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Make It Easy:  Home (house?) Renovations  |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 27 2005 : 7:58:06 PM
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Well, Spring has sprung and it's that time of year: we are undergoing a complete redo of our bathroom! Fun, fun, fun, farmgirls. I can't begin to tell you how much I love taking a shower in the basement ( It started, as many projects do, with a small problem and now has overtaken our lives! Luckily the tub (cast iron - hubby says it stays 'cause he can't get it out anyway) and toilet stay, but everything else has to be redone. Anyone else having such fun?
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Apr 27 2005 : 8:33:26 PM
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I am getting ready to do my kitchen countertop...new formica in a 1930's sort of bungalow kitchen style...with metal rim around edge...anything else would look lame in my kitchen. It is desperatly needed and at the top of my list...2 weeks for the formica to come in though..and then next on the list is painting the living room and bathroom. (the list is real long..old house) We recently did the kitchen floor and I can hardly wait to have the counters done now...
I hope your bathroom re do goes smoothly...those little problems tend to get big don't they?
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2005 : 07:56:57 AM
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We just had a new garage door installed three days ago - it can withstand winds of 150 miles an hour plus. So, the door is great, and we like it a lot, but two days later, the garage door opener breaks! Probably too heavy of a load for it to handle....it was old but working great on the old door. Sigh... Now we have to replace it, also. Last month it was a new air handler for the upstairs AC unit. The month before, it was tree removal and roof repair. Fun, fun, fun! Bummer that none of our projects make the place prettier.
Jenny, I like the sound of your new (retro) counter tops. My dad installed that type in our house in the 1950's. Yellow pearl formica with metal edging....
jpbluesky
O, cease to heed the glamour that blinds your foolish eyes,
Look upward to the glitter of stars in God's clear skies.
from God's Garden by Robert Frost |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Apr 28 2005 07:58:42 AM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2005 : 11:34:42 AM
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We are faced with putting a new roof on the house. We have cedar shakes and a lot are missing from storms. DH wants to put on steel.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2005 : 1:40:13 PM
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Oh you guys! I am not alone in having something always needing to be done! Old houses are truly LABORS of love. We desperately need a new kitchen floor,even the dog thinks it's bad she chews it off in pieces then sits there and growls at it. ( I got a butcher block counter top for my birthday) and am finishing painting the 70 year old cabinets a creamy white. Our bathroom needs to be gutted but that's not happening anytime soon, we need new screening in the porch and painting the fence and arbor again. That's just to start! Being married to a builder is not always good, I am usually the last client on his list! I do alot of the work and then he tells me he would do it a different way and ends up finishing the job about 95%. It's the last 5% that drives me crazy! Am I singing a familiar song ? Here's another... time and money of which we have neither!
with a happy heart |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2005 : 2:16:07 PM
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I told Dh we need some new boards on our back deck because I went clean through one it was so rotted out. Hurt my ankle and scratched up my shin. We have a problem with wood rot here. Also the siding needs to be replaced because of rot. Steel everything looks pretty good I guess, but I love the look of the wood. I could go on and on. Oh! And our skylight leaks like a sive in rainstorms in our family room. Also woodpeckers have pecked big holes in our siding! But the strange thing about all this is...every year our taxes go up because our "Home" value increases. Go figure.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2005 : 4:57:53 PM
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We will be putting a new roof on our home up in Wisconsin and new siding. It currently has cedar shake siding stained in a barn red (I like, Norm doesn't) But there are bleach spots from bat urine (yep). Glenn, the prior owner, had a bat house. My dad said it sounds like he kept it too close TO the house! We also need a new garage door AND we still have to sell the mobilehome. It'll be a busy summer.....
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2005 : 09:30:58 AM
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Bats do that, still it is a good idea to keep a bat house or two for mosquito controll especially now with the spread of west nile virus.
Could be on a barn or out building instead of your house or just up on a pole especially put up for it somewhere near your house. Bats are one of our wonderful natural flying insect predators. Happy renovating.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2005 : 3:29:19 PM
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My crazy husband had the boys build bat houses and they attached them to sheds, barns , workshops, etc but never the house. He said they like to stay warm at night which is why you may find them "nesting" in strange places. We have alot that swoop at dusk eating mosquitoes left and right. The lake at the end of our street is not a problem I think because of the bats. They are kind of cool and kind of creepy all at the same time!
Oh! and back to houses...just incase someone isn't familiar with it, the Van Dyke Restoration catalog has just about anything you will need for old house restoration and more! I got some pieces for my hoosier cabinet from them that I thought were just gone forever. And I just ordered replacement legs for an old oak library cabinet.
with a happy heart |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2005 : 4:30:19 PM
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I love that catalogue!
Eileen, I agree especially since the lake is only 40 ft away from the house. Though my father, a former owner of a pest control business, worries about bat bites and rabies. I told him I wouldn't play with the bats but I do worry about Emma (dog). Your thoughts???
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2005 : 5:03:13 PM
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I think that bats are generally not agressive towards people so do not intentionally bite but cats and dogs can and do try to catch them so could become infected if bitten during the bats attempt to save itself if it is infected, so my thoughts are to keep your pet vaccinated up to date and discourage them from chasing them.
I have accidentally disturbed a bat or two in our yurt roof flap and have had a bat fly out, not at me but down to the ground and then display teeth and get big by raising the hairs on its head. Somehow it wasn,t scary but sort of cute and funny to me. I apologised to it for waking it up and then saw why it had come out and shown itself so big, I had displaced a tiny( about the size of my little fingetnail) baby bat, its mother bat crept down the edge of the wall to it and gently covered it from my sight, then I really felt bad and apologised to it again and covered it back up. I learned that bats of this type only have one young at a time only every other year so they are not like mice or bunnies in the reproductive area. When you get a close up look at them like that you see that they are really quite pretty in color, this one auburn red head and chocolate brown wings. They look like tiny prehistoric birds.
I also love the Van Dyke catalogue. I get things from them for repairing the old furniture I get to reupholster for people.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2005 : 06:58:45 AM
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We need a new topic on bats! JP - I hope the REST of your garage can withstand 150mpg winds! I can just see the door standing there all by itself
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2005 : 09:03:22 AM
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Cecelia - I am giggling as I write this,having just read your post! I think the guy who put up our door thought the same thing as you. He looked at me like I was nuts to have purchased this door. And he was doing the heavy work, too. I just hope and pray that we will never have winds that high! But we have read the garage door can be one of the weakest points in your home during a hurricane. Not ours, anymore! Now my hubby is afraid I will begin a new campaign to install stronger additional braces on our roof trusses. We can get to them easily in the attic, and I have read that strengthens your roof a lot.
I feel like I should belong to a hurricane fear anonymous club. :)
jpbluesky
O, cease to heed the glamour that blinds your foolish eyes,
Look upward to the glitter of stars in God's clear skies.
from God's Garden by Robert Frost |
Edited by - jpbluesky on May 02 2005 09:05:06 AM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2005 : 10:13:21 AM
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I just had to add to the "bat thing"... When I was little we were on a vacation near Lake Michigan camping in our trailer with a bout several hundred other baby boom families. There was an outdoor movie theatre for the families to enjoy there on the campground where you sat on park benches to watch a movie. It was dusk and a swarm of bats came out of nowhere and a woman with a huge beehive (this is the mid-1960's) hairdo had a bat get caught in it! She was screaming and running around and about 10 guys tried to help extract the poor bat from this womans hair. All of us children were laughing our heads off. My mother was glad she never liked the "beehive" look.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2005 : 10:07:59 AM
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Meadowlark,
That poor bat was probably as traumatised as the poor woman! The bat was probably diving in for a fly or mosquito that had landed in her hair and to his horror got caught. Makes for a very funny mental visual.
eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2005 : 08:29:24 AM
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I am interested in the countertops with the metal edgeing. Is this edgeing especially made for countertops? I am needing to fix up a few things in my house to get it ready to sell and one of those things is a new countertop in the kitchen. And has anyone painted over laminate cabinets?
Thanks,
Nancy |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2005 : 11:08:46 PM
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yep...I am still here with my counter top at the top of my list..but when I asked at Lowes (seems like months ago)about ordering my formica and edging they said they could order it for me. I have a book called "Bungalow Kitchens" which shows the exact counter top look I want.
Seems like my freind in Idaho once painted over Laminate cabinets..wish I could remember what sort of paint she used. I remember liking it!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 03:50:19 AM
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It's called Melamine Paint and is tough as nails, sticks to everything, is very durable but you must have outstanding ventillation as the fumes are powerful and last way too long.
with a happy heart |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 08:05:57 AM
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Can this kind of paint be used on Formica countertops?
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 08:34:42 AM
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Well, I'm thinking of trying the paint out on my bathroom cabinets, they are the same as the kitchen but a lot smaller :-)
I will have to check out "Bungalow Kitchens", bungalow is my favorite style. Do you think the metal edging could be used with granite tiles as the countertop? I just happen to have quite a bit of granite tile that is left over from my in-laws home remodel.
Nancy |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 10:42:57 AM
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Well, ladies, sorry to say my bathroom is not done yet! Still taking showers in the basement, at least it's not winter. But - we do have new track lights in the family room.
(problem seems to be matching the tub in the bathroom!).
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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kaym
Farmgirl at Heart
6 Posts
Kathy
New London
CT
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2005 : 08:04:55 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by bramble
It's called Melamine Paint and is tough as nails, sticks to everything, is very durable but you must have outstanding ventillation as the fumes are powerful and last way too long.
with a happy heart
Hello- I am a newcomer and I have just seen a program Painted House where Debbie Travis used Melamine paint on a Formica counter. I have been on the Web trying to find a source of the paint in the US. The people in the paint stores I tried are clueless. Does anyone know where to buy this in the US? I live in New England and have pink kitchen counters- I so need help! Thanks
Thankyou,post
All the best- |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2005 : 10:51:34 AM
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I enjoy watching Debbie Travis whenever I'm where someone has extended cable service (I don't). Her show is Canadian based, so do you suppose it's a product that's not available in the U.S.? Just a thought. I too could sure use this option, as my counter top is a burnt orange...ugghh. Can we say early 70's? I think I would've preferred olive green!
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2005 : 11:03:44 AM
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Early 80's Rust here...I'd also be interested in this paint for formica. Is the paint textured in some way? I wonder if you one could mix several colors and paint the formica in a way to mimic the look of the mottled lineoleom of the 30's and 40's that is so popular that was also used on countertops then and edge them in metal? Has me wondering...
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 12 2005 : 09:05:18 AM
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Wow Clare, thanks for all the links. Maybe a trip to Canada IS in order. :-)
Nancy |
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Make It Easy: Home (house?) Renovations |
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Home (house?) Renovations
