The sixth weekend in the house, I wasn’t in the house at all, but rather in San Antonio with both of my big sisters, which was amazing, surreal, and lovely. I also got to look at Betsy’s actual kitchen a little more closely and think about how mine will be different from hers, and how it will be the same.
The seventh weekend in my house, I:
1. Painted the tv table. Mental note – when it’s too cool to paint outside, just be aware that spray-painting in the basement makes the entire house smell like spray paint because that’s where all the air vents come from. Also, no matter how big your dropcloth is, it should be bigger. Or just don’t spray towards anything you care about. But still, it looks really nice.
2. Assembled (but did not install) a garage door opener, because my door springs need tightening first – it does not pass the first test in the manual, which is to lift it halfway and then let go. It should stay still. Mine falls back to the floor, so that’s a project for next weekend, after which I may be able to install the opener.
3. Installed a new threshold for my front door, because the old one had lost the rubber insert that makes it meet the bottom of the door, and I was incapable of finding a replacement insert that actually fit. Also, it was old and metal and ugly, so I got a wood-looking one to replace it with. This was a minor adventure, because two of the screws did not want to come out – their heads were so stripped there was no way to get any purchase on them. One of them came out with the application of vice-grips and serious torque, which actually got me just the top half of the screw – but that was enough to let the threshold come up. The other screw was removed by brute force, prying the threshold up and the screw with it. Once the threshold came up, I got another glimpse into the history of my house – there were carpet staples underneath it, with a few strands of green shag carpeting still firmly stapled down. Again, I really wish I had photos of the house’s previous looks. Though I do hope the green shag carpet and the bright blue bathroom didn’t ever coexist. Anyway, a bit of Dremeling combined with hacksawing later, the new threshold is in… and there’s still a space between the bottom of the door and the threshold. Time to get a door sweep, I suppose. New item on the list for next weekend.
4. Matted, framed, and hung art for my bedroom. I’ve had these two tree images from one of my graphic design school projects over my bed for the past two years – but in my previous apartment, they were taped up with black electrical tape. It actually looked pretty good, but I discovered when I took them down that it left residue on the wall. And really, frames are nicer. So I knew I needed two frames for 12×12 square pieces – plus mat, that’d be an 18″ or 20″ square frame. If you’ve ever had art custom framed, you know it’s expensive. And I’m trying to have money to spend in the kitchen, so I decided custom frames would be a last resort. I learned during design school, however, that places like Pier One, Homegoods, and Cost Plus World Market often have already-framed art on sale – and in unusual sizes, so it’s worth hunting to see if they have anything that will work. So I ended up in HomeGoods, looking at a 20″ square frame around an entirely uninspiring piece… for $30. Consulted my mental budget, finally decided, yes, I can get two of these, $60 is worth it to have framed art in my bedroom, and reached up to grab two of them – only to discover they come as a pair. So that’s $30 for two! Which gave me leeway to go to AC Moore and buy matboard I liked instead of having to figure out how to incorporate their light blue mats into my decor. Awesome.
5. Re-assembled my art desk. It belongs in the studio, so it’s been in pieces as part of my anticipation of messy door-installation – most of the stuff for the studio is in boxes still, so I don’t have to re-pack things when the door installation happens (soon!). But the above matting process required a large flat surface, and my kitchen table is entirely covered in tools. It was easier to go ahead and build the desk than to clean off the kitchen table. Right now the desk is in the guest bedroom, so once the door’s installed, I’ll just haul it down the hall.
6. Raked and mowed my front yard. Much to my dismay, regular chores do not go away just because I have eighteen million projects to do. In fact, they sometimes get worse, because I put them off. But raking was actually kind of fun, I talked to a guy who’s looking at buying the house across the street from me, and said hey to a couple of neighbors. All in all, it was a pretty nice way to spend a few hours.