Archive for 2009

Guest Bedroom Wall? Constructed? F*%k Yeah.

Friday, November 6th, 2009



This is the BEFORE before image of the guest bedroom taken during the house inspection. So many, many – many moons ago…

Gotta love the aluminum foil window treatment.

Little did we know that the wall would soon look like this:

And stayed looking that way until last month. Almost two years. We’re lazy.

Long story short, we had to remove a lot of crumbling water destroyed plaster to discover a big crack and no lathe. Poop.

We sealed the crack with mortar repair and then primed and Drylok‘d the interior and exterior masonry. BTW – that stuff smells horrid and is nar-sty to paint with.

Then we used 1/2″ furring strips at 16″ on center (F*ck you Holmes on Holmes. TV shouldn’t be educational) to frame out the wall to hang new 1/4″ drywall. We only had about 5/8″ to 3/4″ of depth to work with the remaining plaster, window and electrical framing.

It was a tight squeeze, and we weren’t about to make a novice attempt of throwing an inch of plaster on the whole wall. We got a quote of $1500 to have the pros do it.

We attached drywall and mudded the holes and seams with joint compound to make the wall flush and paint ready. Smooth and straight (mmmm hmmmm, thats what I like).

Here is the whole wall in it’s “ready to be painted” glory. The Boy was so proud, and remember he did it all.

OK, another tease sneak peek because the room’s not all the way finished and I’m so over showing pictures of that horrible green color. I mean come on – yuck – that green is hideous.

*Previous Owners you are put on notice. Bad, BAD P.O.’s! Did you see that horrible hanging pendant light? (It’s in the top right corner) Again, naughty P.O. bad, bad choice. Those are for kitchens.



Everything is white! Surprise surprise.

But look, it’s a real finished wall in a real guest bedroom – not just a grubby junk room, aka The Boy’s exploded closet. That’s a big deal for The Brick House.

Wall construction Run Down:

Pro:
Quote: $600 – $1500

DIY:
Materials: $150
Labor: $0

Rad.

Once you go black…

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

We’re still finishing it all up, but that wall is definitely black.

I smell decorating brewing and it smells mmm mmm musty. Like a thrift store…

Desert Homes

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009


(all via Dwell)

We have all the negatives of living in the desert – heat, lack of water, dust, crazy people, meth, spiders and lizards – but none of the pluses – wide open views, privacy, floor to ceiling windows, big dark night skies, that special desert smell, and modernist architecture.

I’m desperately dreaming of building a modern boxy house somewhere isolated in the Southern California desert. Near enough to Palm Springs that we can still go to dinner and thrifting and be a little on the grid. I guess the possible “murdered where no one can hear you scream” factor would be hard to deal with…but hey, it’s probably more likely I’d get hit by some tricked out music blasting truck in front of my suburban house. And my views suck.