She-Shed build for SWMBO

So I broke my arm during one of the ice storms we had here in north Texas and havent done anything productive since. The doctor finally let me out of the sling and said nothing heavier than a coffee mug. Problem is planting season is quickly approaching if not passed, so I needed to find some stuff lighter than a coffee mug to do on the ole green house.

I went ahead and finished staining it.

I was going back and forth between windows and greenhouse. The windows were all reglazed and primered already, im just putting the paint on now. I got 5 of them completely painted. I need to go over them with a razor blade and get all the excess paint off the glass. Gonna try and work on it again tomorrow, depending on how sore I am. Its been a few weeks since Ive done much.

SWMBO also picked up our blackberry plants today, so i have to get them in the ground.

I was going to start installing windows, but the structre was a little too wobbly for me to be comfortable putting glass in without some additional structure. I went ahead and started blocking the studs for the siding and I went with the thickest wood siding I could find. I started on the back wall and got it done.

I did add quite a bit of structure. The siding is a little taller than Id like but at this point Im just gonna roll with it and see how it turns out. Siding will be stained like the rest of the greenhouse. Id probably do some more blocking tonight on the sides and then this weekend I can throw the siding up on the sides.

I may end up going with plastic from the siding up. I really wanted the windows, but they are old enough to not be exactly square and the structure isnt perfectly square so it would add some complications, and I this point I need it functional.

I was walking around looking for places to plant the blackberries and realized my peach and pear trees are starting to flower and are quite pretty. I guess i missed it last year.

We also had some freeze damage to a real old oak tree last year during snowmaggedon. It only flushed out at the top of the trunk. I had about 5 tree guys and arborists look at it. The general consensus was cut it down. One guy said you can treat it but its probably gone. We went ahead and had it treated, and decided to wait to see what happens in the spring, and it looks like we have buds on pretty much all of the limbs, so Im a little more optimistic now.

I havent been working on the shed, but im ready to start renovating the house, so I figured I should probably get some of the other projects done first.

SWMBO wanted to do the floors with her mom and aunt, so they put those down last weekend. Today I decided to go ahead and get the baseboards in. In the next day or two Ill go ahead and get the rest of the electrical box extensions on so I can install the covers, probably have to do some drywall repair around the boxes (cut the holes a little big in places), finish out the jams around the doors, and putty and touch up paint the trim.

This looks very, very good!

Excited to see home renos

Got a little done the last few days.

I'm not sure what we are going to do with the doors yet but I needed to finish out the jams in the mean time.

It was ugly and bumpy, a sandwhich of stud, plywood, and drywall all cut terribly by me. 

I got some super thin plywood (?) That had a nice finish on one side and nailed it in place and puttied up the nail holes.

I was pretty worried at first because it was pretty ugly.

I caulked it up, along with the rest of the trim and crown, then paint and primered it and finally finished my box extenders for the outlets. I think it came out pretty good considering where it started.

I'm done with anything crazy on it for a while. I need to do a little drywall repair around 2 outlets, and put some shoe molding down. Bigger stuff is HVAC and the ladder but SWMBO can start moving her craft stuff in and I can work around it for now.

I sold the camaro, and we are picking up a new car for the wife in the next week or two when we get hers back, so I turned my attention to the garage. Which is her parking spot. Plan is to renovate the entire house. Started in the garage for the new car. Then its on to making a baby room.

House is old, have it back to 1912, and have the lot with a structure (not sure if its this house or not) back to 1886. It goes back farther than that because the deed i have references an earlier sale, but it isnt legible. I researched pretty heavily for about a week and lost the trail. Ill probably get back into it at a later time.

Anyways we both like old houses so the plan it do keep many of the old details and replace them where theyve been removed or updated. When I was going to redo the garage, I figured I needed to dress it up a little, most people come in through the garage which was just drywall and paint right into the dining room, which is wood floors, tin ceiling and old trim, I wanted to carry the old theme into the garage.

First step was to fix the terrible pad. It had a previous patch with grout, and it looked pretty bad. I got all the grout out, and cleaned up the cracks a little.

It looks bad guys but its just an add on garage the house is pier and beam.

I used polymer concrete which will bond to the old concrete, then recapped the low spots.

Its not perfectly flat or smooth, and you could seem some grinder marks in it but its vastly better. 

The plan was to do a couple different brownish colors to have a woodish look.

Started cutting in the corners

Then i realized Id have 6 inches of brown painted concrete outside the garage door and I couldnt get over it. So I just went a blue gray like it was originally painted. I still have the 6 inches outside but its close enought to the color of cement it doesnt stick out like crazy.

Like i said its not perfect but it will mostly be covered with a rug

Next thing was to address the terribly ugly shelf. I planned on rebuilding it. Then i noticed it goes into te ceiling and ties into the rafters and didnt feel like messing with that, so I tried to figure out a way to dress it up. I needed to hide all the terrible bracing and just random 2x4s and 1x4s messily hammered together. I decided to just put a new face on it. Figured out a crafstman/colonial revival style.

I forgot to take a before picture. The closest thing is me putting the bottom boards and plinths on.

After. Its primed and not painted. Ill paint it when I paint the rest.

I think the design is okish but I made a miscalculation. I think on a colonial revival or craftsman it would more likely be stained wood. This is just a crappy shelf so I went as cheap as possible and did a combination of common board, mdf, and plastic cove molding, which means it had to be painted. Painted I think it will look more greek revival. Whatever I think its a big improvement.

I still need to do the crown molding but Ill do that when I do the rest of the garage.

Next step is some drywall and tape repair. Plans are to do a work bench and some built ins on the right side, built a window treatment for the window, and wainscoting on the back wall, and paint. Current color choice is a evergreen fog, with white trim. like dis

Im going to have to do a test spot because I want more color and less grey.

I had to repair some drywall and a bunch of tape and cracks.

The window was just finished out with drywall, but Im going to actually trim it out so I started on that.

Then I went ahead and textured everything. After that we picked a color and I put the first coat on this afternoon. Ended up being a little green and a little darker than expected but its pretty close to what we wanted, and I think all the white trim will calm it down a little. For my reference the color is Everglade Green by Behr.

I probably either start building the wainscoting tomorrow or trim out the window.

I got some tempered hardboard for the backing of the wainscoting and cut the panels but I need a second set of hands to hang them so maybe I can do that tomorrow. I also trimmed out the window.

The garage is an addition but the door from the garage to the house is original and the trim looks pretty beat up. I thought Id have to replace it, but I figured id strip it a little and see how much is wood damage and how much is 25 layers of paint. I was quite surprised. There is some damage but really the old wood is in pretty dang good shape and can easily be saved

I got the rest of the paneling up and put a couple coats of paint on it. Its a dark color that Im painting white so Ill have to do another coat or two, but after just a little sanding it took the paint pretty well, and my seams in the middle of the wall came out better than I expected. They arent perfect, but the garage is pretty crooked, so I didnt expect perfection, but I dont think theyll be obvious.

Im really happy with the way the window trim came out. The window is set crooked but the trim is straight. I did a little setback on the trim, which apparently is normal but I really like the little detail.

I went ahead and did the chair rail today. I think it came out decent. I expected some problems in the joints, just because of how old and crooked the garage is but they came out pretty good. Spend a little more time on the joints around the window, which ended up better than the corner joints, but I think they will all hide okay with final paint and detail work. Tomorrow Ill either do the base boards or crown. I think its starting to come together. Im still on the fence about how dark the green is, but once I finish it all up Ill decide wether I want to go with a little lighter color or leave the darker green.

My wife had an idea. since I lined the paint divide up with the shelving, she is considering painting the back of the shelfs in the same color as the wall. What do you guys think?

Wanted to do the baseboards today. We decided just basic 1x6s to match the inside of the house. I was being cheap and didnt want to pay  double for the nice trim grade primed pine, so I went ahead and got some more common board. Spend a little time cleaning up some knots and mark, and then threw some paint and primer on. It didnt take me long and they came out pretty nice. Most stuff will be hidden but once the paint dries a couple of the big knots and a little grain will probably show through, which Id like. The old original trim in the house shows a little grain.

I was being dumb yesterday and terminated the chari rail at  the door with just a 45*. Saw it this morning and realized I was a dummy and redid it.

Then I went ahead and put the baseboards up.

I terminated them at the door with a little routing. I know it looks terrible, I cant run a router to save my life.

I also terminated the end of the paneling into a 1x3 topped with a little bullseye rosette to match the trim inside the house.

I think its starting to come together. I know its not perfect, and i made some dumb mistakes Ill have to hide, but believe it or not Im actually okay at this stuff. I dont know what Id do if I ever bought a house that wasnt old and crooked as hell.

Building and finishing houses can be a challenge.  The framers complain that the concrete guys didn't get the foundation right.  The sheetrock guys try to adjust to what the framers left.  The trim guys complain about the rock.  The painters come in with sandpaper, lots of great caulk application, and quality paint, and make it look fantastic.

I got a 50s Hotpoint fridge from a friend of mine. His family was the original owners, and everything works except the freezer. We tossed around the idea of having it recoated, and my buddy said do me a favor and atleast hit it with a buffer before you refinish it. I agreed and went to work.

I hit it with some rubbing compound, then some polishing compound and finished off with a coat of wax. I wish I would have taken a before picture. It was super chalky with no gloss and had tons of staining. Its not perfect, it has a couple dents, some rust, and some scrapes, but with a little shine it looks way better and good enough for a beer fridge in the garage.

It was all kind of a blur after that. I was trying to get the garage done by Friendsgiving, so I could get everything moved back in and cleaned up. I put up the crown molding and then painted and touched everything up, including the ceiling, and I did another coat on the concrete. I also did a little drywall repair on the garage door wall I missed originally.

I still have to do the picture frame molding on the wainscoting but thats a weekend project and will have to wait until after the holidays.

These are the pretty much up to date pictures, minus the big old rug we found to put down.

I think its quite the transformation starting from this