Posted by pudding on 2004-09-30 09:10:03
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Oh my goodness! I'm so excited to read this post - I was going to start a thread about the same thing.
My husband and I moved into our very own home after 2 and a half years of renting and the absolute joy of renovating is awesome!
In fact, we have been working on our latest project today. So far we have made changes to our kitchen, main living room and bedroom and we had modest budgets to improve each of those rooms, but today we tackled the ugliest room in the house and we were determined not to spend a cent. I'm sitting here in it now I have to say I think I love it the most!
The room is a tiny rectangular shoebox which we think the previous owner, an 80 year old home handyman, built himself. The room seems to have been tacked onto the exterior of the house - one wall is the same as the outside of the rest of our home! There was only a masonite floor and two of the walls were some very cheap wood panelling. A positive point about the room is that it has two windows which let in a lot of morning sunlight. Oh, I almost forgot - on the exterior / interior wall is a window for another bedroom in the house!
We decided to make this little room our "study" and until 8am this morning we were just going to jam all our furniture in there, but painting our other rooms had such good results we decided to have a go at this one. So we painted everything a beautiful creamy off-white, the same as our other rooms, with gloss trims.
Then, because we were determined not to spend any money, my husband lay some vinyl offcuts my mother had given us after she had recovered her kitchen floor. It's a beautiful terracotta tile pattern. This was the hardest part, but very funny!
We arranged our bookcase, computer desk and birdcage in the room and re-hung the green roller blinds that came with the house. Tomorrow we are going to start putting up our knick-knacks - a clock from the zoo which makes a different animal noise to mark each hour, a indoor/outdoor temperature gage, a cork board that holds all our take-away menus, a calendar and some framed newspaper articles and cartoons.
My friend and I christened the room "The Italian Grotto" (every room must have a name) and we are going to carve the name into a spare piece of the vinyl and hang it on the wall like a sign. :)
I got Jean's book this week too, and I loved it. As you can see I was very inspired!! Renovating, decorating and creating my home is one of my favourite ways to craft. The 'home' chapter was one of my favourite parts of the book.
P.S I took a before photo, and I'm so glad I did. When I get an after photo I'll scan them in and show our work!
P.P.S A good book to read is Home Comforts. It will give you every possible piece of information you might need about looking after your home.
Posted by pudding on 2006-08-01 01:37:51
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Do take into consideration, though, how long you want to be in this house, especially if you want to start a family there. How safe is the neighborhood? Is there a lot of traffic on the street? Young couples for potential friends and kid playmates on the block? What is the school district like. (This is a HUGE one in Los Angeles, and is a major deal maker/breaker.)
This was the first thing I thought of. When my husband and I moved into our house it was perfect for us but now we have Clio I am noticing aspects of our home which aren't so child-friendly. We have a steep flight of stairs to get to the front door and a balcony with a railing which has a ledge small children could climb on, for example. We can make adjustments to fix these issues but I've realised that we didn't give the future much thought when we bought our house. It's something to keep in mind.
As for the 2 bedroom thing, can you renovate down the track? Does the house have potential? We bought our house because it is in a great location, with a view to renovating or rebuilding a few years from now.
Anyway, congratulations and best of luck with the house hunting! It's wonderful owning your own home.
Posted by melmelon on 2004-06-03 17:44:26
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It's possible that you need to find one of the studs behind the wall, especially if you are hanging something really heavy.
The problem with finding the studs in our house, is due mainly to the fact that it was renovated 25 years ago or so by mickey mouse, himself, it would seem. We just demo'd the back addition and nothing was a common measurement, iykwim. Guess I should dig around in the basement for the stud finder, eh?
Petula - I have bookmarked that link for "futher investigation." That's looking like my best bet to cover up these nasty walls....no more renovating for us, in this house anyway....how I miss drywall -at least we drywalled the addition. (I found some WOOD walls under wallpaper...did I mention mickey mouse's involvement in this house?)
Posted by delqc on 2005-09-02 09:33:32
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A big shout-out of thanks to everyone!!! The project is on hold for afew weeks - we have friends in from out of town, then our anniversary, then my b-day, so It's going to be mid-october when the weather is cooler before I can tackle this. I'm thinking I'm going to try just water, because the paper is so old and cheap it's peeling anyway ... if that doesn't work I'll try Dif or the steamer.
Thanks again! I'll try to take before and after pics (which, when renovating, is ALWAYS fun ... )
Posted by lizzymahoney on 2005-12-24 15:18:52
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A deep water stain that has penetrated the wood has changed the character of the wood under the mark. If it's just damaged paint or a layer of poly stain, it's much easier to repair.
First, be sure it is as dry as possible. The water loaded wood will not sand right, the grain will be raised and you'll be stripping any aged patina off if there was any to begin with. So if it's dry to the touch, give it another couple days minimum to cure.
If the water penetration has left a wave like darkness, probably black, what you are seeing is actually fungus or mold. You can kill it, but will have a bitch of a time removing any trace of it. Plus it's already started to parasitize the wood.
Okay, let's say you have a table leg, water damaged, now dry. You've stripped and sanded and there is still a wavy line where the water was drawn up into the wood. Possibly, below that line the wood is whiter in places. Start with a hydrogen peroxide bleach, the kind for wound care, not the kind for stripping color from hair, not yet anyway. Use a q-tip to apply to the darkened areas, let it sit and dry for several hours at least. Any better? No, well, go on to either a hair stripper or to chlorine bleach. One bleaching agent you might try is dishwasher liquid, not dishwashing liquid. Then you'll probably want to try the chlorine bleach diluted, with a lot of ventilation. Any drips on other parts should be washed off immediately.
You can let all this dry and cure again, then sand. If you still have an unsightly problem, pick a stain, not the lightest one. You will have to paint this in such a way that the darker areas get as little as possible. Even if it's a wipe off stain, attend to the water mark areas so they match the rest as well as possible.
At this point you can tell if you will need to paint or use an opaque stain. If you are going to do this, I'd recommend using Kilz brand primer underneath. It's horrible stuff. I'd rather have the bleach fumes. Use Kilz outside where it won't suffocate small humans and large trees. I used it in a bathroom I was renovating once and I swear it was a week before I could sleep in my own bedroom adjacent.
Sometimes a salvageable naked wood top to a piece can look good with matte black or provincial cream legs.
Or you could do a faux finish of spalted wood that maximizes the irregularities of the water markes. You would use thin lines of black in places over anemic wood, then stain the whole thing pecan or golden oak.
Posted by Knits4Fun on 2006-01-18 09:04:16
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one thing about renovating while living in your home that sometimes takes people by surprise is the long-term mess they have to live in. i'm talking, daily layers of dust all over your kitchen (or wherever you're working).
Posted by honeybee on 2006-01-17 14:52:38
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one thing about renovating while living in your home that sometimes takes people by surprise is the long-term mess they have to live in. i'm talking, daily layers of dust all over your kitchen (or wherever you're working). and when it comes time for the kitchen to be done over, cooking can become a big hassle. and of course, the constant noise gets old quick.
but as long as you're aware of the pitfalls and challnges ahead, it's really exciting to see major changes happen, so congrats!
Posted by felt on 2005-02-18 04:56:01
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hey felt i am 20 min from nyc! i sent you a pm but just wanted to make sure you got the message. where might these shoe stores be? i just got paid so i have some extra cash to play around with ;]
*My absolute favourite*
Alife Rivington Club
158 Rivington (Clinton/Suffolk)
Ring bell to get in
Supreme
274 Lafayette (Houston/Prince)
Currently renovating but I heard will open Feb
Clientele
267 Lafayette (1 block south of Supreme)
Classic Kicks
Somewhere on Elizabeth, south of Houston
Adidas Originals
136 Wooster (Houston/Prince)
Autumn
150 E 2nd St (A/B Ave)
Nort 235
235 Eldridge (Houston/Stanton)
Premium Goods
694 Fulton (South Oxford/South Portland, Brooklyn)
There's also a list of NYC stores on the SNKR FRKR site:
List 1
List 2
I recently picked up a pair of sweet Nike Air Force 1 in butter at Clientele on Lafayette (they carry them too at Michael K for much cheaper), although the pink ones are cool too.
Good luck and let me know if you end up getting anything at one of the shops..!
I am a lucky duck and happened to be in Berlin when he wrapped the Reichstag. It was truly amazing. I also thought he was a big lame-ass for a long time, but I totally dig this madness now. I thought he sucked because he always has one idea: wrap something big. BUT several things have clued me in to what's neat about it.
1. Atmosphere. Normally, walking through Central Park, or driving past the Reichstag, you are minding your own business and expecting other people to mind theirs. When there's such an enormous, unignorable art installation there, it's like you're sharing a secret together. You're outdoors and there's something funny going on, and everyone's a part of it. Sometimes people talk, or smile, or make disparaging remarks, but it makes people feel like they're all there together. The Reichstag felt like I imagine Woodstock must have. People were there from all over, sleeping out and making music and dancing and chatting and gawking, 24/7.
2. Is it art? I think art has to have a little mystery, to have a little jolt that makes you look at something in a new way. Sometimes a simple line drawing is art because looking at it gives you a new little perspective. A bunch of people outdoors being together is almost art in itself, and the presence of Christo's wrapping also tranforms our perspective of what's underneath. People in Berlin thought the Reichstag was some ugly, dark, boring old lump of a building. But wrapped in silver fabric with blue cords, it was mysterious and wonderful. And they did it just as they were renovating to move the seat of the newly unified German government back to Berlin. Now the building is still a tourist attraction because it had that moment of transformation and it's actually a parliament building (which is what it was built for). The Gates are bringing people to Central Park in droves and they are experiencing it for the first time or for the billionth time, but in a new way. Now there's something between me and the trees, something pointing out the pathways and showing me the movement of the lines of the park like I've never seen them before. If that ain't art, I dunno what can be.
3. Wastefulness/environmental/WHY?: Christo recycles. He pays for everything with his own dollars. Sure, it would waste a little less energy and resources if he didn't do installations, but he's bringing a magnificent experience to a lot of people and doing it as conscientiously as possible. It doesn't take my tax dollars, but it's free for me to enjoy. And it's temporary, which is both part of the art (it's an experience, not just an object), and less taxing on the objects he's wrapping. Sure, there are other things he could spend that money on, "practical" idealism like medicines for the third world. But he could also spend it on a private yacht and a mansion in the hills. And I think there's a place and a need for his spiritual or fanciful idealism. We need people and art that will help us feel good and see beyond the practical concerns of the everyday so that we have the energy to work on the practical concerns.
Posted by delqc on 2006-01-20 10:15:20
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I would love to get someone to clean our house. The problem is, we are renovating and the house is in total disarray. Also, mr Scarlet and I are not dirty, but we have lots of clutter. I'm sort of embarrassed to have someone come in and see it.
We do this too. But I'm hoping that knowing someone is coming (and that I will Not have to scrub the toilet) will motivate me to pick up the clutter!
Posted by pudding on 2005-02-17 06:52:57
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The task daunted me, but I thought I'd have a go and see what came out...
Lets see.
Phillippa, 29, November 20 - Scorpio (although I don't really believe in the stars).
I was born in Sydney, Australia and lived in its various parts until 3 years ago, when I moved an hour north for work.
Married, no children (although actively trying and - it feels like - failing miserably). Pets: Luca, a three year old gay cockatiel (he's in love with my husband) and Puss Puss, who also sometimes goes by the names Pussolina or Pushinka, an ancient black and white cat who a few months ago followed my husband as he stumbled home from the pub.
For most of my life I fretted that I had no hobbies then suddenly found when we bought our home that I had tonnes of them! I especially love to cook and grow edible things in the garden. I love to plan so I am especially happy when I am planning what I am going to cook and eat or grow in my garden. I don't particularly like DIY renovating but I love the results.
I married a handyman and I sometimes have to tell him to put away his powertools and give the neighbours' ears a rest. I love him dearly.
I've loved to read my whole life. I love movies too, and I think what I actually like is to be told a good story whatever the form.
I'm desperate to travel to Europe but I don't want to have to fly to get there.
I live near the beach and like everything about fossicking in rock pools - the cool air, cool water, colours, sounds and scent.
I attempt to knit and sew and greatly enjoy applying Sublime Stitching patterns to my clothing. I began a drawing class tonight and felt so terrible about how hopeless I was I cried all the way home. :(
Posted by scarletgenesis on 2006-01-20 08:19:39
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I would love to get someone to clean our house. The problem is, we are renovating and the house is in total disarray. Also, mr Scarlet and I are not dirty, but we have lots of clutter. I'm sort of embarrassed to have someone come in and see it.
When we are done with the current part of the renovation, maybe I'll research it a bit more.
Thanks for those who talked about not going through a service. I'd actually had Merry Maids come in to give us a bid. I felt like they were WAY overcharging and was wondering myself if the people who actually did the cleaning got much of that. I'll know when I finally hire someone not to use them, just to get someone individually.
My mom and stepdad have a woman clean their house every two weeks. I think she charges something like $65 for 3 hours, which seems really reasonable to me. Merry Maids wanted like $120 for 2 hours and they weren't doing the whole house for that (that would have been about $200), and our house is way smaller than my mom's.
