I didn't get to write an update last weekend because we were so busy so this will be an update of the last few weeks. Sorry to those who were waiting with great anticipation for an update (all 1 of you).
Last weekend I got out the best tool any homeowner can own, the pressure washer and went shithouse on the deck, walkway, and part of the house. It took me 3.5 tanks of gas, several hours, and god knows how much water to clean everything but the results are awesome. The deck is now it's natual color again (instead of it's natural color mixed with a dirty brownish-green) and the walkway is a very light gray. The biggest improvement was on the side of the house. I decided to test out what a clean house would look like so I cleaned one half of the wall with the doors. The results are incredible. The cleaned side is a nice brown color as compared to the gray-green the uncleaned side is. In true angry homeowner fashion I was able to make an incredible mess cleaning off the house. I managed to soak myself in a brown sludge that flew off the side of the house. It might as well have been raining brown because I was a soaking mess. Once we had everything cleaned off we brought out the patio furniture so we can now have people over for beer and bbq (about time, I know).
Meanwhile, Jess sanded, reapplied joint compound, and sanded again the newly rebuilt inside wall. Our goal for this weekend was to paint the wall and stain the doors. We were getting kinda sick of looking at a semi-built wall (we haven't had a full wall there since early april) so first thing Saturday morning Jess got painting and after about an hour had the whole wall painted and it looks just like the rest of the room. As soon as she was done painting I got out the stain and put a coat of stain on the doors. We had to do something soon because the unfinished pine is like a dirt magnet. If you walked near the doors with dirty hands, the dirt would fly off of your hands and stick to the doors (yeah it was that bad). While not as painful as staining the desks, I will not be retiring from programming anytime soon to be a professional door stainer. Like the newly painted wall, the doors look pretty damn sweet. I will have to add a coat of finish or poly still (that has been scheduled for this week or next weekend) but the doors are nearing completion!
There are only a few pieces of the door puzzle left. First we have to add some sort of frame/moulding around the door so it looks finished. Next we have a bigger project which is to tear up the rug in the dining room and replace it with a Pergo floor. We went to Lowes yesterday and priced out what we were looking for so now we have to take our measurements and plan that mission out. Hopefully within the next few weeks we can get that done.
The nerd in me is also working on an interesting project (not making a lot of progress yet) involving the receiver that controls the outdoor speakers, the linux server I have in the basement, a Lego Mindstorms IR Tower, and LIRC. The goal is to find a way to control the receiver remotely using the web. So far I haven't had a great deal of success but I'm getting closer each day. When I figure that mess out I will post the results of the configuration.
That about does it for this update. I hopefully will not be lazy and get back on my weekly (or more) updating schedule. To see the latest pictures of the door picture click
here.