I had a little sleep in and *then breakfast y'all, it's Sunday after all. But, with cheesy scrambled eggs on toasted and buttered English muffins cooked and consumed, I headed outside for a day of ticking off odd-jobs around the house which, for me, is an enjoyable endeavour.
I'll not go through the list item by item, but the jobs were, but not limited to, hanging some planter pots, doing some plumbing work on a gutter downpipe, adding some new and larger tops to a couple bedside tables, checking and inflating the tyres on my vehicles which is a weekly Sunday job, some vegetable gardening and a little tidy up and organisational work in the workshop. I had to measure up some more gutter piping I want to route into one of my water tanks as well, then go to the hardware store and price up the job for a future weekend. There were some other bits and pieces, but that was the main parts.
With spring upon us I wanted to add a little colour under my veranda/pergola area and decided upon some hanging pots planted out with petunias which I planted out a little while ago. Today I decided to hang them.
Because I was affixing the brackets to the brick walls of my house I needed to use specialised fixings. I wasn't keen to drill, plug and use a general screw so opted to use a self-tapping one by Ramset, they're the 14Gx45mm hex head version. It requires a pre-drilled hole at a specific gauge and is driven in with an impact driver. You can see the screws and the drill bit below.
Basically the guide hole, smaller than the actual screw, is drilled to the right depth then the retaining screw is inserted into the hanging bracket and is driven into the brick with the impact driver at which point it cuts its way (self taps) in to retain the bracket. I used anchors that would take 91 kilograms of weight which will easily carry the load of the the hanging basket.
I put up three hanging pots today, all with the petunias in them so I should have some nice colour under there in the not too distant future. Below you can see one of the other ones I put up although because this bracket was slightly different to the others I ended up using two different screws, same thing, just a little larger and silver, not black.
From there I moved on to the gutter downpipe which was a little trickier than hanging the pots, somewhat messier also as I had to use the bonding agent and some silicone.
I've just had a new pergola installed and decided I'd finish up the last little bits myself more for the enjoyment and satisfaction of doing it myself than saving any money.
Due to the revised design of the actual pergola I've had do a little redesign on the PVC piping which you can see completed in the image below. It wasn't a super-difficult thing but considering I'm not much of a plumber I was feeling my along. I used the proper bonding agent and all, and the most difficult part was ensuring the cuts were all made in the right places before the components are bonded together.
It all worked out well though and I painted it up soon after getting it all stuck together with a second coat going on a couple hours later. Later again I applied silicone to the joins to be doubly sure they'll not leak.
I was cruising along by this stage and with the time getting on to 12:30 I decided to measure up the other downpipe section and work out what I'd need then head over to the hardware store for a little break. I managed to get out of there without buying anything...and if you believe that, you're bonkers, again.
I bought a couple utility knives as mine are a little old. I got folders instead of the slide-open ones which I had previously as I always find the mechanisms wear out.
Each was $20 which I thought was ok as they each come with a box of ten replacement blades and a lifetime warranty. They also have a belt clip which is where one of these will reside when I'm working around the house and there's a handy little pouch as well.
I got done at the hardware store, had some lunch at home, (beetroot, cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches - don't knock it until you try it), and then got on with my next task which was putting those table tops on. It was a rather simple job really. The existing table tops were too small and rather than go out and buy new bedside tables I decided to simply put a larger top on.
I ended up with two wooden tops of 600x400 millimetres and decided to keep them in their raw wood state rather than paint them. The bedside tables are painted white and the drawers are a light wood-coloured wicker so the grained top matched nicely.
I bevelled the edges all the way around and then it was time to fix them on.
I was going to screw them on but decided to use liquid nails which meant I'd avoid screwing, filling holes and having to paint of course. It worked out quite nicely, but there no images as those tables are in my bedroom and I'm not keen to take pictures in there for you.
I did the vegetable gardening and when I was almost done it started drizzling with rain which is when I headed into my workshop to start in there. A couple hours later I was about done and in need of a coffee so called it a day.
Days like today are not just productive but enjoyable. I get satisfaction out of achieving these little jobs and attending to them as they pop up means I can relax later knowing they're done. Nothing I did today was difficult although some understanding and the right tools are required. I'm lucky to have a great hardware store nearby if I run out of anything or need to pick up a tool or materials...it can prove costly at times, but hey, I have to spend my money on something right?
I hope you're all having a great weekend and have something enjoyable to do. Please feel free to comment below and let me know what you're doing. Is it DIY like me or relaxing? Either way let me know if you'd like.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Any images in this post are my own
