Bricolage - DIY

Bricolage, aka Do-It-Yourself

I had quite a list of tasks* to do around the apartment - I kept waiting for the right tools...

Well, I finally gave that up as a lost cause. We went to the Bricolage center (like Home Depot), and got most of what we needed. Then, to work!

The rolling shutter was stuck partway down, or at least we didn't want to force it. Some silicone spray did the trick!

We had good-sized holes in the walls behind every radiator! I confirmed with the helpful fellow at the Bricolage how to take the radiators off the wall. Then (after *cleaning* them - omg), I filled the holes with stuffing, and spackled them closed. While I was at it, I spackled a few other places. It's much cozier now!

We've been fighting mold! Our bedroom is North-facing, and the walls are concrete block. I haven't been able to keep up 😭. So, yesterday, I sprayed with a commercial mold killer, and today, I painted with moisture barrier paint. Game on.

We have a shelf-mounted dishwasher that's perfect for us. But! Some time ago, the shelf supports broke, and so the darned thing has been supported by a pot that happened to be underneath. It still worked, but it was lower than we wanted, and we couldn't use the storage underneath. Well, one of our Bricolage purchases was a board (almost 2x8), cut to form supports. How to get them under the shelf, without removing the dishwasher? Jack to the rescue!

My neighbors must have thought I was crazy, taking a wheel-changing kit from the car into the apartment! But it worked! Bonus - I now know where the jack is, and how to work it...

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*This may seem like a lot of work we're doing for living in a rental, but the laws are different in France. It's quite a change - in our Albuquerque apartment, they even changed the (fluorescent) bulb for us; here, only very major things (like parts for the water heater) are covered by the landlord.