Over the weekend I took some time to work on one of my favorite things: Other peoples projects.
And, trust me, I know I’ve got enough of my own to be working on — there’s forty-eight square feet of chalkboard rightinmyface every time I walk into my house just to remind me– but for some reason it’s so much more fun to work on projects when they belong to someone else.
Particularly when there’s beer involved.
One of my best friends, Erin, bought her very own house a few months ago. You may remember a certain housewarming gift/bucket-of-tools I got her for the occasion, and dammed if she hasn’t already used every single tool I packed into that thing and then asked me what she needed to buy first… a table saw or miter saw.
Excuse me for a minute while I get a little misty-eyed.
Also? Miter saw. Definitely.
I’d ask you to imagine the general state of things a few months after purchasing a fixer-upper as your first home, but most of you have been right where Erin is right now: with half your shit still packed in boxes, one bathroom torn out, fifteen projects scattered around the house in varying degrees of completion, and really ugly light switches.
It can be overwhelming.
E has also racked up nearly a decade’s worth of good-friend points as I worked on my own houses, and there’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t help her do now that she’s got a house of her own. So, after I completed my own little form of house-therapy, I called her up to see what I could do at her place that would make her feel better about her progress and she was all, THESE LIGHT SWITCHES MUST GO.
Yes. Yes they must.
On my way to her place, I stopped at the hardware store and picked up an extra set of the critical tools on my gotta-have list for electrical work to add to her toolbox.
(I mean, that’s my toolbox, but you get the point.)
Then we did exactly what you’d expect a couple of single home-owning ladies to do on a Sunday afternoon…
Drank craft beer and did some electrical work.
If there’s any better way to end a weekend, I sure as hell don’t know what it is.
256 Responses
I would love to refinish my old old cast iron bathtub.
I just want to have all the bulbs required in all the light fixtures in my house, at the same time. I keep stealing bulbs from one room to replace in another because I can’t remember to buy bulbs EVER!
We need a door between the kitchen and laundry room. (We have a curtain hanging there now, just to provide a little sanity.) but an actual door would be a big step forward – it doesn’t even need to be painted!
umm, maybe finally painting the ceiling that I’ve have the paint sitting in my basement for for months
I would like to fix the side door in my garage so I can actually open and close it without having to shove, jerk, curse, push it closed (so I can actually use it).
I need to put baseboards in for the basement project. It will put the end in ight, and be such a relief! (And if that’s not a small job, please don’t tell!)
I need to put baseboards in for the basement project. It will put the end in sight, and be such a relief! (And if that’s not a small job, please don’t tell!)
Sure, my kitchen is completely torn out and I’ve been washing dishes in a half bathroom for nine months, but I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t feel great about finally adding some blinds to my sunroom. Let’s be honest, it’d be as much for my neighbors as it would for me.
Anything… ANYTHING! to get this bathroom remodel finished would be amazing. Time is currently my biggest problem. Even with a dedicated week off to work on it I think I only spent 12 hours working on it.
Trim finished in the bathroom. If there is one room where you don’t want to be able see a dirty dusty crack between the tile and the wall, its the bathroom.
If the winter would relinquish it’s hold long enough for my siding to dry out so I could install it I’d be thrilled. I’m ready for my 1875 schoolhouse to stop being a damn pergola!
I have been dying to build a new bed for me and my husband! Found some awesome plans for a lighted floating bed with a simple headboard. (Though the headboard might be a little too simple, and I might have to make it a little more complicated 😉 )
After 9 years we are finally going to finish our basement. This would help with our hefty drywall order.
I can’t choose. Removing all the old curtain hdwe in the kitchen? Refinishing stairs? Finding the elusive perfect non-yellow, non-white, not-too-dark, warm shade of paint for my downstairs walls? Or maybe just replacing the butt-ugly ceiling fan in the living room.
I’m sad that I’ve prioritized building envelope improvements over the relatively fun stuff. 🙁 Were it not for being a million months pregnant, that sounds like it would be an awesome weekend or two. As it is, I’ve been relegated to simply finding a replacement front door in an odd size. Damn you, low fume tolerance, terrible stamina, and awful center of gravity!
Do you have a Re-Store in your area? LOTS of doors of all sizes and at great prices.
You are wise to hold off on the VOCs. Good mom award there!
Best,
Finishing the trim work in my kitchen would be grand. I just keep spending money on the bigger projects instead of buying the rest of the quarter round I need. If I win this that will be where it goes, to actually finish something!
Oh we could be twins! “It is almost done. Hey, lets build a shoe-shelf!”
Good luck!
Well the biggest impediment, of oh so many, hmmm. Choices. Painting the living room? (Ugly faded, dingy celery spackled walls) Or getting the bathroom floor sanded and finished? (18 months of unfinished bathroom and counting. It does now have a toilet again, for which I am EVER so grateful)
Technically I guess the floor is part of the bigger project, so the painting. Sitting down in the living room without having to reach for anti-depressants (you may call this gin) would be a lovely change. Well, truthfully it would then be a celebratory gin!!
Thanks for doing this! And thanks for the column. Looking at you spell out almost EXACTLY where we are makes me feel so much less useless.
Trixie B. Haven’t broken a pipe in: 65 days.
Ooh…I reallllly need to make some cabinet doors to finish up the entertainment center my grandpa was helping me build. I can’t wait to show him the finished product… Plus my cat would not be able to chew on the TV power cord anymore… So there’s that.
A stool hack for a footrest.
Oh man, finally painting our kitchen walls- I patched the holes a few months ago and then got distracted by other projects. A fresh coat of paint would do wonders!!
I second the miter saw plan.
Also, love me some Lowes. My husband said “I’m going to your favorite store for spray paint, need anything?” when he called on his way home tonight. Congrats on your project completions.
Replacing the outdoor outlet covers. They are broken and I’ve neglected them dangerously for 2 yrs.
I need to install something so my lights turn on and off automatically in the kitchen and main bathroom. I have one in this house that does not turn the lights off.
I’d like to put a ceiling fan in our living room. I’ll have to run electrical to the spot, then install the fan.
A glaring repair would be replacing the mini blinds, that the cats destroyed, with vertical blinds. Thanks to them I have very little privacy in the Living Room.
Definitely the drywall going up. It feels like a room again not a disaster zone :). Can you tell we’re in the middle of a bathroom reno?
I would really, REALLY like to get the flooring thresholds put in…especially since we installed the floor 2 years ago. (Wah-wah).
Here’s the thing. My mud room has carpet. CARPET! I live with 3 boys. We farm little, play big, and try to ignore the stains. oy
Well, given that I’m going to be having my first baby this summer, I’d have to say getting the nursery all painted and ready for furniture… There’s also a photo mural I’m a bit nervous about installing.
I must have your tool boxes with witty sayings on them… Things are always funnier when you’ve just electrocuted yourself. Or so I say b/c I’ve done it a time or three. Is it bad I’ve just stopped worrying about flippig the breaker, I mean it’s not enough juice to kill me, just make me laugh hysterically for ten minutes. Must not write blog comments after electrical work goes awry…
It would be nice if the light switches on one side of the house didn’t make a sizzling sound when I flip them off or on. Yeah, I dream big.
I would spackle and paint the baseboard I installed some months ago in our otherwise finished (self) remodeled bathroom. Woohoo for showers!
So funny you talk about replacing outlets.. I have removed the covers, and bought new supplies with the intent of replacing the outlets in my master bedroom for a good..eh.. 5 months now.
I just can’t get motivated.
There is yellow clear packing tape on my windowsills to prevent my kid from ingesting flaky paint. Now he’s a toddler and trying to peel the paint off, would love to get some good sanding tools and new paint to fix them up.
Painting my bedroom ceiling!
Finally replace the hideous 6-bulbed-but-only-2-function dining room light that I have hated for the 3 years we have owned our home. Those 4 non-functioning bulbs mock me every time I walk by. Argh!
I would love to finish my bathroom. It needs new outlets and the ceiling needs to be finished.
I am dumb and was tired when I tried to make popcorn and microwave at the same time. I now need to replace the broken GCFI that will no longer reset.
I actually found your site when I was looking for inspiration to work on our guest bathroom. Our guest bathroom has been a work-in-progress for a LOOONG time. All due to a tiling project we decided to tackle. Our old toilet got cracked by a sledgehammer in the process of the demolition (long, crazy story), and our new toilet has been sitting right inside our house entry door for a LONG time. Really weird vibe. I just don’t want to deal with laying down the tiles and placing the toilet down, while trying not to screw anything up. Your tiling post has definitely inspired me to start tackling it…soon. ☺
Redoing the bathroom floor. I struggled the entire time I laid it, and as I was taping the edges to grout I dropped a roll of painter’s tape and cracked a tile. There’s another cracked tile in there; somebody probably dropped a toothbrush or something. I need to replace the whole thing even though it’s not a year old. I could repair it, but even thinking about that makes me want to Hulk smash things. Namely that bathroom floor.
Painting my hideous bathroom would probably be a big bang for my buck
Paint, paint, paint. Inside, outside, things. It all needs it.
Replace my ugly shower surround that is cracked in four places because water damaged walls are SO last season 😛
So when we closed on our house (exactly three years ago, today!!) I painted the kitchen “quickly” just to get the appliances in and move in, figuring I would finish shortly after we moved in… Well I am sure you know how that goes. I am pretty sure I can hear the ugly yellowing trim work mocking me now ::sigh::
I’m dying to repaint our upstairs doors. But there are 12 of them and a few are key bathroom or kiddo bedroom doors so the timing of it is tricky. But man would I love a fresh coat of paint on them!
I desperately need a big kick in the arse to start cleaning the moldy ceiling in our bathroom, so that, maybe one day, I’ll eventually paint said bathroom. Always get distracted by other things (like making lip balm, go figure). Anyway, you can kick me for free as I’m in Australia and the voucher would be no good to me. And by the way, I’m addicted to your blog. It’s kinda starting to scare my husband. He’ll be right though.
Good luck on your project. I just had to tackle outlets and switches at my MIL’s. So satisfying when it is all done and everything is working again.
Oooh! 50.00 would help with the bathroom model I’ve somehow convinced myself I can do solo lol
I’ve lived at my new place for 8 months and have needed to change the light fixtures on the front and back porches the whole time! I also need more lights on the outside of the barn so I don’t have to feed hay by flashlight…I have a longhorn with a 58 inch horn span so feeding in the dark is …ummm …a challenge!
My downstairs bathroom has been in a state of mostly ripped out, everything is gone except the toilet, but two projects I am looking to do is trim out the interior doors in the house and replace all the nasty looking door knobs. That and I also have a house filled with awful looking electrical outlets and switches that need to go – pronto!!
I’d like to convert to LED bulbs.
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