About that break...

It was just three weeks ago that I declared that this would be a project-free summer. No major overhauls, no weekends spent chugging Fraps and darting back and forth to Home Depot, no stress, no nothing except pool days, weddings and rum.

Well, I'm a huge stinking liar.

Yesterday, Hubs and I came to a realization:

Tiling the kitchen floor would require us pulling up two layers of vinyl, laying a new subfloor and then - actually tiling.

Gag me with a spoon!

Laying a resilient floor, however, would require us vacuuming a bit, pulling up the trim (which needs replacing anyway) and snapping some plants into place. It'd also cost about a third of the price.

And so, instead of saving and re-energizing to do a tile job, we're on the hunt for resilient floors and plan to make progress this summer.

Grasscloth resilient planks - yes please! 

We just can't let the summer pass without making one tiny house tweak. It wouldn't be right.

Have you ever had to take a DIY break? Or could you not stay away?

On the bandwagon!

I've decided to hop on the chalkboard bandwagon. Over the holidays, I painted one for my office and fell in love with admiring my own fancy handwriting every day.  

So, I took off our pantry doors and wiped them down so they were delightfully shiny.

Then, took them to the basement where I taped 'em up and slathered on the chalkboard paint.

Two days later (due to my own laziness, not paint-drying), I had my meal-planning HQ complete. Dinners up top, lunches below.

 And, of course, Hubs added some art near the cat food. This is what they mean by art imitating life.

And that was that. A simple and free project that is practical - what more could a gal ask for?

Have you hopped on the chalkboard wagon? What'd you paint?

Weekend Update: My Blue Heaven

This has nothing to do with anything, but it's enjoyable:


What has everything to do with everything is the title of the movie from whence this clip came: My Blue Heaven. You see, I muscled my way into a little kitchen updating this weekend and spent the better part of Saturday layering blue paint over blue paint over red paint because I, dear reader, refused to prime the kitchen walls.

The project began magically enough. I went to Ace to scoop up the Benjamin Moore Hemlock paint we were going to use and lo and behold - I found the EXACT SAME COLOR on the mis-tint shelf.

Is there anything better than getting fancy $30 paint for just $10 a gallon? Oh, no. There isn't.

The magic continued when Hubs and I went to get a ceiling medallion to cover a few plaster cracks around the ceiling fan.

Yes, that's a butterfly, alighting on a paint chip. I'm married to Snow White, in dude form.

Once we had our supplies all in place, it was time to kiss the Before goodbye!

The ceiling fan had horrible blonde wood blades and I was trying to decide if we should paint them or if that'd make the whole thing worse. This fact is important for later.

Doesn't that red make you sad and tired? I know red is a popular kitchen color, but it was just not working for me.

Sadly, my camera had a serious malfunction, so there are no action shots of us taking down the ceiling fan, pondering rewiring a few things, putting up trim in places where there was none or slapping on what felt like 50 layers of Hemlock.

But there is this:

Say what now? The fan has reversible blades with a rich, dark wood on the opposite side and it's super easy to flip the blades over? Well, heck. I don't know much about fans, but this seems like genius and if it's not standard practice for fans, it should be. I mean, take a gander at the after:

 In this shot, the blue looks much darker than it is. Above that window, there is a weird outlet that we will cover up with come plates and we still need window coverings. But! Don't you feel happier with all this freshly spruced up trim and happy Hemlock?

I especially love how it makes our dining room room look more gray. It's like living in Instamatic.

Someday, I'll replace the uppers on this side so they go to the ceiling and I don't have to over-compensate with cute kitchen-themed knick-nacks.

This spot had no trim before! Now, it matches the opposite side and all is right with the world.

So the red kitchen is no more and that means only two rooms remain that we have not painted. Office and bathroom, you're next!

It's a dirty job

In early 2009, I moved into this little old house. As I scrubbed the kitchen before unpacking all my kitchen booty, I noticed the stupidest sink setup ever:

Yep, a 1/8" gap between sink lip and wall - perfect for trapping gunk, water and debris.

I don't recall if I actually cleaned the gap that day or not. Maybe the previous owners had before the left. Maybe my mom did it for me because she's good like that. Either way, the gap gave us no trouble.

Fast forward to last night, when a mood hit me and I Wanted to Clean. I set about scrubbing down the stove-top, counters and cabinets and was soon ready to Comet the heck out of the sink.

That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks: I had never cleaned the gap. Never! Ever! That little sliver of counter held secrets deeper and darker than any mob snitch-to-be, sleeping with fishes. The level of grime was so much that the gap could not even contain it all. Slime and filth poured over like muffin tops at Six Flags. It was time to clean.

And it was so horrible, reader, the things I saw last night. I couldn't keep this to myself.

Ten Q-Tips later, I had the gleaming sink crack of yore. And I'll have you know, sink gaps are awfully hard to capture in photographs with a cell phone.

Do you have any spots you just up and forget to clean for two years? Or am I just a frat boy living in a homemaker's body?

We've got gas

Pardon me for playing to the lowest form of comedy all week. I'm tired.

Anyway, after we got the gas line and electric hookups set for the stove (turns out, when you get an amazing Craigslist deal, it might be missing a few key pieces - like the regulator required to keep the house from becoming a gas bomb), it was time to give it a test run. Of course, Hubs donned his safety goggles and a blanket, just in case.

Once we established that our house wasn't so vengeful as to blow us up, we caulked that puppy in and secured it with some extra screws.

Tonight we'll add a panel to the cabinets beneath, to cover up where the old knobs used to be and finally put all our pots and pans back where they belong. Talk about a wild Friday night, right?

Oh, and in case you're wondering - the first official meal cooked on this fabulous new stove was a fried egg for Hubs' breakfast. We were highly entertained by how fast the pan got hot; this stove will provide hours of entertainment.

What are your weekend plans?

Bummy Burners

Back in January 2009, when Hubs and I were walking through this house for the very first time, we stood in the kitchen and had this conversation:

Hubs, voice heavy with disappointment: "Oh, it's not a gas stove."
Me, taking a cue from many an episode of House Hunters: "No, but that's something we can switch out real easy."

Oh, silly old-time Alexson! You didn't know that a million other projects would pop up before you got around to this one.

Here's what we've been cooking on for the past year and a half-ish:

Gag, y'all. (I mean, it's listed on Craigslist and you totally want it. You're getting slee-eeepy. Look at the swinging watch. Buy. The. Stove.)

It's original to our 1955 house and you can see the avocado finish that once was, before it was spray painted (I. Know.). Of course, the paint has seen better days, as evidenced here:

The paint, though, isn't the worst part. The knobs just don't make sense. Warm - low - 3 - 2 - high? What the heck, GE? Now you tell me how a gal's supposed to get her queso properly melty with a crazymixedup set-up like this. Is 2 hotter than 3? That is just bananas.

This is why, in true Bigger, Better, Best style, we decided to call up a plumber (who is also loyal reader Stormy's husband!) to hook up a gas stove. We figured that as long as the basement is torn up and we're stimulating the heck out of the local economy, why not throw one more project on top? Bigger, better best fo' life, kids.

I found a pretty sweet gas stovetop on Craigslist for a steal over the summer - it will be quite the upgrade!

Fun fact: This might be the most practical project we've done to date!

Can't wait to show you the finished project. We were missing a small but important piece that should be here soon. Then, it's on, yo.