Category: Home improvement

Appliance Love

Sometimes you end up improving things you didn’t realize needed improvement.

Well, in this case that wasn’t really true. We bought this house a year ago, and the appliances in the kitchen were not exactly top of the line. That said, they were functional, so plans to upgrade them fell WAY down the list. The dishwasher worked pretty well. But the thing sounded like a freight train coming through the house. We couldn’t set it and then go to bed. It would keep me awake for an hour. And then there was the water leaking… Finally it just quit. We had it repaired once, and the Major fixed it himself twice. When it died again the day after Christmas, we gave up on it, and ordered a Christmas present we hadn’t planned on.

And I tell you, I’m in love.

But nothing is easy, right? We pulled out the old dishwasher and rolled the new one in, ready to install it. But it was too tall. By about an inch. Wouldn’t fit under the granite.

After several “oh crap” moments, we agreed to chip out the tile that extended beneath the dishwasher. And learned that the tile had been laid on backer board (of course) on TOP of linoleum. (Surprise). And under that? Mold.

I thought the sub floor was rotten, and dollar signs began to flash through my mind… but it turned out that whoever had installed the original appliances had laid down a piece of plywood first. We cut that out, and the mold went with it, but the original subfloor was damp, so we had to wait for it to dry before the new dishwasher could go in.

Two more days of washing dishes by hand and having a dishwasher in the middle of the kitchen. Oy.

wet floor under dishwasher

So this is what we had for the whole weekend… Until yesterday, when we dropped in the new dishwasher! I didn’t know I could feel such strong love for an appliance, but this one… let me tell you. 🙂

Bosch dishwasher

It’s the Bosch 500 series, and it is SO quiet! And it cleans really well, and it is intelligently designed — a utensil rack up top! I really do love it, or maybe it’s just that great an improvement over the old one. Either way, Merry late Christmas to me.

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Green Guestroom Redux

Perhaps you recall my recently stenciled wall? green stencil guest wall

Maybe you will remember that in my enthusiasm, I ran out and purchased curtains that PERFECTLY matched the wall?? curtains Trellis

Well, I know it probably had you on pins and needles all through Christmas, wondering if my mother in law was living with that over-trellised monstrosity. Oh the horror! Oh, Calamity!

Well, not to worry. Just before she arrived, a new box came from Amazon. I had returned the green curtains — though I really did love them (just not in that room with the wall…) Together it was a tad too much. Together? Well, I venture to say they were MOCKING me.

But I found a nice calm grey shade that did the trick. It isn’t exciting, but with a green stenciled wall and bright pink accents left over from a whim you had five years ago, maybe you don’t need exciting. Maybe you just need grey.

So, without further ado. (What the hell is “ado” anyway?) Here is the still incomplete guest room…

Guest room grey curtains

Things that remain to be done:

  • Whitewash antique dresser
  • Update nightstand
  • Replace lampshade (lamp?) with something bigger — solid color
  • Hang a few things on the walls

The thing I’m terrible at is finding little knick knacky type things to accessorize. Suggestions welcome!

Second Thoughts…

Ergh. I think I have buyer’s remorse. I was so charmed by my own stenciled wall that when I went to find curtains, I might have gone overboard. Grey, I went in saying. I just need some light-blocking simple grey panels.

But then I saw these…

curtains

And I pulled the trigger. They were at Overstock! On sale! And so green and trellisy…

But next to this?

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Maybe too much. Someone hold me. It’s too much, isn’t it? Tell me it will be okay. No, no, I know. Plain grey would have been so much better.

They come later this week. I’ll figure it out then. Stay tuned…I know you can hardly contain the excitement!

Lattice Stencil in the Guest Room

Perfectionism be damned, I have stenciled a wall!

Though I haven’t gotten around to posting the photographic evidence, I originally tried my hand at stenciling in our dining room. The hubs came to inspect the finished product and wasn’t completely in love with it. And by not completely in love, he said something like, “I don’t think I can live with this.” Here’s what that looked like:

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It was kind of busy, maybe. And the silvery tone was a bit much. But mostly, he didn’t like that it looked “hand done.” Because, you know… it was, uh, hand done. And hard. And time consuming. But the dining room is another story for another day. Today is a day to talk about the GUEST Room.

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This is the before… The walls were neutral, but had patches all over them from the previous owners, and lots of scuff marks from furniture being moved in and out. So I picked up some Churchill Hotel Navajo White  and painted the whole room. Though painting neutrals is a little boring, it was super satisfying to see the marks disappear and the whole room looked brighter. (I love painting!)

Once I’d finished that, I took off all the painters tape and focused on the wall behind the bed. I taped the whole wall off, including the ceiling (learned this the hard way on the last stencil project!)

I had a stencil from Royal Design Stencils that was a nice clean allover trellis pattern (I learned from my last effort that a simpler pattern would make me happier).

This time I decided to try using spray adhesive. I didn’t use any last time, and positioning was a challenge. I used this: IMG_1738

And it was SO MUCH EASIER. I sprayed the whole back of the stencil outside and then carried it up to position on the wall. I only had to reapply the adhesive twice to do the whole wall, and I probably could’ve gotten away without doing it at all. No residue left over, and a great tight bond when I was working!

Here’s the first one I did, starting in the lower corner of the wall:

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And here’s what it looked like after a few more got laid in. It was tricky lining it up, and by the end, my wall actually crept up a bit to the left, but it was barely noticeable. When the hubs came to look at the finished product, he had only nice things to say!IMG_1734

Here’s what it looked like when I’d finished the whole wall. I had to go back up to the top and put in a partial piece, and then I went back with the Navajo White and touched up the spots where things bled or I got a bit carried away. Honestly, there was very little bleeding at all.

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I need to hang some curtains, get a nice guest chair and a proper bedside table, and we’ll be all ready for guests! (I guess it might look nicer if I actually made the bed…) I think that maybe the lamp will get a new shade, too…

For now, the room is ready for our Christmas guest! (Who is an interior designer, though one who is too polite to tell me she doesn’t like what I’ve done!)

Hold me…

What the hell was I thinking? In about two weeks, the guest room will need to hold an actual guest. So today I decided it should get painted.

In fairness, I decided this a while ago if we’re going to get technical. And then I procrastinated.

Cuz that is what I do.

Remember the headboard? That is still attached with just one screw because I had some, uh, issues attaching it? Well, it makes it significantly harder to get the bed away from the wall to paint. Because of the not-being-attached properly thing. And also just because it is bigger. And more unwieldy. And stuff.

So here’s the plan — I’m taking the green paint that the hubs wouldn’t let me use in the front room, and stenciling it on the wall behind the bed. (this despite my previous stencil FAIL, which I have not posted because it is part of the dining room debacle, and that will be several posts, and did you know it is Christmastime??) But I can’t do the feature wall until I’ve repainted the whole room my favorite neutral Navajo White… and that’s really no fun at all, painting neutral. So I’ve put it off. Like forever. But this weekend? We’re getting some white on up in this place.

I know. It isn’t exciting, no matter how you talk about it. I’ll post the exciting photos of the white walls when I’m done. Yay.

(I did, however get to do some caulking where the trim had separated from the walls, and that is always fun. Mostly because of how you get to talk about it later at work. I like to tell people, “so last night, I was playing with the caulk up in the guest bedroom…” Use your imagination. “I’m a master of caulk,” I say. “You have to just smooth the caulk out, in just the right way…” you get the idea… Sorry.) Okay, signing off now. Apologies all around.