We have finally decided what to do with our closets. Because our house is made of steel beams instead of wooden studs, our previous shelfing units have had anchors unable to support the weight of our clothing and they collapsed. But here comes Elfa Freestanding to the rescue.
Elfa Freestanding works like any other organized closet system, except it has feet that are able to hold the system up without the support of a wall. Plus, their catalog makes it really hard to resist.
Photo courtesy of Elfa
We bought a basic system with two closet rods of varying length and a top shelf to put all of Jason’s sweatshirts. It is the perfect solution for our closets, so we tested it with our master bedroom one first. Here is the result:
What a relief to be organized again! A little over a month we have suffered with clothes in piles all over the bedroom, but thanks to Elfa Freestanding we finally have our bedroom back.
After staring long and hard at our back porch, we knew we had to finally go ahead and pressure wash off the grime from the previous owners and start fresh. Like with most projects, we started at JBK True Value and rented a 2500 PSI Pressure Washer for the day. In the end, pressure washing the cement slab and the back porch took two days due to work, but it was well worth it.
My favorite part about pressure washing is that you can truly see the difference immediately. After we let our cleaning solution set in for the designated amount of time, Jason and our friend Sam started pressure washing off the cement slab.
See the difference?
Jason’s hands were cramping by the end of it, but our porch looked so much newer once it dried! I was so happy we took the time to finally clean the porch. So we took the time with the setup of our backyard furniture to make it more appealing. This was the end result:
Oh, and because it has been a while since we’ve had one — Puppy Update:
Jason’s parents have always used a clothing line, and now that we have the privacy in our backyard I have been considering the same. Project Laundry List promotes greener laundry practices and even has a cost calculator available to let you know what you might save by line-drying your clothes instead. It even has a list of tips on how to get rid of stains in a greener way!
A few reasons to line dry:
1. You can save up to $25 off your monthly electric bill. Besides the fridge, your dryer is the the second largest household user of electricity.
2. It preserves the life of your clothes.
3. No more dryer sheets!
4. Sunlight is a natural bleaching agent for white clothes.
5. It actually reduces the amount of germs on clothing; the sun’s ultraviolet rays are a natural antiseptic.
6. It’s good exercise!
Since we are interested in becoming more “green,” this is probably one of the easiest things we can do. We are looking at a portable clothing line for now, until we can figure out where in our backyard is best to have a permanent one, like this:
As usual, you can buy one of these at your local True Value for around fifty dollars. Do you have a clothing line? Did you start because you were trying to reduce your use of electricity or do you just love the smell of fresh laundry?
During the fence process, we ran into a small problem. We were too eager to get started and did not realize it would have been fortunate for us to find out where our utility lines are. Thankfully, what Jason nicked with the auger bit was our coaxial cable and internet line that runs diagonally across our yard. After calling a few people, Jason realized all he needed was a few connectors, shrink tape, and Rescue Tape.
Jason’s dad was the one who recommended Rescue Tape. It is waterproof, self-fusing, doesn’t get sticky like duct tape, and even could even be used as a tourniquet for emergency situations! We were definitely intrigued. And, of course, you can buy it at your local hardware store along with the coaxial connectors.
First, Jason had to cut the line to repair it and strip it to reveal the wire.
Once the cable was split, he added the connector to each side of the cable line.
Once the fittings are on, the cable snaps easily back together. We wrapped each fitting with the shrink tape and used a propane torch to seal the connectors into place.
For protection against the elements because it was going back under the ground it was wrapped in the Rescue Tape.
All Jason had to do was wrap it tightly around itself, and the tape fuses together for a waterproof and airtight fit. We buried the cable back (this time much deeper) under the ground and our cable and internet were fine!
Finally! Our last day on our fence. His brother Bennett and our friend Sam were a huge help and we were successful in finishing it before the sun went down.
The day began with figuring out how best to close the gap between our side fence and our backyard fence that our neighbor already had in place.
We had enough panels to make a right angle corner and just add another panel to her fence, but in the end we decided it would be better to just put two panels on an angle to connect the two.
The panels were quick and easy to install in under an hour. The rest of the day was devoted to the two fence sides that would connect to the corner of our home. We started on the side yard first, figuring it would be easier to test out how to work a four foot gate instead of the eight foot wide one on the other side. We knew we needed to be able to fit his truck in the backyard eventually, and possibly even the boomlift from work, so we needed a wide enough gate. On the side yard, I needed a smaller one just to get to the side garden and water it on a day to day basis.
Putting up the panels that attached to the house were easy enough (they didn’t even have to cut a panel down to size!), and Jason and Sam took their time measuring out the gate. They decided to create a support for the hinges of the door by using two by fours cut to size to balance between the horizontal beams on the support panel.
They used a pallet from JBK in order to use the circular saw and cut to their measurements. We highly recommend that you cut on a stable surface, and wear closed-toe shoes! Yes, I did yell at Jason during this process.
Once the braces were in place for the hinges and those were installed, they measured out the panel for the door and cut it down to size so it would swing easily.
The hardest part of the day was figuring out the handle to the gate! Make sure you have a wood boring bit in order to do this part because you have to drill a hole through the panel so the handle can lift over the lock and return.
We filed down the hole for a smooth finish and installed the rest of the gate hardware.
And that was that! Sam and Jason continued to do the same with the other side and the wider gate with the same hardware. By the end of the night, we had our fence ready for Charlie and Zoey to run around without being on the line. We had to put down pieces of panels at the bottom of the fence where we had not leveled out the dirt yet, but it worked for the night and it was nice to see that all of our effort paid off!
They are very pleased with their new oasis.
I combined both of these because I feel that Day 2 was a wash and very short. After work, Jason and I drove back up to our local Lowes (local meaning thirty minutes away!) to get new panels. We decided that instead of getting the same three and a half foot panel we had originally bought, we decided to spend a little more and get six foot panels. We knew they would 1) be made better and we wouldn’t see rotten panels and 2) it would add a lot more privacy to the backyard. The fence was originally decided on so the puppies would have free range of the backyard, but we also felt that privacy as another issue we needed to conquer in our neighborhood.
It was about seven o’clock by the time we had gotten back to the house and it took us about thirty minutes to unload the truck. Jason was very eager to see his fence get started and put a few more posts into the ground.
Amateur Fence Problem #1: In our excitement to put up a fence, Jason had already put in a few of the six foot posts into the ground. When we decided to go with a six foot fence, we needed to figure out how to make those posts still useful (we are trying to save money, not spend more!) while making the rest of the fence with the eight foot posts for more stability. We came across the perfect L Bracket at JBK Hardware to fix our problem so that the top of the panel had just as much support from the post as the rest of it. Jason also added more concrete to make sure the posts would be even more secure holding the extra weight.
Amateur Fence Problem #2: Use a string to make sure your posts are lined up straight and check, check, and double check as the cement dries! On our first side, it is ever-so slightly off to the eye when you look at it dead on. We made sure to fix this problem on the side which would have the most traffic.
The next day (Day 3) after work, Jason continued the fence with help from our friend and co-worker, Sam. They finished putting the posts in on the left side of the fence and also started on the far side of the yard, too. Once the cement was set for a while, they started to attach the panels.
By the end of Day 3, we had both sides of our fence up! All we had to finish was the connecting panel in the back to our neighbor’s fence and the sides that would touch the house and include the gates.
We were so excited! We had everything planned out on our day off. We were going to take JBK’s stakebody to our nearest Lowes (thirty minutes away) and pick up our three and a half foot tall fence panels. We had to wait until a morning delivery was finished, so by the time we got up to the store we were already into early afternoon. While we waited, Jason and our friend Sam rented the Hydraulic Auger and dig out the holes for the posts.
Don’t expect loading at Lowes to be quick. By the time we had purchased our panels, cement, and posts, it took an hour and a half to load it into our truck. We were a bit miffed because none of our customers at JBK would be as patient as we were! But we were more excited to get the panels and go home to start building our fence so we didn’t let it bother us.
By the time we got home, it was nearly five o’clock and we unloaded the panels only for more disappointment.
The panels were trash! The entire pallet was filled with rotten panels. There were about six out of twenty-eight panels that were okay to use. Jason got on the phone with Lowes, and they told us they would fix the problem if we could get back up to the store but our issue at this point was time with the truck and bringing it back to JBK for tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, one of our neighbors diagonally behind us had just recently added a six foot privacy fence. As we sat there, upset that we would have to drive up another day and our fence was put on hold, we realized that we might just need to invest a little more money and go for the larger privacy fence because the wood was treated. So we did the numbers, and realized it would only set us back a little more than we wanted to spend, but it was still under our rough estimate that we had saved for the fence anyway!
So we planned on going back up to Lowes the next day directly after work when we left at 5 o’clock. We knew we wouldn’t be able to start putting the fence up, but we would have at least all of our supplies we would need! So we waited.
If you didn’t know (which I don’t think you did, because we have yet to mention it on the blog) our house is a steel frame. Which means we do not have wooden studs. We have steel beams that stretch every eight feet.
This is tough when you want to hang something on your wall. Like a picture. Maybe a shelf.
Maybe a shelving system for your clothing inside your closet that needs to hold both his and hers.
Well, no matter what type of anchors we have used — our closet shelving does not hold. A few days ago, as I was blissfully sleeping in on a day off, I awoke to the loudest bang and realized that instead of it being in another room it was just beside me in the master bedroom closet.
One entire rack fell down, crashing onto the other and sending clothing, anchors, and rack support everywhere. I was awake for the rest of the day, to say the least.
So we are on the hunt for a better solution as we ponder how to reinstall drywall (yes, it’s that bad!) and also where my camera may have gone off to, so I can finally show you a picture of the damage it did. But stay tuned as we research! We are leaning towards elfa, but are hesitant on the pricing of their freestanding closets.
One problem at a time, right? That’s never the case.
Welcome to a new series at Something to Chase called “Rent Me.” In these upcoming posts, we will discuss the equipment we have rented and explain its benefits.
The bed edger is one of my favorite lawn and garden pieces of equipment. If you think you are okay digging out the edging yourself with a shovel, you are so wrong. I was convinced I would be fine doing this until Jason suddenly remembered about the bed edger at work.
So we brought it home from JBK.
It was awesome! No other word to describe it. We edged around every garden in under an hour. You can definitely rent this thing for a half a day without blinking and get more down than you even thought possible. It was also a great help with digging out the area for our green edging, too!
I have already written about how to remove wallpaper when using a rented wallpaper steamer, but I still had some wallpaper border left over the top of our kitchen cabinets. I did not have the capability to lift a steamer onto the cabinet and use it (unsafe!) so I researched other avenues. I came across two products at our local True Value and brought them home to test.
First, I used the Paper Tiger and scoured the border. It was fairly easy to use, although difficult to cut into the wallpaper closer to the ceiling because of its circular cover. Here is what the wallpaper looked like after scouring it.
Once that was done, all I had to do (or so I thought) was spray on the wallpaper removal gel (the DIF product) and let it soak before using a paint scraper to remove the wallpaper off from the wall.
Very similar to what happened with the wallpaper steamer, which makes me wonder if it might just be the wallpaper we had, it came off into two layers: 1) the image and 2) the adhesive behind the image.
Because of having to repeat the process twice, it took me almost four hours to finish taking off the wallpaper border in the kitchen. If you are capable of using/renting a steamer, PLEASE DO. It is less time consuming than this way. This is the aftermath of messiness:
You can also tell how terrible our wall cabinets were put together.
Once the wallpaper was removed, I had to go through and wipe down the walls with simple hot water and soap to remove the sticky residue and sand down some areas for the new paint color.
I am hoping a new paint job in the kitchen will liven up the outdated cabinets for the time being and make it more connected to the rest of the house. Look forward to the finished paint job result!
