Another Little Project Done

Michelle painted the stairwell and the stair rail last year. Just got the rail back up today. And I did *not* use drywall screws to fasten it to the wall, thankyouverymuch.

I did this scientifically, since she puttied over the holes in the drywall as she painted. I measured the basement rail height, figured out which end of the rail went where, and then with the assistance of Isaac, busily preparing to depart for the MTC today, got the rail put up and back into the actual studs.

That's one of those things you do when you're taking a much-needed day off work for a trip to Utah but need to burn off some nervous energy before the trip begins.

Rail 2.0

So the rail I built a few weeks ago worked. But not 100 percent. It was at an OK height from the concrete, but when we were using the stairs, it felt a bit short.

So this morning I rebuilt it, raised it a foot, and it's a lot better now.

I might add a third rail at the bottom, but I'm not sure if I'm going to do that yet.

Daisy tested it out and, like the first iteration, is completely indifferent to it.

New Light. Big Difference.

We've had for a long time in the basement hallway a really ugly-looking light fixture attached to the wall.

Why the wall? Well, there are furnace ducts in the ceiling, so putting a light there would have meant the taller inhabitants of the house would have bumped their heads on a dangling fixture.

But we've wanted to get rid of it since we bought the house. This past weekend, with son-in-law Keaton's help, we got it done.

The new light is clearly functional, not a thing of beauty, but it does get the light where we want it and gets the old fixture off the wall.

Michelle isn't a fan of the plate covering the old fixture box, but that's what we had to do since there's an electric connection in the box, feeding power to the new light and linking to the light switches.

I still have a lot of holes to fill in from the cat6 cable project, but having the light there really took a worry out of the worry box for me. And filled in one of the ceiling holes.

[Inserts Carnation into Shop Coat Lapel so I Don't Look too Industrial]

 

The washer's new door switch is in.

And while I'm grateful for the YouTube video I found showing me how to do this repair, I had to laugh at the pristine, not crowded at all room in which they demonstrated the repair. It's nothing like the cramped, dark laundry rooms of yore.

I had to enlist help in getting the washer base moved over the top of the washer so I could look for one of the brass retaining clips I clumsily dropped when I popped it out, and there was no way it was going to go back on properly without someone doing the lugging while I lay on the gritty floor making sure everything was aligned correctly.

Anyway, here's the video: