Rookie Homeowner

bed07
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

Not a whole lot of progress this week. It's deadline at the magazine, so I haven't spent as much time here as I'd hoped.

Nonetheless, I've moved into the partially finished bedroom. The only things left to do here are install the quarter round, install the refinished closet doors and figure out some window covering for the small windows.

office06
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

You can see where the water has discolored the wood slightly. My first concern is making sure more water doesn't come in. I'm considering using some marble tile that I plan to use in the kitchen and bathroom to make a transition... But I'm not sure yet.

office05
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

That's two rooms where I've pulled up the carpet to find perfectly good hardwood floors. The office was in better shape than the bedroom. Unfortunately, once the porch was removed, water started coming in the door. Now I have some discoloration in the wood closest the door frame...

porch07
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

After Bryan inspected this piece of gutter, we dropped some flat beer in it to check the water flow. A quarter inch every two feet actually results in very good water flow.

We got the rest of the gutter up with no problem. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to bring rain, so we'll see how it goes then...

Thanks Bryan and Traci and Maurice and Mikey!

porch06
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

I knew nothing about installing gutters prior to this project, but armed with myBetter Homes and Gardens book from my parents and some good advice from a Home Depot employee who actually cares (I've found there to be only about 20% that actually do...), I got all the materials I needed.

The only thing missing was how much drop the gutters needed to provide adequate water flow.

For all those in need, drop your gutter a quarter inch every two feet. Over the 21 foot length of my gutter, that was about 2 and a half inches.

In this picture, Bryan's estimating how much overlap we'll have with the gutter seam.

bed06
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

Traci puts masking tape on the last window. She was kind enough to donate her evening to painting the windows in the bedroom while Bryan and I installed the gutter outside.

Traci runs the Kooser Cabins in Kooser State Park. If you ever find yourself in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands in winter time and in need of a cabin with access to cross country ski trails, pay her a visit. She'll do you right, and the country is absolutely amazing.

bed05
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

With the baseboards installed and the walls painted, I realized the only thing left untouched was the steel windows. On advice from Mikey, I decided to paint the window trim a few shades darker than the trim's desert sand. That required an extensive masking job, but it went well.

office04
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

The office has a solid coat of desert sand (not cup of cocoa like I thought...) on the walls. I've torn the carpet out because without a gutter, water was coming in underneath the door frame and saturating the carpet.

So this past Saturday, I spent the day procuring materials for future projects. Maurice was kind enough to let me borrow his F350 passenger van to haul things around, and my co-worker Mikey was nice enough to donate half his day helping me load an unload all my new (to me) appliances.

Sunday was spent trying to learn everything about gutters. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked early on and spent most of the morning installing new electric outlets in the kitchen and office. The house was equipped with grounded wire, so I thought all I'd need to do was install the three-pronged outlets. Well, the electrician had wired the boxed with just enough wire to get to the screw, but not enough to make it all the way to the new outlets.

So I first tried soldering new pieces of wire to make the distance. Then, after some advice from a friend, I just connected 3" sections of wire to the existing screw to bridge the gap to the new outlet. Problem solved.

Not so lucky with the gutter...

Maurice showed up to lend a hand installing the gutter, and we quickly realized that the old roof left from the crappy old porch needed to be removed further. I started doing the job with hand snips, but Moe suggested using the Sawz-All, which ended up working much better. We then installed new aluminum flashing, and by that time, it was dark and we were tired.

I spent the rest of the evening stripping paint off the office baseboards. This room's boards had 7 layers of paint on them.

I took a step back this evening to try and analyze what needs to happen next. Knowing that the bedroom and office are nearing completion, I'm planning on getting the hardwire stuff (electrical, light fixtures and phone line) taken care of before the weekend.

Saturday I'll bring in the new (to me) couches, along with the stove (be glad the alarm system is now activated) and then get to work on the bathroom. Sunday will allow me to finish up the bedroom and start moving some stuff in. But at some point, I need to install a gutter where the back porch used to be. We're getting a lot of rain right now and the gutter, combined with the basement window well covers should take care of the scant bits of water I'm finding.

I'm also planning another trip to Construction Junction tomorrow morning, as a friend told me of a large bay window he saw... I guess you know you're aging when you get excited about good deals on windows.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. --Oh Wait! A friend also told me of a new product on the market--flexible gas line. That will make my life so much easier! Okay, that's really it. Good night.

My Beautiful Baseboards
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

Ah yes, my beautiful baseboards. I originally thought they were some pretty nice wood, but I then realized I can't identify wood. So rather than ask someone, I just sanded them down (50-80-120 grits) and repainted them (primer first, with 2 layers of cup of cocoa).

I have to admit, it's some of my finer work so far.

Nice Trim, eh?
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

This is the bedroom, taken from a different angle than I have in the past. Navajo white for the walls and some cup of cocoa or something like that for the trim.

That's "MAB" To You!
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

After painting the trim in the bedroom, I had some leftover paint... much more than I thought, as one wall was nearly completed.

This is my third night of solitary work, and I'm starting to realize how nice it was to have Jeremy in town to not only help, but add some good conversation to an otherwise dull process. Oh, and if you were wondering, MAB is my initials.

office02
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

Despite it's appeal, the teddy bear border has to go.

office01
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

I made a mistake in this used-to-be baby room. I'm turning this into my office, but in my haste to get rid of the baby blue walls and teddy bear border, I put the primer on the walls before peeling off the border. I did this because I didn't have hot water at the time.

Now that I'm stripping the bears off the wall, the coat of primer is helping keep it on. This means extra scrape time for me. Oh well.

Notice the stereo at the bottom of this picture. I got this for my thirteenth bithday. Still kickin' after well over a decade!

bed01
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

Four, count 'em, four coats of paint lie between me and fresh base boards. I borrowed a nice Porter Cable 4" x 24" belt sander to complete the job with. I haven't decided whether I'll use a wood stain on them, or stick with the original plan of contrasting paint on the walls and trim. Got any ideas? Leave a message and I'll listen--I'm color blind! (well, partially...)

bed02
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

This room will be completed first. It's the bedroom, and it was in pretty decent conditon. Thankfully, the hardwood floors were still in good shape, and I only need to upgrade the electrical sockets and possibly the ceiling fan. Windows can wait until spring.

I decided to take the baseboards off the walls to strip, sand and refinish them, as many coats of paint over the years turned them into an ugly mess. Numerous people told me to buy new instead of rehabbing the old, but I have a problem with wasting good supplies that could be revived with a little sweat. So tonight, I switched between stripping the bears off the ceiling in the office (see next post) and stripping the base boards (see picture above).

workbench01
Originally uploaded by Michael Browne.

After spending a good portion of yesterday trying to figure out what I was doing and where I needed to go, I realized the best place to start would be with a work bench.

I saved scrap 2x6 boards from my porch rafters and my old kitchen countertop, bought a few 2x4s, carriage bolts and deck screws and threw it all together based on a basic design I found in a Better Homes and Gardens book that my parents gave me for Christmas (forgive the run-on sentence...)

I also scored some plywood from the local recycled materials store, Construction Junction, to make the lower sheld out of.

A couple hours later, and I now have a solid work bench to help me with all the projects coming soon...

I know, it looks kind of sad, but the picture doesn't do it justice. I think I couldn't have done better for the $9 I spent on it.