Month: September 2012

All You Shingle Ladies

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All you shingle ladies.  If you like it then you shoulda put shingles on it.  Wait, what?  Our most recent weekend project included shingles.  And more window removal.  You see, we can’t leave well enough alone.  Nope, rather than leaving the wet bar as it was, we knocked it all out.  All in the name of continuity.  This way, we can  keep all the windows and doors at the same level and pour a large concrete slab in the back yard.  Then we decided to cut one of the windows in the pool house wet bar.  Why?  I’m glad you asked.  Inside, the cabinets just blocked the window.

Outside, the roof took a funky angle not to block the window.

Just strange.  In preparation for the concrete cutting, Ben pulled out the two stationary panels and the sliding door.  Then he added a few studs to the window opening and boarded it up.

To extend the roof, Ben added a few 2 by 4 pieces, following the slope of the roof.

A piece of scrap plywood on top and he started adding shingles.

Voila!  Awkward angle be gone.

Oh, and that Flagstone patio?

Is looking more like this:

And this:

We’ve pulled up about two-thirds of the stones, which we hope to sell on Craigslist.  The leading reason we’re doing all this work is to lower the back yard.  Right now, the rim joist is at (and in some places, below) the dirt.  Bob Vila and Tim the Tool Man Taylor wouldn’t approve.

In fact, Ben pulled out an old duct, and while doing so discovered tons of dirt resting on the foundation wall.  Dirt that over time has washed into the house and can cause long-term structural damage if not fixed.  Where there’s dirt, there are bugs.  Giant spiders and even a potato bug (if you’re feeling brave, Google it) have made their way in the basement.  So not cool.  And extremely gross.  Let the digging begin.  Hand shoveling around the house.

As well as pulling out stacked rock walls around the trees.

Making stacks to reuse or sell soon.

The back yard that looked like this over spring:

Now looks like this:

It always has to get worse before it gets better.  More pavers to dig out and we’ll bring in the Bobcat to really get down to business, literally.  Although we’d love to pour concrete before the snow flies, we just don’t think we’ll have the time.  Between now and then, we’ll add pea gravel (a step we’ll need to do before concrete) to help reduce the sandy, dirty mess.

Now let’s hear it.  What do you think of our latest project?  Think we’re crazy?  Or just enthusiastic?  Either way, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.  If you’re looking for a good workout, feel free to come on over and help me haul stones and pavers.  My arms are still sore.

As you know, today marks 11 years since the attacks on the World Trade Centers.  I love Sarah’s post.  Take a minute to read it and remember that tragic day.

Stripping Down

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Well, I’m done.  V and I got off to a great start removing the kitchen wallpaper.

Tearing off the patterned pieces took about an hour, but left all the glued backing on the wall.  Based on past wall paper removal experiences (main bathroom at our first house, I’m talking about you), I thought this step would be incredibly tedious.  Lucky for me, it wasn’t too bad.  I’m guessing it went smoothly because the thicker decorative paper was off.  Before I got serious about the removal process, I tested a small area.  Just a wet sponge and a metal scraper got the backing off without damaging the walls.

Obviously wetting the walls with a small kitchen sponge would have taken forever, so I got out a plain spray bottle that I use for ironing.  Filled with water, I liberally sprayed the walls one small section at a time.  At first I was hesitant to spray a ton of water, but then I realized it had to happen.  So, I sprayed until the paper turned a dark golden-yellow color, let it sit five minutes, then sprayed it again.

It came off smoothly and mostly in large sheets.  Then I decided to put another theory to the test, just to compare removal processes.  I added white vinegar to the water (about 1/2 water, 1/2 vinegar) and sprayed the walls with that.  I wouldn’t say this worked better, just a little quicker.  And smellier.  I think the vinegar penetrated quicker, but I made the mistake of testing this in the confined area above the cabinets.

Do yourself a favor and use vinegar in an open space or wear a mask.  Of course it’s not a chemical smell, just strongly acidic.

Now that the bulk is done, I have to work on the details.

And fill nail holes, prime, and paint.

I’m stuck waiting on paint until we patch the areas below the new windows in the breakfast nook and family room.  And I suppose I should wait until we install trim around the windows and door so I’m not repainting everything.  Or worse, stuck with noticeable touched up areas.  Can someone tell me why satin paint shows touch ups so easily?

Have your wallpaper removals been this easy?  Or did you have thick, sticky paper to deal with?  I swear, the foiled, embossed floral wallpaper in the main bathroom at our first house did not want to come off, no matter what trick we tried.  What did you do this weekend?  Let’s just say we’ve starting tearing (more) things apart.

Giant Ginger Cookies

Published on by Our Humble Abode24 Comments

I’m super lucky to have Ben.  He’s a wonderful husband, loving father, a handy man, our accountant, deep cleaner, and our in-house baker.  Yep, he can do almost anything.  Which sometimes makes me jealous, but then I remember I benefit from his awesomeness.

And today, you get to benefit from his awesomeness, too.  After posting a picture of his ginger cookies (that’s what she said) I asked if I could share.  Ben said yes, so here it is.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

4 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup sugar, for dipping

Optional:  1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions:

1.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

2.  In a large bowl, beat butter on low-speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and beat until combined.  Beat in eggs and molasses until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour mixture as possible, then stir in any remaining flour.

3.  Shape into 2 inch dough balls.  Roll in sugar.  Bonus points if you have large sugar crystals.

4.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, smooshing balls to about half height.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 to 14 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned and tops start to crack.  Do not overbake.  Cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Store the cookies in an air tight container.  If you don’t scarf the cookies down right away and they start to dry out, add a slice of bread to the container to keep moist.

I’m not even a big fan of ginger, but these cookies are excellent.  And the epitome of fall,  in my opinion.

What’s your favorite type of cookie?  Do you prefer something with chocolate?  Nuts?  Fruit or oatmeal?  Spill!

Laboring on Labor Day

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Nope, not pregnant.  No new baby here.  I’m talking about windows.  Now that all most of the windows are in, let’s go inside to take a look at the difference the new windows have made.  First, check out the kitchen in all it’s 70’s wallpapered, oak, bay window goodness.

And now with the sliding white window.

Making this window flat lets in so much more light, and the window seems bigger without dividing it into three sections.  Oh, and the fact this window actually opens.  Go figure.  The same can be said for the breakfast nook window.  Before, V and E used the bay window as their personal dance floor/kitchen/play room.

Despite shortening the window, I think it feels more open.  Perhaps not having a mass of dark oak helped?  Whatever it is, I’m liking it.

Just a breath of fresh air to see a lighter, brighter kitchen.  Removing the ugly wallpaper definitely helped.

In the family room, we replaced the two stationary side lights with shorter double hung windows.  Hooray for air flow.  For some reason, I always feel guilty putting furniture in front of windows.  So this arrangement works better for us.

Also, I think the shorter windows feel more intentional and less like “this is a door, but let’s just take off the handles and no one will know.”   The window height actually matches, instead of looking like someone scored a lot of assorted windows on Craigslist and made it work.

Oh, and these windows and doors are so quiet to open and close.  The old door squeaked and squealed.  Ben is a ninja leaving in the mornings now, sneaking out the quiet door.

While window shopping, we discovered most energy-efficient windows have a low visible transmittance thanks to the UV blocking coatings.  This concerned us, because about 50 or 60 percent of light makes it into the house.  Luckily, we don’t see a drastic difference.

To gain egress in the bedrooms, our city requires 5.7 square feet with a minimum opening of 24 inches tall by 20 inches wide within 44 inches of the floor.  The original height of the bedroom windows was fine, but our casement windows only opened about 18 inches by 4 feet.

To use the same brand and line of windows throughout, our only option was a large (4 foot wide by 66 inch tall) double hung window.

Luckily, our windows sit about 19 inches off the floor, so we didn’t have to use tempered glass.  Wahoo for saving a little money.

These are my favorite windows.  I love the cute courtyard feel of the back yard.

And from outside, the windows are almost the same size.

No more awkward bay windows bumping out, either.

Ben used three layers of 2 by 4s to get the windows out.  When he wraps the house in insulation, the siding will sit flush with the edge of the window.  Using the 2 by 4s is a simple and strong way to support the windows while extending for the future insulation layers.

Now to get the insulation on the outside and frame the windows on the inside.  Of course we’ll keep you updated on our progress.

What do you think of the new windows?  Have you gotten new windows recently?  Did it make a world of difference?  Both in looks and monthly savings?

Brothers from Another Mother?

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I hope you all had a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend.  If you didn’t, I hope you got some work done, like we did.  Our weekend started with a bang, literally.  Ben finished demoing the pool house wet bar with the help of his trusty hammer Meowmeow.  Thor has Mjölnir, Ben has Meowmeow.

Do you see the resemblance?  Sure, Ben can’t grow hair, but he can rock a mean hat.  Though Ben rarely wears a cape.

{unedited picture via}

For now the doors are awkwardly low, but that will change.

A little more digging and knocking down the stone wall to go.  Then we can have someone come in, cut the concrete, and we’ll have a ground level opening to install the new door and window.  Ben will build a lower header to make these the same height as the rest of the house windows.

Thor Ben and Handy Sammy started in the kitchen and worked their way down the line to the rest of the windows.  Taking out the bay window wasn’t terribly difficult.  Some prying, hammering, and wiggling and it came out.

After installing the kitchen window, the big window in the breakfast nook came out.

The original bay window sat about six inches off the floor.  We don’t consider our patio a view, so we decided to shorten this window by about a foot.  Ben built a short wall to raise the new window up to the header.

Saturday afternoon brought on an unexpected complication, this:

So many problems here.  First, someone cut out the rim joist.  Bad. idea.  Unlike Nike’s slogan, just don’t do it.  Then, some genius ran plumbing for the solar panels outside, only insulating with thin foam.  And we didn’t have any support for the window.  Good thing those solar panels aren’t there anymore.  Ben cut off the water lines inside the house and replaced the cut rim joist.  We also shortened the stationary panels on either side of the sliding door, so he built a short wall to raise these windows to the headers.

The sliding door at the back of the house is the first of six we’ll have in the house and pool house.  So, it was a good learning experience.  After reading the instructions, install was easy enough.

I guess the panels are crazy heavy though.  Oh, we found another no no when removing the old door.  Wiring for the scones doesn’t come from the floor or attic.  The right sconce is looped from the left over the door.  Fortunately Ben didn’t cut at that door to get it out.  One more reason those have to go.

Soon, Ben will start wrapping the house with insulation.  To accommodate the added depth, the new windows have supports made of three 2 by 4s.

While we love all the new windows, our favorites are the two larger bedroom windows.  For egress, these double hung windows are 4 feet wide by 5 1/2 feet tall.  In a word, huge.  And fantastic.  The guest bedroom window is about ten inches closer to the floor than the original.

And the boys’ window is about 18 inches closer to the floor.  

An outlet right below the boys window was in the way, so Ben turned off the breaker, cut down for the window and added an outlet on either side.  A nice little two for one special.

Now we’re really excited to get the pool house windows cut and installed.  That means this whole window process is done…until we’re ready for the other three sides of the house.  This is a nice stopping point as the back of the house isn’t easily seen.  And it will give us enough to do before winter sets in without being rushed.

Bring on the insulation and siding.  And tearing up the back yard.

Because this post is already long, I’ll share pictures of the windows tomorrow.  Until then, tell us what you did over the long weekend.  I saw a lot of camping pictures on Instagram.