Friday, August 29th, 2008
There is something that really bugs me about myself. I think I’ll tell you what it is. My brother has the same problem. We I get something in my head, it rarely leaves until I satisfy it. Many times, it has to do with a project I am doing and it involves me going to the store to buy something. I am a pig.
With that said, I decided to beef up the landscape lighting I installed the other day. I mean, it looked good and all, but I didn’t think it was enough. Ever since I went to Punta Cana and saw what the resort did with landscape lighting, I have been intrigued. I like the effects of landscape lighting at night. In my humble opinion, it’s really cool.
Now, I know you remember the six landscape lights that I set up just the other day. I bet you thought that was pretty cool. Well, that was nothing and personally, I thought it was a bit wimpy.
I decided to go back to Home Depot to get six more lights, but this time I got six Malibu low voltage flood lights. They are wicked cool. I also had to upgrade the 121 watt power pack to a 300 watt power pack because there were more lights in the system. That wasn’t hard, it just cost more money. By the way, if anyone wants to set up their own landscape lighting system and needs a 121 watt power pack (good for about ten low voltage lights), let me know and I will give you the old one.
So now, we have six low voltage sidewalk lights and six low voltage flood lights that face up towards the house.
Take a look at what I’m talking about…
How cool is that? Just a few lights brought the place from dark and boring to warm and inviting. I think it looks great, but would love to hear what you think.
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I have been busting my butt to get the front sidewalk area of the house landscaped. It wasn’t all that difficult because things were in pretty good shape. I really like mulch areas, so I decided to add a few. Keeps the weeds down, if you know what I mean. Also, it just looks damn good.
After a few trips to the local hardware store for some mulch and a lot of weeding and digging, I can finally show you some photos of my hard work. I think you will be impressed with my perfection.
Here you go.
Front of the house from a distance
New Blue Princess Holly bush
After all that weeding and trimming, I had a few open areas. I decided to get two Blue Princess Holly bushes to fill the void. I also decided to get some more landscape lighting. Oh, you just wait for the next post for that one.
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
I told you in my last post that I was going to take some pictures of the freshly installed sidewalk lights at night. Well, guess what I just did. You got it. I took some pictures, but at dusk, not night. I am not sure they would have come out at night.
I think I have a dim bulb, but they aren’t bad. Here, check them out…
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
As you may know, I have been doing a lot of work outside trying to make things look nice. A lot of sweat has gone into these projects. Things are rolling along smoothly and actually getting somewhere.
I have been visiting the local hardware store every few days to get a yard of mulch. I can fit twelve bags in the car, which is actually about a yard and a third. It’s good enough to do smaller areas. Once you start raking, mulch doesn’t go all that far.
I am up to the front sidewalk area of the house. I weeded the whole area this morning in preparation for the sidewalk lighting I purchased at Home Depot yesterday. There were already three lights out there, but two of them were out. I decided to buy three more lights and a set of bulbs. I got the Malibu “Do-it-yourself” metal lights, because they matched the ones already installed.
These lights are pretty nice. They are about a foot and a half tall, made of metal, use 11 watt bulbs and are really easy to install.
Since there were already some installed, but I like to do things my own way, I decided to take them out, along with all the wire. With the 50′ of outdoor wire I bought yesterday, coupled with the existing wire, I had plenty to add three light to make a total of six.
After I did all the weeding and pulled out the wire and lighting fixtures, I assembled all the new lights. Each one took just a few minutes. I installed the lights and re-ran the wire so it accessed all of them. I changed the time on the outdoor timer and took a look. Miraculously, all of them worked. I am very excited for it to get dark tonight to I can attempt another picture. I am hoping it will come out so I can post it here. Then, you will see the pure beauty of my work.
After I showed Laura what I did, she suggested that we put in some small floodlights that aim at the house from the sidewalk, facing upward. I am sure you have seen them. There are a few houses that have those types of lights in this neighborhood and I get jealous when I see them. There is nothing worse than a naked, dark house at night time. Well, I’m sure there are some things worse than that. But still, it’s all about the lighting.
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Friday, November 30th, 2007
I really hated the kitchen ceiling fan/light that came with the house. Not that it is a bad unit, it’s that it hung about an inch too low and was a nice target for the top of my head. Oh, how many times can a man that is six foot, two and three quarter inches tall hit his head on a light before he wants to throw it through the window?
I also wanted to get rid of it because it is gold and brown. I am sure they still sell the same unit at Lowe’s or Home Depot. It’s probably over a hundred bucks. I asked Paul if he wanted it. I am awaiting his reply.
To brighten up the room, during and after its new makeover, I decided to pick up a new ceiling fan/light unit. I chose the Harbor Breeze
52″ Chesire White 4 Light Kit Fan. The reason I got this is because it hugs the ceiling, as opposed to hanging from a rod. This gives it more height. The unit is white (which I wanted), has four bulbs (which I thought were the regular kind, not the little ones) and has five blades. The only thing I didn’t like about the one in the box were the four frosted globes. I picked up four globes that are clear and aged looking, like our dining room light.
I wired the whole thing up and put it together. Then, I tried it out…ooooh, nice and smooth. Quiet too. Not bad for being one of the cheaper models.
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