Climate change

We have a digital thermostat that controls our air conditioner, which until recently was on the wall in our living room. Although we don't have a definitive floor plan for the living room yet, we decided the thermostat would be better off  in the hallway, which would open up the wall in the living room for taller pieces of furniture, which would otherwise block the thermostat.

I wasn't sure what I'd find when I removed the thermostat from the wall, but was relieved to see that there was only a small hole in the paneling for the wires to pass through. I loosened the wires from the thermostat then drilled a new hole in the hallway wall.

Getting the wires from the living room through the small hole in the hallway would have been a challenge if it weren't for the convenient placement of the AC return. I opened up the return cover and (after thoroughly checking for bugs with a flashlight) squeezed myself inside the wall, where I pulled the wires out of the living room wall and fed them through the new hole in the hallway.

I rewired and mounted the thermostat in the hallway and patched the hole in the living room with a little wood putty.

Although our primary motivations for moving the thermostat were for looks/furniture placement, there's also a practical benefit of the new location. The best placement for a thermostat is often near an AC return. This is because the air at the return will be more representative of the air in the home, as the air is pulled in from around the home, and should result in a more consistent temperature. It also makes sense in our house since we only have one AC return, and it's in the center of the house.

Kitchen progress

As promised, here are some pictures of the progress we've made in the kitchen. The photo below was taken after installing two of the counters and before removing the bar.

After removing the bar...

Kitchen prep

Before we could install the counter tops, we had a few problems to tackle, including wiring, drywall repair, and nest removal. We weren't surprised about the wiring and drywall, but were not expecting to find what looked like a bird nest behind the wall. After a little investigating, we found an abandoned nest in the eaves of the attic, right above this spot, and think pieces from the nest must have fallen down into the wall. It was pretty easy to clean out; I just used our shop vac and vacuumed it up.

The second problem was the light above the kitchen sink. When we moved in there was no light fixture above the sink, just a hole and a couple of wires capped with wire nuts.  But the repair involved more than just installing a new light fixture, because the light above the sink was on the same switch as the track lighting on the ceiling. In other words, if you wanted the light above the sink to be on, you had to turn on all the lights in the kitchen.

The hole in the photo below was actually made a few weeks ago when Zach removed the main control box for the radio/intercom system in our house. Although it still worked, the sound quality was pretty terrible, not to mention how unnecessary an intercom system is in a 1900 sq ft home, where you can easily hear someone talking from the other end of the house. And that tangle of wires to the right is where the switch for the kitchen lights was (this is the wall in our breakfast nook that separates the kitchen from the laundry room).

Zach got up in the attic, no small feat during a Texas summer, and ran new cable. Now the light above the sink has it's own switch, just to the left of the sink.

Once all the wiring was done, we repaired the drywall, since it was in pretty bad shape when we pulled off the laminate backsplash. (you can see where we patched it with the purple drywall). I take full credit for the slightly wonky drywall work, but since we'll be tiling over it, it didn't need to be perfect.

The sink we bought is designed to sit on top of the counters, but we decided to undermount it, which meant it had to be installed before the counters went in. Zach cut out part of the base cabinet to accommodate the sink apron, and reinforced the cabinet sides to hold the weight of the sink.  The faucet is a pull-down model by Price Pfister, bought on Amazon.  We've primed the drywall and installed the counters on either side of the sink. We'll post some pictures soon.

So what's left on the kitchen to-do list?

• Remove the remaining laminate countertops
• Install the rest of the the butcher block
• Tile the backsplash
• Install light fixture above sink
• Trim out cabinet fronts
• Prime and paint cabinets
• Replace cabinet hardware
• Paint walls
• Make homemade pasta, my promise to Zach once the kitchen is finished

Kitchen Counters

If you remember, part of our plan for the kitchen was to replace the laminate countertops with butcher block. We bought three Lagan countertops from IKEA for just $59 each. They came in 8 foot lengths so the first step was to cut them down to size. We needed two pieces to go on either side of the sink, a large piece with a cut-out for the stove, and a long narrow piece for the bar. Zach also cut out a windowsill for the kitchen window with some of the leftover wood. After the pieces were cut, we sanded them down, with a belt sander, to remove the existing coat of tung oil.

Since it was way too hot to stain and seal them outside in the garage, we cleared out one of the bedrooms. We had both windows open and a fan going to circulate the air but even so I wore a paint respirator.

After sanding, they got a coat of wood conditioner, followed by two coats of Minwax dark walnut stain. I let them dry for three days before sealing them with Waterlox. I coated the bottom with two coats of original Waterlox, allowing 24 hours dry time between coats. Then I flipped them over and started on the tops, applying four coats of original Waterlox, followed by one coat of Satin Waterlox, again allowing 24 hours of dry time between coats. The original Waterlox must be used as the base coat, but can also be used as the top coat, which gives a semi-gloss sheen. However, we opted for a satin sheen, and used Satin Waterlox for our top coat. (Complete Waterlox instructions can be found here).

Overall, we're really pleased with the result. The only problem we had was small air bubbles during application that caused the surface to be a little rough. I think it may have had something to do with the heat since we followed all the recommended steps to prevent bubbles. Here they are, stained, sealed, and ready to install.

UPDATE: I went back and lightly sanded the counters with a very fine (220) grit sanding sponge, then applied one more coat of satin Waterlox. It made a big difference and they are now much smoother to the touch. (Waterlox does not recommend between coat sanding for adhesion purposes, but does say a light sanding before the last coat can help with the appearance, which in our case meant smoothing out the bubbles).

August: The worst month to clean out your garage

We put a hold on some of our indoor projects to get the garage cleaned and organized. The sawdust from cutting the flooring was several inches high, and it was beginning to look like a sandy beach, minus the cool water and refreshing sea breeze. So we drug everything out into the driveway and then tore out the garage ceiling. Weren't expecting that, were you? Yes, we ripped down the perfectly good drywall covering the ceiling in our finished garage. I admit it was a bit painful for me to watch, but it was all in the name of organization. Zach did most of the demo while I helped clean up the mess. Between the leaf blower, shop-vac, and air-compressor, we rid the garage, and everything in it, of all its dust and dirt. Now that the ceiling is opened up, we're able to use all the rafter space for storage, getting a lot of things off the garage floor.

We even found a couple of surprises up there, like pool cue chalk, an antique ball canning jar and a newspaper from 1970.

Lovely brown and yellow laminate covers part of the floor.  For now we've decided not to remove it; it's stuck very firmly in place with a lot of glue. We will be re-taping the edge, though.



We also have a storage shed in the backyard for all our yard tools. At one time it served as a port-a-potty for all the neighborhood roaches, kind of like Joe's Apartment. Let's just say it looked like someone took a gallon tub of chocolate sprinkles and dumped it all over the floor. As gross as it was, I'd rather clean up a ton of roach poop than have to deal with one live cockroach. Ugh.

Babybel sculptures

I came home the other day to find that Zach had made me a heart, out of wax from a piece of Babybel cheese. The next day it had been transformed into a rose. So cheesy sweet.

Then I started to wonder if anyone else had made a Babybel sculpture. And through the power of Google, my question was instantly answered. Yes.

Source

What can you make out of Babybel wax?

Table before and after

My mom saved this little table from her neighbor's garbage, and it eventually found it's way to our house. I don't know what it looked like originally, but someone had tried to strip the paint off of it at one point. I kind of liked the unfinished look, but it was a little too unfinished and had some pretty bad water rings on top.

Before

I gave the top a couple coats of Minwax dark walnut stain, and painted the base with Glidden's Elegant Lace in eggshell (which was free, thanks to Glidden's customer appreciation promo). I also used a bit of brown glaze to bring out the details.

After

Right now our living room is a sea of beige: beige walls, beige couches, beige tile. I've been slowly working my way around the room, priming and painting the trim, and hope to get some color on the walls soon.