Built-in bookcase: Episode 1

I've got this cool built-in bookcase in my living room, but as much as I love it (and secretly love staring at it), it's got a couple of quirks that kind of bug me.  I think the previous owners of the house DIY'd it, and while they did a number of things really well, sometimes they just cut corners.

The first issue is that it had these knobs that were made out of stones.  I mean, cool idea, but it ended up just looking cheap and mismatched.  Plus that one second from the left had just completely fallen off and disappeared.

The second issue (as you can see on the left), is that some of the doors don't hang straight.  And then there's all these issues with the configuration of the cords because they didn't make large enough holes to guide the cords through.  The cabinet on the far right is where the cords have to go to plug into the outlet in the wall, and there IS a hole directly behind the TV that they're supposed to go in and then slip through to the right, but they just don't fit and it's all kind of janky.  Thus, one of cabinet doors is perpetually open.

The first problem with the uggo knobs was easily remedied with a trip to Menard's, where I got some new hardware for the old girl.  Just some basic Art Deco-y square knobs with a dark bronze finish.

That helped quite a bit with making it look a bit more pulled together, but the issues with the doors still remain.  I think I'm going to try fixing the crooked hanging problem myself (exciting!), and I've already spoken to my contractor who's building the window seat about also helping me solve the cord problem when he's here working on that.  He said that would be totally easy to fix and wouldn't charge me anything, so I'm willing to wait till the window seat is being built to worry about it.

Eventually, once the painting project happens, I'll do something exciting with the colors of the built-in, but I'm not 100% decided as to what it will be yet.  Definitely the interior and the shelves will be painted orange for a nice accent, but I'm debating whether to keep the whole built-in the same color as the walls (as it is now), or paint it as if it's separate from the walls, maybe the same color as the white trim.  So many decisions to make!

It's not easy being green

So, a couple months ago I decided on a general color scheme for the main floor of my house.  This is it:

I mean, I'm obviously not going to follow this verbatim, but this is more or less what I'm going for.  I love all of these colors and think it'll just make the room feel really warm.  Bonus: most of the colors are already there, so it's not like I have to spend a bunch of money to totally overhaul everything.  I decided I needed to bring a little more green into my color scheme to lighten things up, which was previously mostly in the red, orange, and brown areas of the spectrum.  The addition of green - at least so far - has taken the form of little accents here and there: a vase, spice rack, and some throw pillows.

First up: vase.  In a sort of random burst of energy, I went to Value Village initially to drop some purged items off as a donation, and ended up walking out with a ceramic vase and a wooden spice rack for approximately $6 total.  I wish I had thought to take pictures of them in their original state, but alas, I did not, so I'll just have to describe them to you.

The vase was (poorly) painted this cream color as a background, with pale pink and light green flowers carved on top of it.  I had seen an idea on Pinterest (shoutout!) about painting vases like this with carved flowers, so I thought I'd try my hand at it, using colors that I liked from my color scheme.  I thought it would look sort of vintage-y, plus add a little kick to the room.  Here's a couple shots of it after being primed, and then with the background color:

I'm not totally crazy about the color spray paint I got for the background color.  Next time I think I'll try harder to go to an actual art store to find a larger selection of spray paint than the ones that are kept under lock and key at the Har Mar Michael's.  I literally think the saleswoman sized me up and decided I was *not* likely to go tag some buildings before opening up the cage and selling me the spray paint.

And then, the finished product:

Not perfect, but good enough for me.  So, then it was spice rack time.  Again, no shot of the original (sorry), but here it's being primed:

And then here's the finished product, in its mise en scene.

And as with the vase, I wish I had had the patience to seek out some other paint alternatives or been smart enough to think of mixing my paint color to get exactly what I wanted, but...I wasn't.  Meh.

My last little splash of green that I added were a few throw pillows on the couch and chair in the living room.  I had had these sort of ugly and boring, monochrome throw pillows that came with the couch, but I figured replacing those was one really easy way of changing up the look a bit, so I donated those and bought several cheap and brightly-colored pillows at Pier One.

Once the much-anticipated window seat is built, I'll have to buy some more pillows - hopefully they still have some that kind of match.  Project Green = Mission Accomplished.

Pressssssssssssssshious

Maybe it's creepy to love an appliance as much as I love this stove.  But if loving this stove is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Ever since I moved into my condo, I had been disappointed in my electric range.  (Sorry, don't have a picture of it!)  I mean, don't get me wrong - it was perfectly functional, and had I needed to, I could have gone on for several more years with it.  But it was old, ugly, and frustrating to cook with.  I grew up having a gas range, and I fantasized about having one again.  And since I've been cooking more and more the past few years, it just seemed silly to continue to put up with something that I really didn't like! 

Getting a gas range in and of itself was kind of a big decision, since it would entail running a gas line into my kitchen.  Extra $$.  After visiting several stores and (briefly) contemplating the idea of just replacing my current range with a new electric model, I decided to go whole hog and go for the gas.  It was kind of a dicey experience getting the gas line put in, because the plumbers had to come back three different times to figure out where to run it, but it all worked out in the end and I'm glad I did it.  Cooking has been better and easier with the new range FOR SURE.  After many months of not being able to ever get the consistency of my Indian sauces right, I finally got it right the last time I did one!

The only down side of the whole gas line experience was that it did leave this lovely hole in my upstairs storage closet:

Not too huge a deal, since it's in the attic where no one will ever see it, but it is something that's on my list to deal with at some point.

The stove was definitely the priority, but the more I looked around at all the appliances in my kitchen, the more outdated they looked.  I think they all must be AT LEAST 10 years old, and they all had that yellowish tint to them.  So at the same time I bought the stove, I also got a new overhead microwave (both GE Profile).  Hopefully this year I will also replace the fridge and dishwasher, but I'm waiting until I've paid off the first two.  Thanks to some generous Christmas gifts from my family, I'm not too far away, so I'm thinking maybe this summer?

Here's a picture of the kitchen as it looked a few months ago, right after I got the stove:

I've got big plans for the kitchen.  Besides replacing the appliances, my wish list includes:

• New kitchen cabinet hardware (already done, but I'll get to that in another post)
• New countertops
• New backsplash covering all three walls in the kitchen
• Painting the cabinets
• Straightening out some of the weird stuff going on with the counters.  You can see in the picture above that the countertop on the right side of the stove is slightly lower than the left side.  WTF?
• New overhead light
• Rolling butcher block cart to create some more counter space
• New trash can - or at least creating some better way of organizing the trash and recycling situation next to the fridge.
• Countertop lighting for the back left corner

This is probably my most ambitious project that I've got planned, but I figure if you're going to invest some money in your house, the kitchen is the place to do it, both for resale, and - in my case - personal enjoyment.  It'll probably take a few years just to afford to do it all, but hey, I've got time :)

Bedroom furniture makeover

The best way I can think of to organize this chronicle of my adventures in home improvement is to just go chronologically, updating as I complete various projects.  I don't have a whole lot of terribly exciting things happening at the moment, so let's go back in time to the very first thing I did when this scheme was hatched. 

I had these two pieces of furniture in my bedroom, both inherited from my dad.  I believe they both part of his bedroom furniture when he was little, so technically they're probably inherited from my grandparents.
 

They were both in fine shape, but had clearly been knocked around over the last 60 years or so, and I had been considering replacing them with something new, but really hadn't thought too much about it.  One night I was just sitting around, and suddenly it became clear to me that a few coats of black paint would make them the sleek and sophisticated pieces I was looking for.  After a quick trip to the hardware store, I had set up a makeshift painting station in my bedroom and started work that night. 

It took me a few weeks to paint each frame and all the drawers - priming, then at least 3 coats of paint, then 2 coats of poly to make it shine - and I could only really do one coat each night between getting home from work, cooking dinner, and waiting for them to dry.  But finally they were finished, and then I had to figure out the hardware.  Turns out that each one had these incredibly unusual measurements for the current hardware on it, so replacing it was insane. 

I tackled the nightstand first.  The drawer holes on the nightstand were 4 3/4" apart, and I just couldn't find anything I liked because there isn't a huge selection of this size out there in the world.  So instead I took the old knobs from the top of the dresser (the little round guys), spray painted them to match my brushed nickel curtain rods, and put two of those in instead.  So the finished product looks like this!

As you can tell from the second picture, I was still figuring out the whole painting thing when I did this one, since it was my first experiment.  You can kind of see a few drips up in the upper left corner.  Oh well - all in all, it was a great little project to dip my toe in the water.

The dresser has been a little harder to finish up.  On the top drawer, there were these knobs, then on the bottom half, all these 1" tiny little pulls.  I learned after many hours scouring the internet and visiting a number of antique stores that this measurement just really doesn't exist anymore.  FML.  Finally, I found these awesome Mission (kind of an Art Deco look) knobs for the lower half of the dresser, where the holes were 1" apart. 

Genius!  I hadn't even thought of giant knobs before, since I was only looking for pulls, but this solved the problem.  At least for the bottom half.  I've been dragging my feet on finding knobs for the top half since I just can't find anything I love quite as much as these giant knobs.  But it's not an option to just get more for the top (since I took the last ones at the antique store), so I'll have to pick something sometime.  I've got my eye on some I found online, and will probably pull the trigger on them eventually.

For now I'm taking a little break from the bedroom.  Painting the furniture and doing some purging, de-cluttering, and lighting adjustments has really made a huge difference.  In the second picture with the dresser, you can sort of see the tall lamp that I moved to my bedroom from the living room.  I had always been annoyed that my bedroom was so dark that I couldn't see my clothes when getting dressed in the morning, and now that problem has been delightfully solved. 

I still have a lot of work to do on using the space in my closet better.

It's not like a total horrible mess or anything, but the arrangement of the hampers (one for regular clothes, one for workout clothes - is that weird?) kind of annoys me, and I'm sure there's more purging I could do.  But for now, I'm feeling pretty good about everything in there - I love the colors, and it feels like a really relaxing and elegant space to me.

Next time: Pressssssssssssssssssshious (aka My Stove)!

And....go.

So...hello!  I really have no idea what I'm doing here with this whole blog thing.  I guess I should start by saying that about six months ago I became motivated by some sad events in my personal life to start investing some serious time and energy in my home.  I've owned my condo for about 4 1/2 years, but until now I have made very minor (if any) improvements to it.  The paint is the same as the day I moved in, the furniture is the same as the day I moved in - even some moving boxes are in the same place as the day I moved in!  (Embarrassing side note: I cleaned out an area that had a bunch of these never-moved boxes tonight, and found the decaying remains of a mouse.  Awesome.)

I've decided that the time has come to act like I own this place.  Having a space I love to come home to is extremely important to me, and even though it's already a pretty sweet pad, there are a ton of things I could do to make it even better.

I've already taken on and completed a few tasks, which I will post soon.  I plan to just keep posting things I do as a way to keep track of where I started and the progress I've made.  I'm really inspired by the small changes I've made so far, and am excited to see what I can do!