CruiseDiva

Our kitchen was initially wallpapered and a clear acrylic panel was installed on the wall behind the cooktop, very much like the photos in this link https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/glass-backsplash-ideas-for-the-kitchen-239998. Very easy to keep clean and the only problem was that an occasional bug would get behind it, which was disgusting. Thankfully, that only happened twice in 30 years. DH hates tile backsplashes so when we had the old worn out formica countertops replaced with granite we continued the granite up the walls to the bottom of the upper cabinets. Looks great and easy to clean.

I wonder what Patty Baker did with the custom ceramic dinnerware that JoJo had made for her with her name on them. LOL!

There were six of us. Three bedrooms--I shared with my youngest brother--and one small bathroom. No shower; just a tub. Then my father got a new job and we moved to another state where we lived in a rental with two bedrooms--parents slept on a hide-a-bed in the living room--and one very small bathroom. We managed.

They were definitely a breath of fresh air and would be great neighbors.

Jimmy Don seemed more thrilled with the idea of the cabin reno than his son, although the son seemed a bit more animated during the reveal. The whole thing had a strange vibe to it.

Not all country music female stars are blondes with troweled on makeup. As Dolly Parton says, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."

Those designers were right up at the top of worst ever. The husband did a great job on the bathroom. He had better taste than the wife and designers all together. My kitchen didn't have a backsplash for 29 years. If you use semigloss paint it cleans up nicely.

Both of our bathrooms have two sinks in the vanities. DH uses one bathroom and I use the other. We also have the 'gotta-have-it' soaking tub, which I've used twice in the thirty years we've lived here. When we bought the house I thought the tub was nice to have, but it takes too long to fill and the water cools off too fast to really 'soak' in it. We're shower people so the tub just sits there looking sad and 'dated.'

Fixer Upper is having a couple interesting "guests" on the show during this final season. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/19/fixer-uppers-chip-and-joanna-gaines-team-up-with-tim-tebow-laura-bush.html

That's always bothered me as well. They sound so stupid and uneducated by saying, “I’m loving (whatever)" instead of simply stating "I love it." Maybe they've been watching too many McDonald's commercials.

Even the house we moved into in El Paso in 1959 had central a/c. Schools, however, did not. If you were lucky enough to be able to bring a fan from home you got to sit in front of it.

That's just so odd that they rush the buyers through the "front" of the houses and ignore bedrooms and baths. If they'd cut out some of Chimp's nonsense and JoJo's eye rolling at him there would be plenty of time to show more of the interiors. They could also cut the lengthy conversations in the cars. I did find it amusing that the buyers in the last episode objected so vehemently to the crappy location.

Word! No upper cabinets except the ones over the fridge that are so hard to reach that no one ever uses them. Those open shelves will be dusty and greasy in no time. Every dish or glass on them will need to be washed before using. Heck, even little-used items in closed cabinets sometimes need to be washed before using. I just shake my head at the stupidity.

You won't be sorry! We got a king size bed 30 years ago when we finally had a bedroom large enough for it and I love it. No more snoring right into my ears. LOL!!

I worked with an interior designer once. I knew her from dance classes before furniture shopping. She was with Ethan Allen and helped DH and I pick out sofas and chairs for our living room and family room and then helped with drapes. She was great--I explained the look we were going for and she found the furniture styles and fabrics for us to choose from. She took into consideration the coffee tables, end tables, and lamps we already had and planned to keep and even pointed out a floor lamp to DH when he was looking for a gift for me. In my experience, that's how real designers work with clients.

DH and I used to do our own painting many years ago when we were young marrieds. Now we hire it out and I'm looking forward to getting a good painter to do my powder room. It's tiny, which is one reason we won't be doing it ourselves--too cramped for both of us to be in there. DH insists that I "help." sigh.

DH installed some crown molding and chair rails in previous homes. He did a really nice job. A trick to make it look seamless is using spackle or wood filler on the seams as well as the nail holes. One of the selling features of our current home was the heavy molding throughout the first floor and judge's paneling in the family room. The foyer and dining room have picture frame molding beneath chair rails. It's always been my wish to have crown molding to complement the vaulted ceiling in the master bedroom, but after 30 years in this house I doubt it's going to happen. LOL!

Wow, I had no idea that so many of the participants had a connection with the Gaines. Maybe that's the reason so many have higher budgets. To me, they are boring--I'd like to see more of the "worst house in the best neighborhood"--the first season seemed to start out that way and was way more interesting. When I see the show referred to as FU, I have to laugh. It stands for something else and I don't mean Felix Unger, from The Odd Couple.

I have a last name that is often associated with Jewish people and a new co-worker whose husband is Jewish asked if I was a member of The Tribe. I knew just what he meant because my mom's step-father was Jewish. No, "tribe" isn't necessarily offensive.

I missed the first ten minutes of tonight's show, but I got the impression that JoJo and Chimp are just going through the motions to get through this final season. I had to laugh when Chimp shocked himself by touching live wires with a metal tape measure. What kind of a contractor does that? Also, he didn't know the code requirements for the short walls he built on either side of the fireplace? Those two bloopers might have been done for effect, but it really calls into question whether he and his crew know what they are doing. JMHO. I thought the house turned out nice even though I'm tired of built-in "reading nooks" and breakfast room booths. I wish they had gone with the faux copper roof over that bay window, especially since it was in the front of the house. They stated the reason for choosing copper was that it would "complement" the rest of the roof on the house, but it won't for long. We had real copper over a bay window and it was beautiful for a while. Then it aged and I hated the "patina"--it looked like rusty tin. Thankfully, it was on the back of our house.

I got that sense about them not being overwhelmed by anything except when the wife swooned over the fireplace tile. Grandpa's end tables (IMHO) didn't seem to be a style that a young couple would be thrilled with. They reminded me of something you'd find at Goodwill.

That beautiful cat saddened me. At 19, she is closing in on the end of her life and needs lots of love. Yes, she was loud, but when my late cats were 18 an 19 I wanted them near me all the time because I knew we wouldn't have them for much longer. My marmalade cat cuddles next to me every night and purrs me to sleep. I can't imagine locking him away in another room. Even our most vocal cat (we have four cats and she's part Siamese) isn't closed out of the bedroom at night.

So JoJo is into the Moroccan tile craze... personally, I think the fireplace would have looked better if they'd left the brick alone, but the wife seemed to really like it and she's going to live there. I wasn't sure about the 'beams' in the living room, but they turned out okay. The shelves they built into openings in the wall between living and dining rooms and the arched pantry doors in the kitchen were great. The 'bar' made of a natural wood plank in front of the windows not so much. It really looked out of place. The homeowner is going to need more shelves in that home office--built-ins on a wall would have been more practical than those dinky wood planks. Adding that hallway was a really good touch. The bathroom looked fine, except they committed one of my pet peeves. They removed a medicine cabinet and replaced it with a mirror. It looked like they could have put in a longer vanity as well. It struck me as funny that while the young couple was driving around a neighborhood at the beginning of the show and talking about how homes in Waco had so much character and yet the houses they were passing looked like 60s era ranchers and split-levels. I liked the house they picked, but the reno didn't do much for the character of the home's era.

The condo we bought in 1978 had a gas range and I was constantly re-lighting the pilot. Not sure why it kept going out--maybe because the kitchen had a sliding door that was often open for fresh air and to catch a breeze when there was one. In our 1987-built home we have gas heat and the original furnace (located in the attic) had a pilot light. When it was replaced we got one with electric ignition. I feel it's so much safer. That's why we always have an extra bottle of propane for our outdoor grill and a generator to run the fridge and a few lights. :)

The two Chico chicks were a hot mess. Vintage! Vintage! Vintage! Who do they think they are kidding with the ugly dresses? There's very little "vintage" to remove in a 1960s ranch house unless it happens to have harvest gold, avocado green, or coppertone brown appliances and shag carpeting in similar colors.