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Dishwasher Disaster
Gather around friends, it’s time for another weird house story! The dishwasher was already ‘old’ when we bought this place nine years ago. But other than the fact that not all the buttons lit up properly, it worked just fine. So, we left it alone since there were other and more pressing house matters to attend to first. Until last year, when our old dishwasher started dying a slow death. With falling apart rusted racks, buttons that didn’t activate the first press, and a dish tab holder that wouldn’t always pop open during the wash cycle, requiring us to run it a second time, we decided it was…
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Parkside Twin: 9 Years and Counting
Happy almost May everyone! Between the pandemic and parenting, renovation things here have been paused or put in slow-mo for the past couple of years. But we’re still here and still kicking! We’ve deliberately put on hold anything that would take more than a day or two, as well as the things we felt couldn’t be delayed any further. (I’ll tell you all about our dishwasher experience from H-E-double hockey sticks later.) Here’s a quick rundown of our project list from the last two years We bought a new light for our dining room from Wayfair. Our previous fixture – which I swore I had a picture of but after…
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The Big 6: Reflections on another year of home ownership
Happy Wednesday everyone! Hard to believe it’s May already but I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. I’ve had the privilege to be a stepmom to a fantastic kid for the last 3 years, but this year it was especially sweet since I celebrated with my little one who arrived in February. Enough about me and the baby though. It feels so good to dust off the keyboard and (attempt to) get back into the rhythm of blogging, or at least as much of a rhythm as it can be with a new baby. When I’m not completely sleep-deprived, I’m planning out the laundry list of projects…
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Under Construction: IT’S HAPPENING!
It is well into week 2 of our construction project and things more than a bit hectic around here. Unfortunately, this project hasn’t been without its hiccups. The downsides of owning a house over 100 years old are that you’re bound to run into some sort of issue once you start opening the walls. The hubby and I have found that out the hard way on multiple occasions. Once the drop tiles were out and the aging plaster ceiling down, they found a couple of weak beams that needed to be “sistered” which means they’re adding additional beams next to them to support and strengthen. Between the beams, finding a…
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Under Construction …. Almost
It’s finally here! This week marked the start of our HUGE remodel project for which I am equal parts anxious and excited. The control freak DIY-er in me is loathing the fact that I can’t do this myself but trying to work on the house construction whilst pregnant is probably not a great idea. (I may have a small penchant for getting injured when I work on the house. Just maybe…) On the other hand, I am relieved someone else is doing all the heavy lifting and there are things we can have done now that neither myself or the husband would attempt on our own. But before I get…
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Hiring a Contractor: Our Tips and Tricks
While the husband and I are both DIYers, sometimes it’s good to know when we’ve reached our limits, when it’s time to put down the paintbrush and hammer and call in a professional. Tackling drywall and paint is no issue and while hanging trim isn’t my strong suit, I can still do that with some degree of comfort. But neither of us are trained or licensed in plumbing or electrical work beyond the occasional outlet swap or tightening a joint on a leaky pipe, nor would either of us attempt to add onto our house on our own. Often hiring contractors is due to time constraints. For us, the turning point…
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The Living Room: Finally Finished
We finished the living room with barely 2 days to spare before my family arrived. Of course, finished is a relative term since there was still so much to do. The room was painted of course with the not-as-overwhelming-as-I-first-thought blue, but baseboard and crown molding needed to be purchased and hung yet, and the light fixture I had ordered 2-day shipping was, of course, delayed. Panic started to set in but I kept reminding myself to keep pushing through as I channeled my inner Dory from Finding Nemo singing ‘Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming’ as I worked. We did manage to get the baseboard hung and caulked the day…
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Painting Wood Paneling
When we bought our house 5 years ago, I was 100% certain the last time it had a makeover was sometime in the ’70s. It’s horrible really. There is dark, wood-veneer paneling all over the second and third floor and really it pains me to look at it. I don’t know about you but I am not into the whole ‘retro but not in a good way’ vibe. After discussion and a bit of research, we decided that painting would be the best and most cost-effective way to update the rooms without having to remove the paneling and then drywall after. The bedroom was the easiest starting point as there…
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The Bedroom Chronicles Pt. 2 – What now?
With the drop tiles, track, and all the scrap wood removed, the husband and I had to stop and weigh our options. It was obvious why there were drop tile ceilings, now that we had seen first hand the condition of the plaster. I thought I had better pictures of the ceiling but apparently, that is not the case. Shocking, and honestly, a little frustrating. Can nothing in this house be simple and easy? (As Christy has so expertly phrased it, my house needs Jesus, plain and simple.) That left us with the dilemma of what to do next. Given the state of things, neither I or the hubby were…
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Planking – what NOT to-do
It is no secret that I am an avid admirer of just how clean planking looks and how it has the power to transform a small misshapen nook of a dining room into a light and open space. Four years ago, we decided to embark upon our first DIY-Planking escapade and two years later, with a lot of breaks in between, we were finally able to enjoy our success. Was it perfect? Far from it but from the picture below, it’s hard to see the imperfections as they just added to the charm. Despite the unexpected issues we came across, after thinking ourselves newfound experts thanks to endless blog tutorials…
