Here’s Emmie!

I got a new dog!

She’s some kind of mix, I’m not sure what. They called her Matilda (yuck!) —I call her Emmie.

She was billed as a Westie mix, but she’s not any kind of Westie that I can see. Everything is different. Coat, legs, tail, head, ears, eyes, everything is different. Maybe I’ll get a doggie DNA test…out of curiosity. And even though I had Westies for 35 years, I don’t care if she’s not a Westie… she’s cute (and sweet, when she’s not being fearful.)

I rescued her at the end of May from a rescue organization, Rescue Ranch in Yreka. She’s now about 1-1/2 years.

I think she was living wild for awhile. She’s happy in the backyard but can be fearful in the house. When the mulberry tree was dropping berries she was having a field day. She foraged for other edible fruit in the yard, too. Neither of my other dogs wanted to eat mulberries…

She barks ferociously when my renters come in or go up and down the stairs. Not a good thing, but she’s getting better every day. She was hiding under the bed a lot at first, but now she’s more comfortable and doesn’t hide very much.

I’m going to take her to obedience classes. She’s pretty wild and won’t even come if I call her. Sometimes she won’t even take treats out of my hand, I have to put them on the floor, especially if she is some distance away. I think she had been tricked by someone using food to bait her and trap her.

But she’s not totally wild, lets me hold her and she sits in my lap. In fact, she’s more of a lap dog than Westies ever were. And she sleeps on my bed with me.

Speaking of renters…

Carin, one of my renters, moved out at the end of August. She paid off her car and wanted her own place, so she rented an apartment a few miles north of here.

When she gave notice I started thinking about the room situation upstairs and reflecting on how little I use my office, since I have a computer in my bedroom, too. And how much more income I could create by renting the larger room. (Twice as much!)

I looked into the office from the doorway and what I saw was storage. Most of the stuff in the room was storage! THREE filing cabinets!  (Well, one did hold up the end of the desk…) And supplies! Office supplies, art and design supplies, sewing supplies and books!

Flipping the Script

So after careful consideration and planning, I downsized and moved my office into the small room (formerly Carin’s room). I gave myself a month to do it and my plan worked perfectly. There was only one piece of furniture that I had to put into attic storage, a drop-front desk. I tried to give it to David, my other renter, to use but he didn’t want it. Oh, there was also my Elfa desk but it is just two metal tubular legs on one end, and as I said, a filing cabinet holds up the other end, and a flat melamine covered panel for the desk top. So I broke that down and slipped it into the attic, too.

Here’s my (not so pretty) planning sketches:

Then I reorganized and redecorated the former office (the “cute” room—now called “La Jolie Salle” — formerly L’Atelier [workroom]) with a new rug and a little bistro table and chairs. Everything else I already had. I didn’t manage to move everything of mine out of the room, however. I left some books and half of the drawers still contain office supplies.

Everything that wouldn’t fit or need to be in the smaller office either went into the attic or the basement (and 3 empty filing cabinets into the garage). I had to have help moving the bigs things so KayeDon, my friend, came over and helped me. 

I also reclaimed the stair hall closet to use it for storage of household items like air conditioners, cleaning supplies, etc. I had let Carin use the closet because the one in that room is so small.

Here’s  ~La Jolie Salle~

The New Atelier

This room is about 10×10…

Fixing the Wall

I broke down and hired a handyman to fix the wall in the upstairs bathroom. I had been contemplating doing it myself but… I wanted it to be fixed before I rented the room. Don’t ask how it got damaged…

Much better!

He tore out the whole panel below the window and replaced it with drywall. He did a great job! Better than I could ever do. (Well, I painted!)

I also added a printed, water-resistant, peel-n-stick tile backsplash I found online above the vanity to spruce up the vanity area in the upstairs bath.

So, what else is new?

The Shower Leak Saga

Around the first of the year 2024 I discovered that my first floor master bath shower was leaking into the basement below. Ever since it was installed as part of my bathroom remodel in 2014-2015, one corner was low, because the shower pan was not correctly leveled when it was installed. Nine years later, this low corner is where the leak appeared to be emanating from. I did fairly extensive tests to verify that this was the source and came to the conclusion it was. I couldn’t ignore it, even though it wasn’t leaking very much; I had to get someone to fix it, or so I thought.

The first quote I got to fix it was almost $9,000! Not happening.

I ended up hiring my neighbor/contractor for about half of that, but he did a less than perfect job. I found out (the hard way) he’s not a detail guy… There’s a bit of a difference in skill level between re-building a fence and demo-ing, re-building and re-tiling part of a shower. 

And the worst of it was…it still leaked! 

BUT

It was a week or more after it had been “fixed” by the contractor and it was still leaking. I even called him to come back and he put some more grout in the corner, thinking that would fix it—after what he had already done to fix it— but, of course, it didn’t…

So, in my desperation, I cried out to God and told him that I know He can fix it… AND HE DID! 

I prayed — and it stopped leaking. PRAISE GOD!
I’d call that a miracle!

My Project for this year

Small but significant…

I carried out my house number plaque plan that had been on the drawing board for awhile. Here it is and how I did it.

• I glued and clamped two pieces of 1×8 fir together to make the board large enough. (Pre-made wood rounds weren’t the right size.) (Sorry, I didn’t take more process pics)
• I cut it into a circle on my band saw.
• I sanded, primed and painted it then applied the custom printed, exterior, weather resistant, adhesive-backed vinyl “decal,” for which I created the layout and uploaded the art to the sign company to print.

Voila!

Looking Ahead

I think I’m going to be “retiring” from my design business at the first of the year. I won’t be taking on any new projects, especially websites, but I may continue to do maintenance for the few clients whose websites I currently manage. Renting my rooms makes up for any income I will lose from not doing design work.

I look upon maintaining this house as my main job now. It’s my big investment. I’m its caretaker.

Merry Christmas and have fun in the new year!

Diane

All the windows on the second story are vertical casement windows that open inward. Most of them were without screens.  Having new ones custom made would be cost prohibitive, so I decided to make some more myself.

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to do a half-lap joint on the corners of the frame. (I found a number of videos on the Internet.) Actually the original screens have a slightly different joint, but it was too difficult for me to reproduce so I found that I could do a half-lap and it would be sufficient and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference just looking at the screen from the outside of the house.

The challenge was using the table saw to slowly, pass by pass, trim the wood away half way through the board, as you can see in the photo above.

When all the joints were created, the boards were glued and nailed together (with my nifty little cordless nail gun!) and allowed to dry.

Then they had to be sanded, primed and painted. After that, the screen material was cut to size and stapled to the outside surface of the frame. A thin wood molding, called screen molding (of all things!) was cut to size and applied (after it had been primed, painted, and was dry) over the edge of the screen, close to the inner opening of the frame, covering the staples. Any excess screen was trimmed off with a utility knife. I chose to miter the corners of the screen molding which makes them look neater and more professional. The original screens don’t have mitered corners on the molding.

The screens were custom made to fit each particular window. They are held in place with “gate” hooks, one at the top and one at the bottom. Another challenge was figuring out where to place the hooks to get the screen to fit snugly into its opening.

Slideshow — Wait for it…

I just realized I haven’t written since October! Well, I did make a list of all my accomplishments in 2017, but I never got around to writing about them—so here goes!

I installed a white vinyl, arched arbor over the front walkway. It looks pretty cute. I’m hoping to get some climbing roses to climb on it. I bought one yellow climbing rose last year and planted next to the arbor but it died. Or maybe rather than roses, I should plant some other climbing vine, maybe wisteria…

I painted faux windows on the garage door to break up the monotony. From a distance you can’t tell they’re not real and Dennis loved them.

I finished (along with my handyman, Bernie’s help) installing the rest of the railings on the back deck.

Again with Bernie’s help, I (we) installed new vinyl plank flooring in the upstairs bathroom; much better than the peel-and-stick vinyl tiles that were there before. (Well, actually,they’re still there—underneath the new flooring.)

Then we installed a new vanity to replace the pedestal sink that didn’t provide any storage or counter space.

I also made new window screens for the upstairs casement windows. There were only a few existing, so now I’ve doubled the number of screens. I think I should make one more this year for the master bedroom. See the process here.

Here’s the concrete crew at work:

Finally done.

Here’s the “new” vintage patio table I found on Craigslist for $40. Cute, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it only has one chair that goes with it. I gave them a new coat of paint, the same color, and painted two folding bistro chairs I already had, to match.

The good thing about the upstairs windows is they are all casement windows, hinged vertically and they open in, so I was able to paint them from the inside, then just lean out (yikes!) to paint the exterior trim.

Last winter I hired a couple of guys, one after the other, to scrape, sand, fill and prime the windows on the outside. So that got done, but they never received a finish coat of paint. Then summer came and it was too hot. I thought about hiring someone to paint them and then finally decided to save a bunch of money and do it myself. So now THEY’RE DONE! And the house looks very pretty.

(And guess what!? — It’s raining!)

When we did the bathroom renovation, we took out the old original 1927 built-in tub/shower. It had seen better days and the shower surround was hideous. I could have updated the surround but I didn’t want a tub/shower combination. I wanted a separate shower and a clawfoot tub, even though it’s really from a previous era—the date embossed on the underside is May 8, 1907—pre-dating the house by 20 years!

The tub—found on Craigslist and purchased for $200—needed refurbishing, to say the least.  Before it was installed I had the rusty exterior of the tub sandblasted and primed, then I painted it to match the bathroom walls and sprayed the feet with “chrome” paint. But the interior of the tub didn’t get any attention until after it was installed. After it was in and I tried cleaning it, I realized that it was going to need more than just a good scrubbing.

Last week it happened. I hired a tub refinisher to do his handiwork on it and it looks pretty spectacular— gleaming white-white. So now we’re just waiting for it to “cure” so we can try it out.

Here’s a list, more or less in chronological order:

• Repaired plumbing leaks and installed new water heater
• Replaced the roof—on the house and detached garage
• Rebuilt the chimney
• Repaved the driveway
• Installed rain gutters
• Cleaned up the overgrown landscaping
• Repainted all of the interior spaces—walls and trim. Those that weren’t part of the remodel, I repainted myself. My friend, Linda helped with a lot of the downstairs (interior) windows.
• Gutted the kitchen; tore down a portion of one wall to expand the kitchen into the old utility room, installed all new drywall, insulation, cabinets,  appliances, electrical, lighting, plumbing, and plumbing fixtures, paint, etc.
• Sub-divided the “5th” bedroom into a new laundry room, half bath and storage closet: new walls, insulation, drywall, texture, paint, electrical, plumbing and electrical and plumbing fixtures; re-purposed cabinets and (new) countertop.
  • Original floorplan
  • New configuration
• Relocated the door to the “5th” bedroom to accommodate the laundry room cabinets (repurposed from the old kitchen and utility room)
• Added new french door to laundry room entrance
• Replaced two exterior doors: the kitchen door to the driveway and the door to the back yard.
• Reused interior doors for half bath and storage closet.
• Refurbished and reused existing glass door knobs
• Replaced the flooring in the kitchen with new oak to match existing floors
• Removed the oversized tile fireplace hearth to reveal the original tile hearth (still needs re-grouting)
• Installed gas log insert in fireplace
• Refinished the hardwood floors (main floor)
• Gutted the main floor (master) bathroom; borrowed some space from the new “laundry room” to accommodate the new shower. Installed insulation, drywall, and beadboard wainscoting, paint; New electrical, lighting, fan, plumbing and fixtures, medicine cabinets, marble tile floor, ceramic subway tile in shower with marble tile shower floor and ledges.
• Installed in-floor radiant heat (electric) in master bath
• Repurposed a 1930s sideboard and converted it into a double vanity with custom marble top.
• Refurbished a 1907 clawfoot tub for master bath (still needs interior re-glazing).
• Repurposed a 1930s china cabinet to serve as bathroom storage.
• Restored all of the original windows—inside and out—scraping, sanding, priming, filling cracked wood, reglazing window panes where needed, painting (painting window exteriors is still in progress completed as of 10/15/15!), and caulking.
• Replaced missing shingles on exterior and painted to match
• Added new electrical circuits upstairs and in basement, in addition to new electrical in remodeled areas.
• Replaced air conditioning unit
• Painted all of the upstairs rooms—walls, (most) ceilings, trim and windows, except for the bathroom which was repainted in 2011 (I found the can of leftover paint with the date).
• Stripped old (ugly) carpet off (which had been glued down!) and re-carpeted stairs
• Installed a garage door opener, perhaps the best spent $<300!

Whew, that’s quite a list! I’m not telling you what it all cost! But the single biggest ticket item, other than the contractor, was the roof at almost $14,000.

The three biggest things I did myself were:

1. Order and/or purchase all of the plumbing and electrical fixtures, appliances, cabinets, tile, etc.,
2. Choose paint colors and purchase paint, and
3. Supervise the work to make sure it was being done the way I wanted it.

I also drew up the plans and submitted them to the Building Department for permits.

Making decisions is a big component of a remodel. Luckily, I’m pretty good at that.

Tomorrow the marble ledges (actually marble thresholds I ordered online) on the shower knee walls will be installed, then the shower will be ready for glass.

After the beadboard is finished with baseboard and chair rail, we’ll install the medicine cabinets. Then the electrician will know exactly where to place the wall sconces.

I broke down last week and hired the tile guy’s helper, Jake, to sandblast the bathtub and prime it for me. I was intending to do it myself, but when I tried to wire brush the rusty sides, it hardly made a difference. Jerry, my contractor, was going to lend me a sandblaster so I could sandblast it myself, but when I thought about the mess it would make in the yard, I decided it was worth it just to spend the money and have it done off-site. I’m SO GLAD. It turned out beautifully and all I had to do was give it a coat of paint. I still have the inside of the tub to contend with, but I’ll tackle that when it’s hooked up to the plumbing and I can give it a good scrub without making a mess. Here’s a sneak preview:

This is before I painted it. You might be able to see some sand residue in the lip. I’m painting it the same color as the walls— “Glimmer” by Olympic Paints. I’m going to spray paint the feet “chrome” since most of the metal finishes in the bathroom will be chrome. I had it moved into the dining room after it was sandblasted so that I could paint it—it’s TOO COLD now to paint outside.

Most of the tile is installed. I think tomorrow they will grout it. Here’s how it looks today.

The walls are only painted part way down because we’ll be installing beadboard on the lower part. But you can see the green of the wall paint…

And I decided to do a border in the shower…

I was scrambling a couple of days ago, trying to find the trim pieces we needed to create the border. It wasn’t easy. Not only that, but I assumed the ceramic subway tile would be readily available locally, because it is such a common tile, or so I thought. But neither Lowes nor Home Depot had enough of what I needed and I ended up having to order it from Oregon Tile and Marble. They were able to get it for me in just a few days. OTM supplied my quartz kitchen counters, too. They give the BEST service!

I was going to have a niche for shampoo bottles, etc. but the pre-fab one I bought was just too big. So I opted for the ceramic shelves (2) and soap holder instead. More vintage looking anyway, I think.  The upstairs shower has the same thing and I like them. (But I’ll be glad when I don’t have to shower upstairs anymore!)