Year of the Squirrel

This morning I was driving to work and as I sat waiting for the light to change, I saw a squirrel run across the road. I was impressed how it crossed between the standing cars. They say animals can learn those things. I remember reading "Watership Down" and there being something in there about the dangers of the road. (Which reminds me, I really need to re-read that book!)

I started reflecting on how important squirrels are when you live in the city. Often they are the only wildlife people see, unless you include pigeons, which some people love and feed in violation of the city ordinance and many people despise as "rats with wings". My Dad is a card-carrying member of the "I Hate Pigeons Club." I remember one Father's Day, we had just come from brunch and we passed an obvious pigeon-lover throwing out breadcrumbs, and my Dad said to them as we walked by, "I see you like feeding the rats."

I myself notice all kinds of animals, but I am as they say, "very tuned in." I've seen hawks, rabbits, raccoons, deer, a myriad of birds including Monk Parakeets, waterfowl, possums and of course squirrels -all in the City of Chicago. Year round, I always have an eye out and ear craned for a woodpecker or a hawk, hummingbird or unusual insect even.

Over the years, I've devoted quite a few blog posts to our grey furred friend. I've pondered their busy-ness with bemusement. They have vexed me with their mischief. They raid my bird feeder and maim my pumpkins at Halloween, but I really don't mind. Squirrels gotta eat.

I've often joked that "squirrels are my affinity animal" or "I was a squirrel in a previous life." I tend to be thrifty and I hate to waste anything, especially anything edible. I will take the smallest bit of leftovers, toss it in a salad and call it a meal. All our stale bread goes to the birds. I compost as much as I can. If I grow an excess of say, kale in my garden, I start making kale tarts and such and freezing them. I wait for big bags green tomatoes to ripen at the end of the season and make gobs of sauce. Still have some in my freezer from last fall as a matter of fact. So, you get the picture. I am squirrel-like in my storing of food. I think like a squirrel.

But the squirrel is such a humble animal and it has such a difficult and short life, an average of 6 years. Around these parts, they also freeze their little squirrel butts off in winter. Why identify with such a creature? I really should identify with a more glamorous or worldly animal, one that lives a long time like an elephant, or maybe a tiger or at least a more useful animal that is also beautiful, like a horse. Or maybe a dog, everyone loves dogs.

But no, it's this little gray squirrel that crosses my path on a daily basis. I've gotten to know its character far better than any of those others I mentioned- except for the dog. I have 2 wonderful dogs and I know them pretty well. But they have a cushy existence and thus far have not impressed me with their fortitude or resourcefulness. I would not trade their adoring gazes for the world, but they are ultimately, big time moochers.

Obviously I've given these little critters some thought over the years. I have quite a few stories too. I don't think I ever posted about this, but once a squirrel got into our basement and hid there. Unfortunately, Billie, our cairn terrier hunted him down, cornered him, grabbed him by the neck and shook him till he was dead. That was a BIG day here at the 2-flat. After that, Steve and I were certain that Billie had fulfilled her destiny and that if she had died right then, she would have died satisfied. And did I cry over the grave of this unlucky critter? Nope. Cycles of life and stuff, ya know.

Just this year, I witnessed a stand off between a cat and a squirrel. The squirrel sat underneath my bird feeder gorging his pie hole with sunflower seeds and about 3 feet away sat a house cat, just watching and waiting. The squirrel looked unworried. The cat, in an ecstasy of predatory glory. Another day, I witnessed the same cat chasing a squirrel across the alley. Just think, here in the city, we have a microcosm of predator and prey playing itself our under a bird feeder. Hilarious.

So what is it I admire about these creatures?  Besides their overall resourcefulness, they are brave little creatures existing in a world that is dangerous beyond reason. Imagine dealing with the hazards of city living when you have a brain the size of a walnut?

They are very organized and store several thousand caches of food supply each season. And for the most part, they remember where they put it.

They are simple little animals, but they are extremely tenacious and persevering. And they live their little lives without pomp and circumstance. They never get the glory. They are overlooked and maligned as "rats with tails." But they just go on about their business. I admire their fortitude.

Reclaiming space

For years, we tossed around ideas for our small foyer/entry. This was one of those things that we have really needed as we do not have a coat closet in our humble 2-flat floor plan.

Perfectionism led us to procrastinate for quite a while. Maybe Steve should build a hall tree, maybe we should find one at an estate sales, etc...

Finally, we decided to just trim it out and add hooks. Top it off with some artwork, and this was probably one of the easiest projects we have ever pulled off. And it was an instant fix for getting coats off chairs. And now that space is actually good for something, probably it's intended purpose!

Steve got quarter sawn white oak so that the grain would match the original straight grain of old growth oak trim, which is what we have in our home.

We purchased polished brass hooks from Rejuvenation and Steve aged them using ammonia. He used 28% ammonia hydroxide, which is what is used for fuming in traditional arts and crafts furniture. He exposed it for about 5 minutes, which pretty much aged them 6 years. So they match the other brass switch plates in our home. Devil is in the details...

Bolstered by the success of this small project, I am now looking at what else I can do around here... until we are able to go crazy and make the basement into usable living space that is.

We're not going anywhere...

Simple things

Lately I have been waxing nostalgic for our days of hard labor. Life seemed so simple back then. Such finite goals...gutting and renovating a bathroom for example. And the rewards of the labor are so very tangible. I find that I like tangible things.

I've written on this blog about my visceral discovery of being so present in the moment, seeing my hands after sanding oak board after oak board one day and feeling truly connected. It was almost a spiritual experience for me. And I must say, I don't get that feeling from working with my hands on say...a computer. Talk about not being in the moment...Facebook, constant newsfeeds, email that is never finished...no- those things are not satisfying to me. I find them actually extremely draining. Yet, ironically enough I sit here posting on of all things, a blog!

But I'm here talking to you who have perhaps had a common experience working on your own home and projects. And writing is my other craft, so it is a release not a chore (email) or a compulsion (Facebook).

It's easy to lament the state of things now anyway I suppose. We're worlds away from the housing boom these days. I wonder how many housebloggers lost their beloved homes the past few years. So, yes, things have changed and it does feel different.

I told Steve that I am itching for a project. We do have a "biggie" that is on the distant horizon and that will be our basement, which will require a dig out and a steel i-beam. That's the 5-year plan, which is a ways off. At this point, there are some among us, who do something drastic like buy another house and "start over." I don't see myself doing this. I've seen many housebloggers have kids and of course, then life becomes so busy, who has time to blog or DIY- as much anyway?

We haven't gone that route. Always a hesitation about the kid-thing here, so no dice. It's okay, I have a really sweet niece and nephew and I enjoy being an "auntie."

I am really so glad I documented all the work we did on this blog. It's really quite something to go back over it, which I seldom do, and think, "Wow, we actually did all that. How crazy is that?" I remember the very long days, the exhaustion, laying on the sofa watching Forensic Files together-totally zonked, slices of pizza from JB Albertos for dinner, washing dishes in the basement, sitting at my desk on Monday in mild traction... I remember how our dog Billie would lay down next to Steve no matter that he was drilling or sawing. She grew up with construction abound and remains completely unphased by such noises.

How to recapture that feeling of purpose is something I wrestle with occasionally. But, of course, we cannot go back- only forward. And it's always easy to wax nostalgic about the past. I saw "Midnight in Paris." I get it, but it doesn't stop me from doing it.

Maybe there are certain times of one's life that are the happiest. I honestly don't think these past few years with so many people suffering unemployment and hardship have been so very "happy." It's more "make the best of it" in my book. Try to enjoy, despite the horrific nightmare moment in time we have the misfortune of  living in. I guess that sounds pretty doom and gloom, but sometimes it feels that way to me. How can anyone be oblivious to what is happening around us, even if we have been fortunate enough to hang on to our jobs or homes?

Halloween around the house

 

The best laid plans...my last post was...April?? Well, I did think of you my fellow housebloggers. I always do when we do house "work."

We like holidays around here. We don't get many trick-or-treaters in our neck of the woods, but I always enjoy seeing macabre or funny Halloween decor as I drive or walk around a neighborhood so...for your viewing pleasure... our spider's lair.

I always smile to myself as I clean off the real cobwebs on the front door and then put up the fake ones. We humans are such funny creatures really.

What have we been up to around the 2-flat this year? Well, nothing more glamorous than cleaning up our basement laundry room (visualize removing 1930's tile and black mastic from the floor with Soy Gel and Steve power-washing the stone foundation walls after stripping crumbling paint with more Soy Gel), concrete repairs and various and sundry in this category. Small progress, but now I can go into the laundry room without feeling like I am visiting a serial killer's lair. That counts for something.

Actually, Steve built a lifetime warrantied Tenant Storage Locker and a nice laundry room table too. I will try to post some after photos, but it's not a Pottery Barn laundry room or anything.

Okay, so I managed a post. Now I need to see what you all have been up to...Happy Halloween everyone!

Aspirations

In Spring the Sailboat comes out!

So it's Spring in Chicago and we know this how? Because it's raining. And because the grass is turning green--in places. I don't know about the rest of you, but for us, living in a city with dogs and a small backyard, we inevitably turn to lawn repair in the Spring...and Fall, year after year after year.
Perhaps there are some among you who have beautiful lawns that green up perfectly in the Spring, with no brown patches. You have adorable little crocus sprouting in perfect clumps that pass on just before the first moving of the year so you don't have to mow the prettylittleflowers. But alas, with two diabolical little dogs using our small yard as an (ejem) potty all winter, that is not to be at the 2-flat.


So rather than aspire to the perfect lawn, we aspire to be lawn-free! For perfectly manicured lawns are not only high-maintenance as we all know, they are not very environmentally-friendly. For now we continue dutifully repairing our sad little lawn every Spring, but we look forward to the day when we can eliminate this chore and put the push mower to bed permanently.

At least the rain helps the grass grow faster...

Our plan is to create a patio in the center of the yard surrounded by garden beds full of perennials and vegatables, maybe a pergola and a tucked away seating area where we can sit quietly and read a book in the shade. An oasis of privacy in the city. A staycation if you will, although more often than not, I can be found working in my yard rather than reclining. I'm convinced if I had more comfortable outdoor furniture, I would be more likely to recline. Time will tell...

Missing an old friend



Art Institute Staircase March 2011

 I took my blog down for a while, mainly due to a haranguing husband, who has some issues with certain information being posted publicly. Does anyone else have this debate in their houseblogging household? I'd love to hear from you.

There is no one in the world that can drive me insane more than my beloved spouse, except maybe my co-workers, who I spend an inordinate amount of time with-- because we live in a country with such a crappy vacation policy. But I digress.

Anyway, because of my dear and beloved spouse, and life just changing and altering my needs and focus, I have seen my blogging dwindle down to 2 posts last year. A far cry from the peak of posting in 2006, when I created 156 entries. How did I do it? I have the say that the years 2005-2006 had a life of their own and I experienced both the joys and exhaustion of being consumed by our home and its projects. I remember many dinners of pizza slices from JB Albertos and salad, manwiches, and tacos because that was about all we could manage. Now we are more likely to be observed cooking something delicious from the Silver Palate or making Beef Burgundy on a week night, rather than lying flat on our backs waiting for the aches and pains to subside from a long weekend of hanging drywall. And I have been known to bake cupcakes just for the heck of it.

In 2007, I turned 40 and I remember feeling as if I was waking up from a dream. I couldn't believe the years that had passed with Steve and I consumed by our home and working together. I truly love working side by side with my husband as a team. It brings me a real feeling of contentment and connection and if too much time passes without that, I find myself longing for the experience. I will always fondly remember the "summer of the wood pile," where I experienced a moment of true connection looking down at my hands sanding board after board of straight oak trim. I realized how immensely satisfying it was to work with ones hands. Because of this experience, I relate to contractors and tradesman quite a lot. I admire them.

New Year's Eve 2010 at Zoo Lights

That same year, I said to Steve, "Oh my God, can you believe how much time has passed? We've been together 7 years!! I think we should get married this year, seriously." And Steve said, "Okay, sounds like a good idea." And we got married. And that felt right. And our lives moved gradually towards more "normal," time for extracurricular activities like the theater, dinners out and friends, volunteer work, block clubs, gardening, vacations, family etc... All of which we barely had time for in 2005-2006.

Of course, living in a 100+ year old building, we are still working to maintain it and the DIY urges have not left us. This summer we are planning to build a new fence in the backyard and plant some large evergreens among other things. We have an endless supply of improvement ideas and wish lists. I hope, someday, to convert the basement and have "a room of my own," which I think would do much for my contentment.

This morning and lately, I found myself missing my old houseblog and decided to bring it back online. I know there are oodles of you out there in the thick of things. I remember those days well and fondly. Once you've done something like renovate your own home, no one can take that away from you. It gives one a similar feeling to putting yourself through college on your own dime and effort, it's hard but builds character, something inside that is yours. That's how I feel about it anyway.

I may re-design this blog (with Steve's help as he is a graphic artist). I offered this option to him as a compromise, he who wants me to edit my blog and keep some things offline. I want my spouse to be happy, but I think I still need my blog. Writing can be extremely therapeutic and there's a whole world of brethren out there. I'm not done with you just yet.

Happy Spring everyone...!

Out of the Closet

I've kept a pretty low profile with my houseblog for a while. I didn't mention it too much to acquaintances or co-workers. Sometimes people from my past would happen upon it and drop me a line, and my family has started to read it a bit more, but otherwise it was mostly strangers reading. Quite a few strangers that have become "blog-friends" I like to say.

Then, blogger forced me to upgrade to the new blogger and I merged my two blogs. My "secret" identity on the neighborhood blogs

When good projects go bad

I've hesitated posting about this because it doesn't fit my image of us. We are seasoned DIYers after all, we know what we are doing and we are perfectionists (at least Steve is, it only takes one anyway). I've singlehandedly refinished over 1000 feet of oak and a dozen doors after all. Steve builds furniture by hand (the hard way/the craftsman way). We don't make mistakes. (cough cough)

But then I thought to myself, "Self, you haven't got that much going on with the house that you can post on the blog to be so choosey" and "Self, aren't you supposed to be all about keeping it real?? This isn't some HGTV show after all. I mean, really."

So I decided to share our recent disappointment with one of our previous projects. The thing with DIY is you don't want the work just to look good when you finish it, you want it to last a really really long time so you don't have to do it again for God's sake.

Sometimes, it doesn't work out that way. And yes, this even happens to people like me Steve who do their homework and have been doing DIY for almost a decade. It happens because....(hear this all ye disgruntled contractors!!)--we are not professionals. And actually, now that I think about it- things can go wrong for a professionals too. So there.

So now you want the dirt right? Everyone always does.

It was late in the season, November 2007 to be exact and we were worried our dilapidated garage door would not make it another winter and would splinter and crack into pieces leaving a garage without a door, which would be certain disaster (relatively speaking of course).

We would have started sooner, but we got behind and didn't find a a replacement door  until mid-October...


From that point, it was a race to finish the door before it got too cold. The door was painted and needed to be stripped. That was my job.

I did my usual heat gun and strypeeze combo outside in the backyard and all seemed well until I put the first coat of primer and some red dye seemed to be bleeding through. Uh oh.

As it was now November and getting colder fast, we perservered and continued painting. Steve replaced the glass panes, fabricated muntins for the missing pieces, and concentrated on framing the door.

It was one of those times I felt bad for Steve because he was working outside in not very nice weather and there was no turning back. Kind of like when you go on a hike and the weather turns bad, really bad. You have to hike back, no option. That's the kind of project replacing an outside door is. You can't just leave it till next year when the weather is better etc... From this and other such experiences, I don't recommend starting a project like this so late in the season. Live and learn.

Anyway, Steve managed to get the new framing and trim in though I recall some choice words uttered and real frustration with the fit. He wasn't 100% happy with the finish carpentry.

I remember he said (almost as a warning to the errant trim), "I'll be redoing this in the Spring!" And I was like, "Oh, great. Can't wait." I didn't say that out loud mind you, just thought to myself. I'm not that dumb. Rather, I behaved more along the lines of, "I'll make dinner tonght okay?" and "I'll do the grocery shopping and bake some cookies for you okay, honey?" And Steve said in reply, "grrrr. okay."

Painfully, he managed to get the door finished before Christmas. And after that punishing end to the season, we took a much deserved break.

Happy ending right? Not exactly. This is a good project gone bad so it doesn't have a happy ending.

Remember that red stain bleeding through the white primer? Well that seemed to effect the bonding of the paint to the wood. It was either that or the cold temperatures that caused the paint to fail in several places.

So, for the past two years, I have scraped, caulked and painted that door . Steve hasn't redone the trim yet either. We've had other fish to fry and there's still some healing to do before we revisit this project.

I never posted about this because it was so annoying and I couldn't stand to write about it, but now after a few years have gone by, I have enough detatchment it's okay now. These things happen when you are a DIYer and in life. Things don't always go as planned. It's another important lesson and another life lesson that we have fully actualized through our DIY activities. Life as a house. It really fits sometimes.

It's been quite a while...

We haven't been doing much lately as far as home renovation. This summer is kind of a wash as far as that goes for a few reasons...

1. Budget. We are being much more conservative about spending and borrowing for obvious reasons. I am proud to say that we have paid off all our credit card debt in the middle of a recession.

2. The house is in decent livable shape! Woo hoo! Oh, there's always something to do and we have a long to do list still on the fridge, but none of it feels terribly pressing.

3. I broke my elbow in June from a tumble off my bike and Steve hurt his back in July. Note: This did not stop us from enjoying some nice hiking in Manistee National Forest this summer we are now both pretty well recuperated.

4. Busy with the Glenwood Sunday Market.
5. Busy enjoying the fruits of my labor in my new vegetable garden. Think homemade pesto, simmered greens, lettuces that practically melt in your mouth, etc... (We built a raised bed early Spring this year.) And we yes, my vegetables are in a cage! When it comes to squirrels, we don't play around!
6. Just enjoying summer. Plus it's been too damn hot to work much anyway, right?

I sometimes miss working on projects and get restless about doing something, but mostly it's okay. I do hope this isn't the end for us though. I think we still have a few good years in us for DIY. We aren't that old and tired just yet!

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and say hello and happy summer to all my houseblogging friends. Thanks to blogging about our work, I will never forget those days. So many good memories of working outside in the sun and fresh air, in the moment and focused on a specific goal and craft. I absolutely loved it. And I love working side by side with Steve.  So, I am sure we will get back to it at some point. We have some BIG plans for the backyard that are percolating for next year possibly.

Getting creative

This was my $35.00 foreclosure sale purchase. It cleaned up pretty well. Basically, a day or so to strip it and then very light sanding followed by some small veneer repairs ala Steve and three coats of blonde shellac. Not bad for the money.

And then there's our recent acquistition of this artwork. It's a printed canvas reproduction of a work by Henri Rousseau named "Surprise." We found this UK company that has rights to many works in the National Gallery in London and selected this one because we really like it. I like Rousseau and it has a kind of primitive look that suits our style.

Steve used to work in a gallery back in the day and so we bought stretchers and he stretched it. Voila, a large artwork. Purchased with last summer's yard sale money.

So, we manage to do some little things to spruce up, but we are definitely a far cry from the past several years. But really, most DIYers can't sustain that super high level of project work.

We are trying to decide what to do this spring and summer. We may screen out wood floors to clean them up without sanding them down. If we do, I'll definitely post that.

We are planning another outdoor adventure this summer. This time to Yellowstone & The Tetons. That is our main indulgence this year.

And in case anyone wonders how Billie and Mojo are doing, they are just fine. Looking forward to spring and the end of the dastardly ice melt everywhere preventing their enjoyment of long walks.

What keeps me busy now that I'm not blogging so much? Well, the ever-present day job does take it's piece. And then there's my new mission, which is bringing a Farmers' Market to Rogers Park.  

That's about it for now...Happy end of winter to everyone!

Budgetista

Yep, that's me these days, not a fashionista (not that I ever was much of a fashionista)- a budgetista.
Coupon clipping is a regular Sunday morning activity. I don't buy anything without first checking online for a coupon. The library is my new best friend and I delete all store emails without opening them. I also bring my own lunch and as a result dropped about 10 pounds. Who knew?

But what's an addicted home improvement nut to do if on a budget? I was feeling frustrated without "a project" for a while. Maintenance,while necessary, does not always provide the same feeling of making an "improvement." Maintenance is more like, "we better do this or else something bad (or worse) will occur."

You know this. It's why most people would rather buy a new sofa than put on "a new roof". A new roof just isn't something most people get excited about spending money on. It's a necessity.

Having a flat roof here at the 2-flat, it's not even visible for us-unless we go up there to check on it, which we do every year for ongoing maintenance. While I like going up there for the view an satisfaction of seeing that our roof is in such good shape (for now anyway), I wanted something that I could perhaps see more often.

Which brings me to my current project. It started with something I look at every day, I'm loathe to admit- the television (note the station on is HGTV, so predictable).

With this photo, I am revealing our tube TV. Yes, some people still have those-especially those who spend all their money on a 100 year old building with a history of deferred maintenance.

The project is getting rid of the particle board TV stand and getting ready for that flat screen TV down the line.

Steve is planning to build a piece for this, but he's also planning to build 4 dining chairs, a sideboard, and 2 end tables for the living room among other things so I convinced him to go along with a "temporary" solution. It's like pulling teeth sometimes, seriously. But I love him anyway.

But how to find an inexpensive replacement that will inspire rather than merely take up space? In two words: estate sales.

We went to a few, and incidentally, one could write a blog about such experiences, because going to estate sales is very interesting and thought provoking. The last one we went to was billed as a "pre-foreclosure" sale. I was at a bungalow in the Old Irving neighborhood. The scene was a bit chaotic. There was no heat, no electricity (meaning no lights) and the place was pretty well gutted to the studs. We were told by a family member running the sale that we were "entering at our own risk" as we walked up the falling apart steps. There were pickers all over the place grabbing boxes and bringing them outside to look at them in the light.

I thought to myself, "this is going to be good."

It was a cold day and Steve and I made a mental note to always bring a flashlight along with a tape measure , which we had, to estate sales in the future. Incidentally, I carry a mini tape measure in my purse at all times. Old habits die hard.

In the midst of all the chaos, there were some quite interesting things. Old lighting, furniture, misc. unusual objects. It was really pretty interesting. The basement was filled with boxes, but without a flashlight, it was useless. The house itself was for a short sale and a sign said it was $150,000. Pretty good for a brick bungalow near the expressway on a quiet street. Not liveable, but already gutted!

Anyway back to my project. I spied this beat up deco piece and upon inspection  determined it was quite solid. The finsh was trashed. They said they wanted $50 for it. In cases like this, it is quite helpful to have someone like Steve around. Someone who tries to talk me out of almost everything I look to buy and often succeeds. I hedged, "I don't know, it's awfully beat up. I'm going to have to refinish it." They acquiesed, "For you, $35.00." And so it went into our SUV.

I thought I might have to paint it because the finish was really trashed. In the light, we determined it was either walnut veneer or cherry.
The next weekend, the weather was really nice and so I stripped it outside. I used a methyl chloride-based stripped, toxic but effective. Two applications and it looked like this.

There is one small veneer repair that is needed but I am fortunate to have the craftsman Steve available for that.

Here is the top. It's almost pristine. After Steve works his magic on the small veneer repair I wil shellac it and that's it! Bye bye particle board, hello beautiful deco piece. He promises me we can have it done by Christmas.

Yesterday, I applied some stain to a few areas that were lighter and did not match the rest of the piece.

All this for $35 plus the cost of stripper and about two days work.

Besides the deco design and solid wood construction (dove tail drawers etc...), the piece has another nice feature, the wood on the face is what you call "end or book match", that is, one piece of wood as cut in half for the veneer and then joined together at the center makinga mirror image. It's a pretty detail.

I feel like this piece is totally something that could have ended up homeless in an alley but instead it won the lottery and will get all the TLC it deserves and live in a warm & cozy home.

This makes me happy.

When good projects go bad

I've hesitated posting about this because it doesn't fit my image of us. We are seasoned DIYers after all, we know what we are doing and we are perfectionists (at least Steve is, it only takes one anyway). I've singlehandedly refinished over 1000 feet of oak and a dozen doors after all. Steve builds furniture by hand (the hard way/the craftsman way). We don't make mistakes. (cough cough)

But then I thought to myself, "Self, you haven't got that much going on with the house that you can post on the blog to be so choosey" and "Self, aren't you supposed to be all about keeping it real?? This isn't some HGTV show after all. I mean, really."

So I decided to share our recent disappointment with one of our previous projects. The thing with DIY is you don't want the work just to look good when you finish it, you want it to last a really really long time so you don't have to do it again for God's sake.

Sometimes, it doesn't work out that way. And yes, this even happens to people like me Steve who do their homework and have been doing DIY for almost a decade. It happens because....(hear this all ye disgruntled contractors!!)--we are not professionals. And actually, now that I think about it- things can go wrong for professionals too. So there.

So now you want the dirt right? Everyone always does.
It was late in the season, November 2007 to be exact and we were worried our dilapidated garage door would not make it another winter and would splinter and crack into pieces leaving a garage without a door, which would be certain disaster (relatively speaking of course).

We would have started sooner, but we got behind and didn't find a a replacement door  until mid-October...


From that point, it was a race to finish the door before it got too cold. The door was painted and needed to be stripped. That was my job.

I did my usual heat gun and strypeeze combo outside in the backyard and all seemed well until I put the first coat of primer and some red dye seemed to be bleeding through. Uh oh.

As it was now November and getting colder fast, we perservered and continued painting. Steve replaced the glass panes, fabricated muntins for the missing pieces, and concentrated on framing the door.

It was one of those times I felt bad for Steve because he was working outside in not very nice weather (see photo) and there was no turning back. Kind of like when you go on a hike and the weather turns bad, really bad. You have to hike back, no option. That's the kind of project replacing an outside door is. You can't just leave it till next year when the weather is better etc... From this and other such experiences, I don't recommend starting a project like this so late in the season. Live and learn.

Anyway, Steve managed to get the new framing and trim in though I recall some choice words uttered and real frustration with the fit. He wasn't 100% happy with the finish carpentry.

I remember he said (almost as a warning to the errant trim), "I'll be redoing this in the Spring!" And I was like, "Oh, great. Can't wait." I didn't say that out loud mind you, just thought to myself. I'm not that dumb. Rather, I behaved more along the lines of, "I'll make dinner tonght okay?" and "I'll do the grocery shopping and bake some cookies for you okay, honey?" And Steve said in reply, "grrrr. okay."

Painfully, he managed to get the door finished before Christmas. And after that punishing end to the season, we took a much deserved break.

Happy ending right? Not exactly. This is a good project gone bad so it doesn't have a happy ending.

Remember that red stain bleeding through the white primer? Well that seemed to effect the bonding of the paint to the wood. It was either that or the cold temperatures that caused the paint to fail in several places.
So, for the past two years, I have scraped, caulked and painted that door . Steve hasn't redone the trim yet either. We've had other fish to fry and there's still some healing to do before we revisit this project.

I never posted about this because it was so annoying and I couldn't stand to write about it, but now after a few years have gone by, I have enough detatchment it's okay now. These things happen when you are a DIYer and in life. Things don't always go as planned. It's another important lesson and another life lesson that we have fully actualized through our DIY activities. Life as a house. It really fits sometimes.

Battening Down the Hatches

It's that time of year. Time to prepare for another long Chicago winter. What does this mean at Chicago 2-flat? Well, it means painting exposed wood, re-glazing some old windows, patching our hot tar garage roof, touching up our building's rubber roof with a reflective aluminum coating, securing and caulking the clay coping tiles on the parapet (finally!!),  and some minor concrete repairs.

It's all about keeping water- that natural nemesis of homes -out! And also keeping heat in and the cold -- out!

Windows

The basement front window glazing was really tired so we re-glazed and then painted the windows white to match the other windows on the building.

Eventually we are going to replace these windows, but for now it's periodic maintenance. Glazing secures the panes in place within the window muntins and makes the windows more airtight, therefore helping with conserving energy and keeping the warm air inside during the winter.

Obviously, painting wood prevents it from rotting prematurely too.

Doors

The garage door paint was failing in some places unforunately. We think perhaps the temperature was too cold when we originally painted it or there was some residue that was not stripped totally when we stripped it. Not fun, but these things happen sometimes!

Here I'm caulking cracks with painters caulk. Two coats of paint and a brass kick plate and hopefully the door will hold for a few more years until Steve builds us a new one.

Roof

Steve placing the backer rod prior to caulking all the coping tiles around the parapet. This was supposed to be done three years ago but we ran out of time before winter...three years in a row!

Honestly I can't believe we went that long with unsecured coping tiles.

Steve applied Vulkem 116 roofing caulk. We counted ourselves lucky that the $100 worth of caulk we bought a few years ago was still usable.

A few of the tubes were too stiff to use, but the rest were okay. Funny thing is, I remember balking back when we bought it. "Are you sure we need that right now?" 3 years later and we finally used it. A cause celebre.

And here you can see a full view of the roof and the scope of the job. I also spray painted the roof vents while we were up there.

After powering through a number of these tasks last weekend and feeling that "kicking ass and taking names" feeling, I was joking with Steve. I said we should change our house slogan to, "We do more in one weekend than some people do in a whole year."

Of course, after a 2nd weekend of work, we're a little more reserved now. But almost finished for the season!

Field Trip: Rich's Foxwillow Pines

We are BIG pine tree fans here at the 2-flat. Actually to give credit where its due, I'll admit that Steve is the one who has given me the appreciation I have for evergreens. Take a walk with him sometime around a neighborhood in Chicago and listen. Chances are you will hear him say gazing upon some new condo conversion, "They should have planted some pine trees."

Being a native of Michigan, the source of the many a Christmas tree in these parts, it's no big surprise that Steve is loyal to this noble tree. He also spent some of his childhood living on a lake and has a love of being near water. That's why we live 2 blocks from Lake Michigan and why Steve never ever wants to move. In my weaker moments, I would consider moving west to get away from some of the urban headaches, but Steve would never go for it. I love him for that.

Steve is our tree keeper, while I tend the perennials. It's a system that works for us. For several years, he has wanted to visit Rich's Foxwillow Pines in Woodstock- THE place for pine trees. They specialize in specimen trees and smaller sized trees ideal for city lots.

Here's Steve pensively studying the price guide at Rich's under the share of a massive willow tree.

I'm happy to say that things have died down enough with our house projects that we can start doing those things that we have been wanting to do for while. Call it a bucket list if you like- as far as life goes, after 40, one starts to want to "make it count." That's kind of where we are at right now. Some of these things are small, like "visit the new Modern Wing," some are bigger like, "visit the Canadian Rockies."

As I mentioned, Rich's specializes in dwarf trees suitable for smaller spaces. He even has a whole collection of teeny tiny tees. Those of you with only a balcony could make an AMAZING miniature "forest" in a large pot!

The place kind of rambles around and goes on and on seemingly endlessly. At the spot pictured at left, I came across a painted turtle and heard frogs grunting.

And there were robins absolutely everywhere.

If pine trees aren't your thing (God forbid!), he has 500 varieties of hostas also. And he has 35 acres down the road, which he uses to maintain his inventory levels. We met Rich while we were there and he was kind enough to drive us around in his cart and show us a few things. He's an affable fellow and it's always great to meet someone who has found their passion and loves what they do.

We were looking for ideas for adding some more trees to the backyard and we found some. Now we just need the m-o-n-e-y, which we will be able to budget for next year.

So, why do we love pine trees so? Quite simply, they are evergreen and provide year round color, which is sorely needed in a long Chicago winter.

Besides that, they provide a needed structure in the garden, sanctuary for birds, they smell nice and there are so very many varieties, shapes and sizes.

So, that in a nutshell covers our visit to Rich's Foxwillow Pines.

If there's one thing you can count on in life...

It's that things are constantly changing. I just realized it's been 4 months since my last post. The time just kind of slipped by me. We are not doing any "major projects" here at the 2-flat and so I seem to have turned my focus elsewhere.

Steve & I went to Canada in August and had an amazing trip. As we were climbling mountains in Kananaksis Country ("K-Country"), I found myself thinking how renovation helped prepare me for the experience of climbing mountains.

Both involve endurance and delayed gratification. You work weekend after weekend on your house all for a long term goal. With hiking, you climb and push yourself to get to the top of a mountain, pass or ridge to gain the expansive view from the top.

Both are rewarding and provide a real feeling of accomplishment that money cannot buy. You did it. Yourself. You know you can do more than you think you can.


These are the gifts of DIY and the gifts of a good hiking trip. Endurance, self-reliance and joy at accomplishment.

Now, on to the more mundane tasks like weather proofing this house for winter.

Kitchen Table Progress

I think I may have mentioned before that finishing a piece of furniture can take as long or longer than the building it. Wood is a natural material and it can be tricky and even unpredictable.
Steve did quite a bit of research as he has never worked with bird's eye maple. He did do one shelving piece in maple and that was trickier to finish than white oak, which is what he usually works with.
Of course he consulted the internet and his favorite publication: Fine Woodworking (that's besides his other fav publication Fine Homebuilding). He even emailed the author of "Three Finishes for Bird's Eye Maple", Teri Masaschi to ask a few questions. And she very kindly emailed back!


Steve has been working on finishing the bird's eye maple table top for a few weeks now.
For anyone who is a newbie at woodworking, you don't just go and slap some stain on wood after you are done sanding. That would not be wise because as I said, the wood can be unpredictable.
Steve always makes some test pieces to determine how the wood takes the dye, stain or shellac, etc... Here you can see the variations he came up with with different layers of dye.
We selected the top center board color as it is lighter than all the oak in our kitchen and we feel it will offer a nice contrast and show off the figuring very well. What do you think?

One thing that came up with this particular project is that some of the "bird's eyes" popped out. They were filled with a fill stick as you can see here.
Steve decided to use a combination of gel and shellac for the finish. A few kinds of shellac that I will post about later as I don't have the details right now. He is in process of applying several coats of shellac and just last night after putting on another coat, he discovered some "ghosting."

No, our table top is not haunted. It just has some white film on a section of it. Not the look we were going for. There are many reasons this could happen. Possibly there is too much humidity in our basement and higher water content in the shellac then caused this. Possibly slight residue of sanding was left and became embedded in a layer of shellac. You see what I mean about tricky

So now, we have the dehumidifier going and Steve is contemplating sanding off some layers and beginning again with the shellac. It's tricky. More to come.

But as you can see here, this wood is so pretty, it's work all the effort. Finishing is really the hardest part to woodworking!

Just saying Hi

I just realized that I went the entire month of March without posting.

True we haven't been doing much, but a month? That's just not acceptable.

Steve has been working on the table top. He just this week started applying the layers of finish. He has been doing extensive research as he has never worked with Maple before.

I have to admit that right now I just don't have the oompf to write up the minutae of dyes and shellac colorations and how those combinations interact etc... etc...

Instead, I'm just posting this pretty picture of daffodils and saying Happy Spring!

Right now, we are in the process of looking for tenants also. Our adorable twenty-something roommates had to split. I believe we will be wrapping that process up this weekend. It is always good to have that behind us. Miss you guys.

Little Projects

That's what we'll be doing this year or rather that is what we have planned right now. This doesn't make more exciting blogging, but it will have to suffice for 2009.

Of course, we made a list, a rather long list of everything we'd like to do and then we prioritized based on stuctural issues and cost. As it turns out, we have a number of things we can do that will cost next to nothing. Projects that have been cued up for a while and just pushed aside.

We have a stockpile of some materials in our basement also (read: oak, more oak, and some more oak)and it will be nice to clear some of that out! Steve is still working on our kitchen table at the wood shop. He is hand scraping it, which is the method used before sandpaper was invented. The effect is more burnishing and smoothing as opposed to sandpaper, which leaves fine scratches on the surface.

He's kind of a luddite when it comes to making furniture, but he does make "hand-crafted" furniture. This is why it takes a while too.

As an example of the kind of projects we are undertaking, our latest project was to install a Hunter ceiling fan we purchased in 2006, back when we were remodeling the 2nd floor.

The funny thing about this little "freebie" project is that it ended up costing us close to $100.00 after we retrofitted the ceiling outlet with hardware to hold up this monster ceiling fan. The house gets the last laugh this time, but just wait, the year has just started.

Projects on the boards for this year include:

Building out our mudroom/entry area with a mirror and hooks for coats etc...

Tuckpointing the garage and basement walls.

General maintenance of roof, concrete repair, window glazing etc...

Install missing shoe moulding in Living room, dining room and mud room.

And no summer would be complete without me refinishing at least one door so...we will be buying a salvage door for our den (Steve's office) and I will refinish and then install it.

There's a bunch more little and not-so-glamourous-or exciting small projects that I won't bore you with here. I'll try to post when something exciting happens.

Happy Holidays from Chicago 2-Flat

I like to decorate for the holidays. Many years our home has not lent itself to this for various reasons. Anywhere from the house was such a mess it seemed a moot point to we were just to darn tired to we had no extra money.

Now that our home is done to the degree of being livable and not a source of embarrassment, I get to have some fun. There are ways to do this without spending a fortune or looking like an over-decorated retail establishment.

This is where some of my squirrel-like tendencies pay off in spades. For example, over the years whenever I have purchased a wreath or centerpiece or beautifully wrapped gift, I carefully removed any of the embellishments that could be re-used. I also save all my Christmas cards and someday I am going to do something really cool with them- mark my words. It helps to have a basement to store these things.
So, this year I was able to cut way back on my spending. Instead, I made my own centerpieces and cut way back of fresh greenery for the outdoors. I only decorated the 2 pots on our front porch and added red ribbons, which are very festive. A string of colored lights around the door, and finis! Cost was about $30.00 for the greenery and bows. I saved money by forgoing the wreath also.

In the dining room, I spent not a dime. The fresh flowers were scavenged from my office. (We get fresh flowers every week and they get tossed on Fridays if no one wants them)

A card "tree" is a great way to display cards. Buy it once and you have it forever. These will mos likely be on deep discount after Christmas on Potterybarn.com.

The centerpiece is simply a piece I had with acorns from Steve's parents yard and some of those embellishments I had squirreled away. I'm not saying it's anything "fancy" but it's casually festive in a way I like. If I was going to go "hog wild", I would probably be inclined to hang evergreen boughs over the windows with some kind of red ribbons. Not this year though. :o)


Here's another little piece I made entirely with scavenged items. The fresh greens came from trimmings from our tree.


I got these matching ornament wreaths at Pier One a few years ago 50% off after Christmas.


Of course, trees are expensive so it's hard to save there. And you want a fresh one that will last. I don't do a tree every year, but this year we will be home and I am off from x-mas till New Year's. I plan to spend several days curled up in the living room with a good book and this is really relatively cheap entertainment when you divide the cost over all that time.

Plus, there's just something about a real Christmas tree. It's romantic and impractical and it's nice to be that way once in a while.

When Steve was bringing it in, I was struck my how strange it is to take this poor tree and cut it down and bring it into a house. Don't trees belong outside growing in the ground?

But then how perfect is it when we are all cooped up inside because of the cold and snow to bring the outside inside to keep us company? Not practical and maybe not so "green", but I promise I will bring mine in to be mulched after the holidays. And I promise to cherish it.