New things, part 1

Thought I would write a post about the new/ old things I have recently acquired! You know, old things ( when found in the right places), can be fairly inexpensive!!

Ta da, new kitchen things!

 

Oooooooo!

Ahhhh!!!

Ooohhhhhhhh!!!

Big thanks to Ma and Pa Hanna for the spice jars and microwave! They are very matchy, matchy in the new kitchen!!

 

The new light! Love!

Only a retro/contempo light was going to work for me, so, here it is!!

Ok. That's part one of my new things post. Sorry about all of the exclamation points. I'M EXCITED! Ok. I'm done yelling.

 

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Call me Mother or Mudder

Ill try to be upbeat here but I'm upon the most hated part of any remodel................ Mud and tape. I keep telling myself that I need to just keep doing this in order to get good at it but I secretly want to hire someone and pretend I did the job myself!!

I'm going on two weeks of every day sanding and mudding here in the kitchen. I can only work on it when Sally is napping so I expect it to last at least another week. This is what the house looks like every day. Then I clean and scrub for the rest of the day in order to avoid little white footprints everywhere. It's exhausting.

What a downer post! Never fear, I will finish! This, for me, is just like child birth. While I'm in it, I feel like I might not make it through and I have doubts and fears. Then, it is miraculously over and everything is beautiful and right again with your life!

 

And you're left tired and in need of a shower!

Are you giving birth to a kitchen?! Hahahahaaa!

 

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Pretty in Pink

I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone again to put color in the kitchen. Well, putting color in there is in my comfort zone but the color pink is definitely not what I had planned. It was just an idea that sort of evolved from my having 6 yards of fabric in storage that was pink and gray.

Cafe curtains just seemed like the right fit for the kitchen. They also keep me from feeling like a stalker with the neighbors across the street!

The rod is a little saggy so that will probably change later.

And who could forget the harvest gold beauties from the dining set?!

They look so much better now!

Tip for families with itty bitty's running around. Put a layer of plastic over your fabric! If I didn't do this one important step, the girls would have destroyed my chairs the first night!!

Does anyone else have a problem taking pics of chairs without kids in them? As soon as I pull out my camera they run for the chair!

 

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Glamma table

I was recently given some end tables. They were a little too busy to go with our living room so I put one in Violet and Lucy's room until I could figure out what to do with them. I started painting one of them what I thought was a coral color. WRONG! Dude was PINK!

That's all it took for Violet to fall in love with it. Violet wants everything in her world to be pink but I'm planning on painting their walls pink so I decided to chrome. I love the look of mirrored end tables but figured the girls would break it on the first day so this is the next best thing!

I love to spray paint and this was so quick and easy!

Violet was a little disgruntled about the pink color being gone but I think she'll love the room when it all comes together!

 

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Death of a washing machine

My poor, poor, washing machine. At 10 years old, she's bound to have aches and pains. However, it's still a huge inconvenience when problems arise. Seriously, do you know how many outfits my girls go through in just one day?!

Kenmore Elite HE 3T. Many people are in love with the look of these machines but they have taken on lots of criticism over the years due to lots of break downs and odor issues. I repaired a part up top two years ago and it has been unusable this time for 4 days now. I have also had the odor issue but have fixed it by leaving the door open when not in use, never leaving clothing in it overnight and checking behind the rubber door piece for socks and lint after every wash.

On to the problem at hand. Initially I was getting a SUD error which indicates too many suds in the drum. Then I moved on to an F2 error which is a failure to drain properly. After about two weeks of stopping and restarting the washer during these errors, it stopped draining water at all. Barf. I knew this was going to be a mess.

First I unplugged the machine and got Lucy and Violet armed with towels to catch water.

Just above the bottom drawer there are some screws, one on each side, that hold the front panel on the washer. I removed those and took the panel off.

I knew the issue was down here because the machine wasn't draining. The electrical workings and water intake are on top, drainage on bottom. I felt that it could be one of two issues. Plugged drain filter or bad drain pump motor. I put my bets on the motor because it had been awfully loud when draining for the last two weeks. Experience told me the bearings were out in the motor. You can see the drain filter right in the middle in my picture. Just unscrew the cap and prepare for a flood if your washer is full of water! Mine was. The pump is connected to the filter on the right side. My filter was clean so I removed three screws and took the pump out.

There it is. The accused. The part number is always somewhere on the part. I looked it up on amazon for an online price, checked around our area for a cheaper part and then ordered it online. Now I wait. Washerless. With heaps of dirty laundry lying around. Crabby kids because, WERE OUT OF SKIRTS, MOM! This is day four. I should be back in business within three more days. But hey! We already know that I survived the 7 DAY PRIMER DRY TIME!! I can handle this. Until I'm out of underwear.....................

 

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My own private island

That's right! I've got my very own island........................ In the kitchen. I have been back and forth on what kind of an island to have in the kitchen. I knew it needed something but the space wasn't really big enough for an island with seating so I had to get creative.

I bought this little chest of drawers from my neighbor several months ago. It has functioned as good storage in the kitchen and it has been on every wall in hopes of finding its forever home. I finally concluded that it was my new, old island.

You can see that the back had several holes in it and some critters had loved on the legs.

I put a new back on it and reinforced the legs with 2x4s and put castors on them. Voila!

A little Old English furniture oil and it's shiny and new- ish. Really, this is a very old piece of furniture. It's made with square nails!

Lets talk about why I like this piece of furniture in the kitchen. I have a very cold, white space with concrete countertops. I think I have finally chosen a color scheme too ( it's still a secret) and I'll be using cool colors. A natural wood piece brings warmth and a down home, casual feeling. I'm not into fussiness, just comfort. This dresser also reminds me of my Grandma Vermeys too so it makes me happy. My kitchen is starting to feel like a room I could hang out in, a lot! Maybe it needs a comfy chair too!

 

 

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I will paint no more forever

Ok. The title is a lie! I will probably be the old lady in the nursing home remodeling her room. I will paint until painting is not cool and then I will be the only painter in town! Enough drama. All of this hullabaloo equals one thing, I'M DONE PAINTING CUPBOARDS!!

I could seriously cry! I do have some touch up to do in some places but hey, the big job is done! I'm starting to feel this project slip away from me and its kind of sad. It's over half done!

I still have a lot of house, and kitchen, left to do but I'm getting the itch to crash other people's houses and do some work. Yes, I'm talking to you. Lock. Your. Doors.

 

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