think the old hollow wood doors that i've removed from the living area will make great work benches. removing the shower stall will mean i can put an L - shaped bench under that far window-- which happens to be one of the dryest parts of the basement. natural light and no water intrusion! might need to add some power outlets and definitely some lighting...
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 02, 2005
to duct or not to duct? that is the question.
i've met with three contractors so far, and the big controversy seems to be.... ducts.
my ducts are perfectly good. they are not rusty and they are the right size. they could probably stand to be cleaned... on that, everyone agrees. do they need to be insulated? probably, although not everyone feels strongly about that. they are mostly in my basement, which means that some of the heat they lose is reclaimed by the house.
there is one contractor who wants to remove the old ducts and put in new, flexible, insulated ducts. the advantages are that i'll get better hot air out of my vents upstairs, they will be clean and leak-free, and he will be free to design new routing and to really rework the whole ducting scheme in a way that should heat the house more evenly. he has proposed installing a new, central return in the house and changing all of my existing, small returns to outlets. i like that idea a lot, except that cutting a hole in a floor or wall is giving me the wiggins. i also love the idea of clean, new, correct ducting. and finally, i think that new ducting could even help sell the house in the future... it's a very showy way of showing a buyer that the house has been well maintained and modernized.
the down side that i know of already is that i've gotta send a lot of perfectly good galvanized ducting to the landfill. and i just hate that idea. i may also find that his prices are higher... that, i don't know yet. i have his prices, and they are fixed regardless of how we design the ducting. and he is willing to negotiate a little on the prices as well. so we'll see.
another contractor didn't mention putting in new ducting. in fact, the only major change to the ducting that he suggested was adding a second register in my bedroom where i tend to have cold spots. i don't know if his quote will include insulating the ducting or anything like that. we'll see. cleaning it would be an add-on cost to whatever he quotes me.
the third contractor, who i met this morning, did want to put in a central return, did like the idea of cleaning the ducts, was vague about insulating them, and didn't think they needed to be replaced. he turned his nose up at the idea of turning all the returns into registers. nevertheless, i have this feeling that his quote is going to come back on the high end. we shall see.
oh, so very exciting.
in the meantime, although my stopgap solutions are serving me pretty well, it is nevertheless stressful to live without central heat during such cold weather. i tend to not want to work in the kitchen or do laundry, and i have to be sure i'll be home for a while if i start a fire in the fireplace.
even if i can decide which contractor to go with by the end of the week, it'll be another week before they start the install unless i get lucky and they have a cancellation.
:|:
on the up side, i get spacepod back tonight, and it's not going to cost me an arm and five legs like it usually does. still, his battery is going bad, and it's still under warranty so i have to go back to sears and make a warranty claim and get it replaced. his tires are just awful and i have to choose new tires which is a confusing proposition. and his windshield wipers need replacing. at least that's cheap and easy for me to handle myself.
mostly i just want a good night's sleep in a warm house.
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'February 13, 2005
that was easy!
i went to fiddle with iRecordMusic this evening to see how close i could get to my plan of having recorded radio shows playing when i get home from work. well, a new version was available, for free, and it has built in integration with iTunes now! iRecordMusic will automatically update a playlist in iTunes for you when it records a stream.
i have a little proof-of-concept set up for tomorrow that will just play over the speakers of the Cube. My airport express is on order, so when it arrives i should be good to go!
I'm trying to get VNC working so i can remote-control the cube from my laptop in the living room. that way i can set up recordings and remove old ones i don't want without having to leave my sofa. so far i can get connected, but there's something wrong with the display and i can't see anything intelligible.
Posted by spacegrrl at 10:56 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'ah, nature
yes, i remember nature. that place where they don't have television.
i actually did some yard work today. it's gratifying to see how easily the front yard bounces back now, after having put some real work into it late last summer. sure, there's plenty more i could have done with it today, but standing in the front doorway, it looks all presentable now.
i also took on the adorable task of scrubbing my big green curbside trashcan. it had begun to develop a very powerful odor. lovely.
somewhere in all this-- i think during the trashcan adventures-- i stressed my elbow a little. although i really do have the full use of my arm for the most part, it's not completely healed and i'm still supposed to baby it for another month. i'm sure i didn't do any lasting damage and by morning it will be fine. i'm so used to being able to use it however i want, i didn't really think twice about doing yard work today. but i guess i still need to watch it.
now i'm watching 'the way we were', which i've never seen before. after that scene in 'sex and the city' where the girls use it as a metaphor to explain carrie and big's relationship, i've kind of wanted to see it.
we all know robert redford did and still does have it going on. but what i always forget is how hot babs was back in the day. i totally get it. i kind of want to see 'Yentl' again so i can see her dress like a boy.
the first part, when they're at university, reminds me of a little train of thought i've had going on recently. i was trying to pinpoint what it is about the look and feel of 'rushmore' and 'the royal tennanbaums' that i find so appealing. sometimes i think of it as "old new york", but of course, 'rushmore' doesn't take place in new york so that's not really right. today i realized what it is; it's that they remind me of 'the catcher in the rye'. i read that book over and over again when i was in high school, but never since. i am sure i would find holden caulfield unbearably annoying now, rather than sexy and mysterious, but i should try to find my old copy of it and read it again.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:23 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'February 12, 2005
home automation
so this week i've been on a sort of home automation kick. i bought a couple of light timers. i bought some doodads for my outdoor lights that will turn those lights on when it gets dark out. those aren't so good-- the lights are dim. not sure why. nevertheless it's nice to come home to a lit house without having to go through an elaborate morning routine of light turning on (and having lights needlessly burning all day-- my grandpa would be so proud).
now the next thing i'm working on is having some music playing when i get home from work. here is my (yet to be fully thought-through) cockamamie scheme (note that the goal is to avoid all manual intervention and automate this whole process):
1) record radio shows i think i will like using iRecordMusic on the Cube in my office.
2) get them into iTunes (this may require some Applescripting, but I hope I can just save the files to a directory that iTunes will automatically pick up... yet to be investigated.)
3) get an airport express (they are $99 refurbished right now) to send the music from iTunes on the Cube out to the stereo in the living room. (possibly put the stereo on a timer, too, but i'm not so sure about doing that).
4) schedule iTunes to start playing a particular playlist (probably a Smart Playlist that will automatically pick up the latest recorded radio shows) right before i get home. This is easily done with a 3-line Applescript that is fired off by iCal.
if i actually get all of this working, y'all better do some killer radio shows so it's worth it! :)
a programmable thermostat will have to wait til i get a new furnace & a/c; christa says not all programmable thermostats are compatible with all furnaces, and since they're pricey-- around $300-- i don't want to get one now and then have to discard it in a few months.
Posted by spacegrrl at 07:32 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'August 31, 2004
yoshimi vs. the 3-inch flying cockroaches
according to the kil-mor lady, i have woods cockroaches.
i'm guessing my perpetually wet basement, into which i've carried old firewood, where i keep lights on all the time, might have something to do with this problem. guess it's time to start turning off the lights and burning that firewood! too bad it's a little warm...
given the seemingly huge extent of the invasion, i'm going to go forward with the nasty toxic chemicals in addition to other abatement activities. there's just no way i can get that basement to stop leaking any time soon.
i've also got an appointment for the roofers to come out, though not any time soon. and i'm getting a termite inspection. and i left a messsage for the tree guy. i am the yoshimi of house care.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:20 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'August 28, 2004
kicking grasses and taking names
today i wailed on my back yard. the bamboo grass that has taken over both the yard and the beds was knee-high, even waist-high in some places. i mowed most everything, then got the weed whacker going and razed one long bed, the back beds, under the hollies along the side, and the patio.
i took down some volunteer trees. i do have a few that are too big for me to take down without a chainsaw, but a couple of them might be ok to leave. i might need some help id-ing them so i know how big they'll get. i'll post pictures later.
i had one bed of hostas that was drowning in bamboo grass and grape vines. i was pleased to find that the hostas were still there, doing well under the weeds. i have a new-found respect for the hosta! my ferns, as well, were still peeking up through the weeds. i really love ferns and have always wanted to plant a lot more-- but of course i never get past maintenance (or reclamation), so nothing new is ever planted.
i have decided to make a major change to the one long bed along my property line. i took all the plants down to the ground and plan to mulch it with newspaper/cardboard and mulch, like sarah is doing. that way, hopefully it won't get overgrown again, and i'll have the option of planting herbs next year if i get to it. i always feel especially bad about that bed, because it borders a neighbor's yard which is usually very well-maintained, and i'm probably making his life harder with all my weeds. plus he has to look at it.
the previous owner of my house went in for a style of landscaping that i have decided i really don't care for. some things i can change and some things-- like the holly border-- will have to stay. perhaps having my own plantings and having plants that i like will make it easier to be motivated to do yard work.
i would really like to plant a bunch of tulips. i believe that's something i would do either next month or in october. if any of you know anything about tulips and have some pointers, i am all ears.
i wish i could work on it again tomorrow because if i had another day i could really bring it completely back. but i have to do the waaayyyy overdue nbeast registration form tomorrow, and that may well take me all day.
i was supposed to go out of town this weekend for bug-related stuff, but i decided this week that i just had to stay home and work on things here. looking out at the yard, i'm awfully glad i did.
update: photos on my flickr account.
Posted by spacegrrl at 06:43 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'August 08, 2004
lisa - 1, yard - 0. booyah!
yes, i have kicked the ass of my yard. well, i've kicked 90% of the ass of the front yard. mulch and everything. i filled my yard waste bin and about 5 or 6 of those paper yard waste bags.
a concentrated attack seems to suit me; however, the back yard will require several concentrated attacks. that's a bit of a puzzle.
however, i can now call the gutter guys, and hopefully i can also get them to power-wash certain things and wash the windows as well while they're at it. i couldn't call them until the rose bush was under control, because it grows up into one of the gutters.
Posted by spacegrrl at 05:14 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'August 07, 2004
damngood day
got up brightandearly yet rested, nothing like cool weather and sleeping under my beloved feather duvet.
after paying bills online i got to work on the front lawn. reduced the rose bush in size by a factor of about 10. that was quite the task. its bizarre support system of wire covered in plastic tubing has completely disintegrated. if i decide to bring in a pro at some point i may ask them if they can construct a better support system.
decided it was time all the old damp leaves came out of the beds, pulled tons of weeds of course, trimmed a lot of stuff down. got maybe 1/3 to 1/2 through the front lawn, did reclaim the sidewalk which had gotten down to just a narrow pathway and completely filled my yard waste bin in the process. plan to finish the front tomorrow.
in the afternoon my new bug friend chris came over to hang out, talk about the fate of newbug carolinas and we were going to try and steam clean his seats. he also took a hatch-ful of stuff off my hands-- two very old macs, and the original hubcaps from my wheels. i just love young people who love to collect crap.
sounds like he's going to take newbug carolinas and really run with it, he's got tons of enthusiasm and energy, so i'm pretty pleased about that. maybe he can really get something going.
this evening i watched dogtown and z-boys (thanks sarah for that recommendation) which really was pretty great. it made me think about the new beetle culture stuff that i was involved with early on, and now folks are starting to regard certain events as historic, as it becomes clear that new beetle culture is its own little niche in the vw world. i was trying to explain to chris how new beetle shows are different from the big vw shows, but i think i totally failed to get it across. he really didn't seem to know anything about roswell until i explained it to him, of course now he is determined to go next year. had never heard of nbeast.
during the movie i was able to boot the ibook with the dead hard drive into target disk mode and successfully recovered all of my data! it's now backed up to the firewire drive, as is the most recent data on the powerbook. yes, i have actual backups that are current.
i'm definitely feeling a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. looking out at the front yard, even unfinished, makes me feel just great-- the landscaping is still there, it just has to be uncovered. tomorrow i hope i can finish the front and side, and still get my food shopping and prep done.
maybe tomorrow evening i can get the cube upgraded via target disk mode... then i will have knocked out almost all of my computer maintenance tasks, which will be great! and i'll be able to print again, which will be nice.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'July 10, 2004
vintage
today on the photolog... check out the renovation category for pics of a fantastic vintage bathroom sink... some other vintage appliances to drool over.. and maybe some curtains for my living room?
and also, another 3 billion photos of fabric, each more boring than the last, over on the westylicious page.
Posted by spacegrrl at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'July 07, 2004
the curse of the not-so-color-blind
when i was a kid, we'd go to myrtle beach in the summers sometimes. i remember once visiting pawley's island. i guess. we came away with a pawley's island hammock, anyway. nice hammock. and i got a pair of earrings.
in the store, the earrings were all in a pile, they were different shades of blue and green and white, little bits of porcelain with tiny sand dollar imprints in them. you had to pick your own pair.
i picked two that had colors that looked right together to me. the woman in the store looked at what i picked and said i'd done a good job. on a lot of them, the colors didn't match. she said to my mom, "usually i have to help people get it right."
i've been looking at the tile in my bathroom for five years now. i knew as soon as i saw it that the color wasn't right, but it wasn't until this week that i realized that the tile wasn't original. the shower curtain came down while i was pulling off the shower door tracks, so i got a good long look at the tile, all of the tile, and i could see the little crooked cracks where they'd made the soap holder fit, the slightly-off bits where they'd shimmed in the trim pieces. i recognized that for the unprofessional job it was, because i just got finished doing the same thing in christa's bathroom and now i know what it looks like.
i was upset. i was honestly upset. the color is wrong, i know it, now i know why, and it makes me unhappy that someone replaced all of that tile-- not a small job at all-- and picked the wrong damn thing to replace it with.
now this weird color sense i have doesn't usually help me much. it's more of a curse than a gift. i usually know when something is wrong, but i don't always know how to fix it, or what will be right. so i'm stuck with a wrong thing that i know is wrong, and bothers me to no end, and can only guess at what might solve the problem-- or make it worse.
ok, every once in a while it helps. one day i was in lowe's with christa and she was trying to find the color of her walls in a paint chip. she picked up a chip and said, "i think this is the color". i said, "no..." and looked over the chips. picked one that looked right and said, "this is the color of your living room."
a few days later she told me that i'd been dead on.
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Category: renovatin'July 04, 2004
the bathroom project, part 2, or "shower doors are bad"
Now I'm getting somewhere! In the photolog can be found evidence of why shower doors are sucky. Also, my beautiful new linen closet-- and a special bonus, a head start on the bedroom project.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'the bathroom project
so today on the photolog, we are featuring the bathroom project.
feeling defeated by the immense piles of crap in the living room and bedroom, i decided to attack a much smaller room-- the bathroom.
once the linen closet has been thoroughly cleaned out and re-organized, i may allow myself to replace the bath towels/shower curtain/rugs with deep red ones, which I think would look astounding in my vintage black and white bathroom. then i really will need to replace that ugly ass brown sink cabinet thingie. and get the shower door tracks off the wall for once and all.
you might want some of this stuff...
if you like to dye your hair pink or purple, or use black or red henna on it, or even if you just have a shower cap fetish-- get in touch, some free stuff could be coming your way!
Posted by spacegrrl at 12:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'July 03, 2004
real estate
Owning the westy has made me start to think, in the forefront of my brain, "I want a garage. Better parking. A paved driveway."
Thursday night I sat down and wrote down my current set of requirements for a house. The first thing on the list was garage/workshop.
Friday I decided to drive down Monmouth to see if anything was for sale. There is a beautiful cottage for sale, with a 2-car garage that has heat and a/c, and a wired workshop already built into it. There are other very attractive things about the house. The price is probably do-able.
Today I hashed this over with Dave and Shayne while helping them paint.
Financially, I don't know about moving right now. This was supposed to be the year I padded my savings account out, after the car payment went away. Moving with no savings account seems like the height of stupidty, possibly impossible. There are costs associated with moving.
Getting my house ready for sale would be no small task. I'd have to do everything on the big crazy to-do list, or hire someone else to do it for me. That will cost money, too.
I feel guilty that this house has seen little improvement, and in some ways has degraded severly since I moved in. I feel like I've used the place up, and now I'm ready to go take another neighborhood showplace and trash it, too.
Shayne pointed out that I have made some improvements, and have done maintenance. Which is true. Not big things, but some things. It's just all hidden beneath the insane clutter piles.
Sometimes I think I should chuck most of my worldly posessions, sell the house, and go live in a little apartment in a big apartment complex where everything is beige and my biggest worry would be whether my Tivo worked that day or not. Or, well, I should chuck the Tivo, too.
Stop doing web sites outside of work, and stop going to car shows; stop dj-ing at the radio station, stop throwing Halloween parties and do nothing but work, work out, cook and watch tv.
Ok, obviously, I would never seriously do that, but right now I do feel awash in a sea of work that I want an easy out from.
I'm totally open to advice on this one. It's a given that I should work on improving my house, reclaiming the landscaping. Should I call my mortgage guy to find out if moving would be possible, what I can afford? Should I call Christa's realtor friend and ask her to show me the house on Monmouth? What will benefit me financially in the long term?
Posted by spacegrrl at 05:40 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'June 26, 2004
well, i made a dent anyway...
when i got home from my trip, there was a letter from the national forest service in my mailbox. apparently, they're interested in making my backyard into a wildlife preserve.
but you know, i'd probably wind up with the one ugly forest ranger in the world stationed at my place, and he'd be all up in my bizness, and i wouldn't like that.
so i decided to mow.
i actually did get through the backyard by and large. took over an hour. there's still tons of crap that has to be pulled out of the beds, that will probably be a couple of hours work at least.
then there's the front yard.
in somewhat related news, i'm watching an episode of clean sweep where they clear the house of a woman who is a collector. not one of the really bad ones, because they'd never let someone touch their stuff, but this woman definitely qualifies. her daughter moved back in with her and i think it was the daughter who instigated it. they found rats living in built-in storage under the windows. everyone who is working in the house is being made to wear a ventilator due to the incredible amount of dust and pet dander.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'March 25, 2004
basement, water
well, the good news is that the plumber didn't find a leak.
the bad news is... neither of us could figure out where the hell all the water is coming from in my basement.
it's seeping up from the floor in four distinct locations, all in a line. sounds suspicious, right? but all of my plumbing is above ground, in the basement. if a line coming into the house were leaking, it would be spraying and we could see it.
he did test to be sure my main sewer line out isn't the issue, and it's not-- no water movement occured around it while lots of water was running in the bathroom.
the water meter isn't moving when everything is shut off.
so.. given that we've had dry weather for about a week, where the heck is it coming from? it seems to be some kind of ground water seepage, but the rate of seepage is astounding. i've cleaned up the excess water three or four times in the last day, left the dehumidifier on full blast, both fans on and windows open. normally this will dry the place right out in no time, but instead now it just stays wet.
NFC, as my co-worker tom says.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'January 22, 2004
sliding doors.. and cabinets... and chairs..
i've been shifting a lot of stuff around in my house this week. it's like a puzzle, one that has no right answer, though i can never quite convince myself of that. but i have finally come to the realization that if i have an idea, i might as well implement it, without worrying too much whether it's the right way to do something.
except i couldn't quite bring myself to drill holes in the floor to run cables, so i now have cabling run across the floor in a most awkward way. try not to trip if you come over. i did tape them down, at least.
but the nicest thing is... i'm making headway in the back bedroom. it's the place where the clutter goes to die, a room that has been largely non-functional almost since i moved in four years ago. it needs purging, which won't happen this week, but what i'm doing now will make it easier to purge in the next week or so.
i took a chair out of that room and added it to the living room; it looks hideous. but if i take the non-functioning sewing machine to goodwill saturday, then it can go in my bedroom, where it will look nice!
see, it's like a puzzle.
i now have the stereo in the sideboard that sits in the middle of the living room. the turntable is on top of the sideboard. i like this arrangement, because it makes it very easy to just walk up to it and put a record on.
buffy note: has anyone else noticed that robia la morte, who played jenny calendar, is now in a new york times commercial?
huh. it also turns out that she's on the cover of a prince album.
Posted by spacegrrl at 11:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'January 19, 2004
oh, hell yeah.
who is the queen of the clean and organized closet? you got it. i am. me! i totally wailed on my front hall closet tonight. guests can now be invited to hang their coats there without fear. also, i can find things.
the giftwrap crap was distilled into three small, labelled bags that fit on the shelf.
bags & brollies hang on pegs on the wall.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'January 02, 2004
the kitchen project
over the break, i've been gradually attacking my food pantry, which has been a huge project.
not the least of it has been the spices. over the years i've accumulated (and subsequently hidden in mounds of clutter) many little jars and baggies of spices. in the last week, i've unearthed all of these, thrown out lots of them, added an additional spice rack to accomodate everything, and stored them all in labelled glass jars.
because some of the spices were quite old, i had the opportunity to see what a difference glass jars make in keeping the spices fresh. the little plastic baggies that you get at wellspring are the worst of course-- most of that stuff had to be tossed. the plastic bottles from the grocery store aren't that great, either. really aromatic stuff like cinnamon and dill survive ok, but more subtle things just lose all their pretty smell if kept too long in plastic jars.
to give you some idea of just how old some of these jars were-- when i went to recycle them, i found that some of the plastic jars didn't have recycle marks on them-- so they had to go into the trash, sadly. (i really wanted to think of a way to re-use them, because they're so cute, but i couldn't think of anything.)
here are the old spice jars, cleaned and drying.
now, the original set of spice jars came from sarah bell and claire ashby. yep, rock star spices! i moved into their apartment, about a million years ago, and they left some stuff behind that they didn't want anymore.
i'm not sure why sarah left the spices behind; in fact she told me that she always thought that having a spice rack meant that you are an adult. one thing that has always amused me is the jar of star anise. why they would have whole pieces of star anise is beyond me; i've never seen it called for in any recipe. i did once use some of it for an aromatic collage. so i did decide to keep the anise, even though i may never use it. unfortunately, sarah's hand-written label had faded and peeled so badly that i had to replace it.
so here's the mostly-completed project (a few additional jars are drying after washing.) it looks so small, but it probably took me an entire day, all together, to do this.
those who have fed my cat can attest to what an improvement this is... but the really scary part remains-- the floor of the pantry, which is full of... i'm not sure what, actually. well, i have some idea. i'm kind of afraid. i know there's a bottle of floor wax that i bought about eight years ago and never used. not quite sure what to do with it now.
Posted by spacegrrl at 09:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Category: renovatin'November 23, 2003
painting at sarah & georg's house
yesterday i helped georg and sarah paint their living room. they've done a tremendous amount of work in this room; they had to remove fake wood panelleing, then use a heat gun to remove the glue that held the panelling to the wall. after that they had to repair the original plaster walls extensively with plastering tape and plaster, which then had to be sanded and primed.
however, underneath the hideous 1960's renovation was lurking an adorable early 40's cottage. i got to come in for the final stage-- painting-- which is the easiest and most rewarding part of the project. it's the part where the people who have been living with the ugliness for so long that they almost no longer see it finally get to see their house the way it's supposed to look, and i get to see the "oh WOW!" looks on their faces when we're done. that's my favorite part.
the room does look adorable now. sarah chose a pale golden beige color with white trim. there's a repair that needs to be made to the ceiling before it can be painted; i suggested that she try painting the ceiling the wall color since that might make it seem higher. they took down some bad brown plastic crown molding and don't plan to replace it since it makes the ceiling seem lower.
after we finished, we went out to sushi-thai for dinner, which was excellent. georg let us try some of his duck; i've never had duck before. it was yummy, but very rich-- i'm not sure i could eat a whole plate of it.
Posted by spacegrrl at 02:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
Category: renovatin'November 09, 2003
pergo
today, christa and i finished putting in the pergo floor. yay! we rock.
Posted by spacegrrl at 08:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)