Daddy Do List

After I flew home for my delightful visit to Pennsylvanialand, my dad and I drove back down to the South C.   That was fun. :D Actually, the drive was long (13+ hours) yet a pretty good time!  Did you know the driver is allowed to sing as long as it's not Van Halen?  :D  The drive was also a good time for us to catch up about things.  For instance, I had no idea my dad was once in an elevator with JACKIE CHAN.

Anyway, my dad was here for about a week (my mom flew down Thursday and spent the weekend with us) and I kept the poor guy very, very busy.  I did not take pictures of everything because no one wants to see the two toilets he fixed... however, he also put in a peephole in the front door and pegboard/baskets/hooks in the garage:

My pop also helped me install a new-to-me washer and dryer - my friend Eileen moved and I got some of her appliances, including these darlings and a giant French door refrigerator:

We also put on a new seal on the patio door... Yay!  However, I think my favorite projects were when we replaced the clunky, giant old white ceiling-fans-with-boob-lights in the living room and master bedroom with sleek modern nickel fans.  They are identical, except we chose to put the light wood out in the bedroom and the dark wood out downstairs.  I'll share a picture of the downstairs fan later - I'm in the process of sewing new curtains and will share all at once.

Do you notice anything else going on in the bedroom?  The walls are painted!!!  When my bestie was here two weeks ago, she kindly agreed to help paint the room!  I chose Bay Waves by Valspar.  The room gets the afternoon sun so the color is juuuuuuust light enough and juuuuuuust dark enough.  Gorg.  <3

Speaking of my bestie, today is Alison's Birthday!  Happy Birthday, Ali!  


Who are your celebrity run-ins?

Coming Soon: Dinner on the Patio

In between painting the Great Room and the Dining Room (upcoming post), I worked on getting the garage back to a state where Gus (the car) could fit in.  One thing that needed to be done was something with this table: 

The side was found in Tom's car!  I pounded it on with a nail salvaged from the living room wall before I painted.  While I would have preferred to use a wood stain on the bare wood, I'm nothing if not resourceful, so I just used white paint from a can of flat (ew) paint the old owner left in the garage (big surprise).  It works for now.  I may seal it later... or paint it a different color and consider the white to be primer.  I literally just slapped two coats on in about 30 minutes and I like the rough look it has.  Plus, the price ($0) was amazing.

Why not?  The original goal was to use it a prep table or something for when we grill.  However, I'm currently thinking the driveway is a better place for grilling... because the above picture shows the backyard.  It's a postage stamp.  The good news is... we got a grill!  Tom dropped one off last night.  It's pretty rusty, yet I think it will clean up.  I hope... :/ I'll show it later when it's not so nasty looking.  

...what are your tricks for cleaning rust?

Unwelcomed Guests

One thing I do not like about moving to the south is the buggies.  No, I don't mean Amish buggies (I don't think they have Amish down here) and I don't even mean shopping carts.  I mean what they call "palmetto bugs" which in the north are cockroaches!  Ew!!

I've been blessed with a less than sealed up house, so I have had a few visitors over the last few weeks.  Three visitors, actually, have made their way into my home.  Poly found all three and they were quickly disposed of (by me, not by her).  I have little tolerance for creepy-crawlies that do nothing except bring germs into my house, so I decided to lay off the open door policy.

First, buggies like to eat, so I try to keep the kitchen as clean as possible.  Food is sealed up and put away and counters are wiped down before bed.  This is common sense, really.  I also try not to let dishes in the sink because when your name is cockroach, you probably don't care if the meal you have is a ring of slightly spoiled milk at the bottom of a glass.

Next, I bought some expanding foam at Lowe's and took care of lots of holes and cracks around the house (inside and out) including the place where the satellite dishes' cables came into the house (our bunny ears get better reception now, go fig) and the giant hole under the bricks at the corner of the garage.  I had no idea it would expand that much!  I could carve it down, although for now I just hide the lump behind two cactus.

The third and final line of defense was a concoction of Borax plus powdered sugar around the perimeter of the house and in places where buggies might fancy a little dramatic entrance.  The powdered sugar lures in the creepers and the Borax is supposed to kill 'em.  Horrible, I know.  I feel kind of bad.  ... I placed a bit on rounds of cardboard so I could slide it under the fridge and set it in cupboards...

As well as in a line out on the screened in patio...

I'm certainly no expert on bugs, yet I can say it's been a full week since I did my decorations and I've not seen any roaches inside.  Maybe it's a coincidence... although the borax concoction has been untouched inside except the bit under the fridge that some ants got into and then proceeded to um...die.  So...?

Have you had any luck with homemade bug!defense?  

Loot

The other day, my friend Tom called and said he bought me some items at an auction.  This is Tom!code for "I bought several rooms at an auction and you can come take your pick of what you want in exchange for some light manual labor."  We have a great relationship.  :)

So, at 10am today, I headed down to this dusty, grimy, buggy place full of metal, wood, and everything in between.  Yikes.  It was a rather terrifying at times and absolutely hilarious in others.  I'm headed back tomorrow because I need to work off the goods I claimed...

I'm on a mirror kick and got a bunch of large wall mirrors to spruce up.  The tall one in the back and the oval one toward the front have the hardware to use on a stand, so I think I'll make something for them so we have a floor mirror in each of the bedrooms... 

I grabbed a few more picture frames... even though I just got four at Goodwill yesterday.  Yes, that's my bff the Valspar silver spraypaint - I used it on yesterday's frames and they look awesome (I'll post pictures as soon as I settle on where to hang them).  :)

There were lots of sewing notions and I found a brand new tin of German straight pins, plus enough bias tape to go around the block at least twice.

 These are metal bins that I plan to hang on pegboard (via S hooks) for a recycling station in the garage.  I kind of like the yellow, although I may paint them eventually.

These are sturdy wooden magazine racks.  I need to figure out how to incorporate them into one of my favorite Pins, although one needs to be devoted to my Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple magazine collections.

I was looking for a table upon which I can keep my sewing machine and instead I found several sewing machine tables!  This table was in the best condition; the included machine is modern-ish, yet worn.  I'll dig it out later and see how it works.  :)  Otherwise, I am hoping mine can go in (or just on top).  :)

Jackpot!!!  I found one of these bedposts earlier in the morning and spent the rest of the day keeping my eyes peeled for the rest.  The headboard was attached yet very un-salvageable, so Tom cut the pieces down so I can use them in a new construction.  Super excited.  The piece of wood behind is a veneered piece that has great potential.  We found several wood rails that I may be able to adapt...

 I'm still on a hunt for a lamp to go with the shade in the bedroom... maybe this one?

I grabbed this table to go as a grill station on the patio... it just needs a little TLC (the missing side is somewhere in Tom's car, perhaps?)...more picture frames on top.

I found some other odds and ends (spray paint, paint brushes, some metal baskets/organizers, etc)... and finally this slightly rusty gem from the 1930s:

 Do you like to go to auctions?  What sort of gems have you discovered?

Indiana Jones and the Bathtub of Doom

I have a confession to make.  I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately.  Not very glamorous?  Well, I've been in the master bath, actually.  In the bathtub.  Tragically it's still not glamorous.

It turns out the bathtub was not properly sealed and there are giant cracks just asking for a water damage party on my downstairs ceiling.  Last Sunday, I spent a few hours peeling off the small amount of caulk that happened present.  I used a baby screwdriver to 'cut' the seal and it worked pretty well.  While I was at it, I also cleaned off the paint on top of the bathtub, because someone had a heavy hand when it came to painting.  Shocker.  :)

When I got to the section where I suspected water damage (where the tub part meets the shower wall part, on the water end of the tub [see above]), a quarter-sized chunk of wall came off with the sealant.  The drywall was squishy underneath.  Is that called wetwall?

I didn't take a picture of the final 3/4-inch deep hole I ended up creating as I removed all of the squishiness.  Trust me, it was awesome.  I had to keep digging - I just didn't feel right about the pink film I was seeing...

On Monday, I found some leftover Spackle in the garage, so I filled in the hole and cracks with it.  It was surprisingly rewarding.  I've never Spackled before, although I've iced a lot of cakes.  Using Luna Lovegood's movie logic, how different are they really?  Plus, I watched a ton of Bob Ross growing up and he could make beautiful happy trees with a putty knife, why couldn't I fix my wall with one?  After the Spackle dried, I caulked the daylights out of every nook and cranny of the bathtub as well as the baseboards.  I think I did a pretty good job.  :)

Are you a weekend warrior?

List Party

I really like lists.  I like daydreaming about lists, I like writing down lists on lined paper, regular paper, and especially graph paper (those boxes are so satisfying).  I like typing up lists, crossing items and tasks off lists, reading other people's lists, ranking items, grouping items, making sub-items for previously listed items...  It's all delicious.  Here's a list I've typed up to organize all the (current) projects I would like to someday tackle in my home.  Oddly enough, each list and sublist is in absolutely no particular order.  Except that #1 is the toilet in the master bathroom.

Wanted and Needed To Do's for Someday

Upstairs

Master Bedroom:
- exchange broken ceiling fan for chandelier or prettier fan
- paint walls (grey?)
- sew new curtains (hybrid from two sets I have (yellow + grey)
- new bedframe (queen platform)
- new mattress
- new duvet cover

Master Bathroom:
- fix the toilet (won't stop running)
- caulk around bathtub
- fix the broken drawer (bottom right)
- move main door to outside of frame

Master Closet:
- add extra shelves at far end

Baby's Room:
- paint (bye-bye Winnie the Pooh)
- fix master ceiling fan/install instead of the butterfly fan
- add a bed, small dresser, another bookcase
- add a table for my sewing machine and materials

Baby's Bathroom:
- caulk around bathtub
- install shower rod, curtains

Laundry Room:
- buy a washer and dryer :)

Hallway:
- ahh something that doesn't currently need anything

Staircase:
- add a shelf over the bottom window?
- add art, pictures, or mirrors

Downstairs

Powder Room:
- fix toilet (leaking?)
- remove all the little blue paint dots from the fixtures because the former owner got paint EVERYWHERE
- add shelving (pedastol sinks are form and not function)

Stair Closet:
- add another section of shelving (or three)

Foyer:
- no current needs

Living Room:
- paint (pale yellow?)
- remove the nonworking Dish cables (also remove Dishes from roof)

Dining Room:
- paint (green?)
- install a new light fixture

Kitchen:
- add knobs the doors and drawers
- update stove (I miss my glasstop!!)
- install new countertops or glue (instead of packing tape) down the popped up pieces

Garage:
- get extras out of there (the seller left sooo much junk!!)
- add shelving, peg board, anything for organization!

And hardwood floors for all!!!  Someday!!  Except the garage and stuff, that's just crazy...

What's at the top of your To Do Wish List?