Category Archives: Projects

Tom’s various projects

Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well. Sometimes the bear…He eats you.

September 10, 2018 ML

Remember my earlier post referencing a bear? Well…this project was the one I was referring to. The bear has been munching on us for the last month and Praise the Lord…we finally put him to bed yesterday.

Buying our bus unintentionally created a domino effect. We had originally wanted to park it on the side of our block wall but found out that it would be on top of our leech field which is a big no-no. THEN we decided we could park it in our side yard, but discovered that our septic tank lids weren’t traffic rated. Sooooo…we had the septic guy come out to pump the tanks and give us new traffic rated lids thinking that would solve the problem. Lo and behold, it turns out we don’t have a traffic rated TANK so in order to park the bus on top of it, we would need to get an entirely NEW tank…to the tune of $5,000. After a near heart attack, the septic guy suggested we just extend our block wall out towards the street to accommodate the length of the bus so we wouldn’t have to drive over the tank at all. Well…since we basically had no other option, we decided this was our best bet. And per usual, because we’re cheap and want the work done right…WE would be doing all of it. Yay us.

Because I still haven’t learned to be patient, I ended up starting my office project at the same time we started trying to extend the wall. Don’t ask me why. And no, I don’t feel like I need more challenges in my life. I’m just mental sometimes. Anyway. For the past month, we’ve been tearing down walls, putting up drywall, laying tile, painting, digging trench, pouring footers, laying block or shoveling dirt and gravel EVERY. DAMN. WEEKEND. (Minus one weekend when we were watching whales in the ocean…SPOILER) I know, I know. These are our choices. I just want to complain about it for a minute and the I realize why I need so much coffee at work.

Anyway, yes, we are INSANE and yes I love it. I also love that Tommy and I have the same work ethic and we are great partners who compliment each other’s style. When we put our minds together, watch out! Things are getting done. We started the wall on August 11th and finally finished yesterday. I was going to say that this was one of the hardest projects we’ve done, but then I remembered the climbing wall. And the laundry room debacle. And the kitchen renovations. And the railroad ties at the old house. And both patios we laid. Geez. We’ve done a lot of projects, haven’t we?? Hahaha! All I can say is that I have a new found respect for people who put up brick walls. Or lay brick, period! It is a HARD damn job and not something that I want to do again anytime soon. I am happy it is DONE. Next! =)

The catalyst that started it all. Our new traffic rated septic lids. Yay.

I don’t understand why they don’t wear shoes. They must descend from Hobbits? Actually yes. Mom.

While Tommy dug trench, the boys and I moved river rocks all day. We decided it would make sense to widen the driveway to have a straight shot to the gate for the bus. Much easier said than done, that’s for sure.

This was a lot of work. The boys did pretty well actually

All done. And those evil looking clouds dumped a crap ton of rain RIGHT as we were finishing for the day. Of course.

We hauled all the blocks and mortar in the bus. It was hysterical picking them up. The guy who helped us load them said it was the first time he had ever seen a bus in their brick yard. Haha.

We found a ton of old cans and water bottles in the old wall. I guess the guys who put this up couldn’t find a trash can?

William deciding he wanted to break down the other side

I couldn’t believe this kid knocked a block down. The hammer weighs as much as he does

Henry practicing his aim with block bits

First row down. Making sure everything is in line

Almost done! We were hateful at this point

2nd day on and right side coming along nice

Drilling holes for the support posts that the hinges were welded to.

This thing was so fun to operate. After driving it around all day I can say I am an Olympic Bobcatter

Cutting through the hill to flatten it out and match the driveway

Leveled with rock scattered over it. We didn’t have a lot of rock left over from the original driveway so I did my best.

Projects

Projects and projects and bears…oh my!

September 7, 2018 ML

Just kidding. There are no bears involved in this story. That will come in another post that I’m trying to put up. THIS post involves the demolition of a wall in my office that I’ve been wanting to do FOREVER and finally got around to. It wasn’t the best timing however, but I felt like if I didn’t get it done at the time, it never would have. AND you all know that I’m very spontaneous (aka Insane) and when the feeling to start a project comes on, I can’t fight it. So…we all woke up on a Saturday morning a couple weeks ago and I started smashing holes in the wall. No prep, no conversations really. Just a crazy woman and a hammer going to town on some drywall. I have to admit I am the luckiest girl in the world – Tommy has become very accepting of my affliction and instead of trying to reason with me, just starts helping. Hahaha. Poor Tommy. I know I get this trait from my dad. He was the same way and I’ve heard many-a-story from my mom about him pulling stunts like this. I think I’m worse, but at least I come by it honestly.

Anyway, I’m happy to say that as I sit here and type this, my office is DONE and beautiful and I LOVE it. So check that off the list. NEXT!

I love this room. But I wanted more character

My work station. I love looking out the window and seeing all the wildlife

The turds were only TOO happy to help. =)

Drywall out. This was pretty fast actually

As you can see, pretty much everything is STILL in my office. Meaning it’s covered in dust and filthy. Not smart planning obviously but that’s why they make swiffers

After all the drywall was ripped out, we had to remove a row of tile. Which sucked.

New conduit in and walls taped and mudded

New coat of sealer going on. This tile was in bad shape

Projects

Finding a new home for our friends…

August 3, 2018 ML

Hey everyone! How are you all? I hope you’re enjoying this heat as much as we are! /sarcasm off

Life has been chugging along and we have been busier than ever. Lots to catch up on…

Back in April, we decided that we are eventually going to be replacing the patio cover tiles with a corrugated metal roof that matches the climbing wall. We love the look of rusted metal and really think it will be a nice modern addition to this house. However…our little bat friends have made their homes in both patio covers, so when we DO decide to replace them, we’d like these guys to be long gone. We love watching them come out at night and didn’t want to lose that, so we decided to build a bat house next to the climbing wall that they could move into over time.

As always, Tommy decided to make one himself vs buying a pre-made one and it turned out beautiful. Installing it was a little tricky but ultimately got it up in one piece by that afternoon. Woohoo!

Here you can see the slats that the bats can hang on to…

Trying to get it in place…it was fairly heavy…

House, Projects

Our brand new guest bathroom!

July 16, 2017 ML

Well…we FINALLY got around to a real renovation of the guest bathroom but it’s only because I lost my mind one Sunday night after seeing little boys crusty pee all over the toilet that made the whole room smell like an outhouse! This reno was a long time coming and we ended up going all out. I wanted to keep it as cheap as possible but after dealing with that foul tub, I found a claw foot one that I had to have which of course skyrocketed the overall cost. Tee hee! This was a total gutting from top to bottom. We had to rip down most of the sheet rock, throw away that bacteria infested jet tub and replace ALL of the Saltillo tile. Of course, with all remodels, there were some major hiccups along the way but nothing Tommy couldn’t handle and in the end, it turned out better than I expected. We decided to try some new tricks, like a faux brick wall and a concrete counter top and I think they both turned out fabulous. We probably won’t be doing another brick wall, but we will be installing more concrete counter tops – they’re awesome! I’m so happy that I don’t have to be completely embarrassed when someone comes over and needs to use the bathroom. Our renovation itch has been scratched but I’m thinking it won’t be for long. Haha! Poor Tommy! I’ll keep you posted. =)

We had repainted a little while ago and added cabinet but I still wasn’t satisfied. Plus, it always smelled like pee. Ugh.

Getting everything ready. They just can’t resist the camera

Let the demolition begin. This was around 4 or 5pm on a Sunday afternoon and it was completely spontaneous. Tommy was NOT thrilled. Hahaha!

Making sure they have all the proper gear…

Ok they SHOULD have gloves, but no one lost a finger so it’s ok…

Ok…fast forward to 2 days later. We removed all the tile which actually wasn’t too bad thanks to our good friends Martha and Chuck who told us about a tool we could rent at Home Depot to make it faster. We got it all out in a couple of hours! And of course, Grandpa’s Caliche Killer saved the day again. Tommy had to hammer out the concrete surrounding the pipe because when he ripped the tub out the pipe was completely destroyed. FUN!

Sink pipes. You can see black mold down in the corner. Charming.

Working on the plumbing for the new tub…

Filling in the hole with the new drain and concrete…

I just wanted you all to know that I helped too. By taking pictures…

So…I wanted a contrasting wall in the bathroom to kind of offset the white ones…thinking we were going to have white walls. My initial thought was to buy faux copper panels like the ones we put in the laundry room but when we priced it out, it was more that we wanted to pay. (Be quiet, B!!) After thinking for a while, I realized we could just rip the wall out completely and expose the exterior brick wall like we have in our kitchen and it would look awesome! However, Tommy informed me that there is a water heater closet behind this wall so we couldn’t get to the exposed brick. I had my heart set on this option and wasn’t giving up so easily so I decided that we would “make” our own adobe brick, because…of course I did. How you ask? Well, I watched a crap ton of youtube videos and read a couple blogs and decided this was the option we were going with. Tommy was NOT amused. However…he will be the first to tell you that he loves the way it turned out. I love it too and think it adds a lot of character to this room. It doesn’t look like what I intended because it is way too clean and pretty to be real adobe brick, but it works for this space and gives it a ton of charm.

Using a paint brush to give the wall a texture that mimics sandy grout…

After texturing it, we painted it this base color which was meant to be the grout so we wouldn’t have to paint it in, but it ended up being a completely useless step and waste of time. We had to paint in the grout anyway. So if any of you out there do something like this, just start with a plain white wall and save some paint.

Making it nice and thick. This step was kind of stressful. Being the first time we ever did something like this, we had no clue how it would go.

Our outside wall inspiration. We put this picture into the color app and it spit out 5 or 6 colors to choose from. We ended up using 4. You see what you think…

We spent about two days just painting this ONE wall.

William reading “The day the Crayons Quit” to us while we worked. Such a sweetie.

Painting the walls. I wasn’t sure what color I wanted but threw this one up and loved it.

This stuff was cool. A very nice sealer…

Putting the feet on our new tub! These were originally chrome colored but Tommy spray painted them and they looked amazing.

Drilling the holes to install the brackets that would hold the tub down. One of the great things about this tub is that because it’s fiberglass it only weighs 30 pounds! It was so easy to maneuver in and out unlike a legitimate claw foot tub that weighs upwards of 800 pounds!

Getting it perfect was kind of a cluster…

The oil rubbed bronze option made it MUCH more expensive but I think it looks much nicer…

The next big undertaking was our concrete counter top for the vanity. We’ve never made one but our good friends showed us the ones they made and we absolutely loved them. I wanted something that would be rustic and imperfect…and we definitely got that! Tommy and I were both happy with the final product and because it was custom made, it fit like a glove and really tied the room together. (Name that movie..)