Plans and Wood for a New Dresser

My next project, or one of my next projects, is going to be a new dresser for the second bedroom. It’s going to be 6 drawers, 3 and 3, white with dark wood legs and drawer fronts.

This weekend I dragged Tom to the store and got wood veneer plywood cut down to use for the main frame of the unit. I don’t know when I’ll start building but at least I have some of the wood ready to go when I do have time.

And now we know: the price of plywood went up since last time I bought it, I really was surprised at the cost of 1 sheet so went ¾” for the main pieces but only 5/8” for the back to save some money.

More Outlets and Switches

This weekend was another round of replacing outlets and switches. The 3 switch in the kitchen was the most problematic, it was on an angle and I had cut the trim around the old switch plate. I wasn’t able to completely straighten it, but I did fix the trim so it fix the new larger switch plate.

All the switches and outlets are now replaced on both levels. Even the kitchen ones, which we had tried to replace before but ran into issues with an extra wire and then tile causing them to not sit flush. I managed to fix both issues with a little research and some plastic shims.

And now we know: with the extra wire, you have to cut the little metal piece on the side of the outlet and then run the extra wire as a second hot wire

Re-grouting the Upstairs Bathroom

Renovating the upstairs bathroom was one of the first projects we did after moving into our house. Since them, one line of horizontal grout has cracked in the wall tile. 

This was the weekend to repair it. I used a dremel attachment to grind out the old grout where it was cracked. Where there is the band of accent tile, I roughed up all the grout lines with a hand grout removal tool. These areas have always been a little low on grout, so I decided to just put another layer over top. I know this is not strictly recommended, ‘experts’ always say you can’t just coat over grout, but I did 2 coats in a small area of tile in the powder room and it’s held up fine for 6 months now. 

After cleaning up a bit, I put in new grout, white to match the rest. The shower looks a lot better with the refreshed grout, we’ll see how it holds up.

While I was creating a mess in the room, I decided to address 3 things that have been bothering me. The first were the cracks in the walls in 2 areas. These got a couple of coats of mud, primed and painted.

The next was the window. When I tiled I wasn’t really sure how to address framing it out, so I butted the tile to it and caulked around. It’s always looked unfinished and a little sloppy.

This time I picked up some PVC trim and used construction adhesive to glue it in place. A little caulking around the inner and outer edges and the window looks much better.

The final item was the shelf in the shower where we keep our toiletries. As this was my first tiling job, I was unfamiliar with edging pieces and so used regular tiles around the perimeter. This meant that the built in spacers on the tiles were visible. It was okay looking just a little ‘homemade’.

I removed all the tile with a hammer and chisel, it came up easily in large pieces.

After evening out the surface a bit, I cut and installed new tile complete with proper edge pieces mitered in the corner.

The next day I grouted this area aswell and once it was dry, gave all the grout 2 coats of sealer. 

Although the updates are minor, the bathroom looks new again and much more polished. It’s really those small details that make a project look professional and not so DIY. 

And now we know: I don’t particularly enjoy re-doing stuff, but I’ve learnt so much in the past 4 years since I completed the bathroom, that it was worth re-doing a few things. Sometimes its the little things that don’t cost a lot that make the biggest impact. I already had the grout, so the extra edge tile and the window trim cost only about $25.

Outlets and Switches

As I still haven’t found fabric to finish my chairs, I’m still plugging away on little projects. This time it’s replacing the electrical outlets and switches throughout the house. Since we moved in they’ve been a mis-match of beige, gold, black and some white in a variety of styles.

I’m switching them over to white ones that have a square face. So far so good, I only had trouble with one outlet that was sunk really far into the wall and I got it resolved eventually.

The dimmer in the dining room is and especially nice upgrade, as the previous one was covered in glue or something...

Even the 3 switches got replaced.

At this point the main floor is complete, except for the kitchen, and I plan to do the rest slowly when Tom is not home and not using the power.

And know we know: there are dimmer switches that have the converter built in so you can use regular CFL’s or LED’s instead of paying more for the dimmable bulbs

2nd Bedroom Closet Re-Fit

A couple of months ago, when we had the second bedroom empty to work in the attic, I did some work on the closet. Before it had a weird pole running the wrong way, front to back instead of right to left, just like the master bedroom used to.

I took out the pole, added some bracing and hung a new rod right to left. 

Above the rod I added some supports for a shelf, the tricky part being the angled wall and cutting the piece to fit there. At the time I didn’t have a piece of wood for the shelf and so this was left unfinished.

Finally I got back to it and started by priming the entire closet. I added the shelf and trimmed it out at the front with a piece of pine. It turned out a little thicker than I would normally make a shelf, as I used thicker support pieces and wanted to cover the ends of those.

Then I put on a coat of white paint on everything; walls, shelf, trim and door to the attic. It’s a big improvement, both in functionality and appearance.

And now we know: what I wish I knew was why they installed the bars like that in the first place, it’s not in the least functional and entirely possible to orient them properly.

Kitchen Shelf and Face Frame

Along with my trim painting, I did some patching of the face frame on one of the kitchen cabinets. This area around the microwave has always bothered me, there was a small gap in the frame that I never got around to filling.

I finally cut the little piece of wood, patched and painted it. Big improvement...that no one else will notice, but still glad it’s done.

In the cupboard above I decided to add a partial shelf, all sorts of stuff was being put on the cutting boards making it hard to get them out and put them away.

Using ¾” particle board with a laminate finish and ¾” oak strips as support I built in a partial shelf. The edges and trimmed out in thin oak strips as well.

Now that it is patched and painted, it looks like it’s always been there. Functionally it’s made a big difference aswell.

Finally, I got a pretty new rug for the kitchen

And now we know: over a year later and I’m still finishing up those small things in the kitchen, there’s probably still more to come…

Door Frame Trim

When our house was built every room had a door. The doors on the main level are now gone, but the hinges holes and jambs remain as an unattractive reminder. Tom doesn’t even notice stuff like this, but it bothers me so I decided to patch them. 

I cut down some plywood and used it to fill in the jamb. Then I added strips of oak along the front to trim it out. 

Once it was patched, I covered the seams in wood filler, sanded and repeated this until it was smooth. 

Finally I put on a coat of primer and a couple of coats of paint.

I won’t bore you with photos of more white trim, but I did also finish painting the trim in the den, the powder room and the kitchen. Only 2 more doorways on the main floor and I am done painting all the trim...just in time for replacement of the back windows leading to more trim needing painting!

And now we know: for this door I used a layer of ¼” plywood with shims behind and nails through both. I think this might crack the wood filler over time, so for the next door I’m going to try using 2 layers of plywood, cut to the exact thickness so we’ll see how that method works.