Archive for 2009

Door Rehab

Monday, January 26th, 2009

I’m sending all the exterior doors to rehab!
I’m tired of them falling apart and dragging down the whole household – so hopefully this will clean up their act.

The exteriors of the doors are getting a coat of Benjamin Moore Toucan Black while the interiors / moldings are getting the standard Behr Ultra Pure White in a semi gloss finish.

The back door that enters the den (the one we use pretty exclusively) had a screen over the window in the middle that swings open (what is that called?). The screen had been torn to shreds at the bottom were my little dog Iggy loved to escape through it when we wanted a bit of fresh air.

You can see the hole down there on the right: that weird little bit of bright clear area.

We ripped off the molding and the old screen and started patching and painting. We need to get a replacement screen and molding and will patch it all up again like new!

There is obviously still more to do…

Oh and the deadbolts don’t fit. I guess we have to drill a big hole in my fresh paint. Urgh.

Bedroom makeover

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Things have been happening to the interior of the Brick House. I’ve been plugging away on the master bedroom – switching up the space plan, replacing the horrid mini blinds and getting rid of the curtains altogether.

Below is how the bedroom was…blah…

Here is a sneaky preview of how it is now.

Black and white makes it mysterious.
I bet you can’t wait for better images – I know I can’t! I need some daylight for picture taking…and work gets in the way.

There is still a bit more to be done. The big thing was replacing the gross mini blinds with all new Ikea ENJE roller shades after the curtains turned into a giant disaster. I love Ikea’s affordable roller blinds and have started installing them throughout the house for privacy and light filtering. I think I’m now in the camp of NO MORE WINDOW DRESSING. Stupid curtains – they get so fussy and dusty – I think I’m all about minimal windows.

More white EVERYWHERE – waaa ha ha ha.

Frankenfence

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Hello BRAND NEW FENCE…

…oh hold the phone…I mean half of a brand new fence…

at least our side is the “nice” side. I could have the neighbors problem…

Yup, this is the other side. Love that weird patch job in the middle, oh and how the new wood just sort of peters out to nowhere.

Check out this close-up of the lovely craftsmanship. I’m glad they saved that sliver of fence and nailed it up to cover the wonky gap. GREAT JOB! You just barely got that nail to fit.

I know. Its a free fence – but dude. Talk about HALF ASS. They pulled up all of the rotted and termite destroyed wood scattered around and just sort of slap together half of a fence with actual scraps.

The kicker is this : we have been saving to build a new fence and would have gladly chipped in some cash to just finish off the other half – no problem. If someone would have given us a heads up about what the plan was. Instead, no one contacted us (you know we only share the fence and I guess guys were all over our property without permission) and came home to find a surprise half fence and half mess.

Dammit. Now what…

I guess we wait for the neighbors to move in to discuss the options.