Home Improvement…?

This weekend I finally got rid of the fireplace in the middle of my Great Room, which was making the furniture arrangement awkward. It was a ventless propane unit, so there wasn’t much in the way of any danger. Lifting up the mantle (keep in mind that this is an insert, so it is freestanding and not built-in to the wall), we discovered who ever had installed it had nailed it to the floor, same thing went for the wooden surround. It would have been nice if they had used screws, because that would have caused less damage

We had to use a crowbar to pull the surround from the wall. Honestly, it came out fairly easily. The drywall was only moderately torn up from where the nails were yanked out, which I can simply fill in with putty, sand, and paint over. The one interesting thing to note, though, that we weren’t expecting, was a coaxial television cable and a phone cable coming out of the floor. Apparently, this was where the entertainment center was supposed to have gone, which is where I’m going to put it now. I’ll just have to put ends on the cables and fish them up through the wall. I’ll just get a multi-jack and put it there. However, the other thing that I’ll have to take care of when I have somebody over who knows electricity is the 120 volt wire sticking out of my wall, which was used for the insert’s pilot light–I’ll probably turn it into an electrical outlet, maybe combine it with the coax and phone.

Speaking of electrical…I also installed a track lighting kit in the kitchen where there used to be an ugly flourescent light. It looks pretty good, but I’ll have to figure out how I want to shape the track as it can be bent into different shapes. The halogen bulbs give a much softer light, too, than I had thought they would. Overall I’m extremely happy with the decision. The next big project, besides patching the hole in the carpet where the insert was and wiring up the outlet, is treating the deck out back. For some reason the builder forgot to stain it. Even though it’s pressure-treated and bug resitant, it’s getting weathered badly. Between the rain and the hot sun, the wood is starting to warp and crack. Also, whoever built the deck didn’t use galvanized screws! So, the steel screws, which you would normally use indoors, are now rusting. Idiots.

Also, later on, I plan on tearing up the tile in the foyer and replacing it with laminate (faux-wood) flooring. The main reason for this is to lighten up the space and add some color to it. Not to mention that the tile floor there is sort of messed up–it’s off center and looks (is) crooked. Oh, and I might put a chair railing up in there as well with beadboard to give it some style. Plus, I want to put in a new front door with a window over top to let some light in. Right now, the foyer is like a dark cave. Besides, the front door doesn’t even have a peep hole, which would be extremely useful.

Home improvement…isn’t it fun?

The 4th

Ribs and barbeque chicken were on the menu. There was also corn on the cob and macaroni and cheese and broccoli in butter. Best of all, well, all I had to do was enjoy it.

I’m not really a big rib eater. Until now. However, that’s only if they’re as good as the ones I had yesterday. Apparently, the trick is to boil them first to burn off the fat. The fat is what gets charred if you simply throw the ribs on the grill without any prior preperations. Also, you should brush sauce on before the ribs hit the grill–as well as brushing some on while the ribs are grilling. The same pretty much goes for chicken as well.

My friend who was doing the grilling said you want to bake the chicken in the oven with some barbeque sauce on it before you put it on the grill. That way all the moisture and juices stay locked inside the meat. To be honest, I was surprised by the results. The chicken was excellent and so were the ribs. Just goes to show that, if you know what you should do, things can turn out great. In fact, I even saved some of the chicken for lunch tomorrow.

Of course, last night, all I heard were fireworks and firecrackers going off. I was just happy that people had the sense to stop at about 12 AM, which is surprising. Although, some idiot across the street was firing them off on Monday night. Dumbass. Some people had to work the two days before the 4th. Anyway. I had a decent 4th and I hope everybody else did as well.