Window Work
Lately, Liz and I have gone in different directions on house-related work. I’ve been doing more planning and documentation, and she’s started to suit up again after hours, heading in to the basement.
Posts Tagged "liz"
Planning for Motion
With the weather growing warmer, and the chance of us getting our vaccination shot increasing with each passing day… Liz and I have talked about going outside more. Moving around a bit more.
Birthday Dinner at Home
Hard to believe it’s been a year. This is a birthday thought, and also a pandemic thought. A lot has changed since then, but we remain lucky to remain employed, to be able to continue our jobs remotely, and to be comfortable in a time when so many others are struggling.
We may not be in a fancy restaurant (yet). But this is our private table, the ambience is good, the food fantastic, and the company stellar. Everything, all of it, is a gift.
New Desk
Liz had to relocate her office up to the bedroom, back when we were getting work done on the first floor. We’ve held off moving her back down there over the winter (it’s warmer upstairs), but that may change soon.
Trim Planning, Continued
In addition to determining how many boards are needed for the trim in a given room, we’re also trying to carry this across multiple rooms. If we need 7′ 2″ in the living room, and 4′ 10″… then a 12′ board would actually work to handle that.
Trim Planning
Our current task: re-measuring all the first floor rooms, and determining how much lumber we need in terms of linear feet (converted to standard 10′, 12′, 14′, and 16′ boards).
Ladder and Ice Removal
I hauled up a hammer, and a small shovel, to get rid of the snow. I worked pretty slowly, afraid that my motions would end up tilting me or pulling me off the ladder. I’ve had a not great track history with keeping my balance on ladders, and so doing all this two stories up was… daunting.
Snowfall at Midnight
Liz, moments after saying “Come over here for a second.” And then failing to pull me into the snowbank.
Reviving the Cedar Chest
While I was working on winterizing the first floor a bit more, Liz was down in the basement reviving a cedar chest she had purchased via Facebook.
Vestibule Light, Rewired
While I was in the kitchen doing dishes, Liz called me in to the dining room (where she’s set up her light fixing shop area). She had finished up her cleaning, repair, and rewiring of the light that used to hang in our vestibule.
Hall Work
Spent today working in the main hall – sanding down spots that Liz patched, identifying newer spots that need more patching, then cleaning and wiping everything down with a damp sponge.
Fixing the Fixture
When she’s not in the basement working on trim, or cleaning the heating registers out on the grill or with wire brushes… she’s been taking apart an small, old chandelier and bringing it back to life.
Door Trim: A Slow Process
Liz has expressed some frustration, not with the work but with the outcome: there’s no “finishing” of anything, at least not yet. There’s so much to do, so many pieces involved, that it’s just a gradual slog – chipping away, bit by bit, piece by piece.
Winterizing the Kitchen, East Wall
Liz and I are both on vacation, and we’ve been doing this one day on one day off kind of thing. One day focusing on the house, another day relaxing and doing our own stuff.
Removing Rust with Electrolysis, Part 2
Several hours in the bath is just the start of the work. After each grate is taken out of the bath it’s scrubbed clean in the sink, brushed again in the basement with a steel brush (in all the nooks and crannies), then given some oil, then the whole grate is heated on the grill, then brought back inside brushedit’s heated (out on the grill), then brought inside to have a layer of wax applied, and then baked again.
he whole process for prepping and cleaning each grate is actually incredibly time-intensive.