I thought I'd open another non-political discussion about life as it stands at the current time. For the past several months I've noticed by online comments that Lowes and Home Depot were being swamped with DIY sales for home and garden and lots of posts about requests for recommendations on carpenters, painters, and such as that. People staying at home who decided to tackle those home projects because well, they're in it all the time, so why not do it now?
I have a family member who does remodeling/landscaping services and business has been pretty darn lucrative this summer. Mostly doing upgrades but in some cases remodeling for flips, and lots of landscaping work.
We really haven't done any remodeling. I've been shoveling out our unfinished basement which usually resembles a storage unit where some smart people have a home gym--sort of doing a Swedish Death Cleaning there--trying to make my time at home count for something positive. Also bought more Earth Boxes this year to expand to more tomatoes, peppers, and more basil than last year. I call it "the Farm". :-)
Drying the basil for winter use right now because it's supposed to snow Tuesday so trying to get it harvested in case the temps kill everything. I'll blanket the Farm but still, it could all get wiped out.
Next month we plan to have someone paint the living room/great room. Very high ceilings, don't want JB to even attempt to paint it again figuring if someone breaks their neck let them be insured and bonded, and a non-family member. Also going to let them touch up some high places on the exterior where the sun hits the wood and breaks down the finish faster on the edges of dormers, that kind of thing. Last time we did it ourselves we had a cherry picker out here for the work. We've never hired out for painting in our entire lives but it's really time to let someone else do it though I wouldn't mind going up in the bucket again. :-)
TODAY I am doing something I've planned on for well over a year. It's not much but I want to tell about it.
About a dozen years ago I replaced all the living room furniture with more modern stuff. Leather couch and tables with stone tiling. Nothing special, just updated furniture. But when I did that, I couldn't bring myself to toss the old tables. They were purchased years ago at a high end shop, Early American and I loved them so I kept them. Solid wood, dark pine. Really nice.
This summer I went off the deep end with the modern furniture to the point of outright hatred. One day on Facebook MP I noticed an actual console table that matched perfectly the old tables and our dining room furniture. I got it for 30$!
I have refinished furniture before, and I just don't feel like doing that if I don't really have to. Wait. Back up the truck. Our house is rustic so the doors are wood. Cheap hollow core but that's what we could afford at the time because when we built we had to make compromises to make up for what we weren't willing to compromise on. Anyway, the lacquer on some of the doors thinned. One day, JB took a steel wool pad, put some of the original stain on it and a solvent. He wiped it over one of the doors and---VOILA! It looked brand new. I don't know how he figured that out, but he did.
Enter Restor a Finish. I've been watching videos of this for at least 2 years now--both the manufacturer and regular people using it. Looking at before and after photos like a detective. Turns out it's exactly what JB did to the door. A combination of stain and solvent. It breaks down the old finish, puts in a bit of stain to cover any scratches and when the now dissolved lacquer dries...it's like a new piece of furniture with a now smooth finish!
I picked up some at ACE yesterday and am doing the console table this afternoon! It should take only 15 minutes or less. Just went in there to see if they had it--I couldn't leave without it. Figured I'd use the table as the guinea pig for the rest of the stored tables. So it's taking a possible hit for the team today! I'll write a review of the product in case someone else wants to use it for a project.
If it's too good to be true, all I sacrificed was a 35$ used table, then I'll break out the stripper and stain and get on with it.
So what home projects have you worked on? What turned out great? What failed? Did you hire out? If so, did you feel skeevy about having someone come to the house during the pandemic?
And please, if you have used Restor a Finish would you wait to talk about it until I come back with a review? I don't want to get disappointed before I even start. Thanks!
Be back in a few hours with a review. Sorry about the lengthy post, I felt like it today.
Jersey
And no one I knew, and certainly not me, shot up--what we called mainlining.