Tuesday, December 27, 2011

How the Gym Feels

I've been doing my best to become a gym rat over the past few months.  
Both of these gifs adequately represent my mercurial feelings about and successes/failures at the gym:



Thanks to http://simplybecauseitis.blogspot.com/ for the gifs.  

Saturday, December 24, 2011

NO MAIL RECEPTACLE

...that's what the packet of mail said that the postal worker left on my porch yesterday.  
Fortunately, my friendly new neighbor said I could put my new mailbox on her post! So, today, another project by a girl who keeps wishing she was a handy-person.


 Yeah!  No diggin' postholes in the winter for me! So off to the neighborhood Lowe's and
 then a date with my loves Black and Decker.


Anyway, its not too interesting, but I stole the neighbor's mailbox, thawed it out, got my new mailbox, drilled holes through the bottom of both and attached both mailboxes to 2X4 braces made of pressure treated wood. Finally, I installed L-brackets at the width of the post outside.



I walked that well-appointed and beautifully secured beast outside, attached it to the arm with 3 inch screws and the L-brackets and Tur-Dur! There you have it.  


Now I can get bills! :)






Thursday, December 22, 2011

Revamping the Ugly Bathroom Vanity

So you may or may not (probably not) remember that the new house had this in the bathroom:

The Scene of the Crime

Yes it is what you all envy - a REAL early 80's builder grade oak vanity!  With REAL low-grade paneling on the sides!  and with blood stains bright red nail polish all over the counter and sink!

I considered remodeling the bathroom to match the blood stains nail polish - but in the end decided that was just to kitschy to match the rest of the house.  

Because only the front of the vanity was solid wood, and the sides were paneled, re-staining would have required cutting wood panels to fit the sides and then trying to get the stain to match on all three sides.  So instead I decided to do this:

I sanded down the whole thing, drawers, nooks, crannies, doors - everything - until the sheen was removed and the paneling was roughted up a bit to hold onto the paint.  The whole thing was then wiped down with a wet rag to remove all the dust, followed by a wipe with a dry lint-free cloth to get it completely clean.  

Instead of removing the front of the drawers, I taped around the inside of the back - you can see it a little better in this photo:


Then I put on my gloves, grabbed a sponge to handle any drips, and went at it:




It took four light coats (just one can of paint) to get it completely covered and even. The color is Rustoleum's Espresso in Gloss, and I think that it pretty nicely mimics the mahogany that I kept seeing on those thousand dollar vanities over at Lowe's.  :)  So here is the finished product, installed (after using three bottles of acetone to remove all the nail polish):


Now I just need to get the mirror installed and one little corner of my home will be complete!  

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Laney's New House!

Photos of my first house!  A lot of updates have already been finished, and I'll throw some updated pictures on here as soon as I get all my boxes unpacked.