commitment.

I did it. Yikes. Went for the good stuff cos I really don't want to paint my house again and it was on sale through today.

• Benjamin Moore Low Lustre HC-109 sussex green for the siding (decided on the low lustre over the flat after much debating with myself - and $60 more for the 5 gallon bucket - because it really doesn't have too much sheen and will be easier to clean)
• Benjamin Moore Low Lustre HC-108 sandy hook green for the secondary (mostly trim) colour
• Benjamin Moore Soft Gloss brilliant white for the trim
• Rust-Oleum Porch & Floor paint in a semi-gloss HC-68 middlebury brown for the porch floor and stair treads

Now it's time to spend the rest of the summer painting my house.

Oh, and Mclendons was blowing out #1 smooth cedar shakes for $39.99 a bundle (normally $75) so I bought six bundles - by my calculations that should be enough to do both the house and garage gable ends.

for later ...

For after working on the house painting or hanging lights or drywall or otherwise on warm summer evenings as the neighborhood quiets down and I retreat out to the porch -

Highball glass

+ Jeremiah Sweet Tea Infused Vodka

+ Simply Lemonade

+ Lemon wedge

+ (3) cubed ice

stir and enjoy

--- or ---

Highball glass

+ Simply Lemonade

+ DaVinci gourmet strawberry syrup

+ (3) cubed ice

stir and enjoy

looking ahead #1.

On a walk around the neighborhood the other night there was this nice little Craftsman house that had Christmas lights decked out on their trees and stuff in their backyard. And I immediately envisioned a warm summer evening like that one. My back patio was all laid (going to lay pavers like the ones I used for my sidewalks). I had built a patio cover out of cedar (there's one in the neighborhood I'm going to photograph to use as a starting point for a design). It had vines growing on it and of course was strung up with Christmas lights casting a warm glow. I had built myself some patio furniture. A pair of chaise lounge chairs. The garage was all done painted and the cedar shake was up and a new garage car door and people door (5 panel solid fir shaker of course) with new trim. A light next to the door like the one I installed by the back house door. And the landscaping in the backyard was done along both fences and the back of the house. Dark mulch with varied-coloured stones lining the border. A laundry line I'll build between the garage and the patio with some of that mulch and rock border and some nice little plants.

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I sometimes daydream about what this place will look like with all the visions in my head complete. There's one.

back entry light.

So after nearly two months I finally got the last light I was waiting on from Rejuvenation. Sheesh. So when I opened it up and held it in place to see what it would look like (minus the shade) it's not hard to imagine I was a little more than upset that it was cut the wrong length. After all that time and they could not even get it right.

Well, I tried contacting their CS that night but was on hold for like fifteen minutes so I fired off an email. This was Thursday. Had not heard back so on Saturday I decided to take matters into my own hands and take the thing apart to see if I could just cut it myself. It required some patience but with my handy pipe cutters (way cleaner and faster and easier than a chunky hacksaw) I took care of whacking 6" off it so it would clear the back door swing.

Then it was a simple matter of removing the old beauty -

(I don't think I can even advertise that thing on craigslist in good conscience)

And then installing the new one -

Fifteen minutes. It doesn't look like much yet cos the drywall and painting and trim are not done yet back there but that'll be finished by the end of the year. Yes -

BY THE END OF THE YEAR.

Then it'll look better and more in place. Though it was a little loose cos it was a new construction box nailed to an overhead joist I was actually able to use the existing work instead of having to completely redo it because some beavers had maybe been used to knaw through the drywall or some other random form of crappy work.

And lucky Dana - she doesn't know it but should be on the lookout for a large box in the mail ...

stairs and front porch stuff ... continued.

So 4th of July weekend - three-day weekend so had to keep plugging away on the front porch stairs. Like everything, a job that goes from a spark of an idea of 'hey I can build new stair railings!' to completely redoing the stairs. And maybe all of the porch railings. Hmm, what about the porch floor ... ? No no no - must stay on track to set aside the month of August to, well, paint the whole bloody house.

So stairs ...

Step 1: inspect what the previous owners had done and cringe/laugh/wonder what they were smoking when they did whatever it was they did. Case in point - as a footing for the stairs they apparently figured tossing an ol' garden brick on the ground would suffice -

Awesome! Nah, that won't sink or become unlevel over time ...

Step 2: plan to do work that meets code/will stand the test of time/makes sense/the complete opposite of previous owners/etc. For this particular project, that meant building footings in which to pour, oh I don't know, that cement stuff. So to the garage I went to find scrap 2x4s and 1x4s and got to work -

I had to make five of them but it went pretty fast. I screwed together the 2x4s so I'd be able to easily unscrew them (as opposed to nailing) for taking them off once the concrete had set.

Then it was a matter of digging some holes and burying them in the dirt. The challenge of course (since I wasn't smoking crack or other miscellaneous drugs while doing this) was to make each one level and then across all of them level -

After some pounding here and there mission accomplished! The stringer will then sit on top of the concrete like this (well once there is concrete and the 2x4s are removed) -

And here is my work to the stringers that were just resting on those lowly bricks -

The main stairway had - wait for it ... - two bricks per stringer! Much much better. But still only two stringers, whereas I believe I read somewhere there should be at least one every 16 O.C. So I put in a footing for a third to keep the staircase from sagging in the middle. And then mixed up (I'm getting good at this) and poured the concrete -

Good times.

Of course I was now one stringer short so I had to build another one. Well, I initially made the mistake of copying what the past owners did (note to self: never ever ever do that again and question everything they have ever touched!) so I had gotten some 2x12s to make the stair treads (same as the stairs I was gutting). But then it hit me at some point that a) they will likely bow over time and b) then they will trap water. So I decided even though I had already plunked down the cash (oh, and primed and cut them to size) for the 2x12s to go back to the lumber yard and pick up enough 2x6s to get the job done right - two 2x6s per tread so a) they won't bow over time and b) rainwater will drain through the crack between the two.

Well all that to say that I had some 2x12s laying around which is what stringers are made from. So a couple bucks for some handy square guides to turn my ordinary square into a framing square and I went to work -

After drawing it up and sawing it with a circ saw and about thirty minutes later cos I'm slow and used the square as a guide for the saw since I don't trust my sawing ability in making straight cuts - wallah - a brand new stringer!

And that's as far as I got.

Next step - figure out how to actually bolt the stringers to the concrete footings after installing them and making sure they are level front to back and side to side ...

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Parting shot - awesome birthday present this year from my folks to keep me company in the garage as I work!

And ps - that NeoAir in the background that I just ordered from Therm-A-Rest ... ? Best. Sleeping. Pad. Ever.