Odds & Ends and some Country Crown

I finally purchased the flooring for the porch, but it won't come in for probably another 2 weeks, so I tried to finish up some odds & ends this long weekend.

First, I finally finished cutting all the sawn balusters! This is a big accomplishment - and I'm totally excited to have it done. Next I need to route a v-groove in the bottom and paint the suckers. As of yet, I don't have a router or a router table or a v-groove bit, so this may require a trip to Rockler to actually make the purchases (this is why fixer uppers are called money pits)

Second, I finished cutting the two bundles of cedar shingles into the octagon shape. Out of those two bundles I got about 175 cut shingles.

Third, I took some measurements and created a spreadsheet (yes, I AM my father's daughter) to determine how many more shingles I would need to cover the side and front peaks (see this old post for an explaination) and the color breakdown. This included deciding on a pattern for the colored band. Unfortunately for me, I still have about 4 more bundles to cut. Then I need to lightly sand them all and paint them. All you suckers out there that have agreed to help me paint - this is your opportunity!

Then Jim helped out with a couple of little projects:

Fourth, we installed some shop lights in the basement. While the basement is still really creepy, the lights really improve the working conditions. And they're less of a head hazard then the existing dropped lights.


Fifth, Jim installed the exterior faucet for the front of the house.

This project was kind of cool because we used PEX tubing (traditionally used copper is ridiculously priced right now) and quick release connectors. Pretty nifty - wish we would have had these in the 1/2 bath project - could have avoided lighting things on fire! We are a little suspicious that they will all hold together, but so far, so good.


And finally...
Because I have visitors coming in a couple of weeks, I decided to try and finish off the crown moulding in the bathroom. The crack between the ceiling and the walls has been there for... hmmm... at least 3 years:


I've just been avoiding it. But this weekend, I decided to give it a whirl. It's not a typical crown moulding - it's pieced from a cove stock and 1x2s. Something like it was originally there and got tossed somewhere along the way - during our demolition, I think. And I found an example of it in a finish carpentry book - they called it "Country Crown Moulding". Unfortunately, though, nothing in that bathroom is square, and my skills with the miter saw still leave something to be desired... so there are a lot of gaps. Luckily, caulk is my friend, and it will all be painted.


Anything has got to look better than the gaping holes that have been there.... right??