Flashback to My Childhood

a view into our neighbor's backyard

It started out as a typical, long weekend.  We had plans to start on an array of projects and leisurely work through as many steps as we could.  Then, an unplanned (but in all reality, probably forecast) wind storm ripped through our neighborhood, reeking destruction upon trees and restaurant signage. Thankfully, we were mostly spared, except for this one section of fence that backs up to our rear neighbor (the one with the two bloodhounds).   As you can see, the wind blew the fence in and caused the slats to fall right out.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice the gaping hole until after returning from a Home Depot run in the afternoon.  By then we didn't see the blood hounds and there were paw prints on the ground around the fence.  I sure hope those dogs found their way home, even if I do tire of their braying.

adding vertical supports to the fence

Anyway, upon seeing the gap my first words to Mr. DIY were, "We need baling wire and those metal fence posts."  He let me settle in to that comment as he silently trudged through the cold and snow for a closer look at the damage.

You see, my only experience fixin fence was (were?) during childhood summers spent on my grandparents ranch.  Like any Midwestern family, we fixed things with what we had available.  For my grandparents, the available supplies would have been baling wire and those metal fence posts.

Now, return to the present.  Neither Mr. DIY nor myself are presently nor have ever been ranchers, so we certainly don't have baling wire lying around.  Obviously, my statement was pretty silly and I was grateful for the silence provided by Mr. DIY.  Instead of chiding or teasing me, he let me linger in my memory and come to the present reality on my own terms.

those pesky slots in the fence posts

So, once a Midwesterner, always a Midwesterner. While we didn't have baling wire handy we do have a cart full of wood (thanks to Mr. DIY's status as an amateur woodworker) and plenty of screws/nails.  So that's what we used.

Our back fence is made of slats that fit in-between the posts.  When those strong winds blew, it caused the distance between the two fence posts to change and the slats fell right out.  Mr. DIY's first steps were to shore up the eastern side of the fence so the wind wouldn't blow it over again - at least when it blows from the west.

project wax, stinky but effective!

After shoring it up, we deemed the fence "level" and began the process of putting the slats back between the posts.

Our first go wasn't very successful.  The boards were cold, dry and unwilling to allow anything to come back between them. That first slat didn't slide, so we did what came easiest and tried to force it.  Well, I think we all know what that led to - a cracked slat that still wasn't in place.

While Mr. DIY tried different angles and methods of force, I let my problem solving gears slip into action. After remembering how easy our dresser drawers slid after waxing them, I knew the same answer applied here.

We just needed to apply wood's best friend: Wax!

Luckily, Mr. DIY keeps this Johnson paste wax around for his projects. So we smooshed some of this into each fence post groove and slid those slats right into submission until that gap was no more.

Thanks for stopping by our neck of the DIY neighborhood. And as our favorite neighbor Mr. Rogers used to say, "You always make each day a special day for me, by just being you. There's only 1 person in this WHOLE world like you; that's you yourself, and people can like you exactly the way you are.  I'll be back next time. Bye-bye!"

Bye-bye neighbor!

Voila! Our mended fence.  No purchased supplies necessary.

A Dark Nook

the dark nook

Hollywood light fixture

Within the den of our URH, we have an odd, dark nook that I'm going to have to ask our neighbor about.  It's within the laundry room, next to our office.  There's some shorty cabinets hanging on the walls but no overhead light. Instead, there's one of those Hollywood Bathroom light fixtures hanging vertically on the wall that separates this nook from our office area.

We're using the cabinets to hold a variety of drink glasses since we don't have a hutch yet.  (you know how it goes.  gotta have the specialty glasses for those specialty drinks: martini, champagne, brandy, wine, etc. we like our drinks round here)  Anyway, this weird nook is also home to our kitty's poop box so the lack of an overhead light is pretty annoying.

after removing the light switch

In passing, I mentioned my desire for a light in this dark nook, thinking this would be a 5 minutes project where we just stick a pop up light on the ceiling and call it good.  Well, Mr. DIY is thinking long term instead of quick-fix and proposes we install a can light back there.  Hmm..definitely not as easy as a pop-up light but a permanent fix does seem like a better idea, so sure, let's do it! Can't be that hard right?

After grabbing supplies at our local home improvement store we start by removing that Hollywood light fixture.  It is connected to a dimmer switch that we want to use with the new can light.  After wrestling the switch box out of the wall and discovering that the wall is hollow, we take down the paneling from the office side in order to run fresh electric wire to our newly installed can light and are done!

Now all that above sounds simple doesn't it?  Well Lord only knows why but at first we were convinced we could just tie our new light into the wire from the Hollywood fixture without removing the wall paneling.  Imagine this, I'm on my knees, my arm is completely in the wall and I'm fishing around trying to loosen the existing wire from it's brackets in order to pull it out of the wall.  Of course I start to loose feeling (I don't have the best circulation) and got a bit panicked when I had trouble retrieving my arm from the wall, but I escaped only slightly scathed.  As we stepped back to reassess the situation,, we finally realized what needed to be done and wouldn't you know it, we should have just removed that wall to begin with.

old booze hidden in the wall

Mr. DIY was loath to the take the wall down, so I did that one evening on my own and found quite the treasure hiding inside!  There were 7 bottles of opened booze, ranging from Schnapps to Whiskey, with one bottle of grenadine.  Based on the price tags ($2.49 for the 750 of rum) I'm guessing these were placed in the wall by the first owners.

This wall wasn't convenient to open up.  I had to take down shelves and remove trim to pop it off the wall.  There's no secret door on the other side either.  So why hide these half empty bottles of liquor here? It's so mysterious!  Was someone an alcoholic? Was this a teenager's hidden stash?  What's the story! Will I ever know?

Well, maybe someday I'll get the nerve to ask our neighbor but until then I'll just let my imagination wander.

The new light is now installed, the wall is back up and the mysterious liquor bottles are dusted off and added to our home bar.  I wonder what we'll find during our next project?

Thanks for stopping by our neck of the DIY neighborhood. And as our favorite neighbor Mr. Rogers used to say, "You always make each day a special day for me, by just being you. There's only 1 person in this WHOLE world like you; that's you yourself, and people can like you exactly the way you are.  I'll be back next time. Bye-bye!"

Bye-bye neighbor!

Our "Until-Retirement" Home

It's the Fall of 2016 and we've just purchased our "until-retirement" home.  (Mr. DIY prefers this "until-retirement" name over "forever home" as you never know where God will take us.) So, our until-retirement home (let's call it the URH for length-sake) is a yellow brick tri-level built in 1962.

Kitchen Saloon Doors

1962: the 5th year of our space race with Russia, the beginning of the Vietnam War, the year of the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis, and also the year Tom Cruise was born (we've got a sincere affinity for The Cruise).  It was quite an eventful year when our little home took root.

This practical, yellow brick, tri-level features 3 bedrooms, 1 & 1/2 baths, eat-in kitchen, 2 living areas, an office nook, laundry room, 2 car garage, corner lot yard, and (the icing on the cake) a decadently large back patio.

Dutch Doors

Our URH has several specific design elements that give it a cowboy feel, such as the saloon doors in the kitchen,
the wood floors throughout, a tasteful use of wood paneling in the den, big Dutch doors, and two floating stained glass inserts.  These personal touches excited our imaginations when we first viewed the place and now they are the inspiration for our many design dreams.

Floating Stained Glass

During an introductory chat with our neighbor across the street, we learned we are the third owners and that our URH used to have "the most beautiful lawn on the street." (which we also heard from a random couple taking a walk one day) So we've clearly got some big shoes to fill as we look ahead towards our diy projects.  The exciting part of that introductory chat came when she divulged a personal history with our URH.  Our neighbor "practically grew up in our home" as it was her childhood best friend's residence.  She maintains contact with those children, now grown, and while the father has long since joined his relatives in the great beyond, the mother is still kicking at a local adult community.  I look forward to learning more about the history of our home as we settle into the neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by our neck of the DIY neighborhood. And as our favorite neighbor Mr. Rogers used to say, "You always make each day a special day for me, by just being you. There's only 1 person in this WHOLE world like you; that's you yourself, and people can like you exactly the way you are.  I'll be back next time. Bye-bye!"

Bye-bye neighbor!