electricity, eeeeelectricity!

sung, of course, in the style of Schoolhouse Rock.

Is it wrong that having four (4)! electricians call me back and schedule appointments has made my week?

Granted, I called 12 total (including the one we'd spoken with and got an estimate for earlier who then decided not to return phone calls for 2 weeks), but hey, 4 actually called back!

Who knows, maybe we will actually be able to get a dishwasher circuit and some outlets in the kitchen!

what i did this weekend

yeah, I'm crazy.


over 300 stencils. done!





first one! this was way before I figured out to use painters tape on the corners so I didn't have to keep respraying the sucker with spray adhesive. Eventually, I got in the groove and used a dry roller to smooth the stencil, and a straight edge to wedge it into corners.


second one...of many.


finishing the first wall.


the little foam stencil brushes were perfect, though the edges of the stencils cut them up pretty nicely. I went through 4 total.

a triptych, entitled, "Why Jen Hates Corners, Especially Corners With Molding"





et voila!

complete with cabinet bolted to the wall!

i need to upload pictures

I really do need to upload pictures so you all can see how shiny and pretty the bathroom is now!

I skimcoated the top half of the wall, sanded it smooth, and primed it. and I JUST finished tiling the bottom half patch. it took a lot longer than expected, mainly because the tile cutter we'd bought was missing the cutter part, and so I sat there and nipped the freaking tiles by hand. also, the backing was uneven, so the tiles are uneven, but ehh, it's not like they match the other tiles anyway!

sadly, though, the crap-ass-caulked-in-packed-with-hair-dye-drain is still not fixed.

oooh shiny...

this is now on our tub.

jbb installed it last night, and only got shot in the face with water twice. the first time I was able not to laugh out loud. the second time, not so much. come on! how many times do you see a tom and jerry cartoon in real life?

while he was installing, I was taping and mudding up the drywall and cement board he'd put up earlier to cover up the gaping hole in the bathroom wall where the pipe was (see previous post).

I'm not really sure what the previous owners did in terms of, well anything, but in this case plumbing. the bathroom sink drain pipe? held into the pipe in the wall with caulk. Oh, and stopped up with gobs and gobs of black hair dye. the instant jbb touched it, it popped off the wall and STUNK to high heaven--you know that hair dye smell? ugh. yet another thing for the plumber to fix when he comes this week.

but at least I was able to get a skim coat of joint compound on the top of the drywall hole today. I have to say it looks pretty good for my first stab at skim coating! I am heartened. Maybe this means I'll actually be able to eliminate the devil wallpaper that refuses to come off of my office walls...

a hole in the wall

literally.



The plastic-y shimmer is due to the shower curtain cut, taped and tacked around the hole to prevent water from pouring down into the walls, through the floor and into the kitchen. Classy, no? It's been like this for over a week now!

But look at that shiny new PVC that ACTUALLY FITS IN THE DAMN WALL! oooh, like magic I tell you.

(just a reminder of what it was before...)


Oh yeah. Loads better. Plus now we get to learn how to tile!

And by we, I mean me.

10 things I learned this weekend

1.) the shake shack has delicious burgers. and cheese fries. and booze.

2.) when they say "creme brulee" frozen custard, they mean it. there were bits of brulee'd sugar. mmm sugar

3.) not only is there an outback on 23rd street, but it's surprisingly busy on a friday night. who knew?

4.) the wallpaper in the spare room comes down amazingly easy. this is very very good, as there are three different wallpapers in this room.

5.) drywall is heavy, yo. and that's why jbb hangs it.

6.) taping and mudding drywall is fun! and that's why I get to do it. I like the self stick fiberglass tape.

7.) our spare room looks considerably less sketch without the giant hole in the wall where the big ass pipe used to be.

8.) while yard work is quite satisfying, it makes me very very tired.

9.) the bushes along the side of our driveway are the devil.

10.) candy corn season is upon us, finally!