The progress continues unabated

And guess what? I have even more things to report today! YAY!
While I was out getting odds and ends to begin my little linens project, Daddy was at home being thoroughly useful.


I have been kvetching for ages about these unrepentently UGLY evergreen trees out front (I continued to assert there were simply for burglars to hide behind), and today, they went away!

Then I added a shepherd's hook to hang the birdfeeder from, since I'm now actually using the clothesline again...and even more amazingly, Daddy put up the lattice on the front porch!!!


This is nothing short of miraculous. Two years, and finally, FINALLY things are progressing nicely.
Aside from laughing at an analog/digital joke and being able to explain shell script to other nerds, it's been a good week: but when other dorks call you a dork, it's time to back away from your constant diet of programs aired only on Space. :)

Even more stuff I've done

Well, once again, I've continued to work away at the house while my signifcant other embraces laziness in a way only previously enjoyed by sloths.
To that end, I have painted the trim on the house (including fixing the 'spilly painter' glops) and repainted the front porch, as well as painting the risers to match, redoing a mailbox and making my own bedding to finish up my daughter's room.
My next endevour may be making organic playpen/cradle/crib bedding and the famous "sherpa cloths", since there seems to be a rising demand for said here in Halifax. Now, I just have to scare up the cash for a serger and I'll be in business! :)

WTF happened here?

Well, it has been forever since my last post. I don't have a great excuse, only that I have been busy momming it up.
But in the meantime, I have actually been doing stuff to the house as well.
Since my last update, where I put together some cabinets that were normal looking, and a floor, and things generally looking like real people lived in the house, I have moved the bedrooms upstairs.
AJ's room was painted a wonderful "happy" green (Aura paint again, and it looks much livelier in person than on a screen), and I have added a bunch of decals from the "I love you this much" series as well as some custom bedding that is in the works.
The "master" bedroom is still very much...well...I'd say a work in progress but that would imply that work was being done. And that's not true, as I'm just sleeping there, and spending the rest of the day down here. The yellow room has become the Baby Sleeps Area, and the old bedroom will be another baby play area. The rest of the house is pretty baby-centric too. Actually, my whole life is baby centric, which is not without its drawbacks too.
However, people need posts, and pictures, so here I go, trying to add some more.
The first one...our new woodstove. It makes things HOT. HOT!!! Yay, finally. It's the first time I've felt warm since I moved here!

Now, more baby-related caregiving!

Now, with more doors!

As promised, photos of the redone cabinets. I got new hinges, and put the doors back on myself, after my husband pointed out that "You could have done them, if you weren't slacking." I'm also including a shot of the reinstalled (sort of) light that has a fan that doesn't turn. But I guess he's not an electrical engineer, so we can't expect much. Though he was frustrated that all of the tasks he had assigned weren't completed upon his return.

The next step is new countertops, which I suppose I will end up selecting and installing. Actually, I don't mind anymore. I like the complete autonomy of having Polkaroo for a husband. It's quite liberating...
I think while I'm at it I'll find a new tub, as the old one is unsat for baby. More on that later!

Sloth

Well, lest you think that I've been slacking, I have to inform you that I have actually been doing something.
I have been busy with a husband who has come home, then left again within a week; his trail of destruction was not as intense as I thought it might be. Plus, he brought me chocolate.
Anyway, I have managed to put the cupboards back on, but the batteries aren't charged for my camera, and the "Jesusphone" wasn't up to the picture taking at night.
Himself also fixed the living room light- my brother and I left it on purpose so that He would have something to do. Oh, and to make him crazy (which it did: each time he saw it, he'd throw his little hands up and yell "WHY!?!". Trust me, it was as awesome as it sounds.)
On that note, I must also say that some aspersion was cast upon my brother and I; someone (Himself) suggested that two "Arts Students" were too intellectually handicapped to manage home repairs on our own. Due to, you know, being 'normal', and not being engineers.
At any rate: fast forward to Himself doing home repairs. Not only does he goad the dogs into knocking him off the ladder and nearly rocketting him through the picture window, but does even more damage.
While at an afternoon a mom and baby group, I get a phonecall that He Who Shan't Be Named has electrocuted himself.
You see, the "stupid" artsies turned off ALL the power, not trusting the poorly labeled switches in the breaker box. The ENGINEER guessed at which one it might be. As one of my favourite movie lines go, "He chose...poorly.".
So I arrived home to Himself nursing an zapped arm and feeling quite pissy and put upon that his Delicate Genius should be offended in such a way. Of course, I laughed, but really. As I told Him,"no one died, what's the big deal?" He needs to cowboy up.
So, in the meantime, the stupid artsies managed to lay a floor, paint everything, do a bunch of minor repairs and generally get stuff together, and did it all while NOT getting electrocuted. Impressive eh? He did finally get the light up, but the fan doesn't work. So it's a half win.

And since I have no other pictures, I'm showing you my 'improvement'. This model is a Schleich Sun Elf Iloris & Leolynn, but they are very blonde. Of course, I, and Li'l Jammer, are not. So to better reflect our elvishness, I painted the model, using "Asphaltum" coloured craft paint from Kent. I think I like it better darker...I found the original really pale.

More photos tomorrow!

Oh say can you see...

New floor! New paint (no smurf blue)! Warm colours! It's madness!







And now, let the showing begin!
Since Himself is home, I can finally put out those pesky photos.
I will take better ones once the batteries for the camera is charged (my iPhone isn't so good in low light).
So here we are!

Back in my element

Today's items included such fun times as a garbage dump/charity shop/grocery shopping/library/return item to store/paint/clean/laundry/paint/laundry/paint afternoon.
This evening though, I accomplished one of the tasks I had put off until I could actually take a moment, pull out the stove, unplug same, and replace the element. To do this, I needed to have a sleeping baby. So during the hockey game (it's currently Leafs 5, NJ 4, I dare not look), I took this task in hand, and prayed. Hard.

You see, the plate with the model number is worn off, so it was a 'best guess' for the right element. So I took a deep breath, plugged everything in, screwed the backplate on, and plugged everything back into the power. With no small amount of trepidation, I spun the dial, and HUZZAH! (I swear I heard angels sing.) Heat.
While I curse this stove regular-like, it is still quite serviceable, so instead of a $800 new one, we spent $30 to repair the old one. Not bad for comes-with-house stove I'd say.
And since I'm pretty proud of myself, and don't really have anything more to post until I reveal my evil works to my husband Friday, I'm sharing my lovely stove and oven photos with you all here.

The cupboards...of Doom!

BEFORE:AFTER(ish):

A LARGER CABINET DOOR (note damage from trying to remove stupid molding thing):

THAT SAME DOOR, AFTER (part 1):

THE INSERTS, REVERSED AND PAINTED:

SOME NEW "BASEBOARD":

Well, today's productive project was getting the lovely cabinets done.

Unfortunately, it's started to rain, which sucks, but I'm doing okay anyway, since most of the melamine painting was done before the deluge.

I have yet to reassemble the island, and move it into place, but I do have some pictures to share with what I had to work with at the start of the project.

A happy development though: the cabinet doors are not the same on the top and bottom of the cupboards, meaning that the centres could be removed, reversed, and reinstalled, thus concealing damage from the nasty balsa stick-ons!

And now, the hallway

Well everyone, it's been a productive day. Huzzah!

I managed to get a bunch of items on my list accomplished, including the second coat on cabinet doors etc., sanding and painting other objects, and putting a final coat on the island. I even managed to do it outside, since melamine paint stinks like the devil but sticks well.

In addition to this painting, I managed to finish some other interior work, including painting the fiddly cutout thing in the living room to blend with the wall. I then took on the task of the Ugliest Hallway in the Universe, seen here. As you can see, the sage green that permeated the house (with the exception of the steps, which were ship's grey) is used here too, but not on certain patches, for some inexplicable reason. I can't even blame my husband, as he purchased the house like this. However, that is not to say that if he loved me at all, he would have fixed this eyesore. Oh well. Such is my lot in life. I m showing you the nasty hallway before, as it looks really good now. I don't know why the previous owners didn't bother to split a fin and buy some masking tape to keep the edges clean, but there it is. I really like tape, and I tape the crap out of everything before I paint, as I like to start work and just go. As Mr.Jim, my mentor and former neighbour once pointed out to me, "Efficient people are lazy people. They think about the best way to do something once, prepare beforehand, and work smart." And that is very true. I don't like to repeat someting, or get bogged down halfway through; I like to GIVE 'ER. Hence the tape. Once everything's taped off and cut in, you can paint EVERYTHING, because the bulk of the job has been done already (which is a little trick I've done since I was small: I do the suckiest part of any task first, leaving the easy part for last. Psychologically I find it helpful to work this way.)

At any rate, even more stuff is painted. It's beginning to look like a real house. I am actually getting a bit excited at Himself's return, as I can't wait to see his reaction to the painting and myriad changes. So now there's only a few more days left to the revealing of the work; it's like a cut-rate Extreme Makeover.

Tomorrow's job: upstairs bedroom. This should be relatively easy, due to its small size. I will also put the cabinetry back on, with the new hardware. I will also be setting up a poll, with two choices for the kitchen cabinetry under the sink in particular. Himself purports to know what is most esthetically pleasing, however; I believe that his choice is not necessarily a win. I shall let the people speak.

More tomorrow!

Things I've done, and even more things I've left undone

Okay, so I thought I'd get a lot done today. I would, of course, be wrong.

Amid other calamaties the house work did not get done. There is stuff EVERYWHERE. I had meant to tidy it all up, and really get things sorted, but a couple things happened (not including me up vomitting all night into the sink) and not much got done.

In lieu of a tremendous post about what I've accomplished, I'd like to present you with a list of Things I Have Learned You Need or Must Know:

1. Have movers' buddies. These are little white plastic discs that go under your furniture. Awesome. Don't move heavy things without them.


2. Don't drop a drill with a fine bit in it. They bend.


3. Some tools aren't as self explanatory as they may seem. When in doubt, use the manual version.


4. Prizes of some kind should be issued for single parents attempting home renovations. Everything is exponentially harder when you're trying to accomplish it with a 6 month old baby in tow.


5. Buy good batteries for your digital camera. The non-specialized ones last exactly one less picture than you need to take.


6. Blog templates are a pain in the ass. Trying to find one that doesn't look gimpy or give the 'seizure-robots' effect is a challenge, but I've worked something out for now. Feel free to send suggestions.

I did manage to get some trim put on, and paint some cupboards. I have also managed to solve my balsawood moulding problem, which pleases me greatly, and I'm just waiting to see how effective my fix is (it's thrifty too. Don't worry, if it works, there'll be pictures.).

So it's only a few days until He Who Shan't Be Named returns. Ainsley and I have had a good run, having lots of fun times while Our Overlord is away. However, all good things must end, and so it is here. Let's hope He approves of the reno!

PS- Please go to my friend Ian's site (title NSFW, but content only mildly anarchistic) and click on some ads. He is a student and needs the money.

I found one!

Wow.


I forgot how horrendous the kitchen was before I began my manic revamping.


So without further ado, "yar she blows!".

Note the lovely blue diamond vinyl floor, unpainted sliding door trim mismatched cupboards with those banes of my existence, the 'harvest gold' dishwasher (that my husband GAVE AWAY AND I HAVE NO DISHWASHER NOW), the mysterious crow ornament hanging from the ceiling, the faux tile panel (one of three mismatched pieces) and cabinetry that had seen better days. Please note the yellow/green/blue/floral/beige/wood/brass/white/burgundy colour scheme.

Trust me, when I post the new pictures, you won't believe it's the same house.

In which our heroine paints the crap out of everything

Greetings from the Land of Reno.

I have been as busy as a little beaver, finishing up the magnificence which is the kitchen here, namely painting cabinet doors, installing trim, painting islands and refashioning ugliness into grace and beauty. And it looks damn good, if I do say so myself.

The rub here (and there always is one, isn't there?) is that I can't actually post photographic proof of my incontestable awesomeness lest He Who Shan't Be Named sneak in and peek before he gets home from abroad. I want him to be stunned and a little afraid of the terrific changes in the house in his absence, which, as I've said previously, he believes to have been largely occupied by my eating bonbons while watching soap operas on TV. Ha! Joke's on him, because I have turned this sow's ear into a veritable silk purse, using only my cunning and about eleventy cans of paint. Oh, and some power tools. And the internet. But that's all!

Let it suffice to say that today's brilliance included re-purposing a piece of wood found in the basement into an under-cupboard baseboard trim, figuring out how to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of removing and hiding those craptacular stick-on balsa wood cabinet ornaments (which apparently some people make themselves), painting, painting, and more painting, and use of power tools, which I can't go into here as it would give the game away.

I'm actually thinking of putting this blog on "super secret" and inviting the rest of the universe to see what I've done, as I'm inordinately proud of myself (though that could just be a combination of melamine paint fumes and it being 2 a.m.).

But right now, I should probably go to bed, as I have to get up early tomorrow to tackle the problem of the oven not working, which I suppose is 'karmic balance'. And I had made myself an epic lasagna, inspired by this terrific blog Ian turned me on to, which I can't eat because MY OVEN CRAPPED OUT. Super weak.

However, given the generally positive way the day went otherwise, I'm not willing to let this little setback get me down.

One week til I can post all the pictures!

Some more before

Ugly is as ugly does. And man, was this kitchen ugly. Or, to use a line from a favourite song, "mala como una pelicula czecka". The bad 80s tile, the Formica that time forgot (in three different patterns), the lino floor that even god forgot, coupled with some spectuacular (and also varying mismatched) faux tile panels made for a kitchen experience second to none.

It all had to go, or at least it needed to become much less egregious than it was.

So we set out to fix it...we being my brother and I. Enduring injury, pouring blood, sweat and tears into it, we managed to turn this into something presentable.

I haven't taken all the afters yet, but soon. We gave everything that wasn't moving a coat of paint, and cleaned up the non-moving things. Then we changed window treatments, made additions of storage, and hung up some Asker pots from IKEA. All good!

So instead of having this horrible greyness, we now have light. And now we have storage and prettiness where there was none.

In the midst of this, of course, we had some minor disasters. For example, hanging the light in the living room didn't go as well as we'd hoped, due to the absolute non-standardness of the fixtures in the house. Also, we awakend to dogs running through paint, and then the house, necessitating massive cleanup efforts, and a strong desire to turn them both into furry little area rugs.


But now we've completed a bulk of the big "I need two people" tasks. There has been pestering from some quarters to post the afters right away, but it's supposed to be a surprise for someone who thinks I've been sitting around while he's gone.

So, we had a few fails. But generally we've succeeded. And it looks pretty good. Mostly, it is because we have chosen good materials. I used Benjamin Moore Aura Paint, which works really well, has next to no smell, and covers like a champ in one coat without primer. For trim I always use the kitchen and bathroom trim paint, just because it's tough. And then I sealed the heck out of the windows with the silicone caulking, so it's all pretty airtight!

Next addition? A woodstove! Party like it's 1899!


Some more kitchen 'before' pictures. The wainscotting replaces the "panel tile". Remember this is all over gorgeous 1/4" thick wallboard, circa 1946. Believe me, every expense was spared in building this house. The pipe you see in the corner of the kitchen pictures is the hot air ducting for upstairs: yes, it runs inside the room throughout the house, because the walls are too thin to house the pipe. It is a 4" pipe. Ladies and gentlemen, that's quality home-building right there. Your Home of Yesterday, R-2000. I do give it its due though, it's managed to stay standing through sixty years of Halifax weather, so I suppose that's something.
Maybe we'll get lucky and a Sea King will fall on it.

Lazarus Rising

Well. There's a lot new here at This Old PMQ, namely, complete made over kitchens and living room.

We went from ick (seafoam green and yellowed trim) to FABULOUS! in one easy paint application. Well, maybe it wasn't so easy; there was a lot of wall fixing to do before the paint went up.

I'm not saying that my husband didn't do a good job fixing up the house. He did a lot of work before I ever got here. However, for some reason, he seems to lose all sense of direction when choosing paint colours.

As you can see, my husband must have had a head injury or simliar when choosing paint. Bear in mind, it rains about 360 days a year here in Halifax, so you need cheerful colours. Not a washed out sage green [he now claims this 'came like that'. Ed.]. But he tried, and really, what more can we ask?

Also, from the old photos he has somewhere that I'll codge and post here, there used to be egregious simulated-tile panelling in the kitchen. That had to go. Now, the kitchen is really looking great, with the new paint, and repainted cabinets with new hardware (that he did all on his own).

Next step...floor fixing.

THIS OLD PMQ V 2.0

I'm Li'l Jammer and I approve this message.

Sorry all.

It's been a year (as my husband pointed out) since the last post.

And he really has done some work. The problem is, I had to create gmail to use the blogspot blog, and I forgot completely what my username and password were. Thus, I have re-created the site to better reflect the status of the house.

You can see starting point at http://www.thisoldpmq.blogspot.com/.

I will post some pictures so that everyone can see the progress. It's going to be hard, since I'm trying to keep some of the latest improvements as a surprise, but I'll do my best to keep it updated, as I know that my husband is in the Land of Dodgey Internets right now.