Exterior Lighting - That's Better

 From this...

...two of these...

 at one point this was all black

...and three of these atrocities around back on the patios and Celeste's balcony...

...to these:

In a hammered bronze finish, it's a good match to the Spanish Mission in the 1970s style of the home. And with a shielded top, they will not contribute to light pollution during the few times that they're actually turned on at night.

Garage Project Update

After sitting in hibernation for nearly four years, the old garage receiver and CD player were wired up and tested out today.

The Nikko NR-750 (with "Quartz Lock"!) receiver was bought new in 1985 with money earned from caddying. Resplendent with 80s styling (and a power level meter), this 48 watt/channel, made in Japan receiver is still running strong. These days the tape input is used for playing the iPod. The barely-used CD player was a hand-me-down from my father in law when they relocated years ago.

The audio goodness comes through a pair of Alpine 6x9 three-ways.

 

These were last mobile when used in the trunk of my long-departed Subaru Justy.

Hiding in the eaves and providing sound to the courtyard is a pair of indoor/outdoor speakers that I had originally bought for use in our backyard in Libertyville, IL ten years ago.

Hope I don't annoy the neighbors *too* much with these.

And making it all happen were the additional outlets that the garage now has (previously mentioned here).

(heavy-duty outlets were used next to work benches)

Three were added in the trusses...

 ...these power the super-bright fluorescent fixtures that have been far nicer than I had anticipated. And the outlet above the shelf that the stereo is placed on powers the stereo too.

 There are just a few more things that I need to pack away/get rid of before the garage is dialed.

Garage Update + Yakima Cargo Box Mount

A major milestone for a borderline-OCD dweeb like me yesterday, as I was able to finally park two of our cars in the garage.

The biggest challenge was getting the Yakima SkyBox Pro 16 cargo box up and out of the way. The last garage was  a few feet wider in both length and depth, so the box was laid on it's side in a "dead corner". With space being at more of a premium here, I had to come up with a way to get this up on the wall.

I discovered an extra set of Yakima cross bars during the move; I'm pretty sure they were last used on my WRX wagon that I sold prior to making the move to California. Cut down and screwed into some Home Depot-sourced closet hanger rod brackets, I now had a bracket from which the cargo box could hang, using the same brackets that clamp to the bars when mounted on the van's roof.

It's not perfect, but does the job using common and affordable components. It'd be just about perfect if they brackets were about half as deep, allowing for a flusher fit along the wall.

Latest Project

A 19', 9" wide x 20' deep two car garage - part of our new Carlsbad town home.

Before:

After (excuse the horrible photos - there was not a lot of light at 6:30 AM):

Improvements so far include drywall, wall paint (eggshell finish), floor epoxy, two new four bulb fluorescent fixtures, five additional outlets (three in the trusses to power the two pictured lamps and one above where my workbench will be - no lamp shown). 

I can't take credit for the drywall work, due to time constraints* I had it done by an excellent crew of day laborers. One guy hung the drywall, another came by and taped and a third did a fantastic job matching the light texture that was on the existing, 37 year-old drywall and blending the sections together. It's really tough to spot the transition. 

I still have to paint the door and add some finishing trim around it. An access door for the cable junctions will be built for the large opening seen in the first image. I may add baseboards as well. But those will have to wait as I still also need some shelving and possibly some wall cabinets. Oh, and to move all of my crap in as well. Here's hoping I can cram it all in. 

*thanks to the fuckwad mortgage broker who sat on his ass for a few additional days and delayed our closing date by a week. I hate you.