beckestra's Profile

I too think the sander pictured is an orbital one. And that's the type of sander I used when I refinished all the floors in my first house. The orbital sander is great because the risk of gouging the floor is minimal compared to a drum sander. (I have also used a drum sander, and the technique is difficult indeed!) The orbital sander also doesn't take as much off the top of the wood, so it's great for floors that have some surface issues and wear and tear, but are otherwise okay.

I also used a nail set to make sure every nail was recessed into the floor and applied wood putty over each hole before I sanded the floors. In 1950s houses, the wood is often nailed down from the top.

I met a wonderful roommate through Craigslist. We have about the same level of tidyness/messiness, and our bathroom schedules are different so we weren't always competing for the shared bath. She is considerate, kind, upbeat, and friendly. She is very kind to my dog, and one thing we talked about was whether she'd be okay with helping out with my dog sometimes, when I had to work late or was out of town. (But I always asked if she would help and made arrangements when she couldn't, because my dog is my responsibility.) We are friendly but each of us has friends and activities and full lives. By connecting on Facebook after initially talking to each other via Craigslist, we were able to determine a friend we had in common and could vouch for each of us, and that made me feel much more comfortable with the situation as well. In choosing who to respond to on Craigslist, I looked for people who were clear about what they were looking for in a roommate and wrote well. Also, we were both very upfront about not wanting to live with/be around illegal drugs or heavy drinking.

ScarlettTexas, did you do the concrete stain yourself, or hire someone? I'm hoping to stain the concrete floor in my basement, and have been researching the process and treatments. Thank you!

How do you know that the poster board won't catch on fire?

Tall drum shades are either hard to find or expensive at the moment, so I'd like to make my own. But I'm afraid of the poster board catching on fire because I remember almost burning the house down with a few experiments my sister and I did as young girls, like draping a scarf over the lamp on our shared bedside table and tucking playing cards inside the lampshade because we thought it was cool that you could see through the cards. Fortunately, we were there when these naive decor strategies began to smoke a little bit and tragedy, as well as our parents' knowledge, was narrowly averted.

Overall, I agree with the folder system outlined above. I have two additional folders: one for appliance manuals and another for legal documents I need to keep indefinitely, although not everyone has a need for the latter.

I keep my files in two file boxes, one of which is sized to hold legal-sized documents. I clean out documents that are more than year old, either at the end of the year or after I finish my taxes. I just keep the two plastic boxes in my closet. This makes them easy to move, which I do often, and keep out of sight. The system has worked well for me for 12 years.

When I did this, I was removing paint off original hardware in a house built in 1925. I'm not sure when the hardware was painted or what type of paint was used. It did work like a charm though.

Dog and Bear,
a series written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. My niece is 5 and loves to try reading them and having them read to her. The stories are simple, fun, and touching.

Dumb Bunnies,
a series written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey and Sue Denim. Wonderful visual puns and silly stories. Great for any child that loves humor. A young reluctant reader in my live just loves these books.

In addition to fire breaks, I recommend talking to an engineer about whether the closet wall is load-bearing. An engineer could also probably advise on sound proofing.

I like the idea of a set of coasters that say "Drink Responsibly"

I had the same question about the bedspread. Well done :)