#1 - This is our first choice. We have 12" and 6" tiles for this pattern. The concern is that it'll be too busy.
#2 - Simple but a good look.
#3 - Simplest look. It works but it's kinda boring. It IS a classic look though.
I'd love to hear comments.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tile Patterns
We are tiling the kitchen. Here are three tile patterns we are considering.
#1 - This is our first choice. We have 12" and 6" tiles for this pattern. The concern is that it'll be too busy.
#2 - Simple but a good look.
#3 - Simplest look. It works but it's kinda boring. It IS a classic look though.
I'd love to hear comments.
#1 - This is our first choice. We have 12" and 6" tiles for this pattern. The concern is that it'll be too busy.
#2 - Simple but a good look.#3 - Simplest look. It works but it's kinda boring. It IS a classic look though.
I'd love to hear comments.
Kitchen Remodel - Day 3
We didn't get as much done tonight, but it was only a couple of hours. Dean came over again to help me move the final cabinets into the kitchen. So all base cabinets are up, but not secured.
I had to drill and run lines for the dishwasher, only to realize the water line and drain lines were both too short. Back to Home Depot!
Tonight (Day 4) I'm going to run the water line for the refrigerator. I forgot about it and had already set the corner base cabinet so I'll have to unsecure it and drill for the line.
Hopefully on Wednesday we can get the final measurements for the counter tops. Wonder how long it'll take? Two weeks probably. Good thing I have some closet doors that would make good temporary counter tops. Too bad we wont have a sink though.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Kitchen Design
This is what our wall of cabinets will kinda look like when we are done, at least in terms of design. The colors are a bit off.
Kitchen Remodel - Day 2
Day two started with floors. My childhood best friend came over to help early and we put in the 1/4" WonderBoard floor. This took longer than expected. There were a lot of screws to put in. We ran out of board and screws with only a small piece left to fill. Still need to get to the store and get more. Maybe at lunch today.
Once we got the floor in we started bringing up the wall cabinets. We put 2x4s up on the wall to help us hold the cabinets in place. We are putting up a tile back splash later so the holes were not an issue. The first cabinet, in the corner, is the most critical and we had a little trouble getting it right but we did eventually. Dean had to run out for a bit but another mutual friend of ours, Chad, came over and gave me a hand too. We got more of the wall cabinets up and before long Dean was back. It was slower going than expected. Cutting holes for the microwave and making sure all the cabinets lined up right takes time. They started going up quicker though. Once you get that corner right things line up nicely. Then it was just clamp, drill, counter sink and screw together.
After a bit Chad had to go. Before he did he helped Dean and I move the pantry in (2x2x8). It was a beast but it's going to be really nice. We also got the corner base cabinet in. That was tricky. The door was barely large enough.
Dean and I really were only able to get the corner and the sink base in before he needed to head home. That sink base was a pain. Making sure all the holes lined up right with the plumbing was difficult. The worst part was that the water shut-offs come UP from below, not out of the back, so getting the cabinet in while getting the pipes in the right holes was a trick. I ended up having to cut bigger holes than I really wanted to, but it was either that or do some plumbing, which I really didn't want to do. Been there done that. That would have taken a couple hours easily for minimal gain.
Melody and I got one more small base cabinet in before cleaning up. That was a 10 hour day and I was pooped! I wanted to have all the cabinets in but no dice. I need to rent a table saw too so I can rip some spacers for a couple of spots. Maybe that'll be day 3.
Lunch: Godfathers Pizza. Dinner: Cold Godfathers Pizza. (I don't have the microwave up yet.)
Kitchen Remodel - Day 1
My Uncle Henry came over and lent me his back and his muscles tearing out the old kitchen. It was more work than you'd expect, but the worst was the floor. Since we are doing tile we needed to get down to the sub floor. Well they had glued and nailed (a lot of nails) 1/4 inch sheets of board down. It was a serious pain to rip it all up.
So after day one, all the dishes and food are on shelves in the den (to the left of this picture) along with the appliances. That refrigerator was a lot heavier than some I've had the displeasure of moving.
Jimmy Johns for lunch and Arbys for dinner.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
So it begins...
So, we closed on our new house on Wednesday afternoon. The last few nights we've really not done anything over there. We moved a few things into the garage but that is it. The main reason for that is the work we are doing prior to move in.
The master bedroom was a bit more work. We had to remove all the base board (for the bamboo floor) and reove the carpet, carpet pad, tack strips and staples. It was actually easier than expected.
Finally, in addition to all the painting, we started removing the closet from the basement 'den'. That was nearly completely removed when we left for the night. I still have about a 4 foot wall section to remove (don't worry it's not load bearing) and I have to relocate the light switch. That is for tomorrow.
I have tomorrow off so I'll finish opening up the room and then get the drywall and mudding going. Wall patching will go easy enough, but the 'pop corn' ceiling will be a pain to repair. I need to do some homework on that. Then I should be able to pull that old carpet and prep the room for the new carpet. I probably won't get to paint, as the drywall mud always seems to take forever to dry and of course there is the sanding, however, I'll probably pick up some paint. I saw some returned paint that might work in there. If any of the colors work, then I'll be set. If not, meh, paint is cheap.
I'll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.
- New carpets in the basement. One room only had linoleum and that wasn't going to work. The other room, well, I'll explain that in #2.
- Opening up the main basement room. There are two large rooms in the basement. One is going to become a bedroom, the other is going to be my theater room. However it was apparently a bedroom in the past, with a closet and door. Since neither are really right for a living space we started taking them out. There will be some drywall repairs needed but the end result will leave the room feeling larger and more open. This needs to be effectively complete by Wednesday. That's when the new carpets are going to be installed.
The carpets need to be installed this week so we have some place to move stuff. Why not upstairs? That's #3. - New hardwood floors through out the entire upstairs (minus the kitchen). We are having bamboo floors installed through the entire upstairs. We elected to do the carpet removal ourselves. I'll have to get jumping on that after #2, but I think that'll be ok as we have a couple weeks before the floors can be installed.
- Last but not least is the kitchen. It's not as significant of a remodel as our last kitchen but it's still pretty big. Luckly the cabnets are perbuilt this time so I won't have to spend so much time building them first. Even the doors are prehung so they should go up pretty fast. We'll be tiling the floor. The bamboo seemed a bit too soft for a room where metal objects could potentially fall.
The master bedroom was a bit more work. We had to remove all the base board (for the bamboo floor) and reove the carpet, carpet pad, tack strips and staples. It was actually easier than expected.
Finally, in addition to all the painting, we started removing the closet from the basement 'den'. That was nearly completely removed when we left for the night. I still have about a 4 foot wall section to remove (don't worry it's not load bearing) and I have to relocate the light switch. That is for tomorrow.
I have tomorrow off so I'll finish opening up the room and then get the drywall and mudding going. Wall patching will go easy enough, but the 'pop corn' ceiling will be a pain to repair. I need to do some homework on that. Then I should be able to pull that old carpet and prep the room for the new carpet. I probably won't get to paint, as the drywall mud always seems to take forever to dry and of course there is the sanding, however, I'll probably pick up some paint. I saw some returned paint that might work in there. If any of the colors work, then I'll be set. If not, meh, paint is cheap.
I'll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Let the people decide
I found this article (GM, Chrysler suing taxpayers with taxpayer money) via Twitter and DIGG today and I felt that it was worth more than a quick response on either site.
Rather than react directly to the article I'm going to respond to the many various comments I've read regarding the auto industry as a whole lately (especially the big three US automakers).
Domestic Automakers Vs. Domestic Autos – There is a big difference between these two, a difference that is often overlooked or ignored. I happen to prefer driving Volkswagen cars. I like the way they drive, among a number of other reasons. I don’t however buy ‘forgien’ to stick it to the US automakers. It’s also not un-American of me to prefer and drive a German car.
The reality is that there is no such thing as foreign vs. domestic cars any more. It's a joke to think otherwise. For example, GM owns Opel, a European automaker and has been bringing over Opels, rebadging and selling them as Saturns, an American brand. Many of the BMWs sold in the US are built in Georgia (the state not the country). There lots of examples of this situation. Lots of 'foreign' automakers have large offices and factories here in the USA, just as Ford, Chrysler, and GM have factories all over the globe as well. It's just how it's done. Buying a Toyota takes no jobs away from Americans. Buying a Ford doesn't take jobs away from non-US residents.
If you want to stick it to the US automakers because of their politics, that's fine, but don't use it as an excuse for buying a Honda or a Volkswagen. Some auto workers who are losing their jobs because the US automakers screwed up and because the market is down are mad at people driving cars they didn’t make. They have a right to be mad, but the reality is that in many cases those cars they are growling at were probably manufactured, at least in part, here in the US.
(On a personal note, I know my car was not made in the USA, but Volkswagen is building a new factory in Chattanooga, TN to build a sedan specifically for the US market. VW is bringing in lots of jobs, helping the schools and the city as a whole. Hard to argue how that is bad for the US.)
Auto Regulations vs. Free Market – The article I reference at the beginning of this post talks, largely, about how California wants to set its own, stricter fuel efficiency standards, other states also want this, though I suspect they’d back down if California failed.
Arguments against it are that it creates an unfair environment for automakers and that only some automakers can meet those demands. I have to wonder, how is it unfair? Was it unfair that seat belts had to be installed or that airbags should be standard? The difference there is that those are safety regulations. It’s easy to quantify lives saved. It’s also easy to find people who have been directly affected by the lack of safety equipment to lobby for it.
Fuel efficiency hits our wallets and not equally. A $75,000 car is going to have roughly the same mileage as a $20,000 car, so the wealthier are less affected. When gas goes up to $4.00 per gallon, lower and middle-class people start getting pinched hard, especially those who had to move an hour, or more out of the city, to find affordable housing. The upper classes are considerably less affected. However, they are the ones who often have the control. Right or wrong, the wealthy are the ones in politics. Do they listen to the lower classes who want more fuel efficient cars? No. Why? Because doing so puts pressure on the automakers, who: 1) have powerful lobbies and 2) would not make profits for a short run, while they engineer new motors. That affects their stocks, their value and ultimately that has a greater impact on the wallets of the wealthy than $4.00 fuel. It’s more effective to try to make fuel cheaper than it is to make cars more efficient.
So why not let the market decide? If people want fuel efficient cars they’ll buy them from who has them, forcing other automakers to compete. Isn’t that what the Prius has done? It’s more or less created the Hybrid market. Hybrids are in hot demand these days, however so are Trucks and SUVs still. When the fuel prices were in the $4/gal range last summer demand for large gas guzzling vehicles went down. As soon as fuel prices dropped, the demand for large vehicles rose again. That shows that while there is a large portion of people out there looking for fuel efficient cars, there is still a very large group of buyers who really don’t care and just want as much size and utility as possible. Some of these buyers live in rural environments and really need and use those large trucks, but there is still a large percentage of {pick your favorite SUV driving stereotype} that loves a big vehicle though they have little to NO need for it.
Conclusion - Let the markets decide. I was against the auto bail-out and still am. I was against the bank bail-outs too (and look how the banks have abused it!). If a company cannot stay in business by its own business practices it should be allowed to fail. If there is enough consumer demand for a product or service either the remaining competing businesses will pick up the slack or a new player will be able to join.
The argument that if Chrysler failed that it would take down a bunch of parts makers seems a bit dubious to me, given the number of other manufactures still in business. The market falling out has done more damage than what one automaker would have done, in my opinion. The other automakers would have picked up the slack or the parts makers would reduce in number to match demand.
Market demand for fuel efficiency would also dictate the direction automakers would take. Companies like Toyota, which have fought to compete with US automakers in the large vehicle market, would (and do) focus on the smaller car market where they are already strong. This makes companies like Ford and GM compete or get out of that market. Where there is a need there will be someone to fill it. Companies like GM however seem to try to fill all needs at once, poorly. That business strategy is coming back to bite them now.
The market should be allowed to work, allowed to kill companies that are failures and reward those who made the right choices. It should be allowed to dictate how efficient our cars are. Let the people vote with their dollars on what car they want. The government should step away from this one.
“Green” note – Cars make up a minor percentage of the overall pollution problem here in the US. I’m not suggesting that nothing be done but over regulation on autos will do much less than reasonable regulation on power plants and factories that spew tons and tons of particulates into the air.
Follow up note - I was a bit American-centric in my posting and failed to consider how auto pollution effects other countries, especially those without strong regulations. I remember now the pictures of the Beijing skyline before the Olympics, due largely to the number of cars. Also LA is pretty smoggy, so perhaps I underestimate the impact of auto pollution.
Rather than react directly to the article I'm going to respond to the many various comments I've read regarding the auto industry as a whole lately (especially the big three US automakers).
Domestic Automakers Vs. Domestic Autos – There is a big difference between these two, a difference that is often overlooked or ignored. I happen to prefer driving Volkswagen cars. I like the way they drive, among a number of other reasons. I don’t however buy ‘forgien’ to stick it to the US automakers. It’s also not un-American of me to prefer and drive a German car.
The reality is that there is no such thing as foreign vs. domestic cars any more. It's a joke to think otherwise. For example, GM owns Opel, a European automaker and has been bringing over Opels, rebadging and selling them as Saturns, an American brand. Many of the BMWs sold in the US are built in Georgia (the state not the country). There lots of examples of this situation. Lots of 'foreign' automakers have large offices and factories here in the USA, just as Ford, Chrysler, and GM have factories all over the globe as well. It's just how it's done. Buying a Toyota takes no jobs away from Americans. Buying a Ford doesn't take jobs away from non-US residents.
If you want to stick it to the US automakers because of their politics, that's fine, but don't use it as an excuse for buying a Honda or a Volkswagen. Some auto workers who are losing their jobs because the US automakers screwed up and because the market is down are mad at people driving cars they didn’t make. They have a right to be mad, but the reality is that in many cases those cars they are growling at were probably manufactured, at least in part, here in the US.
(On a personal note, I know my car was not made in the USA, but Volkswagen is building a new factory in Chattanooga, TN to build a sedan specifically for the US market. VW is bringing in lots of jobs, helping the schools and the city as a whole. Hard to argue how that is bad for the US.)
Auto Regulations vs. Free Market – The article I reference at the beginning of this post talks, largely, about how California wants to set its own, stricter fuel efficiency standards, other states also want this, though I suspect they’d back down if California failed.
Arguments against it are that it creates an unfair environment for automakers and that only some automakers can meet those demands. I have to wonder, how is it unfair? Was it unfair that seat belts had to be installed or that airbags should be standard? The difference there is that those are safety regulations. It’s easy to quantify lives saved. It’s also easy to find people who have been directly affected by the lack of safety equipment to lobby for it.
Fuel efficiency hits our wallets and not equally. A $75,000 car is going to have roughly the same mileage as a $20,000 car, so the wealthier are less affected. When gas goes up to $4.00 per gallon, lower and middle-class people start getting pinched hard, especially those who had to move an hour, or more out of the city, to find affordable housing. The upper classes are considerably less affected. However, they are the ones who often have the control. Right or wrong, the wealthy are the ones in politics. Do they listen to the lower classes who want more fuel efficient cars? No. Why? Because doing so puts pressure on the automakers, who: 1) have powerful lobbies and 2) would not make profits for a short run, while they engineer new motors. That affects their stocks, their value and ultimately that has a greater impact on the wallets of the wealthy than $4.00 fuel. It’s more effective to try to make fuel cheaper than it is to make cars more efficient.
So why not let the market decide? If people want fuel efficient cars they’ll buy them from who has them, forcing other automakers to compete. Isn’t that what the Prius has done? It’s more or less created the Hybrid market. Hybrids are in hot demand these days, however so are Trucks and SUVs still. When the fuel prices were in the $4/gal range last summer demand for large gas guzzling vehicles went down. As soon as fuel prices dropped, the demand for large vehicles rose again. That shows that while there is a large portion of people out there looking for fuel efficient cars, there is still a very large group of buyers who really don’t care and just want as much size and utility as possible. Some of these buyers live in rural environments and really need and use those large trucks, but there is still a large percentage of {pick your favorite SUV driving stereotype} that loves a big vehicle though they have little to NO need for it.
Conclusion - Let the markets decide. I was against the auto bail-out and still am. I was against the bank bail-outs too (and look how the banks have abused it!). If a company cannot stay in business by its own business practices it should be allowed to fail. If there is enough consumer demand for a product or service either the remaining competing businesses will pick up the slack or a new player will be able to join.
The argument that if Chrysler failed that it would take down a bunch of parts makers seems a bit dubious to me, given the number of other manufactures still in business. The market falling out has done more damage than what one automaker would have done, in my opinion. The other automakers would have picked up the slack or the parts makers would reduce in number to match demand.
Market demand for fuel efficiency would also dictate the direction automakers would take. Companies like Toyota, which have fought to compete with US automakers in the large vehicle market, would (and do) focus on the smaller car market where they are already strong. This makes companies like Ford and GM compete or get out of that market. Where there is a need there will be someone to fill it. Companies like GM however seem to try to fill all needs at once, poorly. That business strategy is coming back to bite them now.
The market should be allowed to work, allowed to kill companies that are failures and reward those who made the right choices. It should be allowed to dictate how efficient our cars are. Let the people vote with their dollars on what car they want. The government should step away from this one.
“Green” note – Cars make up a minor percentage of the overall pollution problem here in the US. I’m not suggesting that nothing be done but over regulation on autos will do much less than reasonable regulation on power plants and factories that spew tons and tons of particulates into the air.
Follow up note - I was a bit American-centric in my posting and failed to consider how auto pollution effects other countries, especially those without strong regulations. I remember now the pictures of the Beijing skyline before the Olympics, due largely to the number of cars. Also LA is pretty smoggy, so perhaps I underestimate the impact of auto pollution.
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