Home Remodeling

This is a task we had, most probably, to do already a year ago, together with roof replacement, but trust me, last year's summer was one of the hardest, as the new home owners we didn't have much clue how to handle all those many things, the house asked us.  So it took about a year before we actually decided to tear town that huge manfetel chimney. Well. I actually hired two workers to help me with it, meanwhile I was in the other part of loft painting and photographing the small room.…

In part 1 I told how we scratched chalk from ceilings and removed old wallpapers, in part 2 I showed how I applied base layer of white paint and did some photography tricks. Today I applied second layer of white paint, both for ceilings and walls, and also mastered a technique, I felt bad about in previous two articles.  I had to use HDR photography technique to get the right exposures of window. Who said a construction worker cannot be a good photographer or vice verse? Second layer of…

Today I'm continuing works in second floors room. Yesterday we did a wallpaper removal and chalk scratching thing. Today is the right time to apply base layer of fresh paint for ceilings. I had an idea not to apply white paint for walls this time, as I did it in first floor last year, see: Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint; Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works);   instead to glue new wallpapers here. Thus after finishing paint job for ceilings…

Finally we have moved to indoor works, and this time we started with a room I haven't covered yet - a little room in second floor with a stove. We still don't have any idea what this room will be at the end, it might be either a guests bedroom or a temporary home office. Most probably something in the middle.  Stairways to the loft There is a small room on the left Old Wallpaper and still some junk inside. In matter of few hours we removed the junk, removed wallpaper and scratched…

About a year ago I had a chance to try out an old school tool called a scythe (back at these days, all I had at our newly inherited rural house). The grass were growing as crazy as it could, and I was left with no other option as to use what I have to fight back. My fight with grass have been personal already. A scythe was fun, but way to exhausting and for unprofessional not the best solution. Soon I started to rent a string trimmer, and even hired a trimmer dudes to do trimming for me. For…

About a year ago we planted first plants in used wooden boxes (the drawers), see: Our First Veggie Garden: Planting Plants in Boxes .This year we (not me actually) decided to construct boxes by our own, making our veggie garden larger and probably more efficient than it was a year ago. The idea about using boxes for growing veggies is simple, it proves to be more efficient than planting them in soil, and cheaper than building a greenhouse, thus a greenhouse is another upcoming thing to do.…

Recently I introduced my dear readers with Edward The Brush cutter, today allow me to introduce you with a new sort of an apple tree we planted in our rural house as part of home remodeling works. Meet Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi or Дочь Мелбы (In Russian). Bought at Kuldīga market from the tree nursery Bētras (Latvia). Digging a hole for planting an apple tree Planted at the end of April 2016. Daughter Melbi About Daughter Melbi (Дочь Мелбы) Vigorous tree. Starts fruiting in 3-4…

Few days ago we did the Big Spring tree and branches trimming, we were left with many piles of branches, the only reasonable solution to get rid of them - burn them. We waited for overcast day and made three fire places today. Thus we didn't burned all of the branches today, we did a pretty good work today. Making a fire place near fish pond In contrary to the weather forecast, instead overcast day we got crystal clear sky and pretty warm day, which made me a bit nervous about safety.…

Meet Edward, our newest team member to help us out in our home remodeling works. I first met Edward at local DEPO DIY store in Liepāja, Latvia. The sales person wanted me to buy  a Jasper, as Jasper was listed just under EUR 100. In my mind I had allocated about EUR 400 for a new brush cutter / trimmer purchase and I asked to the salesperson can he show me something more powerful than Jasper? I was introduced with many never heard brand names before, when Edward popped up. Sales guy told me -…

After the successful Big Spring cleanup of territory surrounding our rural house, and after masonry works with chimney it was time to get rid of old and broken branches. Frankly speaking I thought it will be enough just to cut one broken branch from our apple orchard and trimming some smaller bushes in garden. Turned out I was wrong. After all we trimmed many trees and way more branches. For this task I hired a professional saw guy, which I was already familiar since last summer's home…