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  1. The new office floor

    May 16, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    On Saturday we got to install the new floor in the office.  It was a long morning.

    Since we had already installed this same flooring in the living room, we knew the deal.  We had figured out who was good at what and we all had jobs.  The floor itself didn’t make the morning long.

    As documented here with National Geographic level photography, I had spent the day before pulling all the trim off the baseboards.  Since the wall would crumble it anything touched it, I used more brute strength than leverage.  This meant that the next day my arms hurt.  And I was tired.  I was also tired because it was a certain friends birthday Friday night and we all went to our favorite beach bar, Donovan’s Reef, to celebrate.  We are very good celebrators.  In fact we danced and celebrated so well that our cab didn’t arrive at the house until sometime around 3 AM.

    At about 8:15 we jolted awake to realize that my uncle would be there any minute to help us lay the floor.  At first while running around to get ready I felt pretty OK.  That apparently was the adrenaline covering up the lurking problem of the day.  That first 20 minutes was the best I was going to feel for most of the day.  Coffee didn’t help.  I knew this was going to be a problem when I scheduled this with my uncle.  I wanted to move it until next weekend but he wasn’t available.  I was just going to have to power through.  Easier said then done.

    If you have never installed hardwood flooring, let me explain the tools involved.  Below you will see the main tool which shoots staples through the tongue and groove of the new floor and into the subfloor(in this case our old floor).  It is attached to an air compressor for power.  Instead of having a trigger like a drill, you shoot the staples by hitting the top part with a rubber mallet.

    Oh and did I mention that the whole process makes the floor vibrate.  And then there is the banging of the rubber mallet making sure the boards are tight up against each other.  And the smell of sawdust from the edge sander (to make the edge of the old floor  under where the trim was even).  All of these things are not a problem for a normal person.  But I am a good celebrator so these added up to a feeling like hell.

    I knew better to complain because I knew I would be told “It’s not my problem you’re hungover.”  My saving grace was that the room is really too small for the wood, tools and three people.  Since this floor is all random lengths and widths, you have to have all the wood  together to see which pieces will fit best.  TB was doing such a good job at wood selection I figured I should stay out of the way.  Like I should be out in another room, sitting on the couch, being quiet.  TB told me later he knew I wasn’t feeling well when I wasn’t in the middle of everything telling everyone where things should go.  Oh, he knows me so well.

    It was a small, square room so it went pretty quickly.  Unlike the living room there were no door saddles/transitions to make or funky corners to work around.  It was all done in the early afternoon.

    Here is the floor install completed.

    Facing into the room

    Facing out of the room

    Tomorrow everyone comes back to sand and finish the floors.  I can’t wait to get the furniture out of my kitchen.

    Category Before & After, I have lost my mind: | Tags: , , , | No Comments

  2. Demo Day in the Office

    May 11, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    When we decided to put new floors in the living/dining room in December, we also bought enough of the same floor to go in the office and kitchen.  We knew for a number of reasons we would have to install the floor in stages.  Tomorrow is stage two, the office.

    To be ready when my Uncle John gets here in the morning everything had to be cleaned out.  Yesterday I moved all of the 4,073 books we own to the sun room.  The furniture was placed wherever there was floor space.  All over the house.  The dog is confused.  Unlike last time though we will only be cut off from one room, not half the house.

    Today was the day I set aside to take out all the baseboard trim.   The living room trim had been replacement, well, crap.  I am a lover of old houses so to me it’s kind of sacrilege to take out 80 year old growth wood and then replace it with a form of plastic/wood crap.  This is what the old owner did in the living room.  I am currently trying to figure out how to register for the wedding for baseboard trim to replace it.  The good part of the crap trim in the living room was it was easy to remove.  The office wasn’t going to be that easy.

    Here is a terrible before shot of the baseboard trim in question.

    This is pretty classic baseboard made up of three parts.  There is the main 1″x 6″ board, a curvy top piece and quarter round trim in the front.   Of course me being me, I researched the best ways to remove the trim.  I prepared myself that it was old and might just shatter and be useless.  I got my tools together – utility knife, hammer, small flathead screw driver, wonder bar, small blocks of wood and a Sharpie marker.

    To start I cut down all of the joints that had been painted over so I could pull each of the three parts off separately. As soon as I starting slicing the paint was chipping off everywhere, which you can see to the right of the outlet above.  Then very gently I would try to get the screwdriver behind a board and pull enough to get the wonder bar behind it.  I pulled a little bit off the way down the wall until I could pry it off in one piece.  After the first piece of quarter round came off in one piece I got a little excited it might work after all!  The top piece came off in one piece as well.  As they came off I marked the back with the sharpie so I would know where to reinstall. Then it came time for the main board.

    Let’s just stop here and discuss what I learned from my Google research.  I was told by the lovely folks at This Old House that in order to avoid damaging the wall when prying the wood off, you should place a block of wood behind your hammer or wonder bar.  Since I didn’t want to damage my walls, I found a small piece of pine I thought would serve this purpose well.  I put it behind my wonder bar and tried to pry the wood off.  The wood didn’t budge.  As you can see the wall did.  The whole wood block went through it.  Thank God I didn’t use a bigger block.

    My house was built in 1933 according to all the town records but our walls are not plaster.  I’m not sure if it was built with the wall board we have here or if it was renovated in the 1950s and the walls were redone.  (I found 1950s newspaper behind some trim.)  Either way, this stuff is brittle.  Like I had to watch my elbow because if I turned the wrong way I would have put a hole in it brittle.  After seeing what was behind the trim that was unpainted, I realized that the walls are really being held together with the 14 layers of paint on it.

    So with a lot of loving care, finesse and cursing, I proceeded.  I learned that brute strength was my best asset here.  (Don’t laugh. Just because I am the size of a 12 year old doesn’t mean I can’t ripped a weak wall down with my bare hands if I get mad enough.)  Also helpful was only putting the hammer at the joist and using that for leverage.

    Next problem – outlets in the baseboard.  I know nothing about electricity.  I am smart enough not to touch things I don’t know about that can set me on fire.

    I figured that I would pull the board away from the wall, and then maybe my uncle could help me unwire the box, take it off the front and then rewire it.  Great idea, except that when I pulled the box out of the wall I saw wires covered in cloth.  Oh, cloth wire, I thought I was rid of you!  My stepfather Howell had worked on rewiring my house because of this exact issue but never got to finish before he passed away.  I guess he never got to this room.  So what to do?

    I scraped all the paint off of the screws and removed them.  Then I cut the edges free of the paint.  I figured this whole thing was going to have to be replaced so I bent the side tabs 90 degrees forward and pushed them through.  I am sure I am going to get mean fan mail for mutilating a junction box but unless you are an electrician and want to come help,  shut it.

    The good news is that I only hurt myself bad enough to bleed once.  I was taking down a shelf in the closet and the screwdriver bit on the drill jumped off the screw and onto my finger.   I should be sponsored by Neosporin.   After a band aid and some lunch I brought some of the baseboard pieces to the workshop.  They were already a chippy mess so I thought it would be “so much easier” to strip the paint off now and then reinstall.  TB just loved- loved- this idea.  (TB did not love this idea.)

    Some of the paint had chipped off to show that it was originally stained.  A lot of times in old houses, the bedrooms or upstairs rooms were originally painted to save money while only the public rooms would have stained wood.  Since it was stained, it was probably stain grade wood.  80 year old stain grade wood.  I seriously couldn’t wait to get the paint stripper on it.

    Here is the SoyGel paint stripper soaking.  The wood is beautiful.

    I showed it to TB who thought it was beautiful up to the point where he realized if I stain this, I will want to strip & stain the door and window trim. And this room will never be done.  Silly TB.  Doesn’t he know old houses are never done?

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  3. How to build a cucumber frame

    May 7, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    So as mentioned yesterday, I built a frame/trellis thing to keep the cucumbers from growing everywhere and taking over everything.   There are so many different options from cheap DIY to crazy expensive.  Here is an article that gives a few different ideas on what’s out there.   I took a pulled parts of a few things and made what worked for me.

    First, look for what you have available.  If you have lots of long sticks or bamboo poles you can make a teepee shaped frame.  I however had neither of these things.  Instead, I went to the store and  walked around looking for inspiration.  I chose 1″x2″ furring strips.  These are just rough pieces used for support behind plaster or tile and are not high grade finish wood.  This is good since they are 92 cents for an 8 foot board.  And because you don’t need anything fancy.  For real long term durablity you could go with cedar but its a lot more expensive.

    I made mine 4’3″ high and 2’8″ wide.  This is kind of a random size because I was trying to not waste any wood.

    1. In the picture below you can see I have laid out the pieces of one half of the frame.  The long side pieces are 4 feet long so that I only had to cut the board in half.  The top and bottom pieces are 2’8″ which is the finished width.  The side pieces will be fit inside the top and bottom, thus the 4’3″ total height, which you can see on the top left and bottom right corners.  (The other corners haven’t been put together yet.)  The middle section was 2’5″ (total width of 2’8″ minus the 3″ of the side pieces –  although the strips are said to measure 1″x2″ they actually measure 3/4″ x 1 1/2″) I made two of the exact same frames and hinged them at the top to form an A frame.

     

    2. To attach I pre-drilled the holes so the wood wouldn’t split and used 2 1/2 inch exterior screws.  Since I don’t have the hand strength to hold all the pieces together perfectly while drilling and screwing, I clamped the pieces to the table to keep them still.

     

    3.  Once you have built both frames and hinged them, It’s time to add something for the vines to climb up and I chose to make a lattice look out of string.  I had a roll of exterior cloth line string laying around for some reason so I used that.  If you used cotton string you could compost it at the end of the year. All around the face of the frame (top, bottom & sides) I screwed in small screws down the middle  every four inches. These are wood screw I had laying around that are about 1/2 long.  Half inch exterior screws with flat heads would work best but I used what I had.  Just put the screw in a little, not all the way in.

    4.  Start at a corner and tie a knot around the screw.  Then tighten down the screw to secure the string.  Pull the string across and wrap around the screw on the other side and tighten the screw.  Continue doing this back and forth pulling the string tight and then tightening the screw.

    5. One you move up the whole length of the frame you will have this.  When you get to the last screw, tie a know and tighten the screw as you did at the start.

    6.  After all the horizontal part is done do the same thing going up and down to make a lattice.   Every time I went under and over I also wrapped the string around the horizontal piece of string to give more support and to stop everything from sliding around.  When you move on to do the second side, remember to open the frame up so you don’t accidentally weave your string though both sides so you can’t open it.

    7.  And here it is all finished and installed in the garden.  I originally was going to set the bottom board up the sides a few inches so the bottom of the sides could act like spikes for stability.  I remembered I wanted to do that after I had already put both frames together this way so I left it.  Sometimes I get so excited to get started I forget things that I should write things down.

    The cucumbers were then planted in long hills that run parallel to the bottom board (no hills here since I planted after this was taken).  Once they start growing I will suggest that they should grow up this frame.  They have these amazing little arms that grab onto everything so they should love this.

     

     

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  4. The seedlings have moved out!

    May 7, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    It’s a big day around here!  The gardens have been planted and the seedlings have moved outside to their new homes.

    Just like high school, there are cliques or groups that stick together.  Some plants do not want to sit with certain other plants at lunch.   Other plants like each other so much they so best when planted together, like that gaggle of girls who roam school hallways.  It’s important to figure out what you are planting and what goes with what.   Check out this chart to give you an idea of who likes who.

    I have two raised beds and for the most part the plants fall into two groups that like each other.  Below is the larger bed (which is 3 1/2′ x 7 1/2′ in case you were wondering.)

    In the back on the left is a tomato of the Sweetie variety.  On the back right is the tomato Matina variety. Only one has a cage since the other cage is still guarding the potatoes from Opie.   In the front center are two pepper plants, mixed color bell.  (I like to get the variety pack and see what we end up with.)  In the right front corner are the basil seedlings.  In the left front corner are the parsley seedings that have little chance of making it (since they are too tall and weak as discussed earlier in the seed update) but I figured what the hell.  Since I don’t expect much from the parsley, I also threw more seeds in around the seedlings.  Unlike the tomatoes, the herbs have a short growing season and don’t need to be started inside.  If they don’t grow you can try again.

    Here is the smaller raised bed (3 1/2′ x 6 1/2′).  Instead of nerds and band members, this clique features broccoli, beets and cucumbers.

    What’s that you say?  You don’t see anything?  Well that’s because the members of this group are all started from seed.  I was supposed to start the broccoli in March but once again this year I didn’t get them in until May so I don’t expect anything to go well.  They like cool weather and need to be in early to grow before the heat gets here.  The beets can be planted from March until May so I am ok sort of. They like cool weather also so if it gets really hot before they get a chance to grow I won’t have much luck there either.

    Also, a note on spacing.  Right now there looks to be a lot of room to plant more plants.  Do not forget that these plants will get bigger and you need to leave room.  In the directions on the seed pack you will see the spacing for the plants.  Follow it.  They don’t just make this stuff up.

    On the right you will see the large cucumber frame I built myself.  Directions for this will be posted shortly. Last year the cucumbers took over this whole bed with it’s long vines no matter how much I cut it back.  This year I decided it needed somewhere to go and thought up would be a good idea. I looked around for a bunch of ideas and this seemed look a good cheap idea.  There are tons out there on The Google so look around for an idea that uses what you already have.  The seeds are then planted at the base of the frame on both sides in small hills. As they grow I will train them up the frame instead of letting them just go everywhere.

    I also picked up a pack of seeds for a mesclun lettuce combo that I planted in a pot by the growing spinach and arugula.  For the herbs, I started more seeds of basil and parsley in pots because you can never have enough of those (remind me of this comment come July).  I bought a chocolate mint plant because it smells awesome and will give us another option when making mojitos.  This also went into a pot because mint in EXTREMELY invasive.  It will take over everything.  When you try to rip it out there will be a tiny part of the root left over and it will regrow. It’s amazing actually.  Last year my potted mint sent out a shoot over the pot edge and into the adjacent pot to take that over.

    And finally, last year I planted arugula.  It didn’t go well and I never got anything to eat.  I didn’t properly clean out my pots from last year.  As I go to reuse the pots this year I see that there is a bunch of new seedlings in the window box I tried arugula in.  At first I think it’s just weeds but soon realize that, lo and behold, it’s arugula.

    So because I was lazy, I get arugula.  And the bonus is that I planted a different variety last year than this year so I have another type of lettuce to add to the crop.  That’s the thing I love about gardening – just when you think you have a plan and know how it’s going to go, mother nature laughs and does what she wants.

     

     

     

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  5. Planting Potatoes in a Box

    May 3, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    I read an article awhile back about how you could grow lots of potatoes in a small space by going vertical in a box.  I thought, “I like potatoes. I should try it out.”

    The basic idea is to plant the spuds in a frame like the one pictured below and let the plant grow to about a foot high.  Then you add more planks to the sides and fill in dirt, covering the plant partially.  The plant then grows higher and you add a plank and bury more it and so on.  The potatoes will supposedly grow in the layers that you have buried.

    Here is the article link.  The photo below is from their page.

    Grow 100 lbs. of Potatoes in 4 Square Feet

    Since I didn’t have a 4′x4′ space in full sun to build this, I changed the measurements.  Here is the space before that was empty after I moved the hydrangea that used to live here.

    Mine is somewhere around 2′x2′ I think.  TB was kind enough to build this for me out of wood we had left over in the yard.  He cut all the side pieces at once so we wouldn’t have to worry about doing it later.   He also attached all of the pieces on the back wall since we wouldn’t be able to get to it later.

     

    You will notice that I have stapled chicken wire on the left and right sides.  This is because our Opie thinks digging is very fun.   It’s even more fun when you can eat what you did up. In fact there were holes in this very spot when I came out to plant the potatoes today.   The chicken wire will allow sun to get to the plants but not Opie.  Since I want to be able to get in to weed I didn’t staple chicken wire across the front.  I figured I would make a removable gate or something tonight.  It is now occuring to me that I am in fact tall enough to reach over the mesh since it’s only a few feet high so staples across the front would work.  You see I’m not used to being “tall enough” for much.  (The thing blocking the front now is a foldable tomato cage unfolded)

    After the sides were secure it was on to planting.  These guys love, love compost so I made sure we mixed a bunch in the soil.  I had read that grocery store potatoes are sprayed with stuff to make them not sprout and to use seed potatoes from the garden center.  The ones I found were russet potatoes, not my favorite but good enough for this little experiment.  The seed potatoes have to sprout “eyes” before planting which mine did while still in the bag.  I had read you could cut them into pieces to plant more, you just had to make sure they had 2-3 eyes on each piece.  Since mine were small I didn’t bother and just planted them whole.

    Here is what the seed potatoes look like before planting.

    After realizing I only now had four and used to have five seeds, I went searching to find one laying in the grass.  Opie was “helping” by taking one for a taste test.  Apparently they are pretty gross since there was no damage done.  I planted them about 3-5 inches deep then watered a bit.  That’s it.

    I have no idea if this will actually work.  We shall see.

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  6. Blue & White Striped Dresser

    April 25, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    Happy Wednesday to you!  For your viewing pleasure I present to you a dresser makeover.

    When I picked up this dresser, the seller repeatedly described the poor thing as “primitive”.  I don’t really know what he meant by that.  Like it only wore a loin cloth and hunted prey with a spear?  Anyway, it was a basic brown wood dresser that could use a little work.  See for yourself.


    My favorite part of picking up a new piece (I mean besides hearing TB say “I pick things up and put them down”) is trying to figure out what I am going to do with it when I get it home.  What color should it be?  What details can I add or do I need to leave it alone and let the piece speak for itself?  My mind starts to race with the possibilities.

    Inspiration can be almost anywhere and here mine came from a classic shirt that I am seeing a lot of lately. The Breton blue and white shirts that scream ‘”french!” and “nautical!” are all over the spring fashion mags.  So why couldn’t that same idea apply to furniture?

    Well, it can!   Using eco-friendly Safecoat paints in cobalt blue & white and a clear coat of Polywhey for durability, those classic stripes have been recreated.   I reused the vintage wood knobs by painting them white.

    Here it is in all its striped glory.  Check it out in the Kelly Sherman Design shop to see more photos.

    This one makes me think of summer!

     

    Category Before & After, Furniture | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments

  7. Starting with the leafy stuff

    April 24, 2012 by The Ridiculous Redhead

    Even though our last frost date is April 12th, it’s been a moot point since there was barely a frost even in January.  And since it’s been shorts weather a few days already I figured it was safe to start planting things outside.

    I decided to start first with the leafy greens. Things like spinach and arugula like cool weather so usually these are good for early spring planting.  Because they do not like 90 degree weather (like we had last week), I started them in pots so I could move them to a shady spot if they get stressed.

    Planters are expensive.  It always amazes me that a large, crappy, plastic, planter costs so much money.  I think there is some kind of plot by the stores to see if we will spend that much while they sit back and laugh.   It’s not like they are durable and worth spending the money on to last a long time.  There is also the problem of taking organic soil and seed and putting them into a pot made of petroleum and chemicals.

    If you walk away from the garden section at the big box store and look around you will find cheaper alternatives.  I chose galvanized steel which is used is outdoor things that you don’t want to rust.  Without getting technical, they dip the steel into hot zinc which protects it from rusting.  Go to the paint or plumbing section and look for buckets.  These are good for planting (or holding beer on ice).  Make sure to drill some drainage holes in the bottom and start planting.

    Here I have started seeds in two buckets.  On the left will be arugula and on the right will be spinach.  The front is more of a ice chest than bucket, not as deep, where I have transplanted the strawberries that were in the garden beds.  They are now very happy and already have lots of flowers on them.

    Not only are these cheaper that official planters but they come with handles!  When it gets too hot here in the full sun part of the yard I can then carry them over to where they will get morning sun without cooking in the afternoon.

    Everything above was done on April 8th and now we already have little seedlings!  (Please don’t mind the peeling trim paint.  I am still working on that part of the house painting)

    The nice thing about leafy greens vs. heads of lettuce is here we can pick some of the leaves and leave the rest to keep growing. In a few weeks I can also spread a few more seeds around so as I eat these leaves, more will be on the way.  I’m so excited since last year I tried arugula but the pot was only 5 inches or so deep and it dried out too fast.  Literally never ate a leaf.  Hey, live and learn!

     

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