Holes in the Walls

First, my big-ish project. See that mirror? I built the frame :) I finally (embarrassingly) got around to watching a video on how to properly use my Kreg Jig that I got a couple years ago and discovered (rediscovered, because I haven't built anything in quite a while) how ridiculously easy it is. I should take some close-ups, but that frame is perfectly square, level and sturdy. My skills are improving. Also, the mirror has been in there for over 24 hours, which is my "we're safe, project isn't going to fall apart very loudly."

The mirror was from the upstairs bathroom and it measures 29 7/8" wide and 60" tall. Pretty good size. I was originally going to frame it in 2x8s, but I couldn't find kiln-dried ones at Lowe's or HD, so decided on 1x8s. More expensive, but resulted in a somewhat lighter piece. Anyway, I LOVE it, Todd is tolerating it, and hopefully it will reflect more light into our rather dark living room.

This was my b-day present from Todd. It's a super-awesome mini drill. It came with two batteries (!!!) and is extra torque-y. I love it. It's not as torque-y as my electric drill, but they each serve different purposes. Plus, more portable. My other cordless drill Dad gave me in college finally bit the dust, after about 5 years of the battery being left on the charger 24/7 because otherwise it was always dead, and it's just easier to do stuff if you have two drills going. (One for pilot holes, one for screwing stuff in. Obv.)

This was a b-day present to myself. (Not the bucket.) It's a Bucket Jockey and it holds my tools portably so now I don't have to leave a trail of screwdrivers and drill bits and other stuff through the house when I'm working on projects. It has TONS of nifty little pockets and compartments and a holster for my drill and spots for bits and pencils and tools and earmuffs and and AND... I love it.

What post about putting holes in walls would be complete if I didn't include at least one unnecessary hole? (Answer: You'd know I wasn't the one doing the drilling if that was the case.) Anyway, someone was industriously hanging keyhooks and neglected to consider how there's not only a 3-inch drop from the screw to the bottom of the hook, but keys also hang down from the lowest point below the screw. Anyway, you can see how the hole in the middle of the two hooks, which I'd planned on hanging the lower hook, was way too high to not have the top hook's keys overlapping. That probably makes no sense. It all resulted in me having to pry an anchor out of the wall, so at least it was fun...

This is what I've got going on top of the "china hut" these days. It's a moss ball in a terrarium on top of a vintage suitcase acquired from my grandparents' basement, next to that orange thing that I love but can never seem to find a home for. This still looks disjointed to me and obviously the photography is top-notch, but one step at a time.

 This is the other moss ball I made earlier in the month with my pickings from the woods on the way home from Bend. It lives in the cloche (below). I used a mix of moss varieties for this one; some hunks even have a bit of lichen still growing. I didn't mess with the ones of the picture at all. It's really that intensely green. UH-mazing.

Here it is in its home on the dining room table. I let it breathe once a week or so and give it a good soak in the kitchen sink every few weeks. We'll see how long it and its friend last, considering I re-used wet floral foam that had dried out, and you're not really supposed to do that. What can I say? I live on the edge.

So anyway, that's what's new. 

Stairs and other projects

Following the kitchen remodel, I was kind of over house stuff for a while. We've worked on a number of projects, including, but likely not limited to:

• mudding Todd's office
• plotting a plumbing project
• finishing the upstairs bathroom and guest room for friends to come visit
• priming and painting the entry
• priming and painting trim
• priming the bar counter wall
• finding, sanding, staining and waxing the bar counter
• a failed doorknob replacement attempt
• priming the stair risers
• adding kitchen hardware
• cleaning and organizing the garage

I just haven't been feeling like writing it all down. So here's a bunch of pictures. First, some befores of the stairs. They were a rather terrible shade of brown, which I have disliked since the glee of removing the green carpet wore off. That was nearly five years ago. This is the first flight.

 And the second flight.

 Wait, here's a before-before. This stuff was like antique carpeting. Dreadful.

And here's a sort-of after. The risers are just primed, but I think it's a massive improvement. Flight one...

 And flight two. Still to be done: paint risers, finish mudding paneling, paint paneling white so it looks like drywall, paint baluster and spindles. Probably glossy black.

 This is the entry, which I primed and painted last week. Good to have that done. I found that lamp at a thrift store (I dislike them more every time I visit one. The lady told me if the lamp didn't work I had a week to return it, and I thought to myself that I would pay the $4 it cost me again just to not have to go back there). I'd planned on busting it up and using the parts, but then I decided I kind of liked it so instead painted it. It really needs a new shade, but its mod shape is working for me right now. Not working for me: the pile of shoes. Hopefully I can figure out a solution to that.

 Oh, this is an exciting one. After scrubbing to remove dried wood glue from errantly placed corbels and patching tears left in the wood veneer from said corbels, I primed the bar counter wall today. This was before I went to work.

 And after. Still needs to be painted, but it's been a long week. I just laid the counter on top, which I hope doesn't sit in place for weeks on end. I want to finish it one night this week.

 Here's the view from above. The wood is just beautiful.

 Down there at the end is a leftover tuft of moss from my little moss-gathering stop on my way back from Bend yesterday. I love moss. I think it's so interesting and verdant and natural and it has such great texture. So I bagged a bunch yesterday near Union Creek and made some moss balls yesterday. I tried to take pictures, but the low light in the dining room (down to one bulb out of three in that awful fixture in the dining room) was thwarting my efforts. They are enchanting and foresty and fascinating. I have one in a terrarium and the other under a cloche and I just love them.

 In the last couple months, I've continued to mess with the styling of these shelves in the downstairs bathroom. I added that green glass bottle in the lower right corner, found at TJ Maxx, and put fake leaves from Michael's in to balance it.

 The bottle is recycled blown glass and it's all irregularly shaped. Normally not what I go in for, but I really like this.

 Heading back upstairs again, we cleared out the hallway a few weekends ago in preparation for some of our friends from Bend to visit for the weekend. I either can't find or don't have befores, but it was awful. You had to hold onto the railing and sort of scoot by sideways.

 Also prior to Kristan and Brian's arrival last weekend, I finally added a transition to the bathroom and patched in the little bit of floor that was missing. Points if you can identify the patched piece. I was going to finish the wood with some poly or something, but I kind of love how it looks against the slate just raw and aged, so I'll probably leave it for a while. I salvaged as much wood as I could when we redid upstairs, so I have a small stockpile if I need to replace it again.

 Here's the guest room. It looks a lot cozier in person, though it is definitely still miscellaneous furniture purgatory. The chair and ottoman in the corner are pieces I snagged a long time ago with intentions of reupholstering. The ottoman will get it this summer. Its twin is downstairs in the living room.

You may also notice the door in the corner. I was eying the space one day, trying to figure out how on earth I was going to make something to close off the attic. Then I grabbed a tape measure and sure enough, it was about 28.5" wide. Just wide enough for me to violently wedge a 28" door into the space, after I sawed off the bottom 30 inches. It was my first door installation, and it totally works!

 One more of the stairs...

 And I found this sign when I was cleaning out the attic a few weeks ago. "This room CONDEMNED by order of the management." Never was a sign so fitting.

Lastly, I will leave you with this. This is a load of old/extra building materials we took over to Habitat. There was a 20' section of pipe, so we had to flag it. The only red thing around was an old oven mitt, which I rubberbanded onto the pipe, and away we went. Watching peoples' faces was priceless as we drove there.

The Golden Artichoke

I had what I'm going to call a stroke of brilliance a few days ago: fake artichoke + gold spray paint. I don't know why.

 Who can explain the elusive nature of genius?

I haven't decided where to put this one yet, but I have decided that I will be painting more of them. I think I'll fill one of my footed hurricanes with a bunch of them. I think it was a Rustoleum paint and it has a reflective gold lid. The paint has so much shine to it, it really looks metallic. I'm looking forward to trying the silver.

Also gratifying was doing my paint work directly on the floor of Todd's office (it's crappy linoleum and now there's a big gold spot on it, which will live on for eternity.)

Christmas Kitchen

I have been waiting a long time to write this post. Over five years since we bought the house and redoing the dreadful kitchen was in the project pipeline, and close to six since we first walked through this house while we still lived in California in the spring of 2008. That was when I first started envisioning what you're about to see!

We're not done yet, but it's mostly details that remain. Important details, like finishing the bar counter, the backsplash, installing and painting trim and baseboard and probably other things I'm not thinking of, but it's mostly done. Here's the first round of "afters."

These are the pendant lights over the bar/peninsula, up close.

 This is the fixture over the kitchen table, from Lowe's.

 Looking into the kitchen from the dining room (previously impossible, due to the wall that used to be there).

Standing in the eating area looking south. You can kind of see the sliver of space behind the new slide-in range that will need to be filled with a bit of counter.

Another south-facing picture. The back of the bar, where your knees are if you're in one of the seagrass chairs, still needs to be painted. We picked up the paint to match the cabinets today.

The eating area and bar on the left. Counter still needs to be finished there. It's just plywood right now. Kind of splintery. We also have to figure out what kind of pads to put on the bottoms of the bar chairs. They have feet, but I'm worried about them scratching the floor. Everything I've stuck on so far just comes off, so I have to keep experimenting.

 From the dining room looking in facing east. LOVE the dishwasher.

All the dishwashers with the control panel on the top and just a blank stainless front were $$$$ but this was on crazy sale and really well rated. It's so pretty.

I'm thinking I'd like to get some remote-controlled puck lights to stick under the cabinets. The big upper on the left, anyway. The corner is pretty dark.

Deviation from our original plan, we ended up getting a new slide-in range. Slide-in is the kind without the back, so it doesn't stick up awkwardly above the wall. This was another well-rated, on-sale buy. I went in Monday night to Lowe's to talk with an appliance person and make sure it'd fit our space.

The site said it'd take until Jan 2 before it arrived, so I told the guy that Home Depot had the same thing and could get it to me three days earlier, hoping he might be able to match that. He paused for a second, then said he thought he might have one on the warehouse. This exact model. Turns out someone had ordered it, opened the top of the box and decided it wasn't going to work for whatever reason. So we got our range a full week before we thought we would; it was delivered the day after Christmas. I get to eat eggs for breakfast again!

The counters are beautiful. Next time for pictures, they'll be darker because I need to wipe them with mineral oil to protect them, but we are so happy with the choice.

The new faucet doesn't leak, which is obviously a very positive thing. Unfortunately they sent the wrong hose, so it's a regular braided hose instead of the chrome coil one, but I haven't dealt with that yet. I do love the faucet though, and it's perfectly in proportion to the giant, fabulous sink.

This is the trash and recycling pull-out. It's great. The silent-close drawers and cabs are spoiling us though, and we both have been accidentally slamming other things in the house that don't have that feature.

I have probably about half of the hardware on. All the single knobs are on but I haven't felt patient enough to try for the handles, other than the two in this picture. Lining up two holes is a lot trickier, and I am just plain awful at measuring. I try so hard, double check, and then somehow screw it up. I'd say detail orientation isn't my strong suit, but... have you met me? I'm not really sure what the issue is.

 This used to be the laundry room. I know.

Speaking of terrible measuring, why yes, I did in fact hang the mirror exactly 1.5" off center. How? No idea. Another product of careful measurement. Also notice the doors in front of the washer and dryer in the mirror!

Kitchen from the opposite direction, standing in the mudroom looking north.

 Again...

 Ok just one more. I just love it so much.

And lastly here's the dining room, looking mostly put back together except for the not-pictured old range sitting in the corner (anybody want to buy a five-year-old gas Maytag? It's a champ!) and the to-be-installed dining room light fixture sitting on top of it.

Can't wait to show you befores and afters when all the little details are finally all in place!

Difficulties.

I don't know why, but this is the only picture that will go into this post properly oriented so I'm making it extra big. 

Today, the floor was finished, the remaining lights were installed (pendants and the table light fixture), the dishwasher electrical was hooked up, the garbage disposal was mostly installed AND the hot water heater was fixed. 

It was a stupid $95 loose wire nut in a junction box. Oh well. Win some, lose some. Having hot water back is definitely #winning. (Thank you, Charlie Sheen, for this singular useful contribution to pop culture.)

Tomorrow's a big day too. The doors get put in and trimmed upstairs, so the bathroom and the storage unit guest room will be real rooms again!!

Another victory for today: I convinced the nice folks at ATG customer service to convince Ruvati, the faucet manufacturer, to ship the replacement faucet second-day air, so we'll get it Thursday and it'll be installed Friday. If all goes as planned (unlikely, but maybe a Christmas miracle) my kitchen will not be under construction by this time next week! Quiet. I think I hear angels singing.

That floor. I DIE.

Spitting Distance

We've taken some good leaps forward in the last week and a half since my last post. I'm happier now, though I did say last night that IF this remodel doesn't finish quickly, I'm going to start killing people. One person each day until it's finished. Todd said I sounded like a Bond villain. I responded that villains are people too, and probably people whose kitchens and laundry rooms are being remodeled. This is bringing out the best in everyone.

Aaaanyway.... it's been a bit of good, bad and ugly around here. With no further ado, the good first:

Possibly, this should have been ugly. Oh well. The good part is that ... do you see any green kitchen chairs in here? NO. No, the chairs have been banished to the landing upstairs. That's where they should have been in the first place, but more on that later. Literally everything about my living room is better in person than this picture would have you believe. Seriously.

Moving on. Into the reno part of the house. This is a pocket door, on which I installed pocket door hardware with minimal complications. Mostly. There are always complications. I might be a dedicated DIY-er, but between us, I am really not all that good at it.

Behind door number one, we have...POWDER ROOM!! No, the mirror will not be indefinitely positioned awkwardly next to the toilet. I nabbed that mirror on crazy clearance last spring, something like $20 marked down from $70, and it fits the space perfectly.

This is the sink. Not only was it the very cheapest sink Home Depot had ($54 for base and sink) we got the pedestal marked down because it was the display model. The whole shebang cost something like $48 when all was said and done.

Also the faucet, which is the Price Phister Ashfield (something of an icon right now) in Tuscan bronze or some other equally pretentious-sounding finish, was acquired on clearance from Lowe's. $100 instead of $160. I was cruising past the bathroom section one Saturday morning and noticed a bunch of vanities with my favorite yellow tags. So I enquired as to why this particular faucet was $100, and could it come home with me? Indeed it could, and they threw in the hoses for free!

All it cost me was a half hour trying to return the non-display model, which I now know is a very complicated process when you 1) have bought two items, one of which was a display, 2) you do not have your receipt, 3) you do not have your phone to pull up the receipt from your email, and 4) you tell the nice lady helping you it was purchased during the month before you actually bought it. This allows you the opportunity to go to Lowe's twice on a Sunday the week before Christmas, which is time when sane people stay inside and well away from the hordes. Anyway, worth it.

 Light fixture. Milk glass shades. Interesting, dark-gray brushed nickel finish. Missing two bulbs.

 I did laundry. In my own house. Last night. I liked it so much I put two more loads in tonight. Additionally, that little magic box in the wall...it's an electric heater. And it's lovely.

Back to the kitchen. This is the pantry. Microwave is off the counter, which is fabulous. Other than that, I'm only marginally satisfied with the organization, and I expect that I'll have to tinker with it to get it functional. PS, Bed Bath & Beyond is for suckers. Organization items from the dollar store. For one dollar, I got essentially the same (admittedly somewhat less sturdy) things that cost $15 at BBB.

Glassware, put away. Most of it anyway. I have collected a fair amount of glassware in the last seven years. Wedding sets, several-years-after-wedding-I'm-sick-of-wedding glasses, miscellaneous... But most of it has a home now!

 This is ONE of the lazy susan base cabs. You can be jealous. I would be.

 Bookshelf for cookbooks, scale and other "soft" kitchen stuff. Counters not finished here yet.

Dishwasher. She's not that beautiful wrapped in plastic, but you just wait. Front handle not yet installed, but the controls are on the top, so it has a clean front. Didn't think that was going to happen, but we snagged a good deal on it, and it's really well rated. Whirlpool.

Fridge in place and oh, I love it so much!!!

This is one of three pieces of Christmas decor I have up right now. It's a swag from my late Nana's Christmas collection.

 Awful pictures aside, it's really pretty and I'm glad to have a bit of her in the house.

Next, the bad. Are you confused? Well, this is confusing. Because this picture should be all kinds of good. The faucet and sink LOOK amazing. Unfortunately, this is only part of why we buy faucets. What's the other part? To get the water where you want it. Which this does not do. According to the plumber, it leaks, so I am in the process of getting a replacement over a month after the return policy expired. I'm trying to get them to overnight it to me, because...it's not my fault they made a beautiful leaky faucet. We shall see.

Bad, not pictured: hot water heater, which was putting out suspiciously lukewarm water on Saturday afternoon when we got back from Bend. Said water got progressively colder as it ran, which is the absolute wrong progression for water temperature...well, any time, but most definitely when it is freezingcoldDecemberIcan'ttakeashower kind of weather. Plumber is supposed to come check it out tomorrow and the water heater is only a year or two old so still under warranty, but what a pain.

Moving on to ugly: so this isn't totally cut and dried, because it's obviously partially very good. But also partially a disaster.

 Yep, disaster.

And lastly, this floor, which should be disappearing from the face of the earth tomorrow. The guys came and put leveling compound down today and will be back tomorrow to finish laying the floor. Take a good long look at this eyesore, because it's the last time.

Now, wish me luck. I'm going to go wash my face and go to bed, and hopefully the approximately 35-degree water doesn't give me hypothermia.