You May Once Again- Shut The Door

If you came to my house today you could actually pee in private.




And if you really wanted to you could sleep in private. Hallway/door pictures are both impossible to take and really boring to talk about. I'm scraping my closet door as we speak. It has a piece of glass in it so I could not take it to the stripper guy. If the stripper gets behind the mirror it will eat the silver and then we have glass. Funny how that works.

One more door after this one. The front door. Going big with that one. New hardware and some sort of fancy patina for the exterior.

Super exciting, I know.

Its Like Camping

I'm hoping to get the bathroom door back tomorrow. The Husband has been a good sport about it but I'm pretty sure he is over it.

Whatever its like camping but different.

This might have been the hardest picture to take. But i'm sure you very much get the drift.

New Plan

We have not done anything with the bathroom. Someday we will need to do the following:

• fix the tile floor
• refinish the tub
• change out the sink
• add more lights
• replace rotten wall around shower
• replace tile in shower
• paint

Who knows when any of this will actually happen but until then its not that bad. I mean the plumbing works just fine. But its the door that has me stumped. I hate doing double work so now I have a plan.

I was scared I was going to hand strip and stain the hallway side and then decide later on the inside. I'll just have the door dipped, stain the outside like usual and leave the inside stripped. I can paint it later when we decide what we are doing. Or I can paint it antique white since i'm sure the ceiling will eventually be that color.

Now she's thinkin'. How long do you think it will take until The Husband gets bummed out about the Mexican blanket for a bathroom door?

Scraping Paint Makes You Smarter

Dear PO (previous owner)-
Its been a while since I have thought of you. This is just a quick note to tell you thanks. Thanks for not leaving the door jam the beautiful dark stain that I found under the cheap white paint. That would have made things far too easy for me. I mean if the jam was left a beautiful dark stain that matched perfectly with the floor what would I do with my summer vacation? I would hate to think I would have wasted my time working in the garden, or heaven forbid at the beach!
So, thanks again for everything you did for me. You truly are the gift that keeps on giving. Have a great summer.

No More Messin'

No more slacking off, no more traveling and no more spending money. I am on a strict scrape paint only budget.

Today I start in the hallway and work my way to our bedroom. There is the almighty base board thrown in with a few door jams.

Question; do I stain the bathroom door like I have done the rest? I have my bedroom door to do and the closet door so its not like I'm hurting for doors to strip but do I do the bathroom door or leave it blue? Can I stain the hallway side of the door or is that stupid?

What's The Time?

Its time to scrape paint!

Im not the type of person who likes to waste my time
And when Im on the floor - I just say my rhymes
Because Im out on bail - the check is in the mail
They can sentence me to life - but I wont go to jail
Im cool calm collected - from class I was ejected
Just me, The Husband., and m.c.a. - were rarely disrespected
I got all the time that I need to kill
Whats the time? - its time to scrape paint!

Not my best lyrics but it was stuck in my head. Today I ride bikes and have a nice day, tomorrow its on! Welcome to vacation. Word-

2nd Bedroom

Its so nice to have another bedroom up and running. It makes the house seem that much bigger. After Momochan leaves we need to earthquake proof the cabinet. It makes me nervous with all that glass. Plus its heavier than shit and would surely break if it fell over.



The 3 panels above the bed are from a 1960s entertainment cabinet that I was given that I in turn gave away. It was huge and not really my style. I did like the panels that were used as the sliding doors. I ordered the picture rails hooks from Rejuvenation, maybe I should order a few more. I'm sure The Husband has more things he would like to hang up. For the time being the panel on the right is covering the hole in the wall where the sconce is not going back up. More on that later.



I did get in some gardening this weekend. I planted my sweet peas and threw in some annuals for good measure. Its nice to be working outside again.

Its Bigger Than Life

The Husband picked up the cabinet today. Looking good. Its a big piece of furniture but I like it. Im sure he will have no problems filling it with all sorts of mags and memorabilia.

We have been working on this room every night until 10:30/11:00 at night. Im finally getting tired. Momochan comes in tonight and tomorrow I get my life back. Its back to the beach and gardening. Now is the perfect time to be planting, mulching and digging in the yard.

Im really glad we powered through this project. We are still happliy married and now the room is finished once and for all. Of course we still need a desk, chair, ottoman, curtains hemmed, new wall sconce....

Faster FASTER

It really is the final push. We are still shopping and cleaning. Im not sure what we were thinking but its a lot of work to go into construction with such a tight deadline. We are in good shape but man, we are really going to be working on the house until the second she arrives.

2 more days...

Winner!

We did it! The room is up and running. We finished all the paint and trim work on Saturday. Sunday we were all over LA like the crazy people we are. We got up in the morning and after The Husband walked the monsters (AKA: Dogs) we went to the Long Beach Antique Swap Meet. After we totally struck out there we were on the hunt. We have to get a piece of furniture for that bedroom.

We went to Crate and Barrel and saw a few pieces that were in the running. There was a little glitch in the day when our neighbor called and said he found a used wood chipper on craigslist and asked if we could go to La Habra Heights and check it out. Sure. So after we bought that then we drove it back to Long Beach and dropped it off at the neighbors then we went to El Segundo to one of my favorite stores, Legends Of Asia. We are so grateful that Andy opened up just for us. We found the most beautiful cabinet, one problem, its huge. I mean we could technically get it in the door but then would have no room left. We measured it out over and over. Its just too big.


So, Crate and Barrel it is. Its a nice piece also but nothing in comparison to that Chinese cabinet. Oh well. Next time.

This week is not over. The mother-in-law comes Friday night. We still need to find a window treatment and do a target run for all the other things we are lacking in life. IE toilet paper. :)

Iʻm so tired!

Not Enough Hours In The Day

My idea of painting windows and picture rail after work has turned into a joke. Oh the tangled web we weave. Looks like Ill be spending Saturday painting walls. Maybe If I got home from work before 8pm I might be able to "get my stuff done"

Did You Wanna Pull My Knob?

The room is slowly coming together. The Husband hung all 3 doors. Its starting to look good in there.

3 Doors Down

We came sooo close to meeting all the goals of the weekend. I didn't have enough time to put the paint on the walls. Other than that we were right on. We stained and shellacked all 3 doors, base boards and jams. We boiled all the hardware and The Husband sand blasted it. Turns out 1/2 is old and 1/2 is new. If I knew that I probably would have just bought new hinges. The painstaking boiling and scrubbing rodeo got old fast.

After work one night this week I will be painting the picture rail along with the windows. Saturday Ill slap the wall paint on then its all shopping and cleaning.

My arms are so tired and my finger nails looks like they were dipped in poop. I wore gloves all weekend until late last night I decided to go ahead and finish up the other 2 jams. Nice walnut colored stain all over my right hand. Woops-

Oh and I threw some garlic cloves in the ground. We shall see if anything happens with that. I need to get my sweet peas in the ground but I want to do it different this year. I need some sort of big Tee pee or something . They out grew my garden fence so fast last year. I love me some sweet peas.

I Feel Naked

This room is going to get kicked into some serious shape this weekend. No more fooling around. Its time to get ʻer done! La lista is kinda long but we can do it.

• pick up doors, stain all 3
• finish stripping the jams
• stain base
• paint picture rail
• paint walls and windows

That just about do it. Plus have a nice dinner with my girlfriend and maybe go paddle. I better start now.

You Light Up My Life

You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song




This little gem is mounted on the wall in the guest room. I'm not sure how yet but I need to get about 15 layers of paint off of it. We need a better watt light bulb and some little tiny shades. Oh and the lanyard pull to turn the switch on and off is not really working for me.

I have a feeling that my week nights are going to turn into work nights. As in tonight I need to paint the picture rail. I decided to use up a bunch of paint that we already have. Walls in an Antique White sound nice.

You Scrape Paint, You Scrape NOW!

Sunday we made another small dent in the 2nd bedroom.

We finished working on the windows, one is broken and its just going to have to stay like that. We might maybe eventually get someone to fix it. Something about the pulley being snapped, looks like a stick in the window to me.

The Husband took down the 3 doors, stripped off the hardware and took them to our friend Mark. He is going to drop them off at THE STRIP JOINT. Scraping paint sucks so much that I am just going to suck it up and pay someone to help me out. There is so much paint on these walls and the doors are just as caked there is no way I can scrape that much paint. My arms are killing me. I did finish the base boards and 1 and 1/2 door jams. The second jam I had to use the chemicals the heat gun was nothing on that oil base paint. It pretty much laughed in my face and maybe spit a little too. Its a cruel joke.

Still lots to do in 3 weeks or is it 2?

The Dumping Ground

We made la lista and took the big assessment. It came down to this. We can either just clean the room and hang a new window treatment or we can get this room up and running once and for all. We have about a month before Momochan arrives but considering all the other things we have going on we realistically have 2 weekends.

And of course we decided to go for it. We cleaned out all the boxes and dust bunnies and started scraping paint. This room must have been used the most. It has had the most facelifts. There was 5 layers of paint that I saw right away. I had to do 2 passes with the heat gun and I think I am going to have to use the chemicals too. The Husband started on the crusty windows.

Honestly, after the washing of the walls and taking out all the boxes it already looks better. Its a race to the finish. Can we make it? With our luck Momochan will find a great flight and be here next week. Ha, that would suck.

Flag On The Play!

---Stop---Mother In Law coming to visit---
---Must work on guest room---Stop---
---No more planting plants---Must clean "the dumping ground"---
---Must act like civilized home owners---

Stripping Vs. Stripper

Back in the old days when I was working on my windows I was going to the Strip Joint a lot. Well those days are behind me (thank god). I am now working on the doors which we can and are doing ourselves (total hassle).

A coworker is now working on her house. She and I have worked together on and off for about a year. So she and I talk restoration and all that crap.

She took her doors to LA Stripping. Granted we live on complete opposite sides of LA county but the price difference is insane. LA Stripping was at least twice what I paid. I know I did windows and not doors but I have gotten quotes from the Strip Joint to do our doors and it was no where close to what she paid. I give it to her that she was on a time line and is trying to do a lot at one time. They also came to her house and stripped all her jams. If I would have know me and the husband could have done it and made a pretty penny.

For the non LA people its not worth the drive to Redondo Beach from Eagle Rock to save a few bucks. Not with traffic and gas prices. But man oh man. Must be nice to just pay someone to do it for you.

I'm secretly jealous.

Pass The Peas Please

I was going to plant these in the garden this weekend. Its really hot out there so I took pity on them and are going to let them live indoors another week. They seem to be doing fine in the breakfast room. I wonder if I just left them inside if they would just climb up the wall, I can keep put them in a little pot.

Wait, it that the laziest farmer or the smartest gardener? Indoor peas please!