Sorting out the home gym

One of the things I’ve always looked forward to adding to my very own home is a home gym. I have put up with the commute to and from my local leisure center, and sitting in other peoples sweaty seats long enough. So I have decided to convert my garage into my own place of exercise.

By doing this, I will have plenty more free time in the day thanks to cutting out travel time, and the fact that everything I need to get in shape is under one roof. The convenience alone is something I feel will make this project well worth it.

But first, I need to clear the old gear in there and add the necessary accessories like heating, and ensuring the basics are implemented like mirrors on the wall, equipment mats to prevent scratching and a nice fridge and TV in there to keep me occupied whilst in a long cardio session.

Once that is completed, I will getting a few free weights that include dumbbells, and bench, along with a barbell and squat rack to deal with any weightlifting that will be occurring. I will need to make sure all the support is in place due to the fact that there won’t be any spotters around, so taking care of my own safety is important.

Then, once i’m satisfied with the weights, I will be looking into cardio exercise equipment, in particular treadmills. I’ve been looking around for sometime hoping to find a decent treadmill model for home use, and stumbled across this Weslo Cadence g 5.9 review that highlights the good and bad of it, whilst thoroughly analyzing its capabilities. It does seem to be fairly compatible for my jogging needs, and looks like this will be the one that I will be adding to the gym first.

I’ve also looked into various other fitness equipment such as elliptical trainers, and exercise bikes, but at this moment, I feel a treadmill and free weights will be sufficient for losing weight and toning up. There may come a time where I need to expand a bit and add heavier weights and higher tier products to my gym, but for someone at my level of fitness, I think this will do just fine.

However, before I can even install all this new gear, there is still a need to get the room ready, and that’s just another project on my list of things that need doing.

Lawn care time

After trimming back those pesky trees in the back yard, we’re looking to get our lawn back in top shape. In its current state it’s rather patchy and somewhat discolored which is a shame, as when we first moved here, we found the greenery in the garden was one of the things that helped us to decide on buying the house in the first place.

Anyway, we’ve been stocking up on grass seeds in recent weeks along with a new mower and other lawn care products to feed the grass and help it grow quicker. A week ago today we planted the seeds and the waiting game began.

We’re not expecting anything major this early on, but seven days in you can see some very small shoots coming through the soil. Time will tell how effectively we planted them in around thirty days time, which is currently the suggested wait for growth.

I’m really looking forward to the results. Hopefully in a month or so, we will have one of the greenest gardens in the neighborhood once more.

Bathroom overhaul

We’ve had a bathroom for a long time now and it’s long overdue a massive overhaul with a toilet that is completely out of date that needs replacing, the same goes with the shower area. The only thing we plan on keeping is the bath tub since we purchased that last year and it looks great.

Not only that, but we will need to start thinking about redecorating the whole room. The current color just doesn’t sit right with me, it’s a pastel green and it just doesn’t look homely at all. So, if I have my way, we will be doing something similar to the kitchen by painting the walls, or tiling, in a lighter, more inviting color.

The painting and tiling will obviously need to be done before we purchase the new toilets and shower heads etc to ensure all areas of the wall are easy to reach and we don’t miss any patches.

We will need to look at several of the top rated toilets in the industry and check for ones that fit our requirements of low water consumption along with great self clean features such as a powerful rim wash. toiletadvice.com have compiled a list of the best toilets which may help in that regard.

As we have a fairly large bathroom. we’re looking at a walk in shower with much more space than your average. And because of the extra space, we will be wanting larger rain shower heads that are much more effective than the old style we used that look like they are from the 1970’s!

The wife suggested fitting a rug on the floor afterwards, and whilst I see where she’s coming from, a warm floor after stepping out of the bath tub is nice, I instead suggested why not look into getting some kind of under floor heating system fitted. I really like that idea.

Whatever we end up with, it’s not going to be finished any time soon as the amount of ideas we’re coming up with is making it difficult to settle on a final design and color theme for the room. Updates on this to come shortly.

Ideas for the kitchen

Now we’ve sorted out the tree pruning, we’re looking at ways of how to best make use of the new found sunlight in the kitchen that comes as a direct result of that. I think our best bet currently is ensuring it’s painted in a light color. Perhaps cotton white or a type of cream.

And perhaps some wooden floorboards wouldn’t go amiss. Not sure what type, but I do like the patterning you find on oak floorboards. They have a homely feel to them which is exactly what we’re aiming for.

We have ordered some wood samples from the manufacturer and we will be comparing them up against one another in the coming days and deciding on the one that will compliment the room the most. And because we have hints of oak elsewhere in the kitchen, namely on the cupboard doors, we will want to ensure nothing clashes.

Lighting is currently great, we ordered some spotlights for the ceiling, along with some really modern cabinet under lighting that really highlights the shape of the room and makes it feel bigger than it is.

 

Trimming back the trees with a pole saw

Well, an additional project came in on Wednesday that related to maintaining the yard and trimming hedges and trees on an associates property. I thought why not? I may not be experienced working in the garden, but how hard can it be?

Upon arriving, I immediately saw how much work was needing to be done. The amount of overhangs and overgrown plants and shrubbery was astounding. I’ve never seen anything like it, and that’s coming from someone who happens to have one of the messiest back yards in the history of mankind!

Nevertheless, I got started this Tuesday managing the basics, trimming and pruning back the various bushes, which was fairly straight forward. The most difficult part of the job was certainly going to be finding an effective way to trim the trees down as they were causing quite an obstruction to sunlight and the view / scenery in general. It certainly had the potential to become a fantastic looking garden, and I felt pruning these trees would be a step in the right direction.

So, I began looking online at various garden tools that could be used and finally settled on a pole saw. While not particularly as powerful as some cutting machines, it would eliminate several dangers such as the need for being up a ladder or climbing.

I settled on the Husqvarna 128ldx with the help of a fantastic website called polesawpicks.com, a site that has some of the best pole saw reviews and guides that helped me make my decision as well as save money. The set up and assembly was easy and the convenience and reach was fantastic. The cut could of been a tad better, but on the whole, a gas powered pole saw seems to be the way forward. It made the thicker branches look like twigs and helped me get to those otherwise difficult to reach areas.

Definitely a wise investment on my part, but the project is still a way from finishing up. We still need to lay some new grass down, build a nice little wooden patio, and also paint the fences. But it’s taking shape, that’s the most important thing.

Hopefully, in the next week or so, I will be able to share the pictures and changes with our readers. And get feedback from an outsiders perspective. Stay tuned for updates coming in the new future.

Builder by day, builder by night

After finishing up my building apprenticeship, I immediately found work at a local firm that did private home improvement work for residents in the local area. This was fine by me, it got me out of doing boring office work for the rest of my life.

It turns out a couple of my old friends begun working at the same company, so this made getting up each morning and going to work all the more fun. It’s not quite paradise, but it pays the bills and I enjoy what i’m doing for now, which is more than a lot of people can say.

The first few weeks have been tough and it’s a steep learning curve but we’re getting there slowly but surely learning all the tricks of the trade. Time will tell how far up the ladder I will go.

My most recent job included re wiring the electrics throughout a household so the customer could install heaters throughout the house. Why he needed those when he has one of the best wood stoves on the market is beyond me. In fact, after doing a bit of research online we found a great website called Warmhomeguide.com that provides in depth reviews on various space heaters and rates them by quality and effectiveness. Needless to say, my own homes heating needs fixing up, so this is going to be on of my ports of call before I decide on any unit.

Additional jobs included sorting the plumbing out and decorating the bathroom with newly purchased tiles and paint. It’s coming along nicely but will take a while before we see the fruits of our labor.