Tiny Nursery: Closet Makeover

When we moved into The Ear, we had two small, crappy closets.  One was in our bedroom (improved upon last year), and the other was in our office-turned-nursery.  Both closets were used to run HVAC ducts, which is good for aesthetics but not for storage capacity.  

The nursery closet was a bit better off than our bedroom closet.  It had a couple of Home Depot supplied Closet Maid brand shelves, which, although they were hung ridiculously high, would hold some stuff; the bottom one sported a rod.  And much like with our bed room closet, we filled this space up with coats and luggage as soon as we moved in then focused on to other things, leaving its hole-y, unpainted walls and general dirtiness to fester.

At some point over the summer (maybe during the bathroom addition?), I realized that I needed to tackle this area sooner rather than later while I could still fit in there and turn around.  So I gave the space a good cleaning, patched all the holes and cracks, and tried out some leftover paint colors:

I decided on this unidentified yellow; the green was a little too bright and cheerful.

Better already!

I bought materials to hang two more shelves and two more rods.  As I mentioned earlier, the closet had been outfitted with Closet Maid wire shelves, so I stuck with that brand for uniformity and ease of acquisition.  I was not terribly happy with the hardware and installation process of this system, however.  It's really designed for modern 2x4 framed construction, not old lathe-and-plaster of unknown structure.  Hanging the new shelves took far longer, and far more patching compound, than anticipated.

Mistakes being made & fixed.

 Eventually, I got the new shelves installed and commenced shoving all the baby stuff we had been collecting from neighbors and family members and garage sales in there.

Disorganization!

Eventually, we got everything sorted, washed, and hung in its proper place.  We removed the closet door to save on space, hung some little hooks, and I made a curtain to match the others.  I wish my clothes closet looked this cute and happy!

Kitchen Conundrum: Hang Ups

Yesterday afternoon, after the replacement stove was delivered, I started in on some more finishing touches. We decided to hang some shelves and pot rails near the sink and stove to keep pots and soap and dishtowels handy. I knew I would need some major hardware to accomplish this task (along with some major drill skills -- one wall we wanted to hang on is brick under the plaster).

I decided to use the kind of anchors (self-drilling nylons ones) I uncovered when I took down the previous shelves.


Here's an in-progress shot. This is the brick wall -- super tough!



Here's the finished product: shelves for pots, hooks for skillets.


And more hooks directly opposite, behind the sink.


But here's the big news: tonight, we are cooking with gas!


Cross your fingers & toes for us; we aim to have this project wrapped up by the end of the weekend, just in time for Chinese New Year.

Kitchen Conundrum: End of Day 2

At the close of Day 2, the sink wall has been patched with some new drywall, and most of the new wires are in:



I feel like this room already looks better than its former self. For instance, look at the perfectly level transition between plywood underlayment and hardwood floor:


Wow! What a difference!

Entryway: Scraped Clean

As of yesterday, this was our entryway:







The wallpaper and mildew are gone. The holes and rough places are patched. Paint and primer are next, but those may have to wait til after Christmas. Even with the wait, we've still got a fresh outlook on coming and going.

Ballad of the One Bathroom: Archaeology, Part 2

After uncovering the wall behind the cabinets, I decided to look inside the wall. You know, just for fun. First I removed a piece of gypsum board that was just nailed in place. I found some insulation material stuffed in the hole.



I removed the insulation material. Yup, that's a hole in the wall.



You can see the plaster and lathe in the opposite wall (which forms the guest room).



I stuck my camera down in the hole. There's some wiring running up the wall for the over-the-sink light. Otherwise, not much to see.



Medicine cabinets in the landing, awaiting their fate.

Ballad of the One Bathroom: Archaeology

The medicine cabinets were installed on the wall in the standard way, with two large bolts in each upper corner, plus big screw anchors for good measure. The crafty DIY-er who was here before me added an L bracket to the bottom for good measure. I simply unscrewed all the bolts, and the cabinets easily came down (they were kind of heavy though, and I probably could have benefitted from a helper).

One cabinet down:



Both cabinets down:



I knew I was going to find some sort of hole in the wall (I assumed from a former small, recessed medicine cabinet), but I wasn't sure what form it would take. Many different approaches had been used over the years to cover up this hole, from a gypsum-board-and-skim-coat-of-plaster patch to these small fiber boards, almost like artist panels for painting, lightly tacked up with finishing nails.

Fiber board panels removed:



After removing the small panels, I found interesting evidence of the Ear's history and construction.

A scrap of fancy old wallpaper, with a shiny black finish and shiny gold accents:



Many different surfaces and materials, from gypsum board to plaster and lathe:

The Great Wallpaper Scrape Continues...Again...

We've gotten down to some serious scraping in the little nub of a 3rd bedroom we have. This will be our home office, eventually.



Even though this room is tiny, it's taking forever, forever!!, to get the walls clean. We've been at this for at least two weeks now, if not longer. The wallpaper hangers used some sort of mutant, genetically modified, free range glue in here. It leaves behind a scum that we have to go around and razor blade off. But, by the end of the past weekend we'd got the bulk of the paper off.



One glove was sacrificed in the process....



Not bad for a hard day's scrape.

No Room at the Inn (Yet)

Now that my super-helpful guest has left, I've gotten back to work in the spare bedroom. You may remember that I had already removed the wallpaper but hadn't yet dealt with the walls' boo boos, big and small.

Big boo boo number one would be this ugly soffit concealing some HVAC ducts. It's hard to see in this photo, but this is a particularly good example of unskilled soffit construction; none of the sides meet up squarely with the walls or each other, and it overlaps the door frame trim.



Also problematic are the space behind where the radiator used to sit -- a very rough plaster job, almost like the smooth top coat didn't make it there -- and a funny rough joint between a drywall patch and the original plaster wall behind the door.





So, I got out my caulk gun, spackle, fiberglass tape, and quick setting joint compound. I also have a super special spoonula (highly professional tool, that) for spreading joint compound in the awkward spots.



Getting better, don't you think?



While patching this room has not been as intense or widespread as it was in the front bedroom, it has posed its own special frustrations. Namely, the funny rough corner just hasn't wanted to be smoothed out. Several times over the past few days, while applying coat after coat of joint compound, I've wanted to give up and call it good enough. But then I think of my mom, who believes in doing the job right, the first time. So I have persevered on, until this afternoon, when I think I finally got it right. Thanks for the lesson, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Adventures with a Crow Bar

Now that our bedroom is livable, we've been focussed on the kitchen. This little galley has a shortage of storage and weirdly-dispersed counter space, lighting, and electrical outlets. However, there is plenty of mid-90s-Japanese-car dark green. Takes me back...



The first order of business (well, after taking down the dirty dirty window valance, ditching the black magnetized covering on the fridge, and doing a super clean with a toothpick) was to get rid of the weird extra counter/breakfast bar (note its presence in the back right of this photo). However, this was not as simple as just taking out some screws. A former owner had actually epox-ied (or caulked? or Krazy Glued?) the thing to the wall. Lean on it as we might, the oversized shelf did not budge.



So, we headed down to Frager's and acquired some crow bars with our housewarming money.



Here we are at work.



Here are the large holes our efforts left in the wall. You can see all layers of the plaster here, down to the animal hair and wooden lathes.



Thank goodness we have this beautiful antique pie safe to cover it all up! :)

Patching the Walls 3

I worked at patching the walls this past Thursday and Friday. Remember the moldy corner from earlier in the week? Here it is now:



Isn't it lovely? This weekend we drove around the DMV region in a rented UHaul van, looking for good thrift finds (none) and capitulating to the Ikea home-design regime (Pax wardrobe system). Next up: paint!

Patching the Walls 2

Here's my set up for patching:

My little plastic leftover container full of mixed joint compound, an old spatula for mixing, a couple of different taping/putty knives for applying the compound to the wall, and some Elmer's Glue for prepping the wall (you brush this on the area you are patching before the compound -- helps it adhere better).

Another key component of the plaster repair is fiberglass mesh tape. I embedded this in the joint compound covering the larger holes. It gives the compound something to hold onto while it dries and creates a smoother, more permanent patch.


A close-up of the tape outside the wrapper. If you squint, you can make out the tape embedded in the joint compound on the wall behind.


A finished patch waiting to dry!

Patching the Walls 1

After some Internet research, I determined that the best way to DIY-repair the holes and cracks in the bedroom's plaster walls would be to use Setting-Type Joint Compound. This comes in powder form in a big bag, and you mix it up with water yourself. This is better for plaster repair because it is denser than the pre-mixed joint compound that comes in a tub, so it won't shrink as much as it dries.



Of course, the proportions for mixing listed on the bag were for the whole 18 lbs. Since I'm not repairing the whole neighborhood, I had to play around and figure out my own proportions for a small batch. I used an old laundry detergent scoop for the powder and a small plastic glass for the water.


I discovered that I could mix different consistencies that were better for different purposes: a thicker mix for the initial hole patching, and a thinner mix to make a smoother second coat once the first was dry.