Category: Small Projects

Small, but noticeable ways to improve your home.

Selling To Do List

Published on by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

Over the last week, we’ve been furiously tackling projects because our house is up for sale.  Most of the projects are small, like touch up paint, adding a few pieces of trim, and swapping out items we want to take with us to the new house. Two bigger projects lingered.  In addition to painting the living room, we had to sand, prime, and paint the kitchen ceiling.  Yes, six months of procrastinating later, we finally got ‘er done.  Actually, Ben did with a little help from his friends Orbital Sander and Shop Vac.  See, he had the genius idea to duct tape the hose of the vacuüm to the sander dust output thing.

The result?  A nearly dust-less, quick, and smoothly sanded ceiling.  A little primer and more paint and our kitchen is officially done.  {Wrap up and budget post to come in the near future}  Just in time to sell.  Ha.

In other kitchen news, I swapped out the bubble glass knobs for plain Jane brushed nickel knobs.  Ben saw me mid-knob change and asked what I was doing.  I explained I planned  to use the knobs somewhere in the new house because similar knobs aren’t easy to come by.  He shook his head while explaining I was a crazy person.

He may be right.  I may be crazy.  At least I’ll be crazy with pretty knobs.  Oh, Ben also used his ingenious sanding solution on the counters.  Then we applied another coat of Teak Oil.  It might not seem obvious in pictures, but in person, these babies shine.

Another project we’ve procrastinated on is trimming out the laundry shelves.  Well, not anymore.  Not sure if I’ll have a chance to prime and paint, but it’s a step in the right direction.

And we finally bought closet doors for the small basement bedroom.  We’re waiting for the paint to cure before install, but we’re getting there.

I also spent a little time taking down more art work.  Everything in the stair gallery wall.

And most of the art on the ledge in the small basement bedroom.

Other miscellaneous touch up paint throughout the house and swapping out my home-made light fixtures in the bedrooms and my office has happened, too.  We’re hoping the weekend weather cooperates so we can finish up a little exterior soffit and fascia work and maybe some fencing.  Not the mask wearing sport kind either.

Yep, we’re getting there.  Bring on the showings!

Have you tackled any of your lingering projects recently?  What made you get your butt in gear?

Sonoma Clay, Perfect?

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

After Thursday’s discussion about new paint samples, I talked myself into Benjamin Moore’s Sonoma Clay.  I couldn’t live with the bright pink walls any longer.  On Friday, the boys and I went back to Ace Hardware to get a 16 ounce Ben Moore sample can, hoping that pint would cover the entire bathroom.  When we returned home, I compared the test sample to the paint swatch.

Nice match, but will it look good on the walls?

Right away, I loved how much darker and muted the color was.  Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I painted small areas on each wall to test the color in different lighting.

Yep, this was the right pink.  I touched up the white paint, let it dry, then taped off the edges.  I had Everett’s nap time to get this done.  Vincent watched me paint.

In one way, the ugly, bright pink helped me.  It served as a great primer.  The Ben Moore paint covered well with one coat, which means I still have half of a pint of pink left.  Wahoo, my math was right!  That’s a first, just ask my ninth grade geometry teacher.  Ha.

Like most paints, the color varies based on the lighting, which I like.  Because the back wall gets less light, it reads as a more moody purple-gray-beige-pink.

Au revoir ballerina pink.  Helllloooo sophisticated mauve.  Eww, I hate describing the color as mauve.  It seems so old lady.

One gallon of Wal-Mart paint: $15.00.  One pint of Ben Moore paint: $7.00.  Finally choosing a color we like and don’t have to repaint: priceless.

Just to clarify, Ben has never said he hates this color.  Usually, he’s forthcoming about what he doesn’t like.  Not so much with what he does like.  I’ll take his silence as approval.

To summarize, if you’re looking for a very pale pink, check out Martha’s Pink Sea Salt.  Don’t try to make your own color.  If you want something more dramatic and moody, try Ben’s Sonoma Clay.

Did you tackle a painting project over the weekend?  Was it the first or fourth time you painted it?  Out of curiosity, what’s your favorite brand of paint to use?

Please note:  We were not compensated for this post, we simply love the Ben Moore paint we purchased and want to share with you.

That’s a Little Shelf-ish

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Over the weekend, Ben acquired a five (more like 6) gallon bucket filled with brass for reloading.

After he sorted it, lovingly stroked it, and oogled it, he had to find a place to put said brass.  Which was a problem.  Yes, we’ve added cabinets and shelving, but he had already filled two cabinets with other ammo and brass.  Notice the ammo cans behind the buckets in the photo above?  And we certainly don’t what to put an 80 pound bucket on an upper shelf, even if the bucket weren’t too tall to fit.  Hearing something crash down is never a fun event.

Luckily, we have some unused space behind that curtain.

Now you see why we hid that behind a curtain, and this was after cleaning all the junk out.  The plumbing along the floor is from the geothermal to our well, the water heater hangs on the wall, and the wire poking out of the sheet rock is not hot, but is for the future steam generator for the basement bathroom.

We decided we could build a shelving unit to store Ben’s ugly reloading equipment and our left over paint.

First, the boys measured the space to see what the largest size could be.

A few 2 by 4’s and scrap plywood worked nicely.

Sorry, I don’t have any in progress shots because it went pretty quickly while I was tending to the kiddos.  Basically though, Ben used long screws to secure 2 by 4s to the wall and resting on the floor.  Then, he screwed a vertical support and plywood.  It’s not the prettiest shelf, but it works and is hidden.

Previously, our left over paint cans were hidden away in the unfinished steam shower, aka under the stairs, blocked by a pile of tile.

The good news?  We now have the one gallon formula for the tan paint in our living room: 101-24  107-2Y24  109-12  + B12  That is in the Olympic brand.  And, we’ve decided on a laundry room color scheme.

The bad news?  We still have plenty of work to do before we can start painting and decorating the laundry room.  Like add trim around the door and floors.

And install decorative faces and cover the wires on the upper shelves.

Though, a few weekends ago, I did wet sand the drywall to prepare for primer.

Then, I still have to convince Ben of my back splash solution.  Apparently he doesn’t want anything pretty in his office.  Does he know who he’s married to?  Why wouldn’t I want the laundry room to look pretty?

Even though this room is far from done, it is usable.

Do you have to find creative ways to store your (or your hubby’s) junk?  Where do you keep your left over paint?  I’ve thought about keeping a small jar of each color for touch up and pitching the rest.  I mean really, if I’m going to get off my lazy butt repaint an entire room, why on earth would I ever use the same color again?

It’s a Wash

Published on by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

We mentioned a tiny change we recently made to the kitchen.  It definitely isn’t a drastic change, but certainly was necessary.  Until last weekend, our kitchen faucet was sad.  And ugly.

And old.  And creaky.

And leaky.

Ben and I discussed what style we wanted and needed.

  • A single hole instillation was a must.
  • Pull down style is preferred from pull out.  Wondering what the difference is?  Our old faucet is a pull out, but a pull down faucet has an arched neck, so the sprayer pulls down.
  • Brushed nickel or brushed stainless finish.  No polished chrome.
  • The sleeker the design, the better.
  • Made by Kohler, Moen or Delta.
  • The cheaper the better, without sacrificing quality.

A quick trip to Home Depot yielded great results.  We decided on the Kohler Simplice for $218.

We brought the faucet home, unpacked it, and held it in place to make sure the granite window sill didn’t stick out too far for the faucet to fit in.  A sigh of relief, the faucet just barely fit.  So, we cleared out the cabinet and Ben started installing.

 

Less than 30 minutes later, including a trip to the hardware store for longer screws, we had a shiny new faucet.    Oooh.

It has a sleek pull down sprayer, complete with a stop button.  Ahhh.

Sadly, it isn’t in the remodeled kitchen, but it is prettier and doesn’t leak!  Of course, we’ll use the new faucet after the remodel, too.

Do you have a long list of requirements when looking for a new faucet?  What style do you dream of?  An industrial sprayer?  Have a color preference?

Plunge into the Lagoon

Published on by Our Humble Abode59 Comments

Well, I did it.  I painted the bathroom mirror.  Before, the mirror had a finish straight from the 90’s.  It didn’t look too bad from afar.

But get up close and you’ll pick up what I’m laying down.

On Thursday, I didn’t know which color I’d choose.  After much careful consideration deciding to take the bull by the horns, I chose the boldest option, Lagoon.  If I hated the color, I could easily paint the frame a safer color, like ORB (oil rubbed bronze) or white.  I picked up another can of Rustoleum’s Lagoon blue (a super pretty greenish blue) Ultra Coverage spray paint and got started.  First, I taped off the mirror, being careful to cover every part.

Two light coats of the satin finish paint later, I had a bold mirror.  And guess what?  I loved it.  After allowing several hours of air drying time, I brought the mirror downstairs and hung it up.  I peeled off the kraft paper, but left the taped edges, just incase Ben hated it.  I don’t know how he could, just look at the drama the color adds.

By the way, the color in this photo seems off.  In person, it looks extremely similar to the Ikea bottle on the left.  This is the most accurate picture I could get of the color.

Pretty, right?!  Luckily, Ben saw it and said he didn’t care whether it was blue or the original finish.  Right after his half-hearted approval, I tore the tape off to make the mirror officially done.

Now, when you enter the bathroom, you’re greeted by this.  Hello, lovely.

And, the bold color still works well with the muted sea green paint color in the adjoining theater room.

I think we’ll keep on trucking in the peacock-blue direction.  So much so that I’m looking at everything to see where I’ll add another unexpected pop of color.  Next stop, art.  And finally putting an outlet cover on that outlet.

Do the new changes float your boat?  Like the bold color enough to try it in your own home?  Where do you have unexpected pops of color?