What Do You Fix?

[Puget]

Tackled the last of the summer DIY house projects this weekend--

When I bought the house a year ago, the kitchen was extremely dated looking, with fake-oak laminate cabinets with massive iron hardware and a sparkly formica counter.

Soon after moving in, I repainted the cabinets a nice blue and replaced the hardware. I also got a paint kit for the counters but didn't get around to it right away, and then it was too cold, then too hot, for keeping the windows open for days for ventilation. This weekend was cool, so I finally did the counters-- the sponge painting was rather fun (you layer 3 colors over black primer to get a granite look) and came out looking pretty good.

I also put up backsplash that is plastic but made to look like  white-painted pressed tin. I made a few errors cutting around the  power and light switches, but it's amazing what you can cover up with a little caulk, and they'll mostly be behind stuff anyway.

All in all it's looking pretty good for <$200 and a weekend of work. The last 70s vestige in the kitchen is the floor. My success with the peel-and-stick floor tiles in the bathroom makes me think I could take that on too, but it will have to wait till winter break at least I think.

[Wahoo Redux]

Tried to fix the $8 birdfeeder that the squirrels vandalized----tore out one whole feeding perch.  I had the very bright idea of cutting off the spout of a plastic milk jug and using that as a feeding perch.  But the "Gorilla Glue" (my ass!) didn't stick at all and the seed just poured out anyway, so in the end I simply used packing tape to cover over the hole.  Now we have a birdfeeder with only one feeding perch.  The birds eat from it one at a time, and I guess I'm not so handy after all.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Tackled the last of the summer DIY house projects this weekend--

When I bought the house a year ago, the kitchen was extremely dated looking, with fake-oak laminate cabinets with massive iron hardware and a sparkly formica counter.

Soon after moving in, I repainted the cabinets a nice blue and replaced the hardware. I also got a paint kit for the counters but didn't get around to it right away, and then it was too cold, then too hot, for keeping the windows open for days for ventilation. This weekend was cool, so I finally did the counters-- the sponge painting was rather fun (you layer 3 colors over black primer to get a granite look) and came out looking pretty good.

I also put up backsplash that is plastic but made to look like  white-painted pressed tin. I made a few errors cutting around the  power and light switches, but it's amazing what you can cover up with a little caulk, and they'll mostly be behind stuff anyway.

All in all it's looking pretty good for <$200 and a weekend of work. The last 70s vestige in the kitchen is the floor. My success with the peel-and-stick floor tiles in the bathroom makes me think I could take that on too, but it will have to wait till winter break at least I think.

Sounds like you were very productive!

I'd like to pain the cabinets in our kitchen too. They're kind of an ivory/off-white 80's dingy color. Bleagh. I've thought about painting the counters- never done it before. I've read about people using thin layers of cement (or cement-like material) to cover the old formica and then stain or paint it.

[Puget]

Tackled the last of the summer DIY house projects this weekend--

When I bought the house a year ago, the kitchen was extremely dated looking, with fake-oak laminate cabinets with massive iron hardware and a sparkly formica counter.

Soon after moving in, I repainted the cabinets a nice blue and replaced the hardware. I also got a paint kit for the counters but didn't get around to it right away, and then it was too cold, then too hot, for keeping the windows open for days for ventilation. This weekend was cool, so I finally did the counters-- the sponge painting was rather fun (you layer 3 colors over black primer to get a granite look) and came out looking pretty good.

I also put up backsplash that is plastic but made to look like  white-painted pressed tin. I made a few errors cutting around the  power and light switches, but it's amazing what you can cover up with a little caulk, and they'll mostly be behind stuff anyway.

All in all it's looking pretty good for <$200 and a weekend of work. The last 70s vestige in the kitchen is the floor. My success with the peel-and-stick floor tiles in the bathroom makes me think I could take that on too, but it will have to wait till winter break at least I think.

Sounds like you were very productive!

I'd like to pain the cabinets in our kitchen too. They're kind of an ivory/off-white 80's dingy color. Bleagh. I've thought about painting the counters- never done it before. I've read about people using thin layers of cement (or cement-like material) to cover the old formica and then stain or paint it.

Go for it! It really can transform a kitchen.
Both the kits I used were Giani, which I would highly recommend-- in a triumph of chemical engineering they've concocted low VOC water-based paints that will stick to just about any surface (laminate cabinets and formica counters in my case). They are fairly reasonably priced (about $70 for the cabinet kit and $80 for the countertop, and that includes brushes and rollers), and come in a variety of stylish colors. The cabinets can definitely be done in one weekend. The counter kit claims it can be done in a weekend, but with drying times you really need 3 days unless you want to have very long days, and you do have to keep things off the counter for at least 3 days afterward (recommended 2 weeks for larger appliances like microwave).

[apl68]

Not exactly a "fix"...

This morning a staff member who was cleaning public restrooms (janitor still out with COVID-19) informed me that somebody had pulled the old boys' trick of latching a stall in the men's room and then crawling out under the door.  I squinted through the cracks and saw that the stall had not been trashed or otherwise nastied up, and it hadn't had anybody in there since Friday.  So I opened it by using the only means at hand--by reversing the process the (presumed) kid had used to lock it.  The staff member was horrified to see me crawling on the bathroom floor into the stall like that.  And also relieved that I had saved her having to risk getting into any man-germs. 

Like I told another staff member some years ago, when I cleared a blockage in the drain of a restroom urinal:  "Now that you've seen me, the library director, do this, I can tell you to do anything else that needs to be done around here."

[waterboy]

I can fix most computer issues - given time (though my teen is rapidly eclipsing me).  I also "fix" any spider problems in the house. There's a special place for me in "spider hell".

[Parasaurolophus]

Well. The backs of the chairs are held on not just with bolts, but with dowels. So I have to think carefully about how to remove them, exactly. I can maybe force them out without damaging the back legs, but I'm not sure.

I suppose I could try to drill out the screw cap on the lower end of the back legs, unscrew the bolt, and see if that gives me a little more give. On the other hand, the legs aren't all one piece, they're joined together with a sawtooth-type join (and glue? dowels?), so that might not help. I could probably cut the dowels, but that will make getting them out a pain in the ass.

Maybe I don't need to remove the back? It looks like it, though...

*scratches head*

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Well. The backs of the chairs are held on not just with bolts, but with dowels. So I have to think carefully about how to remove them, exactly. I can maybe force them out without damaging the back legs, but I'm not sure.

I suppose I could try to drill out the screw cap on the lower end of the back legs, unscrew the bolt, and see if that gives me a little more give. On the other hand, the legs aren't all one piece, they're joined together with a sawtooth-type join (and glue? dowels?), so that might not help. I could probably cut the dowels, but that will make getting them out a pain in the ass.

Maybe I don't need to remove the back? It looks like it, though...

*scratches head*

Hmm. We need a picture.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

So dashed my excitement over repairing the tv remote by purchasing another one. Alas, it just was not meant to be. Well, I can still rip it apart and 'play' I suppose.

[ergative]

The curtains in the bedroom came detached in a few places from their runners. WHen I got on a ladder to look, it turned out that in some cases, the little plastic hook just came unhooked, and it was an easy enough matter to re-hook them. In other places, the plastic hook itself had snapped. Fortunately, there is a string running along the top of the curtain, so I tied the string to the runner in the place where the hook would have hooked, were it still a hook and not a nub.

Success!

[apl68]

My washer is now getting overbalanced too easily and trying to walk around the room, and has developed incontinence.  The dryer sounds like it has belts slipping.  The set is 12 years old, I can't fix them, and it's hard anymore to find anybody locally who still can.  Looks I may have to replace them soon.

[mamselle]

Our washer used to shimmy to the rhythm of "Waltzing Matilda."

My dad had it up on a low base because it, too, leaked in its nether parts, and I recall as a kid worrying that it would dance itself right off its platform and down to the floor.

Good idea to consider a replacement!

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

My washer is now getting overbalanced too easily and trying to walk around the room, and has developed incontinence.  The dryer sounds like it has belts slipping.  The set is 12 years old, I can't fix them, and it's hard anymore to find anybody locally who still can.  Looks I may have to replace them soon.

Is it a front-loading or top-loading washer? It could be that the feet just aren't level (or something else). Twelve years is kind of young, IMO, for a washer/dryer set to go kaput.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Our washer used to shimmy to the rhythm of "Waltzing Matilda."

I love the visual I'm getting from this!

[apl68]

My washer is now getting overbalanced too easily and trying to walk around the room, and has developed incontinence.  The dryer sounds like it has belts slipping.  The set is 12 years old, I can't fix them, and it's hard anymore to find anybody locally who still can.  Looks I may have to replace them soon.

Is it a front-loading or top-loading washer? It could be that the feet just aren't level (or something else). Twelve years is kind of young, IMO, for a washer/dryer set to go kaput.

It's a top-loader.  The feet are level.  I've also determined that the lines hooking it to the water supply aren't leaking.  And the leaked water that ends up on the floor is clearly "used."