Chalk it Up To Teamwork

DISCLAIMER: No fathers were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Grab some popcorn, kids - this post's a long one!  Of course, given how many months it took for this project to evolve, it's no wonder...

When we first toured this house, I loved the kitchen and its easy access to both laundry facilities and a sizable pantry.  Both of these are behind closed doors, which were decorated in a frosted glass style that our real estate agent found adorable but I thought a little bit cheesy.  I understand wanting to obscure the view from the kitchen of the pantry and washer/dryer, but these doors seemed to me like a tremendous lost opportunity.  There is no free wall space in this kitchen save up around at the very top, abutting the ceiling.  This means that we have a nice place to hang decorative  plates and such, but no place to put up a calendar, or to leave notes for each other.  True, the refrigerator is magnetic and we have made use of it, but I wanted to turn the doors into something really useful yet decorative.

A while back, as I was thinking about what to do with the doors, I was also perusing many online blogs devoted to home decorating, and I happened upon the phenomenon of chalkboard paint.  Essentially, this paint allows you to turn a variety of surfaces into washable chalkboards.  This sounded like an interesting option for the doors, so I spent quite a while doing research into what other people had done in their homes.  I learned a few key things:

• Chalkboard paint comes in both a spray version and a roll-on version; the spray version is what I used to make my garden markers, even though I eventually decided to write on them with something permanent.  Incidentally, Benjamin Moore will now make chalkboard paint in any color you want.
• Writing with chalk is messy.  It leaves smudges and dust, and the chalk breaks.  More importantly, I can't write neatly with chalk.  The thirty-something me writes like the eight-year old me with chalk, and that's not good.
• Chalk Ink is a product that writes like a marker and works like chalk.  You know those signs in coffee shops (ie. Starbucks) with the menus that look handwritten, sort of like they were written with chalk, but are crisp and clean?  That's Chalk Ink.

So I'd found my solution, or so I thought.  I figured I'd just paint over the glass inserts in the doors with chalkboard paint.  But before I settled on that option, I decided to check with the folks at Rustoleum, from whom I'd purchased chalkboard spray paint, to see if this idea would work.  No such luck, they said.  They could only vouch for their product if it were used on a non-porous surface, and only if it were used with actual chalk.  Not the markers.  And the more research I did, the more people I found online who had tried chalkboard paint with the ink markers and ended up with writing that wouldn't wash off the new chalkboard no matter what.  Apparently the markers will also permanently mark an actual chalkboard too.  Then I was frustrated, until I kept digging online and found The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug.  In the post I've linked,  Jeanette explains how she'd done to her refrigerator what I wanted to do to my doors.  Apparently there is a television show called "Good Luck Charlie," and one of the sets has a fridge that looks like this:

That was more or less the exact writing surface that I wanted, so I started looking at options for chalkboard vinyl.  I looked at a few different types, but kept coming back to the same brand Jeanette had used, Appliance Art.  They seemed reliable, and the reviews I found indicated that their product did indeed work as desired with Chalk Ink markers, meaning that it was actually washable.  It was then time to take the plunge - I bought a large roll of the vinyl and some markers on Amazon (both were cheaper from Amazon than from the manufacturers).  Incidentally, I have since discovered that some colors of Chalk Ink don't really wash off the vinyl with water as they claim, but they do come off easily with household cleaner.

Then Nick and I started planning, very slowly.  We eventually decided that the best thing to do would be to remove the molding on the inside of the doors and take out the glass pane.  We were thinking we'd swap it for a sheet of plywood onto which I had applied the vinyl.  However, neither of us was sure how exactly would be the best way to get the glass out without breaking it, and by this time my father was planning a visit, so Nick wisely suggested that we put the project on hold and seek his assistance.  We are both very glad that we did, as his help turned out to be invaluable!

When we explained to my father what it was that I wanted to do, he suggested that instead of swapping wood in for the glass, we just use the glass itself.  Any plywood sheet thin enough to fit inside the door, he pointed out, would bow in place and would not look good.   However, we all agreed that the glass would first have to come out to have the vinyl applied, rather than trying to cut the vinyl to the exact size and place it perfectly on an upright door.  The inner molding of the doors was held in place with staples.  Nick had originally contemplated trying to pry them out, but was concerned about breaking the glass, and he was hoping there was another approach that would be easier and less dangerous.  My father suggested another option that both worked very well and got Nick a nifty new tool: a handheld rotary Dremel tool.  This would give them the ability to cut through the staple with more precise control, so that there would be less risk of damaging the glass.  Worked like a charm!

We decided to start with the door to the laundry area, as we were not concerned about the animals having access to it.  The first door would take the longest, we reasoned, and once the pantry door is open, the pets all have to be shut away lest they gorge themselves on snacks.  The laundry closet poses no such threat.

 Once the staples had all been cut, Nick carefully pried out the inner molding.  Here you can see that molding is gone.  You can also see the scorch marks on the inside of the door left by the Dremel, but it's on the inside, and I can just paint over them eventually.  Unfortunately for us, the molding had also been carefully glued in place.  This meant that the whole thing was rather sturdy, but between drilling to get to the staples and prying it out, the molding came out in more than its original four pieces.  Thankfully, plain wooden molding is very cheap, so during one of their many trips to the hardware store Nick and my dad (my menfolk, as I like to call them) picked up more molding.  It wasn't a perfect match for that on the outside of the door, but to be honest, who cares?  Certainly not me.  Close enough's good enough for many things, including this particular detail.

Cutting the molding at the precise length and angles to make four pieces fit together proved rather tricky, and awoke the inner perfectionist in my father.  We had lots of fun working on this together in the garage, though we did decide that 9 PM after we'd each had a drink was probably not the best time to be measuring angles and working with power tools.  Eventually the molding fit and I primed and painted it.

Once the pieces were dry, it was time to tackle the glass.  We had already taken it out a couple of days before, which we could do with this door since, as mentioned, we were unconcerned about animals in the laundry closet.  We laid a rug down on the dining room table, covered it with newspaper, and laid the glass flat onto that.  I cleaned it carefully with isopropyl alcohol to remove any residual debris.  

With the glass ready, we had Nick hold the roll of vinyl taut at one end while my father and I carefully peeled off the back wrapper, a couple of inches at a time.  Dad used a credit card to slowly work the vinyl from the center of the glass out to the edges, carefully coaxing out the occasional small air bubble.  There were a couple of teeny-tiny bubbles that snuck in, but a pin took care of those.

I had deliberately purchased a roll of vinyl that was wider than the glass, although not by as much as I had originally anticipated.  This was so we would have extra length, and would not have to be overly-concerned about getting everything perfect on the margins.  Once the entirety of the glass was covered, we trimmed the edges with a box cutter and admired our work.  Then it was time to put the glass back into place.  Nick applied a few beads of silicone adhesive to the back of the glass to help our new molding sit tight, and then used his newly-acquired staple gun to secure the new molding with brads.  <insert obligatory "Brad who?" joke here>  The photo is of Nick using the staple gun, with my father looking on in the background.

That was it - the first chalkboard door done!  I was absolutely elated (and still am).  We were only able to get the first one completed while my father was in town, but Nick and I finished the pantry door today in similar fashion as the first.  Except that this time I was more of an active participant and less of a photographer.  I had already decided that the leftmost door was to be divided into a menu section and a shopping list section, while the right would be a calendar and a to-do list.  The calendar was the slightly tricky part, as I wanted the grid to be in permanent marker that would not wash off.  I planned my measurements out to maximize the width available to me - no point in having a calendar if the squares are so small you can't write in them.  I used a chalk ink marker and a yardstick, to mark off the grid, and traced over the lines that I wanted to be permanent with a paint marker.  

Then all I had to do was wipe away the chalk guideline ink marks to leave the grid behind.  There were a couple of spots where I accidentally went too far with the paint marker, but a black Sharpie hid them well enough.  The I filled in the info I wanted for the upcoming month with a variety of chalk ink markers, and voila!  Now I can change the calendar contents without having to redraw the calendar itself.

I also wanted to create nice-looking headers for the sections.  Originally I was going to use a computer printout in a fancy font along with tracing paper, but then I found a stencil at Michael's that did the trick nicely.  For titles, I was initially going to go with "menu", "shopping list" and "to-do list", but that seemed rather boring and unimaginative.  Given that I opted to use chalk ink and can wash it off later, I decided to title the sections in a more entertaining fashion.

Yes, I'm juvenile.  I know.  But you laughed, didn't you?

So at long last, both chalkboard doors are complete!  I need to do some painting on the insides of both the doors, but that is a minor detail.  They're done, and they're gorgeous!

Of course, this post would not be complete without the obligatory photo of my father supervising Nick at work.  The irony is that my dad did a ton of work on this trip and we had to practically force him to take days off from helping with projects - I ran to snap this photo because it was just about the only time he sat down to supervise all trip!  I am tremendously grateful to both my father and my husband for being so willing to create these chalkboard doors.  They figured out how to execute this project even when they weren't really sure if my idea was well-conceived in the first place, because it was something that was important to me and I couldn't do it myself.  You guys are the best - I love you!  Next time I will pick something less complicated....maybe.

Best.  Dad.  EVER.

Bugging Out

It's cicada season!  For those unfamiliar with that that means, a brief review of what I believe is strictly an East Coast phenomenon.  I certainly didn't grow up with them in California, that's for sure.  Cicadas are an insect that spends most of their life underground.  In their final larval stage, they dig little tunnels up to the surface of the earth, climb up onto the undersides of tall leaves or the trunks of trees, and molt.  They leave the shed exoskeleton clinging in place and emerge as winged insects a couple of inches long with giant red googly eyes.  They stay in place near where they've molted for a day or two before taking to the treetops, where the males "sing" (it's complicated) to attract females.  They mate, the females lays hundreds of eggs, and when the eggs hatch, the larvae drop to the ground and burrow down again.  There are different cicadas with different life cycles, but the ones currently emerging out here do so only once every 17 years.  When they do emerge, they do so by the thousands.  Most of Washington, DC does not have their cicadas yet.  They can have mine.

I know these cicadas should not be a big deal.  They are not dangerous to humans (no bite or sting), they are safe for the puppy to eat (thank goodness because he loves them and will stop mid-walk to scarf them down), they don't pose a risk to our garden, and they are excellent food for birds.  This is all well and good, but I have trouble maintaining rationality in the face of GIANT GOOGLY-EYED BUGS.  Seriously.  They're everywhere.  The molted exoskeletons are all over our trees, the blueberry bushes, most of our decorative plants...and the cicadas themselves make a tremendous buzzing sound when they vibrate their wings to dry them out after molting or when they fly away, and it's kind of freaky.

We are only just starting to hear the males singing in the trees - it's not that loud yet and is a rather pleasant background noise.  Once there are more of them I may feel differently - we shall see.  This is my first cicada cycle experience...it's...interesting.

Two is Better Than One

Much to our delight, Nick discovered today that we do not have a Barred Owl nesting in the woods behind the house.  We have two Barred Owls!  He heard them caterwauling, and tonight we saw them together in a tree; one was flying off and bringing the other either food morsels or some other such tidbit.  Perhaps later this summer there will be baby owls...?

This is so exciting!  We feel...I'm not sure...privileged, I suppose, that they have chosen to nest on our property.  Apparently Barred Owls often come back to the same nesting site multiple years in a row, so perhaps they will continue to grace us with their presence.  It's a treat, to be sure.

May Flowers

There are a number of lovely flowers in bloom in our front and back yards, including the lush peonies (just opening today).  It was too much beauty to keep to myself, so please enjoy!

Who Cooks For You?

As I've mentioned, we have a fairly wide variety of birds that visit our property.  I am slowly learning to identify various songs, like that of the cardinal and chickadee.  Last Monday evening, however, while outside in the backyard, I heard a new one.  That is to say that it was new to me here in Virginia, although I had heard it on television before.  It sounded a lot like this, albeit slightly deeper in pitch.  "Did you hear that?" I asked Nick.  He hadn't, but moments later the call came again, and this time we both heard it.  My face lit up.  "That's an owl!  There's an owl in our woods!"

I did some quick research online to find out what species of owl inhabit the Mid-Atlantic, and then set about trying to narrow down our visitor by the sound of the call.   It only took me a few moments, as the sound we had heard is the classic 8-note call of the Barred Owl.  Humans often put words to these calls; this one is often referred to as the "Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for you all?" call.   The Barred Owl, which grows to a length of 17-24 inches and has a 40-50 inch wingspan, is so named for the horizontal white bars across its chest.  [Side note: that information, as well as the photograph at left, were gathered from the website of the OwlGuy].  They are nocturnal, but during the day roost in trees and in their nests, and they will sometimes vocalize during the day.  Apparently they like wooded suburban neighborhoods like ours: lots of trees to roost in and plenty of small mammals to eat. We have heard this owl several times since the first evening, mostly at dusk or early in the morning, but once or twice in the afternoon.  In hindsight, I heard a Barred Owl last summer once or twice, but Nick was convinced it was the neighbor's television so I talked myself out of it.

This one is definitely for real, though.  I can hear it calling out there as I type this post.  Plus, this afternoon Nick was out with the chainsaw sizing up a tree to take down in the backyard, and I spotted the owl!  (no pun intended)  It's a beautiful creature, absolutely majestic.  I captured a few seconds on video as well.  My apologies for the shaky footage; I was full zoomed in to try and see the owl, so the slightest movement on my part translated to massive camera shake.  Thankfully, YouTube has a video stabilization feature.  At this rate I might have to get myself a digital camera with better zoom for birdwatching!  Oh, and a tripod too.  And a copy of the Backyard Birdsong book shown at right - I bought one for my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and she loves it; it would come in really handy identifying all of the various calls I am hearing without having to go inside and use the computer every time.

A Touch of Color

Given that it is grey and rainy here (albeit warm), and that apparently many other parts of the country are being hit with very unpleasant weather, I thought it might be nice to showcase some of the small pops of color that are starting to show up in our yard and garden, like the peony buds at right.  That and I've injured my neck and shoulder so I can't actually do anything useful this weekend, like continuing to take down small shrubs and little trees that are cluttering the edges of the yard.  I did some of that on Friday, but by the evening I could barely move my head or right arm, so in hindsight that was not an example of intelligent decision-making.

We were also planning to finish the chalkboard doors (hurrah), but it takes two people to lift and move the glass insert, and I'm about the equivalent of 1/3 of a person at the moment.  I keep grumbling and nagging Nick about it but he's right: it's a two-person job and I'm in no shape to help him, so it will have to wait until next weekend.  Which makes me beyond frustrated, but there's really nothing I can do about it, other than take my painkillers and play with the blog.  That's why the title has been redone, the images are now framed, and the latest posts are using the text-wrapping feature: I'm bored, I've finished watching the entirety of "The West Wing" on Netflix, and I hurt, so to distract myself I am learning new HTML and CSS tricks.  And now I will cheer myself (and hopefully you) up with the aforementioned color.  Enjoy!

(L): Bush beans in flower; (R): Radishes approaching harvesting

Lawn strawberries: not really edible, but very pretty! 

He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay

You may recall that for Christmas last year, I purchased a chainsaw for my beloved.  Being a careful, intelligent guy, he did not run right out and start using it.  No, he took several online classes on chainsaw use and safety, and over the next few months purchased a helmet, steel-toe boots, ear protection and chainsaw blade-snagging chaps.  We already had safety glasses.

Friday he decided it was time to at long last break out the chainsaw, to cut some of the wood that's been drying into logs small enough to actually fit in the fireplace.  We still need to have the fireplace switched over from gas to wood-burning, but that will be for when we have some spare cash burning a hole in our collective pockets.  For now, we're just getting the wood ready.  There is a lot more to prep, but hauling and cutting as much as he did was pretty exhausting, so the rest will have to get done at a later date.  I am not a huge fan of the gasoline fumes from the chainsaw, but I can cope, and Nick says it's not as noisy as he was afraid it would be, so that's helpful.  He is wearing earplugs in the photo because the larger ear protectors he bought himself don't fit under the helmet.  So I get to wear them - which is hilarious because on their smallest setting they are just a smidgen too big for me.  Which means I get to tease my husband about the size of his head...but not too much teasing, since he is wielding a chainsaw, after all.

Next up, he'll be wearing flannel and growing a beard....or not.

April Showers Bring...May Showers?

The garden is coming along nicely thus far; we are pleased with its progress.  Two weeks ago we had three days in a row of mild temperatures combined with steady light rain, and our plants loved it.  As I type this we are having another day of light, steady rain.  It's not so helpful for getting yardwork done, but the plants around here are beautifully green.

The recently transplanted rhubarb plant that Nick's mother brought from his grandfather's garden in Vermont has doubled in size.  She also brought quince bush transplants from Vermont, and although we were initially doubtful that they would survive, they have taken to their new soil well and are putting out new leaves.  I absolutely love quinces (remember this adventure?), so would be delighted to have some of my own.

 Happy rhubarb!  I've never seen rhubarb flowers before.
They look a little like cauliflower florets.

We also have some new tomato plants.  Our first batch of  homegrown seedlings did not survive transplantation; we moved them to the garden too early and did not adapt them properly to outdoor temperatures first.  Live and learn, I suppose.  However, Nick is growing a new batch of seedlings and so far they seem happy.  We were also recipients of the generosity of a coworker of mine - her husband grows massive quantities of tomatoes every year.  They supplied us with two giant bags of tomatoes last summer  - this year they offered to give us some of their wonderful young plants, and we weren't about to say no!  So now we have a variety of young tomatoes growing; types like yaqui that I've never even heard of  Nick is a little concerned that our garden isn't going to get quite enough sun to make these plants super-happy and productive, but we'll just have to see how it goes.

Some of our other seedling transplants did not make it either; this was also due to our having transplanted them too early without proper adaptation.  So Nick's growing new jalapenos, cucumbers and bell peppers and we'll try again soon.  The cucumber seedlings are very happy in the mini-greenhouse, though!  We are also using a great cold frame that Nick's mother gave us - he built a wooden frame for the bottom of it and it is keeping many plants happy so far.

Our baby radishes, beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuce and bok choy are growing like gangbusters.  The scallions and leeks, which were planted more recently, are just starting to grow.  Our transplanted bush beans are alive so far but apparently we should have researched them first because you are not supposed to start them indoors.  They are supposed to be direct sown so that they grow thick, sturdy and short stems.  Ours are too tall and a bit spindly, so I don't know how they'll do.  We've sown new seeds though, so even if the transplants don't put out much it ought to work out overall.  The transplants are starting to put up some beautiful purple flowers - I''ll post a photo soon.

Speaking of flowers: imagine my delight and surprise when I discovered that we have peonies!  Scattered in little structures out for most of them.  They're thinking about blooming soon - I'm so excited!  They have been a lovely surprise. and with any luck there will be more good surprises to come. spots in the front and back yard are what are going to be gorgeous  pink peonies.  The one in the above photo also has a clematis friend growing with it; I took this photo only a few days ago and the clematis has now already climbed all the way up the post.  Nick's going to build a lattice for it.  Peonies are beautiful, but they have an unfortunate habit of collapsing under their own weight, so I've got support structures out for most of them. They're thinking about blooming soon - I'm so excited! They have been a lovely surprise. and with any luck there will be more good surprises to come. 

I'm a Fan

Long time no see!  It's been a busy couple of weeks around here, and blogging fell by the wayside a bit.  However, taking photos did not, so we've got some neat things to show you.

My father has come and gone, and we had a terrific time with him here.  In addition to seeing some of the sights and enjoying the erratic spring weather, he also helped with some very important projects around the house.  I mentioned our project goals in my last post - we were able to meet some of these goals, and get partway on the rest.


Project #1: Master Bathroom Fan/Heater
This was designated as the primary goal for the trip with regards to home improvement.  I cannot even begin to describe how hard Nick and my father worked on this.  Part of that is because I do not have enough knowledge of electronics and plumbing to understand how many obstacles they had to overcome.

The original plan was to simply hook the new fan up to the duct and vent associated with our hallway bathroom fan.  Except that when they got up to the attic, they discovered that there was no duct, just a rolled up piece of flimsy paper acting as a tube.  And instead of venting to the outdoors, said tube vented to the attic.  This, as one might suspect, is not to code.  Shame on you, home inspector!  So they ended up having to create new venting out through the soffit.  They ended up having to cut a hole in the bathroom wall to get around a piece of wood blocking a wiring path, so now there is a bit of patching to do.  Guess I'd better pick a paint color soon!

There was a moment of mild panic when they thought the actual wiring in the wall had gone bad and would need replacing (thankfully it turned out to be an easily replaced blown circuit breaker).  All in all, there were a number of unanticipated difficulties that caused the project to take several more days than either my husband or my father had anticipated, and I gave up counting how many trips they took to Lowes and Home Depot.  Oh, and that does not include additional trips to our local smaller hardware store.  At one point my father and I caught Nick on the phone as he was in the parking lot of Lowe's just about to leave, and sent him back into the store for "just one more thing".  Thank heaven for cellphones.

Umm, Dad?  There's a hole in the ceiling.

Swanky!

However, with remarkable good humor (because after a certain point you really just have to laugh) and perseverance, they got the job done, and now we have an excellent fan/heater combo hooked up in our bathroom!  It even has a nifty timer setting on the fan so you can literally set it and forget it.  Otherwise one might forget to turn it off because it is so quiet.

Go team!  They make an awfully good team, I have to say.

And now, the video evidence:

The switch wasn't actually bad; it all works now!

 But wait, there's more!  In another post at another time, though...I've got gardening to do.

If You Build it, They Will Come

Tomorrow my father arrives for a visit and I am quite excited!  In addition to simply spending time together (and attending soccer games), he plans to help us with a couple of major projects around the house.  These are things that Nick could most likely figure out how to do himself if push came to shove, but it would take longer and be more difficult.  My father has the experience, the know-how, and most importantly, the willingness to lend a hand, and we are more than willing to take advantage of it! 

The menfolk are planning to install an overhead fan/heater unit in our tiny master bathroom; it currently doesn't have one and so it tends to stay more damp than we'd like for too long after showers.  Even more important is the overhead lighting they'll be installing in our living room (or den, as Nick calls it).  It's the room connected to the kitchen where we watch TV and socialize.  There are two skylights but there is no built-in lighting, and even with lamps the room gets depressingly dark at night.  In the wintertime this means it's dark before 5 PM, which is just depressing.  Conversely, it gets rather warm on a hot day because the nearest window is in the kitchen.  So we're going to install a light/ceiling fan fixture, and potentially additional lighting.  Huzzah!

We're also hoping to get my father's help fixing a broken outdoor water faucet, and if he has time I'm enlisting him to help me build my chalkboard doors, but we'll see.

Of course, in order to prepare for his visit, we had to finish the guest room.  Which means...the bed is done - my husband rocks!  Doesn't it look great?  The Hollingsworth Green on the walls looks overly yellow in the photographs, but in person it's a nice green-gray that works nicely with our old quilt.  I'm also pleased with the new sheets I found on sale (at Target, no less), as the color is perfect, they are nice and soft, and the fitted sheet has very deep pockets that fits this pillowtop mattress well.

Check out this bed - it's awesome!

Here are some construction photographs...





It is excellent (and so is my hubby).  Want to see it for yourself?  Come visit!