It's always something

Saturday morning. A simple project with a beginning, middle and end. An hour. Maybe two. Tops. The target? Simply converting the skinny, otherwise useless closet in the back hall to a pantry-like space. A snap. Right?

Our old house has heaps of charm, but it's a bit light on the storage space frontier. Liane and I have had designs on retrofitting what was most likely a broom closet just off the kitchen into a more useful space that will accommodate some of the taller items that won't fit into our 70s era non-adjustable kitchen cabinets. We successfully did this in our previous old house in Cleveland Heights. There, and here, I opted for ClosetMaid's wire shelving products. I've been using these simple DIY shelving systems since the mid-80s because they're easy to install and keep clean. I favor the adjustable variety for obvious reasons.

When I was in Sioux Falls last week I swung by Lowe's and picked up everything on my list. A pair of adjustable rails, a four-foot section of 16 inch deep shelving, toggle bolts, the little rubber end caps they overcharge for. Oh, and I really should grab a new tape measure, even though it's not on my list. And I want to take a look at the... Fast forward. Thirty minutes later after slaking my thirst for finding (but not buying!) solutions to problems I don't really have, I'm out the door and headed back home.

When Saturday morning arrived I embarked on my simple project. But when I opened the closet door I was reminded of the last remaining scrap of carpet yet to be removed from the first floor. A tiny bit of hideous indoor-outdoor stuff -- so popular in this house -- glued (of course!) to the hardwood floor. Better find the knee pads, this is gonna take a while. And sure enough, almost two hours later I had the carpet and the insipid glued-down-foam backing hand scraped off the oak flooring. Now I could get on with the task at hand.

Using a small torpedo level I hung the two bracket rails on the back wall of the closet. Next I cut the wire shelf into a test piece 16 inches wide. I fitted the overpriced rubber end caps on the sharp edges and held the shelf in place to check for fit. So far, so good. Now all I need is a pair of shelf brackets. Shelf brackets. Where are the shelf brackets? I should have six of them. They've got to be here somewhere. Check bag. Nada. Basement? Nope. Did I even buy the shelf brackets? Find Lowe's receipt. No brackets. Duh!

So stay tuned friends. This one is definitely going to take more than five times longer. An unexpectedly long beginning. A protracted middle. Hopefully, after I visit Lowe's later this week, a humble end.

Good that we didn't move here for the warm weather

This morning a little after eight, the thermometer on our car's dashboard read minus six. A neighbor reported his read minus twelve. That's -6F and -12F respectively. Make no mistake. It's cold outside. But at least it's sunny! Over the last week or so, gauging from the height of the snow on the bird baths near the driveway, we've picked up about a foot of the fluffy white stuff.

Fletcher and Audrey love the deep snow. Audrey's favorite sport is soccer. We practice every day, weather not withstanding. Here's a picture of our little soccer superstar, wearing protective boots to guard her tiny paws from the cold.

Peeling back the years

Wallpaper removal. Just saying it is, for some, like fingernails on a blackboard.

Yesterday, with a deep breath, I steeled my courage and embarked on a new project. Removing the disgusting, nicotine stained wallpaper from the first floor bathroom. Early picking at the fringes behind the door informed me that I would be confronting just one layer of paper and that it was glued to drywall, not plaster. Drywall that was installed when the bathroom was "modernized" sometime probably in the 70s. I was dubious. Drywall and wallpaper are strange bedfellows when the drywall isn't primed with a coat of paint. Courage.

Far be it from me to suggest that anyone who would glue wallpaper directly to unpainted drywall is stupid. That would be an insult to stupid people everywhere. Instead I'll just say that I got lucky. In the places where the wallpaper was attached to unpainted drywall the paper gave up without much of a fuss leaving the drywall intact. At least this was the case behind the door.

Out in the open, another matter. Removing the nicotine stained paper revealed an unexpected second layer in another, darker design. See mention in previous post about projects taking five times longer then expected. The good news? The drywall had been primed with a coat of paint so, for the most part, removal of the second layer was a repeat of the first. The walls need a few patching repairs from picture hooks and such, but it appears we'll be applying a coat of fresh primer soon.

Top: removal of the first layer. Bottom: revealing the second layer... SURPRISE!

Dumpster away!

You know your dumpster has worn out its welcome when neighbors start giving directions using it as a landmark. "We're two doors from the red dumpster." "Turn left on Canby just past the red dumpster. You can't miss it!"

Thankfully, Loren Fischer, our all-around terrific refuse service provider, came to collect the second of our two 30-yard walk-in dumpsters the other day. This auspicious event marks the first time we have access to the entire driveway and both garage bays. Loren has terrific and flexible service that is perfect for the DIY home restoration generalist! Thanks, Loren.

Loren hauled away just shy of five tons of debris!


With the dumpster gone, we now have a new view of the house and garage.