WAS I REALLY BORED?!?

 Heidy-Ho, Blogging Pals!

The question asked in the post title doesn't really make sense.  Boredom is typically something that arises when one does not have enough to do.  While that is occasionally the case for me here, it is typically difficult to get even a few hours strung together to work on a project.

That said, I apparently lost my mind at some point and decided there were more cabinets needing attention.  I know.  I know.  You all read my whining and angst over painting the kitchen cabinets.  Some of you were even empathetic (which was much appreciated).  But there were only four doors and it was just a bathroom vanity... how hard could it be?

So... with all good intentions and figuring it shouldn't be a long-term job (like the kitchen!), I casually mentioned to the spousal-unit that I would be painting the vanity in "my" bathroom.  When he inquired as to the color, I told him the same color as the lowers in the kitchen.  Made sense to me... I had plenty of paint still available... the color was perfect to match one of the three tile shades in the VERY retro floor tile.  Why a question?  My mistake.

The good news?  One of the many reasons I love The Man is his interest in my little projects.  The bad news?  We frequently have a lot of difficulty in reaching any agreement about things like color.  Sigh.  But I do value his opinion and when he expressed his concern that I was going to have too much grey in the house, I began working on thinking about another color.

The difficulty factor here was the tile.  Here are a few shots of the original (BORING!) white vanity along with the crazy retro tile color.

You can see the dilemma?  Which color does one work with?  Since I was using a bright teal and a medium grey as the towel colors, it pretty much left me with little or no choice.  I needed to find a teal that would be in the same family as the medium blue color in the floor tile.  Oh... did I mention that the "baseboard" tile you see at the wall end of the vanity is that ever-so-attractive white tile with mottled teal blue splotches?  Yep!  It's a mix of completely different tiles which was apparently quite the trend in the mid-70s.

So... I took out my Sherwin-Williams wheel of color and started searching.  I settled on a bee-yoo-tee-ful bright teal called "Impromptu", #6955 if you are interested.  :)

After a few days of prep, paint, & dry, the newly painted vanity was complete.  Me?  I LOVE the color!!  (Sorry the photos are a bit "off."  Didn't have any natural light coming in this day and it really made a difference.)

 Well, faces are far more telling than words, aren't they?  The Man was very kind with words... in fact, there were very few of them coming from him.  *chuckle*  His face?  Oh... it spoke volumes!!  I let that go and figured I was the one who would be seeing it every day.  I liked the change!  But there were two other faces that viewed the new color.  And both seemed less-than-enamored with my new paint job.  Sigh.  Okay.  So do I want to repaint now when it won't be very difficult... more like adding a third coat of paint?  Or do I want to wait until it is time to sell the house and have to do a lot of prep work?  Nope.  Don't want to do this all over again.  I'll just add the third coat now.  Goodbye flaming teal!!!  I enjoyed having you around.  I will remember you for future projects!

Alright.  Now I am back to what I had originally planned to do!  The deep bluish-grey of the kitchen lowers perfectly matches the darkest blue in the floor tile.  Is it as exciting?  Nope.  Is it a good color?  Of course.  I chose it for the kitchen, didn't I?

Well, sometimes we should just trust our "gut" (a la Leroy Jethro Gibbs) and go with what it tells us.  It might save some time and energy along the way.  But we also might occasionally miss out on a little mistake that tells us something about what we might want to do later on!  If one has the time, I suggest making the mistake if it's not going to be terribly difficult to "fix."  I do urge caution if there would be any major effort required.  It's your call to make.

So... looks like I'm done with the bathroom and have probably had enough to keep me away from "home improvement" projects for a while.  Maybe that's a good thing.  I'm sure the spousal-unit will think so!

Until next post...

IT'S FINALLY OVER!!! HGTV... YOU LIE!!

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!

Yes, I know it has been WAY too long since I last posted but I am hopeful you will forgive me when you see what I am about to show you.

On July 9th, I let you in on my judgmental error... I was going to paint my kitchen cabinets.  Sure.  I could do it.  Nothing tough about slapping a coat of paint (or two!) on some wood.  I was clearly not in my right mind when I decided to make this move.

Six weeks from the beginning, it is finally over.  The cabinets are painted, some have been cut shorter for specific reasons, and I have learned a VERY good lesson.  I am NOT an indoor do-it-yourselfer.  Nope.  Not me.  I will dig around in the dirt all day long... or until I'm too tired to see... but I should stay out of indoor DIY projects.  Yep.  Self-knowledge is a good thing.

I will reiterate that the actual painting portion of the project was the easiest part.  The clearing, cleaning, prepping, and rearranging which prefaced and ended each section of work was the killer.

Without further ado... I would like to present to you my newly configured and painted kitchen cabinets.  I will hold my explanation and comments to a minimum. Please note that I will NOT be joining your endeavors to redo anything in your home... so please do not ask.

The arrangement that follows is designed for you to see the "before", "during", and "after" shots of kitchen segments.  Lotsa' photos coming.  Stop now if you don't want to get involved in my kitchen!!!  :)

THE "WONDER BREAD" KITCHEN!!!

BIG CHANGE COMING HERE!!!

GET READY!!!  WAIT FOR IT........

FROM 3 SHELVES TO 1 SHELF!!!

WHAT TO DO WITH NOW OPENED CABINETS

NO LONGER "WONDER BREAD" AND THE BIG BLACK FRIDGE IS OUT OF THE GARAGE!!!

FROM THE NOW-VISIBLE DEN INTO THE KITCHEN

So... it's finally over.  No more removing of hardware.  No more sanding.  No more prepping.  No more painting.  No more rehanging.  I am SOOOOO done!

Should you ever have even the vaguest urge to "redo" something in your home, I beg you to stop, have a beverage of your choosing, sleep on it, then remember this post.  Heck.  Print this post out and hang it on your refrigerator, if you like.  It is simply not simple.  That's all you need to know.

I will try to be better about posting and thank you all for sticking with me!!

Until next post...

HGTV - LIARS, I TELL YA'!!!

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies.  I know how long it has been.  I have a reason this time so bear with me.

First, let's play a little game.  I like to call it "What IS That?!?!?"

 I was heading out to water the bird baths the other day when I noticed there was something apparently "hanging" from the bottom of one of my hanging baskets.  What went through my mind?  (Say it with me here!)  "What IS that?!?"

So, I wandered closer to check it out.  Although there had not been much rain here for the weeks prior to this day, I had faithfully been watering my hanging baskets.  Clearly that was working since a lovely little mushroom had chosen to grow... upside down... from the hole in the bottom of the basket.

Alright.  Enough game-fun.

So,... let's talk about why I am ranting against my very most favorite cable channel, HGTV (Home and Garden Television to the uninitiated).  I have been watching this channel ever since I broke down and paid for cable television.  (Don't laugh... it hasn't been multiple decades!)  I have come to know many of the designers and their styles.  I love the "transform" programs where an ugly duckling property is revamped into a fabulous, wish-I-could-live-there environment.  I have been known to watch the "Design Star" show, amazed at some of the things the competitors come up with to turn a blank slate into an inviting (and sometimes an uninviting!) space.  Yep.  I'm hooked.  Everything was fine... up until a couple of weeks ago when I made the mistake of BELIEVING that some do-it-yourself projects really WERE in the realm of my doing.

I have had issue with my kitchen ever since actually viewing this house before buying it.  When I arrived, the upper cabinets were white, the countertops were white, the lower cabinets were white, the appliances were white... need I say more?  I felt as though I had been engulfed within a loaf of Wonder Bread every time I walked into the room.  Did I mention the trim was white?  I was surprised the tile floor was not white (how did THAT happen?) although it is very light and neutral.  Sigh.  I went about replacing the sink, range, and dishwasher with black appliances but was "stuck" with the white refrigerator for the time being due to the too-long upper cabinets above it.  My beautiful black fridge is too tall for the space.

Fast forward three-plus years.  I'm over this.  I will not deal with this Wonder Bread kitchen any longer.  Nope.  I have the time.  I have some skills.  I am going to get those too-long cabinets over the fridge cut shorter, cut off two other long uppers over the peninsula to open the kitchen up into the den, and paint the stinkin' cabinets!!  Can I do it?  Well, HGTV says I can!!  LIARS!!!

That last statement was not really accurate.  HGTV was correct that I could actually do the job... it just did not say it would take me half of my life.  I CAN do this... but it appears I will be in my mid-90s before this is ever actually finished.  Sigh.  The time-killer is not the painting.  Nope.  That actually goes rather quickly.  I should have known.  I know that television chefs have a horde of helpers who do all of the slicing, dicing, shopping, chopping, and all other preparatory duties before the chef ever steps onto the kitchen set to prepare a fabulous dish.  Why would painting be any different?

So... I have pulled every single object from cabinets and drawers, removed the god-awful sticky contact paper lining the drawers and shelves, used a marvelous product (thanks, Sherwin-Williams, for the recommendation!) called "Krud-Kutter" to get the sticky (and other yucky stuff) off of the wood, completely cleaned the shelves/drawers, sanded the whole mess to provide roughness for the paint to adhere to, cleaned the sanded surfaces with TSP-PF (look it up), taped off everything that was NOT intended to be painted, and then... finally... spent a couple of minutes painting.  Putting a "fresh coat of paint" on your kitchen cabinets to "update the look" is NOT a simple, weekend-only needed project!!!  Do NOT let them fool you!!!  I started this project on June 25th and have worked for some period of time every day since then.  I am not quite halfway through and am still waiting on someone to come shorten the two sets of upper cabinets.  Sigh.

So you will not think I am just whining without cause (which I have been known to do... but not this time!), take a look at the following.

WONDER BREAD!!!

First Section targeted for paint.

Painting done. Awaiting new pulls

In progress now.

Prep work finally done.  Ready to paint.

I realize the photos do not provide a truly accurate color for you.  The upper cabinets are a light grey... battleship variety... while the lower cabinets are a deep bluish-grey.  Sherwin-Williams colors "Uncertain Gray" (upper) and "Gray's Harbor" (lowers) are the choices.

The hero here is the spousal-unit... again.  No, he is not helping me clear, clean, or paint.  What he IS doing is painting the hinges for me.  I tried to find "standard" replacement hinges but these lovely mid-70s model hinges were just a WEE bit different from the testers I bought to try.  When I had reached the end of my patience (a very short distance, I assure you!), he offered up the solution and has been painting both hinges and screws as I have worked on the actual cabinets.  The new pulls are on order and will hopefully arrive the week of the 16th.  No rush, obviously!  :)

So... if you thought I was just slacking off and not posting, you were wrong.  I have been more busy than I ever intended and am now trapped in a need-to-finish state! Maybe it will happen before I'm 90.  Who knows?!?!?!?  Anything is possible, right?

Thanks for nothin', HGTV!!!

Until next post...

CONTRACTOR MANIA... AS PROMISED

Howdy, Blogging Buddies!

You will remember my promise to regale you with the tales of the contractor insanity experienced during the very minor updating of the house here. Well, since it's going to take a while for me to get my laundry done this afternoon, now seems like a good time to do just that.

Let's start with the painter and his helper... both with the same first name so calling out the name resulted in two deer-caught-in-the-headlights faces staring at one with the occasional "Huh?" in two-part harmony. Things started out fairly well here. The painter had been referred to me by a trusted friend. He did return my call and schedule to drop by to take a look at the job. He did arrive at the time scheduled. These were all things working directly in his favor. Things went a bit downhill shortly thereafter.

I try to be a personable kind of gal. I do have a sense of humor and I enjoy working with those who can exhibit the same. But... (isn't there always a "but?")... my expectation from you, as a service provider, is professionalism first... humor down the road. The immediate attitude of "best pals" I got far too soon became a problem. My winning personality does not mean it's okay for you to do things haphazardly. Since you have viewed the job, I expect you to arrive with the tools you need to do the job!! Yep. My contracted personnel had to ask to borrow tools from my spousal-unit who then questioned exactly where I had found these guys! LOL!! Yep. You heard it right. The folks I am paying to do a job need to borrow our equipment to do it. Is there a discount for that?!?!?

I also understand a timeline is based on everything going exactly right and is subject to some change. When "a couple of days" becomes Day Four, I am again wondering if I made a good decision by allowing you into my home. Oh... and when you are done, it would have been nice of you to empty the sheetrock dust from my good vacuum cleaner (another item you borrowed!) into the trash receptacle outside. It was quite a shock to me to pull it out and have a cloud of dust spew out when I tried to use it. Lesson learned here? Never allow a contractor to use anything I own.

Would I use these folks again? Nope. Sorry. While they did an alright job (nothing I would consider stellar), the aggravation factor was far too high.

So... let's move on to the Big Box store, shall we? :) You would think, perhaps, that a national level firm would be pretty sophisticated and wanting to meet its customers' expectations. Perhaps it would have a very stringent list of qualifications and requirements for those local contractors who are engaged on the Big Box's behalf to do the work. Silly me.

When I first spoke with the Big Box employee about what I wanted done, he provided me with a quote. (I was quite surprised to find out, after I had consented to the work, the quote he gave me was only for the product... not the labor. I would have preferred to have that information all at once!) I agreed to the $35 fee, which would be applied to the final bill as a credit if I had the work done, to have the contractor come to my home and measure the distance from the edge of the countertops to the center of the sinks (3 sinks total) as this was "very critical" to have accurately measured. Since I am a mere female, unlikely to understand how a tape measure works, it was required that the contractor show up. (I won't say any more here but pay attention to what follows.) Oh... and the $35 became $51 as there is apparently a $16 additional fee if the house was built before 1970-something and since I could not provide the exact date of the build, the rampant danger to someone taking 3 quick measurements from the possible LEAD PIPES was so great, they apparently had to pay them an extra $16... but that would come off of the final bill should I choose to have the work done (which it didn't although the $35 did).

After the contractor had come and gone, I was advised of the need to drive AGAIN to the north (about 25 miles) to pay for the work... in full... before they would even order my countertops. I thought there were laws about charging someone for work before it was done!!! I know you can't charge my credit card for the online order I placed until you ship it. I understand wanting a deposit (maybe 50%?) for something you can't do anything with if I change my mind or die before you get it in... but to pay you in full, including labor? Wow. Tough crowd. Unfortunately, by this time, I am already embroiled in having the painting done and really just want this all to end... so we drive north, hand over a credit card, and leave with a receipt for work that won't be done for at least two weeks... maybe more. Sigh.

Fast forward about a week. When I got all of my receipts from the Big Box, I didn't really pay too much attention. Something told me to doublecheck everything in the little packet so I pulled it all out and reviewed it. Interesting. The measurements that I, as a mere female unable to comprehend tape measure intricacies, would not have been able to make are written on the paperwork... and they don't look right. I know. What do I know? I know enough to realize that the single sink in one bathroom is a greater distance from the wall than the two sinks in the other bathroom!!! If for no other reason than my measuring for mirrors and light fixtures, I know they are not the same measurements! But there they are... all three measurements from the edge to the "center of the sink" are identical. I rush to my desk in which there is a tape measure with my initials on it (I don't know why I have it with my inability to use it!). I whip it out of the top drawer and head for the sinks. I measure end-to-center in the single sink bathroom. Yep. That measurement is correct. I then measure end-to-center for both sinks in the dual vanity bathroom. Whoa, Nelly!!! The contractor is showing 18.5" when the actual measurement is 12.5" on both!!!

I pick up the phone and make a call to the contractor as well as to the Big Box employee with whom I began this ordeal. It is POURING down rain... big thunderstorm... and I get a call back from the contractor. He begrudgingly is offering to return here (he has that 25 mile drive to get here!) to check his measurements. When I tell him I HAVE the accurate measurements, he hems and haws for a bit before deciding to tell me that he'll just use my measurements. WHAT?!?!?!? Shouldn't I get my $51 fee back? Sigh. I get a call later from Big Box guy advising that the sink shape I had selected (rectangular) was not going to work now that the ACCURATE measurements were in. Oh... and this might push things back a week since they are just now aware of the measurement change. Great. If any of you heard Primal Screaming during this period, I assure you it was me.

I was not here when contractor-man arrived with help to do the countertop swap-outs. He was apparently very nice, according to my spousal-unit, and I guess he didn't ask to borrow any of our tools, so he gets extra points for that. They did a pretty good job of replacing the countertops with very nominal damage to the new paint job even though they had to strip out old caulk and slam the new tops in pretty tightly. All-in-all, the job was quite acceptable and the cost (including labor) was reasonable... even after they gave me the labor figure.

Now... the fun part of this deal was the follow-up! First of all, a card came in the mail prior to the installation of the countertops requesting that "Mr. and Mrs. Condren" submit their "own Testimonial" online. Interestingly enough, only MY name is Condren. My spousal-unit has his very own name... which he has had his entire life. Since he really was not involved in this other than to be here when the contractor showed up to measure and again to install, I'm not sure why he was even involved in the request for feedback. At any rate... it gets better. After the work had been completed, a phone call came in to the house phone. The spousal-unit answered it. The young lady on the other end asked for "Mr. Condren" and I'm not sure exactly what he told her about that. At any rate... she told him she was calling from "Big Box" and wanted him to answer a survey about the windows he had just had installed. ?HUH? He told her he had not had any windows installed. There was a pause... before she asked the most inane question ever asked to date. "Are you sure?" LOL!!! Oh Lord help me!! Do you think one would know if one had windows installed?!?!? It took me nearly five minutes to stop laughing and pick myself up from the floor. Of course, the spousal-unit did not offer up that there HAD been work done. He figures if they don't know what they're doing, he isn't there to help them figure it out. *chuckle*

Would I use the Big Box again? Nope. Not likely. While the work was satisfactory and the product is very nice, I just have trouble going back to anyone who has made a major error on the first job. As to feedback... they will receive it. I will be going online now that I have mellowed and experienced a lovely R&R that will likely allow me to submit my feedback in a civil tone. :)

I have to tell you all that I TRULY miss my most-wonderful contractor person in Austin. He did work on a property I had listed to sell (that sold on Day Two of the listing!), on my own home prior to it going on the market when we were leaving Texas, and on my former neighbor's home (both her "old" one and her "new" one). His work is impeccable. His price is fair. He has pride of workmanship and it shows. I wish he were here. I assure you he would be so busy, he would never have any time off.

That's my Contractor Mania tale, my friends. I hope you have far better experiences in your future contractor endeavors!!!

Until next post...

UPDATE: After 30 minutes of thoughtfully explaining my concerns on the Big Box web site in the feedback section, I received an "error" message which indicates my feedback likely has disappeared into cyberspace and will never be read by anyone. LOL!!! So... I am going to submit another complaint indicating my displeasure at the web site feedback form and telling them to CALL me so I can provide feedback on the "service" they provided to me. I'll let you know how that all works out.

LIPSTICK ON A PIG...

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Pals!!

Well, I can't really say the title is accurate. The house itself has pretty good bones and isn't really a pig... but it was definitely "dressed" like one!!

So... for the HGTV addicts, I have a few "before" and "after" shots. They aren't great as it is quite difficult to photograph the tight spaces called bathrooms. :) Hope you can get the gist of the changes anyway.

A change that was made a while back (as I cannot stand to cook on electric!) was the switching of the white electric range for the black gas one. So...

The kitchen sink was a nightmare! It was fiberglass (although the inspector said it was porcelain... uh-huh), stained, and had seen its best day the day it rolled off of the assembly line. The faucet was awful, leaked, and incurred my wrath on more than one occasion! So...

Those were fairly easy although the kitchen sink plumbing was wrong to begin with thus the difficulty factor of correcting that before installing the new sink.

The fun really began when I decided to have the most awful wallpaper removed from the half-bath and utility area. We selected a nice shade of tan to lighten it up and the games began. I will tell you about the painter in another post. It was interesting. At any rate... the half-bath had its "Hollywood light bar" and ginormous mirror removed, the horrific beige cultured marble with swirls of gold replaced with a lovely white cultured marble with light gray swirls, got a new faucet, got a new coat of paint, even got a new "chair-height" toilet (!), and looks 1000% better. Really. Yes, I mean to have 3 zeroes after the 1. See for yourself...

Apparently there was a really good deal on that horrific cultured marble in the beige tone with the golden swirls (and I neglected to mention the mega-stains!). It was in the hall bath, too!! That simply would not do... so the hall bath got the same makeover the half-bath received. The blue painters tape was for my use to determine the appropriate sized mirrors for this room.

Now then... there is more to tell you about the Big Box store we dealt with for the countertops. I will save that for the next post detailing the painter situation. :)

I guess that's probably all you really want to see. Maybe more than you had in mind. But I have to tell you that a few small changes can really make a HUGE difference in not only appearance but in how you feel about a room!! Trust me!

So... I will bid you a fond farewell for now. Until next time...