My Summer Schedule

Summer officially started last week, though for some the first day of summer was Memorial Day weekend. For me, summer starts on the last day of school each June. It’s at this point in the year when my schedule changes. No longer is my schedule set based on sports and extracurricular events. No longer are my afternoons dictated by how much homework or permission slips come home. During the summer I (almost) get to dictate my own schedule. I say almost because summer is when I go from the homework list to the honey-do list. Not that I’m complaining. I am learning to love doing work on my house.

It’s now time to get to work on tasks such as removing the odd yellow wallpaper and the somewhat dated wood paneling. This summer I hope to get a number of projects completed as I look forward to changing our living space from old to showplace. I’ve got my work cut out for me and I know it will be fun. After all this was part of the charm we saw when we bought the place years ago. It was not at the point of being a handyman special, but it did need some TLC. This summer the house will get some extra attention, both inside and out.

When I last posted about my home improvement mission, I was left with a decision to make. Having found that my drywall was put up backwards I needed to confer with my wife to see how we should handle the situation. Should we replace the drywall? Should we put up wallpaper? Should we mud skim the backside of the drywall and move on? And the decision is…(drum roll)...mud skimming. But first I need to replace some sections of drywall where there is water damage. And before that I need to replace a couch.

Did you know couches can scream out in pain? Okay not really, but ours made a funny noise recently when something hit it in the front right on the part of the frame called the front rail. The wood snapped, making a very strange noise as the springs began to pull back. From that point on the couch began to sag. Of course, being upholstered we could see the break in the front rail. The damage became evident only after our couch began to take on the look of a smile: a somewhat evil, mocking smile.

I thought about fixing it myself but as I researched the matter I realized this couch was not worth saving. Turns out not all couches are made the same. While some are made of furniture grade hardwood, others are made of things like pressboard. I looked and our couch was pressboard and there must have been a flaw in the front rail, the part touched by the top of the back of your calves when you sit down. Replacing the front rail would only make sense if I upgraded the wood but this would leave us with a one piece of hardwood mounted on a frame of pressboard.

So after a lot of research we bought a new couch. This time we went with kiln dried furniture grade hardwood. As I understand kiln drying helps the wood resist the effects of humidity swings, necessary in a climate where humidity can go from comfortable to 100% in less than 24 hours. Hopefully this couch can stand up to daily life in an active household. And without having to put time in on fixing a couch, and now that the search for a new one is over, I can put time into my other projects. Back to work on the drywall issue.

By the way, did I buy a couch or a sofa? Is there a difference? Let me know your thoughts. The folks at apartmenttherapy.com are also sharing their thoughts on the matter.