Home Improvement

The Gross Kind of Popcorn

Published on June 5, 2013June 5, 2013 by Our Humble Abode22 Comments

Gross popcorn certainly does not come from the movie theater. Or in the cheddar cheese and caramel mixed bag at Costco. Oh no, those are delicious. The gross popcorn plagues hundreds of thousands of homes across America. An epidemic especially in homes built between 1970 and 2000. We’ve got it, maybe you do too? In an effort to rid ourselves of the dreaded popcorn, I moved the boys’ bedroom furniture into the guest room. Leaving me with an empty room ready for popcorn removal.

Of course I had to move the guest furniture out before that.

Because I was alone in the moving process, I dragged the mattress and box spring across the hall to our room.

Three rooms affected by the dreaded popcorn. Yes, all that to say goodbye to this:

Yesterday I did something I’d never done before. After wrapping the room in Dexter-ish plastic, I scraped popcorn off a ceiling.

Guess what? It wasn’t hard or bad. In fact, it was satisfying. Watching the ugly peel off, leaving behind a near paint-ready ceiling. Which gives me a boost of confidence to get our larger room done, too. For those with a popcorn ceiling problem, I’m working on a removal tutorial right now. Something to look forward to next week.

So tell me, do you hate popcorn ceilings? What’s the worst wall finish?

Green = Green: Reclaimed Wood

Published on June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Hey everyone! Glad to see you here today. Did you have a good weekend? We’ve spent most of our last two (including Memorial Day) working on a back yard deck. If you’re thinking, “Wait, I thought you were going to have a concrete patio back there?” you’d be right.

That was the plan up until a few weeks ago, but our plans are kinda fluid. If our original plan won’t work, we find a better project, or a kick butt deal, we’re willing to switch things up. Heck, that’s how we ended up with wood countertops at our last house.

When Ben stumbled into the deal of the century, we couldn’t say no. You see, a commercial building in town was in the process of being demolished. Outside sat a giant stack of glulam beams, originally used to support the roof.

Ben called around until he found the guy responsible for these dudes and asked what the heck deal was. Well, they were destined for landfill. Landfill, not on our watch! Instead Ben cut these giants down, hauled ’em home, and we’re building a deck now. But they’re not deck ready in their original condition.

Purple paint, screw and nail holes, and gouges from the not super concerned excavator operator need some attention.

But, the mud pit we call a back yard is slowly becoming a user-friendly, dirt free space. Here’s where we are today:

Nineteen beams in place, seven to go. Each beam is 5 1/4 inches thick, 19 1/4 inches wide, 15 or 16 feet long, and weighs about 300 pounds each. In a word, massive. Admittedly, I’m of little help moving these bad mamba jambas. It’s quite comical, actually. Ben summons his Hulk powers while I’m all Captain America, pre experimental serum. However, I can fetch tools, pull nails, and help decide which side of each beam looks better.

The deck sits about six inches off the ground with a slight cantilever off the ends.

Before we can put each beam in place, we’ve got to pull out all nails and screws, sand off the paint, and smooth the grooves from the demo. Damage from the removal gives each beam some rustic character.

Even though the sides have a some pitting, the tops are super smooth. I’ve carefully and scientifically measured the tripping hazard of each side, not yet stubbed a toe or fallen.

Of course we’re still not done. Seven more beams until we’re at the desired width.

Then we’ll use a large sander (likely a rented one for hardwood floors) to go over the top, smoothing everything. Oh, we’ll have the fun task of cutting all the ends to make a clean, straight edge, too. Normal skill saws don’t even come close to cutting through.

We’ll seal the virgin wood with a mid-toned stain, for a little depth and color. And we’ll have to build stairs to this little rock landing. No more mudslides, thank you.

Despite not being done, we’re already enjoying using the deck. For waterfall sitting, of course.

Once we’ve finished the deck, we’ll cover the rest of the muddy areas with plastic, crushed limestone, and add some plants. Because we need greenery. I’m thinking a shady little hosta/bleeding heart/lily of the valley bed outside of the bedroom windows. And build a pergola. And add a gas fire pit. And cover the house in new siding. Yes, we’ve got big plans for this summer.

What do you think of the newest addition? We’re smitten with him so far. Anyone else building a deck? Or adding greenery to a yard?

Light Switches

Published on May 22, 2013May 22, 2013 by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

Completely out of Montana norms, it rained all weekend. Rain outside meant little time for work outdoors. Instead, we had a lunch date, relaxed, and hung up two light fixtures. The first, the PVC icosahedron pendant I made to replace the too low, never used ceiling fan.

I looked for a cheap pendant and canopy at home improvement and thrift stores, but didn’t find anything. Soooooo, I decided to steal the $6 thrift store pendant from the dining room. Ditched the shade, using only the guts. We had a few metal down rods from other pendants, so I covered the cord with a small piece.

While it may not stay forever, I’m super happy with the open, modern, geometric shape.

I still might replace the top and bottom points, just to make the peaks a little more obvious.

While Ben had the supplies out, I asked him to install a new light in the boys’ room, too. Snagged this one at ReStore for eight bucks. A quick scrub and ready to go. Wish I would have thought about this before and painted the gold canopy. Ahh well. Still better than the boob light that was there.

Bonus, we could raise chickens in here with a light like that. Not that it’ll happen, but we could. And I just might be able to start (and hopefully finish!) scraping the popcorn off the ceiling. Handy Sammy will be out-of-town for a month, so we can shift the boys to his room, giving me a month of time to get it done. Without disturbing him. Woo to the hoo, I’m ready for this. At least I am in my head, my arm might hate me by the end of it.

MCM, Modernized

Published on May 20, 2013May 20, 2013 by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

Hello and happy Monday, if there is such a thing. On Friday I shared the blow-by-blow of my five dollar chair refinishing and upholstering process. Starting with these 70’s dark stained orange vinyl covered wood beauties.

And here they are now, after an overall sanding, clear coat, thick neutral fabric, and satin nickel nail head detail.

Once I started sanding the wood down, I saw how blonde the wood was. And liked it. A lot, for a few reasons. Lighter felt more updated, less reminiscent of the Brady Bunch kitchen color palette. The pale wood also contrasted with the dark slate fireplace, instead of blending in. After going through the trouble to sand to the unfinished wood, I didn’t want a dark stain that wouldn’t be an obvious change. Also, I’m leaning toward natural finished wood, for a little variety.

Even though the chairs are neutral, I’m super happy with the go anywhere colors and subtle patterned fabric.

To bump up the comfort and color, I plan to find or sew lumbar pillows.

That little footstool will get an update and jolt of color sometime soon, too. Because paint is easier and cheaper to change than upholstery and stain. These chairs work great in the family room. Comfy, but light weight and open. Can’t forget the price, either. Only $32 spent on the chairs and materials ($18 for the fabric and four more for the nail head – we had the rest already).

I might fix the back of the seat because you can see the puckered fabric. Not perfect, but not terrible for my first rounded corner cushions.

How’s that for a Cinderella story? What do you think? Have any plans for the upcoming long weekend?

I Chickened Out

Published on May 17, 2013May 16, 2013 by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

This is about those five dollar chairs I snagged at ReStore got a little overhaul. Great lines and deceptively comfortable, but not in the best condition or colors.

Before I started anything, I took pictures of the upholstery detail. Because this is my first time upholstering something like this, the pictures could jog my memory if I ran into a problem.

With the pictures on my card, I started pulling each staple out. One at a time, prying with a flat screwdriver then pulling with a pliers.

Roughly one trillion times. I counted. Okay, I didn’t count, but there were a lot. of. staples.

At that point, I wondered what the h–e double hockey sticks I was thinking. Too late now, I had to keep going.

So I did. After pulling off the vinyl, I sanded the wood frame down using an orbital hand sander with 220 grit paper. And loved the lightness against the dark fireplace and the subtle grain. Two coats of Minwax Polycrylic in a satin finish brings out the grain and protects the wood. Conveniently, it’s water-based which makes it a breeze to clean up.

Then my indecisiveness kicked in. Upholstery time, but which direction to go. I stopped in a leather shop, gathered samples and prices, and thought it over.

Leather is super durable and easy to clean, but far more expensive than fabric. Not to mention I could only buy the leather as a full hide, roughly twice as much material as I needed. Perhaps if I had another use for the leather I could justify buying it. Instead, I hit up two fabric stores where I found a beige subtle herringbone pattern upholstery fabric for 9 bucks per yard.

I bought it, then stopped in the second store where I found a greige subtle herringbone upholstery remnant for six dollars per yard. And bought three yards. Now that I could justify. Yes, I chickened out on a bold color. Pillows can fix that. Right?!

To get started on the upholstery, I used the vinyl pieces I pulled off as templates, tracing it to the front of my fabric to keep the pattern straight. Don’t do that! Add at least 1/2 inch around the sides for a little wiggle room. I don’t have four hands, so I used a clip to keep my pieces straight while I worked.

First tacking the arms, folding the fabric under, wrapping around the back.

From the front, it looks like this:

With the arms secured, I stapled along the top and bottom, pulling tightly. Then the sides and finally the slightly rounded corners.

That covers the front of the back rest, so now for the back. Like the vinyl predecessor, I folded the fabric under, creasing it with my fingers. Using that crease as a guide for the outer edge, I stapled just inside the crease and worked around the top.

The corners are tricky to staple under, so then I tacked the bottom of the fabric to the underside.

Satin nickel nail heads, placed using a needle nose pliers, hold the sides of the fabric in place.

I’ve upholstered chair seats before, so I thought the back would be more tedious than the seat. As usual, I under estimated.

Turns out, the slight curves of the seat were a pain in the arse. No matter how hard I tried, the fabric puckerd at the turns. Finally I gave up and let the slight puckers stay. So, if anyone has pointers, please share! I’ll leave you with that, because I have to clean up the family room to take pictures of the finished chairs. Let’s pretend it’s because there are already 17 pictures in this post, okay?