How I Am Spending My Vacation Time

Or rather, how I am maximizing my holiday vacation time because, really, unless I actually leave the area, I can't not do something useful and just sit around and relax. Relaxing is for wusses! Ha! I kid.

I had planned on this project to take just one day, but it bled into two, which is not a surprise. Most projects go over on time, plus, I totally underestimated the time spent painting MDF. Holy moly, does that stuff soak up paint. I even primed it but it didn't really help. Three coats minimum. Two coats primer, two coats paint seemed to be ideal.

The office is the first room I'd like to finish as far as baseboard and tile sealing and such. I had the closet cleared out to do the sealing and baseboard and figured, now was the time to build some better shelving in there.

Here is what is looked like before (this pic is actually from June of 2008, note the crappy carpet is still there):


Here is what is looks like now with much better storage (I have 2/3rds of a shelf open, and more, if I organized it better):

(you can see the lovely dust on the filing cabinet that is sitting in the middle of the room. The office is now only 50% disaster area, as opposed to the 80% mess it was two days ago).

The total price was only the cost of two 4' x 8' sheets of 5/8" thick unprimed MDF: $60. I guess I could throw in the 4" roller and roller pads ($5) though I'll be using that to paint the new doors whenever we get around to replace the crappy plain slab doors we have now. I had the primer, paint, screws, tools, etc, from previous projects. And can I tell you how much I love my RAV4? Seriously. We strapped the two sheets with tie-downs (got two of them at Harbor Freight tools for like $5 a piece - this place is great for cheap, decent tools. I highly recommend them - they are all over the country - more than 20 locations in Texas for all you Texans that are reading). I think I may only buy RAV4s for the rest of my life. Unless someone comes out with a good SUV hybrid other than the Ford Escape. I have hauled so much stuff in that car, it's ridiculous (12 ft baseboard contractor packs, 8' pine boards, door casing, windows, etc).

Hopefully, I will be done with the baseboards and tile sealing in the office this week!

Comments

  1. Your DIY skills are so impressive! We need to build some shelves in a closet (that will be a tv nook). Have any tips before we start?

    ReplyDelete
  2. They look great!

    With this much time on your hands you could build another house.

    But don't you want to just sit on your ass. C'mon...you can tell me.

    ReplyDelete

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