Beer and Electrical Work

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.

Untitled

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.
DSC_1360
(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…

Pils

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

  1. There is SO much work I need to do on my house and it’s getting done so much slower than I would like. I’m in the middle of about 10 projects but what I would like most of all right now is to get a new rug for my living room. Having a pop of color in there would seriously brighten the whole downstairs (and my mood, too!).

  2. You had me at “Electrical” I need to switch out all of my light switches to white, instead of cream.

  3. I love you. And Victory beer. And any beer. And Lowe’s. You’re the bravest bestest blogger out there!

  4. We’re renting so we can’t do much to our home but I am dying to paint some of our furniture in an attempt to update our look and have things that seemt to go together rather than just the hodgepodge of handmedowns we have at the moment!

  5. I want to buy a fixer upper. I live in a condo and it’s pretty much improved to the top limit. I need a new palette to use my saws and tools on.

  6. We are planning to do some major outdoor projects this year (new driveway, garage and deck) which means the long anticipated new kitchen will have to wait until next year. In the meantime, we are planning to do some open shelving on the wall that currently lacks cabinets (worst kitchen design ever…)

  7. I’m in the planning stages of built in shelving that when finished will make a huge impact on my home. To me if feels like it will get me to the 90% completion mark. It’s probably closer to 50%, but that doesn’t matter 🙂

  8. so many projects but its a rental so i pick the ones that make sense.

    1 replace the ceiling light with a ceiling fan.
    2 patch holes in kitchen ceiling left by not great electrician installing the kitchen ceiling light.

    gift card would be GREAT

  9. I would replace the door hinges and door knobs in my house. They are partially brass, oil rubbed bronze, and painted over. Makes me completely crazy.

    Love your blog btw!

  10. So, we’re in the middle of two projects: a nursery and finishing off a tool room. The thing that would make the most difference to my life (read: sanity) would be getting pegboards up on the brand-spankin-new-and-soon-to-be-painted-walls.

    If I have to wade through the ocean of misfit tools without finding what I need one more time… well, you just don’t want to see a 30 yr old temper tantrum.

  11. Properly plastering the gap between our crown molding and ceiling/wall. The former owners caulked it, which works wonderfully with wood (5 Ws in a row?) molding. Unfortunately our molding is plaster, so the caulk splits and cracks. It all needs to be scraped out and done the right way. Ugh.

  12. After 4 years I am almost finished with the entire interior of my house !!!!! last 2 projects are ripping out my tub surround and tiling to ceiling with slate tiles and replacing all door knobs with lever handles !!! Lowes is my second home and only 6 blocks away !!!!! I really like your wicked sense of humor and anxiously wait for each new post…

  13. I’m not sure if I’m going to get a buzz from the electrical or the beer first, but hey, life’s a mystery.

    Keep up the awesome writing, projects, and ideas.

  14. Ohhh I’d love this! I’m not a homeowner, but I do have an awesome landlord who is letting me remodel my bathroom – I put in the time and effort, he pays for the stuff. I can’t friggin’ wait to tear into it!

  15. My project is on my bathroom, I need to buy some things for the walls, change the light fixture into fixtures and paint the ceiling.

  16. My project this spring is to add on to the electrical conduit-Tpost-welded wire chicken run I put up last year http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-coop-page
    and add another run for the coop partition to integrate the chicks that will be hatching here in 9 days.

    Oh PEOPLE House project!?…well I really need to add a vent to the drain in the kitchen, after I clean the trap out now that I have a 4 inch channel locks found on sale at TSC so I can get the damn thing apart…then change out all the gaskets in the 30 year old faucets especially the one in the master bath but for now the paper towel hung over the spigot keeps the leak going into the sink instead of all over the counter.

    You would LYAO at my house, circa 70’s when it was built cause I really don’t give a damn about ‘house beautiful’-it’s just gotta function and it’s great layout…..completely covered in plastiwood paneling and acoustical ceiling tiles……avocado, harvest gold and baby blue appliances and fixtures…I kid you not….and talk about funky switch plates, haha, I’d post pics here if I could.

    I love your blog…..one of the few I really follow regularly….cause I love to build shit too! and I was building shit 35 years ago when it was pretty weird for women to do so.

  17. I need to put trim up in our house. We gutted and remodeled it over a year ago, and I still see a gaping hole with hot pink insulation around all my windows. Maybe curtains would do the trick…

  18. I’m currently in a rental (almost 6 years; been renting total 11 years), and it’s killing me! The house I’m in SO needs to be updated, but since I don’t own it, I can’t do much! (For instance we have PEACH kitchen cabinets that were never sanded prior to painting, and are covered with paint drips…) Anyway, I can’t take it anymore and started to do minor updates that don’t cost much, but will make a difference for the owner and future tenants, such as changing out all the kitchen cabinet pulls and hinges, doorknobs, etc. Big difference so far, but so much more to do…changing all the lights switches and plates would be wonderful! Every screw in this house has been painted over…yeah…

  19. 1. Curse the ass ugly wagon wheel light fixture in my kitchen.

    2. Buy non ugly light fixture from Lowe’s. Hopefully with a fancy pants gift card.

    3. Also buy extra long screws because previous owner decided to “fix” the drywalling mistakes in the ceiling by putting up another layer of drywall.

    4. Curse previous owner.

    5. Drink amazeball beer from Schell’s.

    6. Put up styling new light.

    7. Drink another beer.

  20. I would love to finish peeling the nasty wallpaper off the last wall in my kitchen, repair the plaster (yes, real old plaster) and paint the wall. I decided to do this one wall at a time so my kitchen wouldn’t ever be out of commission, but it’s taken me two years.

  21. I’m trying to turn our balcony into an edible (container) garden at the moment. Last week I made myself a legit table so now I think I could basically build a house. But the container garden is a more practical next step..

  22. My only bathroom has been torn apart for 2 weeks and I would dearly love to get the beadboard wainscoting installed without killing myself or alienating my husband in the process.

  23. Aw, thanks Kit. Lets see… I could strip and refinish my dining room table… or that hutch in the corner that came with the house and is an awful orangey color with thick gobs of too-shiny poly… the chickens need a run built for them as soon as the weather breaks… Oh, or there is that attached pergola I want to build onto the garage. For – wait for it – hops to grow on. My hubby and his buddy like to brew. 🙂

  24. Finish my master bath, extend my deck, build more beehives, replace a window. Man, what wouldn’t I do..

  25. I need to build some sort of plant stand to get my giant succulent collection off the floor. I keep tripping over them and breaking leaves. :'(

  26. I don’t know where to start…. New light fixture for the bathroom, new faucet for the bathroom, need new door hardware…. That’s enough for now. 🙂

  27. The project I started shortly after I moved in about 9 months ago – dealing with the front flower bed. I’ve pulled the ugly bushes that were in it, and weeded for HOURS, and it’s still full of weeds. I have to get rid of all the crap growing in there so I can actually plant something pretty this year!

  28. So many projects, which one to choose? Probably painting the large multi-purpose room and hallway in the basement, it’s the last area in our home that still follows the previous owners’ color scheme (late 90’s jewel tones, anyone?)

  29. Doorknobs. Actually having them on each door. Oh, and maybe having doors on each opening in the house. Oh the fun of3 kids in a 103 year old house that we closed on 3 years ago, today!

  30. Finally putting the second coat of paint on the stairwell and putting the handrail back on! It bugs me everyday!

  31. I have GOT to get the master bathroom painted so we can get the toilet out of the tub. Yep, it’s been in the tub since last fall.

  32. The little project we have right now is getting the shower pan in so we can tile the bathroom. The project has been on hold since 2007. We are finally ready.

  33. I discovered your website googling ‘how to join wood’. My ‘to do’ project is a wood top on my kitchen island. It’s currently tile which I diva-ishly tiled myself. After reading the joining instructions for building the bathroom vanity I bought a dowel jig but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I LOVE your website and am so glad I found you in a google search.

  34. Because of ice dams and leaking, every layer of paint from 1928 to the present bubbled up and peeled off one interior wall. Lots of plaster cracks to fix before tackling a repaint. Love your blog! You inspire and you’re hilarious! Keep it up!

  35. Renovating a 1914 farm house,completely gutted and no bathrooms!! With help from some intelligent people on the wiring and plumbing, I only have weekends (cuz of 9.5 hr workdays & drinking BEER after), so I look for great ideas online and lose track of time!! By 5 o’clock the BEER comes out, but it makes renovating more enjoyable! This doesn’t include all the projects started & never finished at my own house! They’ll just have to wait.

  36. Oh dear, the other comments have given me IDEAS.

    Refinish the dining table. Finish the new-to-us desk that the previous owner stripped to refinish. Fix and paint the fence that the previous house owners let go to hell. Paint the porch and deck floors. Build the shelves for our office that we’ve been talking about for months and would finish the whole room. Build new raised beds so our garden actually gets sun. Fix our gutters. Add a range hood (once I figure out how to put in ducting).

    ….And gift cards and beer would make all of that even more fun!

  37. Peg board and simple shelves in the garage would help organize the jumble of tools we own AND we could finish some of the other projects hanging around because we’d be able to find the right tool!

  38. Well, it’s not really a small project, but I sure would like to get my garage re-organized. Hangers, shelves, stuff like that. And besides, Lowes is less than a mile from my house!

  39. I’m renting and can’t do much with my own place, but I really want to help my parents re-grout their downstairs tile. It makes my mom sad and I just can’t have that.

  40. I need to start re-painting all the doors and trim… not really a little project, but oh well. I’ve been ignoring it for about a year and it’s time to stop putting it off!

  41. We have had our desk half-built in our home office for about5
    6 months and paperwork is taking over my house!

  42. My project is totally at the bottom of the list when it comes to what needs to be done at our house…but it would sure make me smile. Beadboard wallpaper backsplash. It isn’t a final project kind of thing, but it would go a long way towards making me feel all warm and cozy about our nasty, over 100+ year old kitchen.

Comments are closed.

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)