At The Handyman's House

It's Coming Along

2011-10-02T00:47:00.000-07:00

The posts are finished and the rails are up!

The Beginnings of a Fence!

2011-09-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

Derek started on our fence today!

A New Front Door!!

2011-09-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

We love our house. Our house is wonderful in many ways, but one thing we've been wanting to improve is our long, dark hallway. The three bedrooms' windows just didn't give enough light to adequately light the hallway.

So a few months ago, we purchased a new-to-us glass door at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (we love that place!). But as life usually goes, we were too busy to get to installing it until this weekend!

Now with our new door we get so much more light; as I pass by the hallway, I'm always doing a double take because I think the door is open! :)

Over the Summer

2011-09-10T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, what has the Handyman been up to this summer? Quite a bit actually! That's why there hasn't been much going on here at the blog. Here's a bit to get you caught up.

I built a shed...

And built some above ground garden boxes for my wife's square foot garden...

Deck Inspiration

2010-08-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

While reading Houzz.com's post on Fabulous Patios, I was reminded of our deck-to-be. With the beautiful summer evenings we've been having lately, we are so anxious to get started so we can enjoy our backyard and so we don't have to see this when we look outside our back door...

Or this while we're in our backyard...

Unfortunately we have so many other home improvement projects to do and the deck's pretty low on our priority list so it might not get done until next year. But when it does get done, it will be big and amazing!

A Tip for Painting

2010-08-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

If you need to take a break from painting (like we are right now), wrap your rollers tightly in shopping bags. Make sure they don't have any holes. Then place them in the refrigerator.

They will stay wet and ready to paint for days!

This way you don't have to clean out your rollers in the middle of your project, and it can save you tons of time! I do recommend washing out your brushes after each use, though.

Window Trim in the Living Room - Stage 1

2010-08-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

So this is obviously not the living room. It's the window in our bedroom. It's nearly identical to the one we're working on in the living room. We were so excited to put trim up, we forgot to take a before picture! Notice the plain, boring window? No trim!

Here's what we have so far. Derek pre-painted the MDF trim before attaching it to the wall. It's so much easier to paint trim this way! You don't have to tape!

His design includes beadboard beneath the windows. It makes them look taller!

He's also spackled the joints and nail holes. All that's left is touch-up tomorrow!

Paint

2010-07-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

Another new development in The Handyman's House is paint in the living room! We could only choose one color for the entire interior of our house so we picked a creamy neutral, Mason Blanche. All our walls and our baseboards are painted in this color. Nice, but boring.

So add some contrast, we picked a darker shade of the same hue for the walls in the living areas. Derek isn't quite finished yet, but it looks great so far!

The window across the room is casting weird shadows on the walls. The actual color is in the middle.

MDF Baseboards

2010-07-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

When Derek ripped out the original baseboard, we decided to put in 5" MDF instead. It looks great!!

He is pre-painting the boards, nailing them to the walls, spackeling the nail holes and joints, caulking, and touching up with paint.

Sod

2010-06-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

Derek and our friend Jared laid sod today! It's so nice to see green outside our windows instead of dirty brown dirt everywhere!!

Sprinkler System

2010-06-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here's Derek with the sprinkler system he just installed. Not usually a Derek-of-All-Trades service, but it sure saved us a ton of money to have him install it at our house!

Painted Appliances

2010-05-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Derek painted our white fridge and freezer black. Our beverage cooler fits perfectly in between, and someday we'll have some built-ins so the trash will be in a pull-out beneath the cooler.

Laminate Flooring

2010-04-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Before we moved in to our new house, Derek replaced all the flooring in the main living spaces. The most economical way to have nice floors was to have Hubble put in carpet everywhere (even in the dining area, eww!) and then Derek would change it before moving in.

Now we have beautiful laminate flooring running through our entry, hallway, library, kitchen, dining area and living room.