DIY Blues

I couldn't figure out how to mount the light fixtures. It looked to me like some genius installed the original (ugly) bathroom light fixtures in Soffit House with three-inch conduit. You could run a municipal electrical main with conduit that size. And more importantly, conduit that size requires a hole to be punched in the drywall larger than the mounting plate for the replacement fixtures that The Wife had tasked me with installing.

After a lot of puzzling over the problem, I did eventually figure out how to get the fixtures installed. So we have better-looking light fixtures in our bathrooms now. Alas, the process took a long time and I could have spent that time painting, sanding, or staining. And along the way, I managed to slice open my ring finger pretty good, as well as giving my hands a number of other bruises and blisters. That's okay, what do I use my hands for anyway?

The ceiling in Soffit House is vaulted even more than we had originally thought, and painting up there is a big challenge. We simply can't reach up to the top, even with a thirteen-foot ladder. I can get myself into a position where I could climb onto the soffit which defines the house, but I'm not at all sure that it will support my weight. That makes completing the painting -- and putting up the crown moulding The Wife has in mind -- a big, big challenge. I improvised a duster with the old shower curtain rod and today I'll try that with the paint roller.

My all of me hurts. The Wife has a similar complaint. We may need to replace our sander -- it's been running more or less nonstop since we decided the liquid sandpaper we bought was not really useful for stripping off the golden oak varnish on the woodwork -- but when we're done, with the darker stain on the cabinets and the caramel color for the walls, that kitchen is going to look fantastic.

So we're going back to it in a few minutes. It's duty and a mess right now, but in a week we'll be living in it. And it's going to look great.