I don’t think I’ve talked about it much, but I’m taking a Basic Home Repair class at the local voc tech High School – it’s part of their evening Adult Ed program. It’s AWESOME. The class is 10 weeks long, and is broken out into 3 parts: basic electrical, basic plumbing, and basic carpentry [30 hours of classes for $180 – cheap!]. Last night was the 3rd class of the semester, and the 2nd one covering basic electrical.
Over the weekend I was able to finish cat platform #2! About 10 seconds after I finished with the last bracket, Darwin came up the stairs [how do they always know when to show up?] and was instantly intrigued by what he saw. After using the steps to get up [*impressed*], and after a quick glance out the window, he thoroughly investigated the new platform, then returned to the windowsill for some quality bird watching.
Last Monday was a Federal holiday, so I had the day off from work. Jim’s office was open, so he had to go in [poor hubby!]. Since I had the day to myself, I decided to see how much I could get done. From 7:00-9:00AM I cleaned the rat cage which made the girls very happy! From 9:00-11:00AM I ran errands and cleaned up the condo. From 11:00-noon I relaxed on the couch and ate an early lunch while watching the Olympics.
Yesterday I couldn’t sit still. I kept trying to relax on the couch and enjoy the Olympics with my husband [which I managed to do somewhat] but there was a lot of sporadic DIY activity mixed in. So while my husband was at the gym, I decided to rip the ugly coat rack off the wall in the upstairs hallway. I never understood why the previous owner of the condo put it there – it’s not in a room, it’s not near a door, it’s not near anything relevant.
Yesterday, while relaxing on the couch with hubby, I glanced up towards the ceiling and remembered I’d bought off-white spray paint for the recessed lighting trim. A couple of quick trips to the basement and they were ready to go back up, with 2 fresh coats of off-white spray paint. They look awesome! Off-white, FTW!!!
I’ve been plotting to build a 2nd cat platform. The one I built in the dining room window was such a huge success that I’ve been itching to start constructing another. I decided the window at the top of the stairs would be perfect, since Darwin already loves to sit on that windowsill, and Bonkers loves when I hold him up so he can enjoy the view too.
Last week I stumbled upon the website for Architectural Salvage, Inc. which is only 40 minutes north of us in Exeter, NH. It looks like they have some really awesome stuff, including old wooden doors [need!], reclaimed barn wood [want!], stained glass windows, leaded glass windows, cool hardware, and funky light fixtures. I told hubby we’re going on a roadtrip soon!
Last time I cleaned our basement cage was summer 2012. It was so neat and tidy! Somehow between summer 2012 and February 2014 it looked like a bomb went off – you couldn’t even walk into the cage! So I spent 4 hours yesterday moving pretty much everything out of the cage, vacuuming the space with my new shop vac, and laying down our old living room rug for a nice, homey feel. Then I moved everything back in, with a new layout.
So… yesterday afternoon, to distract myself from the train wreck of the girl cave bookcase and ceiling lights, I grabbed one of the recessed lighting trim pieces from the living room, brought it down to the basement, and spray-painted it white. It took 2 coats to cover the black. Once it dried, I popped it back into the living room ceiling. And… It’s too white. *SIGH*.
So I had a mini meltdown last night. Caused by a string of events that started yesterday afternoon when I learned from my mom that the small bookcase I’d painted dark purple in the girl cave was originally painted with oil. Which explains why the paint wasn’t sticking. Which means a total re-do that will be 3x more work than the original paint job I did. Sanding off the latex. Priming with BIN sealant. Repainting with dark purple latex.
