fair and balanced ranting

My new bike workshop

I finished the new and improved bike/woodworking area in my shed. I used to wish the damn thing was smaller but now I wish the shed was 2' bigger in each direction. I got a new ultimate pro bike stand and put all my tools on the wall. I also bought a small rolling drawer unit from IKEA to store stuff. I am getting pretty close to complete -- at least without construction -- in the shed.

updates on house blog

I have updated my house blog with pictures of the kitchen.

flooring purchased for house

Today, I purchased the flooring for the kitchen remodel. I am going with cork - a renewable resource. The company is Expanko and the coloring that I picked was Granito.

I bought the flooring from alterego; they were very nice and extremely helpful. If you are looking to do some environmental remodeling, I would highly recommend them.

The table is here...

I picked the table up on Saturday in New Jersey. My uncle brought it down from Glens Falls and I picked it up and brought it the rest of the way. I am thinking that the dining room is almost done. I only have chairs to go.

A friend from high school - Mike Parwana of Chicken Coop Forge created the table out of steel - the bottom - and green slate. It looks great and is perfect for a small room such as my dining room. The table measures 40 inches by 60 inches.

new bathroom lights are coming

I ordered new bathroom lights from School House Electric and they should arrive on monday. For this year, that means I am done on the first floor.

House update

I took Friday off and made it a painting weekend. First comment is the book, Bungalow Colors: Exteriors recommended by 1912 Bungalow rocked! I got a lot of great ideas from it. Friday, I continued the painting of the porch. I love my porch but I do not love painting it. I painted the columns 2 colors and removed the fucked up porch storage doors that have been askew and generally crappy looking since before I bought the house.

Saturday was removing the crappy awning —it was probably very nice in about 1930— and finally finishing painting the outside of the front dormer. I touched up the porch and applied the first coat of porch floor paint. I had originally thought to do the floor in purple to match the shutters but now the shutters are in the back yard. I went with a Sherwin Williams Rookwood Clay - a brown shade that worked really well with the Behr Cornerstone paint that is the main trim color.

Sunday, I put a second coat on the porch floor and I stripped the porch storage doors. I discovered that the doors were in pretty good shape they just needed new hardware and some more paint. Once they were stripped, I went to working on the upstairs dormer windows. They need new trim but I caulked them for now. Another project for next spring I am sure. I tried to remove the back awning but it is too rusted. I WD-40'd the shit out of it. I will try to remove it again tomorrow night. I hope to post pictures of the front tomorrow night.

Paints used:

• Main color is dark green
• Main trim is Behr Cornerstone High Gloss
• Window trim is Sherwin Williams Rookwood Red High Gloss
• Additional trim is Sherwin Williams Rookwood Clay High Gloss

Update: it is up here.

Mission Wildflower 0-1

I painted the front porch window frames and shutters last night. Actually, I primed them on Sunday and then painted last night but who is counting... I really like the window frame color - Cornerstone - but fucking hate the shutter color - Mission Wildflower - way too damn pink. I am now going to try Tree Bark for the porch floor and Hidden Peak for the shutters.

I have discovered that foam brushes work really good on shutters.

Painting

Christ, I fucking hate to paint. Today, I finished painting the living room and began patching the maroon wall and repainting it. I also —in a burst of energy — primed the shutters and the window trim. Who the fuck buys black shutters? I have at least 10 sets of shutters. It took two coats of primer and they still are peeking through with black. I should have tinted the damn primer…

Now the main section of the first floor is all Behr Bagel and maroon. I have inserted plastic wood into the main archway. I need to stain that this week.

The House Part I

I moved into my new house on 16 July. I have been diligently working since then:

• Weeding the front yard
• Repairing walls in the bathroom
• Painting bathroom walls
• Unpacking 82 fucking boxes — where did I get all of this shit.
• Spending a fortune at Home Depot
• Spending smaller fortune at Target

I will begin posting pictures later this week. I still have not done anything with the second floor. That is going to wait until later…

The Move

I have successfully moved 94% (give or take) of my shit into the new house. Not without travails. My first mover, who I called three fucking times over the last two months not to be too damn anal, was a no show. On Monday, I had to scramble, and I mean scramble, to get a mover that day. Nothing like a little pressure… I found a mover - All Movers - that came at 11:30 and did a great job. It was only 102 degrees Fahrenheit with about 100% humidity that day. It was like moving in a damn inferno.

On Tuesday, the electrician came who installed the two ceiling fans. One, a Casablanca Mission fan, just fucking rocks. It looks great and works great. The other is a Casa Viejo and I am much less enamored with it. It is not controlled by anything but chains, the secret codes to use it with a remote where no where to be found since the instructions SUCKED. They had one set of instructions for about 12 different fans. I would highly recommend Casablanca and I would not recommend the Casa Viejo.

Tomorrow, I get to screw with the shower plumbing. Hope I don't dork it up.