-
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…
-
The Good, The Bad, and The Okayish: Musings on Four Years of Home Ownership
In April, we’ll have been in here for 4 years. It’s crazy how time passes us by. It feels like it was only last week we signed the papers and received our keys. Saying that we’ve had our share of ups and downs would be an understatement. If you’ve been following our journey thus far you’ll understand why. But looking back on where we’ve been and where we’re going, I’d like to share a few thoughts with you. In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have bought this particular house and instead waited for something that would have been less work. But with most of the houses in this area being too…
-
Where perfection has to settle for practical: Ready, Set, …no??
Evening all, Apologies for the absence in posting but as we all know, life just keeps on happening. Darnedest thing, that. So…the short of it is that we’ve done quite a great many projects over the past months and I am at least three months behind in writing this. Moving on! …or is it forward? Let’s settle for onward! (See…I just -knew- there had to be a compromise there.) For those of you that may have forgotten my rough canvas, and I use that word very very very …very literally, here it is once more, what I had to work with: The to-do list: (does anyone else…
-
Spackle & Sand 2.0
It’s day #22,147,895 of remodeling here at Parkside. As of late, it’s been a seemingly never-ending repetition of spackle and sanding. We’ve just started in on our 4th? 5th? 5-gallon bucket of drywall mud. The drop cloths are being washed for the second time in a week and my floors are covered in a fine white dust from sanding which makes me wonder if they’ll ever be clean again. The hubby and I spent a good portion of our weekend working in the hopes that we’ll get one step closer to painting (the paint that’s been sitting in our someday-rec room/current storage of whatever room since Memorial Day weekend.) And while…
-
The Joys of Corner Beading
Okay ladies and gents, this week’s lesson is on corner beads! While it sounds like a super fun craft activity, corner beads are a staple in home building. Apparently they are used to protect the outside corners of your drywall. Now I grew up in the 80’s where people used plastic exterior corner guards so I didn’t even know that these existed until this year. Vinyl corner beads seem to be the way to go nowadays so we jumped on board the trend train and a-wayyyy we went! They’re actually quite easy to install, messy but easy. Whereas metal corner beads need to be nailed or screwed into the wall,…
-
Wall Skimming 2.0: More lessons to learn
So 20 YouTube videos and 2 skimmed walls later, the hubby and I are total pros at this now. If only. At this point, I’d say we’re semi-capable DIY-ers who are having lots of fun with our hands-on learning. Here’s a list of things we’ve learned so far: 1. Consistency matters. There doesn’t seem to be a set formula for determining how much water to mix into the drywall mud i.e. 1/2 c. water to 1 g. of drywall joint compound. YouTube and DIY blogs have recommended the thickness be somewhere between mayonnaise and creamy peanut butter. Real talk here: I love that people are using condiments as a reference for mud thickness. I mean, how…
-
The Ugly…Bites Back: A/C Unit 2.0
It comes in threes. Isn’t that the old wives tale? Regardless, our adventure takes yet another turn…this time for the crazy unexpected. Duct-work installation went off like clock work yesterday morning. I can’t begin to describe just how much torn and crumbling material was torn out from our crawl space but I hear a picture is worth 1,000 words. To be blunt, I’m amazed that some of this was ever considered ‘up to code’. The vents themselves looked to be nothing more than pieces of plywood …if not just cardboard… that were then covered in a thin coating/sheet that has done little to offer protection, as the pictures illustrate below:…
-
The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: A/C Unit 2.0
Now then, I admit that five days without our A/C was horrible, as in…the humidity and heat blended together in such a fantastical way one could feel the brain melting. Over-dramatic? Mmm likely though sitting through 87 degrees in your house on a whopping 92 degree day is the polar opposite of fun. I am pleased to say that Freedom Air did arrive Saturday, albeit behind schedule, but the fact they were willing to work through the worst thunderstorm we’ve had, since moving into our new farmhouse, was both appreciated and wonderful. I mentioned before that they’ve a fantastic attitude and sense of customer service, well… I wasn’t exaggerating that.…
-
Floor Money, Floor Life – Part 2
So. Floors. More specifically the carpeting. I apologize for the 4 million pictures on my last post but it was necessary to show exactly how things were. It took us an extra week but we finally have gorgeous new flooring and carpeting. It was supposed to be a back to back install. Vinyl one day and carpet the second. Instead there was a slight weather-related hiccup with getting the carpet installed. Plans. Heh. Why do we even bother sometimes? Carpet install day arrived, pouring rain and all. The installer team was concerned about delivering in the rain and us not having a space available (at the time) to cut the carpet indoors. We…
-
Hotter than Hades…our A/C experience
There is nothing quite like receiving a call at work from the Mr. to inform me that our A/C unit has quit working. As we are a stone’s throw from summer and the temperature just keeps on rising day by day, you go through three initial phases when you hear the words: our A/C is out. Denial. It’s not pretty, as in…you find yourself begging your unit to turn back on, bribing it with nonsensical luxuries an inanimate object could never use since they’re not …you know, alive? And then you realize you’re flattering it, encouraging it, telling it what a wonderful unit it’s been and come on lad, don’t you…
