Previous Paso Pekema Projects

I was kind of feeling like we were really slacking on projects since moving into our new house, but after completing this post, I realize we've been staying pretty busy. Anyway, here's a quick recap of all the projects I can remember completing in our new house in Paso.

A Change for Our Change

We have been dumping our spare change into a jar for years, and every time it fills up and we have to count it all, we are miserable, so I decided to buy a segregated coin holder. I put way too much thought into which one to get, but finally settled on this one because it has the smallest footprint.
It is working out really well, but there was one problem. In dim lighting, it was hard to tell which slot was for which coin since the labels were the same color as the rest of the unit.

I solved the problem in no time using a Sharpie to highlight the raised labels. Our coin sorting has never been so efficient.

Tweaked Tongs

Before

The lonely rivet holding our go-to tongs together took a dump on us, so it was time to bust out my collection of stainless steel hardware.
Now they're better than new, although we should occasionally check to make sure the nut isn't backing off.

After

T-Shirt Takeover

After cleaning out the closet, I determined I had too many tees; 78 actually.  That doesn't include undershirts.
I sorted them into the following categories:
Normal Weekend Tees:  33
Stylish Tees:  20
Rags:  19
Tank Tops:  6

Shoddy Shoes

After many, many years of service, I have finally retired my "garage shoes."  They were starting to expose my toes a little too much, which felt unsafe in some situations.

I got these stylish new slip-ons for $10 at Big 5.  What a bargain.

Cagey Caddy

We got a shower caddy for the guest bath, but it restricted the angle you could aim the head, basically forcing you to get blasted in the face.  A clever reroute of the hose fixed the issue.  The caddy is aluminum and has a lifetime corrosion warranty, so let's hope it doesn't rust like most do.

Biggest Battery Blues

After just over two months, the lousy battery in our master bedroom fan remote died again.  This time there's no excuse, since it got a fresh battery.  The worst part is I don't see any solution, other than continuing to constantly replace the damn thing.  This is why we went with pull chains on the nursery fan.

The Cold Drizzle

Miss me? Yes, we have been behind on projects. Why? Because all of the projects we have left are little horrible projects we don't want to do. Or, on the flip side, they are giant horrible projects we don't want to do. Ok, enough chit chat. Here is what I decided was absolutely necessary to get my project on.

Our guest bathroom is the never ending project. It's the shower this time. The funny part is we have never used the guest shower in all our time in this lovely home. It has however, been used by our guests much to their chagrin. Each time one of our guests would exit our shower they would attempt to bring up the delicate subject. Oh, what could possibly be the problem? First, the shower head is ultra low flow. So low flow that it feels like a drizzle of ice water trickling down your spine. I know this because it is our old miserable shower head we replaced in our bathroom because it was so miserable. Aren't we nice? Secondly, the faucet is old and giving out, so every time the water was turned on and then diverted to the shower, water would spray out of it in every direction. All of the directions, people!

I had enough. I couldn't let another loved one suffer the misery that is our guest shower. Hubs? Didn't care so much. So, I had to venture into this one on my own.

Off to the hardware store.

I started by replacing the worn-out faucet. Then very easily replaced the crappy shower head with a low flow (but higher gpm than the last one) hand held shower head.

The project was quick and painless. I just followed the instructions on the packaging exactly and then tested everything. It took very little time once I had all of my tools and new purchases.

Bring on the holidays and bring on the guests.

Before:

 After:

I found an identical faucet to replace the old one. This saved me from having to replace the handle portion and ensured a clean installation.

I DECLARE SOCK BANKRUPTCY!!!

I'm tired of sorting 12 different types of dress socks, so I ditch all the old ones and bought a bunch of identical black and brown ones.  Best of all, they are wool.

Screw That

Our shower had two of these horrible rusty screws on the top rail, inside the shower, and they have been driving me crazy for a long time.

I recently bought a variety pack of stainless steel screws, so I put a couple to use.  So much better:

Strainer Danger

Before

The strainer in my bathroom sink was not performing well.  As soon as a single one of someone's long hairs got caught in the bottom, it would collect someone else's flem and drain unacceptably slowly.  The problem was the holes in the sides were effectively useless because they were so close to the side of the drain pipe.  The simple solution was to create more of a conical shape so water could flow out the side holes when to bottom holes started getting clogged.

This MS Paint illustration should clear up any confusion:

I expertly modified my strainer to match the above illustration and it is working much better.  It also looks...more interesting.

After

That's How I (Paper Towel) Roll

I don't know why it took so long, but we finally installed our paper towel holder.  It works great to dispense the 1.5 sheets I use each month.

That's Just Gate

The existing gate to our side yard had some issues with the latch mechanism.  You see, it was held on by a loose nail and a screw with a missing head.

I quickly and easily corrected the situation with a few toothpicks and a pair of corrosion resistant drywall screws.

Can You Spare a Square?

Your master bath doesn't have two TP holders?  Madness!