Our Poverty with a View » home improvement

Hang On

Brittney — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:53:51 +0000

Well now you can hang on. To our newly installed handrail! This is the crowning jewel of our step and sidewalk project. Our lovely Churdan neighbor, Minnehan Metal Works, crafted up this fancy new railing for us. I wanted something really simple and this worked out perfectly!

Before- our sad, rail-less walkway

Measuring the steps to make sure the railing is level and equally spaced on both stairs.

Using the concrete drill to drill our holes for the bolts.

Here’s the glorious after. Love that railing!

Let there be light

Brittney — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:48:58 +0000

Since ye olde homestead is up for sale we’ve had to tackle all of the projects that we pushed waaay back to the end of our to-do list. Like re-paint the bathroom ceiling and add a new light fixture. Sounds fun, right? It’s not. We called in the backup troops with our latest projects since we were on a pretty strict deadline. Handyman extraordinaire (aka my step-dad Doug) came to rescue.

Here’s what we started with-yuck!

Here’s our beautiful after

It isn’t a dramatic difference but it makes the whole room (which is small anyhow) look more put together and finished. Yay for finishing projects!

Have you finished anything on your to-do list lately?

Cheap and Easy

Brittney — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:34:42 +0000

That’s how to describe this quick home update. Our light switch in our office was looking a little drab. Off to Home Depot and $1.45 later we were the proud owners of a new white light switch and plate cover. Our wiring is pretty old so we followed the directions here to make sure we were connecting the wires correctly.

Here we have the old light switch-ugly and scary looking.

Step 1: Turn OFF the power. This is important.

Step 2: Remove the old light switch plate

Step 3: Remove the screws holding the actual light switch into the wall

Step 4: Carefully unscrew the old wires from the light switch. Make sure you either mark or remember where each wire goes on the light switch.

Step 5: Screw the wires to the new switch and then re-attach the switch to the wall.

Step 6: Attach new wall plate. Stomp your feet when you realize your new wall plate is a teensy bit smaller than the old one. Dig out old paint and touch up the paint.

Step 7: Re-attach wall switch after you’ve let the paint dry. Enjoy your beautification!