Coffee Break: As winter approaches, home improvement projects dominate

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There's a chill in the air, and if you own a home as old as mine, there are certain unmistakable signs that winter is coming: the smell of dust bunnies frying in the floor furnace; the chilly breeze that wafts in under the window frame; and the mice building condos in the dishtowel drawer. |ret||ret||tab|

Home winterizing projects will soon be the focus around my place: weather stripping, storm windows, furnace maintenance and mouse-proofing. For now, I'm reveling in the wonderful cool weather that heralds my favorite time of year and finishing up some outdoor projects before the season takes a turn for the worse.|ret||ret||tab|

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A house of a different color|ret||ret||tab|

When you own an older home, life can seem like one long remodeling project. |ret||ret||tab|

Right now, my boyfriend Sam and I are repainting my house a 1905-built Victorian cottage in west-central Springfield in four historically correct colors. |ret||ret||tab|

Although my house lacks much of the ornate gingerbread trim of some of its contemporaries, there are plenty of architectural features that can be picked out in different colors. We may only get the front done before winter, but it's going to look great if only from the street.|ret||ret||tab|

Sam gave me two beautiful Corona paintbrushes for my birthday last week. These aren't your cheapo throwaway brushes. These are the hand-made ones that you keep for a lifetime. They have short handles and are just the right size for my hands.|ret||ret||tab|

I was delighted.|ret||ret||tab|

Aware that paintbrushes aren't the most romantic of gifts, he quipped that I should tell people he gave me a mop, too. |ret||ret||tab|

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Home improvement|ret||ret||tab|

The national economy in general may be sluggish, but I take a lot of personal pride in, not to mention credit for, the continued health of the home-improvement industry. Those record quarterly earnings for Lowe's and Home Depot? Yep, that was me. And I spread it around to small, local companies as well. |ret||ret||tab|

On our repainting project, the big investment is for top-quality paint, purchased from Seminole Decor, while the labor is strictly do-it-yourself.|ret||ret||tab|

Do-it-yourself is a popular approach to projects in my family.|ret||ret||tab|

A few months ago, my three stepbrothers, sister-in-law Brenda and nephew Eric arrived on the scene, heavily armed with power tools and hammers, to rebuild my rotting front porch. They're the best contractors I know especially for the price, which is a steady supply of brownies and hand-squeezed lemonade, plus the occasional pizza.|ret||ret||tab|

Of course, with Sam, I have an ace in the hole as far as labor is concerned. Sam is into construction. He's worked in the industry, and he knows painting, wiring, framing, stucco, sheetrock, mud-jacking and is personally acquainted with pretty much every power tool known to man.|ret||ret||tab|

Plus, he's a sucker for brownies and pizza.|ret||ret||tab|

Work zone|ret||ret||tab|

I'm now infected with the home improvement bug, and I'm afraid it's a chronic and incurable disease.|ret||ret||tab|

Now, instead of going home after work and vegging out in front of the TV, I go home and fire up the heat gun or break out the paint.|ret||ret||tab|

This summer, I started getting up at 6 a.m. so I could have my coffee while watching Norm Abram on "The New Yankee Workshop" at 6:30. I keep asking Sam, "When are you going to build me one of those (fill in the blank)," but I never get a straight answer. |ret||ret||tab|

I am now thoroughly educated on dados, biscuits, rabbets and the endless uses of a router. In fact, Sam just bought a router of his own. |ret||ret||tab|

Let the chamfering begin.|ret||ret||tab|

Our future projects will likely focus on indoor renovations, like rewiring and repainting the enclosed back porch. |ret||ret||tab|

Also, Sam thinks the spare room at the back of the house would make a great workshop. We can just pull up the carpet, move the furniture into the attic and plant an exhaust fan in the window. After all, what's the point of having a Shop Vac if you don't have a shop?|ret||ret||tab|

He also thinks my kitchen cabinets, and therefore my countertop, are too narrow and should be replaced. However, they're also awfully cute, which for the moment outweighs practical considerations like how to accommodate a built-in dishwasher.|ret||ret||tab|

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