What a strapping guy!

The strapping is up on the basement ceiling and the lights have been temporarily placed. Yes, we know they're upside down, we just want to make sure we have enough lights in the right areas.

Its almost time to really design the mudroom area of the basement. Time to figure out Google Sketchup...

Fancy New Heat Pipes!

When adding new walls to the mudroom, we had to re-route the heat pipes to be inside new the walls. I'm sure the proximity of the heating pipes to the outside walls are part of our heat problems anyway.

To do this we used PEX piping (orange pipes in the above photo) and to avoid having to buy the 100$ crimping tool, we used SHARKBITE push fittings.

We also use the WATTS push fittings since SHARKBITE doesn't have a 45 degree.
after it was all hooked up, we fired up the boiler. Of course, the pipes didn't get hot. We needed to bleed the system first.

About 20 - 5 gallon buckets later, the air was purged from the system and the water ( and heat ) was flowing. Don't worry though, Jeff promptly shut off the heat and it will remain off until Novemeber.

Next up: Strapping the Ceiling! Will the fun ever stop?

The spoils from Brimfield

Brimfield is filled with stuff. Good stuff, crappy stuff, and sometimes stuff I'm actually looking for that I'm willing to buy from someone who was really nice.

I went to Brimfield in May and scored this cabinet on my way out of J&J's field after a "Maybe just 1 more pass down this aisle".

I spoke with the man and his wife who were selling it for quite a while, and I think they gave me a good deal, and he helped me load it into the truck.

I didn't have the guts to pull an Eddie Ross and paint the whole thing. But I did like the way this looked:



So I just painted the inside with BM Decorators White in a Semi-gloss leftover from the kitchen paint job.


And moved it up to the little nook in the living room. I love the height it adds to the room, photos of which will be coming any month now.

A man's vacation home is his castle

This is the Castle on Sebec Lake in Maine. When we visit our friends there, the kids love boating past it. Everyone is looking for a glimpse of either Cinderella or Malificent, and it really makes you wonder what life would be like if one were royalty.