JoshPrime Makes Stuff

Hey Reader, Life has gotten pretty crazy busy and I would love to be doing more making. However, I am forced to stick to planning and plotting my next project. I have become obsessed with the Positive Couple and Chester on Youtube. While the specific tastes highlighted on these channels might not match mine - far from it - I can't help but be in awe of the craftsmanship. I really want to get into making furniture, but the prospect is very intimidating. Then, I was introduced to Facebook Marketplace. I definitely knew about it existing already, I got all the obnoxious targeted ads. However, I never looked at it closely because - obnoxious targeted ads. One of my friends was getting a new headboard off of it and that is when I realized the power of this amazing new toy. I found my first purchase that very day. Ignore the stacks on stacks of wall plaster and appreciate this amazing vanity! It was only a hundred dollars and I have big plans for it! First, I need to decide w...

Hey reader, It has been some time since we dealt with my sewing/crafting/making room . It has many names. I have spent a long time trying to figure out what work desk would make the most sense for me. I have found many different kinds of desks that I thought would be cool. The issue - if you can call it that - is that most of the options assume that the room has to serve a dual purpose. My space is a craft room and nothing else. I had considered trying to make my craft space also be a sitting area or have a daybed inside, but at the end of they day I already have a guest bedroom, a room with a twin (although it is a racecar) and a couch downstairs. I can't remember the last time I had more than one person sleeping here at the same time as me, so I decided to just make this room be what it is. "Square boxes? But why though?" - Ikea That meant I had space! I have decided that I want two work spaces. This is only going to be one of them, but eventually there will b...

Ok Reader, I know I said I would talk about the big hole in my piano. It all started because of this fret bar. I don't even know if that is the real name of it - not that it matters since I am ripping it out. It sticks out too far and would interfere with the shelving I am trying to build. I do think it is beautiful in it's own way and I wish I could figure a way to incorporate it, but maybe on my next piano conversion! There are a few youtube videos that show this being glued in place and coming off easily. I      did not have that experience. Turns out, that mine is screwed into the back of the piano and not all the screws are in a position to be removed without completely disassembling other parts of the piano that I am not trying to deal with. I got a tube of fresh bladed for my rotary tool and set out to get the thing out. I started with a Spackle trowel because it was wide, but eventually needed to use screwdrivers to get it loose. It was really in there! Di...

Hey Reader, I fully expected the hallway to be so easy, but it has turned out to be really challenging. The ladder and ceiling drama is only part of the problem! The hallway upstairs is so narrow, that I am struggling to maneuver while I am carrying paint and other things. Today when I was working, I damaged the wall trying to move the ladder around. I spent so long making these walls smooth, and until they are sealed they are still pretty delicate. It is starting to feel like I am pushing a rock up a hill - or some other analogy. I refuse to be deterred though. That rock will be at the top of the damn hill. Is that the logical conclusion of that analogy? Whatever, the walls are going to be smooth. I painted the trim white and the ceiling white. I also got in the skylight and painted that white. I want to get some molding on that and give it a more finished look, but that is a project for after all the house is smooth. I sealed the hallway with two coats of magic paint, but t...

Hey Reader, I don't have a whole lot to talk about this week, mostly my time has been spent brainstorming ways to get my hallway and stairwell complete. You might recall, that I am not tall enough to reach the ceiling in the stairwell. That is rather fortunate because it would make living here quite challenging. However, it is a problem right now. I bought a super big ladder to help me reach. The ladder can extend to twice its normal length, and open up to be an A ladder or just a stand up ladder. There is a shrinkage joke there somewhere but I am not going to try to find it. Anyway, it is great for reaching the walls. If by "great" you mean "horrifying." Fear of heights aside, I could finally get up there. Of course, I can't put the ladder against the window, so there is some minor stretching required. My wall problem is solved. Though the ceiling is pretty much impossible to get to. I am thinking about a few different options. I might try to roll...

Hey Reader, There is only one real hallway in the house, and it connects all the bedrooms on the second floor. Obviously, the walls have to be smoothed out - that is a given. The hard part is figuring out exactly what I want to do to the walls when it is done. I have considered doing some old school paneling on the walls, to make it look really classy. I think it would be really nice, but given the spacing on my doors I think it would be a struggle to get the two sides of the hall to match in a reasonable way. Plus, I really want to do the paneling in the craft room, and don't think its needed in more than one space in the house. Then I thought about doing a textured wallpaper that would add interest. The irony of working so hard to smooth my walls, only to put a textured wallpaper up is not lost on me. The difference being that the textured wallpaper is significantly more palatable to me. The problem with wall paper is the transition. This hallway connects to the stairwell, ...

Hey Reader, It has been two weeks since we talked about my master bedroom. You might recall there was some ominous foreshadowing regarding my wall smoothing confidence. It seems that wall smoothing will never be a project I master, but I will not continue to push. Honestly, it can't be worse than what was already up on the walls. It was finally time to paint! Painting has quickly become my least favorite of the home improvement tasks. Honestly, I find it less fun than wall smoothing! I think it is because it feels final. It is the last step to get to my "blank canvas" and some of the finishing details are rough. Plus, the solid color tends to show off where my skim coating skills are lacking and so I find myself frustrated. As I said last time, the ceiling in the center of the room didn't get the attention it probably should have. It is really frustrating and I actually did a small section over, then realized that it was going to need to be completely redone in ...

Hey Reader, I spent the holiday break doing the wall smoothing of the third bedroom and have aspirations of turning it into a room for all the crafts and projects that I do on this blog. I feel like all the rooms need names. I was going to call it my "craft room," but someone suggested calling it my "maker space." What makes a maker space different from a craft room exactly? I guess a maker space is typically more communal than a craft room. I sort of feel like a lot of the gentlemen I know call themselves "makers" instead of "crafters." It feels like some gender norm nonsense I don't like. You might be sitting there going: "but JoshPrime, the title of this very blog post is "sewing room." Why are you worried about the difference between makerspace and craft room if you are going to call it sewing room anyway." That is a good question. Here is the thing: I eventually want to do a lengthy post on warded mortise lock...

Hey reader, It is time to play with lights! I finally finished painting and fixing all the fence segments and posts. I got some stuff to affix it all to the walls, but before I do that I wanted to try out my lights! I can't really attach them to the walls until I have the TV anyway, so there are going to be a lot more posts about these posts and also the fences. I bought these super cool lights that are LEDs to run along the cross beams of the fence once it is all done. As you know, I wanted to use the fence to hide a lot of wiring and really keep the room clean. Putting lights behind it only adds to the cool factor. I have one strand and it makes it the whole length. The real question is - do I set the lights up above the cross beam or below it? Below: As you can see, the under light gives the fence a kind of eerie glow under it. It also hides the source of the light which only adds to the cool factor. Unfortunately, I can't get a really wide picture of it without fu...

Hey there reader, When we last left Media room, I had bought some segments of fence and assembled a racecar bed! Unfortunately, the fence is not quite what I had in mind for in the house. It is really rough - which is fine for a back or front yard, but not for a movie room. Fortunately, I have lots of experience in making rough things smooth. I started with wood putty to fill in gaps, but after searching online I found that using plaster would be fine as long as the wood never was outside. When working on the first segment, I even plastered the edges of the pickets. What I quickly discovered is that the edges were already pretty smooth - save for the detail at the top - and that adding the plaster there made sanding it a real pain. For the rest of the fence I only put plaster on edges if there was a knot or other flaw, and also on the detail work at the top. It made the whole project go much smoother . Hey that's almost a pun. Anyway, I didn't bother smoothing the cro...

Hey Reader, Happy New Year! My New Years Resolution is to talk about skim coating less and like most people, it will last barely a week into January.  I promised I wouldn't obsess with wall smoothing anymore on this blog, but I did want to give you a slight update. After the stunning success of the primer used in the media room, I decided to test just how good it was in the guest room. After doing only a thin layer of skim coating, I decided to do 3 coats of the magic primer on the walls and just see how smooth I could get it. Honestly, it was another amazing success. I painted the trim and walls - opting for a much more calm mint green for my guest room. Again, I am always so impressed by how much the white trim and ceiling transforms the whole look of the room. It is definitely the most noticeable parts of all of these renovations. When the paint dried, I started to notice some problems on the walls. There were not rills or trowel marks as the primer covered that up beaut...

Hey Reader, Now that the media room is all painted, it is time to start decorating! After months of painting and skim coating, I am finally at a place where I can start to put stuff in the room! The first thing I want to put in there is a fence. That probably sounds strange, but I want this space to feel as much like I am hanging out outside as I can - minus the sunscreen, bugs, and other people. The first step in the outdoor illusion is putting up some fencing around the outside edge of the room. I had hoped that I could make huge amounts of progress on this and really have something to show you this week. However, I went to the store to buy my fencing and quickly discovered that my tiny car is not spacious enough to fit the fence segments and me at the same time. All I was able to get home right now was the four posts that will support the fence. Stupid fences and my non-tardis car. It would have been great to have all the pieces I needed at once, but it actually works out o...

Hey Reader, It is time to talk color! Now that my media room is smooth and flat, I get to make it more than just a beige box. Every room in this house is nothing more than a big beige box. The builders even went so far as to paint the baseboards, the ceiling, the walls, and all the doors the exact same shade of beige. Who wants that much beige in their life? Certainly not me! I wanted something really bright in the blue family. This room will likely be dark a lot since it will be for watching movies and playing games. Therefore, I feel like the walls need to be bright to compensate for the lack of light. Further, blue will give it more of a feeling that you are outside once the fences and car are in place (more on that later). Before I can get blue on the walls, I need to get the box to be a little less beige. That starts with baseboards. I was really worried about painting my baseboards. It isn't that baseboards are particularly hard to paint, it is just that with carpeting I...

Hey Reader, I know we have been talking walls punctuated by mediocre crafts for a few months now. I have to admit, skim coating has proved to be a very worthy adversary in my quest for smooth walls. I have been sanding and reapplying Spackle for what seems like years. Everything in the house is covered in an inch of white dust, it looks like the home of a stock trader before the internet bubble burst (thats a cocaine joke... did it make sense... whatever moving on). Last we checked in on the walls project, it was a huge struggle and I had made a major error in priming the walls too early. I hate to admit this to you, reader, but I was pretty defeated by the walls. I actually got a contractor to come in and look at the walls and give me an estimate for their services. I had found a website called home advisor that had connected me to some people. Can we talk about that for just a second? I signed up (unintentionally since I thought I was going to get some estimates) and immediately ...

Hey Reader! We are back at it with another edition of the ongoing and exciting saga, "JoshPrime vs. Textured Walls." When I started telling people that I planned to de-texture my walls, the most common response was "your walls are textured? I hadn't noticed." After I internally seethed with rage at other people's lack of ability to see the thing that causes me so much sleepless nights, I explained that my walls were indeed textured. I then tried my best not to get into a tirade about how much I hate textured walls, and then began explaining the process. I will fully own than "my best" frequently meant a rant of 10 minutes or less. The next thing that people would say is, "that is way too much work you should just live with the texture." Reader, it is like the people around me don't know me at all. My cousin warned I would rue the day I started this project. My parents explained that it is an art form and that I could become obs...