June 2013 – Page 2

Shoulda Been Father’s Day Gift

Published on June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 by Our Humble Abode15 Comments

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father’s Day! Ben is a tough guy to get gifts for. He’s not interested in techy things, doesn’t need dressy clothes, and is extremely practical. Because he mentioned wanting one large item on the family room mantel, I decided to make him a huge painting.

Actually, I came up with the idea after seeing two foot by four foot canvases at Michael’s for 30 bucks. Better yet, I had a 50% off coupon. Inspired by Karen Smidth’s paintings, I set out to make a semi abstract landscape painting based on this photo I took several years ago in western Montana.

We’ve been there several times as a quick weekend getaway and have always really enjoyed ourselves, so it seemed perfect. Using acrylic paints I had in my craft stash, I started painting. Then Ben came home earlier than I expected and saw what I was working on. Luckily, he really liked it, but I’m not totally in love with it.

Some of the details I like. Like the snow-capped mountains and grass.

And the size is great. What seemed huge carrying around the store now looks perfectly normal on the mantel.

The overall look is kind of a minimal abstract mixed with Grandma Moses folksy.

But the colors make me smile and the intended recipent likes it, so that’s what really matters, right?! That’s what I’ll keep telling myself, anyway. Who knows though, it could grow on me. Or I could get the urge to change some things. I didn’t bother painting the sides because I want to build wood frame to finish it off.

And there’s still the ceiling to finish. Ugh, I can’t work up the desire to sand it smooth.

In other news, our bathroom is featured in the current issue of Kitchen + Bath Makeovers!!

Ahh, so crazy to see our faces and home smiling back at us.

Is your guy a tough one to buy for? I considered getting a bocce ball set because we’re building a court out front, but that didn’t seem as personal. Do you have a go to dude gift?

Table Talk & Surprise Giveaway

Published on June 14, 2013June 14, 2013 by Our Humble Abode105 Comments

You know when you see something, something you don’t need, at a thrift store, but buy it anyway? You like it, but don’t know where you’ll put it or what you’ll do with it. I’ve done that a few times, including this not so little sleek wooden table.

For ten bucks, I had to get it, right?

It seemed kind of tall to be a coffee table, but I bought it because I hoped it would work. But my hunch was right, it was taller than most coffee tables.

About four inches tall. And looked awkward.

Of course I have a few options. One, I can cut the legs down a few inches to lower it for use as a coffee table.

Not ideal, but it could work. But I can’t undo that if I don’t like it. So, I can also use it as a low end table.

What would you do with this too tall to be a coffee table but too short to be something else guy? Do I cut the legs down? Because I’m sharing recent ten-dollar purchases, check out this dipped basket I found at TJ Maxx.

Perfect place to drop dirty towels. I bought a slightly larger one for Handy Sammy’s room, too. Can’t pass up a ten-dollar basket. Can you? how about a surprise giveaway to kick off the weekend? Oh, sure, here it is!

The Goods: A Sanus Vuepoint F180 Full Motion TV Wall Mount, available at Wal-Mart.

To Enter: Leave a comment!

For additional entries:

1. Like Our Humble Abode on Facebook.

Contest Closes: Thursday, June 20th, 2013.

Number of Winners: One lucky guy or gal.

Ships: US of A only, please.

Other Info: We will select the winners using random.org and announce on Friday, June 21st. Good night and good luck.

Getting Preppy

Published on June 12, 2013June 12, 2013 by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Finally having the ugly popcorn off the boys ceiling feels great, but that was the easy part. The texture came off rather smoothly and easily, but that doesn’t mean the ceiling is primer or paint worthy. Because we’ve had a few ‘what to do after scraping’ questions, I’m back to share my steps. Our sheet rock is held in place with nails (the quick way to hang it) and every nail hole needed filling.

A few areas had scrapes from my spatula and some minor popcorn residue was still on the ceiling. Before I could break out the primer, I first filled every nail hole (twice), filled in any scratches, then sanded the whole ceiling smooth. I started with a drywall pole sander (like this one) but quickly got frusterated with it.

Lacking serious upper arm strength, I couldn’t keep the sander head flat on the ceiling with enough pressure to do much. Instead, it kept flipping over, causing more damage. So I ditched it, filled in the scratches from it, and used a sanding sponge to get ‘er done. Oh, and I taped off the door to contain the dusty mess. Also, wear glasses and a mask because the dust is everywhere.

Use a fine grit paper and sand until smooth to the touch. Carefully, sanding through the tape can be a serious pain in the butt. Drywall mud should sand easily off, as will the popcorn residue.

Sanding drywall, it’s a dirty job (said as Mike Rowe).

It was annoying to use a small sanding block, moving a chair all around the room, but it’s done. Even primed and painted. Looking gloriously smooth.

Unfortunately for me, the ceiling wasn’t the only wall needing attention, sanding, and spackling. I’m 99% sure the two outside walls had wall paper. Wall paper was all over this house: the kitchen, previously in the family room and guest room (found pieces behind outlet covers), and some painted over in our master bedroom (which will make it super easy to remove, I’m sure). Either this paper really stuck on or someone was especially careless when removing, leaving big triangular gouges behind. That’s bound to happen. Then the chunks were filled, but apparently not sanded before painting over. Behind Everett’s crib was the worst spot.

So I’m currently tending to the walls before we can prime and paint. First I used a metal putty knife to scrape off the uneven areas, filled, sanded, even primed the problem areas. But the moisture of the primer made the surrounding paint bubble. I scraped again, making the area larger, sanding smooth, and filling again with mud. Annoyingly, the wet mud made more paint bubble. You guessed it, more scraping, sanding, and filling. Now I’ve got this to work with:

Hopefully (key word here!) I’ve gotten the flaky paint off and I can carry on with my plans. Which should include new door trim, crown, and base boards before a few coats of Anjou Pear paint.

It’s exciting to take another virtually untouched since we’ve moved in room and make it ‘us’. Kind of getting sick of feeling like I’m living in someone else’s house, you know what I mean? So tell me, what’s the strangest thing a previous home owner has done to your house? Something that has you wondering, “why in the world did that happen?!”

Pop Off Popcorn

Published on June 10, 2013June 10, 2013 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Disclaimer: Before I get to the details, it’s super important to know if your ceiling has asbestos. You can buy a test kit to do yourself, or call a professional to check. If your ceiling tests positive for asbestos, leave this job to the pros. If your ceiling doesn’t have asbestos, read on.

As I mentioned last week, scraping the popcorn off our ceiling was easier than I expected. Lucky for us, these ceilings hadn’t been painted over, allowing the texture to absorb more water. If you’ve got a ceiling you want to smooth, get a weed sprayer, wide metal spatula, hot water, and white vinegar. You’ll also want safety glasses or goggles, a mask, and probably a hat.

If your floors are finished (or just for easy clean up), tape plastic over floors and finished walls. Fill the weed sprayer with the hottest water you can get from your faucet. No need to boil or anything, just hot. Add in vinegar. I poured about 1 to 1 1/2 cups in the sprayer. Start spraying the ceiling and don’t be stingy! Note, I’m not sure if the vinegar really helped because I didn’t do a side by side test, but vinegar did help with wall paper removal…

Spray a large area (the wet areas should be noticeably different from the dry ceiling – see along the back wall?), then test scrape. If it comes off easily, keep on going. Be careful to have your spatula at an angle so you don’t gouge the sheet rock below.

If it doesn’t come off, spray again, let it soak a few minutes then try. If your ceilings are painted, scraping the outermost layer off to expose fresh texture, then spraying again could really help.

Also, when you come up to a taped seam, scrape along it, not against it. This way you won’t tear the tape leaving a cracked ceiling behind. I worked toward the center, leaving my light up. When I got close, I pulled down the canopy, covered the electrical box with plastic, carefully sprayed around the box, and scraped off the rest.

Clean up was pretty easy thanks to the protective plastic layer, but the water did loosen the tape in some spots. After rolling up the sheeting, I hauled the shop vac in to get the rest off the floors.

The actual scraping took only an hour, which is about 23 shorter than I expected. Ha! Now I’ve got to fill a few holes to get ready for paint, which is always the tedius part.

Gimme a Giveaway: Super Sweet Life

Published on June 7, 2013July 2, 2013 by Our Humble Abode123 Comments

This giveaway is closed. Thanks for entering! See who won here.

Jeez, this year is already almost half over. Can you believe it? Usually January seems to be the time to get organized, but June is a good time, too. And Super Sweet Life can help you get there.

Maybe you need a set of completely custom pantry labels to whip your kitchen into shape? You tell Laura exactly what you want and need. Text, sizes, everything for a perfect fit.

Don’t forget to label those spices while you’re at it.

Of course you can label anything, anywhere else in your home.

While we’re focusing on the kitchen, get your hands on a $50 Williams Sonoma gift card, provided by the Wilsonart Social Media Team.

The Goods: A $50 credit good for or toward anything in the Super Sweet Life shop and a $50 Williams Sonoma gift card from the Wilsonart Social Media Team.

To Enter: Leave a comment, which can (but doesn’t have to) include our Just for Fun question.

Just for Fun: Tell us your one thing you’d love to have in your dream kitchen. Fancy appliances? A new layout? Custom lighting?

For additional entries:

1. Like Super Sweet Life on Facebook.

2. Like Our Humble Abode on Facebook.

Contest Closes: Thursday, June 27th, 2013.

Number of Winners: One lucky guy or gal.

Ships: Anywhere on planet earth!

Other Info: We will select the winners using random.org and announce on Friday, June 28th. Good night and good luck.