Open House and Newel Post Lighting

The Open House event at the Muzzy Mansion was really fun...except for the part where we couldn't eat any food or drink any wine.

As previously stated, we are half way through our oppressive diet where we can't drink ANY alcohol or eat anything on the restricted food list. Here's the determining factor; if it tastes good, we can't have it.

Mike and Steven, who own the Muzzy Mansion debuted their new Dining Room. What really pisses off Susan and myself is the fact that they completed this remodel in eight (8) weeks. I'll have to look back at this blog but I think we are on Year Two of the Staircase remodel.

Susan went out with her friends this weekend on their annual foraging of Antique Shops. We have been considering putting a light on the Newel Post at the base of the stairs. We haven't been able to find any kind of fixture that we liked...until now. Susan came home with a nice lamp that we need to re-configure.

The Muzzy Boyz had done the same thing on their staircase.Above is a picture of their light fixture.

In an effort to do the same thing, I began yesterday by drilling a hole into the newel Post. I drilled a 3/4" hole 16 inches into the post. Tonight, I am going to attempt to drill the hole the rest of the distance through the post, into the floor beyond to the basement and on to China.
If Corbin Park erupts into a river of Molten Llamas, you'll know why!

Historic Open House

We are attending an open house this afternoon of two guys I met through a newspaper article about them. Steven and Michael own an historic House not far from us. It began life as the Muzzy Mansion and you can see their work at www.muzzymansion.com. They are quite adept at restoration and researching their home.

Anyway, when they bought the house it was split up into several apartments. They are slowly trying to take the house back and that is the reason for todays' Open House. They have returned an apartment back into the Dining Room and we are very excited to see what they've done.

Susan is currently working on her walls in the entry way and I am poking around the house doing assorted non-productive tasks...this entry being one of them.

We will return here with news and pictures of the Muzzy Boyz progress.

216.1

Wow! Two pounds in one day. I know I can't count on that sort of weight loss pace but I'll take it while I can get it.

I was bad today as I had a couple pieces of bacon at my bartending job. Hopefully, it will not impact me too negatively. I guess I'll find out in the morning.

Editor's Note: I would like to point out that this entry was supposed to have posted to my alternate blog (www.porkymccorpulent.blogspot.com) which chronicles the shaky disposition o me and my alleged health...or lack thereof. Since it is too late to post it in that blog in it's proper chronological order, I have elected to leave it here.

Another Rainy Sunday

It's Valentine's Day and we are cleaning. I should clarify that. Susan is downstairs vacuuming and I am on the Computing Machine making this entry.

I am finishing up a three day weekend as I took one of my vacation days on Frydee. Again, I didn't accomplish as much as I hoped.

I did a bunch of routering and am ready to start cutting the routed trim to size and get it nailed, glued, pried and forced into place. I have discovered that I made the unfortunate mistake of not routering enough trim to complete the job.

Here's the problem. First of all, Hey...it's me! I have no router training and so I am routing blind. Secondly, I have a pretty cheesy router table that I picked up a few years back at a yard sale. It works okay but I am unable to figure out how to get a router bit set where I want it, and then be able to come back to that same setting later. it's real trial and error. And lastly, Hey...it's still me!
Since the trim I am creating requires two passes with two different bits, I find it difficult to get the second setting right without wasting two or three strips of wood. I'm sure there's a better way but I haven't found it yet.

Here's a vid of Captain RouterMan.

Here's another one of the work we're doing on the ceiling.

Okay, that big hole in the ceiling was put there on purpose. But, I thought it was funny to show it of with "Bad Day" playing in the background. The plan is to cover the whole ceiling with wall board rather than try to fix all the holes and cracks. We had to remove the plaster from that area because it was sagging. Now everything will be nice and flat and smooth.

The unusually warm winter persists here in Spokane. Last year at this time we had a ton of snow on the ground. This year, only one snow fall of any consequence fell and it consequentially melted the next day. Today it is raining and that what the forecast looks like for a few days to come.

SuperBowl Sunday

The dust was flying yesterday as both Susan and I went to town on our respective projects. She, prepping the walls in the immediate entryway and I on the staircase.

Susan has one wall ready to be painted or wallpapered or batiked or whatever it is she plans to do. She scrapped some old wallpaper off the opposing wall. She created a great deal of dust.

I added to the dust by finishing up my sanding on the stairs. I had a lot of sanding to do because I was very heavy on the wood putty knife. I learned some good detail sanding techniques. The main thing I learned is to keep fresh clean sandpaper on the sander. It's triangle shaped on the detail sander and I figured out that I can keep pulling it off and rotating the paper until it is worn off or gummed up.

We also selected our stain color...dark walnut. It looks like a good match for the stained trim we already have.

Nothing is happening today except that Susan put some some glossy sealer on the Mosaic Tile in the entryway. It looks much better with a gloss finish. She plans to add a couple more. Other than that, no remodeling type work will occur as we will soon be leaving for the Super Bowl. Oh, I don't think I have the marketing rights to say that. What I mean to say is that we will be attending an NFL Football Post Season Bowl game that will be, by all accounts, Super.

National Holiday Weekend

It is Friday night of Super Bowl Weekend 2010. I think it's Super Bowl Ex Ex Ex Eye Vee Ell Kay Bee two one Four Charley. I don't have to bar tend tomorrow so we are going to try and get some work done since Sunday is going to be a wasted day...as far as working on the house.

I spent my night by sanding. It ha been brought to my attention that I have a very heavy wood putty blade. As such, it requires a great deal of sanding to remove it.I had been sanding with far too light a grit...100 or 120. Tonight I barred down with a 60 grit sand paper and tore into that wood putty. As you can see, I did a hellova job!For the next several entries, I shall be talking about stairways, decorative trim and Newel Posts. The picture below shows our newel post at the top of the stairs. The inset trim is what I am trying to duplicate on the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.Here's a close up of the trim. I have been struggling with trying to duplicate this on my router for a week now. I have finally concluded that I will be happy with what I have come up with.Here is a close up of my recreation. Not great...but good enough. However, I have been brought up on the adage that "Good Enough isn't Good Enough." And so I will struggle a bit more to make it look a little better. We will soon see if this is good enough.