Ceiling Fan Installation

I feel so good getting back to quick win projects. With the bathroom being 99% done I moved on to the weekend project of installing the rotating ceiling fan in the living room. It had been sitting in its box for around 4 months maybe longer. Installation was for the most part easy, the only unexpected part was that I had to tear out more of the wall than expected. The wall demo made a terrible mess but luckily MaGyver and BroGyver came down to help. Belle and Mom built a cool article of clothing that might make an appearance here so I don't want to steal her thunder. Brother mopped the hell out of the living room after we cleaned up all the rubble.

Here it is (still need to fix up the ceiling patch some) 

The parts for the antique toilet came in so I fixed that up and everything seems to be going well. I still need to cut the copper tube to height and thread it in tight with teflon but the toilet is 100% usable. Bathroom complete although we might add an under the sink steamer trunk if we can find one that fits the decor.

Book Review: Early Retirement Extreme

It started out with looking for quick, informative podcasts I could play during my vigils on The Wall (scraping paper off the upstairs rooms).  I landed on Money Girl, with its fast and upbeat episodes.  That got grating after a couple hours.  It was the same basic advice on rotation:  budget until you earn more than you spend, pay off your short term debt, max out your tax shelters (be slow to repay mortgage and tuition, fund your 401K and IRA).  From there, it's just a long habitual slog towards retirement.  Despite the lip service to frugality, every show is sponsored by someone looking to send you a new bill; even when there is no sponsor, the host is hawking her book or "financial coaching" services.  Sigh.  Where is the finance 201 course?

The best personal finance books I've read have been A Random Walk Down Wall Street and Your Money or Your Life.  Starting there, I found a lot of folks on Amazon had also purchased something called Early Retirement Extreme.

Jacob Fisker is an hardcore austerity advocate, in a similar vein to Tim Ferriss when he's out to achieve a mission in the shortest possible amount of time.  Fisker says it is possible to get yourself to "Financial Independence" within 5 years.  His main focus is on cutting back on unnecessary consumption through a combination of minimalism and DIY cross-skilling.  This could bring your yearly costs down below what others would call the poverty line.  From there, if you keep the same employment, you'd by default be saving  more than half your income which you could plow into investments and income generating initiatives which hedge inflation and perhaps offer a small real return.

I'm not quite ready to take things to The Extreme, but his points of view helped reset more ambitious goal posts-- I agree that we have an unnecessarily large house for 2 people, 2 furs, 2 scales, and 4 feathers.  If we'd wanted to buy a mobile home instead, our cost structure would be a lot lower.  But I agree with paying it off faster than 15 years because that debt structure ties you into working for a reliable income for a really long time in a pretty fixed location.  Sublets or some other income generation might be an even more lucrative way to convert square footage to income.  You'd be hard pressed to start a B&B in a trailer park.  Likewise, ditching the car exclusively for a bike does not seem like a savvy cold turkey move in Socal.  Perhaps a slightly more moderate interpretation will play out well as Fisker has only been formally "retired" for 2 years and has been making decent royalties on his self-published book in the interim.  Who knows if he will revise his position on financing if he has kids or encounters health problems in old age.

I have returned and finished the wetroom.

I am back from China, well actually I got back last Saturday but am still kind of messed up on the jetlag side of things. Last Sunday I expanded the coop because clyde#2 was getting her head torn up by the Americana chickens. We decided to split them up until she is fully grown and can handle herself. Coop expansion was fairly easy, 3 4x4s anchored to 8" foundation blocks and then a connect the dots of 2x4s. The door was the most hassle, I used some left over plywood from the wetroom, but it was 3/4" so it is very heavy.

Speaking of the wetroom it is done. Well done except for the toilet which in Belle's eyes means the whole thing is still unusable. I am waiting on parts from http://www.antiqueplumber.com/servlet/the-TOILET-PARTS-and-ACCESSORIES/Categories. Even now the toilet can be used, its just that the intake valve wont shut off for some reason (the float works fine, but im getting another one anyway) and the toilet leaks a couple drops (fresh water, coming from the downpipe) when flushing. The shower is great, I use it every morning and think the setup is awesome. Water rarely gets outside of the shower area and when it does its only a couple drops. The most wet the sink area gets is when I move to the sink after a shower and drip everywhere.

So what was added? Prior to me leaving for China, PaGyver and I cut some of the extra slate slab into a threshold for the door. It was a lot of work but came out awesome. It bevels up to about 1/2" above the wetroom floor and is flush with the bedroom wood floor. I have grouted it in and was able to flood the entire wetroom just fine. Today Belle and I did a lot of the finish work. We put wood frames around the door and window, as well as trim around the ceiling to hide the caulk seal. It really lives up to the epic standards we have been setting with these rooms. Wonder how long until its all over pinterest/huffpost/etc... like the penny floor.

My favorites from the wetroom:

The sink looks awesome. The sink came from http://www.texastuscanfurniture.com/ (they sell on Ebay) and I am thrilled with the one we got (it was cheaper than comparable ones we looked at too). I really love the scissor arm mirror that Belle restored too, the mirror and the toilet are the 2 pieces from the old bathroom we could not give up. I think they really complete the room.

The slate shelf in the shower. This chunk broke off the big slab we held the sink on and when I realized I could cut it and make a shelf it was a new step for the design. I quickly started making more shelves and replacing the rocks with them for more utility. The first one remains my favorite; while showering water will flow behind it like a waterfall effect. The jagged bottom looks great and there is plenty of room for shampoo, soap, razors and anything else that needed a home.

Next up on the project list is the bedroom. We have some pretty good ideas, but as I have mentioned before the level we have to hold ourselves to is continually rising.

Edit: How the dining room table looks now that I am back. Got some sandpaper, paint brushes, grout sealer, and a box'o'stuff already taking up space, sorry Belle!