Category: home improvement

Glamour Shots

Karen

After my half-awake post yesterday about bad light, the sun came out in the afternoon and I got some “glamour” shots of the tile in situ.

The thing about fancy home magazine photography is that they 1) use actual photographers and 2) stage everything within an inch of its life (“there can be no sign of living in this house!!“). But I think these photos show how the tile is doing what I wanted it to do: distract from the cabinetry and blend with the granite (accent) and bounce around the light (subway).

I’m also really pleased how backsplash plus the cabinet we added finally “finishes” the end of the kitchen as it moves into the dining area:

As a reminder, this is where we started, untouched since 2011:

And this is where we’re at with (relatively) minimal effort!

“Relatively” is doing a lot of work up there, lol, but for not doing anything too major, the kitchen really feels new.

Kitchen Weekend

Karen

I spent Friday afternoon and the first half of Saturday grouting and sealing and cleaning up, and now that project is put to bed. It rained here all weekend so the light was terrible (plus the light in the kitchen in general isn’t great) so I’m not sure when I’ll get better shots, but hooray for a little remodeling.

We socialized (!) on Sunday (no hike because of the rain/snow) and I pretty much spent the rest of the weekend panic-prepping all the projects I need to get done for December that I pushed because I was doing the kitchen.

Mostly Tile

Karen

Two out of the four days of the long weekend were tile days–it took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it’s looking really good–snd it’s staying on the wall, even better! (I had my doubts about that accent tile.)

I’m so pleased with myself that I remembered most of the tips Dad taught me when we did the bathroom together–this was my first big project without him physically there helping/doing most of it. He was definitely consulted beforehand and I have a feeling he was waiting by the phone Friday in case of trouble, but Doc and I got it done on our own. I even ran the tile saw and remembered how to make cutouts for outlets! (Still have a lot of practice before I can cut curves like Dad, though.)

I might have been pleased with my retained knowledge and how everything looks, but Toby was VERY UPSET we were doing something out of the routine:

But we got it all put back together and had a normal Sunday with a hike, so Prince Toby could relax.

I have to grout this week but the hardest part is over! Now to move on to Xmas decorating and gift sewing and birthday cake making.

Here We Go

Karen

Kitchen Week is upon us and it started Saturday with my dad coming up to hang an extra cabinet. The existing cabinets here stopped a foot shy of the counter; that gap was going to look even weirder once we added a backsplash.

At first I wanted my dad to teach me how to build a shelf/cabinet, but he did the research and offered an unfinished, pre-built option. It came with a door, so he had the idea to put the door on the side, and blammo! A place for cookbooks, which freed up a cubby in the credenza, which let me move things around on the counter, which made a lot more space. (If you give a mouse a cookie…)

Dad also primed and painted the unfinished cabinet (we went with paint because there was no way we were going to match the finish). I remember him offering to paint, but he says I asked him to. šŸ˜† Either way, I got a pretty good deal: a hundred dollar cabinet and minimal effort on my part. (And, to be fair, definitely lessĀ  effort on my dad’s part than if he taught me to build one from scratch.)

The plan is for Doc and me to tile on our own on Friday. I’ve been relentlessly tracking the accent tile and it might arrive in time for that; if not, we’ll finish up on the next weekend.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

Karen

If you buy a new stove, you’ll want a new microwave, too:

If you get a new stove and microwave, you’ll think, “Why not do a cheap and easy subway tile backsplash, too?”

But then you’ll see the new stove and microwave installed and–because you don’t want to deal with removing the existing granite backsplash–you’ll think, “Wow that space between the new appliances would be ideal for a tile accent.”

Then you’ll badly mock things up and wonder how much waiting for the fancy tile will throw off your proposed schedule to tile over Thanksgiving weekend.

But I think it would look good! It’s almost giving a modern “Tuscan kitchen” vibe (the 90s are in!) and it works with the cabinets and counters. (This whole project came about because we want to sell in a couple years, so don’t want to rip out the upper cabinets and get lighter counters, so how can we do some updates that don’t involve demo.) (Also, the front burner on the old stove was going out.)

We do have the wallpaper accent in the same room, plus a bunch of textile patterns, but I think the tile accent would blend pretty well. No such thing as too much pattern–just ask the Bloomsbury Group.

“We need more bird feeders”

Karen

We spent another weekend doing house stuff (because it was suddenly VERY cold) and it was the stuff I usually put off: dusting baseboards and light fixtures, washing throw pillow covers, etc.

I’m also stove shopping and planning how to do a backsplash in the kitchen, so this video is very apt. Company isn’t coming, but I will surface from looking at ideas online and say to Doc, “I need a bird feeder in every window! Put seashells on the door knobs!”

Never Enough Pattern

Karen

After eleven years in the house with stark white walls and orange accents, I’m moving towards patterns and greens–first in the bedroom, then in the bathroom, and now in the living room:

The before: (so stark!)

This was my second time hanging self-adhesive wallpaper and having some experience from the bedroom wallpaper helped a lot. I think it only took a couple hours of hanging time, plus trimming the edges and patching around one outlet (oops, good thing it’s hidden).

I love the print–it’s giving me Bloomsbury-meets-midcentury vibes. I bought it from the brilliantly-named Etsy shop WallHalla and…it had been sitting in the basement for three months, waiting for me to hang it. (Winter was tough.) So it feels good to have it up.

 

Time To Buy More Tools

Karen

Eleven years (tomorrow!) into owning a house, we’ve accumulated enough tools and plumbing stuff and drywall repair stuff that I decided it was time to get it all ORGANIZED. Harbor Freight came through with something under $300 and in orange:

You’ll notice it’s in the still-unfinished basement, which is gradually getting filled with castoff furniture and rugs and making me think, “Wow, this really could be a functional room.” Now that I have a tool chest, is it only a matter of time?

Tuesday Project Roundup: Recovering Chairs, Saving Money

Karen

I really want a new dining set but I just bought a couch and need to buy some wallpaper (and a single-level house without an HOA in the mid-future). So saving money with DIY skills was in order. First up, replacing the split cane and worn out foam on the old chairs:

I went back and forth a lot on vinyl types to replace the cane with but finally settled on a bright green (from Fabric.com–I only needed a yard for four seats). Once I figured out I could just pull the vinyl around the seat corners and didn’t need to make folds, it went quickly.

The hardest part was getting the staples out of the old cane–honestly, it was easier to pull staples out of the bathroom subfloor than these chair seats.Ā 

These still aren’t the most comfortable chairs but the new foam (from JoAnn, in store) helps a lot–and they’ll work for now.

Next up, I’m making skirted tablecloth made to cover the (thrifted IKEA, dinged up and dirty) dining table completely:

(Will Toby ever get off a fabric-covered table? Will we be creating a tablecloth Fort Kickass for him to play in constantly? Stay tuned.)

Dads, Helplessness, DIY

Karen

In the middle of the bathroom remodel, Lyz Lenz sent out a newsletter about learning how to do house maintenance on her own, after a conservative Christian upbringing that kept her pretty helpless:

My helplessness is not an accident. Itā€™s who I was raised to be. A woman who could cook and clean, but not swing a hammer. That kind of bat your eyes, ā€œAw honey, can you fix this thing?ā€ kind of woman. The Joanna to the Chip Gaines. The wife who does the design and the painting. The man who wields the power tools.

I’m not saying my dad ever kept knowledge from me–the opposite, in fact. Growing up, he’d take me to Home Depot and the fancy hardwood store. I’d hang out in his shop while he worked. We’d watch New Yankee Workshop and The Woodwright’s Shop and This Old House together on Saturdays. But I saw my mom making the plans for projects and letting him execute them, and it was easy to follow that model. Instead of wanting to learn how to do it, I’d come to my dad with an idea and say, “Do this for me”–and then I’d just enjoy a finished product.

I don’t know what exactly changed in the last few years to make me want to learn to do things for myself, except that life-changing trifecta of Meds/Therapy/Gym. Honestly, I think that last one was what really pushed me into learning home stuff–I can finally carry boxes of tile up the stairs, and muscle grout into joints, and actually hold things up and not make my dad do all the (literal) heavy lifting. Embracing all my beginner lifts also showed me there’s no shame in being bad at something or admitting “I’m not good at this.”

It was also important to me to learn from my dad–“while I still can” sounds kind of morbid, but after losing my mom, things just feel a little more immediate. My mom taught me so much about sewing and cooking, but there are still a few things I wish I’d asked her. I didn’t want that to happen with my dad, who has a lifetime of craftsmanship to share.

In her newsletter, Lyz ends up learning from YouTube videos:

Am I really doing it alone if I have these YouTube dads genially explaining to me what a clamp is? Itā€™s a vision of a masculinity Iā€™ve never experienced before. No one is screaming. No one is disappointed in me. Wanting more of me. Telling me I canā€™t do it. Itā€™s just gentle instruction and the pleasure of fixing something.

Again, my experience growing up wasn’t like hers–I’m lucky enough to have a dad who believes in me. So I want to publicly thank him forĀ  going along with my plan to learn from him, for never saying I couldn’t do anything, for being the “gentle instruction” of the YouTube dads but also being my very own dad.