"A designer knows when he has reached perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away."

Rather than a costly, labor-intensive formal course, save Cash and time with those casual garden paths. They will mix in better and will seem like they have been on your backyard forever.

Required Tools with this Job

Have the required tools with this DIY job lined up Before beginning--you will save yourself time and frustration.

You will also Require a garden trowel and gloves, and a dolly for thick flagstones Along with a tamper.

Informal Paths

This winding gravel trail reflects the informality and simplicity Of upkeep of the backyard. Mulch and gravel would be the cheapest route materials you'll be able to purchase, plus they make building easy also. All you've got to do is eliminate the sod, roll out landscape cloth and spread the dirt or mulch.

Mulch and dirt paths could be dispersed, wood processor--coated trails or Carefully planned layouts, and they vary from casual to formal based on the plan and trimming material. You may select from a vast array of loose materials such as rough bark, decorative mulch, washed rocks and crushed gravel or cubes.

Mulch

Three common Kinds of compost Acceptable for garden paths are Wood chips, cocoa bean along with cypress bark. Mulch can also be a bit less costly than stone or gravel pebbles. Bear in mind, however, that organic avenues decompose over the years, which means you are going to need to rejuvenate them each two to five years using fresh material. In addition, don't use wood, bark chips or compost for avenues that run through areas with inadequate drainage or which are wet. It is going to result in some soggy path.

You'll find bags of compost at home centres, however for the best Collection of Organic substances for a course, check the regional nursery or landscape provider. Based on how large your course is, it might be more economical to have bulk substance delivered than to purchase luggage. -heavy layer of compost around 3 ft. wide instead to grass. Telephone the public works department in your town hall or see local tree trimming services.

Gravel

Several sorts of inexpensive gravel are all offered for avenues. Typical kinds include: crushed gravel, crushed cherry and pea stone. These substances continue forever and just require occasional weeding to look their very best. If you would like to conduct a wheelbarrow or lawn mower across the road, select crushed stone instead of smooth pebbles.

Gravel for avenues is sold by size and type. Larger rocks, averaging under 1/2 in., are perfect for avenues since they provide more comfort underfoot and package together better. Stop by your neighborhood nursery or Mulch Columbus, Ohio experts to understand what's offered in your town. Gravel is generally sold by the lot. Assess the width and length of this path. Take these measurements to the provider and request help to work out the number of gravel you want. Unless your course is quite brief, it normally makes sense to get the content sent. Gravel to get a route 3 in.

Gravel paths have a few limits, however. The stones could get monitored To the home, and thus don't rely on them close to entrances. And dirt paths are a lousy option in locations where you need to shovel them off. The gravel may wind up on your yard or flower beds.

Use a spacer pole cut into the width of the garden route as a guide once you place the edging or edge. You won't need to keep pulling the tape measure to guarantee that the edges operate parallel. Do not use vinyl. It is going to catch water and generate a fresh path.

If you would like a route that is firm enough to roll up a wheelbarrow on, then use crushed stone and tamp it afterwards leveling it. (Pea stone or alternative curved stone will not compact.)

Gravel or compost paths need pruning to maintain the substance A border for a design component. Here are some common Kinds of trimming you can utilize:

Vinyl Landscape trimming is cheap. And it is quick and simple to install. Should you Thing into the expression of the curved top border, conceal it with a boundary of plants. Aluminum edging forms a sharp border that provides the route a fantastic look. It costs over vinyl, though, and can be not as forgiving on sloped terrain.

Brick And rock boundaries are versatile and attractive, but they are more expensive And also much more work to set up.

Concrete Edging is less costly than stone or brick but has the very same benefits. Newer types that seem like arbitrary pieces of tumbled gems are an excellent Lower-cost alternate to a true rock boundary.

Landscape Timbers are an economical option to brick or stone boundaries. They are Particularly helpful for building shallow measures on slowly sloping terrain.

Taking on the job of home renovation may lead to divorce, according to child custody lawyers columbus ohio.

When you're taking on the job of home renovation, then there is a certain number of tasks needing to be achieved ahead. You want to be certain you've got each the financing to be able to achieve this objective. You want to be certain you get a very clear and comprehensive plan for each area, with budget and feasibility taken into consideration. You have to have time and labour scheduled and detailed.

The split generated while shifting a shared living room so radically can ignite a downward spiral into a connection.

With as much as 98 Americans reporting some amount of anxiety in their own lives, it's no surprise that the external stresses of earth wouldn't combine well with the pressures of renovating a house, developing a powder keg in a union. This powder keg may spell long term difficulties and conflict in any relationship that's abandoned, after the job is finished.

Know the job

Before partners enter into this commitment, they ought to know about each the disadvantages they face.

These couples let the frustration of building a brand new living room to Construct until they couldn't imagine the life they were producing for themselves, and according to the information, frustration is a significant portion of the experience. The information found that 46% watched that the general experience as irritating.

Couple can find Themselves talking two distinct languages and translating each others' responses in distinct and unintended ways. Having the ability to comprehend what the other partner is believing might often be a struggle with all the other pressures involved with a renovation job.

1 spouse becoming overwhelmed and annoyed by a scenario involved from the Emotions may add fuel to the flames, which makes both partners vulnerable to saying things they don't automatically mean.

Money no longer

Sometimes, the situation arises in which a married couple might be functioning On this job isn't where a few is presently living, placing them the proverbial fiscal hook for just two pieces of property. This can impact the total amount of money placed into the renovation job, thus affecting the evaluation and reunite in the eventual purchase of their house.

Determining the viability of someone's marriage. The mundane details in producing the ideal home aren't frequently planned upon, however, the aim of the partner resulting in the charge in this job is taking their union seriously and averting the divorce experience. Regrettably, it is not necessarily up to them.

Family and all its financing. Following a renovation is finished, a lot of the Finances are dried up in producing the new living area, so incorporating a Divorce from the combination, divides funds further to the stage where most people Can no longer manage the house they have just completed renovating.

Waking up to a basement filled with Water, a burst pipe on your kitchen or an overflow of water on your bathroom can ruin your whole day. Before you phone a water damage restoration professional, here are a few actions to consider to reduce the total amount of water damage for your house and possessions.

Find out where the water is coming from. This may seem obvious, but if you've just come home and discovered that a gigantic mess and do not know where it originated, the first thing you have to do is to FIND IT. If you are not able to discover the true source of the water, you may have a pipe that has burst. You would like to stop additional water from penetrating your home when possible. If you've got a bust pipe, then turn off the water supply to your house, if your roof is leaking, halt the flow as best possible.

Learn how much harm was done. Some things could be repaired on your own, but when it involves damage to your gutters, floors, or ceilings, then it's ideal to call in a professional.

If it is something you're able to handle by yourself, then first things first: flow!! Open the windows, turn on the fans, let the room breathe! This won't only help out dry, but it will also help reduce the smell. Get out a spoonful and running -- it takes the moisture out of the atmosphere and surrounding items, and helps prevent mold and mildew from growing -- a great tool to have at hand.

Professional water damage restoration services

Water damage cleveland, oh is a Great resource for water damage and flooding cleanup Services in your area. Just visit the website, choose your state from The menu and then click on the featured service provider closest to your property. These highly trained technicians are ready to handle emergencies Around-the-clock, or schedule appointment times at your own convenience!

Remove the bedding and refresh your bed mattress by combining 5 tablespoons of baking powder with 5 drops of lavender essential oil and sifting the combination over the mattress. Keep for one hour then vacuum cleaner up once you have done everything else.

Windows

Supply the windows a clean down with the window-cleaning fluid and the microfibre fabric. No window cleaner? See how to clean your home windows with vinegar.

Sofas and carpets

Use the vacuum cleaner to pick up all of the dust and dust buried in the sofa's crevices. Scrapes on your own leather sofa? Dab a cloth in a few petroleum jelly and rub the scratch out gently. For a material settee, sprinkle a generous dusting of bicarbonate of soda and vacuum cleaner it up after quarter-hour. You may also sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on the carpet to refresh the help and material remove stains; just leave to sit down and vacuum cleaner up before your visitors arrive.

Kitchen

Go back in to the kitchen area to wipe aside the antibacterial spray in the fridge and wash the fridge shelves which have been soaking. Return all of the shelves and meals to the fridge and change the fridge back again on. Wipe the oven clear with a brand new sponge. Kitchen area cupboard staples like tin foil are excellent for eliminating stubborn grit on the oven shelves - just scrunch it up right into a ball and scrub aside the dirt.

Final steps

You’re nearly done! Return back through the areas and vacuum cleaner up the scattered baking soda from the carpets and rugs, vacuum make the mattress with fresh linen after that, rehang the curtains and nets and near the windows. Right now sit down and read more interesting cleaning tips suggested by home cleaning services worcester ma!

This Simple DIY manual to presenting is Designed to Supply People that need To-do paving but have no idea how to get started with several recommendations and guidelines from paving company columbus ohio.

It's also likely to offer guidance on how you can incorporate paving into a Residence Employing inexpensive paving cubes you could grab in the regional Builders Warehouse and construction supply store which are not precisely the ideal paving bricks it is possible to purchase, but they're cheap and will be completed to put in curb appeal to your house or install a backyard place. Pop in to a community building supply retailer and you're able to grab paving bricks which cost in the order of r 2.00 each, insert in the expense of rough and mud at approximately R80 percent metre and you'll understand that paving isn't that costly if you dwelling.

Paving bricks

River sand

Okay sand

Cement

Quantify up the Region until you Begin to calculate just how many paver Bricks you'll require, and also just how much sand has to be delivered.

The location to be paved should be emptied outside. That can be a significant measure and There are many factors you want to take under account when preparing the region.

- Inside my instance the amount required to be less in relation to the usual sitting gate, to permit for closing and opening, and also you may even have to consider this under account if you're paving a place which has access and exit points.

- The paving Has to Be at a very small angle should butting Facing an Existing property wall. As my brand new ecosystem butts up against the leading part of the home, the paving is tilted at a small incline away from the land, in order that any rain will probably run off and perhaps not amass against the land walls. If you're paving an outdoor terrace or entertainment area beyond your home, be certain that rainwater flows out from the construction to a acceptable point - rather a drain or perhaps a reduce point that'll direct rain using the pure flow of this property.

- The place has been paved Should be Free from lumps and bumps, as these can Affect the degree of these pavers once placed. After digging out the region and removing loose dirt, use a rake to eliminate any loose stones.

Compact the soil until you place down sand, particularly when you needed to perform A serious little digging to find the degree right. You are able to seek the services of a plate compactor to your afternoon by a grocery store shop, also this will guarantee that the earth is compacted securely. If you really don't compact the dirt precisely you may possibly discover that you'll have a issue with dips at which the paving sinks to tender stains throughout the rainy season. Compact the earth once or twice to be certain it's done precisely.

Lay rough sand across the compacted location. If you are not sure what sand to Purchase For the foundation, allow the inventors at the construction center know which you're deploying it to paving base plus so they are going to be certain to receive the perfect sand. Coarse sand is nice sand which does not clump or hold together whenever you streamlined on your own hand.

With the floor already flat you can shovel little piles of sand over the Top with the. Make use of a straight edge (a part of steel or span of directly hardwood) to even the sand out. The sand base has to be approximately 4 to 5 centimetres in depth.

Today you're all set to get started placing the stairs. It is not always possible to Put the paving bricks directly up against a wall socket, specially where walls aren't Right, therefore make a tiny gap at the border. You can always fill big openings with Cut pavers or mix up a heap of cement to fill out those are as after you own Finished.

When installing new cabinets, you plan to do the job after the completion of the Rough wiring and plumbing but before the end floor has been installed. By installing the floors following cupboard installation, you won't utilize more floors than necessary and the new floors won't run the danger of building damage.

If you are replacing obsolete cabinets, then remove the old cabinets attentively so You don't damage the walls and so you can use them for taking crucial dimensions (or, in some instances, as patterns to the brand new cabinets). The ideal way for removal is to take off all of the doors, pull out the drawers, and lift out any detachable shelves.

Most cabinets are fastened to wall framing members through their backs with Screws or nails, which you will need to pull. Be sure to have a helper when you eliminate upper cabinets-as you extract the fasteners, you are going to need help holding the cabinets up. If cupboards are screwed together by using their negative panels, also remove these screws so you can eliminate the cabinets one by one.

The walls which back new cabinets need to be flat, smooth, and clean. To Assess them for flatness, put a long straightedge against them. Mark any lumps or voids so that, during installation, you can correct for them.

Unpack your cabinets and make sure all the elements are included. Wait till after cupboard installation to include doors, drawers, and shelves. Should you remove any parts, make certain to tag them so you can return them for their proper places.

The primary wall and base cabinets are all key-if you get them installed flat From rear to front and side to side, the other cabinets should follow suit. It's easiest to start with the wall- mounted cupboards so that the base cabinets won't obstruct your job.

Installing Wall Cabinets

When installing kitchen cabinets arlington heights, il, it is easiest to install the upper wall Cabinets first; this way, the base cabinets are not in your way during the essential lifting and fastening.

Heavy--just imagine their weight when they are loaded with dinnerware or foodstuffs. The wall cabinets have to be installed with the correct sort of screw. It's crucial to fix cabinets securely into the wall stud framing supporting the wall's surface stuff.

Some screws Need separate end washers, and some do not. Do not use drywall screws--they are not strong enough. The screws you utilize Must go through a solid part of the cabinet, like a support rail that runs Along the cupboard back. Every cupboard Ought to Be secured by at least three inches.

These expert recommendations may have you shooting on the bbq grills columbus ohio just like an expert.

Gas vs. Charcoal

The Ageold argument over which grilling procedure will be "much better" entails multiple While no studies reveal that either is fitter, gas will burn cleaner. Charcoal grills emit more carbon dioxide, particulate matter and soot into the air, leading to greater pollution and high concentrations of groundlevel o-zone. In a preference perspective, on the flip side, a lot of men and women like the smokier, wealthier taste of food cooked in a skillet.

Obtain It alluring! Reaches the ideal temperature (also to kill any bacteria). Your barbecue ought to be 400 450°F to get top, 350400°F for medium-high, 300350°F for moderate along with 250300°F to get non heat. While searing does not "seal in" the juices (unlike popular belief ), it can create flavors that are improved through caramelization.

Additive-Free

Should You select charcoal grilling, then we still advocate additive-free bulge charcoal, then Which is simply charred timber. Traditional briquettes could comprise wood scraps and sawdust in addition to coal dust, gas nitrate, borax and additives such as jojoba or lighter fluid. In terms of lighter fluid, then we recommend quitting it altogether. Lighter fluid may release volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) to the atmosphere, make a embarrassing residue on food and also present a severe threat if used improperly.

Brush It Away

It is simpler to eliminate debris Once the grill is warm, therefore after preheating, utilize A longhandled cable grill brush onto your own grill stand to wash off charred debris away from prior meals. Scrape again just after usage.

Oil This up

On a grill that is clean, lean Meals can stick when put right on the Stand alone. Reduce adhering by oiling your sexy grill rack having a vegetable oil-soaked paper-towel: grip it together with tongs and rub it within the stand alone.

Safety-first

Food security is a high priority, therefore maintain these simple rules out of the USDA in Mind: prevent cross-contamination by using different cutting boards, utensils and platters for cooked and raw foods; Scrub foods while marinating; rather than baste using the marinating liquid. (Create additional marinade only for basting or boil your own marinating liquid first.)

Marinate Your Disposition

Marinating does greater than simply decorate food with taste; additionally, it suppresses the Formation of possibly carcinogenic HCAs (heterocyclic amines), that shape once grilling "muscle meats" such as poultry, red fish and meat.

The racket Evaluation

To Assess the warmth of a barbecue with no thermometer, put your receptive Your hands in two minutes, moderate in case it's necessary to go your hands in 5 minutes and Low in case you must move your hands at 10 minutes.

Washing windows is usually never fun, but it’s especially miserable when it’s cold outside. Regrettably, sometimes it’s essential to clean off the wintertime grime prior to the temperature rises. You’ll like to take some extra tips from cleaning services akron ohio during the winter season to ensure a successful and safe experience.

Assemble Your Tools

First, assemble the required tools to remove ice and snowfall from round the window. You may use a backyard spade to shovel snowfall off the sill, and warm (not very hot!) drinking water to melt any ice from the windows pain.

A ocean sponge is a wonderful choice for cleaning home windows. It holds a lot of cleaning answer and is porous plenty of to remove stubborn places on the glass. You’ll want a squeegee to clean away excess water furthermore.

If a ladder is needed by you to wash your outside windows, ensure that it’s secure and clear of ice. You need to ask someone to contain the ladder for you personally while you’re onto it, since the motion of washing windows makes it very unsteady.

Use Cold Water

Unfortunately, you’re likely to be very chilly once you wash your home windows this winter season and not just due to the temperatures. You should employ drinking water no warmer than lukewarm when cleaning home windows, since a severe and sudden temperature change can cause the glass to crack.

Make YOUR PERSONAL Solution

Don’t be worried about using store-bought windows cleaner for the outside windows. It shall be much faster, cheaper, and more efficient to make your personal cleaner. Simply fill up a bucket with an assortment of vinegar and water, and use your squeegee and sponge to create your window shine. Another great windows cleaning solution is a combination of water and rubbing alcoholic beverages or salt.

For Below-Freezing Weather

If possible, make an effort to wash your windows once the temperature is above freezing. However, we realize that uninviting your boss to supper because the windows are usually embarrassingly grimy will be much more hard than washing your home windows in below-freezing weather. If the elements is cold really, contemplate using antifreeze windshield washer liquid, as if you use in your vehicle. Your home windows will be clean plenty of to impress actually the pickiest of bosses.

Additional Tips

·Dress warmly in shoes with great grips to assist you stand safely on the latter, and put on a hat, and solid coat to remain warm.

·Put on waterproof rubber gloves to safeguard the hands from the chilly and the chemical substances. Tuck your coating sleeves in to the openings of the gloves which means that your coating doesn’t get wet.

·If you encounter difficult places, allow them soak for some moments while you focus on other areas of the window. Usually do not wait too lengthy to completely clean the soaking places, or the drinking water might freeze.

So, y’all, I’ve been doing some thinking. You know how sometimes, when you move into a new house, you have to just let a room sit there for a while to see how you’re naturally going to use it? Maybe you had originally intended for it to be a guest bedroom, but then you decided to start a business, so it turned into your home office. Or maybe you had intended for it to be a sitting room, but you found it more useful as a home gym. Well, that’s where I am with the carport. As the name would suggest, when we had it built last summer, I had intended for it to be the place where I park my car and truck. But do you know how many times that’s happened since we had it built last summer? Once. I parked my truck in the carport one time in the last year, and that was only because the bed of the truck was filled with plywood and a storm was coming. Yep, I parked the truck in the carport to protect the plywood. 😀 Our plan has always been to build a separate workshop — a separate building […]

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Oh, hey there, strangers! 😀 So last week kind of got away from me. It was just one of those weeks where I had so little motivation to do anything. But I did manage to make progress on one project — my resin countertop in the half bathroom. So I want to share with you my thoughts about the new resin product I tried (made specifically for countertops), plus my thoughts on resin countertops in general. So to recap, a while back I made a countertop for my half bathroom using two layers of MDF, which I primed, painted, and then coated with resin. If you missed that project, you can find it here… DIY MDF Bathroom Countertop For An Undermount Sink But when I made that countertop, I used a resin product called ArtResin. As the name would suggest, it’s formulated specifically to coat artwork, and not really intended for heavy use surfaces like countertops. But it’s all I had on hand, and so I decided to use the ArtResin as the first coat, and then order a resin that’s actually made for countertops for the second and final coat. So that’s what I finally got around to doing […]

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Y’all, I’m finally feeling motivated again! I went into the studio yesterday knowing I needed to just get busy and get stuff done. I dreaded it, and procrastinated, but finally picked up my tape measure, took measurements to trim out the cased opening between the studio and back entry, and just made myself do it. And you know what? The more I worked, the more I got into it, and the more excited I got about getting things finished! Sometimes you can’t wait until you “feel” like doing it. Sometimes the doing comes before the feeling. But anyway, Matt and I finally got our plans for the bedrooms and bathroom figured out, and as it turns out, just getting to the point where we can start on the bathroom is going to be a much bigger job than I had originally anticipated. And while we were deciding on those details, I also made a decision (base on some of your absolutely brilliant suggestions!!!) about how to turn the carport into my workshop. But first, here’s the plan for the bedrooms and bathroom. This is how the area currently looks… So here are the changes that we plan to make during […]

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Well, folks, the year is halfway over! I’ve really slacked off lately in getting things done. First, my day off for my birthday kind of turned into a week of being lazy. Then I started my 60-day keto challenge group and focused on that for a while, and then there was Independence Day and that excuse for a long weekend. And now here we are. The year is halfway over, and my progress on my “to do” list for 2019 is nowhere near where I had hoped it would be. The good news is that I’ve gotten quite a bit done on the studio and half bathroom so far this year. At the beginning of the year when I wrote my “to do” list, the studio looked like this… And now it looks like this… I just realized I don’t have any recent wide angle views showing the finished floor, painted walls, and wallpapered front wall. I’ll have to remedy that soon! But that’s quite a few items crossed off of the list. Electrical work is finished (other than installing four lights) The room is insulated and drywalled The flooring is installed The floor is sanded and whitewashed The window […]

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It’s Q & A day! And I decided to answer your questions in a video. I’m a Chatty Cathy, so the video is pretty long. If you don’t have the patience or desire to sit through the whole thing, you can find the questions that I answered listed below the video, as well as the time marker in the video where I answer each question. Unfortunately, I accidentally skipped two questions, and then I had some late additions. So I’ve written the answers to those questions in the post below. Having trouble seeing that video? You can click here to watch it on YouTube. In the video above, I cover the following topics: 00:40 – When you were young and thinking about you would do as a career, what was it, and how did you arrive at what you do now? 03:30 – What did Matt do before he became handicapped, and does he have a career now? 06:55 – Updates on Cooper, Peeve, and Felicity Smoke. 10:17 – How do you like the new carport? 11:00 – What/where would you recommend doing/going in Texas? 10:40 – What is in Matt’s game room? 15:50 – What project have you done […]

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I said a few days ago that while I’m excited to get started building my studio cabinets, the two priorities for me were (1) building a desk, and (2) building my workroom table. The desk is done. And oh my gosh, I love it! It’s amazing how much more productive a person can be sitting at a proper desk as opposed to a piece of plywood sitting atop two saw horses. 😀 If you missed the very simple writing desk that I built, you can see how I built it here… How To Build A Simple Writing Desk And you can see how I finished the desktop and painted the base here… My Finished DIY Writing Desk But there is no question that the most important thing going into my studio is my large workroom table. And those of you who have (or have dreamed about having) a huge craft room/sewing room/art studio/drapery workroom know exactly what I’m talking about. I dream about workroom tables. For years now, every time I’ve wanted to sew draperies, I’ve either had to spread out the fabric on the floor, or I’ve set up a full 4′ x 8′ sheet of MDF on saw […]

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Yesterday I showed you how I built a large no-frills writing desk for my studio. I didn’t want any drawers or a fancy design. I just wanted a simple but attractive desk, and this is the design that I came up with… If you missed the post where I showed how I built this desk from a solid core door and a few pieces of lumber, you can find that here… Simple DIY Writing Desk – Part 1 So yesterday, I set out to finish the desk. I knew I wanted a stained top and a black base. The base was easy. I painted it with Behr paint in a solid black matte finish. (When I want black, I don’t use a paint swatch. I just go to the desk and ask for pure black.) Then I topcoated that with General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in a flat finish. But the stained top wasn’t quite so easy. It was such a pain to get just right, but I will admit that the pain was self-inflicted. I made one mistake after another that made the whole staining portion of this project (which should have been simple) such a huge headache. But […]

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One of the main pieces of furniture I need in my is a desk to go in my “home office” portion of the room. I decided that I didn’t want anything fancy — no drawers, no frills, and no fancy or bulky design. I just wanted a simple but classic writing desk. And after searching online and finding nothing that fit the bill (especially since I wanted a desk on the larger side), I quickly realized that this was going to have to be a DIY writing desk that I build myself. So I came up with a very simple design, which is also very easy to build. It still needs to be painted (the base) and stained (the desktop), but I did get it built yesterday, so let me show you how it looks so far… And of course, that’s one of my breakfast room chairs. As soon as I find a desk chair for the studio, I’ll be returning this chair to the breakfast room. I had originally planned to purchase some metal legs to build a desk, but I finally came to the realization that if I use all wood, I could build an entire desk for […]

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To say that this has not been a very productive week would be an understatement. This has been a week filled with one frustration after another. I had high hopes that I’d get lots of work done on the studio, and while I’ve certainly tried, things have just not gone well at all. I started off thinking that I would tackle an easy project and install the pendant lights and wall sconce that I purchased for the front wall of the studio where the long desk and built-ins will go. Installing lights is a fairly simple task. Install the mounting plate, connect the wires, and connect the light to the mounting plate. Simple, quick and done! Except when you order your lights from a company you’re not familiar with (because you found them online and they’re super cheap), only to find out that it takes six to eight weeks to actually get the lights because they’re coming from China and evidently being transported via paddle boat (very frustrating in this Amazon Prime world we live in), and then try to install them only to realize that there are no instructions, there are no screws provided, and the mounting bracket is […]

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Matt and I have finally reached a compromise on the addition. If you’ll remember, Matt was ready at the beginning of the year to start on the addition. I wasn’t. And I’m still not. If you’re pretty new around here, let me explain. Right now, our house looks something like this… But we plan to eventually tear down the existing “master bathroom” (I use that term lightly) and sunroom, and add a family room, utility/laundry room, and master bedroom. Then the current master bedroom would be converted into a master bathroom. That would look something like this… And no, I still don’t know where the master bedroom closets would go. 🙂 But that’s not important right now. While Matt has been ready to get started on this addition, I’ve been dragging my feet. Why? Well, first of all, we’d have to take out a loan to get the addition done. Our plan has been to save up the money and then do the addition, paying for it all in cash. But it’s hard to save money when we keep spending it on other things. The garage-to-studio conversion, the carport, and the new front sidewalk were in the $65.000 range, plus […]

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A little over a week ago, I painted a black and white chevron design on the back entry floor. Before I painted that design, the floor had been wood filled, sanded and stained with one coat of white tinted wood stain. I didn’t do any other prep work before painting the floor because I thought it might be charming to see the wood grain through the white paint. At first, it looked great. If you missed the post about how I created and painted that design, you can see it here… Painted Black And White Chevron Floor Design I protected that painted design with one coat of clear polyurethane and was going to coat it three more times after I finished the whitewashing process on the rest of the floor so that it could all be clear coated at the same time. But a day or two later, I started noticing bleed through on the floor. A few of the floor boards evidently had an abundance of tannins in them, and the dark color started bleeding through the white painted areas. Unlike what I had envisioned, there was nothing charming about this. And as much as it shows it pictures, […]

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My floors are done, and while whitewashing red oak hardwood floors is a huge job, I think it was very well worth the effort and hard work. My studio is so light and bright, and I don’t think it would look like that with dark stained floors. I finished the floors last night, so I couldn’t walk on them to take pictures until this morning. Unfortunately, the early morning sun was pouring through the front windows and making it impossible to take pictures without glares on my floor, so I’ll get better pictures later today. But for now, here’s how my whitewashed red oak floors look… I’ll have to admit that I was very unsure about this whole process. The whole thing was a guessing game for me — trial and error — and I was figuring it out as I went along. Fortunately, I didn’t have much error, and the whole project went pretty smoothly. And in the end, the results far exceeded my expectations. I could not be happier with my whitewashed red oak floors! I explained in a previous post how I did a custom stain mix for the floor, and how the whole staining process went. […]

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I’ve had a few requests lately for a step-by-step demonstration of how I trim my windows and doors. I’ve shown this a couple of times before, but I looked back at those posts, and they were kind of confusing even for me. 😀 So I’ll attempt to make things as easy and clear as possible this time. I think you’ll be amazed at how easy these window casings (and door casings) are to create. The absolute best thing is that there are no miter cuts!! Everything is square cut, and yet you end up with something that looks custom and very substantial. I’m trimming windows that have never had trim installed on them before, so that means that I’m starting from the very beginning. If your windows are already trimmed, and you’re just wanting to install a different style, that means you probably already have jambs installed, so you can skip ahead a few steps. This is what my window looked like before I got started… If you’re starting with newly installed windows like I am, the first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that the drywall is cut flush with the framing around the window, and also […]

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I had enough people ask me about purchasing the big, bold, watercolor floral wallpaper that I created for my studio that I went ahead and purchased the commercial license from the artist who originally painted the watercolor flowers so that I could offer the wallpaper to the public via Spoonflower. You can find the wallpaper here. When you click on that link, you’ll find several options. You can choose between water-activated or peel-and-stick wallpaper. I used the water-activated since it costs less, and I had no problems with it at all. I shared some installation tips here… Studio Wallpaper Is Up! (Plus, Tips For Installing Spoonflower Wallpaper) You can also choose to order a swatch, a standard roll (which is 12 feet long) or you can choose a custom length roll. The custom length is the option I chose for the studio wall, and unless you have 12-foot walls in your room, I highly suggest ordering custom length rolls. That way you have virtually zero waste. My wall was just under 8 feet high, so I chose to have 8-foot rolls printed. Each roll was printed identically, which made matching the pattern very easy. (Don’t forget about that 3/4-inch overlap!) […]

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My plan for the weekend was to finish my floors. As of Friday, they still needed three more coats of polyurethane. Well, as of this morning, they still need three more coats of polyurethane. 😀 You see, my plans completely changed when I looked out the front door right before lunch on Saturday and spotted a package that looked like it could hold about eight rolls of wallpaper. I was so surprised, because FedEx tracking said it would be here today (Monday) by 9:00pm. But I tore that box open, and sure enough. There were eight rolls of gloriously bold, beautiful and colorful floral Spoonflower wallpaper inside. Needless to say, the floors got put on hold (the two coats of poly that were already on them were enough to protect them during this somewhat easy project), and right after lunch, I got busy installing wallpaper. But I couldn’t stop there, so yesterday, I installed the casing around the windows. I didn’t get it wood-filled, sanded, caulked or painted, but even in its unfinished form, I could see this wall start coming together. Here’s how it looks as of this morning… I said I wanted that wall to look like an […]

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I had hoped to be able to show you my completely finished studio floor today, but I didn’t quite get everything done. BUT…I did get the entire whitewashing process finished, and I was way too excited about how things turned out to wait until Monday to show you. So to this point, I installed the floors (obviously 😀 ), rented the big drum sander and sanded the floor, stained the floor with a custom mix of whitewash stain, painted a black and white chevron design on the back entry floor, and added two coats of white-tinted polyurethane. I still need need to do three coats of clear polyurethane on the floor (four coats on the painted part, since I didn’t use the white-tinted poly on that part). But since those clear coats of poly shouldn’t affect the color at all, what I have now should be the finished color. So just a reminder, I started out with unfinished red oak hardwood flooring, which looked like this… Red oak, as the name would suggest, has some very obvious red and pink undertones, and I didn’t want my finished floor to be red/pink. So now, after the whitewashing process, the floor looks […]

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Y’all know that for months now, I’ve been dreaming of having a black and white design on the floor in the back entry of my studio. Whether I used tile or hardwood flooring, I was determined to have a black and white design in place of a rug. (Rugs and floor cloths just aren’t wheelchair friendly, and this area needs to be easily accessible to Matt.) Well, I finally got my design painted, and just in time because my polyurethane for the floor should be arriving today! I went with a black and white painted chevron floor design, and here’s how it turned out… Please excuse my dusty walls and doors. 🙂 Those of you who are able to rent truly dust-free drum sanders for hardwood flooring where you live are very fortunate. I’ve only found one place in the Waco area that rents drum floor sanders, and let’s just say that they’re FAR from dust-free. I got the walls in the studio cleaned off, but clearly I overlooked this back entry. 😀 Now it’ll have to wait until the floors are polyurethaned, because I don’t want to stir up dust right before I polyurethane the floors. Anyway, back to […]

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My whitewashed red oak floor isn’t finished yet, but we did get the most important (and definitely the most difficult) step finished yesterday — the actual whitewashing of the wood floor. So I wanted to show you how it turned out, and also share the whitewash stain formula that I ended up using. The floor still needs to be polyurethaned, and that will happen later this week. I ordered the polyurethane late, so it’s not scheduled to arrive until Wednesday. I’ll also be adding some white universal tint to the polyurethane to brighten and smooth out the finish a bit more, so the final floor should be a bit whiter and brighter than it is now. But this first step was a very good start towards cutting the red and pink undertones of the red oak floor, and giving the floor a nice, bright appearance. Before I show you the whitewashed floor, let me remind you just how red red oak flooring really is… Many of you suggested that I just seal the floor in its natural state, but red oak is way too red (pink, actually) in its natural state for my personal taste, and any clear sealer (yes, […]

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Y’all, it’s been a hard, exhausting week. Let’s just say that when the week starts off with a sewage geyser inside your house, it doesn’t really set a good tone for the week. It took a couple of days for me to get things back to normal and recover from that catastrophe. If you missed that excitement, you can read about it here… So, I Had A Crappy Weekend (In The Most Literal Sense) Fortunately, there was no extensive damage. The floors and subfloor are fine, so that’s good news. I’ll be honest. After that happened, I kind of just wanted to check out for the week. Having something like that happen in a room that I’ve spent so much time and effort remodeling was so discouraging and demotivating. But Wednesday afternoon, I finally decided that it was stupid to let one really bad experience like that derail an entire week. I needed to find my motivation again. And rather than sitting around and waiting to feel motivated, I decided to put action first, and hope that the feeling of motivation would eventually follow. So I called the equipment rental place to reserve the drum sander and edge sander for […]

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I know some of you are showing up here to day excited to see my newly sanded and whitewashed studio floor. If that’s the case, you will be disappointed, because I didn’t make any progress at all on the floor. For some reason, it didn’t even dawn on me to call early (Thursday or Friday) to reserve the drum sander and edge sander. I just woke up Saturday morning and called the rental place (the ONLY rental place in town that I’ve found that has drum sanders), and they said that they were all rented out for the weekend. Of course they were. So I found something else to work on all day Saturday. But this isn’t a post about that project. This is a post about the hellish 24 hours that began Saturday night as I was getting ready to go to bed. As I was heading to the bedroom, I made a pit stop in the hallway bathroom. My pretty, newly-redecorated hallway bathroom. And as I flushed the toilet, water started pouring out on the floor from around the base of the toilet. I grabbed a towel and mopped up the water, assuming that the wax ring had […]

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Well, y’all have spoken, and the overwhelming majority of you believe that I should whitewash my red oak hardwood flooring in the studio and adjoining areas (half bath, back entry and storage closet). For some reason, I expected it to be a closer race between the two options, but whitewash ran away with the vote. So last night before I went to bed, I tested out some whitewash options. I’ve been researching how to whitewash hardwood floors for a few weeks now, and let me tell you, the info you find online is all over the place. Some people say just used watered down paint. Others say don’t EVER use paint. Some people swear by Bona products, like their white stain, or their NordicSeal. But after reading reviews and seeing pictures, I wasn’t convinced that it was the answer. So I decided to try out some good ole Varathane water-based white stain, right off the shelf of Home Depot. To be clear, the can says it’s not recommended for floors. But things like that generally don’t stop me from trying. 🙂 I figure that the topcoat will be the most important part of this equation anyway, so as long as […]

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I finished installing the unfinished red oak hardwood flooring in the studio! Those last few rows that have to be nailed down with a regular nail gun are always so challenging for me, and I can never get them to look as good as the rest of the flooring where I use the mallet and the flooring nailer, but at least there’s hardwood flooring all the way to the wall. Thank goodness for wood filler. 😀 If all goes as planned, I’ll do the wood filler on the rest of the floor today so that it’s dry by tomorrow, when I plan to rent the big sander. I’m hoping the sanding will be a one-day job, but if not, I’ll finish it up on Saturday. And then Sunday, I can start the staining process. So naturally, this is the point where I start to question my decision. 😀 I mean, this is a big job — about 540 square feet of flooring. And while I know that I’m known as the person who doesn’t mind redoing projects if they don’t turn out just like I want them, and I’m generally okay with approaching things with that mindset, I really don’t […]

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