Thought I would show you all what we're doing in our kitchen remodel... it might come in handy for somebody's cabin, as this was a fairly inexpensive way to get a really unique look. We're still in process, but almost finished... most of the pictures on the site are older as I'm terrible at updating. Anyway, here is our website... there are several albums, some in OK and some in WI... the kitchen remodel and the home improvement albums are the main ones that I thought might give folks some ideas. We did all the work ourselves on the kitchen, including wiring new lighting and outlets, and running a gas line to the kitchen. FWIW, our energy costs went down significantly when we replaced the electric stove with the gas one. We also rebuilt the cabinets ourselves because we couldn't afford to go buy new ones.
http://homegrowntomatoes.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
You made it look like fun with all of your details. I love your results. Thanks for showing the pictures!
Christina
It was fun, but boy was the grout work tedious on that big wall. Just a few weeks ago, I finally got my act together and got back to work on the tile backsplash behind the sink. I've got about 1/3 of the tile up, and another third of the wall cleared of that awful tar paper or whatever it was, so that I can tile that part. Under the window I haven't started cleaning even because I'm waiting on DH to figure out exactly how we're going to convert the former outer wall window into a pass through into the dining room. I don't think there's even a photo of how ugly the kitchen was before we started, but suffice it to say it was terrible... the cabinets were homemade out of black paneling, and were not cut square. The old stove that went out three weeks before last Thanksgiving must've weighed 800 lbs and had one of the first microwaved invented attached at the top, and that's what started us on the whole adventure. We actually got the new stove in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it only took about 3-4 weeks to do that first mosaic wall... which felt a lot longer. I've been procrastinating on finishing out the tile work because the kitchen is functional now (sink and stove, and fridge back in the kitchen as opposed to being used as a window treatment in the dining room.) We finally put the rest of the cabinet doors on last weekend (at least the ones we're going to put doors on; some will be left open) and finally shelled out the money for one prefab base cabinet to go between the stove and the fridge... we decided we didn't want to invest the time to build it. We figure we'll stain the prefab cabinet since it doesn't match the other cabinets, and if we use the same stain we're going to use on the built-in shelving unit on the end wall, I don't think it'll look bad. This kitchen is tiny, only something like 6.5' by 8'... I actually had a closet bigger once before. Anyway, we've got to get this all finished and get it on the market soon if we're moving in December!
Thanks for the pix Homegrown. Great job on the tile.
Note that I procrastinated finishing the tile in our other place 10 years ago because I got the kitchen functional. :-/
I am one of the worlds best procrastinators. ;D
Just got through your Home Improvement pix. What a difference. Nice work. :)
Your mosaic work looks great! Tile is one of those things that I like Glenn put off for as long as possible.... :'( But it's worth it at the end!
Thanks everyone... I had looked at other ways of remodeling the kitchen, but comparing the prices of new materials to a bunch of old plates proved irresistable. Could've done it even cheaper in the summer by hitting yard sales, but instead bought about $30 worth of old plates and saucers at Goodwill. My husband and I make a pretty good remodel team... I guess it's our "bonding" time :D. He did the wiring, the recessed lighting, the tin ceiling tiles, the floor, the gas line, and the painting. I did all the sanding, the mudding and taping (ceiling only), the designing, all the tile and grout, and a good deal of the scraping and cleaning prior to putting it all back together. We worked together on all the ripping and tearing, building the cabinet into the end wall (we busted out the wall between the kitchen and the closet in the guest room to make it), the sheet rock ceiling, and all the little details. Most of the stuff that we've done on this house is cosmetic. Our old house, on the other hand, had serious structural problems. I remember as newlyweds, we were standing outside knee-deep in mud, and shoveling out around the entrance to the crawlspace to make it big enough for a human being to get under the house, and my husband looked at me and busted out laughing. He said, "Yup, if I'd married a Korean girl, this would NEVER be happening!" He's probably thought that a million times since, and probably sometimes with a tinge of regret, but never the less, he has a heck of a lot more confidence about fixing and/or building things now than he did back then... and a lot more of a desire to do and to learn to do for himself. America is good for folks that way. ;) Now both of us are on the same page about building our next home (I've been there since day one, but it's taken him a bit of time to come around!)
Homegrown, the tin ceiling tiles -- big in our area in the old days. Did you find a deal or were they expensive?
The Korean culture. :-? Would she have got to do all of the digging? :-? :)
No, she would've sat in the house whining and yelling about what kind of God-forsaken place her husband had taken her to!!!
I ordered the ceiling tiles from American Tin Ceilings (I think that's the right name... if you google for online sources it's one of the first to pop up.) They were a lot cheaper that way than through the local lumber yards or the big chain stores like Home Depot, Lowe's or Menard's (believe me, I checked all of them out, but I am a tightwad and wouldn't pay what they wanted). The one problem was that you couldn't order directly online, so you had to call and place the order, but they were very nice and really quick. I think we had the tiles in less than a week.
Oh - so that's where Margaret Cho gets it. ;D
Sounds like your husband made a good choice though. :) My wife does her share -or more -also. :)
Thanks for the ceiling info. I had researched it once before - had another link. I don't know anything about them or price comparisons.
http://www.mbossinc.com
Tin Ceilings by M-Boss Inc, makers of Tin Ceiling, Cornice, Backsplashes, Moldings, Walls, Medallions & Decorative Metalwork and Metal Ceiling Designs.
I'd looked at several places (that might have been one... I forget), but I liked American because they would let you order fairly small quantities, which was important since our kitchen is so stinking small.
About Korean culture... Korea is a great place; if you've never been there, it's a place you should try to go. The hospitality and the food are great (provided you like spicy stuff.) I lived and taught there for a while, and actually stayed with my then future in-laws (DH was here in grad school.) However, I came to the conclusion that in spite of all the "macho" talk and so forth of the guys in Korea, the women really wear the pants in the family. They control all the money. The men come home from work on payday and hand over all their paycheck to the women. I remember my father-in-law begging my mother-in-law for about the equivalent of $10 so that he could go buy me some Coke from the grocery store. Ten minutes later he came whistling out of the grocery store with a case of Coke and a case of Soju balanced on his head, happy that he'd tricked her into paying for his alcohol. I also saw an older lady beating her husband with a shoe as she chased him up the hill one night; she was chewing him out in Korean about his drinking, and never stopped hitting him all the way home! She kept calling him a "gol-tong" (something like a stupid idiot) and complaining that she'd told him to quit drinking his paycheck. The man kept swatting at her like he was shooing flies, but never had any intent of really defending himself from the beating. Sometimes my husband is so calm and passive it drives me nuts, but then I realize he's just being Korean. Although, ever since he got his citizenship, he's been way better about standing up for himself and voicing an opinion (rather than letting everyone else decide stuff.) Now, if I could just get him to pick a restaurant when we go out to eat, we'd be in business.
Confession... I had to look up Margaret Cho to figure out who she was... I had heard the name, but didn't know who she really was.
OK, I've goofed off enough for one day... my kids are hollering to make pumpkin bread. I love this forum. Taking some antibiotics that make me sicker than I was before I started taking them, so I feel like loafing on the couch with a computer in my lap, but this isn't terribly productive. Maybe I can get another 1/3 of that backsplash tiled before DH gets home from work... have to get motivated on this stuff. :P I am seriously hoping to be completely finished with the kitchen by this weekend so that we can get to work on the exterior trim and the basement do-over. (We sort of messed up the basement ceiling running the gas lines for the kitchen, and then it all needs minor updating that would greatly improve the value of the house.) If we get the kitchen done, I'll post more pictures of the finished project. It already is so much better than it was. I hope next time to be designing and building my own kitchen from the ground up so that I am not having to fix stuff other people have done...
Well, I think the fever is breaking and I need to get back to work... becoming horrendously lazy here.
Hi Homegrown - great pix - remodeling looks really nice - that tiling looks like a lot of work, although I've thought I'd like to do some projects (table, etc). The tin wall (I thought you did your ceiling too, but Glenn says no - I looked at the pix yest) Anyway, for the past couple weeks, I've been thinking about doing the ceiling in the masterbath in a gold/copper or brass finish. So glad you posted that & also a place to order.
I was really sick for a week - never did get to the doc (I hate going, I spend enough time working in a hospital) but should have - I was so sick I couldn't even drive myself there - I was way out in the country at our place in the Valley & Glenn was working up in the mtns - he finally got a break & brought me some medication. I so seldom get sick - not used to that! Doing much better now - hope you are feeling better soon.
Interesting info on Korea - lol! Beautiful family!
Sassy sometimes fails to realize that I am not perfect-- I said that I didn't think you did the tin tile on the ceiling. :)
;D Ha ha. We thought about putting tin on the ceiling first, but then I thought with those recessed halogen lights it would get mighty hot working in there, not to mention I'd have to wear sunglasses just to cook dinner. I really wanted copper because the old light fixture in the room was a copper finish and it was the one thing I liked in the room... however, copper tiles were mighty pricey... for no more of them than I needed, I should have done it anyway, but talked myself out of it and decided the silver tiles were also pretty. We put a scrubbable white semi-gloss on the smooth sheetrock ceiling, and it literally reflects the tin tiles... you can almost see your reflection in it, it is so bright. IMO, the two best investments of all in the kitchen were the additional recessed lights (6 of them) and running the gas line to switch to a gas stove... hate cooking on electric. All the other stuff was peripheral, and anything to brighten that little cave was well worth the time and money. Switching from the 5 layers of ugly old tiles and worn out linoleum to a new laminate floor did a lot for the space as well. Building the cabinet into the end wall was also a good idea, even though I had to "convince" DH for several days because he was a little freaked out about dissecting the wall. It created so much storage space that I'm still amazed (the shelf extends behind the wall to the left for another foot or so and is enough space to store smaller and seldom used appliances, etc.)
Thanks Sassy for the comments on my family... I take it you must have looked at a few of the other albums with kids. I like them, but then I'm quite biased. Most of those pictures are pretty old... they're bigger and more ornery now.
Thanks also for the get well wishes... I'm never sick, but with all that is going on (pregnancy, moving, remodeling) I guess it is as good a time as any. I'm actually feeling better since I got up and cooked some lunch and worked for an hour... at least the kitchen is clean and the dishes are done and laundry is going. I think the main sick feeling is from the antibiotic itself. If the doggone doctor would have listened last week, she probably could have given me a weaker drug that would have worked just as well and I wouldn't have had to get really sick in the first place! (Sometimes I think docs think all pregnant women are hypochondriacs...or maybe they assume any discomfort is a direct result of pregnancy itself?)
you mentioned saving when you switched from electric stove to gas. was in to natural gas, or LP? I am right now deciding if I should go all electric as I have no gas on site yet, or if I should order in the big outside tank of LP. Thanks
Thanks, Homegrown for confirming that my only fault was in doubting myself. :) ;D
:P ;D :-?
Frank, our house already had natural gas for the heat and hot water, so we just plumbed a line to the kitchen. However, if I were your wife, I'd probably pester you to death to put in propane. Very few women I know like cooking on electric stoves, and if your electric is out, it's nice to be able to still cook. I'm not sure about your neck of the woods in Wisconsin, but we live in Kenosha county and have frequent electrical outages... seems there are always maple trees splitting and taking out power lines or whatever. I'm glad our heat is powered by natural gas here, too, because even though we only use the AC for a week or two in the summer, our electric bill for that short period of time is way higher than the gas bills during the coldest part of winter. Granted, if I could, I'd heat this place with wood, but since we can't I'm glad that power outages don't force us to seek shelter elsewhere in the winter.
Glenn, it's hard to be humble, ain't it?
Wow, Sassy, I just followed the link to your website, and even though I'd read the thread about your place, I really enjoyed all the pictures on the site too. I love the cob sculptures... wish I could convince my husband to try something like that. Getting him to agree to the broken plate mosaic was hard enough even though he loves it now. The conversation pit looks really cozy, too. Besides, who could argue with gardening on the roof?! If I could do that here, I could probably actually grow enough to be fairly self-sufficient, seeing as our roof is about the only place around here that gets that much sunshine! You and Glenn must be creative geniuses (I know, Glenn is already convinced ;) ) Anyway, I love it. You should get Countryside or Mother Earth News to do a story featuring your home... it would make a great article.
If my memory serves me right, they turned down an invitation to become a public spectacle by someone/something. ? :-/ Probably wide not to rub the local officials nose in the dirt.
And Glenn's a big enough spectacle himself.
Heck, the local officials probably don't read homesteading type magazines.
Thanks, Homegrown - did you look at my badly kept up blog site or the Underground Cabin Update in this section?
We were contacted by a woman who helps produce & write the show "What's with that house?" She kept calling & emailing - very nice person - originally from Virginia where her grandparents had homesteaded. They still have the family home with 12" walls, land - she hates having to live in LA.
As MtnDon said - we figured it could cause us more trouble than it was worth. We were already on a local "Innovative Homes" tour & in a building magazine in Washington state.
Mr "Perfect" is bugging me right now... ;D ;) Better post this!
Garsh, Homegrown, I'm so embarrassed... but genius is right on the edge of insanity. Which side of the line do you think I'm on? :-?
We were on one magazine but they didn't even honor their promise to send us a few copies of the article. We turned down HGTV. Don't want to make too many waves. :)
Spectacle ---Moi. OK Don, but actually I'm more of a telescope. :)
Sassy referred to this link - Underground Cabin update http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1107141843
Is that the thread you read :-?- many pix linked in the first paragraph of the first page.
Also more in the RV storage garage. http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1138433261/0
Ahhh -- she calls me Mr. Perfect, and of course -- who am I to argue with a lady who knows the subject of whom she speaketh so well :-?
:P :P :P :P
BTW Homegrown, I'm with you on the propane stove - I hate electric, too!
I finally made it thru the pictures and the rest of this thread Homegrown. Kitchen is very nice. I've had thoughts about tin ceiling material for the cabin. Like it but undecided as yet. :-/
I agree with the gas stove decision. Frank, I'd go ahead with a propane tank. You'll never be sorry, the immediate response to flame/heat adjustment is great. If the cooks been brought up on electric ranges there mostly has to be a mental adjustment made. New ranges with self igniting burners, no pilots are the way to go. You can usually find a propane dealer who will lease the tank for a low monthly fee. 200-250 gallon tank here for $52 a year.
Plus you can have a backup direct vent heater is you want. Some need no electricity to operate.
And Homegrown, how did you come up with the idea for the broken china tile?
first to Glenn and Sassy, I read both. I read the undergroud cabin thread a while back, but I didn't really read thoroughly because it is so long. The photos on the blog must've been some that I'd missed before when I read the thread about your house. What a neat place. Bet your grandkids love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house! It looks like something out of a fairy tale... when I was a kid, I used to daydream about building a house that looked like the outdoors...
and Glenn, as to which side of the line you're on, I think you probably already know the answer to that one! :)
Don, when I was a kid, my mom had a bunch of craft books, and on rainy days, I used to sit and devour them. There was a little project using the broken china to cover the top of a coffee table or something like that... I thought it looked nifty. I don't know why it came up when we moved here, but this tiny kitchen was really crying out for a personality, and besides, I really didn't want to shell out the money for something else. The old stove went out three weeks before Thanksgiving last year, and when we finally got it out the back door, I made sure to kick it off the stairs so that DH wouldn't be tempted to try to fix the blasted thing and try to bring it back in! We pulled the facings off the cabinets, and there was one that was still in decent enough shape to reuse. The wood had been painted, and I hate scraping paint, so we decided to repaint rather than strip and refinish. (We really wanted to have the kitchen functional before Christmas because we were having company.) Wisconsin weather makes me crave warm colors, and I decided to put red in the kitchen (growing up our kitchen was ALWAYS yellow because my mother thought that's what kitchens should be.) The walls in the kitchen were plywood, anyway, so I'd thought about doing tile, but after looking at it, I couldn't find any I liked enough to put all over the place, but I've always kind of liked old china... I have to admit that I felt a twinge of guilt breaking up the first Currier and Ives plate that looked exactly like the ones that mom so revered when I was a kid... I remember accidentally breaking the handle off one of her cups one time and she cried over it! But I really like the way it turned out. I think if I had to do it over, I would've put something else halfway up the wall... wainscotting or something... rather than tile all the way to the floor, since no one sees behind the stove, fridge, or cabinet. I guess the next owner will just be impressed the first time they pull the fridge out to clean behind it.
One suggestion I have to anyone wanting to do the plate mosaic... wear good close-toed shoes. When I finally got back to work on the tile a week or so ago, I was wearing some slouchy slippers with an open toe (and socks because it was cold) but I did have goggles on! ;) Anyway, at some point in the cutting process, a shard of glass must have hit my left foot, but sliced so cleanly I didn't even feel it. It must have been a while before I noticed it. I went to let the dog out, and when I let him back in, I happened to glance down and see that my whole sock was soaked with blood. I'd felt the wetness of it earlier, but assumed it was where my three year old had collided with me earlier with a glass of milk. It was just a tiny little cut, but bled profusely, and I'd tracked blood all over the downstairs of our house before I even noticed it.
Ouch! I did the same thing this summer wearing sandals but with the pruners. I was carrying the pruners with the point safely downwards so I wouldn't fall on it (remember as a kid you were always told to keep sharp objects pointed away from you when you carried them?) Anyway, I had a load of vegetation I had pulled out of the garden & the pruners slipped out of my hand & stabbed my big toe & split it wide open. I really did need stitches, but cleaned it out real good & taped it up. Still have some numbness where the scar is. :-/
I've seen lots of projects made with the broken china pieces - have always loved mosaic - we had a thread quite awhile back where people had posted a lot of mosaic pix - anybody seen the Gaudi cathedral in Spain? I friend of mine visited there awhile back & took lots of pix - beautiful mosaic & ethereal construction - I could imagine Glenn designing some of that...
Quoteand Glenn, as to which side of the line you're on, I think you probably already know the answer to that one!
Cool way to avoid saying you really do think I'm crazy, Homegrown. Ah - the fine art of being non-committal. ;D
Anyway -- thanks -- I take it as a compliment. :)
"Everybody loves a nut. The whole world loves a wierdo. Brains are in a rut but everybody loves a nut."
An old song. :)
I have a sculpture garden out behind my gallery, and have two mosaic sculptures that you might enjoy seeing:
http://www.funkychickenartproject.com/gardens.htm
I didn't do the ones that are shown, but I have done a few, and fully appreciate the effort that goes into that kind of work.
Christina
That's a neat sculpture garden, Christina. :)
Nice garden and sculptures, Christina... with my garden could be as functional as it is and still be that pretty. :)
And Glenn, I didn't think I was so much non-committal as I was politely vague about how committed I was to my opinions. :D And Sassy obviously knows that she falls on the saner side of the line because she accepted it as simply a compliment to her genius. ;)
Now you have us figured out. :-/ ;D She anchors me to reality. :)
That's how it's supposed to work. I think my husband has better technical smarts than me by far, but I'm the one with practical knowledge. He's an engineer, so the other day I was explaining to him why in women's shoes, a shoe with a small heel was sometimes more comfortable than one with a narrow wedge because of the weight distribution and the pressure points. It was hilarious when he said, "How did you know that? You're not an engineer." I told him I wear shoes. However, he's way more level-headed and cooler-tempered than me, which is definitely to his credit. He's analytical, I'm intuitive... it works.
Glenn gets his fanciful, wild ideas or he wants to just do something to get it done - so I have to gently tell him the pro's & con's. ;)
1st, there's certain things I don't want done, just to get done - I want it a certain way - so I add my input - like on the "bridge" - I wanted circular stairs - they look better & take less room. He's always wanting to build out-buildings - I have to keep him from blocking the beautiful views from our windows. I tell him, "we might as well live in the valley if we're going to block all the views!"
But I also want things to get done, so if something is too wild & will be a nightmare to do & probably will never be finished, I suggest something that I think would work...
I try to do most of the grunt work, clean up, sanding, plastering, go-fer, interior decorating... I have in my mind how I'd like something to look.
Glenn has the know-how & creativity to make things work & can do just about anything he sets his mind to - lots of times he'll do a project when I am away at my job in the valley & tell me he has a "surprise" for me. I ask him what it is & he says "can't tell you" - he knows that drives me nuts & I can't wait to get back to the cabin to see. I am always pleasantly surprised. I really can't say he ever does anything I don't like. A lot of times its much nicer than what I would have imagined. :)
He doesn't always like me bringing him back to earth ::) but after he thinks about it he knows I'm right! ;D
Was just looking at the tin ceilings - gee, they are expensive! :'( Especially with any of the special finishes! May have to go with the original tin color like you did, Homegrown. Or use the panels for the perimeter & center of the ceiling. Will have to think about that - the ceiling is 12'x10' I think...
QuoteWas just looking at the tin ceilings - gee, they are expensive!...
Yep. Last winter we were in a local eating and drinking establishment. Their ceiling was done in a nice bronze colored tin. We thought it looked cool... would be nice in the cabin-to-be. I suffered severe :o monetary :o shock :o after researching on the web!
I seriously doubt we'll go that route. :'(
The American Tin Co that Homegrown cited is a lot less expensive than the one Glenn linked to. Probably 1/2 the price - their panels on in 2'x2' sizes & the colors are priced much more reasonably.
I'd still like to do it - would go perfect in the master bath - might even add some for the backsplash area behind the kitchen sink - wouldn't need much at all for that. I watched some of the videos & looks like it wouldn't be tht hard to put up - also, has powder coating - they compare it to th finish on your washer & dryer - so would hold up good to splashes etc if used as backsplash.
We'll see...
I'm really enjoying reading this thread and looking at all the pictures but one statement by Glenn really got my attention:
[highlight]Sassy sometimes fails to realize that I am not perfect-[/highlight]
I get the distinct impression that Sassy should be nominated for sainthood ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Sorry Glenn, couldn't resist, and yes I am aware of the bible passage "He who is without sin, cast the first stone" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Now you're my kinda guy, Peter! :-* ;D
People have been saying that about MY wife for 35 years :-[ :-[
Is that kind of like "it takes one to know one?" :-?
Fraid so! :-[
I'm not sure I know what to think about all of these comments. :-?
I've been up on the surface working on my truck and have been unable to defend myself. :-/ :)
It all sounds pretty flattering Glenn. I don't think you need to defend yourself just bask in the light.
Thanks for the interpretation, desdawg. I feel better now. ;D
Everything sounds better through an interpreter... ;D
Does that mean I can quit practicing my Spanish :-?
For any of you who looked at the other albums besides the remodeling and home improvement ones, my husband was fussing at me this morning that all these pictures are so old and that I need to update. The baby in most of those pictures is now 3.5, and the older one is almost 5. I guess I need to update from time to time... and probably should take some more pictures of the kitchen after we finish what we're working on this weekend.
And probably some of the outside of the house with all the scrubby shrubs removed and the awnings gone and with the window trim painted green... it looks a lot cleaner and nicer.
I'm not terribly computer literate and I always have to spend half and hour just remembering how to upload pics to the website!
We are patiently waiting, Homegrown. :) I was wondering how big the kids were now. Cute little rascals. :)
For here, the Photobucket account is easiest -- for blogs -- Sassy had one --- It drove me crazy. (Yes -- I know --- I was already there -- but I need something to blame it on. :-/)
Makes a convenient excuse anyway, doesn't it? :)
OK, I'm going to try to post via photobucket... here's a few shots of this weekend's work; unfortunately, we didn't get back to the kitchen yet. I realized when I downloaded pictures from the camera to the computer, I still has stuff on there from the 4th of July!
Here goes:
https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/homegrowntomatoes/DCAM0181.jpg
OK, so that didn't post a pic but a link... let's try again with a different one:
https://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/homegrowntomatoes/?action=view¤t=DCAM0173.jpg
HGT, use the last link under the image in photobucket the "IMG code" tag
click on it and then just paste into the message
(https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/homegrowntomatoes/DCAM0181.jpg)
Thanks Don!
(https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/homegrowntomatoes/DCAM0173.jpg)
We couldn't help it that it took all weekend just to get the trim painted... after all, this is who showed up to help us!
(https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/homegrowntomatoes/DCAM0171.jpg)
...and what pretty little helpers they are. That blue hair would go nicely with Mtn. Don's Green face. :)
Wait till Hallowwen ;D
I'll bet you can hardly wait. Take lots of pix. :)
Heck, they dress like this on a regular basis. We went to Subway for dinner because we worked until after dark on the house, and one wore the blue hair and hat and the other one fashioned herself a paper "muzzle" and pretended to be our next-door-neighbor's dog, even barking at the kids working at Subway. I told y'all that we went to the grocery store a week or so ago with superman pjs and snow boots (not me, of course, but the kids did.) Do you know how hard it is to buckle a car seat over a horse costume??? We were quite a sight, I'm sure... two stringy haired costumed kids and mom and dad covered in paint and dirt. I have no idea why I'm still awake! It's nearly 2AM.
Maybe you are crazy like me. :o
They look like they like to have fun. :)
That, or a chronic insomniac since birth... maybe a combination of the two :P
Update on the kitchen remodel:
Got the rest of the backsplash tiled today. Took all of an hour, maybe two to finish it!!! Can't believe I've been putting it off this long when it only took a little while to do. Got the countertop on the prefab cabinet done a few weeks ago, but am planning on finally grouting it tonight while I have the momentum going. We finished pretty-ing up the ugly old window about a month ago... it is all coming together nicely. I'll take new pics as soon as I get the grout done (hopefully by Christmas??)
I have a million undone things that will only take an hour or two, Homegrown.
Added all together, that's approximately 1.5 million hours, so a very significant undertaking. No wonder I haven't started. [crz]
Well, the grout that wouldn't have taken all that long is still not done. Maybe this evening? We had a few friends invite themselves over for Christmas dinner (which was fine by us.) Anyway, I didn't get around to it yet, but the mosaic itself looks good. Darn, we're so close to being done.... think I might hire a babysitter one day just so I can get 'er done. We are also wanting to put new floors in the whole first floor, and we saved DH's profit-sharing bonus to do so, but we haven't even made the time to measure and go buy supplies yet. I think if we wait much longer on the floor, it is going to be hard for me to get up and down to do the work... last time we did a floor I was also pregnant, and I remember getting down on my hands and knees and then ending up so stiff I'd have to pull up on furniture to get up. As a thank you for running the kids' ministry at church for the past year and a half, I got a $75 gift card to Home Depot... (they stuck a note in with it that they'd thought about giving us a gift card to a fancy restaurant, but figured that we'd appreciate Home Depot more, and they were right. ;) ) Anyway, when we were in Oklahoma, we had the time and energy, but very little resources to do the needed work on our house. Now we're faced with a different dilemma in that we don't have the time or the energy, but we can sure as heck afford it better than we could then! I need a deadline to work towards (ie. a moving date?) and I can bet you I'd find the time to finish it up. Need to invite someone to come visit so that we can say that before so-and-so gets here, we want to have x, y, and z finished.
Don't feel bad my shower dripped for 4 months before I got around to fixing it and I'm a plumber.
Homegrown, that's usually my strategy ;) but hubby has it figured out d* Usually we have a big family/friends get-together so there's always the last minute rush to get some extra stuff done - this year I didn't have to work on Christmas so we went to my brother's - so didn't get some extra stuff done :( besides, DH has been working quite a bit this past month... need the money but don't get much done around here except for repairing equipment, fixing things the puppies mess up & just keeping things going. Once in awhile we like to do something besides work [shocked]
Don't feel bad about needing to pull yourself up by the furniture, HG - you have the excuse of being pregnant - I have to do that & I'm not pregnant :-\ Guess it's the old bones not working as good :(
I finally got around to resurrecting this old topic to show some of the finished pictures of the kitchen, if I can remember how to post them correctly! Here's a try: let's see if this link will work and you can just access the album?
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=224177775/a=76604766_76604766/t_=76604766
There are also some pictures of the other rooms we finished up before moving and the new flooring... We changed the dining nook just outside the kitchen from stark white (which we'd painted it right after we moved in because we couldn't stand the dark panelling) to a buttery yellow... the lesser contrast between it and the window trim made a really huge difference in how the room felt. We also painted the sewing room bright yellow and it made it feel twice as big (it is a tiny room). The common floors throughout the whole downstairs opened up the space, made it brighter and easier to clean... just wish we'd done it a few years ago so we'd had more time to enjoy it. Somehow in the hustle of moving, I managed not to take any pictures of the basement, which is huge and bright thanks to the paint job from friends at church. Anyway, the kitchen is my favorite. It's funny. In the rent house we're living in at the moment, I have an enormous kitchen, but my tiny kitchen in WI was better arranged and I had a place for everything. I have a hard time finding a place to store stuff in this kitchen, even though it is twice as large and seems to have a lot of cabinets. I think we just did a really good job when we did the one in WI to utilize every square inch of a kitchen that was only 6' by 8'.
Does the link work OK for y'all?
Forgot I had an account there but since it's HP I tried it and it worked. Guess I already registered.
For those who didn't here are a few of the pix.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/homegrownkitchen1.jpg)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/homegrownkitchen2.jpg)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/homegrownkitchen3.jpg)
It really came out nice, Homegrown. More pix at the link.
Thanks Glenn... I liked it. I miss the loud colors and the "shiny" of it. It made me grin just to go in there, which was good since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. The girls keep mentioning it as the "only" thing they miss about WI. Don't know if it'll sell well or not... afraid it might be a little too eclectic for a lot of folks. :-\ I am not so crazy about the neutral colors throughout the rental house in OK... everything is off-white. I'll be glad to be in my own place again so I can use bright colors if I want to!
Distant renting is a problem but maybe that could work if nothing else does. Possibly a friend or an agent could help but if an agent watch their contracts -- they can take your place - hire repairs and charge you more than you get - hire buddies -- get kickbacks etc. A bad one is worse than nothing.
I've thought about that... we tried renting our Oklahoma house out while we were in WI at first because we figured it would be easier than selling because of the location. Problem was, the only renters we attracted there were meth heads that would have destroyed the house. Because of the location in WI, my thought is that we'd get families who want to come party there on the weekends (it's on a lake) as a summer house, which may/may not be a good rental situation. It would all depend on the renter you got. My hope is that it will just sell so I don't have to mess with it. I put a LOT of work into that house and if I had to sit and watch someone slowly tear it up, it'd be depressing. (Kind of like when the first thing the guy did who bought our old OK house was chop down the magnolia tree I'd given DH for Valentine's Day the first year we were married.)
The only way to rent out property when at a distance is to use a good agent, IMO. A good agent will screen applicants, get the rent on time, look after evictions if necessary, etc. etc. We use one here who is superb and worth the $50 a month per unit we pay her. Sure watch the contracts, like any contract. They are not all crooks. The agent we use here has an interest in the complex where our properties are so that helps.
We have also used an agent in Austin, TX for several years. No problems with him either.
I wouldn't even consider to look after a rental at a distance by myself. No way.
I don't even want to think about renting it out ourselves from this distance! I've seen what has happened to some of my aunt and uncle's rentals, even from people they thought would be OK.
Finally! I got a reply from our realtor in WI claiming that she hadn't gotten my last message where I'd asked her to reduce the price and hire someone to mow/trim up the yard and clean out the gutters before all the maple seeds start sprouting in them. She claims she checked her spam box as well, but it wasn't in there... mysterious how my emails get to everyone but her... ???
Anyway, hopefully we can make some progress now.
Kitchen looks great! I can see where it would make you smile when you went in. Our house in the valley is mostly off-white but I use a lot of color with plants, furniture, knicknacks... at the cabin there's a lot of wood so I have splashes of color...
Renting can be frustrating. One of our rentals in the valley has been a problem - not with taking care of the house - they treat it like it was their own - but getting the rent on time. I've put a new roof on the rental as well as the house we still live in down there (I should qualify that, Glenn considers that MY house, he doesn't live in the valley anymore ::) ;) Also had him paint both places in trade for the back rent - he worked with Glenn for awhile in trade, also... he's a roofing contractor - charges a lot for his work, though - but, we've had the same renters for 9 yrs, the place is being kept up, got stuff done in trade... could have had meth dealers or whatever, lots of turnover & cleaning & fixing up the place between renters... my sister & brother have both had really bad experiences with renters - my brother's house was really nice - when they got the last renters out, the fixtures were torn out, there were mattresses everywhere, they used the floor as the bathroom, they had to tear up all the carpet & flooring down to the cement slab & bleach the cement to get rid of the smell; they pulled a calendar off the wall the cockroaches skurried out between the pages! yuk! It was quite a mess. My sister was left with the renter owing her several months of rent & this was a co-worker! So, you just never know.
Our other 2 renters always pay on time, but don't take real good care of the places but aren't tearing them down, either, so I guess it's ok. An agent would be the best bet - but DO look at the contract really well - the agent we checked into - basically, it ended up they were not responsible for anything but could do whatever they felt necessary as far as repairs etc without contacting us 1st. So, we decided to forget it - and they charged a % of the rent. Seemed like it would be around $100 or $150 a month, not worth it...