Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Weak of improvements

Yes, I know how to spell. Yes, it was done intentionally.

Once again not a whole lot was accomplished this week. I did finally manage to get a nice enough day Sunday to cut the hardwood floor transitions. My neighbors repeatedly asked why I did this- I pointed out the 'quality' ones you get at HD were 20$ for 3'11" of wood, that the finish wasn't high gloss, that I'd require 4x of these and there'd be a total of 5 seams, and that (frankly) I hated the way all of them looked.

So I cut my own.

It's a simple pattern- a 15-20 degree angle up to a little less than half, a small steep nub down on the other side, and a recessed channel for the carpeting under the nub. I then take runner boards and put them down on the floor, nail them in place, then nail thru the new transition into them. Add a bit of glue first for security (where possible) and these babies aren't going anywhere. I haven't decided if I'll use the Stainless Steel Screws on them or just nail them in place- not that anyone would know the proper view anyway. They are a bit thicker than usual but since I'm hiding the fact I ripped out a wall and I want it to look like a little nook to go work in front of a window, I figure they'll police a roller chair quite nicely.

The furniture in the babies room was evacuated to my inlaws, against my wishes. I thought I'd said repeatedly to leave it here as I really don't want to have to call anyone for measurements- in fact, I was going to put one of the dressers in our bedroom behind a door, but my wife surprised me after I told her 5x this week, including yesterday, by having one of my friends show up with his car to load the furniture up.

I'm also arranging an 'inspection' of the house by a number of my neighbors and friends that have had children. I'll give them each a clipboard and tell them to goto town, finding all of the problems they can see. I figure that'll give us a nice list to work from to go do improvements instead of sitting on the sofa watching movies. I mean, we are having a kid, right- no more free time; might as well get used to it now. That includes picking up every little piece of junk that drops to the ground.

I also made the mistake of showing my neighbors kids how to pop a wheelie on their bike- I was afraid they were doing it wrong and might hurt themselves (kept flipping the bike over). I'm now their new best friend- the one comes over and bangs the door, bangs the doorbell, opens the door.... ach, oh well. No harm.

Garage is slightly more re-organized now. I can get in and out- got rid of some more stuff, put a microwave off the floor and onto the generator- we're getting there. Still don't have the pulls for the drawers built- they're just sitting in there- and I haven't run any dust collection hose yet (growl). Need to get that built ASAP.

So much work...

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