Merry, Merry!

I've obviously slowed down on projects now that the Christmas Season has arrived (and that I've gotten married!)  But here are a few shots of the Christmas decorations. These are items I've collected/created from previous homes, so now I have to make everything fit in my 'forever home'. It will be a process... 

The Tree: Fake... but a good fake! The ornaments are mostly from my parents. They collected them throughout the years from friends and through their travels. It's a wonderful trek down memory lane. 

Because it's still just me, there aren't many gifts under the tree, so I've filled it with toys and figures that make me smile. Somewhere in the still unopened boxes, there is a train set to run under the tree...

My mom was a Textile Design (read: Fashion) major at Carnegie Mellon (at that time Carnegie Tech) and she made the Three Wise Men which hung in our dining room. I loved them as a kid. More than the tree, they said "Christmas" to me.  Sadly, they were ruined after they moved to a bigger house in the 80's. But the memory stuck with me and I created these after my mom passed away from a picture my dad took in the 70's.  They got a little wrinkled over the year... gotta iron those sometime!

Note the Menorah on the mantel. My great-great-great grandfather was Jewish when he sailed from France to America for the Gold Rush. He eventually married a Catholic, but I like to keep that bit of family history alive.  

Note the carolers on the silver chest. My mom had dozens of them around the house. She continued to add to her collection until she died. The brass tree was on that very chest in her home. I have yet to find candles for it. But it always added a lovely glow to the room.

Gotta have some greenery! I need to add ribbons and berries to make it more festive.  

The Santas! Again, from my mom's collection. Each of the four kids took some--you can imagine how many she had. Most of them are Russian/Eastern European. All are very intricate and beautiful.  

I didn't get a chance to finish the downstairs den this year. That will be something for Frederic and I to work on next Christmas. Also, nothing on the front of the house--with the exception of a wreath. Again, I didn't feel like climbing on the roof... again, that's something for Frederic to do! ;-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I Swear I'm Still Working on Stuff...

Sorry I haven't posted. I'm still working on the house, but it's been a bit slower because the projects seem to be getting bigger, more complicated, and needing more tools.  Also, my fiance Frédéric and his friends are coming for the wedding just before Thanksgiving, so that's pushed some things back and moved other things forward. 

TOYS... TOOLS!

I bought a table saw. I started assembling it yesterday and got the legs done, then decided I was tired. I think I have a fear I will cut something off (on me!), so I'm reading the instruction manual very, very carefully.

I decided I needed a workbench, so I got one of these cool little Black & Decker dealies super cheap at OSH! It took me far too long... which worries me: if I had this much trouble putting together the thing that's going to make my involved projects easier, how am I going to handle those?  Slowly. Very slowly, appears to be the answer.

Note that the crank on the right did not come with a pin to lock in the handles, so I had to jeery-rig a solution: a ziptie! Worked really well. I felt this might be a test: Can You Handle It If Something Is Missing? Yes. Yes, I can!

DUMPSTER IN A BAG 

Dumpster Bag

I found a Dumpster Bag at Home Depot. It's a giant bag that can hold up to 3300lbs. I set it up on my driveway, fill it with crap and call Waste Management to remove it and for a low fee, they take it! My junk is gone!  

I've been trying to get rid of boxes for the last few months--I keep cutting them up and filling my recycling, but I just want all of it gone. 

Boxes and Styrofoam I want out of my garage! 

My fireplace insert that was seriously messed up and the old antenna. 

Those are going in the bag and I'll finally be rid of all this stuff. 

CLUTTER

I hate clutter. I finally started on the last of the boxes downstairs. I'm putting my collection of action figures and things that make me laugh on the shelves in the den. (Because I'm still a child.) When I woke up on Sunday, the room was neat and clean, with boxes stacked neatly in the corner. Now, it looks like a fricken toy store exploded in the room. Crap is everywhere. (Pics to follow when it's done.)

My big worry is my office. It's become a catch-all for all the boxes and things I'm not quite sure where they should go. I did manage to fix the bookshelves (thank you Nail Gun!), but the books are sort of haphazardly placed on the shelves. Another project for another evening.

Oh, speaking of projects: When I was going through my final inspection of the house, I was walking down the stairs to the den and I grabbed the flooring for the upstairs (I was going down, so the first floor stairs were now eye-level) and I noticed the cap along the edge was easily moved. It was the main reason I wanted a nail gun. This weekend I finally got it done. It's nailed down and looks good. I'll post pics of that at some point, too.

I GOT GAS

I had PG&E come out and turn on my pilot light for my heater. It's been FREEZING the last few nights (California Freezing, not actual freezing--in the low 60's). Turns out it was already lit (waste), but I felt better having him inspect it, change the filter, and explain a few things on how it works. 

When he turned it on, we set the temp REALLY high to make sure it was working at full capacity. It works great... however, a year's worth of dust bunnies flew out into every room. Good thing I put off vacuuming and dusting this week (and last... and the week before... oy). The funniest bit is that the vent in the master bath blows right on the toilet paper roll. Normally, not a problem, but less than half a roll starts to spin... and unravel. It's almost like having a cat or small child in the house.

When the technician was out, he mentioned that my hot water heater did not have a dial on it and he'd adjusted it. I no longer have hot water, I have scorching hot water. I swear, it's not so much hot water as it is steam... It made my shower more interesting...

That's about all for now... I promise to post more... and hopefully it will be something actually worth reading. 

A Little Decorating

My new Master Bed came in this weekend... finally. The original time frame was between noon and 6pm on Saturday. Nice way to screw up a weekend. Living Spaces called the day before saying that it would be delivered between 3 and 6pm. Even better...

Around 5:50 pm I was pretty worried and called. The service rep said she would call the driver and to hold on... she came back on and said, "I can't get in touch with him, let me call the dispatcher." She couldn't get in touch with him, either. My belief that I was going to sleep on the new bed that night was rapidly fading... 

Around 6:30 the driver called and said he was on his way, but he had a couple of stops. At 7:35pm he finally arrived.  The bed is big and somewhat complicated, but they got it all set up within 20 minutes. I'm pretty happy with the results.

I love the bookshelf at the base of the bed. 

Eventually, I'll put stuff in there.

Yes, it takes up a big chunk of the room but it's SO big and SO comfortable! I usually am very close to the edge of the bed when I sleep. When I went to bed, I thought I was closer to the middle, but when I rolled over and tried to reach the other side, I couldn't (even with my freakishly long arms!) 

I also worked on the upstairs guest room. I moved my old queen-sized bed into the guest room and am going with blues for the room. The art on the walls are gifts from a friend who purchased them at the opening of Toontown in Disneyland.  They are the conceptual drawings of the attractions. (I'll try and post closeups later.)  They have a lot of blue in them, and that helped my decision on the color.

Good shot of the rug and the new quilt.

FYI: The plant is real.

I need new nightstands... and bigger art, but that will do for now.

I swear that picture is hung straight!

I'm ready for guests, so stop on by! Well... call first. 

Future Projects: 

• Nightstands for the guest room
• Paint for the Master Bedroom
• Paint the entire house (it was painted just before I bought it and their palette is far more green than mine.

In The Works: The Pantry Project

Following the completion of Blue, my next project is "The Pantry Project." This was from the master bathroom of my grandparent's house. The house was built in 1932 and this was a built-in for the bathroom (hence, one side is unfinished.) 

When my parents remodeled the master bath when they moved in, they put this in the garage to use for storage. It was tucked in the corner and I don't think ever held anything more than a box of 12 golf balls and golf ball shag bag to pick up balls when practicing putting in the back yard.

I love the look of this old girl. The base has rotted from years of sitting in a damp garage that occasionally flooded, so I will have to cut that off and add a new base. So, I'll get to try out my skills with a circular saw and my nail gun! 

I also love how the drawers open down. I'll definitely have to take out that old contact paper. I want to pain the inside something bright & light and maybe (maybe...?) put in lights along the top.  But my electrical skills are severely lacking, so I might have to add that sometime in the distant future. 

I'm also going to keep the original hardware--the hinges for the drawers are pretty cool, but need to have the paint removed. I've not seen any hinges like that ever before, so I think it would be a nice touch. 

I'll have to get the paint off, but I don't foresee that being too much of a problem (he said hopefully).

The color is still being debated. I was thinking of a bright red, then wiped down with a stain to mute it and give it some darker tones. Kind of like this:

Someone suggested distressing it, I'm not a real fan of distressing--a little goes a long way in my book. Also, I'm trying to bring it back to life--sure, it's a workhorse, but it does have a sort of simple quality where I think she deserves to look her best. 

Dresser Project (Part II): Blue

I've finished the second dresser. It's similar to the previous dresser, but instead of the sides of the drawers being red, these are blue. I'm now dubbing the previous dresser as "Red" and this one as "Blue."

I'm not that great with sanding. I think I've removed everything and after wiping everything down, it's pretty clear that some are better than others. However, I'm going from a black stain to a black stain, so I'm not too concerned. (When my sister restained a matching bookshelf a few years back, she went from black to a light brown, so she spent hours sanding.) I just needed it to have something to hold on to.

A little too much black still left. This is after the stain conditioner dried.
Meh... not too concerned.

Ready for painting!

I'm also working slightly differently on this one than the last: I used a stain conditioner to start and I'm also using foam rollers to apply the stain. What a difference!

I'm already impressed with the conditioner...

The first time it seemed to take forever to get everything stained. The roller made is zip along... and I love how the finish looks! I had three heavy (possibly too heavy) coats of stain on Red, I had three light coats on Blue and I think it looks better.

Naturally, I forgot to take pictures of the painting as it went along... you'll have to scroll down for the finished product.

For the sides, I made sure to tape the heck out of the drawers for spraying... 

And then covered all my staining with paper. 

I used a coat of Rust-Oleum Flat Gray Primer for the base.

Which coated nicely. 

For color, I used Rust-Oleum again. I know it says it has primer in it, but I wanted to make SURE it was done right.

I was tempted to try two coats in one afternoon, but didn't want to rush it. So, a second coat went on the next night to make sure it cured properly.

Here is the finished product:

The drawers curing...

With the original hardware.

I don't think I have a shot from the front. 

I think the black stain turned out well.

Here are a few shots of my staining and spray stations... I was far more careful with the spraying of paint than I was with the staining. That poor table will have to be redone if I'm ever to use it for anything else again. However, for the foreseeable future, it's a workbench in my garage!

The gold chairs in the background will possibly be used for a future painting project. My grandmother used them as extra chairs at her house. They are gold and actually really nice. I'm thinking of painting them another color and distressing them so the gold comes through. But that's a distant project.

Spray Station: definitely high-tech.

Lessons Learned:

• Definitely use foam rollers for paint and staining. It makes the project move SO much faster and it goes on really nice. 
• Stain conditioners make the process go much smoother. The whole staining process was much easier.
• Keep taking those pictures!

Snappy Contact Paper

I decided my drawers still needed a little punching up, so I added some contact paper to give them a more completed look. I like the pattern and I love how they turned out. 

Busy pattern; shiny drawer!

Closer view (because the other pictures was so distant...)

A view from above of all four drawers.

(The carpet is going. It's temporary.)


Lesson Learned: 

• A tight pattern can REALLY hide any mistakes placing the contact paper. There were a couple of tiny little bubbles, but I was able to take care of those. One crease did not work out, but I really can't see it. Hey, I'm pretty much the only one who knows they're there (and now you), so I'm not too worried about it. 

Dresser Project (Part I): Red*

My family owned a furniture store in San Jose for over 150 years. L. Lion & Sons was started by my Great-Great-Great Grandfather in 1856. My parents always said, "Spend more for good furniture because it will last. You can always repaint, restain, and recover.

Growing up, my parents had a set of oak dressers that were stained black and looked great. Over the course of 50 years, they've been moved to my brother's room, and then to the garage.

Finally, I used them in my bedroom because they are really great and really solid pieces of furniture (and they were FREE!) However, you can clearly see the years of wear and tear upon them have taken their toll. It was time to look for a solution.

I am not that experienced at refinishing furniture and I'm certainly not a patient man, so I was a bit worried I would rush the job, or screw up the job. But I decided two things: 1) I will give it a shot,  2)  start with one so I don't screw up two dressers at the same time, and 3) if I screw it up, I'll sand it down and start over.

Then I found this:

No need for a top coat! It's all sealed in one step. 

So, I pulled off the metal handles and scrubbed them with Bar Keepers Friend liquid cleaner... Holy Moly! That stuff made them sparkle.  50 years of grime will add up--you know they may have been cleaned, but I'm sure they were never really cleaned. Now they have been.

I sanded them down, wiped them off, used a tack cloth and then stained them. I didn't use a pre-stain conditioner, which I'll probably use in the future. A few coats of paint over several days and I think it turned out pretty nice: 

I added the red to the sides of the drawers to punch it up a bit. I'm going to have red accents in the Master Bedroom (ignore the carpet, it's temporary). I really like the look and the shine.

*Since the original post, I've now dubbed this dresser as Red, because the other dresser will have blue sides to match the bedroom where it will be located. 

Lessons learned from this project: 

• Slow down and take my time. 
• Thinner coats are better with stain. 
• Don't be afraid of color!
• Have fun.
• TAKE MORE PICTURES AS THE PROJECT PROGRESSES!!!

I Bought A House!

In July. 2015 I bought my first home. I'm hoping it will be my only home, but who knows what life will bring? I work in the SF Bay Area on the peninsula, but my home is in the Oakland Hills. It's quite a commute. I hate commuting, but I think it's worth it: you can get more bang for your buck in Oakland--houses with style for a somewhat reasonable cost.  There's no way I could afford a place in San Francisco. 

Here are a few pics--these are from the posting on the MLS, so the house looks very staged, I'll post more of my own as I go along. My little house on Sheldon Street is pretty cute, don't you think? 

Old pic... due to the drought, the 

I love the gate. However, I can't get my car down there... well, I could, but I'd never get it back up the driveway!

Good sized living room...

AWESOME kitchen... 

Guest bedroom

TV Room downstairs

The view of the SF Bay.
The Oakland airport is in the distance--very sparkly at night!

The backyard... so much work needs to be done.

Loving the little deck!

I have all sorts of projects I've been working on: shelving, refinishing furniture, decorating, closets, organizing, etc.  As I've been going through endless websites, blogs, and Pinterest, I thought that maybe I should start a blog to follow my progress. As I work on projects, I'll post... maybe someone will even read my posts!

And away we go!