New bureau, refinished, for under $50
September 18, 2011

I’ve been on the lookout for a cheap bureau for our dining room. Having a little extra storage would be nice, and I had a perfect spot for it. Lo and behold, earlier this summer, I found one. Left at the curb across the street. How easy was that? Just had to walk across the street for it. And the best part: it was free!

I already had the hardware (IKEA BASTIG) picked out. I didn’t have a paint color yet, I only knew I wanted a somewhat light color. We seem to have amassed a bunch of dark wood furniture, and I wanted to do something different from that.

Since the new hardware I bought were slightly wider than the original ones, I had to fill the inner hole of each drilled pair with wood filler, then drill a new hole. Then the usual sanding and priming. There was some kind of residue on the top that caused the primer in some areas to not dry completely. Even after two weeks, the primer was still tacky. SM took an electric planer to the top and took it down to the raw wood. He left the top rough. It kind of looks like hand scraped wood now.

I’d heard great things about Benjamin Moore paint, that it was the awesomest stuff around. Since this was a small project, I splurged and got a quart.  I went with Benjamin Moore Regal semi-gloss in amherst gray. After all the hype… meh. It’s OK, but I don’t think it’s worth the premium price. I’ll stick with Behr.

After all that, I set it up in the dining room. I didn’t like it. It made the room feel cramped. So I moved it to the entry, which turned out to be a much better spot. Now we have a place to easily stash scarves, gloves, and hats. Here’s the after:

Total cost

Bureau Free!
Paint $18
New hardware $30.95
  $48.95

 

I’m pleased with the results. I’ve even had a few compliments on it! Overall, I think it turned out well. And I *love* the price! A nice, new bureau for under $50!

Replace or not?
September 12, 2011

For about the past year SM and I have been debating on whether or not to replace the windows in our house, or to find other ways of weatherizing them.

Last winter was cold. When we realized how fast we were burning through a full tank of oil, we panicked. Then we turned the thermostat down. I bundled up with sweaters and blankets. Now, we aren’t the kind of people who keep the thermostat cranked. We keep it at 65 when we aren’t home (or when we’re sleeping), 68 or so when we are home. That changed quickly. We ended up dropping our programmed temps by 5 degrees to ease our oil use.

I’m sure there are a number of things we can do in the house to make future winters bearable. The most obvious thing at the moment are the windows. Our house is over a hundred years old. The windows probably are too. They’re drafty. They rattle. Some are painted shut. Some are difficult to open. Some of the weights have been cut off, so they need to be propped in order to stay open. A couple have missing or damaged storm windows. Something certainly needs to be done, but what? Replace or refinish? Honestly, I’ve been the one who been waffling on what we should do. SM has been firmly in the “replace them all” camp all this time.

At first, I assumed we’d replace them. But I was afraid of damaging the frames or moulding. And the amount of work to replace them. And, the cost! We have 22 windows that would need to be replaced. That could add up to a very substantial amount of money. It certainly wouldn’t be something we could do at once.

So, I did a little bit of research. There seems to be two camps. The first: all old windows should be replaced with new ones. Period. Old windows = evil energy sucking behemoths that must go. Old windows will never be as good as new ones. You’ll save lots on your energy bills if you replace them. Hey, I like saving money!

And the second camp: older windows are worth saving. They’ve survived the past 100+ years. With some care and attention, they’ll last for much longer. Possibly far longer than a replacement window might last. It seems like more people are changing their minds about completely gutting old windows for new ones. With a little bit of work (and far less money) old windows can be just as energy efficient as new ones.

It’s amazing how heated people could get over this.

So, I waffled. A lot. One month I was ready to replace. The next, I wanted to preserve. And SM was still firmly set on replacing.

I’ll admit, the cost of replacing the window does scare me. How do we know that spending thousands of dollars (probably over ten thousand!) is the right way to go? That’s a lot of money on the line. Are our windows worth preserving? Do we have a responsibility to preserve whenever possible?

After a lot of research, I think we’ve finally made a decision. We’re going to restore our existing windows. This means we’ll add weatherstripping, insulate the window weight pockets, and fix/replace the storm windows. It took some time, but SM is on board too. We may start with the rooms we spend the most time in and slowly do all of them.

I have no idea if this is the right decision. I just hope we’ll use less energy this winter. And maybe we’ll be able to turn up the thermostat a smidgen when we’re home :)

Yard sale finds
September 11, 2011

I just finished two days of yard sales and flea markets. And I’m tired.

The past two weeks I’ve been searching for cheap double old fashioned glasses. We’re having a scotch tasting next month, so we need a bunch. SM and I checked a few different stores for cheap ones, but didn’t find anything cheap enough. So, I tried my hand at finding some at yard sales. I managed to pick up 20 glasses over two days, for about $10. Not bad!

Yesterday I mostly bought a glasses. There was a mega yard sale nearby, and I managed to score 16 glasses in that one trip.

I also snagged a single file cabinet for $2. I’m planning on turning it into an end table. T thought I was a bit nuts at first, then decided he wanted one to convert into a camping stove. And now you know why we’re such a good yard sale pair. If you overlook his hoarding tendencies.

Today T and I checked out Todd’s Farm. It was awesome! So many cool things! A bit pricey too, which isn’t surprising, since they attract a lot of people. Today’s scores:

 

I think I’ll create a false bottom in the crate, raise the bottom close to the top, then put plants in it. MM will be so proud.

Pizza
July 31, 2011

SM makes amazing pizza. This is what he whipped up yesterday. Pizza dough, from scratch! With tomatoes, onions, bacon, and basil. It was wonderful (like always). I usually don’t eat leftover pizza, since it often isn’t as good as it was when fresh, but I did scarf down a few slices for lunch today.

Recipes
July 30, 2011

Last weekend SM and I went blueberry picking with T. The farm we went to will let you to pick as many blueberries as you want–for free–if you leave them half of what you picked. There’s always the option to pay per pound, if you’d rather do that. SM and I ended up picking almost 19 pounds of blueberries, we left half of them behind for the farm to sell. So what to do with all those blueberries?

I made a blueberry cake with a crumble top. SM brought that into work with him. I also made Blueberry Grunt which went well with the vanilla ice cream I made the week before. The rest of the blueberries are tucked away in the freezer, while I plot what to make next.

Finally, last night I made cheesy monkey bread. T and SM both liked it, but I think it was missing something. SM suggested using King Arthur’s Pizza Dough Flavor in the dough (he loves using it when he makes english muffins). I may also add some garlic powder to the pizza seasoning next time. The garlic flavor was a little lacking this time around.

Genealogy Rollsign
July 23, 2011

Here’s what I learned from this project: pick your frame size first then design the poster.

First, a little background. I love old stuff. Old houses, old objects, old stories. I even enjoy genealogy. I’ve done research on both my and my husband’s family, and managed to make a few discoveries along the way. I came across a genealogy rollsign somewhere online and loved the idea. Both of our families woven together, with SM and I at the end.

It’s a very basic mapping of our families, and not completely accurate from a historical standpoint. Each place is more like an association, not necessarily an indication of where the couple was born or married. For instance, I have two couples where one person was born in the place stated, but the other wasn’t (their parents were). So, it’s a poster loosely based on our family histories.

I’ve wanted to create a sort of genealogy wall, with documents and photos of our families. This would be perfect on it. And! I figured I could do it inexpensively by designing and printing the poster myself, instead of having someone else do it. After a number of hours working with Photoshop, I had a digital poster. A trip to a print shop later, I had a physical poster. And that’s when I hit a snag.

Back to the lesson I learned. Pick the frame size first. Which, of course, isn’t what I did. I picked a document size in Photoshop that went well with what I wanted: long and thin. I ended up with a 12″ x 30″ poster. Guess what? That’s not a standard frame size. Since I’d realized this after I’d had the poster printed (and already put money into the project) I wasn’t going give up and start over. I looked at making a frame, buying parts to make a custom frame, having a frame made for me, nope. Frames can be unbelievably expensive.

Then! I stumbled across this photo. Loved it! It complements the “old” theme of the wall. And! My mother had a spare hanger for me. Free hanger! Yesssssss. I used a bit of felt between the hanger and the poster, since the poster was a little too thin for the hanger to hold onto well. It took a couple of weeks for the poster to hang flat after been rolled up in a tube for a bit, but I love the way it looks. Next step is to dig through my photos and documents for items to hang on the wall with it.

Total cost of this project: $35 (printing the poster)

Pan-seared Gnocchi
July 21, 2011

Recently I had Pan-seared gnocchi with olive oil, proscuitto and peas at a restaurant with SM. It was amazing. Made it last night for dinner, and, yeah. It’s still amazing. This may be my new comfort food.

Weekly recipe
July 16, 2011

Yes, we tried a new recipe last week. I just didn’t write a post about it. I should have declared that every week I’d try a new recipe and post about it.

Last week was Juicy Pub-Style Burgers from America’s Test Kitchen. Burgers made with butter, topped with bacon. Awwwww yeah.

Bathroom renovations
July 14, 2011

Our existing bathroom ceiling:

Most of our downstairs ceilings are 9 feet tall. Our kitchen and bathroom ceilings are much smaller, a little over seven feet tall. A couple of our downstairs rooms have drop ceilings, but they’re only a few inches short of their full height. We’re not quite sure why the kitchen and bathroom ceilings ended up so short. There’s no way to peek above the ceilings without damaging them, so we haven’t been able to get a good look at the condition of the original ceilings.

I kept going back and forth on whether or not to take down the bathroom ceiling. I wanted to see what was up there. But I was afraid of ripping it down and being forced to put it back up again. Since it’s such a small amount of ceiling, it’s actually a great little test bed for us to play around with. So, it came down today. Here’s what we found:

Yeah, not pretty. Which is what I figured. But it’s still disappointing. There’s about 15 inches of space above that framing. It’s all coming down. Our list has been updated:

  • Remove the ceiling framing
  • The wiring for the switch and the ceiling lamp is old, SM wants it redone. While we’re at it, we’re going to move the light switch. Currently it’s above the toilet, which is a little awkward. We’re going to move it next to the door. Most of the room is currently ripped up, we might as well get everything done.
  • I figured we’d cover the damaged plaster ceiling with drywall, just move it up to get back some of the ceiling height we were missing. SM had a wonderful suggestion! We should look into installing a tin ceiling. It’s such a small room that we could splurge on it if we wanted to. And! I won’t have to deal with skimcoating over my head! I love that man.
  • Remove the ceiling
  • Do something about the floor (refinish? tile?)
  • Replace window moulding
  • Replace window
  • Re-insulate the wall, if necessary
  • Replace the ceiling fixture
  • Paint
  • Put new drywall up over the visible lath and plaster. Remove the existing lath and plaster first?
  • Remove wallpaper and beadboard
  • Replace vanity, mirror
  • Replace toilet innards with a dual-flush system
  • Get rid of blinds, put up curtains

 

Why do I want to put so much effort into getting close to the original ceiling height? The window in that bathroom came pretty close to the shortened ceiling height. The existing moulding was just a flat piece of 1″ x 3″, wedged right to the ceiling. I didn’t really like the way it looked, especially since we have such great moulding throughout the rest of the house. My intention was to raise the ceiling height and replace the moulding with something that matches the majority of the house. And, well, having a short ceiling in a couple rooms just looks goofy when you have tall ceilings everywhere else.

Our to do list for our tiny little bathroom keeps growing and growing… (And! I so want to do a pocket door in this room!)

 

The white trash look for those hot summer days

 

Bathroom renovations
June 30, 2011

So, I’ve slacked off on our bathroom renovations a little. Now that we have a BBQ planned for next month, SM and I are back at it again, trying to finish it before the party.

We’re working on the floor right now. Originally it was linoleum, but I want to tile it. SM suggested we remove the ¼” luan and ¾” plywood subfloor, put down cement board, then tile. That way the floor would end up roughly the same height as the adjacent kitchen floor. Since we were going through all this effort—removing the newer subfloor to get down to the original floor—if we found that the original floor was in decent shape, we’d refinish it and skip tiling.

Today, finally, we got most of the plywood up. Pulling out nails (ring shanks, no less!) was slow, and it sucked. The floor underneath, well… I’m not sure yet.

It’s in rough shape, which was expected. There are three holes that will need to be fixed (water lines and waste pipe for the sink, which we’re moving into the wall). Luckily, those holes will be somewhat hidden when the new vanity goes in. But see that in the upper right corner?

We have someone coming in to refinish the bedroom floors, hopefully he’ll be able to do this at a reasonable cost. If not, it’s back to the original plan: tile!

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