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Water Smart Landscape Conversion Started
We decided to convert our grass filled front yard to xeriscape. The great thing about doing this is if you live in Las Vegas call the Southern Nevada Water Authority before starting the conversion you will potentially get up to $1.50 sq/ft back. If you do this it is important to have them come out first before ripping out turf.
There is one thing I know about something as labor intensive as landscaping, that in order to get it done in a timely fashion we are going to have to pay to have someone do at least part of the project. To save some money we’ll do most of the demolition work ourselves.
The Plan
After sketching out the dimensions of the front yard, we came up with an overall plan for the front yard. We can’t afford to do everything we want all at once so we’re going to break it up into 3 stages. Here are some of the things we would like to incorporate into the new front yard.
- 2 different sizes and types of rock
- Additional parking
- A small wall in front to keep debris and the random dog out of the yard
- Minimal plant maintenance
Stage 1 – Remove all the existing decorative walls, the planter box attached to the front of the house, sandstone gravel and turf. Once that’s finished we’ll work with a landscaper to put in the new gravel and irrigation in.
Stage 2 – Figure out a paver solution for the additional parking section. I want to use pavers so water can go into the ground and not the street.
Stage 3 – Put in the stacked stone wall in front of the house.
Original Front Yard
Fixing Loose Bathroom Holders
Time was a little short this weekend for anything but a quick fix. All of the bathroom holders, towel and toilet paper holder, in the master bathroom were so loose they would spin. The hand towel holder next to my sink came off.
Spinning Towel Holder
To start with the holder had to come off the wall. There is usually a screw at the bottom of the holder that secures the unit to the wall. An eyeglasses screwdriver worked great.
Removal Screw
Once the towel holder was removed, examining the mounting bracket revealed that a drywall screw was used.
Mounting Bracket
The bracket was fixed to the wall using a drywall anchor.
Wall Anchor
I replaced the screw from a drywall screw to a regular wood screw of the same length. The surface area where the drywall screw met the bracket was considerably smaller than the replacement wood screw.
New Wood Screw
The wood screw bit into the plastic wall anchor better than the drywall screw. The added surface area contact of the wood screw held the mounting bracket much better.
Finishing the re-installation was a matter of putting the holder back onto the mounting bracket and tightening the securing screw on the bottom of the holder.
Hacking a Medicine Cabinet – Painting the MC
I went through a couple of trial and error session with painting up the metal portion of the cabinet. Your Grandpa’s method is still the best. Prime first then paint. Learn from my time consuming mistake of trying to spray the semi-gloss white enamel without priming. I ended up using some Krylon primer on the carcass. That was of course after sanding down some of the sections that bubbled up for some reason.
Metal Painted Semi-Gloss White
Painting Cabinets
This is part of the cheap bathroom redo that we are doing to the downstairs bathroom.
First thing we did was remove the drawers and doors from the cabinet carcass.
Drawers Are Removed For Preparation
As you can see, the drawers were unfinished inside with contact paper liners.
Drawers With Unfinished Insides
After everything was disassembled, including taking the faces off the drawers, the surfaces were ruffed up with 180 grit sandpaper. This is so the paint has something to adhere to.
Step 1 – Sanding the Surfaces
Truthfully, I tried to paint a piece of the cabinet without priming it first, and it took three coats of paint. What I found works best is to prime as many of the surfaces with a spray can of primer. This was exponentially faster than priming with a brush and roller. Of course this wasn’t possible on the cabinet carcass.
Step 2 – Priming the Surfaces
Next was to paint the surfaces with brush and roller. I used a 1 inch brush to get into the detailed areas first then used a small smooth foam roller to cover the flat areas. Using the roller last removed any brush strokes on the flat areas put there by the brush.
Step 3 – Painting the Surfaces and Letting Dry
For the drawers, in addition to painting the facing I primed and sprayed the rest of the drawer with an enamel semi-gloss white paint. The unfinished wood was too unsightly.
Finished Drawers
Once everything dried for 24 hours it was reinstalled.
Everything Reinstalled and Finished
Note: To create a clean edge between the newly painted cabinets and the wall, use caulk to create the new transition.
Hacking a Medicine Cabinet – Getting Started
The goal was to get started by removing the medicine cabinet from the wall, remove the old facing and get the metal portions of the medicine cabinet ready for painting.
Removing the old medicine cabinet was not that hard. It was held in place by four flat-head screws into the surrounding 2 x 4s.
Wall Where The Cabinet Was
Cabinet After Removal
Next step was to remove the existing wood frame around the mirror by unscrewing it from the back.
Screw Removed From Back
Frame and Mirror Removed
There was some old caulking that needed to be removed. A utility knife did the job just fine. The caulk was so old I had to take it off in layers. It was not feasible to try and scrape entire sections off at once.
Scraping Old Caulk
The magnetic catch was removed using some needle-nose pliers to squeeze the back of the catch enough to push it forward. This was kind of a pain to get all the barbs securing the catch to push in all at once, but patience paid off.
Magnetic Catch From The Front
Magnetic Catch From The Rear
With the magnetic catch removed the only thing left before painting was to lightly scratch up the old paint so the new primer and paint will adhere to the cabinet.
Cabinet Ready For Paint