A New Big Project: Laminate Plank Flooring

Josh and I decided that with our stimulus money, we should do something large that we normally wouldn’t do for ourselves. After a lot of thinking, one big project we wanted to do was replace our carpets. When we first moved in, we were experiencing a lot of mold problems, which we learned was because of poor drainage around our yard. We have since added drain pipes around the problem areas, and as a result the house doesn’t have a musty smell anymore. With those old problems, we decided we need to remove all the old and likely damaged carpets and to just redo the floors ourselves. So, with about 1/2 of our stimulus check, and we got enough materials to replace all of the carpeting in the house with laminate plank flooring.

We bought Lakeshore Pecan from Home Depot, the link is here if you want to check it out (we are not sponsored). This is the second cheapest option they had, but the reviews were far better than the cheapest. Josh and I also liked the color and thought it’d look good in our home. Since we already did a closet with the same design for assembly, we decided to go for it.

Since we redid the closet already, we saw the underlayment was disgusting, and there was no vapor barrier despite the need for one when you have a slab foundation. So, we ordered a combination of vapor barrier and underlayment, and a floor assembling tool kit with all our flooring. (The flooring says not to use one of these tool kits on their flooring, however, Josh and I did, we were just very very careful to not damage the floor in any way.)

We made this purchase and these decisions months ago, and about a month ago, we were able to finish our first room. Keep and eye out as that post will be coming up in the next week or two!

June 19, 2020 2

Planting My Garden, May 2020

It’s finally time for me to plant. I spent hours researching plants, finding out what can and cannot work together, researching gardening techniques and styles. I’ve watched days worth of YouTube videos by different gardeners, and I was waiting for now. Memorial day weekend is plating time where I’m from. Before then, there is a constant risk of frost or even snow. I planted my onions, some Parris island lettuce, and my radishes about 2 weeks ago, and they got snow and frost. But, after Wednesday night, we are out of the frost zone! I planted another 1/3 of my lettuce row with seeds, I planted 4 Swiss chard seeds, I planted 5 indeterminate tomato vines, and Josh and I made stakes that are 1 in x 1 in x 6 1/2 foot for my tomatoes. We plated 5 clusters of cucumbers, and added cages around them, because we hope to grow them vertically, and finally, Josh made a trellis for me using chicken wire, and I plated green bean pole beans along the front of that. Our beds are 8 ft by 4 ft.

I did a lot of research leading up to this. Different staking methods, high density spacing, harvest conditions and seeding conditions. I grew some plants from seeds, however, I also purchased many plants. I’ve never really gardened before. Josh grew up with a garden, but I’ve only grown the occasional cherry tomato. I have house plants, but even they are hard for me to manage all winter. I’m hopeful. I put lots of time into this project and I’ve learned so much about these plants. I know I will be disappointed when something doesn’t work, but I’m hopeful, and I hope to share lots of canning posts this summer on here and Instagram.

Things I did differently

According to my plans, it says beets, but it was always radishes. I just say beets sometimes, I don’t know why. The other thing I’ve done differently was how I planted the beans. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a trellis, so I planned for a teepee. Instead I planted the beans 4 inches from the edge of the bed with about 6 inch spacing between them. I still fit 12 plants along the 6 foot of trellis Josh put up. Finally, I haven’t planted my carrots yet. I am currently using their pots to hold a few other plants I still have. I plant to plant my decorative plants soon. I also am thinking of keeping my early crop of Romaine in the pot. The white hanging pot has changed from onions to cat grass, and the 2 other pots in that photo are large cucumbers. Of which, the reason I didn’t plant the carrots is we need for dirt for out fabric pots, and I plan to fill 2 more for my 2 large cucumber plants. This will mean 4 fabric bags of plants.

If I could do things different

I guess I would make the raised beds slightly narrower. Because, I get quite the ab workout leaning into the center of the bed from the side. I would also plant all my onions together, and plant them at the outer edge of the beds. On my cucumber bed, I planted a row of radishes against the edge of the bed. They are doing fine, but I won’t be able to plant anything in it’s spot when I harvest in less than a month. I would also actually follow spacing for the radishes, instead of planning to plant high density like the lettuce.

May 25, 2020 0

New Kitchen Vent Hood

I knew I would eventually need a range hood after the day I spent frying food: doughnuts, french fries, and chicken nuggets. The smoke and smell was quite unpleasant after several hours of frying, and the microwave fan wasn’t doing anything to help. I’ve had my eye on range hoods since then. With the new stimulus check, we decided a range hood would be a good thing to invest in. Beyond that one experience, I often steam up the whole house when I boil water, and I would like to be able to vent without having it stay in the room. Also with the microwave above my oven, I don’t have much room when I use my bigger pots and I would like to have a bit more head space there. I also have a nice smaller microwave from when I was in college that I could start using once I got a range hood.

The space the range hood would have to fit was 32 inches. I searched around a bit and found a 30 inch stainless steel hood that was under $60, linked here (not sponsored). The listing for the item is a bit messed up on home depot, however the link above was what I ordered and I received the 30 inch hood and not the 24 inch hood.

For now, Josh and I have decided to not vent. We’d like to get the line run before winter, but we have lots planned for this summer, so we’ll see if we get there. To remove a microwave range, you should look up your model of microwave, but we only had to remove the 2 mounting screws on the front. Once the two screws were removed, we had to lift up the back of the microwave to pull it off it’s mount. Of course we unplugged it first, and cleared the hole around the plug, so it could slide out once the microwave was down. Then, we removed the bracket attached to the wall. We had to make spacer blocks for the hood, since we wanted it to be level. We mounted the hood with 4 screws like suggested, and it was already in the configuration for vent-less when we opened the package. Mounting was difficult because it was heavy and gets heavier the longer you hold it. We also found the mounting slots to be weak and flimsy, so we screwed it into the wood by going straight through the thin sheet metal of the hood. We also used a large drill bit to drill a new hole for wires in the cabinet. This hood does not come with a plug, and they expect you to hardwire it in. However, Josh has lots of extra parts, and since he had a cable from an old laptop charger, he was able to wire on a plug and plug it in where the microwave was before. It was a bit of a long night, however, I’m extremely pleased with my new hood and am so happy to have the extra head space and bright light. We are far from finished with this project, but I’m very pleased with how it is now.

Before and After

May 7, 2020 1

Raised Beds

We finished building and filling these raised beds a few weeks ago. Planting season will be starting here at the end of the month, so I thought I would share before the time comes for me to get all my big plants in the beds. This weekend, I got some onions, radishes, and lettuce started in my beds, but I have a lot more planned for this space! I plan to add tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, dill, carrots, and potatoes, all once the weather is right!

These raised beds are 4 ft by 8 ft in size. We bought six 1 in x 12 in x 8 ft pressure treated boards. People don’t usually recommend using pressure treated, but they handle weather and they are no longer treated with poisons chemicals. We assembled them in place because 1 x 12s are very heavy. The only thing we did before assembling we the 2 cuts for the end boards.
Once we had all the boards together, we paired up the end pieces so the the ones of most similar size were together. Then we began butting the ends up, making sure the were flush, and pre-drilling before screwing in deck screws. Once one end was assembled, we would attach the other end in the same manner. We then did this to the other bed, so both beds were assembled where we were going to have them at the end.
Then we leveled the beds, and made them square. The first bed was on a large slope. We decided that if we could get at least 2 boards flat, the we can prop up the other 2 with some extra rock we had. It took us several hours to get it level, once it was level, we squared it, then propped up the corner that had no support. We then built a small stone wall to hold up the bed and fill in the gaps. The second beds was easier since it was on mostly flat ground. To fill these beds, we used excess dirt we had around our yard. Around the house there were several mulch beds that were almost a foot deep. We stripped off all the layers of mulch that was now mostly dirt, and added them to the beds. We then topped the beds with 1 inch of mulch to keep away weeds, and to give the beds a finished look.

This weekend when we were planting, we had to move the mulch from where we were working. This mulch got added to 2 fabric pots I have, that will need to be filled in the next few weeks before planting. We also turned up the grass in one bed, but didn’t for the other. The grass in the one we turned up is already a slight problem, whereas the one we didn’t turn up, there is no signs of dirt growing under the ~10 inches of dirt there. I would recommend not turning up the dirt if your dirt will be thicker than 6 inches on top of your grass.

May 4, 2020 1

Kitchen Cabinet Updating

Ever since we bought the house last June, I have disliked the kitchen cabinets. The tan seemed dated and showed every stain, and the white framing was another thing I didn’t like. It took me a long time to pick the color I wanted because I wanted the kitchen to be a certain way. I wanted a dark gray that wasn’t too dark, but also was a true gray without any undertones. I did lots of looking and my local Home Depot had a Behr paint called Anonymous that I just knew was the one. We also didn’t want to buy new hinges for this project, because we’ve thought about making new doors in the future. So, I soaked the old hinges in scolding hot soapy water for 1 hour, before leaving on towels to dry another hour before painting. The paint we used was on the hinges was the same we had used on the hall light fixture, Rustoleum spray paint in the color Brushed Nickle.

First, I removed all the doors and hinges. I began scrubbing down the remaining cabinets with a mixture of hot water and comet. I then taped off the inside of the cabinets and painted them. By the time I finished my first coat it had dried at the beginning, so I added my second coat then. The next day, I added the hinges to scolding water, and began scrubbing down the doors with more comet-water mixture. I then pulled out the hinges and let them dry on a towel for an hour before taking them to the garage to spray paint. Once done, I began taping off the doors to paint only the faces. I painted only three doors that day. On my third day, I finished painting the cabinets with two layers of paint. I waited for them to dry, then hung the doors on the new hinges, and reattached the handles.

I then took a week off before starting the bottom cabinets. I had Josh pull off the baseboard for me, and I pulled off the rubber baseboard before I started. I used a bladed scraper to remove the glue residue that would stick out above the new trim. I then used wood putty on the doors and cabinets wherever there was a seam or gap, that was the end of my first day. The next day, I pulled off the hinges and doors. I began soaking the hinges. I then sanded all of the cabinets and washed them with more comet-water mixture. Once dry, I began painting the left island cabinets. I gave that two coats, then I went outside and painted the hinges. When I came in, I gave the right hand cabinets two coats and added the drawers back in. On the third day, I painted the remaining drawers. I sanded the doors where there was putty, then I scrubbed the doors with more comet-water mixture. I waited for them to dry and painted only three doors that day. On the fourth day, I painted the cabinet doors, and attached the handles to all the cabinets. And on the fifth day, I hung all the painted doors and hinges. My kitchen was painted!