Category: Small Projects

Small, but noticeable ways to improve your home.

Simple Solution: Great Bathroom Lighting

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

So, this might seem strange.  More than once, we’ve had people ask, “Why is the lighting in your bathroom so great?”  They weren’t referring to the actual lights, rather the quality of light.  Three things are going on to make that happen.

1.  Large mirrors.  Both of the mirrors in our upstairs baths are huge.  The main bath mirror is three feet wide and 4 1/2 feet tall, so it reflects a lot of light.  Our master bathroom mirror is about the same size, filling the wall both in width and height.  Mirrors are your friend, in almost any situation. 

2.  Light colored walls.  This isn’t a must, but again, it helps bounce light around the room. 

3.  Ditch the overhead light fixture which casts harsh shadows.  Opt for sconces on either side of the mirror.  By using sconces, you’re getting equal lighting from both sides, eliminating those harsh shadows.  It doesn’t matter much if you choose a down lit or up lit style.  Ours happen to be down lit, just because the fixtures we chose looked better hanging.  Height matters!  A rule of thumb for hanging pictures is eye level or 60 inches from the floor. 

We have sconces in all three of our bathrooms and all are within five inches of each other.  The main bathroom sconces are 70 inches from the floor to the center of the electrical box.  The master bath are 66 inches from floor to center.  By keeping the fixtures near eye level (even if it is someone who is 6’2″), the lighting is more direct.  This also means you can use a lower watt bulb and pitch the flood light. 

Anyone interested in changing out their bathroom lighting?  Do you have a design problem and would like our help?  Send us an e-mail at ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com.

A Productive Weekend

Published on by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

As you know, we’ve finally decided to finish our laundry room.  Well, part of it.  We can’t finish all of it due to the nature of utility rooms.  Last weekend Ben hung sheet rock and we ordered a new washer and dryer set.  During the week, Ben taped and applied two coats of mud to cover the sheet rock seams and holes.  We took a few steps toward completion this weekend, too. 

On Saturday, Ben laid the tile.  The pattern is a continuation of the pin wheel pattern throughout the rest of the basement. 

Vincent made sure the tiles were evenly spaced, too.

Talk about OCD…  We have a drain in the back right corner, so Ben tiled around it.  It will be hidden under his desk anyway.

Our washer and dryer were set to be delivered on Thursday, March 3, but we got a call on Friday from the fine folks at Home Depot informing us they were in the local store.  With the tile in place, Ben got a bug up his butt to pick the washer and dryer up, rather than wait for the delivery.  So, around 10:30 yesterday morning, Ben and Vincent went to Home Depot, with a spring in their step.  While Ben was away, I listed our old Kenmore (non matching) washer and dryer set on Craigslist. 

When Ben came home, he had our brand spankin’ new washer and dryer in the truck as well as two adjustable closet rods and a 9 foot by 12 foot drop cloth.  We’ll share the deets on those later.  Ben lugged the old machines up from the basement and out to our driveway.  We figured if no one bought the old set, we’d donate them.  As Ben was hauling the new washer in, his phone rang.  Someone was interested in the old set!  They said they would come over later in the day to look at them. 

Then, Ben filled the basement landing with loving loaded the new washer and dryer to the basement, after some measuring and careful maneuvering. 

The potential buyers looked at the old set around 3:00 in the afternoon.  Oddly enough, they saw the listing on Craigslist, but lived three doors down from us.  Not like the band, either.  So, they bought the mis-matched set and Ben pushed them down the sidewalk to help the new owners move them in. 

After moving the old washer and dryer out, the new set in and selling the old set, Ben also grouted the tile. 

 Once that dries, we’ll move stack the new washer and dryer to put in place.  That’s one small step for Ben, one giant leap for the laundry room.  Tomorrow, we’ll give a price breakdown and the smokin’ deal on the new set.

P.S.  Here are a few shots of the area that will stay unfinished. 

Our geothermal unit is at the far left and the bright blue monstrosity is a pressure tank.

The tankless water heater is in the back corner as well as our electrical panel.  Do you see that white machine with tile against it?  That is the steam generator that will live in here once the steam shower is started finished.

There you have it.  An update on our laundry room.  Did you check anything off your to do list?  We have some laundry to do.

Picture This!

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

An observant reader noticed our art gallery wall in our hallway in this Simple Solution post and asked for more info.

We don’t have tons of personal photos throughout our house, but our hall has photos of every immediate family member.

The hall frames were black before I decided to attack them with white spray paint this summer to lighten the group.

Before I saw a tip from Martha Stewart, our wall looked balanced, but cluttered.   I don’t seem to have a picture of the entire layout before I implemented Martha’s tip, but this is how this wall looked for quite a while.

The layout isn’t drastically different, but pay attention to the bottom row of frames.  What was Martha’s tip?  Keep everything above and below a line of painters tape.

The tops of the frames in the bottom row are {roughly} in a line, while to bottoms of the middle row are in a line, too.  To keep the arrangement looking uniform and uncluttered, I spaced the frames as evenly as possible while keeping columns of frames.

To further prevent  an arrangemt from looking messy, keep the frames and mats the same throughout.  We accentuated the center photo by painting the frame a contrasting color.

Obviously, there are endless ways to arrange a gallery wall, but this works for us.  Do you prefer a balanced, symmetrical or completely asymmetrical layout?  What’s your favorite picture hanging trick?  Do you cut paper templates marked with hooks for easy, perfect hanging?  Anyone use velcro or another adhesive?  I’ve been known to keep pesky frames level with sticky tack behind the corners.

Basement Progress: Small Bedroom

Published on by Our Humble Abode33 Comments

The last you saw of this bedroom, we had installed most of the trim, but nothing else had been done.

After filling and sanding millions of nail holes, caulking miles of seams, 20 gallons of white paint (for the entire basement) and hours of spraying later, we were ready to put real color on the walls.

After painting and installing carpet, we put a king bed on the floor before my family came to visit.

And now, here’s what you see as you enter the bedroom.

The bedding has changed and we’ve added some art recently, but we have tons of decorating to do.

That is the prettiest view, so in the interest of keeping it real, here are some other, not-so-pretty angles.

Here’s our still doorless closet.

I really like the idea of a pink and blue color scheme for this room, but we’ll see.  So, what are your favorite colors to pair with blue?  Any other color schemes you’ve recently fallen in love with?

(Re)Organized Boys Closet

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

As our boys grow, I find the need to reorganize their belongings, namely, their closet.  With Ev out growing clothes at a rapid rate, I need access to larger sized clothes without the hassle of digging them out of storage.  Without a dresser in the room, I have to get creative with their storage.  When we last shared our closets, I had it organize, keeping larger clothes on the shelf in a clear covered bin, but it became cumbersome for me (being 5 feet, 4 inches tall) to get large, heavy bins down often.  We needed a change.

Here was Vincent’s side.  All of his current sized clothes are hanging, larger clothes in the big bin on top, diapers in the small bins in the cubes, and socks in a bin.

Here’s Everett’s side.

Everett’s side was pretty much the same story.  After a while, I started hating that I had to slide the doors to get to their stuff.  As I mentioned above, the large bins were really becoming a hassle, too.

What was our solution?  Ben installed a second closet rod.  We didn’t move anything around, so the rods are close together, but they’re boys.  They don’t have anything that really hangs down, so it’s fine for a while.  By installing a second bar, we can hang both boys current clothes on one side, eliminating the constant sliding of doors.

Another benefit, we now have room to hang larger clothing on the other side of the closet.

We still use a laundry bag to save shelf space.  A small hook holds it securely and out-of-the-way.

As for the storage cubes, we keep our baby wipes (which we buy in bulk from Costco when we have a coupon), bedding, Everett’s socks, and one bin of diapers for each boy, rather than all their diapers.  The clear bins on top of the cubes have Vincent’s socks and underwear and the yellow bin has pajamas.  I love those yellow bins because they fold flat when not in use, saving space.

We still have a large bin of clothes, but we don’t need to access it often.  We also have shoes, puzzles and a bag of other random items that I still have to sort through.

Where did all the diapers go?  On the top shelf of the right side.  The yellow bin is our donate box.  Anything that I decide our boys no longer need, I put in the bin until it gets full.  The next time I go to a thrift store, the contents get donated.

Previously, we had a plastic baby bath tub.  Everett has since outgrown it, so I donated that, too, which freed up a lot of valuable space.  Now we have a box in its place.  Whenever one of the boys outgrows something, I put it in that box.  When that box is full, I sort the clothes into the proper bin in our basement.

By adding a second closet rod, we’ve doubled our storage space and we have plenty of room to expand.  Score!  Do you have any storage tips, tricks or products you can’t live without?  What do you do with outgrown children’s clothes?  Do you hang your kid’s clothes or prefer to fold?  If you hang, do you use the size dividers?