Variety Pack: Fixes and Re-do's and Wrap Up's.

It's been a smattering of unrelated this that the other things getting done, hopping randomly from one thing to the next.  I'm not sure why my brain is so scattery.  Mike's probably making plenty of Becky-getting-old jokes at this moment.

Still though, a few things have gotten fixed or redone or wrapped up so hey, at least some portion of my whack-a-doodle noodle is functioning.

One day I skittered past the basement bathroom and did a double take; enough of its sad state, my brain piped.  Ah ha, piped, pun.  So I finally grabbed a sanding block, buffed down the joint compound as best I could, and got the painting wrapped up.

Here's how it has been for, oh, ahem, a while now.

Pretty uneventful conclusion after all that crap and time and effort I had rolling in there.  It's still not complete complete as I need to redo the quarter round trim due to the vacancy left from the former vanity.  And probably touch up missing grout.  Eh, but the walls are all painted.

For sh*ts and giggles I painted the drain pipe as the cheapo white plastic was proving a visual assault to my poor eyes.  Just to see.  Yeah, it's weird and probably stands out more but, heh, whatever, it's the basement bathroom aka Hailey's now Finn's bath time area so yeah, it's not a show piece of a room.

I could though....aw dear, other projects first.  Other projects first.

And here's how it is now.

The television console cabinet thingie-ma-jig is back up after its scary shift and is safely, tightly, very securely attached to the wall.  Whew.

Finn:  everywhere you want to be.  Oh, finally got him weighed!  93.4 pounds!  We packed twenty pounds onto that guy!

I had to move and/or replace the pieces of OSB that were mounting brackets of sorts.  One piece of OSB was shattered and splintered.  Oops.  Oh well.

Locating of studs, new 1x bracing brackets mount support thingies.

This time I found the studs in the wall.  Heh.  And this time too I used these awesome fancy screws* I've used before.  Grrrrr, they're butch-a** screws, I was not messing around.  This thing is STAYING on the wall dammit.

My trusty furry assistant making sure this package is safe for Mommy to touch.

The whole console had to skooch a tiny hair of a smidge in one direction which resulted in me having to remove the center divider to trim it since the cable outlet was right smack there.  No worries.

That cable installer guy, no rhyme nor reason as to where he put this outlet.

After that little snip, the whole thing went back up with those butch screws.  So all good, all in, all done.  clap clap, moving on!

Yay!  NOT moving!

Oh, I popped into the icky utility closet to check the water heater temperature, make sure it was still on the eco setting when I happened to glance up.

Photo doesn't do this justice -- it was a good 4"+ gap.

Yeah, a duct, yeah, just ploop, dropped off.  Turns out it was only taped on, on one side.  Of the two sides that are reachable.

Sigh, omg, seriously?!  Ok.  Who does this sh*tty kind of work?!

I tried to sink in some sheet metal screws to attach the ducts together but very well could not because the pieces don't overlap enough.  So yep, I had to tape it back up with that silver foil tape and now I feel like a jerk and a hack.

Grrrr.

Mike said he'd look at it with me but we keep forgetting.  So long as it's still up for now.  I ought to recheck.

Ah!  New garage light!*  Thanks awning.

New light!

I spent more than I wanted to but, well, unfortunately sh*t happens sometimes.

Of course because the fixture was special order at Menards, of course I couldn't see the base of it beforehand so of course it is slightly smaller than the previous fixture.  Always my lot in life.

I got it to work but not after a good skirmish because heh, of course, why would it be any other way?

What a mess.

Turns out the electrical box is crooked, held on by two screws, and the tabs were getting in the way of the new fixture's base.

And then of course too, these nuts were so tightened down it took me forever to get them loose to adjust the depth.  Ugh.

After plenty of wrestling and swear words, it went up.  Gave it a caulk-around, flipped the power back on, and yay, we have a new light fixture.  Turns out we both like it better than the previous one.

Hey hey, new light!

Then Mike's boss Ken lent me his cordless brad nailer* so even though I was not mentally prepared to take on the master bathroom door casing re-try, but the tool was delivered and I wanted to return it to him asap, forcing my hand, I had to get to it.

Hm, maybe he and Mike are in cahoots to get me to finish projects....hm....

Nervous I was.  Since I messed up the casing so badly previously.

So this time, this time I was smarter and hit the internet to learn.  First site I happened upon for "how to door casing" was Family Handyman.

I tried to read it but blahditty blah blah it was going poof through my eyeballs out the back of my head.  So my advice here is skip all the text, scroll down, just watch the "How to Trim a Door" video and you will be golden.

I must say, this is the, well, ok, the only thing I watched on how to do door casing but after watching it, I didn't need to see, read, nor hear anything else.  It was seriously that helpful.

Here's my one tip:  draw the miter cut direction onto the trim so you don't get lost or confused like I do.

I followed his directions despite my head scratch hesitations of not using a tape measure (huh??  Not use a tape measure?!?!) and it worked.  Like a charm.  Like darn near perfection.

My very first corner after watching that video.  Yeah.  See?  If I could do that, anyone can.

Right away I wasted one whole stick of trim which sucked, which meant I had to run out and buy one more stick which also sucked.  Eh, learning curve, right?

Yeah.  Casing meeting the floor.  Seriously, I'm tellin' ya, that video, man.  Props to Travis Larson!

But now it's done.  Whewwwwwwww.  Off my shoulders, a chunk of house-to-do hovering stress eliminated.  Well, I need to ....heh, don't I say that for every project?  "It's done but..."  Heh.  I need to patch the nail divots and paint.

Even got the baseboard and quarter round back up on the bedroom side while I had the nailer.  Look how close that casing is to the floor, wow.  Seriously, that video.

I must say, for having watched one video, absorbing the lesson then having a go at it, my go at it is not too bad!  And the tool was fun!  As a thanks, Ken got a brand new pack of brad nails even though I barely used any that he sent along.

Onto the first floor bathroom.  And oh, it is on, people.  It is on.

*The Walldog screws, Jesco outdoor wall light, and cordless brad nailer are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.