Lots of Little Things

I know that it’s shocking– the fact that I might start several hundred projects around the house without actually finishing any of them– but this weekend, instead of being focused on One Big Thing, there was a lot of small stuff going on around our place.

MysteryMan worked on the closet. Shelving inspired by The Brick House.

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We had enough room to make these shelves wider, but we didn’t want the closet to feel too claustrophobic and personally I have multiple stacks deep anyway, so we think this will work for us. There’s still a few hanger rods and a corner shelf to put up, but it’s shaping up nicely.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the house I was working on the full bath. The finishing wood piece went up on both walls.

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I ripped down one of the extra cedar 2×4’s for the window trim to make a cap for the wood walls. I’m planning a little how-to for these walls later this week.

I also spent a little time on the vanity. I’m waiting for some hinges to come in before I build the doors, but I finished off the bottom shelf..

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And decided to give the gray paint a try.

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This is the first coat of Benjamin Moore’s Valley Forge Tan (AC-35). It’s also the base coat for my “weathered cedar” on the walls.

Here it is in the bathroom:

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(You can see I started on the stones for the second side of the bath as well. That was project number 3 for the weekend.)

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So far, I’m liking it. I’m going to top it with a darker glaze, and if things don’t go the way I want, I can always repaint it white.

Then, on the other end of the color spectrum is the Master Bath, which I also put some time in on this weekend (project number 4, if you’re keeping track.)

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Things are slow-going on this front, since I’m removing and replacing at least a third of the tiles on every sheet to get rid of the “seams”. I did, however, order the tile the floor in there so things should be coming together in the next couple of weeks. (I’m keeping the color a secret for now.)

And, if that wasn’t enough, after I was done with “house work” it was still so nice outside that I decided to get a jump start on the garden.

It was completely neglected last year with the big construction on the house, but I’m not letting that stop me this spring.

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One of the things I’ve been meaning to do for the last two years is put down weed fabric between/around the beds and mulch everything for nice walkways. Every year I think I have plenty of time before the weeds spring up to get everything down, and then I blink and things look like this:

(Last summer)
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Since the weeds have just barely started in this year, I thought I better take the opportunity to get things under control.

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I cleared out one of the beds, weeded the strawberry patch, and put down some felt and leftover mulch that I didn’t use last year between the beds.

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Eh. I have bigger plans that involve a fence, a few more raised beds, and actual plants in the garden.

But first… I have a bedroom floor to install this week.

7 Responses

  1. Wow lots of progress since I last checked here! Your full bath is almost done…you should try to focus all of your tiling effort there instead of your master so you’ll at least have one room done.

    I’m trying to be more proactive about the weeds in our big yard(s) too. This year I’m more determined than ever to get all of the dang invasive garlic mustard (not that I won’t have any next year because the seeds can last for 10 years before they start growing but whatever). Last year we picked 5 garbage bags full and we didn’t even scratch the surface!

    1. So true, but I’m waiting on more standing stone tile and hinges for the vanity so I’m at a bit of an impasse in there. It will be SO GOOD to have one room done though.

      Have you tried roundup on your weeds?

  2. If you don’t mind me asking but what is that piece of wood nailed to the bottom of your tub in the master bath. I noticed you did that in your other bath when tiling. Is it to keep the tile level?

    1. That’s a good question Julie, and you’re absolutely right. It’s necessary on a tub or shower to put that board in and tile up from it, since the floor or shelf of a tub/shower is always sloped for water.

      You tile up from the board, then take it out when the tile is set and do the bottom row.

      Even though it’s not strictly necessary on the outside of the tub, I don’t have the floor tile in yet so I’m using the same trick so that I can get a head start!

  3. Will you post a quick tutorial on how to build the vanity? Please say yes. :o(

    Oh, where did you get the legs? They look amazing.

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