Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
Hey, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? If you guessed a T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set, you’de be right.
The set only cost me $12,100…or 12,100 points on my credit card. It’s pretty cool…I got the points, went on the website and placed the order. I think I did it last week and the pots came yesterday. They are nice stainless steel. I gave up on those teflon things because, if you look at our old pot set, you will notice that there is no teflon on them anymore. Plastic or no plastic, the stuff wears off.
Here is a pic…
Here is the description…
Two-tone brushed/polished stainless finish with engraved measuring marks on saucepan interiors. Offers aluminum core, cool-touch handles, and glass lids. Oven safe to 500° and dishwasher safe.
I must say, for a free pot set, they are pretty damn nice.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 1 Comment »
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
Yeeeeees, our Sean Conway™ Tiverton 2006 Dining Set has arrived.
I came home yesterday to see two big boxes on the front porch. I was wondering how they were going to ship this thing. Well, they put the four chairs in one big box and the table top and other parts in another big flat box.
I took the chairs out and attached the cushions. Then, I had to put together the table. It came with legs and individual tiles to put in their places as the table top. I was a little concerned that the tiles would crack in transit, but they didn’t. They were packed pretty well. Two extra tiles came as well, which is good, because two tiles have chipped corners. It looks like they were that way before the set was packed up. I think the tiles are regular 12″ square tiles, which is cool, because if we ever want to change the look pf the table, we can pick up some tiles from Home Depot or Lowes.
Anyway, here is the table all set up…
It’s pretty nice. I sat at it this morning and had my coffee while reading a magazine.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | No Comments »
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Laura and I went out to Sam’s Club and Lowes last night to get some stuff. By the way, I think it was “Obesity Wednesday” at Sam’s Club. We really have to get out of that place. I can’t stand looking at those people any more. I try…I really try to be a nice guy, but when I see someone who obviously has some issues load their cart up with soda, cookies and other junk, they are just stupid. Wow…what a rant. Maybe we will try Costco or something.
After we sqeezed through the herd at Sam’s Club and made it through the doors without any potato chip grease on us, we went across the parking lot to Lowes. We really needed to get an area rug for under the dining room table. Every time I pull a chair out, sit on it and slide it back in, I cringe. SCRAAAATCH. I even nailed those plastic sliders under each chair leg and table leg. The problem is…if there is any dirt on the floor, the plastic slider slides the dirt too, for a nice big scratch.
So this is the rug we picked up. I wanted to go cheap…really cheap. I found one for about $29 and received a look of disgust from Laura. She has standards I guess. We looked around a bit and found this nice one for around $100. I think it was the nicest one in the store. It measures 7′x10′.
Well, what do you think? Do you love it? If yes, write a comment. If no, keep your thoughts to yourself. HAHA.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 3 Comments »
Sunday, May 13th, 2007
I am not completely sure if you call them curtains or drapes. I am not sure I care either.
On Friday night, Laura and I decided to venture out to Lowes to look at some curtain stuff. Since the heat is back for the year, our living room and home office are taking a hit. It feels like our front windows are a giant magnifying glasses. Boy it gets hot. I planted trees in the front, but it will be a few years before they get large enough to offer any shade.
I have been hesitant to do the whole curtain thing because…well, I am cheap when it comes to that stuff. I just never really thought it was all that necessary. I guess I thought about it and decided that if I make a purchase in the name of energy efficiency, then it was ok. It’s not like we were using any more energy without the curtains, because we would just sit there and sweat.
So, here they are. Please excuse the dark picture, it was a bit sunny this morning.
Speaking of the morning…the photo above is of the bedroom. We would usually wake up to the sun shining in our eyes, which I really didn’t mind. It made me feel like it was nature’s way of doing things. Laura had a different opinion of that.
The curtains we hung throughout the house were Springs 40″ x 84″ Aspen Twill Panel, if that means anything to you. The bedroom has green walls, so we hung off-white curtains. The office has cappuccino colored walls, so we hung a wine colored curtain and the living room has a very light green/off-white color, so we hung a moss colored curtain. I think they look great.
Also, as far as the hardware goes (curtain rods), we purchased Beme Iron Bronze Ball Rod, which can be seen below.
Pretty good stuff. If feels like a whole new house and will be especially nice when the sun is beating down…on the outside of the curtains.
Here are some good links related to hanging curtains:
- How to hang curtains
- Using Curtains and Draperies in Your Home Decor
- Curtain Rod Tips Or How To Hang Your Curtains In Style
- Curtain Call
- How To: Hang Curtains Across Any Space
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 27th, 2007
This is an old post that I have been meaning to put up for about a year. Since it is raining outside and kind of slow here at work, what the heck.
Back when we first purchased this house, we noticed that the master bedroom was the place the the previous occupants kept their dogs. It stunk and had a carpet in it. I have a real hatred for carpets. The only thing carpets are good for is to have someplace for the dirt to hide. If you are allergic to dust, good luck. Sure, with hardwood, you are vacuuming every day, but what else do you have to do?
We decided to rip up the carpet right after we unpacked. Basically, the whole room was trashed. The walls had little holes in them and the floor was just dirty plywood, or what you would call “subfloor.” These people even used crown moulding as base moulding…real champs. They were also smokers, so the entire house would need painting. Yum! Listen, here is a word of wisdom…if you can’t do it correctly, then please don’t do it. It is a real waste of resources and money for the next guy to have to tear it up and re-do it.
Anyway, since we were on a budget and have pets of our own, we decided to lay down some laminate flooring. I heard the stuff was really tough. A guy that I work with (Kevin) told me about a flooring place in Middletown that had good prices. He was right and I purchased enough Mohawk Laminate Flooring for the first room. We eventually did the whole house, except for the kitchen and bathroom. That’s going to be tile.
To start, you are going to need a few things. You will need a miter saw, a hammer, a circular saw, the laminate floor installation tool (looks like a small flat crowbar) and a bowl with water and a sponge. I really advise that you purchase the installation tool. You won’t think you need it until the very end. If you don’t have it, you will find yourself in Home Depot. It’s only like $13, so just get it.
I purchased the foam that goes under the floor too. The flooring I bought doesn’t require it because it had a thin layer attached, but I read that it takes the imperfections out of the subfloor. I will tell you about the consequences of that later. As you can see from above, it’s fairly simple to lay down. First, you cut your foam to size, if you decide to use it, and staple it to the floor. Then, you start from one corner and start popping the pieces together. When you cut your last piece, take the extra and walk it back to the beginning. That’s your starting piece for the next row…and so on. There will most likely be instructions on the box of flooring.
The flooring that I bought had glue pre-applied to the edges. When attaching one piece to the next, use your sponge to wet the edge, then pop it together. When you are done with the floor, install your base moulding and your good to go.
I think the directions said to wait a day for the floor to dry before putting the furniture back in. I am not sure if I read that part. Either way, the furniture made it back into the room.
Ok, so here is my opinion of laminate flooring, now that I installed about 1,000 square feet of the stuff. It’s ok, if you are on a budget. When you walk on it, due to the foam and it being a “floating” floor, some spots can feel kind of soft. You might like that because it is easy on the feet, but when I walk on it barefoot, it kind of annoys me. I like to walk barefoot on concrete, but that’s me.
I have to say that it looks good, but people will know it’s laminate. The way the world is heading, this may be a trend, so that’s ok. Also, if you scratch it or chip it, I think you may be out of luck. There are fillers and scratch touch up products, but don’t count on sanding the floor down in 15 years to refinish it.
Overall, laminate flooring is a good alternative to carpet. If I had it to do over again…and I will in our next house, I would do Bamboo. Now THAT’S a floor!
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 1 Comment »
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
Ok, as promised in my last post, I am going to give you the secret on how to properly cut crown moulding. Take a look at IMAGE REMOVED and then I will explain.
The above linked image belongs to WEBSITE REMOVED. Anyway, I will give you a little instruction, because the directions above can be kind of confusing. First, I want to give you a little piece of advice. When you begin to make your cuts, DO NOT THINK. That’s right…the minute you start thinking of how the cut is supposed to come out, you will screw it up. I have been using the directions in the image above for over a year. Every cut has come out perfectly. The first cut I made today I totally screwed up because I tried to get fancy and actually consider what the angle was supposed to look like when it was done. Don’t do it. Just follow the directions. For some reason, our brains just aren’t wired for this type of work.
When making my cuts, I like to keep the blade vertical, so I use the instructions on the right. This means that I have to lay the moulding on an angle, like the picture all the way to the right, above. So, let’s say you want to make a cut on the right side of your moulding on an inside corner. Take a look at the image above and look what it has to say. If you look at the A B C D chart in the middle, it shows that your cut is a “B” cut. Look down a little lower and follow the instructions for the “B” cut. It says to turn your blade for a 45 degree angle to the left with a 0 degree tilt. Ok, easy enough. Here is the tricky part. Hold your moulding in your hand the way it will be placed against the wall…as if you were actually holding it in place in the corner. Now, take the moulding and flip it over so now the left side is on the right and vice versa. Your moulding is now upside down, with the good side still facing front. Place the moulding on the saw this way, on an angle like above, with the good side facing you, like above. Make your cut. DON’T THINK…just make your cut. Now, flip the moulding back over and hold it against the wall and notice that the cut has been made to perfection. It really is that easy. Keep trying different cuts and you will see that the less you think and the more you follow the directions, the better they come out. My advice to you is that you practice on a few pieces of scrap before you start cutting up the good stuff. If you want a larger image to print out, just IMAGE REMOVED.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 5 Comments »
Saturday, October 28th, 2006
Guess what I got today? I have been wanting this particular tool for years. Last Autumn, when I was hanging moulding in one bedroom and building a new front porch, I borrowed my friend Craig’s miter saw. Recently, like a bum, he came back and grabbed it for something he was working on. Since Winter is coming up, I decided it might be a good idea to finish the moulding in the rest of the house. With moulding, it is a good idea to do room by room, so you don’t go broke. Well, this morning, I broke down and went to Lowe’s and picked up a DW703 DeWalt Miter Saw. I also picked up about a hundred feet of moulding for around the windows and doors of the bedroom.
I made some cuts on the moulding to test out this saw. Wow…what a smooth operator. The thing I like about DeWalt is that they offer many attachments to go with their tools. There are so many cheap brands of tools out there, but after I had my experience with my Black & Decker rip saw (I had to return twice because I blew the bearings), I decided to buy only quality from now on.
As I mentioned above, I started hanging the moulding in the bedroom today. I want to give a few tips, one of which I learning this morning from my father. Here is a picture of the windows before anything is done to them:
The first thing I do, whenever I start a moulding project is to grab a piece and make some marks on the walls where the moulding is supposed to go. This helps later on when I need to make some marks on the moulding itself before cutting it, as well as when I am ready to nail it to the wall. I line the marks up with the corners of the windows or doors, whichever I am working on at the moment.
I make these marks by using the moulding itself as a straight-edge. After I make the marks on the wall, I mark up the moulding. Notice on the photo above that I mark where I want to make the cut as well as the angle it is supposed to be cut. I do this on both sides. I am sure you can imagine how many people cut their angles the wrong way. This is just an error proof move.
Ok, I have cut all my pieces with my new miter saw and am ready to hang. I use the marks that I made earlier on the wall to line up the moulding vertically and horizontally. Then I use a 5/64″ drill bit to drill 4 evenly spaced holes in the moulding only…not the wall. This is what I learned from my father this morning. It stops the moulding from splitting. Also, the material that this stuff is made out loves to make it difficult to get my 1 1/2 inch finishing nails started and who like bent nails after whacking them a few times…
After I placed the moulding on the wall, one piece at a time and put the nails in the holes, I use a 1/32″ nail set to hammer the nails in the wall. This reduces the chances of those lovely hammer marks and dents in your new moulding.
After a few minutes of work, I was pleased to see such a wonderful result.
Now, All I need to do is to caulk the corners and nail holes with white caulk and paint the moulding white. Next…the crown moulding and the base moulding. I am going to do a post on how to install crown moulding, because I have the secret as well as a guide you can look at. Adios…
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 4 Comments »
