Category: Our First House

Our first house, a 1960 ranch home.

To Paint or Not To Paint?

Published on by Our Humble Abode19 Comments

That is the question I kept asking myself.

As you know, our master bedroom has green walls with pink accents.

Originally, I wanted the master bathroom to have pink walls with green accents.  You know, to keep it cohesive but differentiate each room.  The reason our bathroom is green is because I chose an awful pink.  I mean seriously awful.  It looked pretty and pale on the swatch, but turned to bubble gum on the walls.  Anyway, we’ve lived with the bathroom as it is for three years and I’d like a change.

Last week, while my parents were visiting, I decided I had enough of the green paint.  Not that there was anything wrong with the green, I just wanted a change.  So, on a trip to Wal-Mart, I bought a gallon of satin paint, color matched to Martha Stewart’s Pink Sea Salt.  Based on my earlier pink paint experience, I thought it would be best to choose a color that looked lighter on the swatch.  I figured the paint would look darker once on the walls.

Before I could add color to the walls, I had to touch up the white trim paint.

Easy enough.  Now, bring on the (very pale) pink!

Because I had only three small walls, I decided to cut in with a brush, skipping the annoyance of taping.  I’m not going to lie, it kind of sucked to cut in along the mirror, going around the lights.

The back wall was the easiest.  A rectangle with two hook supports.

I finished painting as the sun set, so here’s a glimpse of the color at night.

And during the day.

Honestly, the color was fine.  Definitely better than bubble gum.  But, I didn’t love it.  Going from the high contrast green and white combo to the lot contrast pale pink and white didn’t tickle my fancy.  And, it was a more sweet baby girl pink than I had hoped for.  Maybe I didn’t want a pale pink after all.

Then, I realized I had a sample can of Valspar’s Market Flower, a bright pink.  I added the whole thing to my gallon of Pink Sea Salt.

It still wasn’t quite what I had in mind.  Way too bright pink.  I trekked back to the basement to dig out a gallon of grey/beige left over from the large basement bedroom.

I added roughly three-quarter cups, hoping it would give the bright pink are slightly more aged look.  The test swatch I painted seemed better, so I painted the walls.  Again.

Definitely brighter, but I’m still not in love.  As for Ben’s opinion?  He said he feels like a natural woman in there.

This picture most accurately shows the color.

I might try to add a grey wash, just to tone own the color.  Or I thought about going into Wal-Mart to ask for just the colorants for a paint formula to add to my mixed up pink gallon.  Do you think they’ll do it?  If those options fail, because I don’t want to spend more money on a failure, I’ll probably be painting the bathroom green again.  Gotta cut my losses.  I’m my own worst enemy.  I knew I should  have gone with a pink I had seen in use somewhere.

I wonder how many pink paint colors Nicole has gone through?  Wild Aster, as seen in Nicole’s living room, is a pretty color.

And the pink Young House Love used in Clara’s nursery seems somewhat moody.

Based solely on the online samples, I’m also liking Odessa Pink and Chippendale Rosetone.

Do you have any pink paint experience?  Was it good or bad?  Have you ever gotten just the colorants from a paint store?  What’s your favorite pink paint color?

Going Out on a Limb

Published on by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

You wanna know something?  Pinterest is starting to take over my life, in a good way.  I’ve been inspired to make several items so far, and I’ve just added another to the list.  I’ve already professed my love for birds, so this  is a fitting addition.  One fine day, Pinterest showed me this bird-cage pendant.

Clouds parted, angels sang.  It was a glorious moment.  The price tag, very glorious.  All $615 U.S. dollars of it.  Of course, like any sane DIY-er, I racked my brain for a place to put a similar pendant.  A proverbial light bulb lit for my light in waiting.  Why not my office?  Sure, I already have a light in there.  But, it’s kind of boring.  Just a descended boob fixture.

I can’t justify taking down the old light and simply donating it.  The thing cost 50 bucks, people.  So, I had to think of a place for that light, too.  Hey, hey.  Why not the small basement bedroom?

Yes, that’s perfect.  Rather than a perky boob, why not a saggy one?  With my placement strategy ready, I set out to make a bird-cage pendant.  First step, find an old lamp shade to snag the washer top fitting for the base of my shade.  Luckily, I found a large, ugly lamp shade at the thrift store, priced at $5.99.  Not too bad, but this shade had a large tear in the fabric, so the check out lady discounted the shade to only $2.99.  Score!

Next, off to Hobby Lobby to buy me some fake birds.  I came home with 4 sheets, 10 birds total, for $7.96.  After HL, I stopped at two hardware stores, hoping to find a similar wire for the cage.  I did, but the small stores charged about thirteen bucks for a small roll.  I decided to hold out until our next Home Depot trip.  Well, Ben went to Home Depot first, so he bought a two foot wide but five foot long roll of 1/2 inch hardware cloth for $8.34.  Finally, with all my supplies ready, I started working on my pendant.  I tore the ugly fabric off the lamp shade to expose the wire cage.  That’s when Houston called to say we had a problem.  The washer top fitting wasn’t flat, it was recessed.

Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if I were covering the shade with fabric, but the recessed adapter would be more of a focal point.  And I worried about the heat of a bulb being too close to the birds.  Why didn’t I realize this before?  Gah.

So, I nicely begged Ben to cut the fitting apart and reattach the pieces for a flat top.  Because Ben is brilliant, he came up with a better solution.  First, he cut off four of the eight rods (leaving every other) supporting the top and bottom rings.  Then, he used a channel lock to bend the rods at a 45 degree angle, bringing each end to the center.

He tried welding the rods together to make a square fitting, but it wasn’t strong enough.  Instead, he welded a washer to the four rods.

Perfection.  And, whether he planned this or not the ugly side was face up, so it wouldn’t be visible from below.

My hero, Ben, was able to make a flush top out of a recessed top. leaving me with this.

Aaaaaat laaaaast, I could really get started.  I gathered my supplies: one wire ring fitting, one roll of 1/2 inch hardware cloth, 18 gauge wire, styrofoam birds, 6 pound test fishing line, wire cutters, a measuring tape, and sticks.

Before I could do the pretty part, I cut down my hardware cloth.  The descended boob hangs down roughly 14 inches from the ceiling, which is the lowest we can have given the shorter basement ceilings.  I want the shade a few inches from the ceiling, so I cut the wire to eleven inches, one tiny wire at a time.

With my 11 inch by 5 foot piece of wire netting cut, I used a channel lock to fold one square over, all along one edge.

Once I folded the edge, I placed my wire top inside, clamping the folded netting over.

I had to cut a few squares to go around the washer top support rods, but that was easy.

After clamping the entire ring with wire net, I overlapped the ends slightly and cut.  I used a metal clamp (actually a surgical clamp-it worked wonderfully, getting into the tight areas) to hold the ends tightly together before wiring everything shut.

A little bit of wire wrapped around the ends held everything in place tightly.

Things are shaping up, literally.  The hardware mesh was sturdy enough that I didn’t have to add a ring at the bottom.  It held its shape nicely.

I’m likin’ it.  Now, how about a shot of color?  Bring on the birds.  The birds I bought have a small wire stuck in the middle, so I wrapped the wire around a stick. Seemed to hold, so I wired another bird on the stick.  And another, and another.  And some fishing line to each end.  I tied the bird-laden stick to the wire support.  It looked too sparse, so I tied another stick and two birds on.  Sorry, the birds are blurry.  Vincent kept petting them, so the sticks moved.  A lot.

That was still a little plain for my liking, so I found another stick in the yard and looped a wired bird around it, tied it to the cage and stared.  It still wasn’t quite right.  How about another bird stick?  More fiddling and rearranging (to keep the bird from tipping, looking dead) and I finally had all ten birds secured.

In certain light, the fishing line is visible, but only if you’re looking for it.  See it here?

I like the natural metal finish on the cage.  I know the original is copper, but I didn’t have copper spray paint and I felt lazy.

Here she is, done and ready for wiring.  If I see more special looking birds, I’d like to buy a few, just for varied colors.

So far, I have a shade but I need to find a wiring kit or cheap pendant to use to hang this whole thing from.  Off to Habitat for Humanity ReStore, I think.  Who knows when I’ll actually get around to wiring and hanging this guy.  Who’s ready for a price break down?

Lampshade: $2.99

4 packs of fake birds: $7.96

Roll of hardware cloth: $8.34

Sticks: Free from mother nature

Fishing line, wire, wire cutters, and tape measure:  Already owned

Total spent so far:  $19.29 and I still have the top fitting of the lamp shade and enough wire netting to make a second pendant, if I so choose.  Perhaps I’ll find a pendant or wiring kit for less than $5.71 to keep my total under 25 bucks.  Think I can do it?  Yeah, me neither.  Fingers crossed ReStore has something.

So, how does this DIY rate against a 600 plus dollar fixture?  Are you constantly drawn to making lights like I am?  Ben jokes that I only make pillows and light fixtures.  Sadly, that seems to be true.  We really need to start on the kitchen so I can focus my energy on something else.  Do you make the same items over and over again?  Please tell me your house is crowded with some sort of DIY project?

Sink Hole

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

Well, the first step of our kitchen remodel is done.  We’ve ordered a custom apron front sink and it is fantastic.  First, let’s discuss our options and why we chose a custom sink.  After a look on Ebay, we realized we liked two options.  One, a 30 inch flat front stainless apron sink, like this:

Pros: 30 inch width, flat front, single basin, great price.  Cons: This sink, like most apron front sinks, is between 18 inches and 21 inches from front to back.   Which means, we would have a four to seven-inch piece of granite at the back of our sink.  That’s okay, but we don’t like the look of a seam at the back.

{via}

Option two is a full depth apron front sink, like this.

Pros: This sink is counter depth, so we could avoid a piece of granite behind the sink.  Cons: This sink costs nearly two thousand dollars.  Um, heck no am I paying that much for a sink.

So, we took a chance and talked to a custom metal shop in town, just to get a quote on the price of a custom-made-to-our-specifications sink.  A few days later, we got a call.  The price?  Only 650 bucks for our design made of 14 gauge stainless steel.  Most other sinks are 18 or 16 gauge, so ours would be more heavy-duty.  Just because we’re paranoid perfectionists, we took another trip to the shop with pictures, to place our order.  Neither Ben or I have ever had something custom-made without one of us doing the work.  It is accurate to say we were apprehensive.  Then, we waited.  Ben received a call only nine days after confirming the order that our sink was done and ready to pick up.  Whoa, that was quick.

We decided it would be best for Ben to drill a hole for the faucet, just to be safe.  Our sink is 30 inches wide, 25 inches from front to back and nine inches deep, exactly.

Completely perfect.  Well, nearly.  The weld and bend marks are slightly more visible than Ben would like, but he should be able to sand it down.

Actually, he has already started.  But, he made a mistake by using a random orbital sander.

Rather than the ‘grain’ of the steel showing, you see the circluar pattern from the sander.  But, Ben bought a different sander, so we’ll share an update once things get further.

Now, allow me to explain why we opted for a custom, $650 sink over a store-bought $320 sink.  First, we got exactly what we wanted.  Seriously, I had my doubts that the sink would live up to our expectations, but it exceeded everything I had imagined.  Secondly, our granite company charges $400 to cut and polish a hole for a sink.  Essentially, our sink total for the store-bought version would come in at 720 dollars.  Our custom-made sink eliminates the sink cutting charge, which means we’re actually saving 70 bucks for our custom sink.

868 dollars spent on the kitchen so far, several thousand more to go.  One project down, roughly 786 left.

Have you had something custom made?  Did it make you happy?  Or was it nothing like you hoped for?

Worse for Wear: End Tables

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The last time we shared something worse for wear, we discussed how our welded steel dining table has fared the past year.  Overall, not too bad.  Just a few scratches, but nothing a can or two of white spray paint can’t fix.  Unfortunately, not every piece of furniture can be fixed as easily.  Take our living room end tables for example.  They used to look alright, considering they were $15 Target clearance tables with laminate tops.

When I bought the tables two years ago, I bought them mostly for the price and the steel bases.  The laminate tops, not so much.

Laminate is super cheap and peels off easily.  Specifically, Vincent peels it off easily.  And, he puts stickers on everything.  Chairs, cabinets, tables, you name it, it has a sticker on it.

We’ll have to find the time to make new tops, whether wood, marble, or granite.  I’d like to paint the legs to complete the new look, too.

What piece of furniture have you purchased, only for it to fall apart?  Something from Ikea?  Something from a high-end furniture store?

And Then Tweak for Perfection

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

And the ombre dye saga continues.  Last Wednesday, I eluded to yet another dyeing issue.  You’d think I would have learned my lesson, but no.  Sadly, I didn’t rinse the dye out thoroughly enough because the undyed areas were a faint purple with splotches (yes, that is a technical term) of darker color, just like my first round.

Initially, I thought I’d just hem the side with the worst of it, but I would have to remove too much of the fabric and the curtain wouldn’t be wide enough.  I thought I could live with it, but it taunted me every time I looked at it.  I needed to do something about it, or at least try.  While at JoAnn’s, I found a box Rit dye color remover.  I figured if anyone or thing could fix this, my best bet would be to use the same brand.

I gathered more supplies, my trusty five gallon bucket, hot water, (I boiled a small pan and filled the rest with hot tap water) rubber gloves, and a spatula.  I poured the powder in the water and let it do it’s thing.

It seemed to work.  I let the curtain soak for 30 minutes, rinsed it out, then tossed it in the washer for another quick clean.  Happily, I had stunning results.  Finally, I could hang my ombre curtain.  Our bathroom is tiny, so it is really hard to get pictures from top to bottom.  Please bear with me for the abundance of photos.

I love that the colors blend well, but you can still see the lines of each level.

When the shower isn’t in use, we usually leave the curtain open to let as much light from the sky tube into the bathroom as possible.  So, this is what it looks like 95 percent of the time.

Here you can see the opened curtain and how it works with the rest of the bathroom.  That’s how small this bathroom is.  I had to reflect the rest of the bathroom in the mirror.

When closed, this is what you’re welcomed by.

The dipped end hand towels are pretty fun, too.  If only the white stitching took the dye, too.  Oh well.

Now, I need to get around to painting the ugly wooden doors.

After a little Pinterest search, (I love how Pinterest has become the new crafting Google) I found another ombre dye project with a wonderful tip that may have eliminated the need for color remover.  After dyeing, let the fabric dry before rinsing.  Apparently, this sets the dye to keep the colors vibrant, so I’m guessing it can also help reduce bleeding.  Though, this was my second attempt to dye something, so what do I know.

Now, for a total cost break down:

Flat sheet: $9.99

Three boxes of purple Rit dye: $8.25 ($2.75 each)

One box of Rit color remover: $2.75

Thread: Already owned

Grand total spent: $20.99

I’ll probably dye more things in the future, just to hone my skills.  Are you a fan of the ombre trend?  Do you have ombre in your house?  Your clothes?  Your hair?  My sisters are trying to convince me to ombre dye my hair, à la Jessica Biel.  For more ombre inspiration, check out this ruffle shower curtain and this painted dresser.  What is your favorite ombre colored item as of late?