Going broke saving money

When I was in the military we had this saying "going broke saving money". This usually occurred when we went to Germany to our base there. What with the exchange rate and the lower cost of electronics over there we quite often bought a lot of electronics. It was cheaper so we saved money however we quite often over bought or upsized because of this and therefore spent more than we should have. Oh well we still got great stuff. Well the same occurred to me today. Went to the local Lowes to buy some items for the closet organizer that I still needed for the spare bedroom. Well while there looked at lights and ceiling fans for the spare bedroom, living room and spare bathroom. Saw some nice lights for the bathroom so bought them. Then the attendant said he was lowering the prices on some ceiling fans. So I said, any Hunter Douglas fans, he said yup. Looked at the ones he had reduced and ended up buying the ceiling fans for the spare bedroom and the living room. The bedroom fan was reduced approx 30% and the living room fan was reduced by 50%. Then to top it off they had a sale where we saved the sales tax which meant another reduction of 13%. By the time I was finished the credit card took a 700$ hit. Oh well I needed the stuff and I did end up saving a fair amount of money so I went "broke saving money". Ok enough of this on to the work that was accomplished this week.

On Sunday morning we mixed up a bag of thinset mortar to lay tiles in the bathroom. By the time the bucket was empty about a 1/3 of the tiles had been set. So on Tuesday we'll pick up another 2 bags of thinset and finish the job. Here's a photo showing the tiles set today. This was actually the harder area as we went around the toilet and the water line. This area is to the left of the picture in the small cubicle area.

So on Tuesday we picked up the two bags of Thinset and then proceeded to finish working on the tile floor in the spare bathroom. After about 4-5hours of work the floor was done. Now to leave it alone for a few days until I get a chance to grout the floor. Once this was done we spent a few minutes working on installing the coat hook rack in the master bedroom closet. Actually installing the coat hooks was a little frustrating as the first screw snapped off at the last few turns. Then another screw just stripped out. I hate these Philips screws for one and then to have them made from softer steel is even worse. Oh well that what you get when you buy the cheaper stuff. Here are a couple of pictures showing the floor completed and the coat hooks installed. I actually got quite lucky with the tiles just had two left over after all was said and done.

 Wednesday became a bit of a dirty day. First we spent some time working on the shelf in the laundry room until I realized one of the pieces was to short so I needed to make a new one. Then we got down on hands and knees and spent the rest of the day cleaning and sanding the floor down in preparation for laying down of the bamboo floor. Used my belt sander with a coarse belt and then had the shop vacuum hose following it just to try and keep the dust down. I also had the door open with a large fan blowing outdoors to try and get most of the airborne dust out of the house. That will be one big relief once the floor is down, a lot less dust and an easier floor to clean.

So today was a big day. After spending all that money at Lowe's we came home to start installing all that stuff. First we went into the bathroom and installed the two LED ceiling lights and finished off installing the wall lights that will be over the vanity. Here are two pictures showing these installations.

Once complete we went into the spare bedroom and finished the installation of the Rubbermaid closet organizer. This was followed up by the installation of the ceiling fan. Once again we got turned around on the wiring. When I wired the house I installed two three way switches to control the fan and the light. One pair by the bed and one pair by the door. This was followed up with a three way wire to the ceiling fixture. I ran the black wire from the light switch and the red wire from the fan switch. The ceiling fan came with black and blue wires so I assumed the blue one would be the fan wire. After installation was complete and the circuit breaker turned on I tested the system. Wouldn't you know it the fan switch controlled the light and the light switch controlled the fan. So turn everything off and switch the blue and black wire around. Then it worked as it should. Here are some photos showing the closet and ceiling fan.

Next project was to install the ceiling fan in the living room. This time I made sure to wire it up the same as the other fan. However this time I was in a rush and forgot to install the upper box cover. Luckily I caught it right away so on a little time was lost. This one has only one switch so the pull chains will actually control the light and fan on this one. Here's a photo showing this fan.

Then we went onto the last job for the day. This would be the installation of the drawer fronts in the kitchen. We started by making a small jig up to help drill the holes for the handle installation. This was simply a piece of 3/4" stock screwed to a piece of 1/4" plywood 3ft wide by 12 inches deep. I would use this on the front of the drawer front to use to drill the holes for the handle screws. I carefully laid out a pair of holes 12" on centre for the top drawer fronts. The first pair were 3-7/8" below the top. The second set was 5" below the top and the final set was 6-3/4" below the top. I then used the first row to drill all four top drawer fronts. Once this was done we drilled out the second row and then finished off with the third row. Once they were all drilled out we mounted the handles. The top row was easy as the fronts were already installed. With the second and third row we used the drawer front as the template to drill the holes into the drawer box. I clamped a small board in front of the spacer between drawers 1/2" below the top of the spacer. I then set the drawer front on this board and ensured it was centred from left to right. I also checked to ensure there was a 1/2" space between the top of this drawer front and the bottom of the drawer front. It they all lined up we drilled out the two handle holes. Then we installed the handle and closed the drawer. If it still lined up we opened the drawer and then proceeded to secure the drawer front to the drawer box with some wood screws. For the bottom drawer we just used a 1/2" spacer between the bottom of the middle drawer and the top of the bottom drawer, again lined it up and drilled out the handle holes. It actually went quite smoothly and the finished look is as I expected. I'm quite happy with how it has all turned out so far. Here's a few pictures showing this all. First picture shows a drawer front and the drill jig. The tape covers up the holes I was not using to ensure I did not drill out the wrong holes for the wrong drawers. The last two pictures show the finished cabinets after all the drawer fronts are installed. This also includes the drawer above the refrigerator area.

Well that's were we sit as of now. Tomorrow I plan on installing the grout in the tile floor and then starting on the bamboo floor in the spare bedroom. After that we'll see what happens. Oh the counter top guy was around and has templated the counter for installation. Just like a lot of companies they are closing down for the holidays and will not reopen until the new year so it looks like the counter will not be installed until the second or third week of January. Oh well just gives me more time to save up the money for it.

Anyway Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to each and everyone of you.

Harold