Miniature bathroom remodel!

Last night I settled on a color for my bathroom walls! Finally. Sherwin Williams has the best colors. I've chosen one called "Wallflower," that is best described as a smoky, warm, pale gray-mauveish color. I'd post a picture, but Sherwin Williams' website won't let me grab an image.

So, the game plan right now is...

1. Prep the walls for painting. They're dirty and bumpy. I'm going to try to sand down the bumps on the lower halves of the walls, which are I *think* sheets of vinyl. Not sure at all about that.

2. Prep the caulk for painting. I've got a "baseboard" of plain white tile on the bottom of the walls, and the caulking on the joint of the walls and tile is in horrible condition and just plain ugly. I figure if I'm going to paint the walls I should re-do the caulk, too. I know that removing caulk isn't the funnest thing in the world, but my bathroom is so small, there's really not a lot of it.

3. Paint! Yay.

4. Re-caulk.

I hope to accomplish all of this by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. I've got a few days off between now and then, so I think it's do-able. Then eventually as part of my "mini remodel," I'll re-caulk the tub and clean this goop off the bottom edge of my tub. I don't know what it is. It's probably just old dirty caulk. But it really uglifies the front of my gorgeous art-deco-ish tub. Ooh, I might also paint the big cabinet on the wall and change out the hardware. Then eventually (when I have funds), I plan on changing the light fixture, putting a new mirror on my vintage medicine cabinet, removing the gas heater from the wall, and buying a new sink faucet. Whew.

New ideas and projects

So, I've changed my mind. I'm not sure if I'm going to rebuild my deck this month. I have this (perhaps irrational) fear that there will be a lot of unexpected/hidden costs. Yeah, the lumber will only be $300. But what about tools? Paint? Sealant? Etc.? I'm just not sure. Maybe I would feel more compelled to do it if my backyard were a truly nice place to hangout, but it's just not. Too many mosquitoes.


Here are some fall projects I'm mulling over right now.

1. Repair all of the plaster cracks in my walls and ceilings. I was stupid and used that putty compound stuff to fill cracks with before I painted my dining room and living room. It's already starting to break apart. I've been reading up on plaster repair, and it seems simple enough. Hard, time-consuming work, but simple.

2. Paint the bathroom. The color the walls are now was actually one of the least offensive colors I had to deal with when I moved in. It's not bad, and goes alright with my lo-ve-ly vintage pink and lavender tile.

This is a picture I took when I looked at the house. That's a non-functioning gas radiator. She Who Shall Not Be Named told me the gas line running to it was capped. But you still won't find me playing with open flame in my bathroom...

The color is alright, but it's a *horrible* paint job. I suspect she used cheapo Wal-Mart brand paint. There are missing patches everywhere, and in some places, blue drips? I don't know what happened. I think the whole space would just look much fresher with a good paint job. I've been inspired by this post at SaucyDwellings to maybe do some sort of creative paint job. Maybe one color on top and one on bottom? There is a sheet of vinyl, I suspect, on the bottom and then regular walls on top. You can just see it, barely, in this photo.

I'm thinking about finding two colors that more closely match the tile. But would that be nauseating and too much? Maybe. I like the idea of vertical stripes, but I think that would just make my already small bathroom feel smaller (taller and more narrow). Anyways, it is small and there's not much to paint, so this wouldn't be that big of a project. Working around the toilet and above the shower would be the toughest part.

3. New dishwasher?? HMM! Maybe. I found a cheap one on craigslist, only a couple of years old, but then I called a plumber to see how much they would charge for installation. Almost $200. Yikes. That makes buying a used one completely not worth it, when Home Depot will install for only $20. And since brand new ones can be had for as cheap as $200. My current dishwasher?

(Nevermind the bizarre stuff on the counter and the paint-y rag hanging near the sink, this was right after I moved in!) You can see just a slice of it here, and believe me, this does not do justice to its oldness and disgustingness. I have no idea how old it is. 20 years? It's all rusted out on the inside. The cycles are about five minutes long. It's very loud. You have to wash every single crumb off the dishes or else they'll end up stuck on the glasses for all of eternity. The heated dry sometimes misses entire corners of the racks, and doesn't dry anything at all. I hate it. Maybe $300 on this instead of a new deck would be a more satisfying purchase.

I don't know, just more ideas to consider!

Dreaming of what might be

Organizational porn, for my Virgo/ISTJ brain:

Elfa's decor shelving.

The two (yes, a whopping TWO) closets in my house are woefully dysfunctional. I am thinking of holing up in my house for the rest of the week and designing two new closets. And just seeing how much it would cost. Just for fun. It probably wouldn't be that much, since my closets are so small. I'm thinking I could do it for $150-250 per closet.

Speaking of holing up, fall is here in central Oklahoma. Experiencing the changing of the seasons in my house is kind of fun. I keep realizing different things I'll get to experience. Wondering what colors my trees' leaves will turn. Having to rake leaves (or not). Carving and displaying my own pumpkins on my own front porch for Halloween. Having actual trick-or-treaters. Hanging lights outside my house for Christmas. Putting up political yard signs.

The changing weather and the peacefulness of my own abode have also rekindled my knitting bug. I haven't actually picked up the needles again yet, but I keep staring at my yarn stash (and oh, what a glorious stash it is- full of merino wool, mohair boucle, handpainted treasures), thinking of the coziness that could be.

Home Improvement ADD

I have a problem. I am unable to commit to any one home renovation project. This is partly why I started this blog. I thought, it will help me to write about the plans I have so I can get them out of my head, where all they do is swim around. This is not happening.

Here is a list of the projects swimming in my head.

First, there are the things necessity dictates I must do:

• Fix the front door lock situation. Either repair the existing door and lock, or get a whole new shebang.
• Fix the kitchen door lock, and possibly install a screen door to prevent water from coming in when it rains.
• Call a plumber. My bathtub and bathroom sink are draining very slowly.
• Do *something* about the hole in my backyard where my deck used to be. Rebuild a deck, make a patio, do something completely different, whatever.

Then, there are the things that I would like to do:

• Install new light fixtures in the dining room, hallway, bathroom, and possibly kitchen. Rejuvenation will be my friend. I am fairly sure the fixtures in the hallway and bathroom are original to the house, because they actually look like the "Modern America" fixtures from Rejuvenation. But, She Who Shall Not Be Named ruined them by painting the bases. Quel dommage. The fixture in the dining room is from the 1970s and hideously bland.
• Update the exterior facade of my house. I'd like to paint the shutters a different color, and do something different on the porch. I know I at least want to remove the chintzy, cheap trellis stuff. Get new house numbers from Rejuvenation. Remove the peeling paint from the porch, and either stain the concrete, or lay something down on top of it...Pavers, tile, FLOR's outdoor carpet tiles, whatever
• Do *something* with the windows. My house has, except for one, all of the original built-in-1950 sash windows intact. Only one actually opens in each room. Some are missing the pulleys, some have broken rope, and most are missing the handles. I could spend a lot of time and money trying to "restore" them, or I could just get new windows. This will be very expensive and will most likely, when the time comes, be done very slowly over a long period of time.

I'd say that is a pretty sizeable list of things to do. Not to mention expensive as hell. It's weird being (almost) 25 and thinking, "I really shouldn't go shopping for clothes. I need to save for a front door." I think it will take me a long time to get used to not having a landlord to call to fix any little thing. Also, I am someone who thrives on working towards a goal and finished projects. Living with this much in flux is very difficult for me!

But, it will all get done...eventually. That's the other thing that will take a long time to sink in. This is my home, for the forseeable future. I have moved ten times since I was 18, and since then, I haven't lived in one place for longer than 21 months. And I am only three months into a 30 year mortgage...