Whomp Whomp Take 2

Darn this house and its water issues that cost lots of money. My roof is drippy. I need to get it replaced before it gets snowy. I suppose it's an ok thing that I procrastinated on putting more insulation in my attic after doing the foam insulation because I was able to discover the leak before it damaged my ceilings. I heard the water dripping against the foam, which I wouldn't have heard with other insulation (cellulose or fiberglass).

So my next project will be hiring someone to replace the plywood and shingles for my roof. I need to meet my neighbors who just moved into the other 1/2 of the duplex to see if they are having similar issues so we can get it done at the same time.  Half roofs can be done, but getting it all done would probably be better.

Then, I'll get to add more insulation to my attic like I've needed to for a while.

In other news, I got nail guns today. Another step in the direction of new baseboards!

New Leaf Compost

It's FALL! The leaves have fallen and it's getting cooler.

This past weekend the temperature was just right to spend some time outside cleaning up some of those fallen leaves. Most of my neighborhood raked or blew their leaves to the curb... or more likely bagged the leaves and put them at the street. The city's loud truck came through and sucked them up to hopefully turn them into mulch and compost on a much larger scale than I will.
My next door neighbor and I put our leaves in my compost bin, but that quickly filled, so I put together a new leaf-only compost bin. The leaves were slightly damp from the drizzly weather we've been having, but it's good to make sure that the pile is damp throughout. I used my chainlink fence as one side of the pile and had some plastic plant posts (whoa there alliteration) and chicken wire to make the other 3 sides. I secured 3 of the posts and left one side open to rake most of my leaves and neighbor's leaves into the pile. When it got too high to rake more into it. I secured the last side with one of the posts and used an old recycling bin to put the rest of the leaves over the top.
Here's what my bins look like after some more rain and gravity settling a few days.

Slow Bathroom Remodel: Pulling faucets

I have ordered a new showerhead and faucets for my bathtub... and thus, the slow bathroom remodel continues. In an effort to find out the current set-up of the faucet, I tried to remove the old handles. Since nothing is easy in my house, I couldn't just remove the cover and the screw. No, I had to get a Faucet Puller. This corkscrew like tool is helpful when the old handles are corroded to the water connection.

Not a torture device

despite its looks

It took a little maneuvering to get the puller situated correctly. I held the two "arms" in place so that they stayed behind the handle while I turned the screw part... and the handle just popped off. Earlier, I had tried pulling on the handle itself, but it was more likely to pull the whole pipe unit instead of only the handle. It was definitely worth the $10 I spent on it.

Now, I just wait until my new faucet comes and I have a free day to work on it.

and this sucker will be gone forever

Another Ceiling Fan

One day I'll be able to install a ceiling fan from start to finish without a ton of issues, but this time and last time were not the time...

I FINALLY got my spare room ceiling fan installed correctly. It's been functional for a while, but was not connected to the light switch. I had connected black and blue fan wires to the electrical box black live wire, and the white fan wire to the electrical box white wire. Well... turns out, in my house, the electrical box red live wire is the one that is connected to the switch, so the black and blue wires need to be connected to that instead. The electrical smoke detector needed to be connected to the black live wire, but I had to remove that anyway because it was too close to the fan. It took me many adjustments to get this fan up over the span of months, but I was determined to fix it today and Amanda was great enough to hang out with me (and hand me screws) so that I could do it.

I have a rule that I can't do electrical stuff without someone else around (ya know, that whole possibly electrocuting yourself safety thing). I'm just glad I had the motivation to fix it when I had someone over today.

FYI - fan manuals don't tell how to hook up the wires, but this website was helpful.

Little Fan for Little Room

The joys of living attached

I live in a side-by-side duplex, which makes my place an "attached" house/dwelling. For months the other 1/2 of the duplex has been unoccupied. The owners decided they would try to sell it and the renters moved out. I didn't notice much difference because normally I can only hear people in the other side going up and down the stairs.
I'm not sure if the house has been sold or not (pesky bad housing market), but for the past week or two, people have been renovating the home during the daytime. I only knew this because there was a bathtub in the front yard one evening, and more recently, I have seen the people wrapping up their days' work around the time I get home.

I was teleworking yesterday and all day they were making a racket. I was fairly certain it was the same racket I made 2 years prior... sure enough they were sanding the floors. Luckily for me, no one was living in that half when I was sanding floors since a large amount of my sanding was done while burning the midnight oil. (btw- I'm just using the expression. I know my house was a disaster, so I feel compelled to clarify that I did, in fact, have electricity).

I came home last night to a familiar potent scent that must have permeated through the fire wall. Oh joys!

This is a PSA to be careful when using sealant because if I was able to smell it strongly through cinder blocks, it's evident that it's extremely potent!

And I'm back... with ART!

I haven't blogged for the mere fact that I haven't actually done much work on the house. I have done more garden maintenance and started patching some holes/cracks in drywall, but nothing worth blogging about. And I've been out of town a lot attending weddings and helping out family. Besides, a single girl deserves a break from breaking nails sometimes!

One of my great friends gave me a book that had instructions about how to use CD jewel cases to make wall art. The short of it is you use the jewel cases as a frame to have cool textured art. The long of it is:

1. Find a picture you want to use (mine is from a trip I took to Scotland)
2. Use this program to divide the picture into the sizes you want. I did it differently and learned about this potentially better way afterward (see trials below)
3. Print the pdf doc from the program
4. Cut out pictures
5. Insert pictures into CD cases
6. Use velcro to attach cases to the wall

My Woes - I decided to pay for a custom-size poster of the picture to then cut up into the appropriate size for the CD cases. I got the poster from the online company and it was not, in fact, the size I ordered. I wasn't going to waste it though, so I made a smaller, non-rectangular piece of art.
If you think you may try this with some of your old CD jewel cases, here's a good resource.

A backhanded insult is a good thing. (Especially since I'm used to getting picked on)

People often ask the status of my house, especially when I don't blog for a while. Well this time, I haven't blogged mainly because I haven't done much on the house recently. I did finish painting the downstairs ceiling so that it's the same white as the kitchen ceiling (which isn't much of a blog post except the warning to take breaks for your neck). Otherwise I've been tending to the garden and traveling.

That said, when discussing future plans for my house, a new friend decided to pick on me a bit... kind of a "backhanded insult" if I may.
Friend: "Your house gets so much love from you..... think if I was your boyfriend, I'd be jealous of your house. All that love and care and attention."
My Response: "I wouldn't say that. It gets more abuse than I'd give a boyfriend. Unfortunately, for the house it often gets worse before it gets better... and based on how poorly it was treated before me, the house probably has a lot of emotional baggage"

Puts a new meaning to Domestic Violence.

UPDATE:
After reading the blog post, my friend continued the analogy: "It's a good sign....if you pour this much of you into investing in a valuable, but inanimate object, when you find the right guy (valuable and animate), it'll be that much more fun.
And you'll be used to the relationship....breaking down walls, replacing old things/habits, dealing with old baggage, and making things (the guy) look presentable for company"

haha... and it kept going, but you can get the idea.

Apparently I'm getting a rep!

A friend made this comment to me:

"how was your weekend? [...] did you build a second house on top of your current house, or whatever crazy carpentry you do"

not my house... the post needed an image :)

Just a reminder to stop and smell the roses

Whoa there flowers!

The flowers my mom gave me last year were nice last year, but this year they are beautiful and all of the plants are huge. The border lilies are just starting to bloom. Last year they had a bloom or two per plant but this year there are two or three blooms per plant and in some places more than one plant growing.
The knockouts that survived last year are doing wonderfully. One of them has 23 open blooms on it and even more than that in closed buds.

Also I must recommend Michigan Bulb Company. That's where my mom bought the plants for me. Since I had problems with the knockout roses and one of my hydrangea bushes last year, they sent me new ones this year. They actually sent more than the number that died, which was a nice bonus to receive.

The columbine plants aren't at their full bloom in these pictures. They were much more colorful last week. They're huge though. In the picture below, it's the tall plant behind the rose bush.

The geraniums (bluish purple flowers) should get more blooms later in the summer, but are looking nice already.

The very front of my yard

Veggie-garden taking shape

 About a month ago a friend came to help me get and haul forty pound bags of top soil to fill my raised bed. He helped me layer the soil with compost and peat moss to make this beautiful garden. We also used some of the compost from my bin and turned the rest. Thanks Steve! While we were working in my garden, my neighbor inquired about what I was planting and when I told him vegetables, he offered to share some seeds a friend had given him, so I started my 2nd round of seedlings (basil, thyme, peppers, and rosemary)

partially filled (April)

Since the likelihood of frost had passed, I planted my lettuce seeds toward the front of the garden; peas and sunflower seeds went in the back. A couple of weeks later some people at my work were selling seedlings for a fundraiser, so I bought 15 seedlings for $5. I bought mostly tomatoes (4 different varieties) and peppers (both bell and spicy). I also picked up some cilantro and basil. When I planted those, I added a row of carrots. I also planted seeds of the jelly-bean-tomatoes and eggplants that I wasn't able to get to grow as seedlings. I planted some okra too. And to round it all off, last week I got a seedling of a Thai green eggplant from my farm share. I'm still hoping to find a stevia plant somewhere. I'll call some local nurseries this weekend to try to track one down. Anyway, a month after filling, see the picture below of the status.

My animals examining hydrangea bushes.
Sunflowers and the peas are in the garden.

Lettuce and other plants
protected by poultry fencing (May)

SLIDESHOW - Kitchen Remodel Process

Remodel of the Kitchen
My initial demo Interior wall demo No wall or ceiling More demolition Widened doorway Looking into dining room Firewall between Duplex units Some drywall is up Still drywalling Breakfast bar shaping up Cabinets in place New Pantry Breakfast bar with counter Final Result from back door Final Result Fridge-side Final Result from dining room Final Result breakfast bar

List of items to pick for kitchen remodel

About halfway through the kitchen remodel process I realized that there were still a lot more things and details I needed to select. Below is a list of the obvious and the not so obvious selectable kitchen items/details. I have included some of the options (my choices are italicized) and comments in parenthesis.

1. Cabinets
1. Finish (stained, stained and glazed, painted)
2. Style
3. Features - (i.e pull-out shelving, trash can cabinet, soft-close cabinets/drawers)
4. Dimensions (I hope you have measuring tape) and locations
2. Cabinet handles (pulls or knobs or both?! color/finish)
3. Cabinet handle placement
4. Flooring type (tile, wood, laminate, vinyl)
5. Flooring layout
6. Grout color
7. Back splash (which includes layout and grout color if you use tile for your back splash. By the way... there are a lot of creative back splash ideas out there, so don't feel as if you should limit yourself to tile.)
8. Appliances - in addition to location, brand, and color there are options for each type
1. Refrigerator (side-by-side, bottom freezer, ice maker, water dispenser)
2. Oven (convection, storage/warming/baking drawer, gas or electric, 4 or 5 burners)
3. Dishwasher (hidden buttons, adjustable racks, smart dispense detergent - yes that exists)
4. Microwave (on counter/above stove/in cabinet, if one of the latter two then how vented)
9. Paint Color(s)
10. Counter top (Granite, Quartz, Wood)
11. Edging for the counter top (half bull-nose, bull-nose, flat, beveled)
12. Sink (double, D-shape, square - depends on the size of cabinet you can fit)
13. Faucet (there are a ridiculous number of faucet styles that vary on the number of holes they use, the finish, the height)
14. Disposal
15. Disposal on/off (switch or button)
16. Light switch and outlet colors (yes, these come in different colors)
17. Light switch and outlet cover colors, size, and style
18. Under-cabinet lights (how many, if any, and which cabinets)
19. Overhead lights (recessed, fixtures, fan)
20. Floor transitions into other rooms (type of wood or metal)

 I hope that knowing these details will help you with future decisions and budgeting. All of these choices have a cost associated with them, so it would be good for you to research these things and prioritize so you know where to invest your money. For instance, I heard the recommendation that the things you interact with the most, like the faucet, would be where you should invest your money.

Bluetape punch list

Earlier in the week that my contractors actually finished my kitchen, they informed me that they would be done with my kitchen on that Thursday. On Wednesday I made my final punch list for them to make sure that everything got done. The punch list wasn't a list on paper though. I wrote directly on blue painters tape and put it exactly at the area they needed to fix. [Note - this tip is only useful if you do not have walls and cabinets painted blue tape blue. And to follow that, another tip... don't paint your walls and cabinets blue tape blue :) hehe, just kidding. If you do, use tan masking tape.]

I have posted some pictures of my "on tape punch list." All of  my items got done, so I'd claim it to be a successful tactic.

"needs grout"

"make flush" (the fridge was not in the right place)

no explanation needed... just an arrow to show the crappy job

"caulk"

Great luck getting appliances (eventually)!

Picking appliances was THE HARDEST thing I had to do when I was picking things for my kitchen. There are so many types! There are so many brands! They're expensive!

I browsed the web, checked consumer reports, and went to stores trying to figure out what appliances I wanted to buy. I wanted to get all of the same brand because then all of the handles would match. It seemed like the best options for all black appliances would be to get the GE profile series. My contractors were able to get a pretty good discount through one of the vendors they know, so I just needed to decide which ones to buy (i.e. 5 burner stove vs 4?). I swung by a Bray and Scarff store because I was told they carried the brand. They had some of the products in stock, but it was still really difficult to decide.

Well, I ended up getting REALLY lucky. I was given tickets to a home and garden show, so one of my friends and I went. There ended up being a Bray and Scarff booth there and I noticed they had displayed a GE profile dishwasher, so I wanted to show her the handles so that I could show her my ideas for cabinet pulls later. The manager of one of the stores, being the sales person that he is, asked me if I could use some help and I mentioned I was interested in the GE profile appliances. He proceeded to tell me about the deal that they were running (yeah, yeah... I know that sounds like a "sale line" but this post proves that it is worth hearing them out). I already knew that GE was having a $500 rebate on 4 GE profile appliances - and I needed (1) oven, (2) fridge, (3) dishwasher, (4) microwave - so that didn't impress me much. Then he told me that Bray and Scarff was doing their own $500 rebate... he got my attention. $1,000 rebate sounds good... but would it just end up being a wash with the prices that I already had been quoted? I kept listening... "AND if you make put down a deposit today you'll get the deal that we're offering until 6pm tonight of 20% off." (I know what you're thinking... "sales people, they always have a 'limited time only' deal to force you to make a decision." Keep reading). He continued with "the deposit is 100% refundable." No catches?! Wow! He also told me that most of the delivery costs would be refunded through a rebate. Seriously. It gets better though... We started to pick out the potential appliances I would like and he gave me price quotes right there on the spot... and he took off even more than the 20%!!!

Being the cautious person I am, I was racking my brain for a reason not to put a deposit down that day. The only thing I was concerned about at that point was that I wasn't quite sure what dishwasher and oven I wanted. The manager continued to assuage by fears and said that I didn't have to make the decision that day. He just needed the 10% deposit (that was entirely refundable if for some reason I didn't want an awesome deal) and that I could tell him my final decisions when he ordered them.

Ok the post is getting pretty long, but here are the bullet points of the rest of the reasons this manager at Bray and Scarff is amazing:

1. He called me to let me know about the upgraded oven that I could get for the same price as a different one he had quoted me. I got a convection oven! Fancy!
2. When I didn't get my receipts in the mail in enough time to do the rebates before I left for vacation he did them for me. Let me say that again, he filled out my rebate forms for me! I mean, THAT is customer service. It was probably a mistake on their part that the receipts hadn't been sent earlier, but he made up for it 150%. And I have already gotten all of my rebate money.
3. The handle of the oven has a slight defect and they're ordering a new one for me and will set up a time for it to be replaced when it gets in.

It's refreshing to work with someone who goes out of their way to help. Readers in the DC metro area, contact me for information about this Bray and Scarff store\sales person.

Be the obnoxious homeowner

As my contractors were doing the kitchen there were things that I wondered about, but just assumed would be fixed by the end. For instance, when I first saw the floor tiling job, I thought that the tiles seemed a little uneven. At that moment I should have pointed it out and said, "I hope you plan to make those flush." Well, I didn't and they didn't. Many people probably wouldn't notice or care, but as a person who doesn't like to wear shoes, I can feel the unevenness of my kitchen tiles when I walk across them.

Tips: Pay attention to the details, ask questions, insist that everything is done just as you want.

Want to remodel? plan plan plan!

It's no surprise that remodeling a kitchen is a huge undertaking, even if you are not doing the work yourself. And it's all the more important if you are not doing the work yourself to plan plan plan.

Beginning was easy for me... I had a general vision of what I wanted, but a lot of it was hypothetical. I knew I wanted to partially open up the wall between the dining room and the kitchen if I could - (see there's a hypothetical). I also knew I wanted the kitchen to still look traditional to match the house, which was built in the 50s. I also knew I liked the look of raised panels as opposed to flat cabinets. I also like glazed cabinets, which tend to cost more, but I like that it gives them more depth.
It seems like I already had a lot planned, but those are only a few of the details you need to figure out for kitchen planning.


I received solicited and unsolicited advice about what what I should do with the kitchen. I liked listening to people's ideas. I'm the type of person who will listen to a lot of options and quickly weigh pros and cons in order to make my decision. I also know when I've made my final decision and am very careful to be clear about when I'm still in the "decision making process" and when I've made my final decision. Word of advice - If you don't want unsolicited advice, just politely let your friends know that it's something you would like to do yourself. However, I encourage you to use your resources... I asked certain people pointed questions (i.e. about brands of appliances that they have) and that's extremely useful to limit choices. But remember, the final decision is yours.

Anyway, I had the "privilege" of my kitchen already being partially demolished, so it was more simple to uncover obstacles. For instance, since I didn't have any cabinets it was fairly simple to use my crowbar, hammer, and studfinder with electricity alert (safety first) to find out what was behind the kitchen wall. Low and behold, the exact spot that I would like to open up the wall had duct work and plumbing. There were 33 inches of space near the exterior wall and about 24 inches near the doorway that didn't have ducts or plumbing. Tricky.

I used that information to go to Home Depot to come up with a kitchen design that would maximize storage space, but allow for natural light to come in from the dining room. Here are what my plans became (note - they're slightly different than the final product b/c I figured out an option that would be cheaper and would create more space)

These are only a couple of the views of the Home Depot design. I recommend doing this part of the process with Home Depot, Lowes, or some cabinet-maker either with your contractor or even before finding a contractor... just don't leave it up to your contractor to do alone. This way you can pick the cabinets you like and start to match appliances, tile, counter tops, paint, etc. 

So do a lot of measurements  and plan (1) design, (2) color scheme, and (3) appliances - type and size.

If you are unsure about plumbing, electrical, or gas be sure to discuss with a contractor before buying any items.

More curtains

My spare room has been curtain-less for a while. I've had blinds up for a while, but a lot of light still enters the room in the morning making it hard for my guests to sleep in. I have been working toward getting the room more guest friendly, yet maintaining it as my office. I bought a futon and made a cover for it (the covers made for it were BORING... sorry IKEA, but props on the quality futon)

It looks even cooler in person! The dog looks even sillier in person.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, but didn't manage to make curtains until more recently (I made this futon cover in December). I had extra futon fabric, so I decided I would spice up the curtains by adding some striped fabric to the curtains to help tie the whole room together. They required a lot of ironing in order to get everything to lay correctly and it was really hard to make sure that they would look even enough. They're definitely not perfect, but I'm pleased with how they turned out.

Next spare room project: finally hang ceiling fan!

Seedlings fail

Well I meant to do a post about my seedlings a long time ago. It's a good thing I didn't because I'd still need to do this post that would pretty much make any prior post obsolete. My seedlings ended up dying before I was able to plant them outside. I suspect that after they sprouted I watered them too much and the roots couldn't get a good hold. Now that there's not a chance of a frost I will throw some jelly bean tomato seeds (a small tomato variety) and eggplant seeds in my garden to see if they'll grow. I have started a 2nd batch of seedlings... this time of basil, thyme, peppers, and rosemary. One of my neighbors gave them to me when he saw me preparing my raised garden bed. I'm trying the every-day-spray-bottle method so I don't over-water them. It may be slightly more time consuming, but it's a good hand workout and will be worth it if they don't die prematurely.

Has anyone out there had success using egg cartons as seedling starters? I read that they work and I like reusing "trash," but I fear there are problems with them.

I made my own little labels with toothpicks and post-its covered with tape. That did work well. - minor victory.

Picking a contractor and a picture as requested

I had to take a couple of deep breaths before beginning this post. First I'll say that on the surface my kitchen looks great (and it's a drastic improvement from what it was... not that that was much of a feat). But I needed to take deep breaths because the process of getting it from

that

to this

was a frustrating challenge. 

Picking a contractor - It's best to go with recommendations from others. I had a couple of recommended contractors come to my place to see the kitchen, to get basic cost estimates, and to get a feeling about them. The first thing I learned is that contractors are unlikely to give cost estimates on an initial visit... and for good reason. They don't yet know the homeowners and their tastes. There are some people who have extremely expensive tastes so an estimate for them is very different than for a thrifty person. Soon I'll be doing a post on "planning for a remodel" that will contain a list of things to price out, but when you meet with a contractor, I recommend at least getting an estimate on the labor costs. More on that in a later post.

Even though they were recommended, some of the contractors just rubbed me the wrong way. There was something that set off an internal alarm that screamed "No. Don't hire them." Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with the contractors I ended up hiring. When I first met them, I had a pretty good feeling about them. They had been recommended to me by a friend whose friend had their kitchen redone. The friend of a friend was pleased with their work. Maybe the contractors did a better job on that kitchen, but it's also possible that their standard for "acceptable" is different than mine. So my second recommendation is get a recommendation from someone you know whose kitchen you can physically go into and look around to ensure quality work was done. It might not ensure quality work on your kitchen, but it's a start. (I'm not going to get into the young, single female discrimination possibility in these posts; even though it hovers in my mind, I have no proof).

Working with contractor

Quality is very important, but another problem with my contractors is that I didn't feel like they listened to me much of the time. It's really hard to gauge what a working relationship will be like with a specific contractor until you actually get started on the project. I suggest you take at least one of my two recommendations about working with contractors:

1. If you start to have issues with them later in the process... drop them! The scenario: I told the contractors about my design preferences so they could start working with the cabinet guy to design my kitchen. They came back to me with 3 designs later and they were not what I was looking for. I sat down with them again to go over ideas and the next set of designs were also missing key components. RED FLAG. They hadn't listened to me. (Which proved to be a continual problem in the process. Later, I even tried to compensate for their lack of listening by repeating myself multiple times AND putting it in writing... It didn't help.) The end of this scenario is that I went to the cabinet guy and did the design work with him myself. And unfortunately, I ignored the red flag; I felt bad since they had put in time starting the design process (albeit, unsuccessfully due to their lack of listening... I shouldn't have felt bad a/b not having them do the work) and I didn't want to delay the time-line and would have only had a couple of weeks to find a good, new contractor (I know now that it would have been better to forget the time-line and find someone who will listen to you). I hadn't signed a contract at that point so I had no obligation to them. Also, make sure the contract you sign is specific (i.e. costs per task) and that there is some way for you to get out of it prior to the end of completion if you are not satisfied with their work (i.e. some sort of prorate by task payment and reevaluation).
2. Micromanage. When there are warning signs that they are not listening to you or doing quality work, start to micromanage. Give them lists of what you want done and make it clear they will have to redo it if it doesn't suit you. Inspect every step of everything they do. Be a hard-ass and be specific. I didn't do this for 3 reasons: I hadn't planned enough (Plugging my future post again b/c planning is really important), I trusted the contractors to know better than me (however, "knowing" isn't the same as "caring") and assumed the final product would have all things fixed that I thought were wrong along the way, and I was on vacation for part of the remodel. I don't regret taking vacation when the remodel was going on because there can be a decent amount of dust and if I'm going to eat out all of the time, I would prefer to do it away... I mainly regret not getting competent contractors. 

This post has the potential of getting entirely too long, but now you see why I said I'm doing a series of posts about the kitchen remodel process.

Let's revisit the old kitchen...

Here's what I saw when I first looked at the house:

Here's the state of the kitchen I lived with for a year and a half... after the cabinets fell off the wall.

Here's when I put a large hole in the wall - pre-demolition demolition

Check your furnace

Working with contractors has proved to be difficult as my following posts will explain. My house is not their living space, so they only care about it so much (if they were ranked on a "caring likert scale" I'd have them hovering between "not at all" to "little"). Well, early on in the demolition phase of my kitchen the electrician did some of his tinkering. He most likely had to shut off the breaker box to cut all of the power. I'm 100% in favor of taking safety precautions. The last thing anyone wants is a toasted electrician in their house.

My caution to homeowners is: When having any sort of electrical work done, be sure to check your furnace daily. I woke up in the middle of the night extremely cold (I'm lucky construction started in March and not December or January), but I heard my furnace running. I forced myself to face the freezing air to figure out the problem. The thermostat on the main floor was set at its normal temperature. I ventured to the even colder basement to check out the furnace itself. Turns out that at some point that day, the pilot light was extinguished. Even though the furnace was running, it wasn't heating the house.

It's a simple fix, but not something I would recommend having to do in the middle of a cold night. I've added the fix below in case someone would like to know how to light a pilot light.



How To Light a Furnace Pilot Light

The pilot light on a gas furnace can go out because of drafts. To relight the pilot, follow the manufacturer's instructions exactly; they are usually fastened to the furnace. If instructions for relighting the pilot are not provided, follow this general procedure:

Step 1: Find pilot light assembly. It typically has a gas valve with on, off, and pilot settings.
Step 2: Turn valve to off and wait three minutes.

I recommend using one of these

Step 3: Switch valve to pilot setting. Hold lighted match  or lighter to pilot opening while you push reset button on pilot control panel. Keep this button depressed until pilot flame burns brightly, then set valve to on position.
Step 4: If pilot flame won't stay lit, opening may be clogged. Turn gas valve off, and clean opening with piece of fine wire. If it won't stay lit after several attempts, you may have faulty thermocouple. If pilot flame still won't stay lit, call professional service person.

Some furnaces have an electrical system to ignite the gas; in these systems there is no pilot light. Instead, an electric element heats up and ignites the burners. If this electric ignition system malfunctions, call a professional service person.

(source: http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-repair-gas-furnaces2.htm)

Toasting the new kitchen

Cheers!

The kitchen is done! I'm not even sure where to begin in the process of setting it up, but it felt appropriate to toast it with some Shocktop the night the contractors cleared out their stuff marking it complete. My friend Allison came over to see the transformation and was willing to cheers! She also played a game with me to try to help me with organizing the kitchen. I'll call it "natural inclination." Here's how it's played:

1. Preferably played in an unstocked kitchen.
2. Visitor walks from dining room into kitchen (or whatever the adjoining room to the kitchen is).
3. As visitor crosses into the kitchen, the homeowner tells the visitor, "you are looking for ____." The blank represents something common you would find in a kitchen (i.e. a cup for water, a colander, spices).
4. The visitor uses his/her natural inclination to find said item and in turn helps the homeowner begin the organization process.

I probably should have put "game" in quotes b/c there's no prize/winner/points, but in my defense for the lack of reward... it was her idea and I gave her a beer so no criticism. :) Seriously, though... props to Allison for the idea.

This is just the glimpse of the new kitchen, but I need to organize the kitchen and then will continue the kitchen remodel blog post series.

New Vanity!

The slow bathroom remodel continues. As I said in a previous post I'm keeping the black and white tiles in my bathroom. I've been working on the walls, but I knew that if I got a vanity that would force me to do some more painting.
Here's what I wanted in a new vanity:

• Storage space
• Black counter with white sink (matchy match the floor)
• 8 inch spread faucet for easy cleaning (chrome to match the shower rod)
• Open bottom shelf so it won't block the vent
• Sliding doors
• Adjustable feet b/c I suspected the floor would not be even (Boy was I right?!)

That vanity doesn't exist as a stock item, so I laid down some cash to buy a nice granite countertop and to pay someone to build a sink cabinet to fit. A friend helped me out to get the granite and recommended a carpenter. He did a great job! He built it just to my specifications, delivered it, and even came back later to help me hook up the plumbing after I painted the walls and the cabinet.

Lessons learned:

1. Prep the area so that the vanity is flush with the wall or the sidesplash and backsplash may not fit (I'll have to do some readjusting before I secure those in place)
2. I read that 36 inch height vanities are becoming more and more common because people are getting taller. It may just take some getting used to, but 36 feels awfully tall at first. 34 or 35 height may have been better for my small space.
3. Speaking of small space - if you have a tiny bathroom, go with a shallower counter space and smaller sink. If I were to do it again, I would have done 20 inch depth instead of 24; 15 inch width sink instead of 17.

On the bright side - I have a decent amount of storage space in the bathroom now, even after getting rid of the medicine cabinet.

New Vanity

Kitchen completion excitement!

As I posted before, I hired contractors to remodel my kitchen and plan to do a blog series on the process. It's nearing completion! I've snapped some pictures to show to my mom and a few friends.

In response to the new kitchen pictures, one friend commented: "remember when you bought a quasi-hovel, and now increased your home value by a crap-ton?" 

That makes me happy. Yay progress!

Buh-bye bathroom hole in the wall

I haven't quite completed the drywall in my bathroom, but I did at least put a new piece in to fix the hole in my last bathroom post. Since they had cut out the studs in order to put in the medicine cabinet, I had to put new wood in the wall in order to have something to attach the new drywall to.

I bought mildew/mold resistant drywall and cut a piece to fit. I drilled holes in the new "studs" and attached the drywall with some drywall screws. Here's a preliminary picture before using any joint compound. I haven't finished the seams so I'll have to post that picture later.

Upcoming blog series: Kitchen Renovation!

I've been slammed the past few months preparing for kitchen renovation. Demolition starts today!
I plan to do a series of blog posts devoted to the whole kitchen reno process including finding contractors, designing, picking materials, etc. Hopefully my experience will help yours go more smoothly. I probably won't post anything until mid to late April when the whole process is complete, but I wanted to update my readers that there is progress on the homefront even though I haven't been blogging.

To get an idea of what I've been doing... I did a little demo myself in late January so that I could find out what was in the wall in order to finish design. Here's my handiwork:

More plastic in the wall

I removed the medicine cabinet in the bathroom because it was old and gross and had three panels, which meant 3 small mirrors instead of a decent sized one.

Per normal, whoever installed this mirror decided the best way to install the mirror would be to shove plastic bags and plastic painting drop cloths in the wall beside it and, you guessed it, caulk around it. There were at least 3 drop clothes, and they did have paint on them in case you were wondering. They put some small strips of drywall around the mirror to fill in some of the gaps, but the whole thing was another shoddy job. 

My bathroom has been a really slow remodel. Progress update - I'll post a/b putting in drywall where the mirror used to be, but I've also acquired a black granite counter top, nice faucet, and sink cabinet is in progress of being built!

Hole in the wall... no more plastic bags. Odd cement stuff next to the partial stud

Valentine's Day Find

I came down with a killer cold on Friday and even though I had rested all weekend, I felt worse and stayed home from work on Monday. I decided that maybe a little more movement would help so I took a trip to the grocery store to get some brothy soup. Since the weather was so beautiful on that Valentine's Day and I thought the fresh air would do me some good, I swung by Home Depot to pick up some seeds to start seedlings for my garden. [I'll post more on the seedlings later.] As I was in the process of planting the seeds, my dog was trying to get me to play with him. Now... his normal M.O. for play time is (1) get toy (2) place toy on owner (3) stand back and stare/prance/whine until she throws toy. Well, I could tell that the item rolling down my back was not his tennis ball and lo-and-behold! it was a teletubby!

Nothing says Valentine's Day like a dirty teletubby. Thanks, Dog!