Shoestring Theory

One last reminder about what the old bathroom looked like. Click for larger image.

and the complete unit. Sexy. Click for larger image.

We finally have our first room that is capable of fulfilling its destiny. The main bath now includes a bathtub, vanity with sink, toilet and hot and cold water. Yah! I’ve been wanting to post pictures of the vanity for so long, but have waited until it was complete. It’s a real work of art, and I give all the credit to the ladytheorist. She found this old dresser at an antique store and totally reimagined it as a bathroom vanity. It has inch thick marble tops, which ended up presenting the largest problem with converting it. Most people we could find who could drill holes through that marble refused. They were too worried about cracking it. But we finally found a guy in Kansas City who was happy to oblige, and he did a phenomenal job. All of the plumbing has been crammed into the top drawer, leaving the bottom drawer usable and the little tower drawers are fully usable. Even the sides of the top drawer should be usable if I install a couple of partition walls to keep people from putting things where they would hit the plumbing.

I still have some finishing touches, a few more pieces of trim and a door, but the room is fully functional and 95 percent complete, by far the furthest along.

We had a lot of really great things happen last week. The lady’s sister Carrie was in town and helped us paint for a couple of days, which was a tremendous help. Don and I laid hardwoods down in my office, and thanks to the painting, can lay down more in the master bedroom and master bath now. I’ll try to get more pics up later this week.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Tags:   bathroom · house · remodel · vanity3 Comments

This ain’t your Scott City High Beaver.

I’ve been stalking this little guy for the last month trying to get a picture, finally got lucky yesterday. He either lives, or routinely scavenges, in the ravine right behind our house. I got this shot from the window of the littletheorist’s bedroom. Needless to say, she’s thrilled that she has a beaver hanging out within feet of her room.

Tags:   beaver · house · remodel · wildlifeNo Comments.

Everybody put your hands in the air and wave them around like you’re not on fire!

The warning labels on my new water heater just cracked me up. Whoever has to make these must just love their job.

More to come on the new water heater later, that post will just take longer to put together.

Warning: Improper installation will result in blood flowing from your faucets.

Tags:   fire · house · plumbing · remodel · water heaterNo Comments.

Click to make the room look bigger.

I can’t remember the last time I updated this place twice in one day. Anyway, it’s not an exciting picture, but it is the first room that has had any paint put on it, and that is terribly exciting! We got good work done today moving a couple of rooms closer to being finished. The ladytheorist got my office fully primered and I worked on the bathroom. All the marble is now sealed and the corners caulked. I could take a shower tomorrow if I wanted.

Click to see the ladytheorist in action, but bigger!

Click to see the ladytheorist in action, but bigger!

For some perspective, my office is made up of two old rooms, a bedroom and the utility room. The utility room is the space with the water heater in it in the following pictures. I was never able to get a shot of the original bedroom that showed it well. I hate trying to photograph rooms to show their size and shape.

Click to make the room look bigger.

Click to make the room look bigger.

And I know this doesn’t look much different than the bathroom shots I posted the other day, but this time the job is done.

Click to make the room look bigger.

Tags:   bathroom · house · painting · remodel1 Comment

Click to make the big nail even bigger.

My, what a big nail you have there mister.

I’ve been meaning to put up a pic of one of these for awhile. These are eight inch nails that were used all over the place in the oldest part of the house. Most of them I’ve had to cut off, as our pry bars are heavy duty enough to pull these bastards out. I’d have Popeye forearms if I had to build a house driving these things in all day long.

Tags:   house · nail · remodel · weirdNo Comments.

New Hotness! Click for larger image.

Old and Busted! Click for larger image.

Lots of good things have been happening at the house, I’ve just fallen back into being horrible about updating the blog. Above, you’ll see the main bathroom, both it’s current state and what it was like when we bought the house.

On the floor and ceiling are the mosaic tile, which is composed of 1″ x 2″ marble tiles with tiny quarter inch square pieces of marble set in it. It’s gorgeous, but I don’t recommend going with such a design unless you really know what you’re doing. We didn’t, and it’s caused several days worth of additional work to get everything to come out correctly. It was pretty easy to work with in the 6″ strip in the wall, it was when we were trying to do large chunks of it that it became a pain.

This room really embodies the idea that we’ve tried applying to most of the rooms in the house. We want every room to be truly unique, with something that sets it aside from what would be the norm. I can’t wait until we get the vanity finished for this bathroom, it’s going to be a real work of art all by itself.

With the window and the marble up now, it’s hard to photograph this room well. During the day, there is so much light flooding the room, reflecting off all that tile, it changes the color of everything. If you try using the flash, it just reflects back off of everything. I need to learn more about photography.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Tags:   bathroom · house · marble · mosaic · remodel2 Comments

My old friend and colleague Miguel Morales is running for a seat on the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees. Miguel is not a career politician. He is not someone looking to boost his resume through an election in these hard times. He cares deeply for the college, its students, its employees, its legacy and its future. I have never met anyone as knowledgeable or as passionate about the college as Miguel.

Quite frankly, I could go on and on about the qualities I see in Miguel and why I believe he would make an excellent trustee. But you can learn more about his inspiring past and qualifications at his site. I want to take the time here to highlight a quality I think we see too rarely nowadays.

Miguel speaks truth to power.

As a journalist, Miguel put his reputation and employment on the line investigating the president of the college. Through his questions and reporting, he has shown a constant willingness to challenge authority, to keep officials truthful and to shine daylight into corners many would prefer to leave darkened. Through his actions, he has shown that he expects openness and accountability in our government and our elected representatives. Had we seen such dedication to openness and accountability in our elected officials nationally, our world might be significantly different today.

Miguel has been a student at the college, an employee at its library and a reporter for the student newspaper. He has daily contact with students, employees, professors and administrators. His history allows him to voice the concerns and expectations of the people who rely most on the college. He speaks truth to power not only with his own voice, but also with the knowledge gained from the wide and vibrant community that makes up JCCC.

Miguel speaks truth to power, but he does so for all of us.

Wouldn’t we all like to see candidates run for office who have shared the same experiences as us, who can legitimately identify with our lives? A candidate whose passion has led them to public service? A candidate who expects the same things from government as we do?

For citizens of Johnson County, we have that candidate in Miguel Morales.

For more information about Miguel:

Visit his site
Join his Facebook Group
Check out his YouTube channel

Ed Note: I feel remiss at not having written this post earlier. The delay has partly been because of how busy I am, but also because I haven’t known how to express my deep level of respect and admiration for Miguel. Best of luck old friend, you know I’m with you in this.

Tags:   Board of Trustees · JCCC · Johnson County Community College · journalism · Miguel · Miguel Morales · trust · trusteeNo Comments.

Co-Optimus Community Games Logo

Had another submission run over at Co-Optimus.com. I’ve mentioned them before, but I can’t stress enough what a great resource Nick and the crew over there are for co-op gaming. And you should go read my submission!

Tags:   co-op · co-optiums · community games · gamingNo Comments.

June 8, 1951 - Washington, R.I. — Miss Ardis Barbour, clerk of the Washington fire and lighting district, objected strongly when the district raised her salary from $75 to $125 a year. “That’s altogether too much,” said Miss Barbour. “Remember, I took this job for no pay at all as a public spirited citizen.”

Seems like we need more public spirited citizens like Miss Barbour, but alas, I fear her kind are fewer and farther between than ever.

It’s likely the journalism geek in me, but I get stupid excited when I discover old newspapers in strange places. While digging into the walls of the living room this weekend, we found some newspapers stuffed into the lath and plaster to fill holes. The above clipping is from a Kansas City Star. We also found copies of the Kansas City Kansan and the Kansas City Times.

I find myself drawn to old newspapers for a wide range of reasons, not the least of which is a chance to look back at a day in history and try to imagine what it was like to read this news when it was hot off the presses. The Korean War was in full swing (”Reds” and “Commies” being standard terms in the news even). People were worried about the cost of military aid to Yugoslavia. What was in your medicine cabinet could kill you. Local traffic laws were being argued about. A prince assaulted some photographers for snapping pictures of him at a party. All in all, it didn’t seem strikingly different from what I might find in the Star today, just some of the names have changed.

I find that both comforting, and deeply disturbing.

War, good god, what is it good for, absolutely front page news.

Today, I think we would still expect to see the opposite of this joke (men waiting on women in the bathroom).

Most of the newspapers were wrapped up in tar paper at the base of the wall.

I never got the Hedley Lamarr joke in Blazing Saddles, as I had no idea it was a running gag based on a real person.

We also found some 1937 newspapers used as a backing for wallpaper, but alas, little was savable.

When I’ve got more time, I’ll go back through these and see if there are anymore interesting stories. The couple of closeups above were just found during a quick perusal.

Tags:   1951 · house · journalism · Kansas City Star · news · remodel1 Comment

We are gathered here today to pay respect to my living room, particularly its fireplace. Oh, how we remember you, and your rockiness, your devotion to being rocklike, and your general rocky domination of the central room of the house. If there were but one word I could use to describe you, t’would be: rock.

And then I heard Ronald Reagan’s voice echoing in my head, demanding I tear down this wall!

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m on the right, Don’s on the left. More pictures to come! I’m ridiculously happy with the finished product.

Tags:   chimney · destruction · house · remodel · video3 Comments