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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 242 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 296263 |
| Visitors Out: 574 |
| Total Visitors Out: 574 |
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| The Old Wooden Door |
| 2008-06-26 08:31:00 |
The old wood door toward Main Road is made over(see the old version here). We left it without the moldings and added an orbit sanded Polycarbonate Sheet for a frosted window look that provides privacy. Paint does do wonders....
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| Enough with the Hippie Grass |
| 2008-06-24 11:15:00 |
Armed with a power trimmer I'm taking on the hill, cutting the grass, preparing for some civilized landscaping. I've started on top of the hill and will be working my way down. Vigorous raking will keep me fit this summer. Also, need to find more spots to hide the mounts of cut grass. This was obviously a mistake, tall rye grass is not appealing and looks like a bad hair due after rain.
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| Replacing Lattice Panels around the Proch |
| 2008-06-23 23:49:00 |
This weekend we started the lattice project, taking the very green, old and warped panels down, replacing them with new white ones. The previous owners were lovers of Green and had their perfectly white vinyl lattice painted (on both sides) and plenty of overspray got on the studs..., so it's a paint job as well....
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| Playing with Exterior Staircase Designs as If there was Nothing to do... |
| 2008-06-18 11:43:00 |
...no sanding and painting door frames, no paint touch ups, no cleaning up..., but we do need access to the house from the parking and it is our next big project. So I've been playing around with some exterior staircase designs and these are my favorites. They both take the most advantage of the yard and add some outdoor lounging space. Both entirely inspired by my love of leisure. However we had long decided to build steps into the hill leading up to the existing porch stair to the left of the house, so this is a new idea and Peter doesn't know yet that all I'm doing today is conceiving ideas about how to spend more money. ...
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| Nothing Says NO TRESPASSING more Politely than a Row of Happy Little Privets |
| 2008-06-17 14:32:00 |
That was our weekend project. Does not look like much..., but it included correcting a mistake. I had dug a ditch (plant bed) some time ago and had left a mount of dirt which overgrew with weeds. So there was a lot of weeds to pull and soil to move. I had created a bed because I thought I wanted the mulch look, then changed my mind. And the real reason: I had been overcome by a compulsive reaction to yet another trespasser living up to "Old Habits Die Hard"..., and I thought, "May They All Tumble Over Dirt And Fall Into A Ditch". And SUCCESS. Habits broken without injuries and those otherwise dear co residents of Tiverton began to walk AROUND our property. Part of the project of course was getting the plants. So we drove out to the beautiful country side of South Eastern MA and visited Syl...
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| Gravel Parking Construction Day One -and Black Cat arrived promptly |
| 2008-06-06 11:37:00 |
Just when I was settling at the computer with my morning coffee All Island Landscaping pulled up. I stepped out onto the porch and asked the two guys if they had any questions. They had non, so I went back inside. Then when I glanced over my computer screen I saw them talking and pointing and one guy crossing his arms in front of his chest and I got nervous..., "I surely hope they know what they're doing." Nothing taps into my existential fear more than people who are about to mess with my domestic queendom. But they did not. Three hours later I am exceedingly happy with what I see....., then black cat arrived promptly to test sit the site. ...
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| Building a Concrete Step |
| 2008-06-01 23:30:00 |
Spackling (the kitchen ceiling) ended on Sunday around 1PM and a window for porch leisure opened, but strangely enough we were not yet in the mood for lounging and decided to take a step toward building the step leading out to Main Road. What you see is the frame and the idea is to fill it in with concrete. ...
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| An Uninvited Guest to Get Rid Off |
| 2008-06-01 23:23:00 |
I do not want to know what kind of creature this is sitting on the wall...I caught it with the designated bug jar and gave it back to the outside world. This was not the first time either, and I sincerely hope that this is not an old house thing. ...
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| Summer, Celebration and a Little bit of Spackling |
| 2008-05-26 11:31:00 |
The summer kicked in just on schedule for our one year of home remodeling celebration. Peter did some ceiling spackling in the kitchen, other than that we hung out on the porch and drove out to Sachuest Point near Newport walking the trails where I spotted the two happy hats....
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| New Parking Driveway -Dig Save Flag from National Grid |
| 2008-05-20 14:06:00 |
When I first spotted these tiny yellow flags from the upstairs window I saw red. Could our parking spot be jeopardized? I'm a bit phobic that way but in the process of overcoming it. Upon closer look I saw it's national grid kindly marking the gas line that comes into our house. ...
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| The new Monster Drain |
| 2008-05-19 13:08:00 |
This is what it took to make the shower drain water tight. Beauty unfortunately was not an option. It's function only with this one. ...
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| Tiverton Rhode Island Real Estate Watch: Church Sold |
| 2008-05-16 23:54:00 |
This lovely Baptist Church on Highland Road was listed at 425,000.00 and sold at 150,000.00! Price dropped from the tower to the underground. Something very dramatic must have come up during inspection. Check it out here....
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| Theme of the Week is the Shower Stall Drain Leak |
| 2008-05-15 17:13:00 |
The last few days I've been doing what I like doing most, making rooms look pretty -that's my inner five year old talking. This time it's the corner room in the kitchen that houses the washer/dryer that got beautified. Peter on the other hand is not so lucky. Every evening he's been fixing the shower stall drain and with that an unusual amount of work gets dumped onto the bath tub, which might or might not walk out on us on its claw feet if it doesn't get its peace and quiet back soon; to its defense, it's had a very busy winter....
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| The Shower Stall is Leaking |
| 2008-05-11 22:40:00 |
At the tender age of 10 months our shower stall begins to leak. Diagnosis: fatal cracks in the shower base due to a drain hole being misaligned with the drain pipe..., not my fault, but a certain plumber comes to mind. So we toss around some ideas for a temporary fix (to last until all the home remodeling is done and we can begin the next phase of home re-remodeling) and came up with an ingenious plan that involves cutting out a larger hole, Peter taking a dive through that hole, a metal plate and a giant tube of silicon....
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| Hippies |
| 2008-05-10 18:48:00 |
Our lawn is officially out of control and we've become the lawn hippies of Stone Bridge Tiverton. We called somebody to deal with it next week....
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| The Other Old Wood Door |
| 2008-05-05 17:05:00 |
The other old wood door is in the kitchen and leads out to Main Rd. For the previous owners this was the main entry, but for us it's the back entry. We use the door that leads out to the porch and that Peter is destined to strip of its green as the front entry. It has the extra fancy moldings, which makes me believe that it was always meant the be the main entry. But back to the back entry door, the door in the picture. We agreed on doing it my way and my way always involves throwing something away. So we took out the paint cluttered moldings and junked them and the surface was clear to be sanded, easy. Now we just buy new moldings, nail them on, clear coat with water based Poly, reattach the shiny restored door hardware (scro...
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| Old Wood Door Hardware Restoration |
| 2008-05-05 16:54:00 |
Now this is what I call a sweet project: little effort and big shiny result. I simply steel wooled these plates, except for one which Peter wire wheeled because he's a lover of power tools....
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| Painting Kitchen Walls |
| 2008-05-02 20:43:00 |
In a snap I transformed this part of the kitchen (before and after below) with the help of a ladder, fluffy roller and a gallon of Behr washable flat Silver Drop 790C-2. And may I add, the ceiling of course was primed and painted too as well as the heater covers. I was on a roll for two days and the rest of the week I spent in awe over all the work we've done. ...
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| Weekend Stunts of a Home Remodeler |
| 2008-04-28 13:51:00 |
Peter in the role of a tree, a Leyland Cypress to be exact. This first stunt did not require any training.The acrobatic act of spackling the ceiling on a step ladder however was rehearsed for hours and performed without a safety net. Peter is now thinking about joining Cirque du Soleil. ...
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| All Island Landscaping: Curb Appeal coming Soon |
| 2008-04-25 13:15:00 |
We had Byron from All Island Landscaping in Portsmouth over yesterday because we both can't see ourselves digging 20something holes for a row of 5 to 6 foot tall Privet Shrubs along our 80something foot long property line on Main road, not to mention the cypress tree that will come with a root ball the size of our Ford Explorer (I wildly imagine). Byron also told us that our lovely very green grass around the new septic system is not rice grass but rye grass (Peter must have had dinner in mind when the septic guy told him what kind of grass it was). He also warned us that this rye grass is going to die this year and will turn into a stack of hey..., and a farmer I am not, so my guess, Byron will be back when that happens. So much for my easy landscaping id...
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| Stripping Paint off our Old Wood Entry Door, or my Love for Old Wood has reached its limit. |
| 2008-04-23 14:49:00 |
Peter wants to bring the entry door that leads out to the porch back to its previous life preserving all the details. So I gave it a try today and began stripping off the green paint. The orange gel stripper that helps save the planet did not work at all, the other one that's environmentally unfriendly did get some of the green paint off, but the fumes made me sick to my stomach, and the result left me unimpressed. My love for old wood has officially come to an end with this door and I gladly sacrifice the details and suggest that we forget about it (meaning that Peter forgets about of course because I already have) and turn to good old sanding....
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| Kitchen Marathon: Old Wood Floor Repair, Edge Sanding, New Window Moldings and Misc |
| 2008-04-21 14:52:00 |
We put in a full work day on Saturday. A start right after breakfast and keep going without a significant break till sunset kind of day, which I haven't done for a long time. I can still feel it in my legs, all the kneeling from edge sanding the old wood floor. Peter on the other hand enjoyed a healthy workout going up and down the stairs leading into the basement workshop a zillion times, cutting wood pieces to repair the kitchen floor as well as fitting new moldings for the two windows above the sink. We did get to soak in the last evening sun rays over a Bass Ale and mixed nuts though, initiating the porch for the season....
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| Will my easy Landscaping Idea around the New Septic System work? |
| 2008-04-19 11:00:00 |
How much greener (and taller) could this giant rice grass around the new septic system be? Looking down on it today I am not so sure any more whether my easy landscaping idea for the area around the new septic system is going to work. It has to, I keep thinking: buying seeds of a variety of native wildflowers and other grass types and simply throw them (from the porch) into the lush rice grass field, in the hopes that it will all flourish and grow into an amazing natural meadow that then I can edge with a border and make it all look landscaped. But the rice grass looks awfully "giant" and dense too. Will those seeds even have a chance to land on the soil, and if yes, then will they have enough light to live? Some research lies ahead of me....
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| The Zen of Spackling |
| 2008-04-18 18:30:00 |
Every day, after work, Peter has been spackling the kitchen ceiling in those very thin layers for a couple of hours, matching and blending into the old ceiling of the front room with its character of age. ...
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| Desperate Landscape |
| 2008-04-16 14:47:00 |
I've just entered a contest for a front yard overhaul by DIY network. There is a chance in a five thousand that I don't have to dig sixty holes (for all the shrubs I want to plant).A Dutch Colonial that is dreaming of a traffic stopping Yard.I think our mail man deserves better.Not a heavenly sight to look upon for the church across the street.Technorati: Yard Landscaping Gardening...
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| A Wallpaper Border to Remove |
| 2008-04-15 13:42:00 |
I didn't think I had to do that again but the crown moldings came off in the room that is now part of the kitchen (since the wall is gone) and there it was, an old bridle very green wallpaper border that needs to be removed. And while I'm scraping along, antique dust landing on my head and on every surface below, memories of me balancing on a very tall ladder stripping off all the wallpaper in the hallway pass by. ...
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| Kitchen Ceiling: My Husband the Spackle Master |
| 2008-04-12 13:27:00 |
The same way that I am unable of making a small or medium size salad -they always turn out huge, I can't get myself to spread a thin layer of spackle onto the drywall. That's why Peter is the spackle master in our team of two. It absolutely amazes me how thin and perfect each run turns out. Once he is done, my job begins. I'm the master painter and I will slam the paint on thick, transforming the kitchen (just like all the other rooms) with one coat of paint....
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| Silly Window Treatments: Bamboo Roman Shade |
| 2008-04-10 10:13:00 |
I bought these Bamboo Roman Shades at K-Mart a while ago and the reason why they're still hanging, blocking 1/4 of the light and the view in their rolled up position is because the windows are in the kitchen where construction dust still circulates. One of them also stopped functioning properly since a pull up string gave out....
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| Kitchen Ceiling: Holes for Can Lights |
| 2008-04-07 16:39:00 |
When I came home yesterday from my meditation getaway I found all the holes cut out on the kitchen ceiling for the can lights and the support beam has been sheetrocked and coated with joint compound. The dust that was spinning around while drilling those holes was unreal, so I hear. I can still smell it. I am glad I missed that part. There is no compound left so in order to continue finishing the ceiling and the walls we have to re-stock. Perhaps I do some plant research in the meantime. ...
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| Remodeling Break |
| 2008-03-27 16:52:00 |
While Peter will continue on the kitchen ceiling and trying to find a contractor, all I will be doing for the next 10 days is silently sitting on a cushion at the Insight Meditation Society. ...
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| Not the kind of project that gets a contractor excited? |
| 2008-03-27 12:04:00 |
While the kitchen ceiling is coming along (slowly), the parking/driveway project is still in hibernation. I have a theory about that..., which I am not going to believe in, but I say it anyway. The ratio of project size, materials and effort involved isn't one that gets a contractor excited. It's a small job with mostly low cost materials (all gravel and only a narrow 5 foot wide cobble stone apron) that requires heavy equipment. Wait and see, right?...
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| Sheetrock goes up -Kitchen Ceiling in the Making |
| 2008-03-22 16:52:00 |
We needed some extra help today to get the sheetrock up, so Peter made these two beams to do the heavy lifting. How we got each panel to that stage though was quite a bouncing act. ...
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| The Beginning of Spring |
| 2008-03-20 16:42:00 |
Funny, how I don't find it the least bit annoying to live with this kitchen that is missing its counter top, stove, oven,..., well, the picture tells the story. Maybe it's because my parents took me camping each summer, or because there is not much I need to clean (or both). I just replaced the old plastic table cloth that still had the Christmas theme going with this fresh yellow that marks the beginning of Spring. ...
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| Bye bye Contractor |
| 2008-03-19 22:14:00 |
I really got my hopes up with this landscape contractor. He came recommended by our local hardware store, returned calls promptly, which was exciting and dropped the sample pavers for the apron when he said he would, which was even more exciting. And with all that excitement going on in my head I got a bit carried away and forgot the other part of the deal, the price. We got it yesterday, promptly, after we had let him know our choice of paver, and all I could say was: bye bye contractor. His number was for three days of work and three men to construct our 17x20' gravel parking area. So we're on the lookout again....
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| Tiverton Realty Watch: Would you be crazy to buy this half flip? |
| 2008-03-15 18:50:00 |
This house was bought last year for $499,000.-- and reappeared on the market this year for $699,000.--, half remodeled, or in Realtor Language, almost finished. In my mind almost finished brings up pictures of missing door knobs, but this place leaves two porches to your imagination, wood work, a parking spot and landscaping, and when I last peaked there was no place to cook your New England Clam Chowder or store the ice cream. Not a good thing. This is what has been done: new roof, new stained cedar shingles, new windows and doors. My guess would be they spend around $50,000.-- to $60,000.-- for that, plus another $30,000.-- to $40,000.-- for whatever else they did on the inside. Here is a comparison: A Victorian with a water view just a few steps away with pretty much the same square foo...
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| Safety glass collection for home remodelers -Gucci or Dior? |
| 2008-03-15 14:31:00 |
Sometimes I just want to look great when I'm home remodeling..., stay away from the all transparent models though. Not only do they blend in with your face and make no statement at all, but they also blend in with all the junk and tools and you'll never find them. Now, seriously: how scary are they? And best of all, they are all unisex, so you are never running around looking for your glasses, just the glasses. I prefer these:...
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