DIY Diva with a Drill

A month or so ago, Laurie Perry (aka Crazy Aunt Purl) wrote a blog post about Kim & Aggie, the Queens of Clean from How Clean is Your House. That reminded me that, hey, I like that show! Wanting to find any episodes I missed, I promptly set up my DVR to record the thrice-daily showings on BBC America. This would be fun!

I had no idea what I was starting.

For those who haven't seen the original British version of How Clean is Your House, here's how it goes. Kim and Aggie go to a filthy house somewhere in the U.K., usually one that is filled to the brim with clutter as well as dirt. With horror music as their accompaniment, they explore the mess in such a way as to leave no question about how little care the homeowner has taken. They push monster cobwebs to one side, stick their finger into a half inch of rancid fat in the kitchen, and sniff stained carpets and bedclothes in such a way as to make you shudder.  Read more »

Even before we saw the house that we ended up buying (back in 2005) we knew it was going to be a fixer-upper. The description portion of the MLS listing included a count of the rooms with the simple addition of, "Freshly painted. View lot. Potential plus."

Yeah, "potential plus." For those who don't know, that's Realtor code for, "you're going to be fixing up this house for a long, long time."  Read more »

The other day, while I was painting my art studio at 2:00 am (as you do), I was thinking about how I wished I were one of those "master edger" types of people. You know, the kind who doesn't need a lick of blue tape to do a clean and pristine paint job; they just delicately drag their paint brush near the woodwork and voila! Perfect edges. No tape.

I kind of hate them.  Read more »

You may already know that when you're done painting for the day, you can drop your paint-covered roller or brush into a zip-style plastic bag, pop it in the fridge, and then use it again the next day. I do that with paints and varnishes all the time -- it saves me from putting paint down the drain until I absolutely have to.  Read more »

I am in such intense nesting mode right now that perhaps I should consider getting a pregnancy test. Well, okay, maybe not; I think we can assume that the laws of procreation have not been superseded of late.

That leaves the Studio Makeover project to blame. If I hadn't innocently begun "putting my art studio in order," things would not have spiraled out of control. I wouldn't have had the cabinets taken down or had this huge room repainted or re-organized the entire garage. We might have had some peace around here.  Read more »

Imagine this: You're shopping at the dollar store when you see these glasses in the home improvement section:

Let's see...they are clear glasses with no correction or magnification on the lens. They are oversized. The logo in the upper left corner says, "Tool Bench." What do you think they are?

If you said, "Safety glasses," then I say, "Ha!"  Read more »

The studio paint color drama continues.

Kathy took a look at the studio this morning. Oh, yes, it looks very pretty when you look at the painting over the white loveseat. Very nice. But once you sit down on that loveseat and look in the other directions...it is different.

"It looks institutional over there. I feel like I'm in a doctor's office. But it looks pretty over there. Hmmm."

I paraded the big painted pieces of foam core around the room, including the new Bahaman Sea Blue. The verdict? My first choice, Gem Turquoise (aka "bold and daring") was the winner. GO FIGURE.  Read more »

After eight hours of labor on the part of two very good painters, my studio has been transformed. The walls are now a lovely shade of aqua. The color virtually sings around the walls of the room, significantly brightening a large space that has always suffered a dearth of natural light. It's downright happy now.

It is also absolutely the wrong shade of aqua for me.  Read more »

As I hinted at in, The Handyman is Coming! The Handyman is Coming!, none of my dark imaginings about handyman disaster came into being. After a mere four hours of work, Gustavo:  Read more »

When you hire a handyperson to come over and do some work on your house, what kind of build-up is involved in getting ready? Do you just shove a few things to the side, let her or him in, point at the work to be done, and go along your merry way? Yes?

Sigh. I wish I were like you, then. For me, the experience is far, far more...complicated.

I start with the act of making a simple, happy list, and soon it all spirals out of control. Out of control in a specific, structured manner, that is. Let me explain how it works.

Step 1: Making the List

Before I call my handyman, I gotta make the List. You know, the list of everything that I want him to do.  Read more »

When you imagine a good professional organizer, what skill or attribute seems to be the most valuable? The way an insightful professional can convince you to let go of the junk that once seemed so important, but now just gets in the way? The way she or he can visualize how a space will work best for your needs, exceeding even your own vision? Or maybe his or her encyclopedic knowledge of storage solutions, showing you how to store 50 things in a place where previously you could only fit 15?

Ha! All of that is mere child's play. To me, the most amazing thing an organizer can do is simply make my stuff go away. Instantly. That makes them worth their weight in gold.  Read more »

Let's eavesdrop on last night's conversation, after I read my "Busy, Busy Girl" blog entry to Kathy when she was on the drive home:

Kathy: "Everyone must be wondering, 'Exactly where is Kathy while Alix is doing all this work?' They probably think I'm sitting in a lawn chair, drinking a Mai Tai, just listening to the radio and waiting for Bonds to hit a home run. Maybe they even imagine I'm staring at the radio while I cheer him on!"

Alix: "Wait, in the first draft, I explained what you were doing. But then I added some other stuff and that part didn't work with the flow, so it got edited out."  Read more »

I've been pretty quiet for the past five days because I've been busy working on my studio and my garage. Busy as in, manic organizing woman busy, and gee, is this ever overdue!

I am a bit taken aback that I have lived in this house for almost two years and yet I've never completely whipped my studio into shape. I know that Kathy would say that the house was under repairs for months and then I was off fixing up another house to sell and then I had to deal with cancer...blah, blah, blah...but REALLY! The time has come to make this studio work for me.  Read more »

The first eight months after moving into our fixer-upper seemed like an endless jumble of drill bits, odd screws, and mismatched wall anchors. I was forever assembling things or attaching storage items to the wall, whether it be a display shelf or a huge cabinet or heavy-duty garage shelving. Ever the precise girl, it drove me crazy to have unmarked drill bits. Even worse was not knowing which one I needed to drill the proper pilot hole for a given screw.  Read more »

Kathy and I went to the Orchard Supply How-To Fair today. You may remember that this is the fair where I met Pat Simpson last year and had him sign my drill. This year, we were going to meet Lee Snijders, lead designer of "team A" for Design on a Dime, one of our favorite shows. I brought my utility knife for him to sign. I love my utility knife with the snap-off blades, almost as much as I love my drill. It is a Stanley knife, in case you are curious.  Read more »

Being geek girls, Kathy and I have equipped are home with a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm system that is very cool. Or, at least, it is supposed to be.

Here's how it works. We have three alarm units that are networked together. Each one is programmed with its location, such as "hallway" or "kitchen." When an alarm goes off, it states the nature of the problem and its location (through a voice alert) followed by an alarm sound. Then, the other two alarms get a signal and they, too, repeat the message.  Read more »

Happy New Year, everyone!

In hopes of having a better chance at a good year, I have made the radical decision to discontinue Tamoxifen treatment. The past several weeks have been a descent into hell thanks to my body's personal response to the drug. What good is it to lower my risk of breast cancer recurrence if I cannot enjoy my life? The anxiety was edging me toward suicidal thoughts and that is where I draw the line.  Read more »

Gustavo, one of my handymen, came over today to do some work for me. When I reviewed the main job with him (rerouting some venting) he pointed out that it really didn't need to be done right now. But I had him for the day, so I pulled out my ever-ready To Do list and started rattling off alternative tasks. Several of these were tasks that I had intended to do myself, but since I hadn't gotten around to them in months (I know, what have I been doing with my time) it seemed a good idea to have Gustavo stepped in.

So, in just six short hours, he:  Read more »

I have a new love in my life: 3M Command Hooks.

Oh, I've seen the commercials for years and I've scoffed. How can they really hold weight without piercing or damaging a wall? Why on earth would I even need them? But today, I understood.

Today's project was to put up hooks in the hall closet. I wanted to hang a broom, two Swiffer dusters (one with an extension), a dustpan, a mop, and a upholstery-size lint roller. I put these hooks around the back wall, waited an hour for the adhesive to set, then put all the tools on the hooks. Voila! Perfect organization. No more fumbling about for anything.  Read more »

When my sister and her kids came to visit me last summer, I showed her a pretty purple trumpet-like flower from the backyard. I was fascinated by the intensity of color. Debbie was less than impressed. She identified it as a blue morning glory vine and warned me to be careful, because they'd smother and kill whatever they could grow their way over. Given that we still haven't landscaped our mish-mash of a backyard, I figured it the vines wouldn't matter until we got around to doing a landscape overhaul.

Then a few months passed. Cue dramatic music: dun-dun-DUN!

   Read more »

Yesterday, Tilly let me know that Alfredo (our Pest Control man) needed to "come and get something."

She didn't want to eat her breakfast. Instead, she sniffed around the trapdoor, which is close to her food dish. Then she sat in the middle of it and looked pointedly at me. I was like, "I get it, I get it."

Of course, I opened the trapdoor to look because, as you know, I refuse to be one of those dictators who orders executions and then disavows all knowledge of the bodies. Lovely.  Read more »

As the days grow shorter and a deep chill invades the night air, we enter the season of uninvited visitors. And no, I'm not talking about your mother-in-law from Tucson. I'm talking about rodents.  Read more »

Happy birthday to me! Kathy and I had a birthday celebration today and she gave me cool presents. She bought the computer adventure Syberia for me (I'd be wanting to play that for a while) and she had boxed DVD sets of the Dead Like Me TV series. I really like that series; it's unfortunate that it was cancelled by Showtime. I've been catching re-runs on SciFi channel, but now I can binge on the show which will really be fun.  Read more »

When most people see "assembly required," they shudder inwardly. When I see that, I get a little bit excited.

I know, it's kind of sick but...I like to assemble furniture. I take it as a challenge. I have assembled at least forty different furniture pieces, cabinets, or chairs in our home and given that we can't really afford pre-assembled masterpieces, that trend is probably going to continue. This week, I had my DIY eye on new kitchen chairs and a bathroom wall cabinet.  Read more »

Today, I achieved a fabulous victory. This one ranks up there with the eight-month battle to get my broken lamp part. In this case, it was a struggle with the realtors who sold us our house.

The deal is that when we were hunting for a house, we did not yet have a real estate agent. I had done the research on the MLS house listings to find all the houses that matched our criteria. We visited a number of open houses on Father's Day weekend and ended up finding this one.  Read more »

For some reason, when the previous owner of our house upgraded all the windows from aluminum to dual-pane vinyl, she neglected to replace two windows. As luck would have it, they happen to be the two most visible windows to visitors. Also for an unknown reason, she had one of these windows sealed shut, tight enough that three different handymen couldn't get it open.

After living with this for a year (poor Kathy was sweltering in her office) we decided to replace the windows. Given that the 30-year old front door had its own issues - with a non-functional deadbolt we couldn't replace and a one-inch bottom gap that invited in the wildlife - we decided to replace that, too.  Read more »

It's possible that I' misinterpreted what "Labor Day" is supposed to be about. You see, this morning, tired of tripping over things and being unhappy with how things were arranged, I decided I was going to get on top of things no matter what.

It started out with some re-arrangement in Kathy's office. She wanted to swap out the drafting table that was holding up a laser printer with another table. The drafting table was meant as a stop-gap and it was starting to be unstable. We needed to move the 70 lb printer out of the way, disassemble the drafting table, and move it to the garage. Then we needed to bring a box with a heavier-duty table inside, assemble that, and put the printer back.  Read more »

I think we've previously covered the fact that I love getting rid of stuff. Well, today I not only got rid of more stuff, but I did it in a new way.

I've been meaning to go to the hazardous waste disposal center for months and months. I have leftover paint in 5 gallon containers, some turpentine, and batteries that need to be safely disposed of. The turpentine and some of the batteries are things I moved with me from San Francisco, so I've actually had some of this stuff held to one side for years! I was procrastinating about taking it in, though, because I was unfamiliar with the location of the center and how it actually worked.  Read more »

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling badly, still with the sore throat and general yuckiness, so I thought I would take a nap. I stretched out on the bed, feeling just awful. The longer I lay there, the more I … felt the same. After about twenty minutes, I got brilliant the idea that maybe I didn't need to rest…maybe I just need to drill holes in something!  Read more »

Well, I did indeed make a dent in the garage this week, although I would have liked to have done more.

I donated seven boxes of books and videos to the Rainbow Community Center in Concord. Many of the books are ones that I used to do the research for Sappho.com . I don't have the space to put those books out. Since that's the case, I'd rather let other lesbians have access to the, so I was happy that the RCC was interested in the donation.  Read more »

We needed to clear some space in our garage early this morning, as Lowe's was delivering two windows and a door. Because the garage is my territory until I finish the Great Garage Project , I took care of a lot of the moving and shoving to make space. Because, you know, I'm pushy.

This, of course, made me think of how long the Great Garage Project has been languishing. I want to take care of it this week! I don't know if I can, but that's what I want.  Read more »

It is day 11 in chemo cycle #3. Day 11 is the day when I do ambitious things, like clean house or build something. Today, the goal was world domination through window treatments.

You see, we ordered shades for three of our windows a while ago. One is for my office window. The other two are for the kitchen windows which, in summer, get a nasty angle of evening sun that blinds me while I cook. We had nothing covering these windows, so we ordered honeycomb shades.  Read more »

I brought out heating and AC guys today to repair some duct work and take a look at our furnace/AC system. It seems almost impossible to cool the house off in the warm months (also known as BURNING HOT months here in Concord, CA) and in the winter, the living room is always freezing. I was hoping they'd tell us if we had leaks in our vents or something.  Read more »

I slept in today because I was so tired and felt crappy ... then I got started right away on phone calls and stayed in my jim-jams all morning. At noon, I realized I had better get presentable quickly as I had someone coming to do the weed removal estimate between 1-4 pm.  Read more »

You ever find out that you got something so wrong - maybe a song lyric or a book title - that you feel compelled to share your embarrassment with everyone else?

Well, let me air my embarrassing misunderstood moment. I've been watching British decorating shows for maybe seven or eight years, and all this time, I've been wondering what a certain color was supposed to be.

Karkee?

Car Key?

Karque?  Read more »

We received an offer on the house last night, just in the nick of time. The deadline for offers was 5 pm, and minutes before, an agent faxed an offer over to our realtor. She called us and then faxed the paperwork over for Kathy to sign. The offer is for a little over our asking price. On paper, it looks like a lot more, because of how they are writing up the offer. They are offering a certain amount over the asking price, then asking that we credit them back the difference so that they have it in case. Whatever; all that matters is that our net price is one we are happy to sell at.  Read more »

This is a story of consumer woe and how determination wins out in the end.

Before Kathy and I moved into our house late last August, I was busy selecting and ordering the fixtures and furnishings that we were going to need. (I talked Kathy into letting me be the designer, but of course she retained signing authority.)

One item we purchased was an extravagance: a large pendant lamp for our dining room (which we decided to style as a lounge). It had that hint of Art Deco that we wanted, the smooth polished nickel, and in short, it was gorgeous. I mail ordered it from Litesensation in New Jersey when I couldn't find an affordable source locally.

   Read more »

Today's the first day of Kathy's four-week sabbatical. She's off to Scottsdale this morning for spring training with the San Francisco Giants. I was supposed to go with her, only Tilly hasn't been eating as much as she should and I don't feel comfortable leaving her right now. It's a short trip and Tilly might have been fine, but I would have worried the entire time. Besides, if anything comes up with the house, it's good to have one of us here. This raises the question of who has the most separation anxiety—Tilly, or me?  Read more »

Today was open house day—the culmination of six weeks of hard work. Kathy and I went over to the house beforehand to make sure everything was in order and to start the fire on the wood pellet stove. While it has been raining nonstop lately, today was clear and sunny, though chilly, and the house showed well.  Read more »

There are a lot of approaches you can take to fixing up a house for sale. It always makes sense to focus on what upgrades will make the biggest difference in the bottom line, and of course Kathy and I have considered that. But what really guides us is that we are creating a home for someone, likely their first house, and we want it to be a good one.

Maybe that's why so many people who have seen the house (neighbors and people working on it) have gushed enthusiastically about how charming and warm it is. I don't think that's just about the paint colors or the new appliances – it's also about the spirit with which we try to infuse everything. We want the new owners to love their home.  Read more »

How hard is it to show up when you say you will, to meet someone who is going to pay you money? How hard is it to tell a client that you're sorry you made a mistake? And just how hard is it to clean an empty house? These are the questions I have been pondering this week.

On Monday, I made arrangements to have housecleaners meet me at the house early Tuesday morning. The week before, I had scheduled to meet the heater repair guy the same day. So, on Tuesday, I drove the 25 miles in rush hour traffic to get to the house (which was freezing cold, thus the need for heater repair) and waited. And waited. And made some phone calls. And waited.  Read more »

I was reflecting recently with our realtor on life as a busy person. As naturally organized, efficient people, we're often living in our heads. Our desire to "get the job done" enables us to tune out lots of things that seem in-essential. Just last weekend, while shopping at Lowe's, Kathy commented on how my foot must be hurting, because I was limping. I had totally forgotten about the pain radiating from my ankle! It wasn't until she said that, that I checked in with my body and realized, oh, yes, I do still hurt. I was so focused on trying to find the right replacement for the hall light that I stopped noticing!  Read more »

As we countdown to Sunday's open house, the house is packed with people working on this or that. Today's crew included:

• The window washer (wow, those windows never looked getter!)
• The handyman painting the deck in the back
• The handyman working on the kitchen inside
• An oven installer (this oven fits—yay!)
• A landscaper
• The stager
• The realtor

Remarkably, everything stayed under control. I hung around for several hours, doing some work and finishing up plans on paper, mostly so that I would be available for questions.  Read more »

Thursday evening, I was cleaning the tile around the tub at the house, in preparation to have the bathtub refinished the next day. What do you know, the drain stopped up and the water wouldn't go down! That's pretty much a disaster, as we had to have the refinishing done on Friday and today, or we wouldn't meet the schedule. I knew they would need a functioning drain.

So, Thursday night I called as many plumbers as I could, but no one could come out in the morning. Friday morning, my handyman Greg suggested I call the other handyman, Gustavo, for help. Gustavo may not be a contractor, but he has built houses, done electrical work, done lots of plumbing—you name it. When I called him, he was on his way to a job but agreed to take a side trip to take a look at the drain.  Read more »

From the beginning of this project, I knew I wanted to stage the house for sale. Because we moved everything out, the house is empty. Empty houses do not sell for as much as furnished ones, partly because buyers don't have as much imagination as you might think. They find it hard to envision how furniture will fit into an empty house, and perhaps more than that, the find it hard to desire a home that doesn't already paint a picture of home.  Read more »

I cannot wait for Kathy's house to sell. My life has been derailed for almost a year by various things, and I'm eager to get it back.

It all started with an excruciatingly painful frozen shoulder that made daily life an unnecessary challenge and forced me to stop seeing clients for a couple of months. (When you normally spend an entire client session typing up notes while you and your client converse, you need both arms.) The frozen shoulder was one of those sobering experiences where you realize that you are more vulnerable than you imagined. Maybe you've been through something like that…you think you are the little engine that could and then your body suddenly says you can't and moreover, it won't. What the heck?  Read more »

Do you know who Pat Simpson is? He's the guy on HGTV who hosts shows like Fix it Up, Before & After, and Room to Improve. He endorses a number of home improvement products, too. Pat is a genial, down-to-earth guy from Alabama. Warm and friendly, he makes home improvement topics seem simple and accessible. He's taught me all sorts of things about everything from routers and rasps to countersink bits and countertops. In short, he's my hero.  Read more »

Working against the advice of our realtor, we have a handyman doing the remodel of the bathroom as we speak. I had already bought the materials (vanity, sink, faucets, mirrors, shower doors) before she weighed in with her opinion. Besides, Kathy always hated that bathroom and if the owner couldn't stand it, it's not going to attract buyers. With only a single bathroom in the house, we think it's gotta look good. We're going for fresh, contemporary, and clean-looking…and in the end, that's what it will be.

But right now, it's torn up and becoming more expensive by the minute.  Read more »

As we get Kathy's house ready to sell, one thing we decided to do was upgrade the appliances in the kitchen. That may sound radical, but the cooktop and oven were original to the house – which means, circa 1959!

I'd love to say that all of the past owners to exquisite care of these vintage appliances, but alas, that wasn't the case. The cooktop was a lovely retro mint green, but not all the electric burners worked, and age had taken its toll. The wall oven was best not examined too closely; Kathy wisely avoided it whenever she could during her tenure.  Read more »

Today my painters started painting the interior of Kathy's house. I had to do an early run to Restoration Hardware to get some of the paint and the handyman picked up the rest. I opened up the house for them and met with them to discuss last minute decisions.

The colors we chose for the house are based exclusively on what will sell well; they are not colors I would use myself.  Read more »