Pack of the Variety Type.

 

Boy, it's been a stitch since I've penned a Variety Pack, goodness!  It's not for a lack of variety projects, heh, it must just plain ol' be me.

Well, let's hop right to it then, shall we?

First up, dat' gutter alternative over 'dere on dee uh graj rooftop 'dere.  Making sure you know I'm from Chicago.  

Anyway, yes, it works and it's been great and I even set out a watering can to catch runoff for watering plants.  Heh, doing that but I couldn't get my a** in gear to make the flippin' rain barrel work.

Regardless.  One rainy day I peeped out the window and noticed that the non-watering can side was dripping right onto the fabulous awning.  Well that is not good.

So I don't know whyyy, I picked up another piece of the drip edge but in white, why?, and stuffed it under the very end of the shingles.  Didn't work.  

The next attempt, I picked up yet another piece, I am indeed shaking my head as I type this, but in the matching bronze-y shade, clipped a hunk off, snipped a few spots, and made an angled shape.  It hasn't rained since to test but I will keep you afloat (ahhhh haha, float, water pun).

Top left, before.  Below it, the white drip edge, boo.  Right, the additional bent piece.

Oh!  Rain!  Woot!  Ok, it kinda mostly works, needs minor adjustments.  And caulk.

Note on that awing...the stitching is starting to fail and fall apart.  I dunno what we're gonna do.  Hm.....

While we're near the garage, here's a safety tip for you, courtesy of our super cool neighbors Anne and Renee.

Turns out folks will pop a hole in your garage door, fish a thingie through, pull the door release cable, and roll the door right up to clean you right out.  Huh, hadn't heard of that but it's happened to Renee.  Folks, I should say thieves not folks.

Easy way to thwart the easy roll up?  Untie your release cord, should be relatively easy-ish, then knot it onto a carabiner* which you then hang in another part of the garage.  When you need it, hook it onto the door release, then unhook and store when you don't.

Top left, the cord normally.  Below left, knotting to a carabiner.  Right, easy to hook on and off!

Sure, that won't stop jerks from popping a dang hole in your garage door, true, but!, it will keep them from freely zipping the door open with rude thievery in mind.

Mmmm, what else I got for ya...

Oh yes, speaking of not sure why I did this and I think I kinda regret it because, well, screws through wallpaper but, hm.

I found one of those small Ikea picture ledge type shelves lingering in the basement and suddenly opted to put it up in the kitchen.

Granted, I had to trim it.  Which is scary because it has a sort of laminate coating that can crack and shatter.  No worries.  Wrap some painters tape* around where you're cutting and zip right through it with a (in my case, miter*) saw.

Messy messy whooo, but you can cut them.  Peel the tape and paint the edge to match.

All I did next was align it with the bottom edge of the uppers using that swanky laser level and attached it according to the directions using screw-in wall anchors* and screws.  

Top left, before.  Top right, tape and cutting.  Bottom left, aligning with the laser and bottom right, painting the edge black to match.

The intention was to interchangeably set various items atop it, framed pictures, little vases, who knows, ya know, whatever, whim stuff.  Kind of regret it.  Or maybe I haven't found the right whim stuff.  It is what it is now, heh.

One thing I thoroughly do not regret in the screws-through-wallpaper department is the silicone-wrapped magnetic knife holder* in black I installed.  Definitely a huge free-er up-er of counter space and I strongly recommend one.  

Good heavens I dislike these countertops, my word.

Ours is tucked enough away from knives dropping on Mike's hand or on Finn as both of those things would be horrifyingly terrible.

Oh jeez, I hadn't updated on the kitchen wallpaper, just the record album area, wow what is my problem?!  Ok,  here it is:

Untidy kitchen, hence the half shot.  Shelves on the uppers are still awesome!  But yes, this paper is similar to the record album area except it's silver and black.  And I may have made an installation error.

Sorry 'bout that.

Back over by the pantry, I had run back to Ikea to grab one more Filur white bin to store my unbelievably large forty four pound bag of flour.   Hey, I bake.

To make life easier on the two recycle bins, I picked up some cutie super duper itty bitty casters.*  Measuring the underside indent of a bin, I cut a piece of scrap wood to fit snuggly in there then attached the casters to that.

Top left, the itty casters.  Top right, cutting the wood to fit.  Bottom left, screwing on the casters.  Bottom right, voila, rolling bin!

Works great too, even on our kittywampus uneven pantry floor.  Although I think I may need to attach the wood more securely to the bins somehow as they separate from each other on occasion.

Last project for this Variety Pack post, the front porch.

Ooooh ya know, I wish companies would make products that work like they say they're supposed to.  But no, the stain I had put out front completely wore off, like completely, totally, worn away.  Ugh.  

I mean, that's bad.  Bad product.  Thumbs down.

Ugh.

So you know what that meant?  I had to pull another Deck Redux like I had done previously.

Thankfully the front porch is a much smaller area, whew, heh!  But, same process.

Stripped* the old stain.  Ran some deck brightener* across it.  Let it dry.  Admired how nicely it cleaned up once dry, wow, pat on the ol' back there Becky!

Top left, the stripper.  Top right, stripping in progress.  Yeah, direct hot sun isn't ideal here but not much I could do.  Bottom left, the brightener, and lastly, the stain on the bottom right.  I did need two samples so I shoulda gotten a pint.

Re-stained with a quality stain this time from Cabot.*  I thought the color was supposed to be darker so I'm a wee bummed but Mike says he likes it so that's good enough for me.

Tada!

Ok!  I need a recipe for you as is customary in Variety Pack posts.  My baking recipe collection is growing over at The Bake Dept so if you'd like to bake, please head there.  

Ah, this Smokin' Summer Spice Dry Rub goes on many a thing in our household.  Not on these BBQ Chicken Kebabs, but these are delicious and perfect for summer grilling.

All righty!  That's our Variety Pack for the day!  Multiple projects in the works around here now that I'm moving (carefully) again so stay tuned!

*The painters tape, carabiners, wall anchors, knife holder, and casters are Amazon affiliate links.  The deck stripper and Cabot stains are Lowes affiliate links.  The miter saws and deck brighteners are Home Depot affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.