Home Projects

For now at least, the trips to Home Depot have slowed to a near standstill. I swear they know me in there. I stopped saving my receipts when I found out that the transactions from the last 90 days are still in the computer so you can just whip out your credit card and they can look it up for you.

It used to be so difficult for me to navigate that store, but now I feel like I know it like the back of my hand, wrinkles and all. Interested in a new handle for your screen door or those little felt thingys that go on the bottom of furniture? They are in Door Hardware - Isle 10, left hand side. Plumbing, specifically toilet wax rings, the extended ones for tile installation? Isle 41 or maybe it's 39... I can't keep this one straight. And for the love of God the flood protection flexible supply pipe is overkill for what you need. The basic one is much cheaper and hanging on the hooks about 1/2 way up from the floor. Lumber for your deck or the dog seat you're building... it's in the back left corner of the store, and the really young good looking guy will cut and load it in your car for you. Duct tape, liquid nails and caulk for the baseboards? In the paint section. Of course that's where they keep the duct tape! Bit of advice: Don't ask the new chick (shoulder-length black hair, usually working the self check-out) where to find door stoppers... she will pull out her handy one-page directory and even then won't find them on the list. Do, however, stop to see Pam in Custom Blinds. She is super helpful and might even refer her brother-in-law to lay tile for you.

So if you're local and you need a tour of the Home Depot, just give me a call. I think I'm well-suited for the job.

New Family Member

Not one under this roof, but my sister just had her 3rd baby... a sweet little girl named Sydney. Being the proud Aunt that I am, I must post a picture of this cutie here to share.



That's the second time since I started this blog that she and her husband have reproduced. With her first two kids, she went back to work full time after a few weeks of maternity leave. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the working parents, but I'm looking forward to hearing about my sister's experience this time. She is planning to stay at home for about a year with this one. I think she's as much nervous about it as excited to be full-time Mommy. I'm anxious to hear how she compares the two experiences.

After announcing the news to the kids of their new cousin, Priya wanted to know some details. She rambled, "What does she look like? Is she blonde? I guess so, because Nora is." Sanjay sounded surprised... "Nora's blonde?". Priya said, "Yeah her hair is light". Sanjay was like, "Oh, I thought you meant she couldn't see". Priya and I had a good chuckle at that one.

The Spider Thief

While driving in the car this weekend, Sanjay says, "Daddy, when we get home or sometime soon can you get rid of that spider web in the window?". I knew which one he was talking about because he mentioned it today when I was cleaning all the sawdust off the walls. He meant the one in the window that's about 10 feet off the floor. This one:



My immediate thought is that spider is not really invading Sanjay's space much, so why is he bothered by it? I told Sanjay, "He lives up really high so you don't have to worry about him" to which Sanjay replied, "Yeah, he came down on his web and took the gum from my watch". He was talking about the toy gum-filled watch that he earned from the prize box at piano class last week. Curious, I asked him "How do you know that?". "Priya told me", he said. This boy believes EVERYTHING Priya says... he often turns to her when he doesn't think my answer is correct. I only wish I had seen Priya's face when he shared with us the amazing feat of this lowly house spider. I'm sure it said... B-U-S-T-E-D. She's sneaky, that one.

Priya was promptly made to tell Sanjay the truth about where his gum ended up and then she apologized. Lesson learned? I doubt it. :)

Before and After - Family and Dining Room

We spent our 11th wedding anniversary (Saturday) and Mother's Day (Sunday) laying laminate floor. What better way to celebrate your love for each other than to bicker about whether to put a short piece next to a long, or should we just put a medium one in there?! :) These home projects are definitely some of the more trying times in our marriage. But, we made it through and celebrated with a bottle of wine last night. Bartee claims that he's finished with big projects for a long while, and I don't blame him.





The floors look great and we're left with just a few finishing touches. Here is the final set of Before and After photos... what do you think?

BEFORE






AFTER

Before and After - The Living Room

Last weekend Bartee finished up the laminate floor in the living room and it looks incredible. He worked so hard and did a fabulous job with essentially no help from me. I thought it was probably better for me to keep the kids out of the way, so we tried to leave him alone as much as possible. It turns out that he really needed an extra set of hands, so this weekend when we tackle the Family/Dining Room I'll stick around to help out where I can. We'll try throwing the kids in the back yard with the Bocce Ball game and see how long that lasts. :)

It may appear from my earlier posts that Bartee has become quite the handy man, as I received a couple of comments indicating such. However, I should clear up that we hired a contractor for all the tile work. This is Bartee's first time attempting a flooring project, so we let the contractor work in all the areas that required LOTS of cutting and squeezing into small areas. Getting all that tiled left 2 almost rectangular rooms, ensuring a better chance for success for the amateurs. As it turns out, Bartee is way more capable that I gave him credit for and I must apologize publicly for doubting him. It did take him the full 2 days, but the results are amazing. And, I'm impressed that he's all ready to start again tomorrow morning. It's my job to do the demolition though, so I'd better wrap it up and get down there to tear out the carpet.

Here are the before and after shots of the living room... apologies for having removed the furniture before thinking of grabbing the camera for the "before" shots.

BEFORE






AFTER

Before and After - Tile

Here are some before and after pictures of the tile work...

Guest Bathroom

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Entryway

Before and After - The Deck

We've been thinking of clearing the main level of carpet for a while now. It's just not practical with 3 doors to the outside... all the dirt, pebbles and whatnot being carried inside and lodging themselves to the carpet. So, we do a lot of talking but never set aside the money for the project.

Turns out Caboose has pretty much forced us to get moving on the remodeling project. He had stomach issues as a puppy and pretty much ruined the carpet in the living room. Bartee called the carpet replacement "an emergency" and wanted to start on it right away. Within days of buying the materials (we're going with a laminate flooring) Caboose promptly threw up on the carpet and just this morning urinated on the carpet. Everything he'd been holding all night long and he's a big doggie. It was a mini swimming pool in there. Both times, I didn't bother cleaning it. Very liberating and a little stinky. :) In any case, the carpet is gone and Bartee plans to start on laying the new floor tomorrow morning. Will hopefully have some before and after photos in a few days to share.

In the meantime, it was time to sand and stain the deck again, and I do have some before and after photos of that... what do you think? The before pictures unfortunately were taken after the sanding so the old stain color is gone. The old color was similar to the house color, but not an exact match so it always looked like we tried to color match but failed horribly. So, this time we went with something totally different.

BEFORE...

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AFTER...