Home Improvement

Simple Solution: Brokeback…

Published on August 16, 2012October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

Couch. Betcha thought I was going to say mountain. Well, I didn’t. Oh wait, I did. Gah. Back to the point. Probably a year or so ago, the supports of our sectional broke. Only because we moved it to get the rug under did we decide to fix it. It only took two pieces of scrap 2 by 4 and screws, too. I don’t make it a habit to deconstruct furniture, so I was surprised to find this is all that held our butts up each night.

Seriously, that’s a few scraps of wood, some string, foam, and fabric. But the real problem were the pieces of 1/2 inch plywood, which should be attached, thus keeping the springs against the seat. Instead, these pieces that should be flush come apart. Every time someone sat on the couch, these pieces sagged, making an uncomfortable Lost watching perch.

For a quick, durable fix, Ben measured the depth of the couch and cut a scrap of 2 by 4 (left over from the garage wall he had just torn out). Then he screwed into the plywood and the 2 by 4 on the other side. Now we shouldn’t have problems, and if we do, I think a new couch is in order.

What took us so long to, in the words of my favorite redneck, git ‘er done? What have you done that’s been a problem for a while? Fixed any couches? Maybe you’re shocked at how little furniture is actually made of?

The Sky Is Falling

Published on August 13, 2012October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode23 Comments

Wow, it’s crazy how much we can get done on the house now without the roof demanding so much attention. We’re currently between big projects, having just finished the roof and waiting for our windows to arrive. Which gave Ben some time to tackle a few, slightly smaller projects, including installing the Sky Tube in the bathroom.

After some debating from everyone (you included!) we landed on centering it over the tub width wise, and centered over the shower curtain depth wise. Ben started by tracing and cutting most of the outline of the light. Before cutting it completely through, dumping a pile of insulation on our heads, be climbed up in the attic and moved the offending insulation. From there, Sam cut the rest of the sheet rock left, and installed the bottom glass part of the light, screwing it into the joists above.

Ben attached the flexible duct work to the cover he had already installed while roofing and we were ready to rock. And on an overcast, rainy day, this bathroom saw its first shred of natural light in existence.

Monumental, right? Haha.

When the clouds parted and the sun popped out, our bathroom lit up, too.

Of course I had to hop in the shower to see what it was like with the curtain closed. Look at all that light, without any electricity.

Ben was right, I’m glad we decided to center it over the tub.

Not only does the sky tube give great light to the tub area, but the rest of the bathroom as well. The vanity area is light and bright.

Trust me when I say the change is dramatic. Actually, why don’t you take a look at the before and after:

Light, bright, airy, and not at all yellow toned. Ahh, I see the light.

How was your weekend? Did you spend some time crossing things off the honey do list? Or relax knowing fall is around the corner?

Green = Green: Norwex Cleaning

Published on August 9, 2012August 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode34 Comments

Shortly after returning from Minnesota, a lovely reader, Sarah, sent me a set of Norwex Enviro and Window cloths. After hearing Sarah’s description, I knew Norwex was something I had to try. After all, a product that can quickly clean, leaving a streak free shine using only a microfiber cloth and water sounds too good to pass up.

I opened the package the day I got home, and my mom (who drove back with me) saw them and started cleaning our appliances and glass. Apparently she had a set and loved them. Here’s a look at the cloths. I appreciate that they’re labeled.

Getting mirrors and glass clean without leaving streaks and fuzzies has always eluded me. So that’s where I started, with the main bathroom mirror.

I don’t know what caused that, but it wasn’t looking good. After wetting the blue cloth, wiping the mirror, and polishing with the purple cloth, the mirror was clean, and lint free!

Okay, so the mirror is clean, but what about the water spotted chrome faucet?

Worked like a charm, with minimal scrubbing and no chemical cleaners.

That’s when I wandered around the house looking for things to clean. Hmm, what about the streaked, finger printed dishwasher?

There’s an ~~app~~ rag for that.

I like it. What’s not to like? No cleaner, good. No smell, good. Clean appliances, goooood.

I bet Joey (and Monica!) would love Norwex, too.

Have you tried Norwex? What’s your favorite green cleaner?

I Just Dyed in Your Arms Tonight

Published on August 7, 2012March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode30 Comments

After hemming and ironing longer than I would have liked, I finished the curtains yesterday. And I’m now convinced I need to invest in a higher quality iron. Apparently, the ten-dollar one I have isn’t fit to iron curtains, hence the hours of ironing. But let’s start at the beginning. As I pointed out yesterday, we needed a way to take the curtains down without removing the rod. Why? This might explain it.

Rather than going the conventional rod route, Ben and I agreed it would look cool to use galvanized pipe for the living space. Once attached to the wall, it will be difficult to remove just the rods. The living room window is 125 inches wide, which means we need a looooong curtain rod and extra wide curtains. When looking for 144 inch rods, its slim pickin’. Target didn’t have anything longer than 120 inches. Home Depot had 144 inch rods, but all are more traditional looking that we wanted, like this one that was $45. However, our Home Depot doesn’t carry that same rod in a shorter length.

So I called Ben while shopping to see what he thought of pipes turned industrial curtain rod. Luckily, he was down for it. We discussed the sizes available and came up with three flanges, three 3 1/2 inch nipples (I can tell men named these parts), two 90 degree elbows, and one tee, all 1/2 inch diameter per window. The larger living room window needed 72 inch long pipes, while the shorter dining window was fine with 60 inch pipes for the rods.

Using a flange, nipple, and tee in the center of each window gives an extra support and allowed us to use two shorter lengths of pipe.

Ben was apprehensive about using drop cloths for the fabric, but I told him it would be okay, so he trusted me. I walked out of Home Depot $163.76 lighter (dang pipes are expensive) with curtain and rod material in hand. Now the pressure was on. I actually had to make these look good. A quick stop at Joann fabric for three boxes of black fabric dye and I was ready to get to work. The process of sewing wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming, including a ton of measuring.

With the top, sides, and snaps done, I decided to dye the panels before ironing and hemming the bottoms. I really wanted a medium gray color, but Joann had light gray and black dye. Black was my best bet to get a mid saturation, so I mixed one and a half boxes of powder dye with a huge bucket of hot water. I’m not sure how many gallons, but trust me when I say it was huge. Then I soaked each panel, one at a time until the colors seemed uniform. Because I was alone with the boys, I didn’t time anything, just left each panel in a while until it seemed to reach maximum saturation. Then into the washer for a short, cold wash and a toss in the dryer. Quite pleasantly, all panels seemed to match and didn’t have uneven spotting. Success!

And here are the washed, measured, sewn, tabbed, snapped, dyed, hemmed, and ironed curtains in place. Looking lovely, if I might add.

Each panel barely grazes the floor.

Back tabs are the shiz. Look how nicely the panels bunch and hang.

But there is one small downside. Even though the drop cloths are marked 9 by 12 feet, they’re actually about 8 1/2 by 11 1/2 feet. Straightening up the edges and adding about one foot of rod length makes the large window panels look short when closed. Oh well, the window is covered and that’s what really matters, right?

The dining panels are perfect though.

You can kind of see that I didn’t make panels for the French doors out to the deck. When we replace the windows (which will probably happen next summer), we’re changing things up. No more door there. Muhahahaha (that’s my evil villain laugh).

Now if we could just get a dining table. And a light. Ha.

Can you tell I’m excited about the new curtains? I’m loving the warmth they add to the room. Just makes it look lived in.

Mission accomplished. We’ve got (pretty) curtains.

And here’s what it cost us:

For living room: $33.90 for two 72 inch long pipes, $2.24 for one tee, $18.72 for three flanges, $3.12 for two elbows, $4.38 for three 3 1/2 inch nipples, $21.98 for a 9 by 12 foot drop cloth, and $2.29 for one box of fabric dye for a total of $86.63

For dining room: $27.40 for two 60 inch long pipes, $2.24 for one tee, $18.72 for three flanges, $3.12 for two elbows, $4.38 for three 3 1/2 inch nipples, $21.98 for a 9 by 12 foot drop cloth, and $2.29 for one box of fabric dye for a total of $80.13

If I had bought two standard curtain rods, I would have spent 90 bucks on rods, so basically four curtain panels cost about 75 bucks. Not too shabby. But I’m not completely done yet. I think I’ve decided what I want to do, so I’ll be back with more details when I actually get around to that.

Do you have odd sized windows to work with? Have you used pipes for curtain rods? Drop cloths for curtains?

How’s it Hanging?

Published on July 24, 2012October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

As usual, when back in Minnesota, Ben and/or I try to help my sister with something on her house. Over our Christmas vacation, Ben refinished her stairs and built an awesome bookshelf.

Of course Ben’s skill set grossly out does mine, so I decided to do what I do best. Hang a few pictures. Ash gathered up her frames and art to take this wall from blank to beautiful.

Ten framed pictures later, we’ve got a super simple gallery wall. To simplify the hanging process, I held up the pictures, asked for opinions, then marked the wall to hang using this method.