The grass is greener on the other side...

Updates on the fall grass seed planting are in.  About a month after seeding, the grass is much taller and appears very healthy.  It's weed free for the most part.  Fall planting is great b/c the annual weeds are beginning to die off and are not producing new growth.  The dandelions, clover, creeping charlie and other perennial weeds are also slowing, giving the grass opportunity to thicken up.  Here are a few photos I took this morning.  Overall I'm very happy with the results. 

This was previously all lambs ear and periwinkle groundcover

This had a mix of several groundcovers and shrubs.  I added the rock border.

A worms eye view. 

Grass seed germination

We've been reversing some landscaping over the last year.  At the beginning of spring we had a pro come in and remove a large section in the back yard and seed some new grass.  Well, with the drought I was watering 2 or 3 times a day.  Germination was slow and weeds took over.  It's much better now but will need some attention this fall and next spring to get rid of weeds. I'm trying to be as chemical free as possible. 

I tackled a few smaller areas in the front yard by myself.  I read up and learned that Aug 15 - Sept 15 is the prime time for seeding cool grass lawns in IL.  I looked at the list of grass species in the premixed bags and discovered that many companies have a large percentage of ANNUAL ryegrass.  This stuff sprouts quick but is not designed to come back.  The other cultivars will eventually fill in where it left off.  The top seed types for our area is perennial rye and kentucky blue.  I bought 3 lbs of each from Big R's bulk grass seed.  Since 3 is better than two (is it?), then I also got a pound of red fescue. 

After preparing the ground and sowing the seed, I was blessed with many days of cooler weather and rain.  On non rainy days, I made sure the ground stayed moist.  The first area of seed germinated in about 6 days.  The other area in just 4.  The conditions were just right for seed planting.

 My advice to anyone looking to plant new grass is to wait until fall to do it.  By this time the weeds are prepping to die and will not be as much competition to the new seed.  Crabgrass was a huge problem in the spring sowed back yard.  It must be controlled by a pre-emergent type herbicide (or a natural product, like corn gluten).  This means it has to be applied prior to growth.  Once the crabgrass is up, you're pretty much limited to killer products such as glyphosphate (Round Up by common brand name) and hand pulling.


 

 

I'm not completely chemical free, but I do try to choose the hand pulling method over most chemicals.  It may be crazy to some, in our hyper active culture, to spend time on your knees pulling weeds, but I actually enjoy the simplicity of it.  I'm also a little OCD, so, there you go.

 

 

If you have any suggestions on ways to prevent weed growth in new lawns, please let me know.

 

DIY speakers

One of my hobbies I've held onto over the years is DIY speaker building.  When I was in middle school I started developing an interest in electronics (audio/video in general).  My dad passed down some old speakers and a receiver from his days as a rocker.  These things were OK in their day, but when I got them the woofer foam was completely gone.  Bass was like snap, crackle and pop.  I begged and pleaded for an upgrade one Christmas.  Dad got me a set of big Jensen tower speakers with 15" woofers.  These were ridiculous in comparison to what I had. 
Eventually I got the idea to tear apart the old rotted speakers and see what was inside.  I realized that they were built pretty cheap!  Real simple crossovers, no cabinet bracing, very little damping.  I got the bug and found Parts Express.  I dropped about $30 on some cheap 6.5" woofers, myler tweeters and some spring loaded terminals.  I picked up some 1/2" particle board and proceeded to come up with a pair of speakers.  I was aiming for the 'look' of NHT superzeroes (a hot item in Crutchfield).  Here is what I came up with that week in the garage.

My first foray into DIY speakers

Yes, I still have these things.  They have moved from home, to college, to home, to my first house, to my storage, to my second house, to garage duty, to my current house.  Why did I drag these things around?  One reason is that even though they look like crap, they are beefy heavy and sound surprisingly good in comparison to anything I could buy off the rack at a store. 

Fast forward about 10 years later.  I'm finally settled down with a great wife, kids and an OK job.  I got the bug again and built a small 8" amplified sub for the house.  A bit better quality craftsmanship and some better parts.  Still not great, but better. 
My latest build is a design called the Nano Neo, by Chris Roemer of the Parts Express tech talk board.  Chris designed these to use the little neo woofers by Dayton audio and small dome tweeter by Dayton as well.  I followed his plans and spent an entire winter building a set.  I used rabbit joinery on this pair which was fancy for me.  I got to test my skills at wiring up a crossover and saudering.  I even gave this set my first attempt at veneering.  The results were outstanding and the sound from these are amazing. You cannot believe the depth of sound from speakers that are about the size of a workboot box.  Chris did a great job with these and now you can find many examples online.  Here is a shot at my pair of Nano Neos. They are serving as front main speaker duties in our living room.

The sweet offset shot of the Nano Neos

Do you enjoy the world of DIY?  If so, what are you DIYing in your spare time?




The Spider Man room

Our son, Kyler, turned 3 on July 28th.  His major interest right now appears to be Spider Man and superheroes in general.  So, his birthday gifts were spiderthemed.  One gift, a bed sheet set, led us to the "need" to paint his room.  The colors of the sheet brought us to the idea of using gray for the room color.  We have seen some gray themed rooms online and have always liked it. 

The room was painted all flat white.  Everything. Trim, walls, light fixture..the works.  Luckily, the doors have remained original (and they are very cool).  It's amazing what a simple coat of paint will do.  The gray color really made the trim pop and offered a nice contrast. 

While I was at it, I took off the original register grate and decided to strip the old layers of paint from it.  I counted 7 layers!  I used a heat gun for the majority and sandpaper for the remaining bits.  To finish, I picked up some black 'hammered' spray paint.  It gave the register a nice touch.  The black goes well with the gray wall and the vent now gets the attention it deserves. 

Pegboard and fresh cabinets

Over the past few months I have been slowly working in the garage.  Most noteworthy has been the installation of the main pegboard panel and the stripping and repainting of the Youngstown vintage metal cabinets from the 50's. 

Pegboard panel

  The pegboard was left over from the previous owner.  All I did was cut to size and install using 1x2 furring strips.  I may paint it a different color once everything else is finished, but for now it's nice to see what I need, when I need it.

Vintage Youngstown metal cabinets

I brought these Youngstown steel cabinets from our old house. They were ripped out when we remodeled the kitchen. They were covered in 4 layers of paint.  I used a chemical stripper to remove the paint down to the bare metal.  I then sanded, primed and repainted using flat black rustoleum.  The top three handles on the right cabinet are original boomerang pulls. The other 5 are replacements.  2 3/4" center to center spacing is rare.  Luckly I found these online and were a similar look. 




The top cabinets have steel bodies and shelves, but the doors are wooden.  I chose to strip them down to bare wood and repaint only the outside of the door. The inside will remain the original wood.  The doors appear to have a different veneer and finish on each side.  This probably allowed the company to offer more colors to consumers without producing a lot of extra pieces. For instance, one side of the doors has a nice birch veneer.  The other is a lighter oak color.  Then again, it could just be me? 
The stripping process for these was the same. I used strip-x gel stripper. It is full power Methylene chloride stripper.  I used heavy gloves, and had plenty of circulation before applying. It works quick and lifts the paint off very well.  However, it is messy.  The stripping process removes 99% of the old gunk .  After wiping down with mineral spirits and allowing to dry, I sanded with 60 grit to remove and stubborn finish.  Probably a lot of work for a garage cabinet, but I have plans to strip some of our old oak and pine doors in the house so this was good practice.

 Door after the initial chemical stripping.

Doors after sanding. Notice the different in wood tone?  This is the inside of each door.  Notice the circular steel piece at the bottom for the magnets to keep the door closed?  I had never seen these due to all the paint!

Cabinets up & insulation gone

I finally got two cabinets up on the wall.  I was able to reuse most of the sheetrock I took down when pulling the old wiring.  I also got the rest of the insulation down from in between the rafter bays.  If you remember, a previous owner put R13 directly up against the roof decking. This is a big no-no for airflow.  I put a posting on Craigslist and gave the old insulation away for free. It was a big hit.  Apparently people want it.  I was glad to part with it and pickup some extra floor space.  Here are a few pics to get an idea of the progress.