More Fun at Steven's

This work-weekend day was once again about completing several small projects at Steven's house. Let's start at the beginning.

Utility Room

There were three goals for the utility room.

1. Install a sticky tile floor
2. Paint the walls
3. Repair a hole in the ceiling (thanks Directv installer!)

Dave removes the cover from the dryer while Chris paints his head.

The instructions for the sticky tile recommend that you clean your floor with a TPS solution. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. If you think just mopping the floor is good enough, you will be sorely disappointed when your sticky tile starts to pop up in a few months. To prove my point, first take a look at Chris applying the solution with a sponge, then look at what he squeezed out of the sponge in the infamous 'bucket picture'. Note that the floor was swept and mopped.

After you have a clean floor, lay out the tiles, peel off the backs, and stick them down. We used a rubber roller from Home Depot on each tile to make sure we got rid of all the air bubbles and that each square inch of the tile made contact with the floor. You can also stomp on each tile, but that involves a lot of standing up and crouching back down. Do yourself a favor and buy the rubber roller.

Before and After

Ok, so the Directv guy stepped through the ceiling. At least he did it cleanly. We were able to just 'reassemble' the pieces and screw each one of them into a block of wood Dave installed in the attic. Later, we will put some joint compound over the screw holes and the seams, then paint the whole ceiling.




Kitchen

The goals for the kitchen were to paint the ceiling and install a new ceiling fan. The existing ceiling fan worked fine, but was the ugliest blue I have ever seen. It had to go.

Family Room

In the family room, we painted the inside of the fireplace and replaced the vent covers on the ceiling. This is an inexpensive upgrade you can make that really makes quite a difference, as hopefully the picture shows.





Guest Bathroom

It seems we will never finish the guest bathroom. Right Dave? We had a couple of things to do in here. First, the cabinet doors were still not behaving, so Dave installed what he calls 'tangs'. I cannot find anyone else in the world who calls them this, but it's a great name. It is much better than, 'you know, those thingies you put on cabinet doors when they won't close'. We tried two styles, one magnetic and the other 'tangy'. Dave recommends the magnetic kind.

The other guest bathroom project involved putting some joint compound around the shower where the previous tile had ripped the wall off. Once it dried, it was simply a matter of sanding it smooth and re-nailing the trim. All that's left is to paint the wall.

Hall Lighting

The hall had some pretty ugly light fixtures installed. They were just begging to be replaced with some modern recessed lighting.

This is a pretty easy job, involving removing the old light, cutting a hole in the ceiling (you get a template when you buy recessed lights), wiring up the new light, then putting the recessed trim up (you get little springs and hooks when you buy the trim).

There is a little mess made when you cut the hole, because insulation and dry-wall come tumbling down and hit the floor.

The end result is worth it though.

Finally...

I purchased a new shelf for the utility room and assembled it in the family room while the utility room was being sticky-tiled. For a brief period of time, that lucky shelf got to do something great...hold pizza for the work crew. 'Til next time!