Tag: diy

Basement Progress: Electrical Rough In

< 1 min readIn what was actually one of the easiest steps in the whole basement project – a day and a half of concentrated work by me, my dad, and our fabulous electrician Terry Kuehn – we made some of the most concrete-feeling progress. We’ve created order from chaos from order!

We have the electric boxes, cans and wiring installed!   In what was actually one of the easiest steps in the whole basement project – a day and a half of concentrated work by me, my dad, and our fabulous electrician Terry Kuehn – we made some of the most concrete-feeling progress.  Now there are just a few last items to check off before we get our electrical and framing inspections, install insulation and then call the drywallers!  Continue reading “Basement Progress: Electrical Rough In”

Micro Update: Up-Down Insulated Blinds

4 min readInsulated blinds are one of my favorite micro updates.  In addition to a warmer (or cooler) house they provide privacy, controls over your daylight and a stylish update to your aesthetics.  Win. Win. Win. Win.

The snap in the air this week reminded me to adjust my insulated blinds up at night instead of leaving them at half mast for daytime privacy.  I love, Love, LOVE my cordless, up-down, cellular blinds.  They are energy efficient, streamlined and private, and I think they could be an improvement to any home.  Continue reading “Micro Update: Up-Down Insulated Blinds”

Testing Paint Colors in Natural Light

< 1 min readI recently realized that I’ve been living among wall colors I DON’T LOVE for way too many months and that it is time to make some of my planned color changes now while I can appreciate them rather than at the end of the project when I’m just about to pass it off to someone else.

After grabbing a really unreasonable number of swatches at the paint store, I set them up next to the wood trim – which I don’t intend to change – and was really surprised how most of the ones that seemed perfectly plausible in the light of the paint store were way to harshly blue grey in the house.  The outlier I had almost rejected as terribly taupe was the winner.  Continue reading “Testing Paint Colors in Natural Light”

Progress: Snugged in for winter with new basement Windows

2 min readWith winter coming (the weather just shifted from 70’s to 40’s this week), I was reminded of a punch list of get it done in good weather items.  One was last weeks painting catch-all.  Another is the possibly crazy goal of getting the mudroom framed in, scheduled for next week.  

This week I wanted to install the rest of the basement replacement windows.  Continue reading “Progress: Snugged in for winter with new basement Windows”

Progress: Miscellaneous Exterior Painting

2 min readI took advantage of the last few nice days of fall weather to do a few outstanding paint tasks.  

The last of the peeling green paint was hiding out in a small strip of wall between the garage and house roof lines.  It was a little awkward to get to and I never really felt up for climbing around on the roof when no one would be around to call 911 if I took a dive.  Wednesday and Thursday I scraped, then painted and primed the wall and soffit while my folks were around which upped the safety factor of sliding around on a roof slope with a bunch of painting supplies to juggle.  Continue reading “Progress: Miscellaneous Exterior Painting”

Progress: Bedroom Light and Vent, plus an Egress Window!

2 min readOnce we filled in the big hole we’d had dug in the ground, I turned my attention to filling in the big hole we’d had cut in the basement wall.

My plan is to turn the SE corner of the basement from a dim and dingy office/”bedroom” into a functional, bright and safe legal fourth bedroom.    For health and safety reasons a bedroom, especially one in a basement needs a window.  There was a tiny ceiling level window the the space before.  Once expanded, it now serves all those needs.  Continue reading “Progress: Bedroom Light and Vent, plus an Egress Window!”

Progress: Basement Bedroom Window Well

3 min readWe made  big jump forward in basement progress this week with the jump start on the new egress window.  From first thing Monday morning to late Wednesday we made some pretty dramatic changes to the south side of the house!

The basement currently has five small windows just at or below grade.  In the new design, two will be in the unfinished basement – and we’ll just pop in some better insulated replacements, two will be in the den and they will get new deep window sills set in with the vent soffit running around the ceiling edge and then there’s the bedroom window … it needs to be expanded dramatically to allow the required amount of air ventilation, natural light and a safe way to escape the house in an emergency.  Continue reading “Progress: Basement Bedroom Window Well”

Micro Update: Instant Bathroom Window Privacy

2 min readSome home improvement projects can wait for the right time, but others really need to be addressed RIGHT AWAY!

This is a change I made to the house almost immediately but forgot to blog.  There have been a lot of existing conditions here that I’ve decided to just live with “for now” because I knew I’d fix them later but the bathroom window just could NOT wait.  That is my neighbor’s kitchen door and window 15 feet away from the main bathroom of my house. Continue reading “Micro Update: Instant Bathroom Window Privacy”

Progress: Bathroom Framed and Roughed In

< 1 min readPutting in the floor plates and wall studs was an exciting first step to building back the rooms I’d spent so much time demolishing. Hooray for new spaces!

We got the walls of the new basement bathroom done and had the plumbers back to do the rough in.  It is really starting to look like a room with the vent and supply lines in and especially with the shower enclosure installed.   Continue reading “Progress: Bathroom Framed and Roughed In”

The Secret to (Warm) Success: Insulating behind new Basement Walls

3 min readPart of the reason I decided to entirely tear out the existing “finished basement” was aesthetic: it was incredibly dated with an unpleasant drop ceiling and an unfortunate layout.  I could have kept some parts of it however, if it hadn’t been totally un-insulated.  I can do SO MUCH BETTER than that.

I did part of this insulation work a couple of weeks ago – to make step one before framing the walls for the new bathroom – and the rest is still on my agenda.  I’ll be insulating the south and east walls next.   Continue reading “The Secret to (Warm) Success: Insulating behind new Basement Walls”