What home improvement work did you do today?

I agree on the wallpaper thing and appreciate your home decorating tips but I really like color. I hate prepping though and usually just cut by hand. Those doors are a bitch.

 

I put a Ring Mailbox sensor on our mailbox. Yeah, it's a dirty mailbox. It's also 107 out there. I'll clean it when it cools off.



@trucksareforgirls2 You must have worked some of that feminine voodoo telepathy magic shit on my wife. She said we could start with getting rid of the bottom wall paper in the dining room and wants to get rid of the curtains as long as I can figure out something else to put up there in their place.

 

i didn't know people actually cleaned their mailboxes
also, whats the benefit of the ring setup? mail theft an issue? or an issue you don't want to fight with?

 

Y'all clean your vehicles, I clean my mailbox. Don't judge.

Same story - lady is still using our address and opening up new bank accounts. Postal Inspectors are more worried about mail bombs than address fraud. Progressive isn't smart enough to figure out that she drops her surname and signs up for auto insurance again using the same car and our address which is insurance fraud. So that keeps happening.

I put a camera next to the mailbox that alerts me when anybody is near it, just in case old Jamie Sue decides to check our mail for us. I thought the heat killed it last week so I decided to get this little Ring motion sensor thing that tells me any time the box is opened. That way, if she opened it, I'd know and I could pull up video from one of the other cameras and take it to the local police (so they could tell me that they aren't sure what law she broke). While I was waiting for this to come in, I decided to put camera back in the tree and dropped it. Damn thing started working again. Then it stopped working and I smacked it like we would back in the 80's when our RCA TV would get a shitty signal. Now it works great so I have double the mailbox security.

Back to the whole mail thing. If you start getting bank statements for somebody else at your address, get on it. We didn't right away and this lady, whose married name is close to mine, used the bank statements as proof of address to get auto insurance based on our address. She used the auto insurance to get a drivers license with our address on it. Then she used the drivers license to register to vote at our address (another proof of residency). She can use these "proof of address" items to have a locksmith key into our house (I verified this with a local locksmith).

I have 8 cameras watching the perimeter of my house, an alarm system, and keypad door locks in case she tries something like that.

So that's basically why I have a motion sensor on my mail box. Our mail kind of shows up whenever so it's also nice to know when it gets here rather than constantly walking out there to check it (especially when it's this hot).

 

Awesome, I am glad she is ready to update the area and give it a fresh look!! I would say maybe accidentally take off ALL of that wall paper and claim you misunderstood.

It's a tough situation in there because your woodwork is beige by the looks of the picture, so that may limit some wall color options for the wall. I would pick a lighter wall color, and then add some pops of color with solid colored curtains, with a warmer color, and some modern pictures. The room would look fabulous too if you were able to put in some square paneling in the lower half of the wall and then did a color on the wall above that. That room would look a lot better if you took away some furniture, but I realize that may not be practical, I cannot tell by the picture if that corner hutch is in the wall like a built in or not. Refinishing that furniture would be amazing, but very time consuming! Ok, sorry for my babbling, I enjoy decorating my own house, its fun since you can be creative. Happy painting and decorating, I hope it turns out great for you guys!!

And forget "cleaning" your mailbox, give it a fresh coat of spray paint and buy a couple of number and address decals on Amazon! They also sell lockable mailboxes on Amazon.. just and FYI.

-T

 

Don’t worry, they’ll know exactly which law she broke. And mail laws are federal laws aka felonies.

 

Leaning towards something like this with the walls:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/703617141800909029/

A lot more redneck though since I'm cheap and will be doing it myself. Pretty sure she's not going to have an issue with me removing the wallpaper as long as I can get the walls smoothed out - no dried glue spots.

The original part of the house is late 1890's - somebody came through and added rooms and shit. One of the corners of the dining room (behind the giant corner cabinet) is a window they filled in with a piece of plywood and left the frame. I don't know if I want to tackle trying to take out the window trim or not. The room upstairs has the same deal. There was a reason they left it and I'm not sure what the reason would be because they spent a lot of money adding on to this house.

Anyways, that's my wife's "1800's room" - every piece in there is from the 1800's but I'm thinking it'll all look nice with some nice paint.

This town basically rains dirt - I just need to wipe down the mailbox and it'll look clean again.

 

She is VERY lucky to have a guy that knows how to do that kind of stuff... I have to hire people, and that gets expensive!! Post pictures when it's done!!

-T

 

Oh, I don't know how to do it. I'm just too stupid to know my limitations. I guess you'll have to strike that comment.
I'll definitely be posting updates.

 

I actually wax mine once a year.

 

I just installed a new mailbox. This is the cleanest it will ever be. The old one was a plastic post slipped over an old road sign post. It’s was pathetic. Gonna stain the new post later.

 

Hey I sprayed a custom candy apple red base coat clear coat car paint on it.

 

No I was the boat 4 times a summer.

 

Wait - we still talking about mailboxes?

 

Maybe.

 

I need to step up my mailbox game.

 

Hell I even put car paint on my corn hole boards.

 

Ok, can't help it, since our house used to be...similarly decorated. Victorian style home, but built about 1988. Then-wife did the rose dust and country blue everywhere, and window treatments looked like a hotel ballroom. My current wife and I've got everything but the dining room neutralized, and some rooms redone in bolder colors we like. Your wallpaper, yeah, might tear out some chunks

if sizing wasn't put on the original paper...steamer and a 'paper tiger's tool will help. For the bottom area, the framed molding you're wanting to do is wainscoting, if I remember correctly. If you keep the chair railing, you can do that (maybe even thicken up the chair railing), or pull it and just do the room solid...I like the chair rail, I'd keep it. If the bottom is paper, and it pulls chunks, you can recover with something called anaglypta. It's a textured paper, appropriate for victorians, and you still paint it a solid color, so it won't 'date' the room. I wouldn't do the top in anaglypta, it'd be obnoxious, and you'd have TEXTURED paper you're tired of in 5-6 years!

And, agreed, 'after' pictures!

 

Yes you do.

 

Also, if the steamer, use towels or something to keep excess water off the floors...those are NICE! Also, the walls now sheetrock, or still the old style?

I'm just a serious 'do-it-yourselfer', not in the business, just so you know!

 

Thank you!

 

Sheetrock over the shiplap. I'm pretty much a "do-it-yourselfer" out of financial necessity.

 

...and tell her the seams are rolling on the paper towards the ceiling, can't be saved...

Ceiling looks great and the French doors look like dogs to paint, but NICE when done!