Home Projects

I am now entering my fifth month as a homeowner and I couldn't be happier with my decision. In fact, I think I'd be pretty content living here the rest of my life. Naturally, a person's desire to live in a particular location does tend to wane over time. But as of now, I'm pretty happy with the location. I guess the big test is seeing how the winter season is in this particular spot. The weather has been fairly mild lately and so far there's no snow in sight. The front of the house faces south toward a major highway, and that highway is pretty busy. I am guessing that this particular location gets a little less snow from the lake as those areas more inland. But still, it's a place susceptible to snow. Two to three miles down the road, the highways parallels the Lake Superior shoreline and during some of the worst storms, the visibility is bad enough that the highway gets shut down. My house is before that juncture and I don't believe visibility will be a problem where I'm at because of trees and neighboring homes. Still, during blizzards it doesn't matter how many trees or other obstacles are in the way. The wind still whips the snow around fiercely.

A few of the projects I have conquered thus far includes some electrical and drywall repair. The living room in the house is painted white and the drywall was peckered with a variety of nail and screw holes from the previous owners. Over time, I've patched those spots. The living room is almost ready for paint except for a few areas that need additional patching and sanding. I need to scrounge up a few more things before I am truly ready to paint. I'll definitely need a tarp or two to cover furniture and the carpeting and I'll certainly need a ladder. I'm guessing the ceilings in this house are eight or nine feet tall and I'm no where near tall enough to reach that high. And of course, I need to choose a decent colors for the walls! I have honed on a light tan/brown color but I need to make a final decision. I brought home a bunch of sample cards from a recent trip to the home improvement center, so now I need to compare and decide which color suits me.

The other major improvement that is ongoing is some electrical work. During the last few days, I've replaced several old light switches with new modernized ones. I am definitely an electrical novice but I've watched my dad do a ton of electrical work on his house to know most of the basics. Well, I didn't realize I needed a special light switch for three-way wiring. So I had to take another trip to the home improvement store to get the appropriate switch for that job. And while installing it, I turned the job much harder than it should've been. It took me a good hour to get the wiring figured out, where it should go, and get the switch working properly. I even forgot to turn the breaker off once during my frustration and got shocked! Needless to say, that was the final electrical project I worked on for the night. But all in all, the new switches look nice and only help to enhance an already nice looking home.

I am also gradually converting the electrical outlets in the house. My dad helped me change a few outlets in the living room and I've changed one in the kitchen and another in the bathroom. My dad also helped me replace an older style fluorescent light in my kitchen with a bigger, brighter fluorescent fixture which really brightened the room. We also plan on making some wiring and lighting improvements in the basement and create a new circuit for the refrigerator. Currently the fridge is on the same circuit as everything in the living room (including the television and my stereo). It's going to take some work, but in the end it'll be worth it. So hopefully by spring, these particular projects will be completed.

I have more projects planned but as a homeowner, you definitely have to take things one step at a time. I don't want to become overwhelmed by a bunch of different things at once and have the whole house a catastrophe. You just have to pick and choose your projects and then once they are done, you're able to marvel at what you've completed. And then, it's on to the next project! Ah, the life of a homeowner...