I have heard some interesting comments or suggestions from people concerning bathroom towel bars and other related items. One lady said, that she wouldn’t put a glass soap dish on the wall. She wanted a sink top soap holder. She liked the look of the glass holder with the ring and mounting plate in a satin nickel or oil rubbed bronze finish. She said that she was going to buy the soap holder, but put a scented candle in place of the soap. She also suggested that potpourri could be put in the glass. I didn’t even think of that, but what a refreshing idea. Could put a couple of holders by the jacuzzi tub and have candles in them for that quiet late night soak. You don’t have to have the whole bathroom lit. Save on energy by using candles and still have light to see by. Mount them where they look the best for each application.

Another lady said that she used to live in Europe, I forget what country, but she explained the use of hooks only. She bought a couple of tissue paper holders, euro style, one post style, and then bought 6 deco hooks. I asked her if she was going to use any towel bars, and she said no. She stated that they just hang the towels over the hooks to air dry. Interesting I thought, but not for me. I like to use the deco hook, to hang a hanger on the bottom hook and put a shirt or something else on the top hook part. To each their own to decide what to use in their own bathroom.

Hey, it is getting to be close to that time of year again. I will have to do one last cleaning of the outside of the house. The windows that is. I have got it made, I just have to find my Renz-EZ sprayer and refill pack box. I just have to open a refill pack and pour it in the sprayer bottle and put the lid back on. I hook up the hose out front and go to town on the windows. When I am done doing the front windows, I unhook the sprayer and connect to the hose in the back yard. I don’t even have to take the screens off. That is the part I like, not having to take the screens off to clean. I have bent screens before putting them back in or taking them out. No worry about that now. I just start in a corner and work my way all around the window. I have even used Renz-Ez on my truck to clean it. It is one of those things that once you try it, you are hooked on it.

When looking for outdoor lighting fixtures consider this: Take a look at where your junction box is placed. If it is placed high on the wall you may want to look at an outdoor light fixture where the majority of the body is below the strap where the fixture is secured to the box. If your junction box is especially low, you may want to look at an outdoor fixture where the majority of the body is above the strap where the fixture is secured to the box. Picking the right size and length of outdoor light fixtures will give your home a balanced look.

I never realized what a big improvement lamps made in our family room. They add beauty by bringing an added taste of decor and they add function by giving us more task lighting for reading, homework and hobbies.
I know many designers who suggest using two different lamps in the same room which really gives the area a more unique and added flavor to the overall design, but I was not brave enough to try this and just decided to go with a bearutiful pair of oil rubbed bronze lamps that fit my decor perfectly. I measured my end tables and made sure that the lamps did not over power the tables by being too large both in height and width. Then I took a look at the shades and thought that instead of a white shade which over time would get pretty dusty, I would pick a nice tan shade that both complimented my current furniture and would not be outdated in the future. Instead of dusting the shades, I came up with the idea of using the air compressor in our garage and using the small attachment to literally blow the dust off the shades and keeping them looking like new. This, by the way, also works great on removable curtains, blinds, and even artificial flower arrangements.
One other thing I knew I wanted in a table lamp was a three way socket that accepted up to a 150 watt bulb. This way I can have both mood and functional lighting from one fixture.

I am sure glad that we purchased Ultra static air filters.  They have a lifetime warranty.  I don’t have to buy and store extra air filters and make room for them.  Who wants to have to go and buy  new filters  each month.  I just have to remember to take my three filters out and hose them clean with my lawn hose.  You just spray water to back flush out the dirt, hair or what ever gets in the filter media. The directions tell you what to do.  I usually check them about every 4-5 weeks, depending on how much the air conditioning is used during the summer.  I let the water drain out of them and let them dry before putting them back in.  Doesn’t  take too long for them to dry. I have Rheem air units and one unit, the down stairs unit in the garage, has two filters in it.   The upstairs unit has a filter with a soft edges that are sewn together.  This filter fits under a clip that holds it in place.  You can get either kind of filter in any size to fit any kind of air unit.  Custom sizes can even be ordered if necessary.   Customers like myself notice the improvement in how much the air in the house is cleaned by them.  Helps for allergies also.  I don’t smoke, but there is a special filter with carbon inserts that go in the Ultra filter that helps to take the smoke smell away.  I have had my Ultra filter for over 11 years now and it has paid for it self many times over.  Plus, I have extra space in the garage that I don’t have to save to put throw away filters.

The first thing I did was remove the old gas cook top (an uncommonly large 70’s model) and the built in oven. I replaced them both with a professional series gas range and a built in microwave cabinet. This would save me quite a bit of room. I lost the drawers under the oven, but gained several feet of counter top. At the same time I increased the size of the adjacent den/living room by 10-20 square feet. I moved the refrigerator surround over about 2 feet to gain this space in the living room. I had hoped to keep the original walnut stained plywood cabinets doors. I planned to sand and paint them. It probably would have worked out OK but I made so many changes to cabinet layout several of them no longer fit. The decorative routing would not allow me to resize them. I could have tried to duplicate them, but if I was going to all that trouble, I decided to go ahead and redo them all.

Once I decided to replace all of the cabinet doors I also decided to move the dishwasher. Moving it to the other side of the kitchen placed it closer to the sink as well as making it a bit more inconspicuous. I also gained a large drawer in that space so it was worth the effort. I then sanded and painted the face frames and shelves. I got stock sheet vinyl from Lowe’s for the counter top. I was able to get 2 sheets of 4×8 which was way too much material for less than what the right amount would have cost me to special order. I plan on using the excess to cover the under-sink shelves and will have some left over to cover work benches in the garage. The back splash design came directly from a home depot tile display. I chose it because I already had the white tiles left over from a previous bath remodel. All I needed were the colored tiles and the white trim pieces. The entire back splash cost less than $50.00.

The doors went together very quickly. I already had all of the tools needed from a previous kitchen remodel. All I had to buy was the wood. I had hoped to use the glass I saved from the sliding glass doors, to make the top row of doors, but the glass was tempered and could not be cut. I ended up using plywood for all of the doors. I went with poplar for the rails and styles and cabinet grade birch plywood for the panels Normally I would have used rock maple but I thought poplar would be easier to work with. It may have worked out that way, but I will most likely go back to maple the next time. The benefit of the small saving of time sanding the joints was lost on quality. maple machines much nicer than poplar. On the other hand poplar was less expensive so its a 6 of one type deal.

Once the kitchen was to this stage (first of May 2008) I started planning on selling the property. Technically I still had about 5-10% of the work left to do but the place looked completely habitable. In fact it was. Much of the remaining work involved decorating which I wouldn’t even attempt. Up to this point I kept everything rather simple. White walls and woodwork, safe colored tile etc. The kitchen back splash was the only decorating I had attempted and I kept it fairly simple. I would get help from others later who would supply some very interesting decorating ideas.

If I learned one thing since starting this project it that you need to be flexible in dealing with problems and situations as they arise. You need some basic knowledge and a plan but you need to adapt as you go along. I’ll explain more as I bring this adventure to an end in the remaining blog posts. Yes it will eventually end.

Tiling the kitchen went quickly without incident. The tiles were uniform in size and cut easily. I used a good quality thin set (Versabond) to set the tiles and 5/16 inch spacers. I would make a couple of changes later though. I increased the path from the french doors and also added tile to the kick space. Once I had the tile grouted I was ready to lay carpet.

The carpet wasn’t as easy as the tile. It seems counter intuitive that the the carpet would be harder than tile but it was in my case. The first problem came from trying to nail down new tack strip. Most of the nails blew out the surrounding concrete. It didn’t matter what size the nails were small or large or how I hammered them down they all failed. Several internet sites had different ideas on how to do it but none of them worked for me. One idea was to drill and use plastic anchors. I found a better solution though. I drilled pilot holes and then used a slightly larger masonry nail and it worked perfectly every time. I did discover that a hammer-drill is actually much easier on carbide drills than high speed drills are. I went through my fist bit half-way through the first room. After switching to a small hammer drill I was able to complete the installation with just 2 more bits. At first I glued the strips before drilling, but quickly gave up that step. It just wasn’t necessary.

Installing the padding wasn’t any problem. I miscalculated on how much was required but that was easily solved by an extra trip the home center. Laying the carpet had it’s share of surprises though. When I walked into the garage for the first time I was surprised to see several huge rolls of carpet left by the previous owner. Two of the rooms had the same carpet already installed. There were some serious stains on the carpet in the bed rooms but I assumed it was from the kids that had been using the place as their club house. Other than the stains the carpet looked almost new. Not only that but it was a very high quality carpet. I rolled it up and stored it on top of the other rolls in the garage before I started the demolition work. I planned on cleaning it after re-installing it. I assumed the rest of the rolls were of equal quality. Boy was I wrong.

Reinstalling the cut pieces actually went pretty well. I would have to add pieces to do the closets but that was no problem. Once I had the two previously cut pieces laid I began to roll out the carpet that had been stored in the garage for the past few months. It turned out that the carpet was used. I’m guessing it came from some sort of show room because the pieces were enormous. Some of the carpet looked brand new while other parts were heavily worn. The previous owner must have selected a part of the carpet that had little wear for the 2 bedrooms. I still had to carpet one bedroom, the hall and the living room. The bed room wasn’t a problem. I was able to find a piece large enough out of the wear pattern. It was like new. The living room was a little more difficult. I cut out the largest piece I could of good carpet to fit most of the room. I would have to seam a strip on the side but at least it was all nice carpet. Doing it this way didn’t give me a low traffic piece big enough for the hall so I would have to splice a couple of pieces together. Once it was down it looked Ok but I will have to make some changes. I’ve decided to remove the carpet in the living room and re-use it in the hall. It will be plenty big enough to do the hall in one piece. I’ll lay hardwood or bamboo floor in the living room. Beside that a light tan carpet in the living area isn’t a good idea for me. It would be far too difficult to keep clean. The new floor will have to wait until the end though. It looks OK for the moment. I ended up taking a large trailer full of carpet scraps to the dump. I ended up using less than a third of the total carpet. Most of waht went to the landfill was the heavily worn areas though. At least part of it got recycled.

The place was finally beginning to look habitable. Still a lot to do but a lot had been done.

When we moved into our first home we had a rather simple ceiling fan in our kitchen area. At first I was very excited about this because I thought it would keep the area cooler, but realized as time went by that there were a few concerns with having that rotating air. Number one, the ceiling fan did its job and kept the area cool - including our food. I found myself turning the fan off most of the time to ensure we had a hot meal waiting for us. Number two, as hard as you try you will have to continually clean the fan blades. If you do a lot of cooking as I do you will get grease and grime on the blades. It doesn’t mean your a messy person, it’s just what happens. You can still have a pretty lighting fixture in the kitchen and not produce a lot of heat. Pick out a flush or a semi-flush fixture depending upon the height of your celing and use compact fluorescent bulbs to eliminate the heat issue. Or if possible see if you can install recessed canned lighting in the space and use the same cool burning flurescent bulbs and give your kitchen a clean sleek look. You will be saving extended cleaning, energy, and money. Ceiling fans add beauty, light, function, and can actually increase the value of your home, but save them for your family, study, living and bedrooms.

The 70’s weren’t exactly the golden era of home building. From aluminum wiring to faux woodgrain vinyl on particle board woodwork to popcorn ceilings and swirling gold glitter faux marble, this place screamed 70’s. Except for some of the aluminum wiring all of that would soon be gone from this emerging new house. Just to emphasize the point, I offered some of the removed materials (interior doors, vanity top) that were still in good shape to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. All were refused except for the medicine cabinet and a set of drawer pulls. Everything else went to the landfill. I was afraid the landfill might even reject the stuff, but they took it all anyway.

I bought several contractor bundles of pre-primed baseboard and casement from Home Depot. It was very reasonably priced I thought. It is some of the softest wood I’ve ever come across. I’m not sure how well it will hold up over time, but it will look good for a while at least.

I began trimming the windows first. All of the windows were replaced and needed to be trimmed out. The original windows were trimmed with sheet rock. I don’t mind the way it looks, but I dont’ believe sheet rock is durable enough for window surrounds. I would trim them in plywood and wood molding. The fastest way for me to do it was to build the shells off the window and install as a single unit. It is much easier to get tight and square joints this way, or at least for me it is. After they are built it is a simple matter of sliding them in and shimming the sides and finish nailing the casement to the wall. There were 2 shells that I had to score the sheet rock and trim a bit to make fit, but it worked fine.

The windows trimmed out pretty quickly. The doors would take much longer. I replaced all of the interior doors with pre-hung 6 panel molded doors. 20 years from now, these may turn out to be the equivalent of the vinyl coated doors I replaced, but any way you look it they look much nicer than what was up before. I put together the mitered pieces of the casing and then tacked the assembled pieces to the jambs and walls. I trimmed the closet openings the same way. This helped keep the mitered corners good and tight and square. It worked well for me at least.

Finally it was time fro the baseboards. I cheated here a bit. I recycled the vinyl coated simulated wood grain pieces in the closets. I painted them but I know good and well that paint will not stick. Who looks in the closets that closely anyway, I told myself. I replaced the rest of the baseboards though. The first couple of coped inside corners weren’t the best you will see, but with a little caulk to fill the gap and no one will ever know. By the time I got to the last coped corner it fit very snugly without the need for any caulk.

I was finally ready for paint. Painting is not my favorite thing to do, but it was nice to begin to see a finished product. It was on to the floor next. I rather enjoy laying tile so I was looking forward to the next projects

We have several interesting things done with our letters and numbers. Temple University did a plaque with our 2 inch brass letters and numbers. They talked about when it was founded. We have had Air Force persons make a sign saying Fighter Squadron #718, not sure is that was the number. It has been several years, but they did a plaque honoring one of the men. We had a Real Estate agent put letters on a sign advertising for his business. We had a Steak house do the different rooms with our 2 inch letters. A Catholic building in Texas used our 2 inch brass to name the halls and rooms. I had a Church use three inch Oil Rubbed Bronze letters on a exterior sign. I had a Boy Scout use our three inch numbers and letters for a Eagle Project. This made a local paper, and the end result will last a long time and be view by hopefully thousands of people. I had a gentleman with a boat buy our four inch Satin Nickel letters to spell the name of his boat. A workout place purchase some of our arrows and letters to use in their new building. I had a lady purchase one each of letters N,E,W,S in four inch size. I told her she had several sizes to choose from. North, East, West and South, I asked where they were going to be put. She said her husband was going to mount them on the wood floor in their main room. Another order for numbers and letters came in for EST 1980, established in 1980. This was going on a business. Some people have used several different sizes to get the visual look they wanted. I had a lady use our satin nickel two inch letters on her son’s grave marker. She put his name and dates on the cross. I would not have thought of this use, but the result was a nice touch. I have had some people start the word with four inch size letter and finish the word with the two inch size. People have used our numbers for mail box numbering, even some companies are buying them from us to use on their boxes. It is nice to see end results that the customer is getting from our product. Having matching finishes in several sizes gives you the opportunity to be creative and still get a great look. We have sold our items from east coast to west coat, and place in between, and all seem pleased with our selection. One style at a reasonable price.