No better time to have an unusable shower than when we have houseguests! Tom tore all this apart but we’re still waiting for the contractor to see just how bad it really is.
Our shower is fully dismantled now.
Category Archives: Projects
The joys of home ownership.
Apparently the main bedroom shower grout has been leaking for a loooong time. Likely before we even moved in. And it’s not covered by the home warranty since it wasn’t a plumbing issue.
Yay for home ownership, right?
A friend’s dad is a contractor so he came over to check it out. He doesn’t think it’s too bad but we have to pull off the tiles to look behind to make sure.
When the office throws up.
Since Tom will officially be working from home and we need the space, we are starting to go through the bins in the office…which means sorting has to happen elsewhere.
I love having a handy hubby.
Not only did he install three toilets this weekend, today he ripped apart our old dining room table in order to make a new office desk! (We thought about trying to sell it, but we wanted to keep the chairs and thought that would be a much harder sell. E needed a desktop so…)
Plus now he has lots of pieces and parts for future projects!
And we found a hidden H!
So we did a thing today. Can you see them?
Tom really wanted to go solar once we got our forever home so did ALLLL the research this summer and today was finally install day! Now we just have to wait for the inspection and the switch to be flipped! Eventually we will get another row (at least) but since this is a new house to us and we don’t have enough usage history, they would only let us get this many.
We will own the panels outright so we will take out a loan for them, but with all the rebates and incentives, our total bill (for a few years) will be the same as if we didn’t have solar. So after a few years we’ll see the benefits!
Just a little home project.
Tom said he wanted to cut some branches or trees down so imagine my surprise when I look out and see the entire back yard covered!
Needless to say we have firewood again! (Both of these bins were empty.)
Burning some of it, even though it wasn’t warm enough to sit out and enjoy it.
The deck is fixed!
Tom worked on it a bunch of hours yesterday and put the finishing touches on this morning. It’s not perfect but it’s way more then I expected!
We updated the half bath!
So we did a few minor updates to the half bath—mostly courtesy of Amazon Vine—new mirror, lights, and shelves plus we bought a toilet paper holder and towel rack (pipes to match the shelves). I absolutely love it.
It’s slowly coming together.
Everything is still a work in progress and it’s generally a cluttered mess but once in awhile were pick everything up. Today was that day.
This is just a temporary kitchen table until we move things around (or find the perfect table for the space). We did try an Ikea table and chairs but didn’t like it so returned it. That table that Tom built fits perfectly there but we also kind of wanted to use it in the office…but the office isn’t anywhere near being finished so for now the table stays.
This area is also temporary because we really want the secretary to go here…after we get it redone (I want to paint it). But I’m also thinking of a really neat birch bench I’ve seen that Tom can duplicate. But for the time being, we’ve repurposed random stuff.
This will be our H wall but for now… it’s an H buffet.
We reconfigured the couch back to its normal position (2×2 instead of 1×3) to test it out and make room for the Christmas tree which is going to go in that far corner. And we got that rug awhile back to warm up the space a bit.
Some artwork and stuff is going up on the walls (and you can see my lighted birch tree!). We also have some big ideas…I can’t wait to do it and show you! My friend and neighbor has a great eye for design and is planning on helping me pull the house together.
But we needed a shelf to put some stuff on because we really don’t have that much usable wall space. I found this at HomeGoods and it was perfect. I’m not sure where it will go when the tree is there but…we’ll figure it out.
Stumps be gone!
We are removing some of the dead shrubs and trees so tonight Tom had help with the stumps. David was happy to oblige. Now Tom wants a truck even more.
Shopping then destroying!
Anna had the idea to take all the kids to Goodwill and let them pick out something to take apart (okay, destroy). So we all masked up and wandered the aisles until the kids found fun stuff. Then we just gave them screwdrivers and let them go.
Okay. You saw the plasticware. Now it’s spices.
And I need help.
Up until today, they had been in a completely different cupboard because this one housed mixing bowls, measuring cups, strainers, etc…which I loved, but I hated that it was impossible to see and easily reach most of my spices (kinda far away in a corner).
Now I’ve discovered that a lot of them fit in the drawer—which means I can see them—but they obviously don’t all fit. (Tom still has a full shelf of his BBQ and meat seasonings.)
So what do I put in the white pull out sheves? Mixes like chili and chip dip and buttermilk dressing? I thought maybe basics like salts and peppers and garlics but I feel like I want quicker access to those via the drawer. Tom has too many to fit in there. I could use the space for a lazy susan I have with my oils, vinegars, and other big glass bottles…but then I can’t use the white shelves anywhere else (they have to be low).
This will all be moot eventually (maybe next year?) when Tom puts in pull out shelving specific for spices. But in the meantime I need a working solution.
Side problem: how to organize within an area? I kinda do alphabetical even though I know it’s best to keep like spices together…but having the Costco-sized spices throws that off.
Today ended up to be a busy day.
First, home demo. (Masks off for a pic!)
I finished my look after Angel left… I forget how good Mirage is. And Cinnamon Shimmer.
Second, a visit with a friend/playdate for the kids.
Third, an unexpected driveway visit with the people who are living in our old rental house (I was dropping off some stuff were accidentally moved that belonged to the owners).
Fourth, an unexpected trip to our park to visit with Hannah, a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. (The kids went down there randomly and were surprised to see their friends who don’t live in this neighborhood!)
Fifth. Bag collection, sorting, and folding by the kids. They didn’t love it. Didn’t care. It was something they could do.
It’s never just a small project.
It was supposed to be a quick and easy project: repaint the front door. Tom had a new paint sprayer and it should have taken 30 minutes. Should have being the key phrase.
Tom started to paint the door and got clumps and spatter and he had no idea what was wrong and it was drying and it was a disaster. He tried to fix it with what he had handy (all our paint stuff was obviously packed away) and I was trying to be helpful by googling the brand of paint and the brand of sprayer and hints but it was just not a good time.
Longer story short, turns out the sprayer hadn’t been fully cleaned after the last job. Doh! Lesson learned. So once that was fixed—and once the door was scrubbed with hot soapy water and then sanded—the door was painted in about two minutes.
Thankfully we had enough paint left to do the door…plus my cement Michigan!
BUT THEN! We had also wanted to put new hardware on and that was an epic disaster. It took FIVE attempts (from least to most expensive!) over a week to get working hardware:
- Amazon refurb—was missing pieces.
- Amazon new (same as refurb)—broke during install!
- Home Depot—after much debate we settled in one and Tom got it fully installed…and then realized the keys were missing (it had obviously been returned).
- Home Depot—deadbolt too big (who knew there were two sizes?)
- Home Depot—a winner! Finally!
But it looks good!!
The Tupperware is under control!
A few pieces went away, a few are in the fridge, and some are awaiting their matches (and if we don’t find them, out they go). Not too bad. This will all get rearranged when Tom cuts these apart and puts in pull-out drawers. (I can’t wait because it kills me that there is so much wasted space!)
The attack of the Tupperware!
Anna didn’t believe me when I said I had A LOT of kitchen stuff. Today we tackled the plastic storage. She also couldn’t believe we use all of this and I assured her we use the majority of it. (We were matching lids so these will condense but it’s still a lot.)
So I admit it’s a bit frightening to see ALLLLL your plastic storage out at one time…. But that’s what happens when you move and have to find a new home for everything!!
- Rubbermaid
- Lock & Lock (looooove these)
- Tupperware (can you spot the vintage pieces?!)
- deli containers (good for stackable freezing and food prep)
- take out containers (great for sending home food after a party)
- OXO pop containers
Yes it seems like a lot, but we really do honestly use most of these. I freeze a lot of food and we’ve been eating out of the freezer to prep for the move so most of these will go back in the freezer once I start cooking again!
Are you a storage fiend like me? Or am I insane?
Work doesn’t stop on a birthday!
Daddy and Owen were painting the garage while Katie was having her waterslide party. Yes, it’s purple. We only use Home Depot or Menards “oops” paint colors ($30 vs $120 for five gallons) for garages so it was bright peach or this. We figured the purple was meant to be.
Also, Tom’s sprayer died about 3/4 of the way through…so we ended up buying a new one. We hated to spend the money but he will definitely use it for future projects.
Once we showed up to check on them, of course Katie wanted to paint, too…so we let Katie do her name.
The garage drywall work is coming along.
It was fine overall, but since this is our forever house, we figured we might as well do it right. Of course it was way more expensive than we thought but it needed to be done before we moved everything in… Otherwise it might never get done. So they actually had to start before we closed (we cleared it with the owner).
So this is what it started as…
This is what it looks like now… They did a bunch of retaping, replaced some boards, fixed some things…and now it’s looking good! Just waiting for it to dry so Tom can paint!
The first nice day in forever…
It was nice today (57°!) so we took a walk to do a photo scavenger hunt and leave chalk notes on people’s driveways!
The kids went across the street to decorate the driveway of a single older lady. Owen also told me her brought her trash up to the house. ❤️
As far as for social distancing? Every single person that we saw and had to pass kept the right distance. Sometimes we moved out of the way, sometimes they moved out of the way. Thankfully we didn’t see any kids at the park but I would’ve lost my mind.
I was really happy about all this because I keep hearing stories about how parks are FULL of kids with and without parents around?!?! GRRR. I just think a lot of people are in the “it’s not going to happen to me” camp. And, of course, in the best case scenario, we won’t see anything happen at all and we will think all of this was for nothing. But that just means that it worked.
Anyway, they really had a lot more fun than I thought they would. Now we just need lots more nice days…
I treated myself when we got back… uncovered my egg chair and had a drink!
Show me your drunk face v2
I innocently started a Facebook group to continue the drunk face thing…and we had a mini explosion. Over 100 people joined and a fair amount of them have posted!
Most are my friends (from all times and areas of my life—going back to high school classmates and my first internet friends from 1997 to family members and of course Tivo peeps) but others are inviting people, too!
It really isn’t a drunken fest—it’s more a show me what you’re drinking but I just thought the original sounded funnier.
Owen’s birthday shirt…adventure.
Owen’s birthday is coming up next week so I thought I’d make this awesome shirt I saw on Etsy. I only had one snafu but on the bright side I learned how to do something. Do you see it?
I posted this pic on Facebook and a friend pointed out that seconds and minutes were in the wrong order. Gahhhhhhhh!! So I learned how to remove vinyl…
And then printed more text and fixed it.
P.S. If you’ve thought about getting the Cricut heat press, do it. It’s soooo worth it.
Now he knows how to make Cornhole boards.
Tom volunteered to make some cornhole boards as recognition awards for work. Needless to say they took much longer than anticipated (I honestly don’t even want to estimate the number of hours), but they turned out amazing. He did all the woodwork at home and the laser etching at work.
Our cruise shirts are done!
As soon as I knew we were going on a cruise, I knew I wanted to make personalized T-shirts for all of us…thus begin the search on Amazon and Etsy and eBay… betsy was the winner with the best choices but I knew that I wanted to create my own with our names or initials (or something) and not just buy a generic one. So then I managed to find a friend with a cutting machine who volunteered her machine and her services…
It was actually quite a long drawn out process because she had really not done many T-shirts before and I had never done T-shirts before and it was literally just a comedy of errors but we had a great time working on them together.
So without further ado…
They are all the same on the front but the kids have a warning on the back of theirs and Tom and I have a similar warning on the back of ours. (My dad and stepmom escaped warnings on their shirts.) I figured we are literally only going to be wearing the shirts for a few hours on debarkation day so it really didn’t matter what we put on them…and we thought it was hilarious.
The sidenote to this whole story is that Tom and I are now the proud owners of a Cricut Maker and a crap ton of accessories. I had thought about getting one of these machines in the past but knew I would literally go down a huge rabbit hole of projects and expenses so I always passed. So when this came up Tom asked me again if I wanted to get one because he wouldn’t mind having one in the future for some of his projects…so many hours of research later (and YouTube videos and reviews watched and debating the merits of the different machines and getting input from friends)… we decided on one. So stay tuned for many projects!!
The tale of the table.
So, some of you may have heard the long and involved tale of the table I asked for. If not, the short version is that neighbors had a similar style table that I fell in love with:
I thought it would be perfect for behind our couch for added seating, a place for the kids to eat snacks while watching TV, space for party hosting, etc. So I asked Tom to “throw one together” with the thought that it only needed to last until we moved because I didn’t want to move another big piece of furniture. That was March 27 (I know because that’s the date of the above picture).
Well, if you know Tom, he can’t simply “throw something together” when it comes to anything woodworking. 😂 So he started looking for plans, searching Pinterest, and watching YouTube videos. The time slipped by and weeks passed and I still didn’t have my table…but he was working on it! (To be fair, he doesn’t have a lot of time for projects like this so it was some weeknights and weekends only.) I kept giving him grief because I literally wanted a two-hour table and it was turning into a two-month table.
I did catch glimpses of it now and again and I knew it was going to be neat—he was using wood from various parts of my life, including wood strips from my mom’s basement and wood strips from a dresser my Grandma passed down to my dad and then to me (that finally broke apart during one of our moves)—he was cutting everything into pieces and then gluing them all together. I joked that this table was going to be a family heirloom that Katie‘s grandchildren would enjoy someday.
But it was seeming to take forever and I was growing anxious. After all, we’d already moved pieces around to make room for it—but it wasn’t there—so junk started filling the area and it looked bad.
And time passed. And since the table top had been stored in the garage and it was summer and humid, it warped…which necessitated more time to fix it. And then finally…it was done! Just in time for our back-to-school party on August 17 (or our anniversary on August 18—take your pick!). Tom was literally putting the last coats of sealant on it that morning…bu we were crazy busy so I didn’t even get any photos. That said, these were the legs (which had been painted gray). You’ll notice they are Hs. 🙂
We’d been casually looking for stools for months (we had two we could use but really wanted four) and by chance we found some on NextDoor and picked them up the morning after the party. We had measured the height to make sure they fit…but neither of us thought to ask about the width. I bet you can see where I’m going with this. Yep, two stools together were just a little bit too wide and didn’t fit underneath the table…DAMMIT!! The stools were really perfect and they were an amazing deal…so we ended up changing out the legs which gave us just enough room for the stools. Of course this took more time (but thankfully not too much more).
AND NOW IT’S DONE. AND IT’S PERFECT. AND GORGEOUS. AND I FREAKING LOVE IT.
Tom is simply amazing and I can’t wait to see this in our forever house (and Katie’s forever house 😂). And I can’t wait to see what treasures he builds when he actually gets a real workshop someday…
HALLLLLLLLLLP MEEEEEEE!!!!
Why is it I can organize someone else’s closet or pantry (hi Stacey!) but when it comes to my own I’m a hot mess? Nothing fits where I want it to fit and I have too much stuff to fit in this armoire but it’s my only option. I hate complaining about such a first world problem but this setup is literally the bane of my work existence. I normally just shut the doors and try to ignore it but I had to get everything out for Heidi’s demo last night so now I’ve decided that it needs to be put back together nicely. And I’ve been procrastinating all morning but Tom will kill me if it’s like this when he gets home. 😂
THREE HOURS LATER…The stuff on the top still makes me twitchy but I can live with it for now.
Polar Vortex Day 2
When the entire outside is a freezer you take advantage (chocolate covered caramel corn).
You also take advantage of cool science tricks!! I’ve always wanted to do this but we’ve never been anywhere it got cold enough (I think it needs to be like a minimum of -20°). The kids weren’t nearly as excited as I was (heaven forbid we interrupt a damn Xbox game) but we did it twice because it was so cool!
Trying out an almost life-size Connect Four. It held their interest for maybe 30 minutes.
Then how about a game of GUESS WHAT’S IN THE CUP ON DAY TWO OF POLAR VORTEX SNOW DAYS AND THE KIDS ARE GETTING ON EACH OTHER’S NERVES.
If you guessed a margarita you’d be correct. If you didn’t, I don’t think you really know me.
Trees be gone!
Our neighbor innocently texted our landlord noting some concern about these trees.
So since Tom is amazingly handy, this happened.
And then since there was a crap ton of wood and branches to get rid of, this happened two full days in a row.
It’s like we’re homeowners or something.
That’s not really helping, Maggie.
This is where Maggie had to be when I was helping Owen sort clothes in his new room.
A Pinterest half-fail.
As soon as I saw these on Pinterest I knew I wanted to make them—we have a bunch of branches in various sizes so it was perfect. I thought it would be a quick 20-minute project.
Ha. Haha.
Tom brought in a Rubbermaid bin full of rounds and I could tell within minutes it wasn’t going to be as easy as I had imagined. It was really difficult to get just the right widths to layer so they looked right. And of course they weren’t all round so you had to try and match shapes. And even though we had like three big branches, it didn’t correlate to the right size pieces. I think I worked for over an hour trying to get a few decent trees (these were going to be gifts).
In the end they aren’t Pinterest Perfect, but they’re still cute, so it’s only a half fail. 🙂
Free wood cost us damn $75!
Someone on NextDoor was giving away free wood—plus they actually delivered it—so we were excited because we can always use firewood. However, the pieces were soooo big that there was no way Tom could chop them with his axe (he tried, and after 30 minutes he just had a few shards off one piece). So we had to rent a log splitter. Four hours and $75 later we have a huge pile of wood! 🙂
Owen helped but he wasn’t thrilled about it.
