The Accidental Carpenter's blog

24 March

The vanity installation isn’t going to be easy!  I put all the pieces out and noticed that the spacers are not as tall as the vanity.  I try putting it in various positions with the supplied brackets.  Brandie comes over to help install it and she can’t figure it out either.  This morning I started thinking that the spacer’s brackets are supposed to be placed on the bottom to line up with the toe kick.  Of course then that would elevate the spacer to make it much taller than the vanity.  I emailed the granite company and the rep said the sub contractor makes it like that and I will need to cut it to size!  The manufacturer says it makes it more flexible in how to use it but I don’t see how since not using the bracket makes it shorter than the vanityL  It will be important that the cut be strait since the counter will go on top of it.  Meat said he can cut it with his mitre saw so I’ll measure and mark where I want him to cut.  In the mean time Brandie got me started on making my cuts for the pipes. We couldn’t finish this last night because the set screw on my jig saw is missing so is effectively non-existent.  We were hoping to just use her super size drill bit but because of the size of hole we need it would be ridiculously tedious.  The position of the pipes against the wall is going to make it a tight fit, even with the extra 3 inches on each side I allowed for (which is why I have the spacers) so a much larger hole than normal will be needed.  We made some initial holes with a small drill bit and I’ll have to get a new jig saw.  It was important to use as small a drill bit as possible to get the hole started in the side.  The larger the drill bit the more likely the plywood would splinter.  I should be able to cut out the splintering with the jig saw since I only did one hole with a larger bit.  This will not be a quick process!

22 March

Well my vanity counter did not come in last week so I couldn’t get that installed over the weekend.  It did come in today so hopefully I can get it installed this week.  The weather was pretty warm so I finally got outside this weekend!  I went hiking at Great Falls Saturday morning with Brandie.  Of course I use the word hiking very loosely as most of the trails were closed due to flooding so we stayed on the towpath.  It was nice to get outdoors though.  Afterwards we went to a Korean buffet before I was headed off to Home Depot again!  I decided on a color for the bedrooms; I’m going with a light gray (burnished clay is the nameJ).  I also bought some shims for the vanity and furniture sliders.  The only work I did on the house this weekend was some more painting.  That was enough though!  I put a 2^nd coat on the ceiling in the spare room.  That room had an odd glossy color on the ceiling that has been hard to cover up.  Hopefully that is done (need to wait until it is completely dry and look at it with good lighting).  I also got most of the super high ceiling between the 2^nd and 3^rd floors.  I just need to do a little bit of edge work there but the hardest part is over!  At Brandie’s request I am including a picture of the finished pot lights.  I didn’t post them before because I had so many other pictures and these are pretty standard but since I think a picture of my painted ceiling would be too boring; here they are!

18 March

Let there be light!  The electricians were at my house almost all day yesterday but I finally have a well lit homeJ  They had difficulties getting the wire down to the switch from the ceiling.  There was a metal fire wall up a large part of the wall so they had to drill just below the crown molding and get the wire around a tight corner with very thick wood.  It took over an hour to get it routed.  I really didn’t want them to have to take down the crown molding so if they weren’t going to be able to get it down directly they were going to have to drill holes to get around it (the switch is close to the stairs where there is no crown molding).  They did notice that my ceiling was double dry walled.  I wondered if there had been water damage but they said they didn’t see any evidence of that.  They rough patched the holes (more like slots really) but I’ll have to clean it up and repaint the areas. 

 

Since I had an extra switch that went to an outlet I had them put the front two pot lights on that switch and the back two on the original switch to the old light.  I already took advantage of only using two of the four lights last night.  I really like being able to get specific with the lights.  The switches also have faders on them.  The faders they use are different from ones I’ve seen in the past; these have little tabs on what looks like a normal switch.  They put the same switch on my dining room light.  The back two lights are on a three way and can be turned on from downstairs as well.

Speaking of my dining room light I also have good news there!  The manufacturer finally emailed me back with directions on how to remove the crystal tile and turn it right side up.  The tiles are wired onto the base so I had to undo a bunch of wires (several tiles are connected together).  I didn’t want to try anything like this without their direction in case I broke it and then couldn’t return it.  They also sent me much better directions for installing the remaining parts and hanging crystals.  I have no idea why they don’t send this one to begin with.  The one they originally sent me doesn’t even have all of the parts in the diagram and doesn’t show exactly how you attach the hanging crystals.  Again, I was hesitant to go bending things around without directions explicitly telling me to do so.  This was a very expensive light (by my standards anyways) and I wouldn’t want to take any liberties to risk breaking it and then not being able to return it.  That being said, it’s finally set up and I think it looks beautiful!  I’m not sure the picture will do it justice.  The picture makes it kind of look like a disco ball; of course my sister will love that!

 

They also wired the bedrooms for the new ceiling fans.  It was so nice to have easy access bright lighting in there!  Here’s picture of the fan I put up (both rooms have same fan).  These were very cheap ($79 each).  I couldn’t how believe inexpensive ceiling fans were.  There were much more expensive fans but I thought this one looked nice and I didn’t want to spend the same kind of money like I did in my dining room.  Only one fancy light allowed on my budget and I spend way more time in the dining/living area!  It's probably hard to tell in the picture but that's brushed silver for the finish

16 March

I bought a new car!  I had my last car for almost 11 years, and this is my first new car in 14 years.  I went with a Honda Fit.  I love my Hondas and I felt a little melancholy giving up my faithful Civic but I just didn’t feel comfortable driving so old of a car, especially after the muffler incident.  How will this help me in my home renovations you ask?  Well, my Fit has much better cargo capacity!  The back seats fold all the way down to be level with the cargo area.  Those will probably stay back most of the time!

In addition to buying my car I did work on the house.  I’ve discovered something very important about myself as I renovate my home – I really don’t like shiny paint!  It’s okay for trims but I’m sticking with flat enamel for the walls (I’ll go eggshell in the bathrooms though).  I swear my main bathroom looks like it was painted entirely in semi-gloss. 

 

I really wanted to get out hiking but the weather was rainy all weekend, perfect for home improvements at least.  I have the electrician coming on Wednesday to put in the living room lights and add the wiring to the bedroom ceiling fans so I needed to get ready for that.  Of course I’m getting rid of the ugly fans already in there so I bought a couple of fans at Home Depot.   Here's a picture of the old fan:

 

Anyway, I needed to take down the old fans so I could get a good paint on the ceiling.  One of the fans was a bear to get off.  On this fan the ball connection slides onto a track and a metal tab is used to block the track after you get it in to prevent it from coming off.  Well, whatever the previous owner used to put it up can’t have been what came with the fan.  In the instructions there was a picture of a nice simple metal tab but what I found was this twisted piece of metal shoved into the holes.  It was quite frustrating getting that out.  I pulled out just about all of my tools.  At one point I started smashing at it and got one of my fingers caught in the processL  As if my hands weren’t getting ugly enough with calices and roughness with all of the sanding and painting I now have a bruised finger that looks more like it’s dirty!

 

So now the only ceilings I have left to paint are the stairwells and the bottom floor.  The 2^nd floor stairs are going to be difficult as the ceiling is 2 floors high.  I bought an extra long pole extender but I’m concerned about how I will get the corners.  Even with corner attachments it’s often necessary to use a brush to get all the way in there.

7 March

Yep, that light fixture is jinxed!  I start adding the crystals only to find out that one of the tiles you connect the crystals to is upside down!  There is no way to take out the tile and change it’s position (without breaking the fixtureJ).  What a pain this fixture is!  I sent an email to the vendor (Luna Warehouse) with the picture below but I guess it was still a little confusing to them because they told me to give them a call.  See where one of the tiles has a hole at the top but the other tiles have the hole at the bottom.  On the left of the upside down tile are the crystals I started adding.  I’m wondering if maybe the manufacturer can send some hand tool to punch a hole.  This was an expensive light plus the cost of the electrician!

 

In the mean time I decided to paint my dining/living room area yet again!  So far I like this color but I need to let it settle in.  I really hope I don't want to change it againt.  The worst part is the taping!

 

I also worked on changing out some hardware including a new door knob for my powder room and a new knob for some of my bi-fold doors.  I don't quite have the knob right.  It's an old fashioned handle so you have to tighten these screws onto the spindle at the knob.  It's a bit stiff and the lock doesn't workL  I think I just have to play with it to get the right resistance.  You also have to tweek how tight the knob itself is on the spindle.  It’s a delicate balance and I’ve improved on it.  That being said, if I knew I was getting a more difficult knob I would have gone with something simpler!  I’m keeping these because I already had to order them twice (got the wrong backset size before).  These old fashioned knobs are expensive too!

 
 

5 March

My lights all work!  The electrician was very nice and patient with all of my questions so I would have a better understanding.  I ended up changing out my hall light as well because the electrician couldn’t get a correlating wire from the other 3 way switch so he needed to look at the wiring in the fixture.  Fortunately I had just bought a new one at Home Depot last weekend so I didn’t have to take it down twice!  It turns out someone had cut some wire up in there which is why the kitchen light (and as it turns out the bathroom light as well) weren’t working without the weird set up I found in there (he explained it betterJ).  Everything works now.  I was also mentioning how tired my arms got while I held up the light fixture to connect the wiring.  He said that he just lets it hang by the ground wire!  I had thought of that and would do it for very quick moments but was afraid it wasn’t strong enough.  Well, it’s strong enough for a light (weight) fixture for the small amount of time it takes to connect the wires – good to know for future lights! 

I explained that sometimes the circuit all the lights (and tv and computer) are on flips the breaker but it has only happened when I was vacuuming using the same circuit.  He said some vacuums use a lot of power and what I maintain on the circuit didn’t look like it should overload it.   He did say if I wanted to be sure not to overload the circuit with adding lights (and having everything else on that sits on the circuit) it may be possible to add a new circuit without too much difficulty.  My panel is on the floor below but it wouldn’t be too difficult to run wires just to the back wall and up to the next level where the switch is.  They can also add the lighting to the existing circuit so I’ll see what the cost difference is.  I’m inclined to spend the extra money for a new circuit and not worry if I want to vacuum without shutting off lights or the tv!  Of course, silly me, I wasn’t even thinking that they only have to cut periodic holes for the wiring.  I was expecting big slashes across my ceiling.  I watch enough home improvement shows that I should have realized this!  That’s a bit of a relief.

He also made some good suggestions for adding lighting in the living room (of course I haven’t seen the estimate yetJ).  I will try to explain the lighting suggestion he made.  He suggested keeping the top stair light where it is an changing it to a recessed 5 inch pot light.  Then add another pot light along that wall and 2 more across the ceiling to the other side of the living room (and put all of that on a dimmer).  I liked that idea better than the single line of pot lights on the back wall and taking out the light at the top of the stairs.  Of course this is when I was thinking they would have to tear up my entire ceiling to get to the other side!  I am definitely anxious to get the estimate.  It’s a good thing I have a meaty income tax return coming.  I adjusted my pay so that I keep more of the money year round but since this year I have this government hoarding savings I want to put it all towards my house.  I think the wood floors will take up all of it so I guess I’ll be dipping a bit into the home credit I received last year to pay for the electrical work.  It was always my intention to use at least half of the money for that and so far I haven’t used anyJ.  I have to start paying that back next year but I should easily still have enough of a refund to be able to cover the payment (basically pay 1/13^th of the amount).  I was not eligible for the free creditL

I’m happy to report that Home Depot gave me good advice last week.  When I was explaining to the guy that the wire for an outlet I was trying to change was too thick for the outlet I bought to fit into the easy holes he told me that the preferred method to install an outlet/switch was to wrap the wires around the screw and tape around it and not use the holes.  Sure enough the electrician starting saying the same thing when he was looking at one of my 3 way switches (not one that I installedJ).  He said those “easy access” holes come out too easily (and in fact one did as soon as he pulled the switch out).  Too bad I don’t have more readers of my blog because then maybe I could get Home Depot to sponsor me with all of the times I talk about them!

I still have to add the crystals to the dining light so I'll show the before and after of the hall light:

 

 

1 March

Well, my career as an electrician has been stalledL  I tried to change out the lighting in my dining room.  There was an ugly ceiling fan/light in there.  The lamp was okay but the fan was ugly and I really don’t want a ceiling fan in my dining room so decided to put in a nice crystal flush mount light in there. 

 

I took down the fan in as many pieces as possible.  The base that holds the bulk of the fan is held there by 4 screws on what looks like 4 panels.  Three of the panels are fixed.  The trick is to find the real panel first.  Once you get that panel off you can pull up the round knobbed post that holds the fan out of the base before you unscrew the other three panels from the ceiling.  Just undo each screw a little until you find one that gives you a loose panel.  That way you don’t have to worry about the weight of the fan crashing down.  Of course some fans have a different base that attaches to the ceiling, I have the other types in my bedrooms that I’ll change later.  That part was relatively easy.  The technical part of attaching the new light was a little difficult as it has a very poor way to distinguish the “white” wire from the “black” wire.  There were both the same color but one was supposed to be more smooth and the other ribbed.  Of course I’m not sure I could tell the difference.   It was not easy holding the new light up for what seemed like an eternity while I connected everything.

 

 

So I go to the switch box.  The fan had its own little box inside the switch box.  The fan box had 2 wires nutted both to black wires from inside the switch box (most single pole switches have one black, one white and a grounding wire).  Next I have a 3 way switch (2 switches controlling one light such as for a hall).  Well there was some crazy configuration there with little scraps of wire connecting different black wires.  It looked odd so I decided to open other switch boxes with 3 way switches to see how they were configured.  They looked normal and didn’t have any of that strange rigging.  I tried to reconfigure the one in there correctly but it didn’t work.  My installed light would work when I turned the breaker back on but every time I flipped the switch the breaker would cut the power off.  I tried a few things without much luck so decided to call an electricianL   The odd thing is that my kitchen light no longer works and I didn’t even think that was on the same breaker!  I took the light completely down and the switch off and just capped everything with wire nuts.  I have an electrician coming on Friday.  I’m going to have them give me an estimate for a few things while they’re out there.  My top floor has ceiling lighting but they are not controlled by the switch at the door  (smart thinking thereJ).  I want to have wiring added so they will work with a flip of the switch.  I have an unfinished basement so that project should be fairly easy.  I also want to add recessed lighting to my living room.  I have the ceiling light in my dining room but the adjacent living room does not and it’s quite dark in there!  Lamps just don’t do the job. That is on the 2nd of 3 floors so will be more labor intensive.

 

I’m not thrilled about having to call an electrician but carpenters are different from electricians and I believe you must respect the electricity!  BTW, NEVER DO ANY OF WHAT I JUST DESCRIBED WITHOUT TURNING OFF POWER AT THE FUSE BOX AND VERIFYING THERE IS NO POWER GOING TO THE LINE WITH AN ELECTRICAL TESTER.   I know my regulars know this but there could be a young, clueless, budding electrician out thereJ

 

21 February

My house got some much needed cleaning this weekend but I also tackled a few small touches.  I’ve ordered some new door knobs (one for the new bathroom and a few others as well).  In preparation I painted one of the other doors to get the new knob.  I had already painted the bathroom door.  It’s really easy to see how much yellow was in the old paint when you have the new paint on top of it.  I must thank Meat for his contribution of old flight suits for me.  They re-purpose into great painter jumpers!  His boys wore them for years and it took me only about 10 minutes to get paint on themJ

 

 

I’m also going to change all my plugs and switches out.  I previously mentioned my changed switch but today I changed an outlet!  The hardest part is getting them strait into the outlet – you just have to show those wires who’s in charge and not be afraid to be rough with them.  I did buy an insulation cutter for the wire covering as well as a voltage tester – it definitely made the job easier!  What didn’t make it easier was trying to figure out what outlet went to what switch on the fuse box.  They do not always follow logic unfortunately.  Of course I knew the one my DVR is on and with all of my recording of the olympics I had limited outlets left on another fuse.  I wanted to change out one in the rooms I’ve painted so I can make sure I like the change (which of course is in the room of the DVR).  Look how rough my hands look.  All of this home work is destroying them!

 

 

I have to wish my sister Sonja a Happy Birthday!  It’s actually tomorrow but I don’t know if I’ll have anything new to  report then!

February 15

Okay it was a busy weekend!  I must say I am sick of painting.  My 2^nd floor is done thoughJ   The gray I chose for the living/dining area is lighter than I was hoping for.  Doesn’t it look darker in the sample?  It’s the upper right.  I think part of it is that the samples only come in matte but I got an eggshell finish.  I think I prefer the matte color.  Part of the advantage of the eggshell finish is it’s easier to clean and it reflects light making it brighter.  Of course it’s this reflecting light that is washing it out a bitL

 

 

 

I also finished the red paint in the kitchen.  I really like the color and it looks really good against the gray I think!

 

I also got motivated in my far corner where I had glass shelves.  I had taken the glass shelves out since I don’t really like that and put in a couple of book cases I already had.  Well, I think I’m going to tackle putting a built-in shelf there so I need to remove the wood holders that line the wall.  Brandie will help me with the built-in.  It’s good to have a handy friend!  If I do okay with that I’ll work on other projects as well.

 

Still not sure of the date

My arms and back are killing me!  I’m afraid if I take a break I’ll get unmotivatedJ  Leaving rough edges where I leave off helps.  I can’t let it stay like that forever!  One little trick I have discovered that makes it easier is to be able to put everything on hold is to take the tray of paint and use the press and seal paper on it and put it in the fridge.  This has come in handy with the trim paint in particular.  I’ll need to do something else before I finish the trayful of paint and I can put it in the fridge indefinitely.  I left it there overnight and then went back to some more trim today.  I must thank my sister for leaving that behind because I had not yet used it prior to that!  I got the idea when I was looking online for taking care of brushes.  One article said to wrap your roller in a plastic bag and stick it in the freezer in between coats (or breaks).  I use cling wrap.  This has been a great tool.  I leave my roller in there for days!  Since I’m using the same color for my ceilings, trim and uncolored walls (Swiss Coffee) I will just keep putting the roller in the freezer.  It has held up much better than rinsing and starting again the next day.  I use it even for breaks in the day and it just keeps it in better shape. 

 

Let me tell you one really annoying thing to paint – spindles!  Those little suckers are a pain in the butt.  Any recommendations on a good brush for painting those would be very welcomeJ   Here is a picture of the red sample I got for the kitchen.  Again, I think the camera makes it look a little brighter than it is, but make no mistake...it's pretty bright!  That's why I want a nice subtle gray in the dining/living room.  I'm not painting the entire kitchen red and the pegboard will cover a lot of red as well.  The bowl you see there was my inspiration for the color.  I bought that in Turkey with my friends Stef and Heather.  We were all stationed in DC and Germany together!  Did you see my powder room paint?  It's kind of bright too:)