Half Bathroom, CHECK!

I took a couple days off this week to get the house ready for Thanksgiving. I have been working on the sink cabinet for the second bathroom. It is in and now we actually have one and half bathrooms.

 As a reminder, here is where we started in September.



Now we have a light switch, sliding doors, a floor, and a sink cabinet. There isn't a whole lot more we could have stuck in this space.

Kind of a weird angle crouched on the toilet. The backsplash got extended up to hide a bunch of valves and pipes. 

After trips to Lowes, Home Depot, and several hardware stores, this project is done!

It's A Hit

I feel like someone is watching me. 

You May Enter

The lack of posts isn't due to lack of work. Our garage is full of projects. Luckily this weekend we got a few zeroed out.

Sam and Mark spent yesterday getting the front door hung just right. The escutchon plate was a vintage find on ebay. The window kits are from Crestview. The top three windows are reeded glass and the bottom is clear for the cats to see through.

It was getting dark and the pictures weren't turning out great. More to come, but you get the picture.

 While Sam was working on the front door I have been building the cabinet for the downstairs bathroom. The sink is here and we are just waiting on the laminate.

 The garden is pretty much shut down for the year. I picked the rest of the green tomatoes and peppers. The beets and carrots are getting big in the hoop houses and will be ok for a couple more months until I get a chance to pull them.

Quick Bathroom Update

 I have been plugging along on the downstairs bathroom and the doors are finished. There is still a little trim painting, but it is mostly finished. It is starting to look more like a real bathroom.

Doors closed.

 We have made some big progress this month. Electrical installed, hole in floor filled, tile installed and grouted, doors fit, finished, and hung.



Doors stored out of the way.

Starting point



Random Weekend Happenings

So last weekend I harvested worm castings and used some to fill up the soil in the citrus orchard. All of a sudden this week random plants have been sprouting from the orchard. It's pretty funny, they look like tomatoes and peppers. I am going to let them go at least until the first real leaves show up to figure it out.

The second bathroom is grouted and the doors have been sanded and are in the middle of finishing. They will end up being walnut to match the table.
The trailer got a new jack in front. It works with the original caster and lets me roll it around pretty easy.

Fruits of Our Labors

Overall it was a very productive Labor Day, at least by the "I can't believe what washed off me in the shower" comments. We grilled out with neighbors, Sam worked on getting flower beds tamed, and I worked on the second bathroom. Since the bathroom picture aren't that exciting, here is a gratuitous trailer shot.

Hey, I said these weren't very exciting but I posted a lot to ensure you that I did in fact work all weekend on this project. First step in turning the furnace nook into a bathroom was building a bulkhead to square up pipes.
Not too bad. There were five pipes/cords that run through this section.

Hey what about one on the other side to hide the electrical. Notice the switch, closer to a bathroom.

We ended up with a three door Johnson hardware sliding door kit. It was a tight fit top and bottom. Since the concrete slopes toward the drain, needless to say the world isn't flat here.

Sunday morning call to Jerad "hey where are you at.... Lowes why?... Stay there I need you to haul some plywood home for me" Three custom fit birch plywood doors later you can't see me pee.

After that on Sunday all I had energy for was filling a big hole with floor leveler.

Monday was for tiling. I hate cutting porcelain tile. But hey, doesn't it look original, that was what we were going for? Now to grout, install door hardware, finish the doors, and build/install a vanity. No problem.

Saturday we did a trial smoke on the egg with a turkey. Never mind my frowning expression, it was delicious.

Labor Day is Coming, Time for Work

The word is that the hot weather is going to break tomorrow and fall will be here. We haven't done much at all this summer on the house. It has been too hot to work outside and too hot to work on any house projects in the garage. We are both looking forward to making some progress on unfinished projects this weekend.

Not much is going to happen with the trailer this fall but I thought some reference pictures would be good. Ours is all original, which at this point means it smells like 50 years of people hanging out in a 10'x6' space. Other than the wings, ours looks just like the original ad, at least on the outside. It originally had the top floor plan. The table and benches are gone so it is a clean slate. We are going to end up modifying it to something like the bottom layout.
Not too bad. Since aluminum doesn't really deteriorate the skin is hiding some very rotten wood.

All of the aluminum Hehr windows and screens are intact and work. I can get restoration parts and these will be back like new.

The screen door frame is in tact and in good shape. Right now it is in easy access mode.

The inside currently resembles a hobo lounge. There is very little to keep in here. Notice the little high window. There is a fold out sleeping shelf for a couple little kids and the window is for ventilation.

The vintage laminate paneling is not going to be replaced. We have lots of work before this is ready for a trip.

Ok, shifting gears to some in-progress projects. This space is currently the furnace nook with a toilet. There used to be blinds you could pull for some (little) privacy. I have been slowly working on turning this into a more true half bath. The project has stalled mostly because of the heat, but I should make some good progress this weekend.

Some solids doors will go on so people on the patio can't watch. Notice the light switch. That was step one. The tile was in pretty bad shape and has all been removed. There is a pretty good dip in the concrete and self-leveling grout will be needed before new tile goes back in. The plumbing is in for a sink.

The tile has been removed and cut to make space for the bottom track of the sliding door system. We got a very nice three track Johnson hardware system. This is a pretty small space and pictures are hard so don't expect them to get any better.

Random picture of the day. An owl was hanging out in front. It just sat and watched us all afternoon.

Filthy, but not rich

Dirt, grime, road grease, unidentified red stuff, if level of filthy defines a good weekend, then this was a great weekend. Like most of our memorial day weekends we were busy. Between running, riding, eating, drinking, and general hanging out, we worked getting the house ready for the upcoming tiki party.

Sam thought the fou dogs just didn't stand out so they got a few coats of a bright green. The new door won't be in place for the party, but it will be the same color.

Friday night we ate lots of peas from the garden and grilled jerk pork chops on the big green egg. Again it did a great job. Saturday we smoked ribs and they were wonderful.
The old poor excuse for a grill less than a month ago.

The new updated version with a concrete top made for the big green egg.

I made a polyurethane tiki mold from a lamp we got for christmas. Hopefully I will have cast an army of tiki men tiki torch holders by the party.

We made some excellent bacon and brown sugar waffles for breakfast this morning. While eating Sam was reading the latest edition of Atomic Ranch and got inspired to do some landscaping. The side of the house under the overhang is just a desert and never has looked very good. Sam spent the day grading, cutting edging, and laying weed screen.

And lots and lots of rocks. That side of the house looks much improved.

We are starting to get some heat and the garden is really perking up. Of the 10 tomatoes we have planted 8 haved already bloomed.

Even the biggest cucumber is blooming.

Other than the peas getting out of control the garden is doing pretty well.

I mowed the front lawn for the first time and it looks amazing. Everyone wanted to roll around in it, some naked, but the grass isn't that healthy yet.

The stage is set, the food is planned, the weather looks hot but good. Next weekend the tiki party is on!

The Most Productive Weekend of the Year

We spent the entire weekend working outside in the yard. Running, bike riding, demoing a grill, and a couple copperhead snakes later, we are exhausted. Saturday we went for a run and worked in the yard. Sunday we went for a bike ride and worked in the yard. We got a new grill and Sam got a new bike. All in all it was a very successful weekend.

Sam worked cleaning out the bottom beds and got them replanted. The tall ones are elegant feathers.
This was our poor excuse for a grill. It is 61 years old and needed a face lift. The grill doesn't have a lid and burns through charcoal way too fast and the brick is in bad shape. We finally bought a new grill/smoker and this is going to be it's new home. So time for a remodel.

Unfortunately the mortar was is really bad shape and quite a bit had to get removed to get back to competent material.

I stripped all the loose bricks and cleaned the existing ones up. There were years of crud washed into the cracks and more than a few worms.

Saturday was spent relaying all the loose bricks and my back was really sore from sitting on the cinder block chair.

The grill/smoker we bought is the big green egg. It is a 1-2 inch ceramic-lined grill that can be heated up with a little bit of charcoal and then stays warm for a long time. I made a template and will be placing a concrete top to finish things off.

The garden is really coming along. We have been eating lettuce and the peas are getting close too. The fight is still on with the chipmunks.

Looks like we will be eating from the garden from now until December.