Category Archives: Home Improvement

The many faucets of life…

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Tell me, why is it so hard to get a post up? I think about blogging all the time, I take tons, and I mean TONS, of photos to include in these imaginary blog posts, and yet, very rarely do any of them come to futrition. Like my story of our faucet. You may remember a few weeks ago I had mentioned my longing for a new kitchen faucet. Well, I finally found the one, the perfect faucet. Just in case you forgot what the old one looked like and why I am so giddy about the newest here’s what we started out with:

Apparently, the installer of the last faucet wanted to make sure it never came loose, evidenced by the many layers of plumbers putty. After two hours of chipping away at the putty we were left with this :

And this:

Thanks to overstock, this beauty is now in my possession. So, our sink is currently looking like this:

Aww…much better and shinier. Here’s another view:

I love that curve, and the separate hot and cold water handles. As well as, the sprayer, it actually sprays and isn’t made of plastic!

Yeah, I know how weird it is to be this excited about a new faucet. But when you are dishwasher-less and end up spending most of your time at the sink, it’s so very important to have something pretty and functional to look at. Especially when your backsplash is old and the grout is dirty. I’m experimenting with different techniques to rid the backsplash of the many years of grime that have settled into the grout. Stay tuned for that update.

Also stay tuned for many random posts about some pretty random things I’ve been up to. All those photos I’ve been taking have got to be recorded somewhere right?

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Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors Faucet

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Our kitchen faucet is leaking, it’s been leaking for a good year and a half. It’s annoying, but I’ve put off fixing it because I want a new faucet. However my wine tastes and beer budget keep getting in the way of me finding that perfect faucet. So, on the back burner it goes.

The other night though, as I was shopping for that perfect faucet, it dawned on me that I have no idea how many holes our sink has. If you aren’t aware, you need to know how many holes your sink can accomodate. For instance, if you were to buy a faucet that required 4 holes, but your sink only has space for 3, well I guess you’ll be having to let go of that perfect faucet and exchange it for one that fits the spaces on your sink. But, if you were to buy a 3 hole faucet but have 4 holes, you can always cover the 4th hole that won’t be used.

With the thought of having to return a much searched for faucet that may not fit, I took a deep a breath and dove under the sink.

In my attempt to get under the sink, I realized I couldn’t. Not because of limited space, but because of all the junk! And even if it weren’t for all of the junk, I’m not sure I’d want down there anyways, it’s kind of scary, and dark, and smelly. And I’m not really sure what that fuzzy stuff is growing on the cabinet floor.

Everything had to come out, so I could investigate:

And when I say everything, I mean everything:

Don’t ask me why I need 3 Febreezes, I just do. If you lived in my house, with two stinky dogs and a man that occasionally has a certain odor, you would totally understand. Not that I don’t have my stinky’s every once in a while. But being the only one in the house that seems to be able to smell anything, air freshener is a must.

After taking all of my household cleaners and hoard of air fresheners out from under the sink it was time to scrub. I thought that scrubbing the offending area would take care of that old musty smell that is always permiating from that area. Wrong. After removing all my not-used-enough cleaners and hoard of air fresheners, and scrubbing I found this:

Water damage from a previous leak. I don’t know when the leak happened, or if it even happened while I’ve been living in this house, but there definitely was a leak at one time or another. And it definitely caused some damage. And a nice smell. If you can’t imagine, picture moldy wood, mixed in with the smell of rotten broccoli. Yuck-O!

Yeah, I watch Holmes Inspection, I know how scary moldy places can be. But I don’t have a crew of brawny Canadians to come out and fix the issue. Instead, I scrubbed, tried to ignore the smell and how disgusting the whole mess actually is. And put things back.

They aren’t put  back in a very organized manner, but it was 11 pm on a work night. I got tired. And made a pact with myself to either keep praying the new cabinet fairy’s come during the night and wave their little fairy wands and give me a new kitchen, or paint the ones I have until I have enough beans saved to pay for new, non-smelly, non-scary cabinets.

Ah yes, the joys of living in an old house with mostly original fixtures. Since buying the Yellow Casa back in 2008, I’ve had a wish list of upgrades I’d like to make to my little castle. If your curious, here’s what I’ve planned on doing, and some of what I have accomplished:

1. New Windows. YAY! We accomplished this little upgrade September of 2009, exactly one year after I purchased our little abode. What a difference windows that actually close can make.

2. New hard surface flooring throughout entire house. Carpet+2 dogs+2 humans with dirty shoes=really nasty flooring. We’ve tried shampooing, and spot cleaning, but it’s just not taking away the nasties. Plus, the carpet is starting to get that flat look.

3. Central Heating and Air. We currently use one wall heater in the front of the house and space heaters in the bathroom and bedrooms. It’s cold! And in the summer we use a swamp cooler. That works pretty well in the dryer part of the summer, but come the desert monsoon season, it gets pretty sticky.

4. Kitchen Cabinets, the origianl 1957 cabinets just aren’t working as well as they did in say, 1957.

5. Install a secondary bathroom. One bathroom works pretty well when it’s just me and Bubba, but when we have company a second bathroom would be nice. There’s a space in our garage that could work as a two piece bath. Now all I need is the plumbing run to that little corner. Oh, and walls, and tile, and a toilet and sink. Maybe that one isn’t exactly an easy fix.

6. Privacy wall in backyard. This one got done in May 2011, you can read all about that here.

7. Vent in bathroom. We got this installed in May of 2010, that made a huge difference in the way our bathroom felt. No more scary sticky things growing on the walls! (scary sticky things seem to be the bane of my existence, I encounter them at every turn!) You can read about that little project in this post of yore.

There are so many other things that I would like to do to make this little casa even sweeter, but I’m trying to focus on the important issues. The pressing things that need to be done, the necessary over the aesthetic.

Which brings me back the point of this post, the sink has 4 holes. Maybe I can get that faucet I’ve been coveting afterall. Is it normal to covet a faucet?

Happy Friday Everyone!

Slim and Trim

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Actually, nothing is slim and trim around these parts, except maybe my wallet and the done category of my to-do list. But thankfully,  this past weekend I was able to mark off something from my to-do list, FINALLY! It’s something that’s been festering since I bought the house back in August of 2008 (has it really been that long now?!).

Can you guess what it was?

Probably not, there are a lot of items that still need to be checked off the ol’ to-do list out here. Here’s a hint…

Need some more help? Well, here’s what things have been looking like out here that past 3 years…

And here’s the same view on Sunday…

Yep, I FINALLY painted the trim and porch. I still can’t believe I put it off for so long. It took my entire Saturday, but it was well worth the pride I feel when walking under my porch to enter our humble abode.

Here’s some before and after shots to give you a  better idea of why this little paint job made such a big difference…

The after from the same angle…

She could probably use some caulking to fill in some of the cracks, and a second coat in some spots. But she still looks much better than she did before. It’s amazing what a little lipstick can do for a girl.

The paint is, Wild Sage from Behr (I think), I used a Paint and Primer in one, with a semi-gloss finish. Quite an impressive product, I loved the consistency of the paint, not too runny that it practically drips from your brush or roller before hitting the desired surface but not too thick that it dries out in the tray. (That doesn’t mean that I didn’t end up wearing it.)

I started the process by chipping away the larger and looser chunks of paint. Not too much scrapping though, the wood on my trim is so old it started coming off with the old paint. So, I had to resort to a little bit of sanding to gently remove the debris and chipping paint. Someday we will install new wood trim, but for now the paint makes for a happy but temporary fix.

Ahhh….much better. Now, I can ignore all the other things I need to do to the exterior while I bask in the glow of a newly painted trim.

*Note: I have not been comped by Home Depot or Behr for mentioned their products here on the blog. End Note*

Party Pooped

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Finally, the much awaited party post!!! Unfortunately, there aren’t too many pictures of the party itself. As mentioned here Bubba and I were much too busy hosting to snap all those artistic photos I had hoped to capture. You wouldn’t believe the last-minute running around involved in setting up for a little party. Or maybe I’m just an inexperienced hostess with poor time management skills…. Naw, that couldn’t be it!

Anywho,  the photos I plan to share with you will be a mix of  the few photos I was able to snap. But most  have come from my sweet uncle and my Bubba’s brother, who is also very sweet. They did an excellent job of capturing the “essence” of the much planned for party.

It all happened in our little casa’s back yard…

(Wish I had remembered to put my luminarias along the walk way. That would have really dressed things up out there!)

This was the scene before we laid the food out or any of the guests arrived.

All those milk glass vases came from my Goodwill and thrift store collection. I didn’t realize how many I had hoarded collected over the past few months.

I decided to go with a lemon lime theme, so everything was shades of yellow and green citrus-y goodness.

All of the tables had a grouping of my milk glass vases filled with my favorite yellow flowers.  In the background of this picture you can see that we used plastic dinnerware. For the next party, I think I will use real dinnerware if possible. It really classes things up, plus a metal fork won’t fly away in the wind like a plastic one will.  But, it was nice not having to wash a kazillion pieces of cutlery. In hindsight, those table runners really didn’t work in my breezy backyard either. Things to note for next time…if there is a next time, I had no idea how stressful this little event would be!

In the tree we hung tissue paper pom-poms in shades of yellow, green and white. Along with yellow and white lanterns that looked oh so romantic when lit up.

As the guests walked into my urban oasis, they were greeted by the Wedding Tree, one of my first Etsy finds!

Instead of going with my original plan of the thumb print tree, I decided having the guests sign their names on a leaf would be much less messy than sticking their thumbs onto an ink pad. Plus it saved everyone from worrying about getting finger prints on their pretty clothes. And I still have a sweet memento to hang on my wall and enjoy everyday.

Going with my lemon and lime theme, I found a sweet seller on Etsy to design a tree in yellow and green. Can you believe I ordered the Wedding Tree the morning before the party, and that evening the PDF file was waiting for me in my inbox?! After I was over my shock of such quick service, I planned on popping into Staples the next morning to have our tree printed. And print they did. If I ever need any type of graphics work done, I’ll be sure to contact that Etsy seller again and have it printed at Staples!

The green bowl you see  is one of Bubba’s Goodwill finds, the pen holder is a crystal vase my mother gave me for Christmas. And the verse in the frame…

Is my father’s favorite verse:

“But they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”  Isaiah 43:31

And above that, I hung an airplane from Dad’s collection. Since my father passed away several years ago, it was so very important to me to have an element of Dad incorporated into the celebration.

After everyone had signed the tree and oohed and ahhed over my flower arrangements and pom-poms (not really)  it was time to eat!

On the menu was smoked pork loin, potato salad, pasta salad, and bbq’ed beans. And for dessert, cupcakes in three flavors: chocolate, carrot, and vanilla. Along with oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and lemon cookies. I also threw in some brownies for good measure. You can’t have a party without some cavity inducing sweets!

(If I had thought to take some shots of the food, you would find those photos here. Instead I’ll share shots of everyone enjoying the festive feast.)

All of the sides and desserts I picked up at the grocery store, but  not after visiting two different grocery stores the morning of the party. Being the scatter brained little party planner I am, I had forgotten which store I’d ordered the cupcakes from! Thankfully, the sweet ladies at the first grocery store were ever so helpful and called each Albertson’s in the area until we located the right store. That saved me so much time and frustration!

Unfortunately, that was not the only sweat inducing obstacle of the day. But I plan on dedicating an entire post to that story. Let’s just say it involved law enforcement, the fire department, and a very sleepy April.

All in all, the party was a success. Both Bubba and I enjoyed sharing our home with friends and family. Our guests enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. My fears of cops coming in and breaking up the party, or angry neighbors calling said cops to break up the party were all unfounded. Everyone enjoyed themselves, there was lots of good food, and lots of good company. That’s really what a party is all about anyways right?

Both Bubba and I are so very thankful for the guests and all those sweet people that helped out. Those that helped in the set up and those that helped us take it all down, and for those who simply graced us with their presence. I know a lot of our guests traveled from far and near and sacrificed money and time to be in attendance. Not only am I thankful for our sweet guests, I’m also thankful for local law enforcement who saved our house from being burnt down (again, that’s for another post), and for the sweet ladies at Albertson’s that saved me time that I didn’t have.

Before I sound like an actress tearfully accepting an award and thanking all those that ever “spared a square”  (thousand points to anyone who can guess which television show that’s from!), let’s share some advice.  To all of you who are planning a backyard party or any type of event at your home, if someone offers to help, take them up on it. Yes, you can do it yourself, but do you really have time? The answer is a loud and resounding NO.

Between landscaping the yard, scrubbing the kitchen, and pulling Bubba’s dirty socks out from underneath the couch I had no time. There was hardly enough time to buy the food and other party supplies, design and mail the invitations (which by the way were not mailed until 3 weeks before the party!), plan on the decor (I forgot to put lighting up, instead of the cozy romantic evening I had planned on, we ended up with a dark and spooky evening), or have an impeccably clean or at least moderately clean  home (There were parts of my home that were used to stash clutter and other I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with items while in my mad frantic rush to clean two hours before the party. I just know some of my guests saw what horrid conditions my washer and dryer live in!). Aside from those things, relax , enjoy your guests and all of your hard work! And remember, cupcakes can be tracked down, fires can be put out, but memories cannot be remade.

Wood you be so kind…

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To listen to my little rant?

In my last post I mentioned a big reveal for the final work on my yard. However, the big reveal really is more of big let down. See, I got lazy and thought I could hire someone to do the remaining yard work for me. So, hire I did, I called a contractor I’d worked with one time before, he quoted me a fairly reasonable rate, so I set up a time for he and his constituents to come and complete the work I had started. The task: to spread mulch over exposed dirt along the perimeter of the backyard and front yard, and reuse crusher fines from the back and place them in a pathway  in the front.

I stupidly thought quality materials would be used, but that’s really my fault in not being clear of my intentions for the yard. From a distance it looks beautiful, and it probably looks fine to anyone else. But to me, I see things that I would rather not have in my yard. But more on that later…

I love the path, it’s exactly what I had in mind, and I got to reuse my old crusher fines.  However, the mulch isn’t quite what I had expected. Turns out the contractor got it from the City for $5.00 a load. Meaning that, the stuff that  has been spread all over my yard is shredded up yard waste from all over the community. The professional I hired did not share this little tidbit with me, until after it had been spread  and I complained about the quality. Oh yes, and after payment had been received. This sort of mulch is great if you’ve got a large lot and just need some cheap ground cover.  In fact, I think this is a great way of instituting the 3 R’s.  But (yes, I’m full of those aren’t I?) it just doesn’t work in our yard.  First of all, we don’t have a back 40 that needs cheap ground cover, secondly, the chunks are too big and too sharp for the brat dogs to play on, and thirdly, I don’t have the time or the desire to sift through a ton of mulch to remove unwanted materials.

I blame myself really, I didn’t ask enough questions, and I didn’t inspect the materials before they were used. It looks nice from a distance though doesn’t it? Until you get a closer look…

Notice the large chunks of wood and rock that is not original to my yard…

I mentioned the quality wasn’t quite up to my standards. Well, this is why…

Scary pieces of sharp metal, large pieces of ugly particle board, and various chunks of trash.

And it’s not only in my front yard, but also in the back…

Excuse my half dead Rosemary, but notice how thickly the trashy mulch has been laid down. It’s going to be a booger to pull up or even sift through.

And I should mention the dusty path that leads to…

A pile of discarded crusher fines! The plan was to use these throughout the yard but with every available surface covered with the trashy mulch, I really don’t know what to do with the extra crusher fines. And yes, I did ask that mulch be put on exposed soil, however, I underestimated how much crusher fine would be used in the front.

So, I’ve been sifting through the wood trying to sort good wood, bad wood, trash, plastic, and metal.

Here’s my sorting stations that have been started so far…

Now I’m left with some decisions to make, should I continue sorting and sifting, should shifting of the ugly mulch begin in preparation for the placement of prettier mulch, or should I start all over again and give it away to a mulch needing soul on Craigslist? I realize that any mulch will have some non-compostables, but should they be so abundant that they take up bulk of the ground cover?

And to top it all off, I’ve got a backyard party planned in less than a month! Invites have been sent so there’s no backing out now!

Chalk this one up to an expensive and time consuming lesson in home improvement.

May Wrap Up

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I’m participating in a blog color story series hosted by Jules, of Pancakes and French Fries.  Each month, Ms. Jules will recap a month in the life of herself and her family using colors that have been previously chosen for that month.  For instance, May has been ‘Jacaranda’ , for those of you who, like me (live under a New Mexican rock) and have never heard of a jacaranda tree, it’s a lovely tree the blooms beautiful purple flowers. So, any and everything purple was photographed for May. June will be “Peacock”, so all things with a lovely blue hue will be captured on film..er…by digital camera.  You can find more details over at Jules’ blog home here.

I wasn’t able to get my color story for April prepared until mid May, so if you are interested, please visit my story here.

Unfortunately, May flew by, without much purple in sight ,which was a disappointment I had big plans for all of it’s purple-y goodness. The reason May flew by so quickly you ask? Well, I’ve been working on a little landscape “renovation” of my front and backyards.  I know there aren’t many shades of violet and lavendar in this lil project photo story, but you will see a few glimpses of my purple and blue Bachelor Buttons. That counts for a color story doesn’t it?

Here’s what she looked like before I started my endeavor:

Ignore the weed grass, that’s the cowlick of my front yard. And my car usually has a hubcap, Bubba was working on the brakes, stopping is a good thing!  Oh, and notice the purple bachelor buttons!

The yard after the first full day…

Not very pretty or inviting…

Here she is on the third day, apparently I was way too tired after the second day to take photos…

I decided a nice little path might make things more interesting, and say “Welcome”  instead of “Go away, I know who Jesus is!”.

The plan, to seed or sod or possibly cover with wood mulch, the dirt rectangle by the front porch and flower bed. And to place left over crusher fine for the path. Painting of the porch and garage border will come soon after all the heavy work has been completed. Stay tuned for my big reveal!

One more, very unrelated thing to the color purple or moving rocks,  May 21st marked my FIRST blogiversary! Yep, it’s been a whole year since I got up the courage and I started my ramblings here at my blog home. There wasn’t a party, but there was carrot cake, and yes, I blew out the candle and made a little bloggie wish. But I can’t tell or it won’t come true!

Fortress of Solitude

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Just like Superman, I now have my fortress of solitude! Yep, that’s right the wall is complete! Granted, one wall is a row of block higher than I had expected, but that just gives me that much more privacy. Which is quite lovely considering we had zero privacy to start with. Here’s a little reminder of what the old wall looked like before construction began.

Notice the ugly chain link that was serving as a trellis? That would soon be going away.

Here you can see loose bricks.

And more loose brick…

This is my leaning tower of terror. See, how the wall curves slightly? That’s caused from an old tree that had grown right next to the wall, and had been chopped down many years ago. It’s stump had been left, leaving pressure on the old block wall, causing a weakness. But the stump had been there so long, it was pretty much rotted away and came out of the sand pretty easily.

Here you can see how low the wall actually was, we could look all the way down the street into all of our neighbors backyards. In some spots the wall was 3ft high, in others it was 4 ft. The perfect height for neighborhood kids to look over and watch you water your weeds. I’ll miss the kids, they really were sweet. But, I love the privacy!

The morning work was to begin, they pulled up, unloaded, and started tearing down the old tittering wall right away.

Our old  bricks were so crumbly it didn’t take much to get it demo’ed.

Did I mention the amount of supplies needed to get this job done? This only shows half of the stuff they actually used, since most of it was still on the truck. Dummy me, I didn’t get a shot of the truck with all the brick and toys.

Remember that old chain link trellis? Yeah, I was happy to see that go down. I may or may not have done a happy dance.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get my fortress completed in the two days we had hoped. Apparently, the old bricks they had planned on reusing were too crumbly to be used again. They had to buy more bricks, and put in more reinforcement.

But on the bright side, the dogs liked having new things to sniff over the weekend.

Here’s what the wall looked like after two days of their hard work, and my annoying picture taking.

My plants got a trimming too, I hope the poor little things come back. They were already half dead before my yard became a construction zone.

After keeping the dogs away from cement, that apparently smelled too good to resist, Monday finally rolled around. The poor guys worked another full day, but finally, after 5 full days yard-less, and 3 days of a yard full of brick layers, the fortress was complete.

The doggies love their new lookie-loo holes. The neighbors, probably not so much.

Did you notice the wall seems to have helped with trash being blown in from the street? Well, probably not, since you don’t live here, and don’t see it in person. But believe me, it’s really helped. We’ve had a few windy days since completion, and I’ve had a lot fewer McD’s wrappers tangled within my Rosemary. There was so much trash blown in on these windy New Mexican days, that I just couldn’t keep up with it. I typically pick up trash once a week, when it really needs to be picked up everyday. Apparently the “trashiness” of my yard did not go unnoticed, one of the wall guys politely mentioned that he had hoped all of their trash had been picked up, because they were unsure what trash was already there. Talk about an embarrassing moment. I foresee much yard work in the near future.

Speaking of yard work, last Sunday I went to Wally World with my lovely mother (not the fanciest way to celebrate Mother’s Day, but it suits us), and the good folks over at W-world had all potted plants marked half off! It’s like the little plant fairy’s knew we were coming. And they knew it was a deal my mom and I just couldn’t resist. Certainly a perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day with my gardening loving momma.

Three shopping carts full of plants later, 1 cart for my dear mother, and 2 for me. I ended up with 3 Spanish Brooms, 4 Snowball Bushes, and one green bush that I can’t remember the name of. Plus, several annuals that will go in pots in the front.

Yeah, we may have gone a little overboard, but boy was it fun.  And yes, I am the crazy lady that brings her fancy camera with her to Wal-Mart. You wouldn’t believe the odd looks I got while taking the photo above.

Well, off my fortress of solitude, to untangle wrappers out of my plants!

A Boy Named Dutch

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Remember my muddy $5 oops paint, and what an awful shade of mud it was even after using copious amounts of white paint to lighten it up? Well, after dealing with my muddy test spots for a couple of weeks, I bit the bullet and just painted over them. My kitchen cabinets are now white…again.

{And I just couldn’t resist the self portrait!}

The paint is Dutch Boy’s Bright White, Medium Base, Semi Gloss. And thanks to the cheaper price for a gallon as opposed to a quart, my doors and trim work will now be Dutch Boy Bright White as well.

It’s actually not a bad color in person, and in the day light. The picture makes things look a little minty green, but it really is white. And it went on quite smoothly, and being low VOC it wasn’t too stinky. I may be a Dutch Boy convert.

And speaking of paint (actually paint has nothing to do with it, but I really couldn’t find a good transitional sentence), Bubba (aka my husband) and I celebrated our first married Valentine’s Day together. He gave me the funniest doggie card signed by Annie, Goldie and himself, and these…

And he did the DISHES! Without me asking him too!!! Yes, most women would want something more valentiney for the big V day, but not me. Give me a silly card that makes me laugh, some pretty yellow flowers, and an empty kitchen sink, and I’m happy as a clam. He also made me a yummy dinner, but of course, being the wonderful hubby he is, that happens every night. ( I hope this post earns me some brownie points!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! And if your anti-Valentine’s Day, I hope you were able to adequately avoid the sappiness of the day!

Clear as mud…

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Remember how I had  briefly mentioned my desire to paint the kitchen cabinets with a can of $5 oops paint from Home Depot? And how the color was a little darker than I wanted, and it would be SO easy to lighten it up with a touch of white paint?

Oh how nieve I was….and am.

Saturday, it was cold, and a little snowy out, the perfect day to chip away at my indoor Honey-Do list. (Yes, I make a Honey-Do list for myself. Don’t worry, Bubba has one too.) Somewhere near the top of this list, I hand penciled in an experiment with my oops paint. So, I got out my experimenting bucket, and played chemist.

Here’s my lab…

After pouring my too-dark-for-me oops paint into a clean and unused 5 gallon bucket, and of course after pulling on my white lab coat, stylin’ goggles and rubber gloves (not really), I began stirring a few drops of white paint into the mix.

Hmm…still too dark, and a bit blurry I might add.

So after adding and stirring, adding and stirring, adding and stirring, I ended up using a quart and a half of white paint. Bringing the grand total of this little experiment (so far) to $20. In hindsight, I should have just spent those same twenty smack-a-roos on the paint color I wanted. But then I couldn’t say I was the proud owner of the gallon and a half mud colored paint.

Here’s what it looks like on my cabinet doors.

The picture is dark and distorts the color a little, but believe me, it’s not pretty. I’ve contemplated adding even more white paint to see if that would lighten things up a bit. But after my investment of nearly $20 for “cheap” paint, I may just call it a dud and move on.

Live and learn I guess, oops paint is hit or miss. Unfortunately this time, it was a miss.

But to leave on a positive note, I’ll share one of my favorite hits, at least for this week.

3 jars, and a set of three metal scoops from Wal-Mart. The scoops were 3 bucks for the pack, and the small jars were $3  each while the larger of the three was $4. Not a bad deal, especially since they made me so happy.

Here are my little jars holding cotton balls and q-tips in the bathroom.

Oh and that reminded me, we replaced the old cruddy faucet with a brand new sparkly one.

I’ll be posting about that process soon. Once I find the memory card that has the photos of the grossness. It was nas-TEE. Although, I find myself saying that with every project that requires ripping out the old and putting in the new. Comes with owning a 50+ year old home I suppose.

I hope this post was as clear as mud to all of you!

Hello Pinky…

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Over the long weekend, I thought it would be nice to complete the painting of my bathroom. If you remember correctly, I had started painting ole peachy blue way back in May. Being the procrastinator that I am, I’ve put off completing this little project until now. Actually, to be honest, it’s really not done yet. I still have some cutting in to do, and the cupboard doors still need to be painted. Unfortunately, those are still lime green, completely throwing off my soft blue soothing vibe.

Anywho, the ceiling of the bathroom was still the same old grubby white it was when we bought our little castle. So, off to Home Depot I went to purchase paint for ceiling. Now, being the novice I am, I thought that picking out paint for the ceiling would be a no brainer. I just wanted a boring white ceiling, that wouldn’t grow fun little organisms. A paint by Glidden seemed to fit the bill, it went on pink and dried bright white. Perfect! I would know where I had missed so that none of the old grubby white would show through my pretty new clean white ceiling.

Happily I went a painting, within an hour or so, my ceiling was pink, and slowly turning to white. Had I been thinking like a blogger I would have taking a picture at this point. But unfortunately, I was being very task minded and just wanted to gitter dun. And gitter dun I did. Within another couple of hours, my ceiling was bright white and pretty! I was thrilled! Until the next day, when the morning showers were finished. And I discovered to my horror that bathroom ceilings do not stay dry….

The above picture was taken after the ceiling had time to dry, so it was even pinker before. And no, that’s not something growing on the shower wall, that’s the plastic surround that we are planning on changing out someday. Hopefully soon….

Here you can see the pink spots more clearly.

But I would like to mention that after a week or so the ceiling paint seems to have “aged” so the pink isn’t as abundant. I guess I’ll just have to chalk this up to another home improvement lesson. Paint that goes on pink when wet, but dries white, does not stay white in a bathroom with poor ventilation.