Fateful doorstop

So I bought a doweling jig (which is soooo simple and totally cool) at a yard sale for $5 a couple weeks ago, and we've been using it for our trailer project. At the yard sale, the guy threw in this awesome, super-heavy brass (plated, but hey), gigantic antique door stop. I love old doorstops, and I figured I'd throw it in the "cool stuff for later" jar since every door has a stop right now and we really didn't need it.

Well, 2 days ago we opened the door too hard for the flimsy, crappy, lazy person's hinge pin doorstop we had installed on the back door. Fate! We had the new beefcake one ready to go - and because it was so cool, we were OK with screwing it into the nice re-finished baseboard. Fab!

A bit of winter in the midst of summer

Not much happening in the house this summer - we're doing a bit more landscaping, growing some food in the garden, and working on this other project.

But - today I happened by the ReStore in the vain hope they would have a bit of rigid foam insulation for the other project mentioned above. After several prods and a lot of patience, the one guy got the other guy, who asked the boss about a supposed stash of rigid foam in the trailer, that no one apparently thought was for sale, but that the boss decided just then to let go.

And the trailer doors creaked open, and behold! There was insulation! I only wanted the one piece (a complete 4x8 sheet, mind you!) of 1/2" stuff, but then Guy #2 said, "well, I'd really like to get this all out of here now that we can sell it - don't you want some more?". And we eventually arrived at a deal - $55 for all the insulation in there (plus he threw in a big ol' sheet of plexiglas I had picked up).

This is what we got:

The 1/2" I originally went for, plus 2 sheets of 1" (2x8 T&G)

4 sheets of 2" (4x8 sheets! Score!)

Two packets of the thin stuff in Green certified energy star, exterior grade, etc., etc. AND a packet plus scraps of the pink thin stuff.

As we loaded it all onto the truck*, the Guy #2 says, "I think you got a pretty good deal, young lady". I told him I was quite sure I got a fabulous deal. And the cellar will be a heck of a lot more comfy when we insulate the walls - next summer's big project.

* which was a ridiculous procedure, because Guy #1 did not believe any of it would fit, and then he proceeded to comment about every step of me strapping it in (it fit fine). But then, I had to drive home with the wind whipping the whole way - it was quite breezy and our ReStore is in a big open area. I'm amazed we didn't float away...

Got your new issue of This Old House?

The July/August reader created one?

Crack it open and turn to page 22. There we are, on the Plant Tags story! (In the middle, the stamped concrete marker stones).

Funny thing is, this is probably the ONE thing we've done at the house that has been a kit, not an insane custom, handbuilt thing. Ha!

There are other cool plant tag ideas on the 'bonus' page online - I LOVE the license plate one.

You call that a score? THIS is a score!

So if that blanket from the last post was a great deal, today I got a tremendous deal. The yard sale gods were smiling.



That's right, that's a box of un-used electrical supplies - enough for a whole basement, we think. The yard sale proprietors had bought it all to re-do a cottage then didn't do the work.

All sorted out, this is what we got for $7.50 (thanks to my hard and fast rule that one simply MUST haggle - it was originally $10, which was just as great a price).



With this find and the sink and three boxes of tile Susie (over at Bangor Foursquare) traded us, the basement project (probably slated for next summer) is coming together well, all by itself.

A blanket on a hot day

Score! I just stopped by the antique/vintage store in downtown Bangor for an iced coffee and a browse after getting out of a meeting, and I found this little FLW treasure for $27! Looking forward to a cool winter day to use it - but not yet.

It's in *pristine* condition (though we'll gently wash it anyways).

Almost as cool as the never-opened Scrabble game we got at a yard sale this weekend for $1...but not quite.

Since it won't be this tidy ever again...

OK, so we never posted any "afters" of the bedroom. We still have about 3 tiny punch list jobs to do (Ken is doing one this very moment - sweet!), and I didn't have my camera for a while, but we actually did take some photos before I loaned it out that I never posted.

We never posted because we thought we'd do another round of fully-staged "afters", but this is a tough one: because we live (messily) in it, I'm not sure it'll ever be much tidier than in these first excited "It's almost done!" shots. So without further ado...

Before:

After-ish:

Yeah, that's an IKEA bed in a bungalow. The room is a bit more modern, but we didn't destroy any of the vintage stuff. Just sassed it up.

Go Bangor!

Still cleaning gardens and mulching. Still waiting for my camera back.

But - I was pleased to find that our little metropolis of Bangor was just listed in the Top 100 places to Live by RelocateAmerica.com.

They didn't include "has awesome bungalows" as one of the criteria, but we do! Of about 5,000 single-unit detached homes, some 285 or more are bungalows. And a whole bunch more are foursquares - so ubiquitous they call them Bangor Boxes. So - we've got character!

And a giant 1950s fiberglass statue of Paul Bunyan. Wow.