Wednesday, August 31, 2011

We got a Xmas tree


It's huge ----

More thrift store art


 We got this piece of art at a thrift store this weekend for $15. We'll probably repaint the frame like we did on the piece for the front room. I Googled P. Tapletz and found nothing, who knows?


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Weird shadows

Our chandelier puts off some weird shadows but otherwise the new gray paint is looking cool....

Dining room update

More painting of "cathedral grey" is in store today. Made the wall squares yesterday.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Art for dining room

@costplus $159 on sale

Dining Room 2.1



So the blue on the walls wasn't quite right. It was a little too primary blue, like the blue you find at preschool along with red and yellow. So we started to brainstorm about other colors and have settled an a light gray. This a neutral, that isn't boring like white or beige...but can just as easily be tailored to accompanying colors, whatever they may be.

We want to have a sophisticated, yet modern look so, I think we are sticking with the gray scale and will have black and white with our decor with maybe a big punch of color at the very end. We are both happy with the color choice, so I am excited to move forward!



Oh, and Jeremy has put a few of doors on the bookcase....he is SOOOO close! Can't wait, can't wait!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Cheap Art

Rachel and I have been eyeing original art to place above our mantel in the front room on etsy.com and have also looked when we went to Goodwills as well but nothing made us want to open our wallets. Well, we went to the Salvation Army on Saturday and saw this large print that did.

At $9 (originally $15 and then 40% off), we couldn't pass it up. It had some of the colors we were shooting for (blues, oranges, pinks).

The oak frame paired with the blue gave it a late 80s early 90s feel. So I took it apart, spray painted the mat white and painted the frame white by hand. White paint is kind of like magic and we think this thing has a much more modern look.

It really helps the room feel more complete (even if we do have our dining table in the middle straddling the coffee table as we paint).

Room before:

Before painting:



Art after painting:



p.s. more on the magic of white paint...


before:


after:

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Garage island again

Reinforced the legs last night with some 4 x 4's I had. It's fairly sturdy has a very slight wobble in it when I try really hard to knock it down --- when I enclose it on three sides that should go away.


And here's an updated panorama shot of where the garage currently stands:



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Staining


Is that a new table top? Yes. For the house? No, for the garage!

Started building this garage island a few days ago and used cabinet grade plywood for the top. Last night I put a few coats of stain on it and think it's looking great. Will put a glossy varnish on it once I'm happy with the color, which may be very soon.




More structural support beams will go below as well as a shelf or two. I'll also enclose the entire bottom area and add doors and maybe a low profile drawer or two. Then, things will get painted.

You can see that the island is the same height as the table saw --- not a coincidence. Now, when I rip a large sheet of plywood, the board will be supported by the island.

The plan is to keep this thing clear and clean on top --- void of tools. Instead they'll be stored underneath and I'll pull them out when needed.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Drain Valve modification


I've read that you need to drain air compressors after each use because condensation can rust out the tank. The problem is, the existing drain valve (see above) was 1) difficult to turn 2)leaked air 3) broke twice.

So I googled "air compressor drain valve" and found this post outlining how to upgrade it.

Next, I went to Emigh hardware and got the parts for about $24.

I used to have to tip the tank over to get access to the drain valve too, now it sticks out the side. Pretty sweet.


Garden Bounty

Finally! Some of our green tomatoes are finally turning colors! Jeremy is going to make pesto tonight out of our basil along with fresh grown tomatoes! Yum!


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Dining room update

Crown molding is up and spackled and caulked and ceiling is painted "white white" (first coat). 


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Crown molding is up

Gosh I love spackle and a compound miter saw and a second pair of hands.

Friday, August 5, 2011

This weekend's project

Will be adding crown molding to the dining room ceiling this weekend as well as painting the walls the blue (Regatta Blue) as seen in the center of the picture below:


We got these chairs from Marshall's a few days ago, we've had such mixed success with chairs that Rachel literally had to twist my arm to get me agree to them, I think they look good now:


In the background: The doors have been constructed and removed from the bookshelf and are waiting to be painted.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Vise handle

Got this Wilton vise off of Craigslist for like $30 and it had this bent handle:



I ordered 24" ($13.00 on eBay) of 17-4 Stainless Steel rod which had one of the highest Yield Strengths I could find at 145,000 psi. This means bending this metal is very difficult.

And two of these collars ($5):


So got the parts in the mail yesterday and installed. After about 5 minutes with a hacksaw and fresh blade I barely scratched it. I switched to a jigsaw which was slow but worked. Feels very solid. This vise has 5" opening which is pretty good but I think it was made in China, when it breaks I'll get something made in the USA ----- now lets see how long it takes to break this thing!