diy | Hicks House

In the never ending work that is being done to get the condo ready for the rental market on that list came up what to do with the vent covers. We could either replace the wonderful almond colored vent covers with white ones for $10-$12 a piece :-0 for a total of over $100 for the entire place. OR spray paint the almond ones white for $6.

Given that option it seemed like a good idea to at least I try to spray paint before throwing another $100+ dollars into the place. Hey if it doesn’t work, we’re only out $6 and if it does hello savings.

So we bought two cans of this:

White Spray Paint

Then Ken got to work cleaning them with a wire brush to make sure they were smooth and there wasn’t any weird things that would show through the paint.

scrubbing the vent with a wire brush

Then we rigged another one of our handy dandy wire drying racks so all sides could be painted without having to flip them over.

hanging the vents from the garage ceiling

Spray away!

Can you see what a nasty color they were? Eeewwwwww See that handle attachment on top of the spray can, that is your best friend if you’re going to tackle a spray paint project. It will seriously save your trigger finger from feeling like it’s going to fall off.

Here is what it looked like freshly sprayed:

fresh coat of white

And here it is installed! (Yes you are getting a sneak peak at some white trim too)

Beautiful!

Doesn’t it look brand new?! Not bad for $6 huh? It makes me want to spray paint MORE things. I have already practiced on an old cabinet Ken got to hang in the garage and hold his tool accessories. I also have my eye on an old wooden dresser that the previous condo owners left in the attic. I think with a fresh coat of spray paint and some new knobs it could be the perfect addition to the guest room!

You may remember at the beginning of last month I posted about the new fancy crate we bought for our dog Chloe Read the original post here. In an an attempt to be good doggy parents we wanted to break her into the new crate gradually so she didn’t have to many new things to deal with all at once.

Things were going well… until the thunderstorm ... Then this happened:

chewed! Bad Dog!

Our well behaved dog that never chews turned into a monster trying to break free from doggy prison during the storm.

Don’t let this face fool you… she isn’t sorry

Due to this current turn of events, some alterations need to made to the crate. It took a couple of days of brainstorming and another chewing event (apparently once she knew it was chew-able she hatched an escape plan). Some ideas we vetoed –

Putting one of those ugly wire crates inside her wooden crate. This option is quite pricey as those crate run about $100 and in order to fit in the wooden crate it would have to be smaller which cuts down on her room. We still love the booger so this got vetoed.
Putting hot sauce or the sour spray they sell at the pet store on the crate bars to discourage chewing. Chloe actually likes buffalo sauce and wasabi peas so this option seemed like it would just get her to chew more.
Buy a replacement door. Seemed like a viable option, the door is a separate piece that could easily be replaced. Unfortunately an internet search revealed the door is not sold separately, they want you to buy a whole new crate… greedy jerks.

Then Ken had a light-bulb moment… Wire meshing! It seemed like a perfect idea, nice holes so she can still breathe and look out, but will put a barrier between her teeth and the wooden slats. So off to the big Orange store Ken went and came home with a nice big piece for less than $10.

Measured to the size of the door

and cut it with wire cutters

Then we took it upstairs to the crate, lined it up and used some painting tape to hold it in place.

he pre-drilled in all 4 corners and 1 in the middle

Thanks to the chewing machine we were aware that it was made of cheap particle board and didn’t want to risk it splintering by screwing directly into it.

then screwed the mesh in place using the pre-drilled holes

try and chew through that!

Doesn’t look to bad, some wood putty and stain on the few visible chew marks from the front and it should be good as new. And chew proof! We didn’t do the two sides yet, and Chloe has yet to figure out that they are chew-able as well… we’re hoping she remains blissfully unaware.

Peace and order has been restored in the Hicks House (until the next thunderstorm that is)