I am sad to say that we moved in next to some really obnoxious and inconsiderate neighbors. I won’t go into the details of what they are doing, but I will share with you my new addition to the home improvement project list: coping with obnoxious and inconsiderate neighbors. Here are my tasks associated with the project:

• Don’t let the bad neighbor’s behaviors control your attitude, or steal your joy.
• Try communication first. Maybe they don’t know that they are being inconsiderate.
• Document HOA violations. Photos, dates, and details will most likely help your case.
• Don’t let them steal your joy! Stay positive, and focus on life’s pleasures, not life’s nuisances.

I don’t know if my project is going to work, but I have already begun documenting and communicating with the HOA in order to get our situation with our obnoxious neighbors straightened out.

Buy a keyring holder rack from your favorite home goods store. Get some double sided tape, or those new sticky strips that stick on both sides but release easily when you pull on them.

key holder hooks

Take the sticky strip and stick it to the back of the keyring holder rack. You can toss the screws because we won’t use them… we don’t want holes in the wall or cabinets!

key holder with adhesive strips attached

Clean the surface before you apply the sticky tape. Stick the keyring holder in place.

key holder stuck under cabinets

And that’s it! Now your keys will always be near the door, and easy to find. I stuck mine under the cabinets in the utility room. Pretty cool, huh?

keys on key holder under cabinets

front of house from across street

I probably should have put Nora’s car in the garage and closed it first. I didn’t think about it though…

front entrance to house

The landscaping is very basic, and will need to be upgraded later. But we have lots of furniture and other projects to tackle first, so what you see here is what will probably be there for at least a year.

covered front porch

The following photos are from the yard of the house we loved the most. We took some landscaping photos just for future ideas. There are also some photos of furniture from a place called The Dump. They had some really nice book cases and armoires.

beautiful 10 foot tall armoire

A simple white chair for our front room

A neat ottoman with playful stripes.

Remember that 10 foot armoire? Look at the detail.

Fancy wooden chair

The house we lost. Great courtyard fence! Maybe as an add on to our new home?

We loved this fence that created the courtyard area on the house we wanted. We would like to add something similar to our new home, but something that is in keeping with our neighborhood style.

A simple combination of tree, rocks, and plants

Pavers seperate the yard from rock beds with shrubs and plants.

Ignore my clumsy finger. A nice little private courtyard leading to the front of the house.

Rock beds used for flowing water away from the house.

View of courtyard entrance and landscaping

dog door

Tip: put masking tape on the wall before you cut, so that the saw doesn’t scratch the paint. I have to go back and touch up my paint because I didn’t think to tape the door before I started cutting. I guess the dog gets his brains from me.

The stone company won’t dump the rip rap directly into the bed of my truck because they don’t want to risk breaking my rear window, so my wife and I hand loaded 1600 pounds of stone into my truck bed and brought it home. At least, that is what they said the stone weighed when I drove onto the scale. We laid the stone out at the bottom of the RV gate and it keeps the dog from escaping, and looks nice with the front yard landscaping. Our plan is to go back each weekend and keeping getting rip rap and other types of rock so that we can get some basic landscaping in our back yard. Nothing fancy yet though, because we are expecting them to start building our swimming pool in about a month.

1600 pounds of stone doesn't go very far, does it?

Look closely and you can see the large gap under the RV gate before the riprap stone was put in

This ceiling needs a fan

One of the simpler home improvement projects is a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans are great for allowing you to circulate air and keep your family and friends cool without having to keep the air conditioner temperature so low. So ceiling fans are great for your electrical bill because they last a long time and pay themselves off with the energy savings.

Ceiling fans are easy to install; most only require five tools. A meter to test and ensure you aren’t going to shock yourself with a hot circuit, a pair of wire strippers, a couple of screwdrivers and a pair of wire pliers.

My new house has UL listed mounting boxes installed throughout, so I can put my ceiling fans in without having to add the boxes. Ensure you have the mounting boxes before attempting to install a ceiling fan, or the fan may come crashing out of your ceiling one day.

Simple tools for your ceiling fan project

My house also was pre-wired with extra switches so that I can run my ceiling fan and the light fixture independently from one another without having to use the pull chains that are on the fan.

I chose some fans from the hardware store and when I got them home I did an inventory on the parts to make sure everything was there and that nothing in the ceiling fan kit was broken. Once I was satisfied I turned my attention to the wiring.

I pulled the wiring out from behind the cover (shown in the very first photo) and made sure that they were not hot. You need to trip the circuit breaker in the fuse box and then use the test meter to make sure the wires don’t have power. Also, make sure the switches are in the off position, and that no one has easy access to flip the breaker back on while you are working. This is important, because electricity can kill you if you aren’t careful.

wires pulled from ceiling

I had an extra wire in my ceilings, again that is because I am pre-wired so that I can use two seperate switches to operate my ceiling fan and the light fixture independently. I put my hanger bracket in place and then I hung the fan on the bracket.

hanger in place

Make sure to follow the instructions. Ceiling fans aren’t difficult, but you want to make sure you don’t forget to put covers and shields on at the right step… otherwise you will have your ceiling fan hung up and finished and then realize that you have to undo all of your work because of a missed cover.

ceiling fan hanging

Once the fan is hung in place, you can start splicing the wires. The setup is pretty simple, and most likely the wire colors will match up, which makes the job easier. I was able to match white with white, green with green (and the copper ground), black with black, and blue with red (this was the extra wire for the lights).

wires connected

Using the supplied connectors, I joined the wires securely and neatly tucked them away before fastening the covers into place.

cover in place

Once the fan was secure in the hanger bracket and all the wires and covers were installed correctly, I began installing the fan blades. I installed each one loosely at first, so that I could ensure that they would all fit. Then I went back and tightened each blade securely so that they won’t fly off while the fan is on.

blades and electrical installed

After all of the blades were installed into the fan, I was then able to add the light fixture to the bottom. My fans actually use built in LED lighting, and install went quickly. An easy process of six screws and two wire harnesses snapped together and it was done. Then, all I had to do was put the glass globe cover over the LED light fixture.

LED lights installed

After cleaning up the box the fan came in, and little bits of trash, the room looked great and was instantly cooler! I repeated the steps all over again in another bedroom, and now both of my son’s rooms have ceiling fans in them.

ceiling fan install finished

• Pour the detergent slowly into the water stream as your machine fills. The comforter takes a lot of room and so the material doesn’t agitate as freely as a smaller load would. It is kind of like overfilling your machine – the clothes don’t get as clean and the detergent doesn’t disperse correctly. This can result in detergent spots on your comforter. So, pour it into the stream so it starts mixing right away.
• Don’t dry other clothes with comforters and blankets. It is tricky to get the large items to dry anyway, without having smaller clothes get balled up inside of the comforter. You may be disappointed when you open the machine and find everything tangled and still wet.

This photo is an illustration of detergent being added into the water stream.

The instructions are decent, they give you the basics you need to know.

I stepped out of the photo in order to take the picture, but you need two people in order to put in the frosted treatment. Also, lots of soap/water solution needs to be sprayed on the glass and on both sides of the tint. The tint will have lots of static cling when you remove the backing so you have to really spray it down so it won’t stick to itself. If the tint lays over and touches itself or if it creases, you are screwed. So, use lots of solution and use two people to carefully get the tint up to the window.

Also, before you get started, make sure you cut the tint to overlap each side by about an inch. Keep the glass and tint wet, and once you have it in place you can trim the edges and then use a squeegee to press out the water and bubbles. TIP: get an install kit that includes the edging square, squeegees, razor blades, and pre-mix solution in a spray bottle.. it makes this 1000 percent easier.

As you can see, the finished product gives the room light, but also privacy so that you can use the shower or the tub without the neighbors seeing your junk. Now all the window needs is some nice wooden blinds and it will look great!