Written by: Jake

As Sarah has mentioned I love to use my tools and what better way to use them than for a Christmas gift. Sarah, in my opinion, is pretty hard to shop for. She would rather have something small and meaningful than the next big fad gift. So when Sarah finally picked and bought her house I thought of the perfect gift, a matching birdhouse. Sarah’s grandparents have a highly detailed birdhouse that matches their house and she raves about it. So the plan was set.

I immediately started my sketches and material worksheet. I measured the house and all of its dimensions so that my project was to scale. After deciding on materials and design I began to build The Little Yellow Birdhouse.

I decided on using an exterior osb sheathing to build the frame and layout of the birdhouse, the basic four walls and roof. Since the material isn’t your typical structural lumber regular screws and nails would split the wood. I used wood glue, brad nails and finishing nails to fasten the pieces together. For the outside and detailed pieces of the house I used exterior plywood sheathing for a smoother more finished look. To make the siding I ripped strips at about an inch wide. After the siding was glued on and nailed, starting at the bottom and working up, I marked the holes for the bird entrance. Very carefully with a finish hammer and a chisel I removed the siding in the spot for the bird entrance. I then drilled a hole through the osb.

Another detailed touch I added was to add a real glass window to the house. I started the same way as the entrance by chipping away the siding. I drilled a hole in the corner of the osb and used a jigsaw to cut out the window. I took a piece of glass from an old picture frame and cut it using a small glass cutter to a size 1 inch x 1 inch larger than the window hole so that I could have a surface for the glue to adhere to that would be hidden. I used Loctite extreme conditions super glue around the outside of the glass. From the inside of the birdhouse I applied the glass to the osb plywood and I let it sit for about 24 hours.

The final steps were to paint this house. My mindset for this was the more paint the better. As I layered and layered, this mindset held true. I started by taping off the walls of the house and garage. I used Granite colored textured Krylon spray paint to get the grey shingle look of the roof. I used close to 10 layers of paint to get a deep, textured and an even finish.  After the drying process was complete, I taped the roof off and the window. I started the walls of the house with a white paint/primer spray paint as a base coat. I applied about 3 layers of white with the goal being I could no longer see the natural color of the wood. I then switched to an all-weather light yellow spray paint. I applied about 5 layers of the yellow paint until I got a vibrant, clean, and even finish. To finish off the paint I sprayed the whole house (excluding the window and hinges) with a flat exterior protective clear coat using an additional 5 layers. I let the house sit for 48 hours with a fan blowing on it. Once the drying process was complete I felt around the house to confirm the paint was not tacky and that it dried to my desired effect.

The Little Yellow Birdhouse was complete. Now, all I had to do was execute the delivery of the gift. Easier said than done. I ALMOST blew the surprise. In my excitement and admiration of my custom made gift, I decided to send some final pictures to my family. Of course, the first person that comes to my mind when I want to show something off is Sarah. I literally sent Sarah a picture of her surprise Christmas gift 2 days before Christmas. Fortunately, Sarah is not a slave to her phone and I was able to send multiple “wait” “stop” “caution” “don’t look” texts to move the picture up in our conversation thread. And luckily for me her sister was able be to delete it before Sarah could see.

I felt it went over very well. Sarah unwrapped the gift, opened the box and said “awe! It’s my house!” and then “It’s just like Gram’s!”.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when attempting a project like this. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to accomplish your desired amount of detail. I feel like with another day or two I could have made the outside even better. Another thing to keep in mind is to design and think it through as much as you can before you even start. Think it through and try to visualize your cuts. Lastly, make sure to decide on decisions like will it be accessible to clean or will it stay closed in windy weather.

So remember, plenty of time and a little bit of thought can make for a very nice gift and also a very good reason to use some tools.

First things first, this carpet had to go. With hardwood flooring buried underneath, we couldn’t start soon enough. I was given the keys on December 11th and we began ripping up the carpet on the 12th.

When removing carpet, make sure you vacuum it first. This will save immensely on cleaning up and keeping the air from becoming full of dust and other unpleasantness. The previous owner had what seemed like twelve cats due to the amount hair in the carpet…talk about an allergy attack. After filling the vacuum a couple of times, we started to cut up the carpet. Once we got a corner free, we cut the carpet long ways and began to fold it on top of itself, like in the picture. This worked for a bit, but then we decided to separate the carpet from the padding, roll up the carpet, and wrap a strip of duck tape around it. I cannot stress enough the truth to duck tape being a new homeowners best friend. The first ‘surprise’ we had was that the small hallway connecting all the rooms was not wood floor as we had thought. It was going to need new flooring installed, but we decided not to have a hardwood floor put in because of price and leveling issues.

With the carpet rolled up and placed in Jakes truck, it was time to get the carpet padding taken out. This is much easier said than done. The padding was stapled to the wood floor in the most random and undirected way. We pulled out as much padding with our hands as we could and took it to the truck. We then swept up any other loose pieces and called it a day. The dust can really get to ones lungs on a cold December night, especially when you don’t know how to use the heater correctly in the new house. Brrr.

For the next few days, Jake and I worked on our hands and knees to pull out the hundreds and hundreds of staples. After trial and error between a few different sets of needle noses linesman and pliers, we started to get the hang of it. It actually became very therapeutic. One night, we popped a bottle of champagne (first house warming gift), picked up some pizza, and turned up the tunes. It was extremely satisfying once all the staples were removed and we could actually walk around the room without the worry of getting a staple in the foot.

We still needed to remove the tack strips from the edging of the front room and hallway. Jake was able to do so with ease after the first try. He used a small wonder bar and hammer to make a wedge underneath the tack and leverage enough room to pull up on the strip. He was careful not to dig into the floor. I on the other hand could not get the hang of it. My strips kept breaking halfway through or I would dig the wonder bar into the flooring. Ugh. I blamed it on being left handed, but I don’t know how well that would hold up. So I gladly left this task in the trusty hands of Jake and continued to sweep and mop the floor.

After everything was cleared off, we knew the floor needed to be sanded and stained to really come to life. We budgeted it out and came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper (and quicker) to higher a local flooring company to do the job. It would have been more expensive for us to buy a sander and other tools. We are so pleased with the job these men did in such a short amount of time, only a day and a half. Granted, it is a small space, but they did an awesome job in matching the stain that I had visioned and really making it shine. See for yourself!

So far it has held true that once you start one project, two more get added on. The two projects added on because of this are hallway flooring and floor molding. The carpet was glued to the wall so there was glue marks along the bottom of the current molding. This can make things overwhelming at times, but we don’t let that get to us. We relish in it and look forward to it…or at least the fun parts.

Written by Sarah.

 

After finding a career that I love, I needed to find a place to live. Knowing that I was in this job for the long haul, buying a house made the most sense. So, I began the search. At first, it was all fun and games. Looking at listings and talking to realtors was so exciting, but that grew old real fast. Month after month I walked through various houses. I could go on and on with horror stories, but I think we would all be better off if I skipped the gory details. I cannot blame my realtor for this by any means. I gave her three big must haves with one small budget.

Finally, my realtor showed me Little Yellow. You know that saying ‘love at first sight’? This was not that. The house was covered with the smell of decaying carpet, the windows were cracked, and the character was non-existent. But then I decided to take a second look with more of an open mind. I realized it had all three of my must haves – an attached garage, hardwood floors, and a fenced in backyard. Score! Pulling back that carpet and finding hardwood was an awesome feeling. I saw potential and lots of it.

Better yet, Little Yellow was a foreclosure. This meant the price tag was just right. With two bedrooms and one bathroom, it is the perfect fit for myself. The kitchen is big enough that I can cook comfortably and the front room is just right for a cocktail party. And here is where boyfriend Jake comes in. Mr. Build-It-And-Fix-It lives and works north of where I do. He is awesome enough to help with project after project, but I am starting to think that he just likes playing with his tools…yet to be determined.

Coming in under my budget, I had some room for renovation projects. Of course, the first thing I wanted done was to put life back into those hardwood floors. And so the story begins…

Take It From These Guys is a blog consisting of home improvement projects of a twenty-something year old couple, attempting to revamp a foreclosed house on a limited budget. Wanting your dream home while still pinching pennies can be a bit of a bummer at times. We are here to test what methods and equipment work best. We want to guide you through step by step projects we have taken upon ourselves to complete conquer.

So take it from us, Sarah and Jake! Sarah is the organizational freak and Jake is her build-it-and-fix-it boyfriend. Together we are working together to have this little yellow house shine its brightest with lots of love and hard work. Jake can build just about anything with a good Youtube video and the right tools, while Sarah works along side as his right hand woman. She will also guide you through organizational projects throughout the house to simplify your life, because who needs more chaos?

Don’t hesitate to shoot us an email at takeitfromtheseguys@gmail.com with any questions or projects you would like to see. We will be the first to admit that we do not know everything, because we are learning as we go. We welcome all of your comments and advice. One of our goals is to have you benefit from our mistakes during projects. So if you know a better (and more cost effective) method or product, let the people know! Until then, we hope you are as excited as we are to see what is to come.