(Long) Weekending Projects

It was a very busy “project” weekend!

The upstairs apartment/Airbnb bathroom is finished!

Here’s a before-ish shot — the tub surround had been rebuilt, but painting hadn’t begun:

After:

Every single paintable surface in that bathroom was touched in the re-do! I’m happy that we did it, I don’t want to do it ever again.

Here’s a shot from the other doorway (three doors in that room)!

It was finished in the nick of time, as we had guests arrive on Monday!

With that project done, Rusty moved on/continued with rebuilding the basement stairs. Did I ever mention that? They were awful — slightly uneven, covered with linoleum & with weird aluminum strips at the edge of each. Honestly, it’s a miracle that no one has ever tripped. On top of that, when we did the kitchen/porch/garden room remodel many years ago, the original doorway to the basement was moved around the corner from the kitchen to the garden room — it was a straight shot, then, but the original “winder” at the top of the stairs remained… and there were a couple of other issues due to the way the door opened, evolution of space/storage, etc., etc.

I don’t have a “before” photo, but there’s a “during.” There used to be drywall on the side where Rusty’s working on the new stringer, but it was rotten at the bottom & wasn’t really doing anything, so he removed it, making the stairway more open. It feels a lot nicer & will be even better when a handrail is installed (there never was one).

There are at least two other people peering through the basement door window at the “show,” and Rusty got a big round of applause when the last tread was put in place.

Kate has a very good friend who does a lot of salvaging for her old home & other projects — and sometimes ends up not needing things that she’s acquired. We were very fortunate to be on the receiving end of some old maple stair treads & risers that she had, which Rusty refurbished. It was “big pick up” trash day yesterday, so all of the old stuff is gone… and this project is also nearly finished!

And now, tooting of the horn…

Some years ago, Rusty wrote a book for Storey Publishing about clubhouses — kind of a “how-to” for beginner builders, aimed at kids & families. The book was rather unfortunately titled KEEP OUT (that’s a Thriftbooks link, but available lots of places), which… well, kind of gave the wrong signal (even though it was cute & amazing). He was approached a while back & asked to re-jig the book, still aimed at beginners, but more toward an adult audience. The Beginner’s Guide to Backyard Building was published last week!

Sunday was Mother’s Day & Ali came over with the kids.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon — inside games, outside games, and food! Kate & I had made a couple of runs to the home improvement store & bought a couple of raised beds, which she & Junah put together side-by-side.

He’s always loved putting stuff together!

We (Kate) tore out a weird old bed & installed the raised beds in their place — and it will be much easier to access the things growing within! We drive down to the CSA farm on Saturday to pick up veggie, herb & flower plants. Can’t wait!