Broke It, Bent It, Tried To Fix It: Home Improvements

[Spunkygal]

@MargeGunderson, if you have questions when you want to install the new fixture, just post pics here and we will walk you through it. I have installed many light fixtures, interior and exterior, in the houses I've owned. If I can do it, so can you! I recently encountered a new fixture that did not have black and white wires, just brown. So after research and asking an electrical engineer friend, I installed that puppy in no time. Don't feel intimidated if you come across this issue.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, MargeGunderson said:

Since I can't leave the breaker off the whole time, can I just cap the wires individually and leave it that way for a few days?

Yep, happens all the time!

[MargeGunderson]

Awesome, you guys are the best! 

@stewedsquash, I bit the bullet and ordered the Dotted Trees this morning. I think the scale is better for the room - I was concerned that the small dots would be too busy. It's non-returnable, so I'm using it!

Edited January 9, 2017 by MargeGunderson

[MargeGunderson]

The demo has begun! The wall paper is almost all off and I removed the medicine cabinet. The new cabinet I ordered came this week and I was able to fit it in the recess after remove a couple of nails and sanding down about 1/4 inch off the opening (not installing it now, just wanted to confirm it fits). Next weekend I'm removing the vanity and toilet (after my Saturday class on removing/installing a toilet at Home Depot.

I also decided to put baseboards in the bathroom as it is the only room that doesn't have them. So of course I bought a miter saw. I'm going to have to practice quite a bit to get the hang of it. Geometry and spatial relations are not my forte so trying to miter/cope the corners should be interesting!

[MargeGunderson]

I know @stewedsquash wants regular updates, so here's what was accomplished this weekend. I removed the sink and vanity (with a wee bit of trouble) and discovered major damage to the wall behind the backsplash. I have a plasterer coming out this week to take a look at it. I'm fearing the worst. On the upside I still have the receipts for the supplies I bought for doing the walls so at least I can return them. 

In more exciting news, I picked out floor tile - white arabesque with light grey grout. The light arrived, as did the wallpaper which looks even better in person. The faucet will be here this week. 

[JTMacc99]

12 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

In more exciting news, I picked out floor tile - white arabesque with light grey grout. The light arrived, as did the wallpaper which looks even better in person. The faucet will be here this week

I like those fixtures!

I had a fun one this weekend. Sunday morning I started up a load of clothing in the dryer and a couple minutes later I smelled something along the lines of burning.  Not. Good.  My dryer is in the middle of my second floor, so the vent has a long run to the side of the house.  I had it cleaned out a while back, and it was apparently in dire need of doing so. It hadn't occurred to me to do this as my home growing up and my first home both had dryers that just sat up against the outside wall. Never got clogged in the 8 inch run.  So I've got the call into the chimney sweep and will get that done ASAP.  

It was pretty stinky for longer than I felt comfortable, so I took the closet door down, pulled the dryer out, opened up the connections to check out everything. I felt cold air coming in from the outside, and nothing was smoking or warm. Maybe it was something in the dryer itself. Don't know, but when I was satisfied everything was okay, I let it run on "air dry" for a couple minutes to see if it would blow out any remaining stink, which it did.  

On the bright side, it took my mind off of a bunch of other stupid shit rattling around in there.  Nothing like the possibility of your house burning down to get your attention. (Of course, if my house burned down, it would actually solve one of my problems, which is a terrible thing to say, but I enjoy a good dark sense of humor once in a while.)

Edited January 23, 2017 by JTMacc99

[DeLurker]

My Mom's dryer vent runs weird - it does a sharp turn up and than out to the roof.  Periodically she has one of the boys help her pull it out and uses the leaf blower to blast air about it.  They also get on the roof to check the vent from that side.

Where I lived before had that same kind of up vent - but luckily it did not go as high as the roofline.  Eventually my dryer was taking forever to get things dry so I called a repairman.  It had a little flappy cover on the outside blower and he showed me that it had a bird's next being built in there.  He said it was quite common in our area because of the style of construction.  So periodically the son got to remove the cover and pull out the various twigs et al some poor bird was stockpiling.

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

he showed me that it had a bird's next being built in there. 

I have a screen that prevents that, but that screen also accumulates lint and needs to be cleaned off. I probably should have got the hint that things were getting clogged up on the way when that screen started to accumulate less and less lint lately.  Shit like this bothers me because I should know better, and did know better, but because I have so many other things to do I just let it slide.  

I spoke to Frank from Frank's chimney service. He sounds fantastic and has good online reviews.  We'll get my dryer vent cleaned out, and as long as he's here, my fireplace chimney swept.  And since we were talking I asked him if he services the cap on chimneys, because mine's leaky. He was like, "Oh yes! We have them pre-made that seal it up better than the originals that are usually put on by the siding guys. They seal them, but over time they expand and contract and start to leak."

Sounds about right to me. So I'm going to be a little lighter in the wallet on Wednesday afternoon, but fire hazards will be WAY down and no more water dripping through my fireplace.

[riley702]

Re: dryer vents. One winter at the previous apartment, I met a new neighbor one winter night. I answered the door to this man in a gaudy silk smoking jacket, silk shorts and flip-flops who thought my apartment was on fire because he'd seen the dryer exhaust venting out on my patio. I was polite, but thought he should have figured it out since there was a strong odor of dryer sheet. That apartment next door was an idiot magnet for interesting characters. Had one young girl frantically banging on my door because there was a "scorpion" on her patio that she had trapped under a bucket, but then didn't know what to do with it. I assured her we don't have scorpions here in Indiana, not to mention it was a rainy spring day. I went over and tipped over the bucket and sure enough - it was a crawdad. I let it grab a stick and walked it over to a muddy ditch.

[MargeGunderson]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm pretty please with how it's coming together aesthetically but I've run into a couple snags. One is that the sink plumbing is going to have to be relocated, and the other is that the wall does need professional repair (the plumber is going to cut a big hole it in, in addition to the damage I found.) The good news is that I picked up a card at the flooring store for a local plasterer and she gave me a reasonable estimate for all of the work. 

[MargeGunderson]

Reno update: I removed the light fixture this morning and didn't die. I capped off the wires individually and wrapped them with electrical tape. So far the house has not caught on fire. 

[DeLurker]

I have some lamp shades that have fallen off the little prongy things to hold them in place.  I looked at buying some new ones, but they were surprisingly pricier than I expected and I need several of them (I bought my lamps as a set of 5 - two small, 2 medium and one floor; I ended up buying two sets*).  I was at the hardware store the other day and ended up in the aisle with weather stripping.  Decided to try adding the smallest width I could buy to try and see if I could fix a lampshade.  It worked - My first effort was a bit untidy, but that is not my biggest concern.  And a couple bucks for weather stripping is better than buying a bunch of new lamp shades.

 

*I have issue is I have too many choices; I no longer can distinguish between what I like and what I hate.  That is why my closet has an outrageous number of solid colored clothes, heavily weighted on white cotton button down shirts.  Choosing lamps, paint color or anything else with lots of options overloads my circuits.

Edited February 24, 2017 by DeLurker
Because two = 2

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

Decided to try adding the smallest width I could buy to try and see if I could fix a lampshade.  It worked - My first effort was a bit untidy, but that is not my biggest concern.  And a couple bucks for weather stripping is better than buying a bunch of new lamp shades.

What a cool idea! And a big money saver. 

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

Choosing lamps, paint color or anything else with lots of options overloads my circuits.

For me the formula involves not only how many options, but is heavily influenced by price/value.  So I could pretty much decide on a basic paint color for a room, go look at the 35 versions of that color and quickly narrow it down to the one I want.  Because it's like $40 and I can always paint over it.  On the other hand, it took me exactly one year from when I decided to treat myself to a hand forged kitchen knife from a small forge for my birthday to actually buy one (for this year's birthday.)

My home improvement project this weekend is to clean out my kitchen refrigerator tonight in preparation for the delivery of the new one tomorrow. The project part is pulling it out and seeing if I have to fix or replace the water connection so that it is in good condition for the delivery guys to easily hook it up for me. It's been so long since the ice/water thing broke on my current fridge that I am sure I need to give this stuff the once over tonight.

[DeLurker]

1 hour ago, JTMacc99 said:

and forged kitchen knife

I never knew I wanted this until I read your post!

[MargeGunderson]

Bathroom update! Plumping has been updated, walls repaired, and today I painted the walls. Tomorrow I'll paint the trim and door. Wednesday the floor goes in and I expect I'll need to touch up the walls. Thursday I'm going to hang the wall paper. Friday the plumbers are back to install the sink and toilet. Saturday I'll put up the accessories - shelves, towel ring, toilet paper holder, curtains. By this time next week it will be done! 

@JTMacc99, is the new fridge in? 

Edited February 26, 2017 by MargeGunderson

[JTMacc99]

54 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

@JTMacc99, is the new fridge in? 

First of all, that's exciting stuff. Getting close to being done!

Yes! I discovered Saturday morning that I would need to replace the copper tube and connection to the water line in the basement. I screwed it up a bit the first attempt, but got it working perfectly about ten minutes before the delivery guys showed up. 

My window was between 11 and 2, they got here at 10:50, so it's a good thing I only messed up once. 

[CouchPotatoLady8]

For the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking of redecorating my bedroom. Here's the problem I have with this: 1. I'm NOT a creative person (so I need a step-by-step instruction on something that won't require me to use my imagination. 2. I have the hand-eye coordination of a blind sloth so I can't really do big projects.

Anyway, so I've been looking for small ways to liven up my bedroom and give it a bit of a character and I came across an article that gave pointers about how to do just that.

First of all, can someone explain to me further what a "focal point" is, home improvement-wise? I mean, obviously the bed is always the centre of any room right? Also, what do you think the article meant with "one-off pieces"? Are these statement pieces?  So far, this is the guide that is simplest to me - doesn't involve painting or other complicated things. 

[Drogo]

10 hours ago, CouchPotatoLady8 said:

First of all, can someone explain to me further what a "focal point" is, home improvement-wise? I mean, obviously the bed is always the centre of any room right? Also, what do you think the article meant with "one-off pieces"? Are these statement pieces?

A focal point is generally the first thing that catches your eye when you enter the room. In a bedroom, the focal point would typically be the bed.  In a living room, maybe a nice fireplace. 

Think of a one-off piece as a furniture item that doesn't belong to a set. Something that doesn't necessarily "go" with anything else, but it's functional or you love it.  Pier 1 can be great for unique pieces like this or maybe that. 

[Treehugger]

21 hours ago, CouchPotatoLady8 said:

For the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking of redecorating my bedroom. Here's the problem I have with this: 1. I'm NOT a creative person (so I need a step-by-step instruction on something that won't require me to use my imagination. 2. I have the hand-eye coordination of a blind sloth so I can't really do big projects.

Anyway, so I've been looking for small ways to liven up my bedroom and give it a bit of a character and I came across an article that gave pointers about how to do just that.

First of all, can someone explain to me further what a "focal point" is, home improvement-wise? I mean, obviously the bed is always the centre of any room right? Also, what do you think the article meant with "one-off pieces"? Are these statement pieces?  So far, this is the guide that is simplest to me - doesn't involve painting or other complicated things. 

For inspiration, you could check out sites houzz and apartment therapy.  There are lots of photos, you might find a room/piece of furniture/lighting that you like and you can use those pieces in your own room.  Houzz.com is my form of decorating crack.

[Bastet]

21 hours ago, CouchPotatoLady8 said:

First of all, can someone explain to me further what a "focal point" is, home improvement-wise?

It's a) the main piece in the room the eye will be drawn to, and b) the piece you take your decorating scheme from for the rest of the room.  So let's say you have a wood-framed bed covered by a black and white comforter and red throw pillows.  You'd put some red accessories in the room.  You'd have some wood accents in other places in the room.  Etc.  You'd keep your general decorating scheme in line with the style of that bed (e.g. rustic, traditional, contemporary).

21 hours ago, CouchPotatoLady8 said:

Also, what do you think the article meant with "one-off pieces"? Are these statement pieces?

Something that isn't part of a set -- while it somehow coordinates with the rest of the room, it doesn't match anything in it -- but also something that isn't ubiquitous in every department store right now.  Something vintage you find in a resale shop, something hand-made rather than mass-produced, something fairly typical in another region but not often seen in your neck of the woods, etc.  It doesn't have to be something truly unique; there can be others similar or even exactly like it in the world, but not something common -- if you somehow take a tour of 50 bedrooms in your neighborhood, yours should be the only one it appears in. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Bastet

[ari333]

Great thread guys and ladies!

 I didn't know that there was such a thing as removable wallpaper!

[MargeGunderson]

Removeable wallpaper is an invention of Satan. Ask me how I know.

[JTMacc99]

I channeled my father this morning. The kitchen ceiling light I mentioned earlier in this thread came loose on the end where I used the drywall anchors provided with the fixture as opposed to using the good ones I had already in my possession when I installed it. During that project, I remembered that I owned the good ones and used them to properly secure one side, but didn't go back and replace the other side.

When I came downstairs at 6:00 AM and saw it had come loose, I calmly assessed the situation. Got my ladder, screwdriver, and proper anchors and started to work on it.  By the time I was done 15 minutes later, I was pretty annoyed with myself and with the crap ass anchors that came with it.

So when my son asked me what I was doing with the light this morning, my dad came flying out of my mouth: "The piece of shit anchors that came with that light fixture came loose. When I was putting up that light, I realized it and used good ones on the other side, but stupid me didn't go back and fix the other side. And of COURSE it came loose. I'm lucky it did come all the way down and break in half." 

Awesomely, Danny the labrador sensed the change in tone in my voice and came into the kitchen as I was wrapping up my tirade and started wagging his tail and barking at me. Dogs are funny. It's like he sensed somebody else's energy was in the room.

[ari333]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 7:58 PM, MargeGunderson said:

Removeable wallpaper is an invention of Satan. Ask me how I know.

Now I HAVE TO ask what happened? :-)

[MargeGunderson]

On 3/4/2017 at 1:48 PM, ari333 said:

Now I HAVE TO ask what happened? :-)

It pulled new paint of my walls when I tried to reposition it (and this was before I smoothed it down). Most of the damage is underneath the wallpaper but there's some on an adjoining wall where I was trying to get it closely into the corner (I only did one wall as a focal point.) I'm pretty sure it's going to be a disaster if I want to remove it someday. Renters who use it should be careful! 

In other news of what can go wrong, the door doesn't fit anymore, since the floor guys jacked up the floor about 1/3 of an inch. When asked about this problem, the company said that theycouldhavetoldmethst (but they didn't) and that all I need to do is cut it down. That's when I became...not as nice. So now I have to find someone to cut it down for me. So, the bathroom is done except for the door, which means no one can use it.

Edited March 6, 2017 by MargeGunderson

[MargeGunderson]

@forumfish, I think you're right about the cured vs dried paint. I probably should have left it alone for several more days before putting up the paper. 

The door thing is super irritating. I wanted it to be done this weekend but now I have to find someone to do the work, which is a pain in the butt. I really hate home renovations.

[CouchPotatoLady8]

On 2/28/2017 at 0:22 PM, Drogo said:

A focal point is generally the first thing that catches your eye when you enter the room. In a bedroom, the focal point would typically be the bed.  In a living room, maybe a nice fireplace. 

Think of a one-off piece as a furniture item that doesn't belong to a set. Something that doesn't necessarily "go" with anything else, but it's functional or you love it.  Pier 1 can be great for unique pieces like this or maybe that. 

 

Thanks so much for this!

On 3/1/2017 at 8:56 AM, Treehugger said:

For inspiration, you could check out sites houzz and apartment therapy.  There are lots of photos, you might find a room/piece of furniture/lighting that you like and you can use those pieces in your own room.  Houzz.com is my form of decorating crack.

 

I just installed the Houzz mobile app. Thank you!

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

In other news of what can go wrong, the door doesn't fit anymore, since the floor guys jacked up the floor about 1/3 of an inch.

When going from a hard surface floor to carpet, it's not unusual to have to "shave" (with a wood planer) - or even straight-up cut - off the bottom of the door to achieve clearance, but this is a bathroom, so I'm assuming you replaced one hard surface floor with another.  If so, what on earth did they do?  Cut corners by just dumping the new flooring on top of the old one (with a whole lot of adhesive in between)?  (It's not always wrong to go on top of an existing surface, but the height of adjacent flooring - and clearance of doors - does need to be taken into account before deciding to skip the demo and remove step.)  In that case, the door issue should never have happened, and you're right to be pissed.  It's not terribly difficult to do, but sounds like it may be beyond your comfort level, and the flooring installers should cover the cost of having it done.  Sorry you're dealing with this last frustration when your project is otherwise done.

[MargeGunderson]

Thanks for the sympathy, @Bastet. They did rip up the linoleum but not the board underneath; the bathroom floor was previously lower than the floor outside the bathroom so they basically evened it out. I did try to plane the door, but the ends of the door have the grain running a different way than the middle and planing those ends is basically impossible. Off to Angie's List to try to find someone. The upside is that I'm going to have the same person install baseboards, so I can check that off my list.

[JTMacc99]

Well...

Last night I guess the combined rapid draining of my washing machine and my dishwasher overwhelmed my drain pipes in the basement which were apparently somewhat but not completely clogged.  There is a little overflow pipe down there, possibly to keep it from backing up into the house itself, and it pumped out what was probably 3-5 gallons of stinky drain water into my basement. Gross, but it that's the way it goes. I broke out the wet-vac, and determined that normal water usage wasn't going to flood it any more, and that we could avoid the emergency service. We could also take a shower this morning with no worries.

The sewer service guys, I have septic by the way, showed up and snaked out the pipes for me. That's about $165 job.  I also had him schedule to have the septic tank cleaned, as I am past due by a couple years too many. $400 more, which could have been $50 less if I wanted to dig out the hole to get to the cap of the tank. (Nope. I do not.) With tax, $600+ lighter today, but it's all good.

Except it isn't all good. Apparently the pipe that leads from my house to the tank, which is a big heavy cast iron pipe, is broken right outside of the foundation. This is the part where I get that "Ugh" that all homeowners know so well.  He tells me maybe the house settled, but it's offset by a couple inches, and it is probably contributing to the slow flow and the eventual clog I got yesterday.  They'll need to schedule that work, since that digging will require the utilities to come out and mark the lines before digging. And then it will be another $1.800 to fix it.  Per my dad, who is good with this stuff, he thinks I got off easy if that's all it's going to cost. So yay? 

[MargeGunderson]

@JTMacc99, that sucks. If there's an upside, it's that you found out before it got worse and became a bigger/more expensive project.

[JTMacc99]

That is absolutely the upside. Any time somebody says the words "septic" and "problem" in the same sentence typically ends with the words "thousands of dollars".  

Fortunately my tank is on the large side, and my septic field was actually sized properly and drains very well. So I have always assumed it was ONE thing I didn't have to worry about during my time.

My friend (see "Cinderalla date" for more information) asked me how old my house is. I told her it was built in the early to mid 1990s, so old enough for big things to start breaking.  She awesomely replied "Ah. Just not old enough to have the charm that makes a better balance."

[theredhead77]

I rent, am month to month (as is the entire building, been this way for 5+ years) so I don't complain about much(to avoid rent increases. A few weeks ago the plumbers were here for the upstairs unit and they needed to get in to my unit to make sure everything was OK. As a result I am finally going to get my kitchen faucet replaced (it's not leaking, apparently it's about to fall off), a bathroom baseboard replaced (it's been rotting for at least 2 years) and the mold removed from my bathroom walls, again. I'm hoping he paints with the mold-resistant paint. I am hoping he also replaces the torn screen in my bedroom.

The maintenance guy says he reports back what he sees any time he's at the building but the owner doesn't want to do much about it. I am renting for way below market, as is the rest of the building. I'm pretty sure eventually they're going to tent and have us all move out so they can repair (upgrade) and jack the rent. I hope I can move out before that happens, since I can't afford to rent anything close to what I have for what I pay.

[MargeGunderson]

The bathroom is finally finished! Here's most of it (its tiny so pics are hard!)

[MargeGunderson]

The lighting - thanks to everyone who gave me advice & encouragement that I could uninstall/install lighting!

And the floor:

 

[JTMacc99]

It looks fantastic!

[Spunkygal]

@MargeGunderson, it is gorgeous! What classy choices you made. And I knew you could do the lighting. Job well done! That floor tile...WANT!

[MargeGunderson]

@JTMacc99, thanks! @Spunkygal, the floor may be my favorite part! I was a little worried that the shape of the tile would be too much but it looks great even in a small space.

[Bastet]

Very nice job, @MargeGunderson, and great design choices!  I like that there's a hint of symmetry between the floor tile and the wallpaper.  And, while I personally hate pink, it's a good accent color for that color scheme and you incorporated just the right amount of it, and spread it around the room (not just the trash can on the other side of the room, but I can see in the mirror there's some pink in a print hanging on that side).

I dislike wallpaper 98 percent of the time, and the two percent exception is largely made up of scenarios like yours, where it's used on the focal wall of a small room. 

[Treehugger]

4 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

@JTMacc99, thanks! @Spunkygal, the floor may be my favorite part! I was a little worried that the shape of the tile would be too much but it looks great even in a small space.

I can see why the floor would be your favorite part.  It's a gorgeous pattern.  Wonderful update!

[Maharincess]

@MargeGunderson, I love it!  Its so pretty.  

My kitchen work starts on Monday. I've spent all week packing up all of the cabinets and drawers and now have a hundred boxes piled up in my living room.  I'm weird though, I love packing and unpacking. My friends always have me help them when they move because I enjoy it for some reason. 

I was gong to ask this in Chit chat but with the conversation thats going on there now it didn't feel the right time to ask. I hope its ok to ask here since its home related.  Does anybody here have or ever had a rental property?   We're thinking of investing in a house for sale in our old neighborhood and renting it out. I have zero experience at being a landlord.  Its a great way to have some passive income but the landlord thing makes me a little nervous. I'm just afraid of getting a renter and them not paying or damaging the place.  If we do it and it goes well, we want to get a couple more rental properties.  We've made our pros and cons list and have been talking about it for weeks now.  The house will be listed in June but since the owner is my old neighbor and a friend, we have a chance to buy it before it goes on the market.   Its a nice house, 3 bed, 2 and a half bath, living and family rooms and a great deck/backyard.   We could put a big enough down payment so the mortgage payments wpuld be pretty low and we stand to make a decent monthly profit.  

Damn. I just dont know if this is something I want to get into though.  Any words of wisdom?? 

Edited April 13, 2017 by Maharincess
Removed an apostrophe.

[TattleTeeny]

Favorite space-maximizing tips? This is for a two floor, two-BR condo...with two people (and two rambunctious cats) living in it--and those two people love books, tchotchkes, and random ephemera (and, on my end, clothing). Out-of-the-ordinary hints very welcome--in fact, encouraged.

Websites about this always seem to start with a "throw stuff out" approach; I don't necessarily like that (and that's cheatin'; anyone can maximize space by taking things out of it, haha!), though I do it periodically, and am actually a very neat and organized person.

Limitations: 

• Oddly designed walk-in closet for my clothes (previous owner was a bit wacky. Example: when he painted the bathrooms, he not only left the admittedly tough-to-reach space behind the toilets blank, but he also opted not to take down the shower curtain tension rods [yup, tension rods...that you can simply take down in all of two seconds] and instead painted around them--and sloppily at that!--leaving two white circle-ish spots in each bathroom. Along with paint splotches on the rods themselves.) 
• Under-the stairs storage closet--the stuff in there, way back in its triangular-shaped depths, is typically stuff we don't need to get to too often, as we have to burrow past coats and stuff.
• Boyfriend who is rarely up to participate in a real-deal, all-day culling session--and who pretty much took up our three storage closets (but not my clothes one) even though the entire second BR is his "hideout." I'm all for sharing but I need his help to organize the big closet that has a lot of his stuff in it because I have no idea what he wants to do with it!
• My weird thing about keeping "like with like." It truly bugs me when this can't be sometimes.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[auntlada]

One thing I would do is start organizing the big closet and tell him I needed his help. If he chose not to help, I would place his stuff in his hideout. I can't definitely recommend that to you because I don't know him and how he would react. Also, you might be nicer than me. (Although I am not really mean because I would put the stuff in his hideout rather than throwing it out, selling it or donating it.)

Edited April 16, 2017 by auntlada

[Maharincess]

@TattleTeeny, when I painted my bedroom last year, I did most of it by myself and I am ashamed to say that when my bed gets moved, there will be a big headboard shaped piece on the wall that wasn't painted. My bed never gets moved and I'm planning on living here until I die so I just said hell with it and left it. 

My kitchen work starts tomorrow morning. The cabinets are empty  and removed and I'm ready.  It will be a lot of fast food and take out dinners for a while but it will be worth it. 

@stewedsquash, I'm doing both, I'm doing a couple of lower cabinets with doors, a lazy Susan corner cabinet for my pans and I'm having drawers installed too. My kitchen is the only kitchen I've ever seen that has NO drawers at all.  My old kitchen had 12 drawers and this house has none. I'm having two rows of 4 drawers added to the lower cabinets. I can't wait to be able to put my silverware in a drawer instead of on the counter.  My contractor is great with a twisted sense of humor so I'm looming forward to having him here. I just hope his crew is as good looking as the guys who did my floors a couple years ago. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Maharincess

[JTMacc99]

Conversation that happened here a while ago:
Me: [Daughter], did you know my lawnmower has TWO spark plugs?
Daughter: What does that mean?
Me: It means I forgot that fact and I have to go to Lowe's again. 
Daughter: [rolls eyes and smiles] Oh god. 

On the bright side, two spark plugs and a fuel filter and it's up and running. 

[Maharincess]

@JTMacc99, your dad stories always make me smile. You're such a good, loving, involved dad and your kids are so lucky to have you.  

Always remember that every minute you spend with your daughter is building a good foundation (foundation means I'm not off topic. Right?)  for her future relationships. She will end up with a good man because she has such a great male example. Believe me, I know this because I ended up with a man like my dad which wasn't a good thing.  Pat yourself on the back for me. 

Edited April 16, 2017 by Maharincess

[JTMacc99]

18 minutes ago, Maharincess said:

Pat yourself on the back for me.

Your compliments are always appreciated. I've noticed that as I dip my toes back into dating that my dad skills are appreciated. 

I was also told today that fixing my own lawnmower is hot. (True story, and somewhat on topic.)

[walnutqueen]

26 minutes ago, Maharincess said:

@JTMacc99, your dad stories always make me smile. You're such a good, loving, involved dad and your kids are so lucky to have you.  

Always remember that every minute you spend with your daughter is building a good foundation (foundation means I'm not off topic. Right?)  for her future relationships. She will end up with a good man because she has such a great male example. Believe me, I know this because I ended up with a man like my dad which wasn't a good thing.  Pat yourself on the back for me. 

Take it from a girl who grew up with Bad Daddy issues - a good Daddy is GOLD for an impressionable young girl.

3 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

Your compliments are always appreciated. I've noticed that as I dip my toes back into dating that my dad skills are appreciated. 

I was also told today that fixing my own lawnmower is hot. (True story, and somewhat on topic.)

OK, I haven't been turned on for a very long time, but ... fixin' stuff?  Is my aphrodisiac!  Go away with your awesome self lest you admit to plumbing & electrical skillz ('cause I swoon, and almost whoosh!).

[Spunkygal]

15 minutes ago, forumfish said:

Or, like me, she will grow up to be forever single, but incredibly self-sufficient. And I second the attraction of a man who knows his way around power tools!

Ditto!!!

[JTMacc99]

49 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

Go away with your awesome self lest you admit to plumbing & electrical skillz ('cause I swoon, and almost whoosh!).

Better not scroll back in this topic then.