TNT Builds

We've Moved to The Farmstead!

2012-06-21T11:18:00.002-07:00

Yikes! Do you wonder where we went? We're now at www.olyfarmstead.org where we're living our farming dreams! You can follow our new blog (and still read all these old posts too) at www.olyfarmstead.org/blog We won't be back to TNT Builds so won't you join us over there?

Barn door shenanigans

2010-10-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the ridiculous break in posting but we have good reasons! 1. We went on a mini vacation with Mr. Nick's family to Utah, 2. We're still hanging T-111. It's just not that interesting.

But, I finally found time to wrap up Part 1 of the barn door segment. Part 2 of how we actually hung it to come (once we finish, we're going to go back to T-111 and install the bottom part later).

We thought it was a great idea to build the barn door inside the barn because our surface is so flat (if you missed us pouring our concrete floor, check it out here) but what we didn't count on was the door being so heavy we couldn't just muscle it out the opening (the door is 12.6' wide x 13' high and the opening is 12' wide and 12'6 high). What follows is nothing more than shenanigans. If you're unable to view the video, click here.

Here's Mr. Nick hanging our door a couple nights before we went on vacation ... I'll tell you how he did it next!

Looking for a contractor?

2010-09-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow us you know that we decided to contract out the installation of our roof tar paper and shingles ... and I feel good about it for all the reasons I have already listed.

We did our homework and got 4 quotes from 4 different roofers (all licensed and bonded) and found what we think was a really great deal using a neat little site called ServiceMagic.com. I had never heard of the site before but after doing some research learned that they are kind of like a "gate keeper" for subcontractors. The companies actually pay a weekly fee for Service Magic to refer to them. However, it's not a good ol' boys club. They check backgrounds, company history, liscense, etc. etc. etc. And from what we can tell they check in constantly with their "Quality Pros" to make sure that the company dynamics haven't changed and they are still the same company they advertised themselves as.

After getting the name from Service Magic we went with Islander Roofing, LLC and couldn't be happier. They were professional, quick and overall really nice to work with. Plus, they were also the cheapest. This was a surprise for us since we figured they would pass on the "Service Magic" fee to us but I guess they went with the mentality of a small profit on lots of jobs. Either way, we will definitely be calling on them to bid on the house.

Put a roof over your head

2010-09-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weekends we've been working pretty hard to get a good stable roof over our heads and this weekend we finished it! Side Note: We only did as far as the roof joists and sheathing. We're 99% sure we're going to have a professional do the tar paper and shingles for a few reasons:

We're on a pretty short deadline to get watertight and we don't really have the time to give to the roof.
Mr. Nick won't let me on the steep incline for long periods of time to help him because he says I'm dangerous. I told him, "Ha! I laugh in the face of danger" and he replied, "No, you laugh as danger's hitting you in the face."
We're not professionals and, let's face it, this is our roof.
Did I mention how steep it is?

The roof in general was a big task, one that I was mildly de-motivated by on the first day (we used 2"x6"x24' for our roof joists, just getting them from the ground to the top was a big task, not to mention cutting two bird's mouths and two angles out of each of them). But, then Mr. Nick told me to just think of it as 16" at a time (the distance between roof joists) and that helped a lot. Either way. Here's the big steps.

Hurricane ties on both the tops of the walls and the tops of the beams.

We made these little "bird houses" in order to make sure our roof joists all lined up properly. There is a bird house on each side sandwiching the 2"x4"x24's. 16" at time ...

Finished! That's our cute little shed dormer poking out the side (the only part I was allowed to nail the sheathing on top of). The rest Mr. Nick did, isn't he amazing!?

How to construct your building eaves

2010-09-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

Almost any building has eaves to keep the water off the exterior walls. Here's our simple step by step process for how we built the two gable eaves (one gable eave = two of the lookout sections below) that are going on our barn (roofing video to come soon I promise).

You'll use three of the same 2"x6"xwhatever you used for all your other roof joists. (We used 2"x 6"x 24' that we special ordered). Measure out your 2"x4" spacing every 3'.

Clamp your three boards together so that the ends of the 2"x6"s line up.

Transfer your mark from the center board across all three boards. You'll want to trace in the outline for where your 2"x4"s will go

Here's a closer look.

Set your circular saw to 1 1/2" which is the thickness of a 2"x4"

Cut in the lines. To see a video demonstration of Mr. Nick doing this, click here.

Here is what it will look like once you've done your "lines" with the circular saw.

Knock out your chunks. You can use a chisel to get out any stubborn pieces.

This is what it will look like.

Lay your 2"x4"s in the spaces. We cut them to 33 1/2". Nail the first row only.

Measure on your 2"x4" marks at 16" and 32". You have to do this on every 2"x4".

Make your way down the row again, lining up the second notches.

Here is an example of how it lines up.

Finish up with the last row.

Make sure your 2"x4"s are recessed in as your roofing material will lay on top of this.

Finished product. Now you have to get it on the roof. More of that in our roofing post to come.

Here it is hanging up, now our barn has an eave!

Hanging your floor joists

2010-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind posting about these floor joists but I have a good excuse ... Mr. Nick needed some video game time. I know, I know, you wouldn't expect a burly man like Mr. Nick to also find enjoyment in the simple act of playing video games but it's true, he loves them. And I personally don't mind it either. I have a theory ... I think when you are as high strung as he is (where his brain is CONSTANTLY thinking, over-analyzing, etc. etc. etc.) it's good to have true down time where he decompresses and lets his thoughts turn to mush. It can only be good for his blood pressure and stress level, right?

But, I've managed to get the computer while he's working out the figures for our roof so now we're back on track!

After you've measured your spacing increments, throw up your joist hangars (side note, on our first course of joists we actually used the little tackers to put them in place until we could get both sides done, then once we were sure they were exactly across from each other we nailed them in, by the time we got to the last bay we felt confident enough to secure them immediately).

Here they are all lined up, like "little soldiers" in Mr. Nick's words.

Once your joist hangars are up on both sides measure the distance in between. It's not uncommon with a post and beam barn for the joist distances to vary slightly with each increment but you can make it up with your joists by either cutting bigger than you need to push it out or smaller than you need and securing it.

Measure your joists. We ended up cutting about 8" off the 12' joist for the center course but then Mr. Nick had the great idea to get 23' joists that we were able to get two joists out of for the right and left side. The hassle of hauling the extra long joists was worth the $80 in savings (hey it all adds up right?)

Here's how Mr. Nick uses the triangle to cut a straight line, every time. See how he lines up his skill saw with the line and then butts up the triangle.

The skillsaw was just a tad shallow so instead of ripping the bits off and potentially causing splinters he ran the good ol' hand saw down the line once for a clean break (this is one of the extra long joists, notice how the only waste is the section in the middle)

Handsome Mr. Nick securing his joist hangars ...

Mostly done, a side note. We both work full time jobs so most of the materials are delivered while we're at work. We didn't have time to count and make sure the lumber yard delivered everything before the weekend and then so we found out at the end of the day on Saturday that they had shorted us 50 joist hangars. Because it wasn't a big box store they weren't open on Sunday and we had to wait until Monday to get the rest of our materials, a little frustrating but a pretty painless way to learn a very important lesson, always make sure you are delivered exactly what you paid for!

Wind girts and skirting, oh my!

2010-08-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are hanging in all our wind girt glory ... Nice!

The wind girts create nailing surfaces for the siding. We used 2" x 6", Douglas Fir, #2 studs. A few words on studs. There are two different kinds, Douglas Fir and Hemlock Fir. Lowes and Home Depot sell Hemlock Fir and most local "non-big" box stores (we have Bayview Lumber and ProBuild (formerly Lumbermans)) sell Douglas Fir. So what's the difference? Doug Fir is stronger than Hem Fir. #2 basically means, "second best" which translates into some sort of visual defect but not structural, and are cheaper. If your boards don't need to be absolutely straight than it's worth considering.

So, step by step, here's how we prepped for the hanging of the wind girts.

#1 Consult your plans, your engineer will have laid out your plans to show you at what increments your girts should be placed. He'll also tell you what size boards you will need.

#2 Get into place. Consult your plans again (measure twice cut once, right?)

#3 Measure your spacing marks. We measured from the top of the posts because we had already leveled off the top of the posts and we knew they were all the same. This is one instance though where you could measure from your common laser level mark.

#4 Once you have your lines marked on your corner posts you can use a chalk line to snap in the marks for the middle beams.

#5 Have one person hold the one side and the other hold the other (this is rocket science I know). It's worth nothing that in the end we didn't like how the snap line turned out and ended up measuring each posts marks one by one (like Mr. Nick is doing in step #3)

As part of the wind girt process we also put up the mud skirts. We re-used the concrete forms from our concrete pad installation but didn't re-use the original line. As you can see we went 1" below the original line to overlap the concrete and make sure there is no gap for critters and draft breezes to get through.

The girts went up very easy, I hold one end, Nick holds the other, nail-gun "bang, bang, bang". Repeat. Here's a short visual.

5 "no brainer" ways to save money on your home improvement project

2010-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Put the money back in your pocket!
(The chalk line broke last night so Mr. Nick had to fix it, I liked the way it made his hands look though).

1. Return the items you don't use.
Whether you're undertaking a large scale construction project or a small scale renovation you will almost inevitably end up with more supplies than you need. I think the biggest place this is likely to happen is plumbing. Honestly I think being sent to to the store by yourself with nothing but a list from your plumber (professional or not) only to return with the wrong part is cruel and unusual punishment. This happened to me several times with a professional plumber (Mr. Nick was overseas for a year in Kyrgyzstan so I had to suck it up and pay) until finally I ended up buying two of everything in the aisle. Overkill I know, but truly I was at my wits end. And what do you know, I had the right parts! The morale of this story though, is to return the parts you don't end up using. Even little $2 and $3 pieces add up quickly. Mr. Nick and I keep a bucket full of odds and ends and try to go about once a month to get caught up.

2. Take advantage of warranties.
When I buy a tool I expect it work and Mr. Nick is even harder on tools than I am. If something breaks while I was properly using it I take it back. Lowes sells a brand "Kobalt" and it actually says on the package, guaranteed for life. We took back a measuring tape which was pretty beat up but they changed it out no problem.

3. Bid out your materials package.
If you're doing a large scale project most likely you will have a materials list. However, even with simple products (we're currently in the market for garage doors) it pays to shop around. We ended up buying our lumber package at a local lumber store, not a big box chain. A lumber store we almost didn't ask for a bid from since everyone in town said they were expensive. However, they ended up being the cheapest ... by a lot! So for us, it has paid to shop around.

4. Always return rental equipment with a full gas tank.
This one we have gotten lazy on a couple times and each time I do it I kick myself in the foot. It's so easy! For example, when we rented the plate compactor I filled it up with .89 of gas. Cheap! Had I turned it in empty though it would have been $3.99 for the fuel surcharge. It doesn't seem like much but it adds up.

5. Make smart decisions on whether you should buy or rent tools.This is a lesson we learned from my parents who spent a fortune renting scaffolding to build their house before finally breaking down and purchasing a set. Side note: this purchase has worked out quite well for us now that they are done with it and we get to use it for free, or at least I haven't gotten a bill yet from my mother :) Renting tools is pretty economical when you think about what you're getting. However, renting may not be the right choice for you. We opted to buy our chainsaw and our tractor when we considered what the daily charge was for the equipment and how many times we would most likely use it.

Raising the beams, higher and higher

2010-08-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend we finished what Mr. Nick started and raised the eight middle beams (yes he's amazing but even he needed a second set of hands to get those big ones up). I think even our poor tractor was happy when it was done being asked to haul those big beams, but let the record show good ol' Kubota made it happen! It was pretty uneventful with only one "Oh S*$!, that beam is falling," but we managed to secure it and no one was hurt (but notice we have on our hard hats!)

There were three sizes of beams:

The smallest went along the two sides, Mr. Nick cut this little shelf out and then bolted them into place (these are the ones he raised by himself on Friday)

The medium ones are the two top ones (the highest). One side was pre-made with the "L" and once the beam was in place Mr. Nick made secured it in with the other two 2" x 6"s. The little 2" x 6" running horizontal is to keep the two beams together (it's over 24' up, they want to naturally splay out a little).

And the biggest are the ones that run as the ceiling of the first floor. They were 19.5" wide! Here's a start of what Mr. Nick did for them to rest on. He used the leftover tops that we chopped off of the beams to make them all the same size (in order to determine where to cut off we measured from our "common point" that we made with the laser level).

Mr. Nick securing the beams in.

Finished product!

Song Credit: Passion Pit, "Little Secrets". If you haven't heard of them, check them out. They're pretty amazing.

When husbands moonlight as superheroes

2010-08-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

My husband never ceases to amaze me. I'm still not quite sure how he did it, but I think I figured out how the Egyptian's built the pyramids ... they must have had about 50 Mr. Nick's on their service.

So this weekend it's our job to get the rest of them up!

If the video isn't loading for you, click here.

Concrete slab in seven hours or less

2010-08-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

We poured our concrete slab this weekend and it was a huge success. If you want to watch the video click here.

Here's some key things that we did in order to prep the space for a seamless pour:

On the Tuesday night before the Saturday pour we marked where we wanted the four loads of gravel to go. This was important for us since we both have full time jobs we knew we probably weren't going to be able to leave to be there for the crushed gravel drop-off.

And it worked! Here's the four piles, just like we wanted.

After we installed the concrete forms we reinforced each board with two 3' steel stakes to make sure they didn't "blow out".

We wrapped each post in tar paper to keep the concrete from sticking to the post. If the concrete were to stick to the post, when it settled, it would most likely crack.

We used duplex nails to help with the prying off of our form boards.

We plan for this barn to be a 2 horse barn so we didn't lay concrete in the stall portion (it's really bad for their legs). We used 2" x 6" for these and reinforced with steel stakes again.

We dug out the area along the edge in order to reinforce (less gravel and more concrete equals stronger edge). This was especially important to do on the lips we plan on driving over to get into the barn.

Here's what I carved into the pad. I didn't want to write something like Rachael loves Nick because this house is an investment and should we sell it I highly doubt someone is going to want that on their garage floor. But, I had to personalize it a little. This is a totally side note but when Mr. Nick designed my engagement rink (really designed it, drew it on a piece of paper had a mold cast and everything) he drew an infinity in the side that is filled with purple sapphires. I think it's especially cool because his engineering homework from the Academy has little infinity signs on it ... practice does make perfect!

The other thing we did, which we haven't done before, was pay for help. Mr. Nick put a craigslist add up for a skilled concrete pourer and Joe answered. He was only $200 for the whole day and provided invaluable expertise, not to mention his tools. We did rent the compactor, one come-along (the thing that looks like a rake), and the power trowel, but he provided everything else. It took 26 yards of concrete to fill our 36' x 48' space (minus the two horse stalls). We scheduled the three trucks for 30 minutes apart which provided the perfect amount of overlap (again, had we not had Joe this probably would have been to close together). We started early (first truck arrived at 7:30 but we were there at 6:30) which was also smart since the Pacific Northwest is in a bit of a heat wave right now hitting the upper 90s, reinforcing the adage, concrete waits for no one ... it will dry whether you're ready for it or not. Thankfully, we were ready!

Song Credit: Discovery "So Insane". We love them. If you want to hear their other song we've done a video to check out our Conduit Loop Line video from laying our power cable.

Towing and hauling on the right side of the law

2010-08-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

When building a house, regardless of whether you are doing it yourself or not, chances are you will be involved in hauling materials. We're not even six months in and I've already had two altercations involving improper hauling.

The first time I was leaving the dirt yard and didn't realize they had dumped sand all over my tailgate. The officer (of the law) pulled me over, gave me a hard time, and let me go with a warning, this time, since I didn't know I was in violation. (Side note, that I have already mentioned. The yard has a big sign that says under no condition can you get out of the car, which I took seriously. Now I know that sometime between the yard and the road I need to stop and clean off my tailgate so I don't get in trouble again. I even carry a broom in my truck box so it's simple and easy no matter what). The second time I was hauling the cute adirondak chairs that my mom bought us and we just set them in the back like idiots. Well of course, one flew out and went flying across the road. Thankfully, no one was hurt and I was able to recover it (after a pretty harrowing re-enactment of Frogger). But had we not been so lucky I would have been liable for not securing my load.

So, now that I know better I am taking the time to be informed! Here's the information I was able to gather together pretty easily:

In addition, here's a great article on "How car towing regulations work".

And finally, when do you need a flag on your load, and how far can it extend? Well this information was actually harder to find but I finally found some answers on the Washington State Patrol website (originally I was looking for answers on the Department of Transportation site). I did a quick cursory look for other states and found that they too house their info on the applicable State Patrol site. For us here in the Evergreen State our vehicle cannot exceed 14 ft in height, 8 ft. 6 in. in width and 40 ft. in length PLUS 3 ft. of front overhang and 4 ft. of rear overhang ... as long as there's a cute little "flag". Happy Hauling my friends!

Setting your concrete forms

2010-08-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

We decided to move forward with putting the concrete pad in because we knew we would have to do it at some point and by doing it now it gives us a stable base for doing all our vertical construction (rather than having to work on top of dirt, which becomes an especially big factor in the Pacific Northwest when we get into the rainy season).

*Boring Alert*
You will probably only enjoy these videos if you happen to be in the market for learning about a laser level, want to know how to put concrete forms up or just really enjoy looking at Mr. Nick.

Plumbing up our poles and learning that sometimes the hug is inferred

2010-08-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! Mr. Nick and I worked our little butts off and got all the poles for the barn plumb (straight up and down). Sadly I didn't take any video, which seemed reasonable at the time because it was raining and the work was pretty tedious. However, looking back now I would have loved to re-watch the 2" x 4" cracking on my head, resulting in super hideous crying face. Mr. Nick, who was bear hugging two giant 26' poles at the time, could only respond, "Oh babe, I'm so sorry, I would hug you right now but I can't let these go," to which I replied (making hideous crying face even more contorted) "I know (sniff, sniff), I know."

Of course there wasn't much time for tears as I had to get another 2" x 4" in order to continue trying to jimmy the two giants into place before we could cement them. We got there eventually (one more bonk in the head with the 2"x 4" and a pretty nasty spill when I lost my footing, Mr. Nick still clinging to the poles). Maybe it's better we weren't video taping though as I consider just how dangerous we were being. Of course, my husband, ever the protector told me (while I was bear hugging just one giant pole), "If it falls, get out of the way." To which I asked, "Even if it's going towards the tractor?" and he answered, "Even if it's going towards the tractor." Melt my heart, who said chivalry was dead?

Here's the poles at the end of Day 2, with the braces holding them up.
In order to save money on supplies we re-used, doing half the first day and half the second day.

Each pole was secured on two sides before we could cement them in.

How to save money on your site prep

2010-08-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well it's official. We got our building permit today which means we are now free and clear to build. Here are the steps that had to happen before we could get it:

Submit barn plans to the County and wait for them to be reviewed
Have water tested and approved (through County)
Have septic design with approval
Have acceptable erosion control measures in place (another inspection from the County)
Paid building permit fee (which covers costs for the County to inspect and the costs for them to review plans. It's based on the size of the building and the use. This first building permit is not as expensive because the barn is considered an agricultural building).

We also got the go ahead from the County to cover up our post holes (they came out and inspected the foundation).

Now, you may be wondering, how did we dig the holes and put those posts in without having the building permit ... I think we're also wondering that too (or at least I am). I asked Mr. Nick and he said, "Well technically we needed to have the building permit before starting" (voice fades off into non-discernible conversation with himself). So, no harm no foul I suppose.

Now, that we can "officially" build, here's how we saved money on our site prep.

We are having the same guy who is installing our septic system (in Thurston County, as of 2010, you have to have a licensed septic installer install your septic. This was a bit of shock to us as we were planning on installing it ourselves (Mr. Nick had designed it). Once we learned we couldn't do that we decided to get the same guy who was going to install our septic to also do the prep work for the barn site. This means one bid for two projects and ultimately a better deal (just like buying in bulk at Costco).
For our barn site we needed to bring in quite a bit of fill dirt to make a level "pad". One way we were able to save money was through our septic/earthwork guy who knew about a church that was doing some construction and was looking to get rid of their dirt (read, FREE DIRT!) In most areas there are always places looking to get rid of dirt, you just have to put your feelers out.
We asked our septic installer if we could get his supplier price for the septic parts (he gets a discount because he buys in bulk) and he agreed. Which means we bought directly from the supplier with his price.

So that's it. The bottom line is, if you don't ask (for a discount or a special deal) then you'll never know (no one is going to offer it to you out of the goodness of their heart). I'm not so good at this (I'm also a terrible barterer ... I could be the only person who was told "no" by vendors in Tijuana, Mexico). But Mr. Nick, is super good at this which is just one more reason why I'm so happy to be going through this journey with him.

Sumner, Washington: Where even the Salvation Army has antiques

2010-08-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

While my mom was here a few weekends ago I took a day off work to prowl around some places we hadn't been before. Of course we went up into Tacoma to check out their REstore but didn't really find anything (and I must say, my Olympia REstore is way better priced).

We did find a quilt shop (recommended by my mother-in-law who always finds a new shop when she visits). The Quilt Barn in Puyallup has an excellent selection of batiks and patterns (I was able to get some more fabric for our m. bedroom quilt but still haven't settled on a pattern).

Of course I would say the highlight was visiting Sumner, Washington and the highlight of highlights being Today's Country Store. As soon as you walk into the store you feel a sense of home, happiness and slightly extravagant decorating wash over you. Their displays are artfully arranged and so well thought out I found myself staring, mouth slightly agape, wanting to box up the whole store and take it home. Unfortunately I didn't walk away with anything (I am trying really hard to only buy things right now that benefit the building process) but my mother found three amazing finds for less than $100!

This antique paper cutter now sits on the edge of her island
(which really is a salvaged bowling alley, complete with the lane dots and everything).

Vintage oar (they're going to become hand rails for her walkway down to the front half of the house).
And yes, that's one of her outside cat's Dog Cat (DC) for short.

The vintage electricians tool chest now houses all her paints
(she is a beyond talented toll painter. I'll have to share some of her work).

One more shot, she made all the miniature quilts on the wall behind her.

So the one thing I really am in the market for is a buffet that we can turn into the sink for the bathroom. The Salvation Army down the street had quite a few nice selections all for under $100 so I think we will definitely be going back. And of course, when it's time to feather my nest I will be returning to Today's Country Store. If you go, don't forget to go in the back where they have vintage-y garden things just as nicely displayed. I now officially want a vintage wagon (Radio Flyer) and vintage-y bicycle with great big basket on it. If this gardening thing doesn't start panning out I'm going to settle on decorating my life with rusty metal.

How clean is your water?

2010-08-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend Home Depot offered a "free water testing" to anyone who brought in 5 oz. of their water. Of course, the testing was sponsored by Kinetico Water Systems so you had to be prepared to hear the very minimal sales pitch about their water filtering system.

We found out that our water has a PH of 7.3 which is on the alkaline side of fabulous (according to the man this will be great for my skin). We have 0 iron and 0 chlorine (awesome!) and our hardness is at 4. This is the only thing that concerns me as every house we have lived in in the Pacific Northwest has PLAGUED me with the calcium spots on the shower doors, curtains, everything. But that's okay, we have time to fix that.

What I most wanted to share was the Consumer Reports printout they provided rating different water filter system. Some of these things I have never heard of, who knew there were so many options? I will definitely be researching further before purchasing!

How to set the posts for your barn

2010-08-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Visible progress!

This weekend we dug the post holes, filled them with 10" of concrete and set the posts in them. We need to have them inspected before we square them up and back fill so right now it's kind of ramshackle but it's beginning to look like *something*.

If you can't view the video, click here.

In case you're curious this video is set to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "40 Day Dream". Mr. Nick and I bought tickets to see them at Bumpershoot 2010 so we're pretty excited, finally the retun of the Rock Opera!

Chandeliers belong in kitchens and bathrooms ...

2010-07-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

And anywhere else you can sneak one in! A few weeks ago Mr. Nick and I were up at one of our rental properties to turn a unit after a tenant moved out. Of course this always means multiple trips to Home Depot which inevitably leads to me wandering around with stars in my eyes dreaming of the future. Very rarely does my husband humor me as I chatter away about claw foot bathtubs and faucets that look like water pumps but thankfully, for me, he decided to humor me this time.

And I am now the proud owner of the Maria Theresa Hampton Bay 6 light chandelier. And let me tell you, it is gorgeous. Definitely not at all reminiscent of the $99 price tag it carried.

Originally we were just going to put it on our list as an item to come back for but when I started looking in the shelves there were none available for purchase. Then, on a trip to another Home Depot it wasn't even displayed. When chatting with my mother about this she very quickly reminded me of Home Depot's awesome return policy and of the fact that sometimes, when you go back to buy something, it may not be there anymore. So that was enough. Mr. Nick agreed without much of a fuss at all and put the chandelier on order. It took over a week to arrive but now it's here in this teeny tiny box (obviously this is one of those, some assembly required situations). The box actually works out perfect for us though because we're not quite ready. A recent search of three more Home Depot's in the area has only solidified my choice, the chandelier is no longer on display in our area (they even sold someone the sample). So the lesson learned is, when in doubt buy it, you can always return it later.

And I leave you with a couple of ways my mom and I have used chandeliers in our past decorating. Enjoy!

This is my old guest room. The bed, curtains and chandelier came from Ikea. The lamp shade is from Marshalls. The throw is a gift from my best friend (a TJ Maxx purchase) and the framed little prints are greeting cards from Cincinnati, The bed was originally a yellow which caused me to walk right past it but my mom (again!) reminded me that things can be painted. Speaking of painting. She did the treatment on the wall using a mix of regular and metallic paint, a stencil and a plastic bag. She is sooo talented I know! We only had $300 to decorate this room, which is photographing larger than it actually is, so we were pretty happy with it.

A closer look at the painting while Sasha and Fat Pip enjoy a friendly brawl.

This is part of my mom's bathroom ... it's all vintage and I love it.
She lives in a Lindal Cedar Home so everything has the deep rich mahogany trim.

And in case you wanted to see more of her bathroom. Mr. Nick made this fireplace out of MDF. I'll have to do some close-up photos of it when I'm there next ... she LOVES daisies so he worked them into the design pattern.

Ordering large scale photographs

2010-07-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

Those who know me know that I love taking photos. I'm not a professional by any means but I really enjoy being behind a camera. I recently splurged and bought a DSLR, which you can read about here, and have gotten more serious about printing large scale photographs. As a card carrying Costco member (is there any other kind of member?) I have happily printed through them, enjoying their "anything goes" return policy, fast turn-around times and of course low prices.

However, when I took photos of my niece and nephew and had them blown up I was unhappy with the large scale resolution of the prints. So I started shopping around for a better printer. Having enjoyed great results with my first 24 x 36 I am now a card carrying member of Ritz Pix (I swear I don't have "need to belong" issues). Membership basically means that I get 5% cash back on my large scale printing.

This photo actually took 4 prints to get right, the first time the laminator was fritzy so there were lines in the plastic and the second and third times the crop was off. Because of that it wasn't ready in 1 hour like advertised but they were totally dedicated to making sure that I was happy with the product. And I am. I chose to mount since it's a photo and will tend to sag behind the glass at such a large size and I chose to put the laminate film on because it has UV protection and will keep my photo from fading in the sun. The color is beautiful (not at all displaying well in this photo), there is no graininess and the mounting is really nice. They will be getting all my printing business from here on out.

In case you're curious, I took this photo about halfway up, as we hiked to the top of Mt. Olympus in Greece. The mama and horse were all by themselves with not another living creature for miles (except us of course). I did deepen the colors in photoshop and made sure that the photo was saved at 400 dpi but other than that I didn't do much else. I took this with my cheap-o Canon (before Mr. Nick consented to my relentless reminders about DSLR cameras). That's Mr. Nick and I in the back, one at our wedding and one at my brother's wedding. It's leaning against our piano (did I mention we need to move out of this apartment ASAP). I left them in so you can see how big it is.

Home Depot's plant return policy

2010-07-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

This past Christmas we decided to be "green" and get a living Christmas tree. We were in the process of closing on our land so it seemed like such a good idea to buy something that we celebrate with and then plant as a forever reminder.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened. We put our house on the rental market and moved within a very small period of time so the decorating of the Christmas tree fell by the wayside. Wanting to make sure that the tree went in the "perfect" place we decided to store it at our apartment until we could get a better "feel" for where it should go (this was back when I thought I was secretly harboring a green thumb and plants would grow taller just at the sound of my voice).

Fast forward seven months and our poor "living Christmas tree" is no longer living (yes, I understand the irony). So, on my mother's suggestion we decided to try to take advantage of Home Depot's plant return policy.

They say they will take any plant back within one year of puchase if you have the receipt. That receipt is crucial (according to the woman I called over the phone). We arrived counting on doing the credit card look-up (which by the way I think every store should do) because we had lost our receipt. Unfortunately they only store cc information for 90 days. Luckily though we still had the price tag on the bucket so she was able to scan it and give us store credit. Honestly I think she just thought Mr. Nick was cute but I thought about it and I'm okay with pimping him out in the name of saving money. And let's face it, he is ridiculously good looking :)

So that's that. The tree has been removed from our lives, leaving a trail of dead pine needles from our balcony to the parking lot. I'm sure our apartment manager hates us by now ...

Mom and I pose in "happier times".
We'll miss you living Christmas tree. We promise to do better next year.
p.s. Mom made my sweater for me when I was in 5th grade.

So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow ...

2010-07-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Having a mother who is artistic is a blessing. Having an artistic mother in town for the weekend is even better. Having an artistic mother in town for the weekend and a sister-in-law who likes to celebrate the little things is THE BEST!

Today Mr. Nick and I received a "Congratulations you've got water ..." present from our 2.5 year old niece and 5 month old nephew (of course, they had a little help). Mom used a black permanent marker to write out the words and then white Rustoleum oil-based paint to trace over the words.

Here we are in our brand new wheelbarrow.
I love it even more that it's red because when I first met Mr. Nick
he referenced William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow".

But that's not all! Home Depot had their Adirondack chairs on clearance so Mom picked up four for us. Having been through this whole, "build your house with your bare hands" dream herself just a few years ago, she knew the importance of having a nice place to sit at the end of the day ... even in the middle of a construction site. But she wouldn't be my mother unless she personalized it just a little.

Mr. Nick's says "MR" at the top and "THINKER" on the bottom,
mine says "MRS" at the top and "DREAMER" at the bottom.

So it was a day of celebrating and presents ... a reminder to stop and enjoy the small successes along the way.

How to save money on your well

2010-07-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Before you can get your building permit you have to have three things. 1) Electricity, 2) Running Water and 3) Septic. We took care of electricity a few weeks ago and the septic system has been designed, happily we celebrated today with water. Yep, that's right ... good, clean, cold water right out of the ground.

We had a professional drill the well as they don't exactly rent out well-drilling rigs to novices. He hit water at 15 feet and dropped the casing down to 90 feet. When you start sucking water out it draws down, but it steadies at a certain level (which for us is at 40 feet) so this set-up will ensure we never are without water.

One of the biggest ways we saved money with our well was to do the trenching and installation of the pump ourselves. For those who don't know, the well head is just a piece of pipe sticking out of the ground. There is water pipe and power running underground from your well head to your control box and then from your control box to your power source. As Mr. Nick is an expert trencher (ref: Conduit Loop Line) this was not a big deal for us.

Here is our well-head. Notice the pitless adaptor at the bottom and the
pipe running to the control box through Mr. Nick's series of trenches.

The other way we saved money is by installing all the components of the well ourselves. You have to have some knowledge of electrical and some knowledge of plumbing to make this happen but for us we were able to make it work.

These components included:

Pitless Adaptor
Pipe
Electrical
Pressure Tank
Pump
Control Box

Here is our control box

Snohomish, Washington: Antique lovers paradise?

2010-07-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend my cousin got married up near the Candian border so Mom and I got to combine the wedding with a quick prowl through Snohomish, Washington.

Widely considered the antique capital of the Pacific Northwest those who like antiques will be at home here. Most of the shops are consolidated along the main "drag" where you can walk and sit, eat and sit, and then walk and sit some more. Parking was not a problem. Now keep in mind, we only had a couple hours so my review is based purely on first impressions.

The store fronts are a pretty even mix of antique and antiqued. Shabby chic reigns supreme with many stores mixing in actual antiques with aged materials. Those antiques that we did find were in excellent condition, thoughtfully restored and cared, with a price tag to match (although, according to my mother most things were priced pretty well.)

I ended up purchasing just one thing, in the basement of Antique Warehouse, Inc (where I'm pretty sure the bargains were hiding) for just $35! The dealer wasn't sure what it was (he had been holding it in their warehouse, not feeling like it was good enough to sell, and then just put it on a whim). Our best guess is that it came from the bottom of a bar or table.

We're not sure what it's going to be yet but our wheels are turning. My overall feeling of Snohomish is nice, definitely nice. But I felt like some of the excitement was gone. I enjoy prowling through piles of junk and seeing hidden potential. So for me and my budget, we will stick to salvage yards.

As a side note, cyclists may feel more at home here than antiquers. Snohomish sits alongside the Centenial Bike Trail, a 17-mile trail from Snohomish to Skagit County.

Great financial websites and money-saving tips

2010-07-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Brace yourself. I have an announcement to make. Wait for it ...

Building a house costs money.

Shocking I know. Here I thought that money tree we planted was going to provide for us these next couple years. Ha! What a joke (we all know I would have killed that poor tree by now anyway).

Recently I picked up a copy of Money Magazine at the library and read a pretty interesting article on the best financial websites out there. Here's the ones that I looked further into:

Bill Shrink: This is a pretty cool site that analyzes your cell phone, your television, your credit cards, your savings and even gas. It's pretty personalized so you have to put your own info in but I found out where I needed to drive for cheap gas (it even took into account what kind of car I have and how far away I was from the station).
Nerd Wallet: By asking you what you want out of a credit card reward program as well as your personal spending habits (and paying off habits) this site shows you how each potential cardstacks up against each other. I did this and it actually reccomended the card we have (American Express Platinum Delta Sky Miles Card) but who knows what it will find for you.
Do it Yourself or Not: With lists of thousands of DIY projects this website compares how long and how much it would cost for a pro vs you to complete a job (accounting for location by zipcode). There's even a simple thumbs up/thumbs down icon that shows their reccomendation. It's a little clunky to navigate but once I figured out how they organized it things got easier. Ironically, building a home from scratch is not even an option ...
Neighborhood Scout: If you are searching for your own land to build (or a home that's already built) this website compares all sorts of things like schools, average home prices, real estate appreciation rates and crime. According to the site my chances of becoming a victim of violent crime in the state of Washington are 1 in 271. I feel okay with these odds.

Saving money is such a personal thing but I'll share a couple of tips that Mr. Nick and I have employed over the past couple years to get ahead a bit quicker.

I married my hairdresser. Well, not really, but he is quickly becoming one. When I just need a trim Mr. Nick can wield the scissors pretty well. Recently I cut off quite a bit to donate to Locks of Love, which I opted to go to the professional for, but for just run of the mill grooming I'm more than happy to let him hack away. (As a side note, when we were in college he cut my bangs for me and both of us learned that hair shrinks up once it's dry ... that was an interesting fringe I had for a couple months).
We very rarely eat out. Now this is where I get lucky again because I'm not the cook in our family so I can imagine needing a break if you are the only one putting meals on the table night after night. We always have a fresh pot of rice in the cooker so even on days when Mr. Nick doesn't feel like cooking we can throw some chicken on the Foreman and pair it with rice. When we do eat out we try to use a coupon.
I shop at Ross, Marshalls and Goodwill. Additionally, if I buy something and I haven't worn it in two weeks I return it because, lets face it, if it takes me that long to wear something I'm never going to.
I don't dryclean my clothes. Now I do dryclean Mr. Nick's shirts but this is where I balance the things I want to do and things I don't want to do. For me, I am willing to pay this price in order to have more time to actually hang out with him. Plus, I could never in a million years get his shirts as nice as they do. But for my work clothes I wash at home. I use Dryell when necessary and I bought a compact little steamer which has always been enough to get the job done.
I buy generic. Unless of course the name-brand is on sale because we are Proctor and Gamble shareholders, but in almost all cases I go with the generic.
I make my own coffee. At home, for .7 cents a cup (I put 2 spendas in each cup and yes, I figured it out because that's what we do in our house, we figure out how much things are costing us). For Christmas I was given a Hamilton Beach Coffee Maker that can brew one or twelve cups of coffee at a time. It would work out especially well if Mr. Nick drank coffee because it can do two side-by-side but he's a tea man.

So there you have it. I'd love to know, how do you save money in your life?

Photo: Here I am with my new short haircut, courtesy of the professional. I don't love it but I do love that I was able to donate it to a great cause.