Out with the Old

This is what the family room looked like when we bought the house.  It has stayed that way since we moved in May 28th.

In the last month in between working on my workshop, we have taken to removing the wallpaper slowly. We borrowed a wallpaper steamer from a friend instead of renting it.  Here are some pictures of the process.  Have I mentioned that I hate hate hate wallpaper.  This is the epitomy of overdoing wallpaper.  Why do one pattern, when you can have 3!!  The bottom is a nice plaid pattern.  The top is a dotted flower pattern.  And don't forget the chair rail blue border!!

The sad thing is the parents of my wife and I actually liked the wallpaper!!  Can't account for style :)

The joy of wallpaper steaming.  Get everything wet.  And after you take off the top layer with the print, you have to go back and take off the the rest of the paper.  Hard to see against the white walls.

Also, some of the paint came with it.  Mostly in the areas that weren't primed it seems.  There will be a lot of skim coating with drywall compound in this room.

The hardest thing is that this is the most heavily used room in the house.  This is the kids play room!  We have to move the toys around and the furniture around.  Being such a large room helps though.  We really love this house and the space it has afforded us.

Here is another shot of an area that will need to be mudded.

We will paint the wall a nice greenish/greyish/blue color.  The long-term plan is to put beadboard on the bottom half with a chair rail.  This will protect the wall from children and break up the large expanse of the walls with cathedral ceilings.

I tell you, just what we have removed so far has made the room feel larger and brighter.

We have about half of the wallpaper down so far.

Goodbye 1993

I never think to post the small things we do around the house.  There doesn't seem to be a week that
goes by that we haven't made a change around the house.  Adding shelves, changing knobs, new lights...etc.

So, I actually took a before and during picture of one of our projects.  We changed the knobs in the kitchen.  We don't have the funds to change out the counter tops and flooring, so we went with something less expensive.  At $2 each off eBay, we purchased 41 replacement knobs.

The first picture is the knob that is on there.  The 2nd shows a side-by-side view of the new and the old.

One nice thing that I will not miss was constantly getting a belt loop or pocket or even just my pants caught on the old knob.

Beginning of the End

This long weekend I didn't get too much time to work in the basement.  I spent time with the family instead.  But I did finish putting in the outlets.

Here is the frame that the pegboard will sit on.  I used 1x3 furring strips on the outside and 3/4" dowels in the middle.  That way I would maximize space for pegs.

I installed the pegboard and lower cabinets.  I put space between the cabinets so that I can shove some larger items (boxes) between them.  I will used some MDF or melamine for the bench.

I need to pick up some 3/4" box extenders to bring my outlets flush with the Pegboard.

To hold up the levels, I used some 3" screws that I screwed part-way into the furring strip.  That allows me to hang things where I wouldn't be able to put pegs/hooks.

Drywall...Check

I was very happy to complete the drywall stage.  Now onto finishing electrical.  Picked up the cabinets this weekend.  Not 100% sure how I want to set them up yet.

Almost there!!

Almost there!!

I really dread doing drywall work, but because I enjoy saving money more, I decided to hang it myself.  I have 6!!!  sheets left to hang.  That is on the table for today!  I WILL Complete the last 6 sheets.  Shouldn't be too difficult because there is only one light switch to cut around.

Here is the progress as of today...tonight it should be done.  Ready for finish electrical.  Then hang doors, plumbing, air compressor and dust collection!!


On another note, a friend of mine recently remodeled his kitchen and is donating his white melamine cabinets for my workshop!  For free!! SCORE!!  I am excited as they are going to be my workbench area.

Electrical and Some Drywall

I completed the electrical about a week ago, but the computer interface for my camera broke, so I had to wait for a new connector to get the pictures off of it.

I was going to have someone drywall the walls but the quotes were more than I wanted to pay for how easy the job was.  The quotes were a standard $10/sheet to hang it.  My problem with this is that I am not having the ceiling drywalled, so it seems like it is easier than other drywall jobs.  So I started hanging it myself.  I can get about 6 sheets done in 2 hours, so probably 6-8 hours to hang the 22 sheets that I have.  Not enough to do the entire workshop, but enough to cover key areas.

Last night I did 6 more sheets and tonight I will hang some more.  So the drywall should be completed by the weekend.  Then finish electrical, plumbing for sink, plumbing for air compressor and dust collection.  Then tools come in!!