Three Days Unsupervised

Recently my husband was away on business for three days and I stayed home the whole time and caught up on a bunch of things. I never even stopped to get the newspaper or the mail!

The first day I wasn’t motivated until late afternoon and then  I cleaned all of the rooms upstairs and got carried away and finally rearranged  one bedroom. I have been thinking about moving stuff in that room for the last two years  but never seem to have the time or energy. The bed was in the center of the room and when the tumble bed was needed we could only pull it half way out. The desk was located  in front of the door and I would run into it each time I entered the room.  I moved the bed over were the new dresser was and dresser were the bed used to be. This allows us to be able to not only use the tumble bed but also the chair bed! So that room can now sleep three people again.   The desk was moved to the far corner which allowed for a lot of open space in the center of the room.

I thought I was done for the day but after Shoes went to bed I decided to finish the laundry. That led to working in the craft room until around three in the morning, but I did finish the felt Christmas wreath and the Easter wreath.

The next morning I started more laundry – time to wash and put away the winter stuff and wash the area rugs.  I cleaned both of the inside bird cages and added straw to the chicken coop.  All 18 wild bird feeders were empty and it was very cold so they needed the food. It  took a while to  filled them all and it was after noon by the time I got back inside.  I still had a lot of time to  clean downstairs.  Those  rooms were cleaned quickly  and I moved the tree from in front of the window to the corner.  I went downstairs to get the Easter stuff when I stopped short and looked around. They had not moved anything back to its original place after installing the new furnace!  I abandoned the idea of decorating for Easter and started rearranging the basement. The hardest part was moving a few exercise machines and that table.

 

I  still need to clear off the table but it was getting late and I had  animals to feed and chickens to put up yet.  Afterward I decided to relax in front of the TV with a nice cup of coffee: however, the coffee machine didn’t agree.  It refused to split  out any coffee so I had to take time out and clean the machine.

I finally got that cup of coffee only to kind that all my shows were re runs so  I worked on the computer and read a little before going to bed.

The third morning I found even more things to  wash  before  feeding the animals.  I spent the rest of the day decorating for Easter and spring.

I still had a few minutes before I needed to put the chickens up so  got out the spring colored afghans, hung the Easter wreaths and cleaned the iron pots by the fireplace.

Found a few packages on the front porch  containing supplies for my next projects.

The plastic box is another photo storage box for my photo project. I am getting rid all the old photo albums that are falling apart and placing the pictures in these boxes after scanning them into the computer. I have been working on this project for over a year and this is the third photo box. I suggest doing this before you hit 60 years old if you still have printed photos. If no printed pictures than  make sure you have a good back up system in place in case your phone or computer dies.

The paint was a surprise. I have been selected to “test” this glitter paint.  It is interior wall paint that can be used on wood, drywall, plastic and metal. I like the way it looks on walls but I do not have any walls I want to glitter. Also  it says that you can paint over it but may need to sand the walls first. I have no intentions of  sanding any walls  so I will be experimenting on furniture. I have just the item to paint but that will be next weeks project since I must have the finished project done and submitted by the end of the month.

Painting furniture to match wood stain

One of my big projects this month was to paint two dressers and a desk to match a new dark cherry stained dresser.

These three pieces (two shown above) were originally hot pink and a present to me from my parents when I returned home from 4-H round-up many, many years ago. I painted them the brown color when our boys were small and needed furniture. The paint held up well with only a few scratches during their childhood.

Thirty some years later and it is time to upgrade the finish.

First I needed to take everything off the pieces , clean them up, and sand the finish down. There is no need to sand down to the bare wood but you do need to remove the shine. I used 150 grit sandpaper for this job.

Wipe the pieces off to remove all the sawdust before applying the base coat. I applied two coats of Behr Dark Cherry Mocha #S170-7

You can see the trim on the mirror above the dresser that is the color I am going to match the furniture with. The first two coats are the base coat that I will be building upon to get to the final color. It is very important to allow the base coat to dry completely before adding the next color.

The next step is to put a thin layer of Behr Divine Wine Purple on the pieces. It is important to create a grain line by making long brush strokes in one direction only. This creates your wood look and also adds the red undertone to the dark cherry look.

 

Allow this layer to dry before topping with black enamel. I use a brush that has been damped with water and brush the paint out until the brush is dry. Brush in one direction only to create the final wood grain lines. Use a light hand – you can always add more dark color to the piece later but it is almost impossible to make it lighter.

You can repeat using this method using either or both the wine color to increase the red or black to darken the pieces.

I think it is a  fairly close match. Now to add the shine.

I lightly  sanded the pieces with 220 grit paper before sealing with Satin finish  Minwax polycrylic.

Now to wait for it to dry completely before putting them back in place and the drawers back in their slots.

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Little Things make all the difference

I noticed while doing the “house” project that there were a lot of little things that never got finished the first time around. That was over 20 years ago and it amazes me how we as humans learn to overlook the little things that we see everyday. Yet, those same “little things” are one of the first things we notice when walking into a new place.

Today I am going through each room to make sure I have all the little things finished. Did I find any? Yes!

In the front room I needed to replace the missing bolt  holding the damper. That is the same little hole that the bat came in last winter. Before I could crawl into the fireplace to insert the toggle bolt with washer to cover the hole I had to clean out all the ashes from last winter’s fires. Yes, I checked to see if the damper would open with the bolt in place before I inserted it.

 

I needed to  tighten up the legs on the nook table so it doesn’t wobble.I asked my cabinet guy how to do this and he said he would try adding two more screws per side and then gluing the pegs in place.

The end piece would work itself off as the table wobbled.

I tighten up the center screw and added two more screws to each end of the table.

Finished by pitting wood glue on the pegs before attaching the piece to the ends.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this takes care of the wobble problem for good. The table is very solid at the moment.

I will be glad when I have the garage organized so it doesn’t take me all day to find the screws that I want.

 

The big one is the staircase trim which even the cabinet-maker could not come up with an answer on how it could be done. I have  decided to leave that project for last.

I still have a cracked window from were a rock hit it –  but that is beyond my ability and I will let Bill handle that department.

Really not a bad list compared to what I started with: missing baseboard, clutter everywhere and broken furniture.

Upstairs I still need to drill the holes in Chris’ closet doors  for the knobs, cut and nail the trim around the bookcases, varnish and nail one piece of baseboard in the library,  and hang some art work. The artwork is  hung but I have to take a break and paint some more trim board for the apartment.  I have another 170 feet to paint.

Than I can continue on to the next room. Yes, I am procrastinating! The next room is the master walk-in closet.  It will take me a week just trying on clothes to see if they will fit (most will not because unfortunately one of the aftermath of my shoulder injury was weight gain). This will be very depressing to me – but since just opening the closet door is depressing I suppose once those clothes are packed away I will feel better.

 

 

 

This is the last room in the south wing of the house except the basement which I plan on cleaning in the fall or winter since it is more important to do the garage and north wing area during the summer.

I started the morning by harvesting cucumbers, zucchini, radishes,  and  green beans from the sun garden after treating Shoes paw. I know what’s for dinner tonight. <grin>

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Declutter old computer CD’s no longer needed.

Hanging Bi-Fold Doors

I had a hair appointment this afternoon so decided to hang the bi-fold closet doors in Chris’ room instead of painting. These doors have been standing in my kitchen since  the last of February. In March I stained and varnished them, however the varnish turned whitish so they remained in the kitchen.  In June I sanded them and stained them again after talking with a cabinet-maker. They were ready to hang the next day but no one offered to hang them.  I finally got tired of moving them out-of-the-way every time I wanted to go into the basement. It was a great excuse for not working out but they were also hard to clean around.

The first thing you need to do is measure the opening that the doors will be covering to determine how many sets of doors you will need.

This closet is 48 1/4 inch so I needed two sets of doors. I chose unfinished doors so that I could stain them to match the other doors in the house. I lightly sanded the doors before applying two coats of Minwax Special Walnut stain. I followed that with two coats of Minwax polyurethane which was a disaster. I suppose the air temperature was too cold or else there was too much humidity when I did this last March. At this point I was very discouraged and not sure how to fix the problem short of starting over. I finally asked an expert woodworker about them. He was a bit puzzled after looking at them but suggested I give them a light sanding followed by another coat of stain. He said to allow the stain to dry without wiping it off.  Happy to say that it worked!

The doors have been ready to hang for a while and today I finished that job. (Almost – I have to drill holes for the door knobs in the morning when the drill is recharged.)

I started by opening the hardware bags and sorting out the pieces and read the directions.

Step 1: Put up the track. First I found the center of the opening and set the track 3/4 inch from the front edge of the top jamb using the enclosed screws.

Step 2: There are three pivot plates that fit on the doors. One at the bottom and two at the top. All are placed 5/8 inch from the edge of the doors and centered on the board. The bottom plate has a plain knob which is located 2 inches from the edge – the knob is not centered on the plate so measure before you screw it in place. This plate is placed on the bottom door that will be placed against the jamb. The two top plates are different. The one with the top lip goes on the same door as the bottom plate and positioned the same way. The other top plate has a spring on it and it goes on the other door with the knob being 1 1/2 inch from the edge.

Step 3: Mark the location for the Jamb Bracket. Measure the door height  then measure down the same distance from the lower edge of the track. Mount jamb bracket by placing a screw in the center elongated hole 1 3/16 inch from the edge of the jamb.

Step 4:  Hang the doors. First check that the track pivot lock is in the unlock position. Fold the doors and insert the spring pivot  knob into the center of the track. Next position the lipped top pivot knob into the receptor next to the jamb. When the knob is firmly set , slide the tab to lock the knob in place. The door will now be hanging.  The last thing to do is depress the pivot socket arm and insert the bottom knob into the socket. IF everything is okay and no vertical adjustment is needed  than secure the jamb bracket with the two remaining screws. ( This was a problem for me and on the second set I compared the  two sides and added all the screws at once.) They include a little wrench for horizontal adjustments.

Two hours after I started:

At this point I had to stop and go get my hair cut and pick up supplies for KBC Apartments of Seymour and get Chris.

One hour after we got home and I had some help:

I did not like the door knobs that came with the door so I brought new ones. I plan on installing them in the morning when my drill is charged. Then I plan on painting the last wall in the master bedroom.

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Welcome to July! Today we worked on decluttering stacks of books throughout the house.

Rest, Visitation and Meetings

No work today but very busy! I am not a dress up all day person but we had so much to do today that I never got out of my good clothes today until this evening.

we had two meetings  after church service today and we attended the Greene family reunion.  I always enjoy seeing my extended family and this seems to be the only time we all get together.   I miss the  days when we gathered together for Christmas at  Granny Greene’s house when I was young and Thanksgiving at my mother’s house. We all get so involved with our personal lives that we do not take the time to reach out to family/friends and let them now how much we appreciate them and love them. So thank you Jerry and Virginia for all your hard work to arrange everything for today  and Traci Greene Copley for all the invitations to your events in the last few years.

We also want  to the cemetery to decorate my parents’ grave. I know we are a bit late for Memorial Day but things didn’t work out to make that trip. It was important to me to place flowers on dad’s grave  for father’s day and mom’s for her birthday.

 

Update on the closet doors which I worked on yesterday. This is what they looked like when I started:

You can see the white areas on this door. There is another door just like this – so I had two of these to sand down yesterday. After sanding both doors with a fine sandpaper I wiped all the sawdust away before applying special walnut stain with a good brush. I was told by an expert to apply the stain evenly and allow it to dry without wiping it off. He said that I would have to use my own judgement but that I may not need to apply a varnish over this stain because the shine may appear after the doors dry.

He was correct !  the finished doors:

Deep even stain and beautiful satin shine. Next step to get out the hardware and hang the doors which will have to wait until later this week.

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Clear out space for holding gifts for friends and family.

 

Busy Saturday

All the main rooms of the two apartment that we are working on have been painted. So far in the past two years I have painted over 38 rooms and I am not counting the second coats that have been required  I still have seven rooms to paint before I can hopefully be finished for a while.. I love painting but I really need to take some time to play on the archery range.

  We are still looking for an unlimited internet provider.. This search has caused me to look at the way I use my time and I have come to the conclusion that I really spend too much time on the computer. My son spends even more time playing games than I do. Maybe I was approaching this from the wrong angle – just maybe I was supposed to realize  how much time I was using online. Both my son and myself need to limit our gaming time. This would allow for more time to use both the agility course and the archery range.

Yesterday we picked up more cement blocks to build the fifth raised garden for the sun garden. I still have plans for five more beds, a work table and last to be added a small greenhouse. I need to get some more garden soil to place inside the beds but the main object this summer is to build the beds.

We also picked up another gallon of paint for the closets in the apartments and for any touch up areas.

We have been rain free for the last two days so we have been trying to get as many outdoor chores done before the next round of storms  which they are saying to expect on Monday. I really hope not because the bayou is starting to flood and if it continues we will have a flooded basement.  All the grass is mowed  and  the vegetable gardens  are weeded but I still need to weed the flower gardens. So most of the “have to do ” chores are done but not sure if I will get the “want to do” chores – trim more trees, chop out poison ivy and work on the patio.

Today was great. I did not have to go to the apartment today to work but  actually stay home and got some much-needed things worked on. I spent most of the day sanding Chris’ closet doors and applying an another coat of stain. This was a leap of faith but it was what the cabinet-maker told me to do  to correct the whitish film that was left when the varnish dried. He had no idea why the film was there and he had never seen that type of film before. I had my doubts after sanding them down but they did look better after I applied the stain. He said to allow the stain to dry completely before varnishing so they are standing in the kitchen drying.

I than sanded the master bathroom mirror and painted the wood part a chocolate-brown. I plan on giving it a thin second coat with a lighter brown color to add depth before topping it with a clear coat finish. Once the mirror is finished I will have that room completed.

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Declutter excess plastic silverware/ take out packaging. I have a cabinet that is for picnic items only. It is filled to the rim because before all the picnic stuff was scattered in many different places.

Rainy day

Woke up to the wonderful sound of rain. We really did not need the rain but I do love the sound that it makes. It did cause me to change a few plans as I was going to go check out the TV hutch but the driveway will be way too soft to do that now  and I have to bring the mattress in by the side door and not the main garage door. On the plus side Shoes will be staying inside with me most of the day so I get to rest and play with my dog!

It has been a very promising day so far as the first thing I noticed this morning was that Artemis is better. He had gotten way too cold when his heater failed and had not been able to shed properly. He had “blue eyes” which results from the old skin cloudy over and not releasing from the eyeballs. This also almost blinds the animal. I have had extra heating elements around his cage and  extra water inside to increase the moisture level so that  he would warm up and start moving. The movement helps with the shed. This morning there was a full one piece snake-skin laying in the cage and he was just heading back under the rock.

This good news was soon followed by this:

Yes, it is a delivery truck! Unlike Ashely’s Furniture of Greenwood who made us wait six months for our front room furniture Furniture Liquidators  of Seymour delivers on time!  This is the second piece of furniture I have gotten from them and both times they have deliver on time.  The first piece was the dresser in Chris’ room. They really did great this week because I needed the mattress before this Friday. We ordered on Monday evening and where told the usual delivery time for a Monday order was Friday  but the sales lady  managed to get it on the Wednesday trip after a few phone calls. She said they would call between 9:30 and 10:30  to give me a four-hour window and they called at 9:31 and deliver within the hour. Now that is service! They carried the mattress in and placed it on the bed and were gone within 20 minutes.

This was my parent’s bed, I re finished it with a textured stone paint and did a Feng Shui cure to ensure good energy.  The new mattress just fits on the old bed but will look great once the sheets, quilt and pillows are in place. In the meantime  I will let it air out a bit.

The rain seems to have stopped and the pup is undecided as to if she is ready to get her paws wet.

Guest room finished in time for Doug’s visit. Well almost finished I still would like to get that hutch but that will have to wait until after this visit. Yes, the stuff toys will have to go into the closet when Doug gets here. <smile>