Hiding the Neighbor's Nasty...

So Saturday morning around 11:30 Preston said "what do you want to do today?" I said "oh, I dunno, how about you?" He said, "Let's build a fence to hide the neighbors nasty house!" I said, "Sounds like a plan!!!" This is how our best weekends typically get started. Let's just face it, when you have such a great time together already and you add the spontaneous home improvement to the list you just have a winning pair. Let me tell you.

We make a trip to Lowes, get the Posts at $11 a pop,  get concrete and get to work at the home front taking down the falling down and rotting existing fence. Boy did I have fun with that! It didn't take much force, but it was crazy fun tearing down something so ugly!
When we had finished with that we started digging holes for the posts and got a little kooky as we went!

 

Once we had finished doing holes, pouring concrete and one set of rails, we called it a night. Next morning we woke up had kolaches,  and got fence planks and more nails. As a side note, I think it is just the most saddest thing in the world that people outside of Texas can't get Texas Kolaches, I mean its just not right. 

Anyways, we really went along without a hitch, which is strange for us but we didn't really fight it. Well except when Preston had to take off about 4 boards and while he was doing that the hammer fell out of his hands and he did a weird move like a crazy sissy man, and our nice Mexican neighbors saw and started laughing saying "Crazy Gringos".  Throughout the day I kept telling Preston that "hammering is my calling" and "If I could just nail wood all day long I would be a happy girl. I feel as if I should mention this, we used a hammer and nails only, no nail gun or air compressor here, just good old fashioned bruit force.  I think I might need so make shirts with things we say from our blog to sell on here. Comment with your thoughts on that please-or anything else that pops into your mind. I see people read this but I never hear from you which makes me sad. 

 In the end we are exhausted, but have "The great wall of Ragsdale" as the fruits of our labors. Also, Preston just told me, "we may not do things that well, but at least we give it all we got!" 

More soon, gotta get the inside of the house beautiful for my cousins baby shower! 

 

That's me blogging!

 When we went inside to take a little Whiskey break we found our Willie Nelson Kitty like this.

Also, while we were building our Great Wall of Ragsdale, a girl scout was walking the street selling cookies and when she was walking up to our house she told her grandma "Wow, this house is huge!" Preston and I heard but didn't let her know that and when she was walking up the walkway we hollered to her saying "oh we're over here" she came running over and said your house is soooooo pretty! Needless to say we got a box of Tagalogs and ate the whole thing that night. lol

DIY Tips from the Newlywed Renovation Couple and Willie the Kitty

First, if you are wondering why I am still referring to us as a "newlywed couple" even though we've been married for a year and half, its for 2 reasons. #1. It's the name of the blog, get over it. #2. Someone very wise (Jim and Adelle) told me long before I was married to my soul mate, "it makes no difference how long you are married, you can always refer to yourselves as a 'newlywed couple' as long as you always act like you just got married and are that much in love." 

Second, if you are planning on doing ANYTHING to your house DIY style here is a list Preston and I have complied to save you time, energy and possibly your marriage.

1. Buy a miter saw. Even if you aren't doing trim work, like 90 degree cut, fancy bologna and whatnot you will make a perfect cut EVERYTIME! Get one, either at a garage sale, acution, pawn shop or Home Depot-of course brand new you will be paying 2X as much. For Preston and I we didn't care where it was from or what it looked like as long as it worked. We paid $40 for one that was originally around $300 at an auction and it had some paint and looked like it had been really used; but GUESS WHAT?? It works just wonderfully and we wouldn't trade it for anything!


2. GET A GOOD DRILL. I'm not kidding you at all on this one. It will save you headache, time, tension, annoying comments from your husband/wife, and a plethora of other things. Maybe this should have been #1.....oh well.


3. Gloves. I know it sounds nuts, but seriously.  When you are working on a house you need some good disposable gloves. Home Depot sells a bundle of like 10 for $9.99 and its worth it. Get some.

4. Reciprocating Saw AKA "Sawzaw"  or something like that. It will SAVE YOU! Trust me. Get it used at a pawn shop and buy new blades. While you are buying blades, just go ahead and get several different kinds of blades, because you'll eventually need them and the difference between making a Saturday mad dash to the liquor store and not JUST MIGHT be having those extra blades on hand. Just saying.

5. Ratcheting Screwdrivers. Lowes Kobalt brand is the #1 one pick for us on that. Seriously. Here is the link. Just buy about 4, don't question me, just do it. BUY THIS NOW. This model is a little different but you get the idea.

6. a taste for hard liquor. Sometimes when you are just almost at the end of your rope and you think the job is completely hopeless, have a shot of hard liquor. My favorites are : Wild Turkey 101 proof (for the real crazy jobs), Ezra Brooks Whiskey, Tobaritch! Vodka. Trust me. Don't go crazy or anything, but 1 shot can motivate a renovation like you wouldn't believe.

7. If you plan on doing any sanding, either TAPE EVERYTHING OFF, or RENT A SANDER THAT COLLECTS THE DUST like they have on TV. Trust me, unless you have a sick desire to clean your entire house of dust, do this.

8. Bandanas. We made them a staple before Duck Dynasty made it popular. They will protect your air intake during renovation, but it will also make you feel like "Hell yes we are about to get buck wild tearing apart this room and putting it back together in a better way". It takes a renovation from yeah, that's what we did, to "HELL FREAKING YES DID YOU SEE THAT??? I MEAN, DID-YOU-SEE-THAT-WITH-YOUR-EYES????" It also makes you memorable to the folks at Chipotle and Home Depot which it always fun.

9. Re-Store. Find your nearest Habitat for Humanity Resale Store. Trust me. They have supplies for painting for cheap, but they also have light fixtures, furniture, paint, tile, appliances, doors, trim, wood, nails, screws, rugs, weird crazy molester looking safety glasses,  and everything is less than the big box stores but like 1/2 off.

10. Check your local Auction houses and Garage Sales. Just do it.

You are welcome.

Oh one more tip of advise......


If someone tells you "it cant be done, or you cant do that" do it anyways. (unless it's with electrical work, get a professional for that if you aren't sure) "They" said we couldn't sand hardwood floors with a belt sander......you know what? We did. We're rebels, but you know what? We did our own thing, like always, and it looks incredible! just because they say you cant, should hire a pro, or you shouldn't doesn't mean YOU should listen....look at Lucille Ball. She was told "you'll never be an actress". Take that jerk-wad. If the number of people who were told "you can't" just had given up, some of our countries most brilliant minds would have never been discovered. There is a YOUTUBE video about it, and when I find it I'll post it.

7 trips to the home depot during a 3 day renovation marathon of the kitchen.

This is a long blog. Lots of pictures. And one of the only things that got Preston and I through this weekend was Merle Haggard, a little Whiskey, and a whole lot of laughter. Enjoy and feel free to comment. 


Kitchen days 1 and 2        
   Preston and I decided it was time to finish the kitchen. So about a month ago we bought new appliances because we really needed them and Home Depot was having a sale. We had to finance them mostly because we're poor, but our oven wouldn't open sometimes which made cooking a real drag and burney (spell check is saying that isn't a word but I don't care). Also, our dishwasher made our dishes smell like fish....and we don't eat fish at home often.....So we picked them out and waited for them to be delivered. Unfortunately there was an ice storm and the delivery guys thought they would get away with the old excuse "your driveway is too icy we'll have to reschedule for after Christmas.  NOT ON MY WATCH! And to make things worse my College Graduation had been scheduled that weekend as well and had been cancelled!!!!!!!! So I was in NO MOOD to play around with this baby talk of a little bit of ice. Grow a pair of balls and deliver the appliances already! So I made it happen. They delivered all the appliances on time (to the garage, and then Preston and his brothers and dad came to help move them inside). Then after moving in the fridge, Preston and I decided the paint job we had previously done (you might remember the red and cream kitchen) would just not do for our beautiful new appliances. So I picked out a beautiful turquoise/Tiffany Blue for the walls and repainted the cabinets (on one half) white. We then did a penny top counter top and exactly HALF the kitchen looked like upstanding citizens lived here the other half? Well, let's just say it looked like an old lady could have lived here-that is of-the welfare class in addition to social security. So then, on our New Years’ time off we decided to do the craziest thing so far on our old home. 

      We decided at around 1PM to tackle the crazy gnarly bit of the kitchen we ignored until this point.  Preston said is the second scariest thing in the house. It was a Friday afternoon and we decided to take on painting the counter-top black, and then finishing out the under sink area and storage space that had previously been home to a colony of rats. We started out Saturday morning making the Rat Nest better, we made cuts and finished off the inside part of the under-sink area and the place where we might put our trashcan but we're not sure. During the 'excavation' bit I found some more rat bodies (mostly decomposed) that made Preston squeam from the other side of the room.  Luckily Preston can handle any LIVE creature that crosses our path, and I can handle the dead things. We really complement each other at the others weak points.....any dead thing I'll take care of it no problem; the moment it comes alive? That's alllllllllllll Preston.

We continued finishing out and supporting the sink area using bits of wood that we had reclaimed from our wood piles. There was also a really weird long thick piece of Cedar wood that neither of us could think of where it came from. When we discovered it I said "Where did that cedar thing come from? I'm just going to go with it, not question it.......weird little cedar bundle......"  we were truly amazed  by how smooth everything was going....WE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE ONE SINGLE TRIP TO HOME DEPOT FOR THE WHOLE DAY!!!!! That really is a record for us. As we continued our good fortune also continued and we got everything looking really really really good.............................................UNTIL............The tile. 


Well, Preston and I decided at 7:40PM it would be the best time to tile the back splash and so we did....It started off good, we mixed the mortar got the right consistency on the first try!! Go us! Then we got inside and began placing the tiles. We then realized that tiling a back splash is harder than we had anticipated and learned fast that we should invest in a wet tile cutter. But since we are poor we just had to make due with our little dinky tile cutter from the Floor and Decor. Once we were finished placing the tiles we stood back to admire our hard work and realized that some parts of it looked like crap. The spacing was off, there was going to be a lot of grout and it would look really stupid. We started laughing and I said, we’ll just put the tall things (like the blender) in front of the ugly bits so people won’t notice them!

After completing one whole side of the kitchen, we went for the other side “while we were at it” and things went a lot better. Until I got to this one part, the only wall outlet on that side…it was just weird enough of a space that a whole tile wouldn’t fit, but a half one was too small and looked crazy. So Preston being the cutting master he is started to cut a piece specially for this hole. After breaking about 20 pieces of tile he threw a man sized temper tantrum like an emotionally distraught child, throwing tile down on the ground and I was like “okay let’s take a break.” He wouldn’t give up, and finally got a piece cut and it worked. Once we got all that done he looked at it and got mad all over again because the piece he had cut for the outlet part looked crazy once it was on the wall...but by this time the mortar was set and there was nothing to do about it. So I just said, that’s where we’ll put the Keureg machine! No problems!  So we went to bed and decided tomorrow is another day filled with renovating craziness.



Here is the side he "recommended doing a wider gap between tiles"


Then below that is the side I just did my own thing on. 

 

Our ugly nasty sink

 

Pretty sure that is mold, but we just spray painted over it thinking we'll be okay......

 

How we left it for the night so Willie wouldn't crawl under the house out of the gaping holes under the sink. 

                                                                   Looking better and less creepy!!!

 

This is the new close up of the sink/faucet 

                                                           Pretty new underneath the sink too!!!

 

Also,

I forgot to mention earlier. Willie Nelson the Kitty got out!!! It was the scariest moment of being a Kitty Mommy and after Preston and I looked all over the house for our little kitty bear we opened a wet food knowing he would come running.....NOTHING! We were both so scared and thought Willie might have gotten out through the open-ish door the extension cord was going out of. Preston walked outside and saw our little Willie Kitty just smelling the outside of the house. We got him back inside and decided to never ever to let that happen again!!!





Kitchen Day #3

We woke up feeling great about the job we had done, even with its quirks we love our kitchen, and it’s ours.
We then began grouting the back splash with “Charcoal” colored grout, which Nicole Curtis makes look soooo easy, but let me tell you. It’s a huge flipping mess. It gets everywhere, and it’s so dark you have to change your water every 3 minutes. Needless to say that part wasn’t too much fun. Once that was all completed we decided it was time to work on the garbage disposal. We had bought a brand new one because we really didn’t want to keep anything on the creepy kitchen the same, down to the plumbing for the kitchen sink.
So we thought we would start off changing out the outlet under the sink to one that is water sensitive and will shut off if it gets wet! GREAT! Well, Preston had done this to many of our other outlets so we weren’t worried. He replaced it and when he turned the power back on, nothing. There was no power getting to the outlet all of the sudden. Off the power to the whole house went again. He re-checked the wires and flipped the breaker again; still no power. Thinking we must have gotten a bad outlet mechanism we went back to home depot (second trip for the day) and there must have been some sort of ‘run’ on the GFCI (or whatever they are called) outlets and the only color they had was a weird tan color. So we got the weird tan one, because it’s under the sink, who really cares? Got home, for the 3^rd time we shut off power to the house, replace the outlet; still, no power. So we go back up to the depot thinking surely it’s not us, obviously we got another faulty one. So we got a new tan one, and a regular outlet not the fancy gfci one that has a moister switch thinking maybe it’s just moist under the sink and that’s why it wouldn’t work. Got home, and for the 4^th time we turn off the power to the whole house. When Preston un screwed the outlet one of the wires had come out of the screw place so he was like, duh! Replaced the wire to the correct place and turned on the power…..nothing…..no power. So 5^th time we decide to turn off the power and just put in the regular outlet and if it doesn’t work, we obviously have no clue what we are doing and should call an electrician to come out because we must have royally messed something up. After turning on the power again with no luck from the plug, Preston and I literally just sat on the kitchen floor looking at each other wondering how we could have messed it up so bad.  4 Hours of our lives, 4 trips to home depot, and we were completely stumped. Then after a few minutes, Preston looked at me and said “Bailey. We are the dumbest people in the world…..” I looked at him and at the same time we realized the same thing! TO GET POWER TO THAT PLUG YOU HAVE TO FLIP THE SWITCH!!! DUHHHHHH!!!!! Then we were laughing so hard we were crying for a good 20 minutes about how much of a dumb mistake that was. After that we decided we needed a shot of Vodka and began working on the pipes to connect the sink, dishwasher and disposal. We wrestled with it for a long while, and finally rigged it perfectly! When we went to test for leaks there were two small leaks and we just had it. Enough renovation for the weekend and went for a hot and ready pizza from Little Cesar’s. More on the fixing of the plumbing soon when we get that mess all figured out.



Putting together the disposal was a cinch! We were psyched!  Except it leaked, but now it’s completely fixed.
 

New Years!!!!!

         Well folks, it's been a while indeed. Since it's the beginning of the new year we wanted to start off right. So we started Juicing (making juice from fruits and veggies, not steroids) and working out. Well, Preston started working out, I bought new work out clothes but haven't actually put them on yet.

         Since we both had a good amount of time off we decided to get some things done. My first thing I wanted to get done was redo a chair I got from a friend. It was gold-ish chair from the 60's and I had a strong desire to try my hand at something that I never have done before. So It began, I got paint. Because after much thought that was the route  I decided to go since Pintrest said it would turn out great. Well, to be honest, Pintrest lied! I was left with a half painted turquoise chair that was hard and crusty. I was not amused. Thank goodness Preston called just then and asked what I was up to. (He often asks me this prior to coming home, I think it is a self defense mechanism because he knows for sure two things in my life to be true, 1) if I have had a "cleaning" day, he will come home to a immaculately clean  house or 2) if I have had a "creative" day he will walk into some sort of crazy ass mess that only the Lord knows what went on because it looks like the whole house exploded.) On this particular day it was a creative day with the chair, and after telling him we might have to throw the chair away he said "why not re-upholster  it with Toile fabric? OF COURSE! So I marched my happy self down to the Joann Fabric and bought up a few yards of black and white Toile fabric and went home to start again. After a few hours I got the seat, arms and front panel complete and looking pretty good I might add. Then Preston got home and the whole project got derailed. It still is looking pitifully half way done in the living room.

                                                                               BEFORE

 

DURING

 When I finally get it done I'll post and you can see it all pretty!