Anyway, this is the couch before:
Mah sanding job:
Final thang:
Meg's is like ridiculously talented. I don't understand how we're not making bank yet!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Couch 3.0
Meg fixed this couch before. She re-covered the pillows, which was a huge job, and it looked really nice. But that cover started tearing up, and getting dirty, and even though this is a beautiful couch, I was never crazy about the condition of the wood. So this week I finally took it outside, sanded the crap out of it and stained it black. It ended up a little shinier than I expected (the semi-gloss on the can should have tipped me, huh?), but with the new covers that Meg made, it looks awesome. The semi gloss makes the imperfections on the wood quite noticeable, but it'll do for the next few years, or forever. We've decided that after its useful indoors life, this couch will become outdoor furniture. Nobody else will inherit this! It's ours forever! Wahahahah!
Anyway, this is the couch before:
Mah sanding job:
Final thang:
Meg's is like ridiculously talented. I don't understand how we're not making bank yet!
Anyway, this is the couch before:
Mah sanding job:
Final thang:
Meg's is like ridiculously talented. I don't understand how we're not making bank yet!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Our Freaking Awesome Bathroom!!!
Ok, this is the project I'm most proud of, not only because it looks so awesome, but because it forced me to do stuff that I didn't think I could do!
Meg has wanted to tile our bathroom floor since we moved in, and since we didn't do much in the house this summer, we decided to go ahead and do it. First, of course, we removed the old laminate floor, and we noticed that they had installed it on top of the old linoleum. Once I saw that, I was afraid to lift it because I didn't want to see what was underneath it. Sure enough, the floor had rotted and it came out in handfuls.
Once we finished lifting the old floor, I saw that the subfloor had also roted around the toilet, and that's when I freaked out. I didn't want to lift the whole thing and reinstall it, because I had no idea how to do it. I even thought of calling the bishop and assembling a group of construction expert brothers to help me out.
Once the panic passed, I went to Lowes and asked what the heck I could do. They explained that all I needed to do was to lay floor wood, which looks like plywood, but it's way stronger, and on top of that I could just lay the backer-board (which they call "hardy back") and then tile right on top of that. It really wasn't that hard. I even got the circle around the toilet flange perfect! (There in the top right, by the box of nails.)
Once we got the new subfloor down, we installed the backsplash. We started from the top with that accent-strip, so we had to tape the tile as it dried, so it wouldn't run down.
After a few rows, we nailed a 1x2 to the wall to hold the tiles in place as the mortar dried (I read this somewhere). After that, I realized that if I just put a nail under each tile as I installed them, I would get the same result and I could go much faster.
Next came the floor. The tile that we chose was beautiful, but really tricky to cut, since it is actually made up of tiny pieces of marble put together. After a couple of mess-ups I figured it out and the process went faster and cleaner. The toilet came next, as soon as the mortar dried. I mean, we didn't have a toilet for a day!! That was the worst part of the whole project. We actually had to use the church's bathroom the first morning we started working on ours, and that wasn't that much fun with a crying baby in the church as we took turns!
I really like our new sink. It's a regular pedestal sink, but it makes the bathroom look bigger and cleaner. The faucet is really nice, and it goes with our other brushed nickel fixtures, which look great and were very inexpensive (light, shower curtain rod, and switch and outlet boxes).
So... I loooove how our bathroom looks now, but I hated putting it together. It was a lot of work, it was messy, and even scary at times when I didn't know what I was going (I realized that if you go to Home Depot and tell the people at the customer service desk that you're not being help, you will get amazing service and personalized advice from an expert in a matter of seconds). But anyway, it's done, and I hope I never have to do another bathroom renovation like this again! At least not in a bathroom with a rotten floor and subfloor, that's for sure.
Meg has wanted to tile our bathroom floor since we moved in, and since we didn't do much in the house this summer, we decided to go ahead and do it. First, of course, we removed the old laminate floor, and we noticed that they had installed it on top of the old linoleum. Once I saw that, I was afraid to lift it because I didn't want to see what was underneath it. Sure enough, the floor had rotted and it came out in handfuls.
Once we finished lifting the old floor, I saw that the subfloor had also roted around the toilet, and that's when I freaked out. I didn't want to lift the whole thing and reinstall it, because I had no idea how to do it. I even thought of calling the bishop and assembling a group of construction expert brothers to help me out.
Once the panic passed, I went to Lowes and asked what the heck I could do. They explained that all I needed to do was to lay floor wood, which looks like plywood, but it's way stronger, and on top of that I could just lay the backer-board (which they call "hardy back") and then tile right on top of that. It really wasn't that hard. I even got the circle around the toilet flange perfect! (There in the top right, by the box of nails.)
Once we got the new subfloor down, we installed the backsplash. We started from the top with that accent-strip, so we had to tape the tile as it dried, so it wouldn't run down.
After a few rows, we nailed a 1x2 to the wall to hold the tiles in place as the mortar dried (I read this somewhere). After that, I realized that if I just put a nail under each tile as I installed them, I would get the same result and I could go much faster.
Next came the floor. The tile that we chose was beautiful, but really tricky to cut, since it is actually made up of tiny pieces of marble put together. After a couple of mess-ups I figured it out and the process went faster and cleaner. The toilet came next, as soon as the mortar dried. I mean, we didn't have a toilet for a day!! That was the worst part of the whole project. We actually had to use the church's bathroom the first morning we started working on ours, and that wasn't that much fun with a crying baby in the church as we took turns!
I really like our new sink. It's a regular pedestal sink, but it makes the bathroom look bigger and cleaner. The faucet is really nice, and it goes with our other brushed nickel fixtures, which look great and were very inexpensive (light, shower curtain rod, and switch and outlet boxes).
So... I loooove how our bathroom looks now, but I hated putting it together. It was a lot of work, it was messy, and even scary at times when I didn't know what I was going (I realized that if you go to Home Depot and tell the people at the customer service desk that you're not being help, you will get amazing service and personalized advice from an expert in a matter of seconds). But anyway, it's done, and I hope I never have to do another bathroom renovation like this again! At least not in a bathroom with a rotten floor and subfloor, that's for sure.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Painted Vinyl Siding + New Ceiling Fan!
When we moved into the house, I noticed that the siding vinyl was pretty nasty in some parts. I thought it was just dirty, so I washed it, brushing like crazy, but it didn't make much difference. I then thought that maybe it was stained, but then, looking closely, I noticed that the white paint in the vinyl had actually faded. The sprinkler had been hitting the wall for years, and caused the vinyl to discolor.
I then asked around to see if vinyl siding could be painted, and it turns out that you can. You just need to use primer and then paint a lighter shade or color than was there. Since our siding was white, we just kept it like that. It turned out so good, it looks like new!
We also decided to change our bedroom light to a ceiling fan. We chose a small one (since our bedroom is rather small), and it turned out awesome!
The only problem: this unit uses a remote control, it doesn't have those little chains you turn the light and fan on and off with. That was a pretty nice surprise, the real problem was that I was supposed to fit in the remote control unit that goes on the fan into the light box that goes attached to the ceiling. Those light boxes are about four inched wide. The remote control was like 6 inches wide. I ended up having to climb onto the attic and extending the remote control unit cables so I could actually attach them to the fan. It was a pain, but it works just great. The fan looks very nice, but if I'd known what a pain it would be to install, I would have definitely picked up a different one!
I then asked around to see if vinyl siding could be painted, and it turns out that you can. You just need to use primer and then paint a lighter shade or color than was there. Since our siding was white, we just kept it like that. It turned out so good, it looks like new!
We also decided to change our bedroom light to a ceiling fan. We chose a small one (since our bedroom is rather small), and it turned out awesome!
The only problem: this unit uses a remote control, it doesn't have those little chains you turn the light and fan on and off with. That was a pretty nice surprise, the real problem was that I was supposed to fit in the remote control unit that goes on the fan into the light box that goes attached to the ceiling. Those light boxes are about four inched wide. The remote control was like 6 inches wide. I ended up having to climb onto the attic and extending the remote control unit cables so I could actually attach them to the fan. It was a pain, but it works just great. The fan looks very nice, but if I'd known what a pain it would be to install, I would have definitely picked up a different one!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Gabe's Missed
My friend Ashley posted this on her Facebook:
Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?
Ashley is an amazing friend. She came to the hospital to visit when Gabe was born, and she was about to have her own baby then! She and her husband are so awesome. Too bad they had to move!!!
Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?
Ashley is an amazing friend. She came to the hospital to visit when Gabe was born, and she was about to have her own baby then! She and her husband are so awesome. Too bad they had to move!!!
Friday, July 09, 2010
Printed Onsies!
I did a few more attempts to print stuff, this time on some of Gabe's onesies, and even though the results are not mind blowing, they're ok; definitely better than my last ones. The actual prints are coming out better, but I'm having a hard time centering the prints where I want them on the shirts.
This Travis one came out ok, except that I didn't put enough ink the first time, so I put the screen down and tried to do it again, but it was a little off, so that guy in the right looks double.
The Killer's screen came out perfect, but I didn't put enough ink. Also, I was so excited to actually do the print, that I didn't stop to clean my hands. As a consequence, the logo is a little faded in parts, and there are ink stains all over the onesie.
For this one, I thought that I would print the big logo on the back, and then print some tiny logos on canvas, then cut one and sew it on the front of the onesie, sort of like a badge. This one is the only one that came out perfect, although I wish I had printed the big logo a little higher.
This Travis one came out ok, except that I didn't put enough ink the first time, so I put the screen down and tried to do it again, but it was a little off, so that guy in the right looks double.
The Killer's screen came out perfect, but I didn't put enough ink. Also, I was so excited to actually do the print, that I didn't stop to clean my hands. As a consequence, the logo is a little faded in parts, and there are ink stains all over the onesie.
For this one, I thought that I would print the big logo on the back, and then print some tiny logos on canvas, then cut one and sew it on the front of the onesie, sort of like a badge. This one is the only one that came out perfect, although I wish I had printed the big logo a little higher.
Why I Hate Percy Jackson
I recently finished reading the second Percy Jackson book and the first Artemis Fowl, two young adult novels (well, more like young young novels), and although they share some elements, Artemis Fowl was pretty good, while Percy Jackson is stupidly dumb and I hate it so much that I feel like kicking it until my feel fall off.
You see, a few years ago I still felt I was too good for young adult books. I mean, I read Shakespeare and Poe for fun when I was 14! (Mostly because my parents couldn't afford kids books for me and all they had were old copies of those books that they inherited from their parents.) I never even wanted to see the cover of a young adult book, until Meg and I listened to Because of Win Dixie on a trip to Washington, and I was sold. Of course, there are amazing YA books, and there is absolute crap, like everything else. Harry Potter is no Nobel Prize in literature, but it's decent. The writing is ok and sometimes actually kind of exciting. Percy Jackson, on the other hand, is a badly written, boring, unfunny rip off of Harry Potter. And if you don't believe me, check this out:
1. A young orphan (semi-orphan in PJ's case) boy who has special powers and doesn't know about them until he goes to this school where he's taught how to use his powers. By the way, he's also the chosen one, and even though he's not super smart, he's the cat's pajamas! (Harry/Percy)
2. A girl who also has powers and who is very, very smart becomes friends with the main guy and saves his butt a million times. Even though she's very smart, she's not as special as the guy, but she's ok with that (Hermione/Annabeth)
3. A friend guy who is not as bright as the main guy or his girl friend, but he is very noble and trustworthy (Ron/Grover)
4. There's even a super evil character who the main guy has to fight (and he's the only one who can fight him!). He beats him in every book, but never badly enough to get rid of him until, I assume, the last book (Voldemort/Chronos)
There's even an invisibility cape and half bloods on both books.
But that's not my main problem with the book, it's just that it's badly written. There are so many parts that are supposed to be funny, and they are NOT; so many parts are supposed to be sad and melancholic, but they are just cheesy and ineffective. There's a part, for example, where the author might have thought "Oh yeah, I'm writing about the gods of nature, so maybe I should throw in some environmentally conscious remarks," so he did, really quick (like one sentence), and went on. It was a pathetic attempt.
You might wonder why then did I read TWO of these crappy books. Well, so many people said that the second one was much better than the first one that I gave it a try (some of those people were my 6th grade students, so that should've told me something...). Also, I just heard it on audiobook, so it wasn't so painful or such a waste of time, but I wonder what did the people who saw me yell at my iPod think.
Artemis Fowl, on the other hand, is kind of similar. A 12 year old criminal mastermind decided to steal gold from fairies in order to restore his family's fortune (he's not an orphan, but his parents are out of the picture. He also goes on the archetypal quest when he steals from the fairies, like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and every fantasy protagonist does). Sounds lame, huh? Definitely not as cool as reading about the adventures of Poseidon's son among Greek gods and demigods. But the author worked it out in such a way that the book is interesting, exciting, funny, and just plain good.
After HP, PJ, the Twilight series, and a bunch of other crappy YA fantasy books I've read, I was ready to give up on them, but AF was so good that I might at least give some of them a try in the future.
You see, a few years ago I still felt I was too good for young adult books. I mean, I read Shakespeare and Poe for fun when I was 14! (Mostly because my parents couldn't afford kids books for me and all they had were old copies of those books that they inherited from their parents.) I never even wanted to see the cover of a young adult book, until Meg and I listened to Because of Win Dixie on a trip to Washington, and I was sold. Of course, there are amazing YA books, and there is absolute crap, like everything else. Harry Potter is no Nobel Prize in literature, but it's decent. The writing is ok and sometimes actually kind of exciting. Percy Jackson, on the other hand, is a badly written, boring, unfunny rip off of Harry Potter. And if you don't believe me, check this out:
1. A young orphan (semi-orphan in PJ's case) boy who has special powers and doesn't know about them until he goes to this school where he's taught how to use his powers. By the way, he's also the chosen one, and even though he's not super smart, he's the cat's pajamas! (Harry/Percy)
2. A girl who also has powers and who is very, very smart becomes friends with the main guy and saves his butt a million times. Even though she's very smart, she's not as special as the guy, but she's ok with that (Hermione/Annabeth)
3. A friend guy who is not as bright as the main guy or his girl friend, but he is very noble and trustworthy (Ron/Grover)
4. There's even a super evil character who the main guy has to fight (and he's the only one who can fight him!). He beats him in every book, but never badly enough to get rid of him until, I assume, the last book (Voldemort/Chronos)
There's even an invisibility cape and half bloods on both books.
But that's not my main problem with the book, it's just that it's badly written. There are so many parts that are supposed to be funny, and they are NOT; so many parts are supposed to be sad and melancholic, but they are just cheesy and ineffective. There's a part, for example, where the author might have thought "Oh yeah, I'm writing about the gods of nature, so maybe I should throw in some environmentally conscious remarks," so he did, really quick (like one sentence), and went on. It was a pathetic attempt.
You might wonder why then did I read TWO of these crappy books. Well, so many people said that the second one was much better than the first one that I gave it a try (some of those people were my 6th grade students, so that should've told me something...). Also, I just heard it on audiobook, so it wasn't so painful or such a waste of time, but I wonder what did the people who saw me yell at my iPod think.
Artemis Fowl, on the other hand, is kind of similar. A 12 year old criminal mastermind decided to steal gold from fairies in order to restore his family's fortune (he's not an orphan, but his parents are out of the picture. He also goes on the archetypal quest when he steals from the fairies, like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and every fantasy protagonist does). Sounds lame, huh? Definitely not as cool as reading about the adventures of Poseidon's son among Greek gods and demigods. But the author worked it out in such a way that the book is interesting, exciting, funny, and just plain good.
After HP, PJ, the Twilight series, and a bunch of other crappy YA fantasy books I've read, I was ready to give up on them, but AF was so good that I might at least give some of them a try in the future.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
An Honest Facebook Political Argument
(lazy post)
This is genius. Meg found it at http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1803025.
I find it particularly funny because somebody once sent me a bunch of links to articles that were supposed to change my mind about some particular political issue, so I read them, studied them, actually, wrote a very detailed rebuttal, and sent it to the person who had sent me the articles. She then answered by saying "Sorry, I didn't actually read the articles I sent you. I just thought the titles sounded good."
This is genius. Meg found it at http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1803025.
I find it particularly funny because somebody once sent me a bunch of links to articles that were supposed to change my mind about some particular political issue, so I read them, studied them, actually, wrote a very detailed rebuttal, and sent it to the person who had sent me the articles. She then answered by saying "Sorry, I didn't actually read the articles I sent you. I just thought the titles sounded good."
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