The Lesser Wall of Purgatory: Part 2
The Lesser Wall of Purgatory: pouring the concrete.
Category: Projects
The Lesser Wall of Purgatory: Part 1
The Lesser Wall of Purgatory: quotes were too high, so we built the small wall by the pool ourselves, starting with the forms.
Ottoman Empire and the Comfy Chair
Reupholstering my old $25 thrift-store armchair and making an ottoman to go with it.
Unifying with Circles
Pulling the great room together with circles.
Great Room Note–Outside Design Service
An online design service tried its hand at our great room. It was so very beige.
Making the Great Room Great, Step Eight: Wall Lighting
Making the great room great: deleting the sconces and adding simple circular lights.
Making the Great Room Great, Step Seven: Plants and Bits
Making the great room great: plants, and turning the foyer into a little light well.
Making the Great Room Great–Step Six: Finding Art
Making the great room great: finding art for the walls, mostly at auction.
Making the Great Room Great–Before and After Painting
Before and after shots of the foyer and great room, once the painters were done.
Making the Great Room Great, Step Four: Painting
Making the great room great: painting.
Making the Great Room Great, Step Three: Priming
Making the great room great: priming.
Making the Great Room Great, Step Two: Paint Prep
Making the great room great: prep work, and deleting the sconces, an old thermostat and a phone jack.
Making the Great Room Great, Step One: Deciding on Paint
Making the great room great: deciding on paint, including a metallic finish.
Venting the Garage
A new exhaust fan in the roof makes the garage almost pleasant on 100-degree days.
A Trip to the Auction House
Our new great room table and chairs came from an auction house and a closing hardware store.
Battery Backup: Hosed
Battery backup: the power wall displaced the hose reel post, so Agent Smith built a better one.
Battery Backup: The Install
Battery backup: the Tesla Powerwall install, and an early lesson about running on battery.
Battery Backup: Understanding the Pieces
Battery backup: why we chose a power wall over a big diesel generator.
Mirror Mirror
Making a starburst mirror for the foyer from old honeycomb blinds and a 3D printer.
When in doubt, just print it
Two years with our Prusa 3D printer, and all the things we just print when we can’t find them.
Exterior Tidying
Our painter tackles the rot, stucco and siding the previous owners painted over, and repaints the house exterior.
Insulating Ourselves
Greenshield re-insulates the crawl space, after 50 years of mostly upside-down insulation.
Flooring all done. Time for before and after.
Before and after shots of the refinished teak floors, plus one new squeak.
Click-Lock
Patching the old furnace holes in the click-lock floors of my office and the blue room.
Teaky Teak
Repairing the teak floors with a box of matching parquet the previous owners left behind.
My Grandmother’s Cedar Chest
My grandmother’s cedar chest, refinished and now used daily in my office.
Craigslist, Chicago, and Lumber Liquidators
Our discontinued bamboo flooring, found again thanks to Craigslist and a friend in Chicago.
In the Teaky Teaky Teaky Teaky Teaky Room
Our teak parquet floors needed a full revamp after the furnace project, and that started a saga.
Another Tale of Fencing
Getting the house yard fences repaired, sealed and painted bright white again.
Drain Videos
Scope video of our 100-foot-plus sewer line, before and after cleaning.
More Plumbing Woes
A rusted-out section of sewer pipe hidden by the old ductwork, and Able re-pipes the north wing’s drains.
Chimneys Be Gone
With the diesel furnaces gone, O’Neal Roofing removes the two old chimney stacks.