Archive for July, 2011
Fab Freebie: More Than Words
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below (along with some sweet discounts)!***
Before we announce our winners, let’s first get to two consolation prizes: discounts! Get 15% off your WordGarden order with code YoungHouseLove15 and get 15% off of your Everywhere We Look order with code YHL15.
As for our two winners, random.org has selected… Leah (who “definitely” loves typographic art) and Rebecca A. (who loves books and typographic art – which seemed to be a trend). Congrats ladies!
This week’s pair of prizes (for a pair of winners, no less) come from two Etsy sellers who have a way with words. Namely, they turn the written word into stylish pieces for your home. The first of which, WordGarden, takes text and graphics to give simple pillows a chic European flair – from bicycles and birdcages to his and hers sets. And two of you will be scoring a pair of pillows in any size and any design.
The other half of this week’s prize comes from Everywhere We Look, who creates book page wreaths that could be right out of Anthropologie. And each of this week’s winners will get a large-sized wreath (i.e over 250 pages turned into a 21″ wreath) that’s custom made just for them.
- PRIZE: Two pillows of any size from WordGarden and a large custom wreath from Everywhere We Look
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “WORD ME!” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: … tell us what form you particularly love seeing words take? Are you a sucker for typographic art (like me)? Have you never met a funny t-shirt or bumper sticker that you didn’t like? Do song lyrics do it for you? Or are you a traditionalist and simply love words in books, poems, and love notes?
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, July 20th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: Two
- PRIZE SHIPS: The United States and Canada
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winners will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here on Thursday morning for the announcement of our winner. Good luck…
Note: We weren’t paid or perk’d for hosting this giveaway, we just take them on to reward our lovely readers! See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from WordGarden and Everywhere We Look.
The Skinny
Laundry room update? Don’t mind if I do.
To jog your memory, so far we’ve replaced the washer/dryer, taken down window shutters & cluttered shelves along with frosting the door (all here), filled some ceiling cracks, and painted the room the same color (Benjamin Moore’s Sesame) as the kitchen. And voila, we’re all up to speed.
Well, if you really want to be up to speed, now it looks like this (brighter day = paint looks lighter):
But let’s back up so I can blather on about how those shelves came to be. Even during our initial walk-through of this house we decided to maximize that sliver of space with some built-ins to add a lot more function.
Did we mention the room is just 3.5′ wide? That means the washer and dryer doors wouldn’t even open if they were placed on the other wall under the window or fuse box. So if anyone’s still having trouble getting how narrow this space is, I broke out my spider monkey skills (and crazy toes) to demonstrate. Don’t try this at home, kids.
Since the room is so skinny, we knew adding that vertical storage next to the washer would be key (we can’t really go “out” for fear of bashing into fold-out shelving or counters or drying racks – so we might as well go “up” instead!). Speaking of up, since the built-in cabinets above the dryer are completely out of Sherry’s reach (poor thing, but at least she can reach the dryer buttons), more accessible storage was just the thing. And since no ready-made bookshelf skinny enough to fit into that 14.5″ gap won us over (they were all too shallow to allow us to take full advantage of the nook), we opted to build something instead. It certainly couldn’t be harder than the behemoth console that we built, right?
Wrong.
Just kidding. It definitely was easier. So here’s a quick-ish recap of how it went down. First I measured the space and marked up a little sketch that I did with a few measurements. I’ll pause while you marvel at my technical drawing skills.
After much consideration, we opted to use the right wall (with the window on it) as side #1 of the bookshelf and to build a vertical divider of sorts to be side #2. We wanted the whole thing to be as deep as the appliances, but then it would partially cover the window. So instead we’re decided to split it. The bottom half would be washer-depth and the top-half (above the window sill) would be window-depth. Confusing, I know. And I’m sure this drawing below (which helped me determined wood cuts) doesn’t help. But here it is anyways. Enjoy!
I got the guys at Home Depot to make most of my cuts, so here’s the bulk of my wood pile by the time I got home. We used whitewood with 1 x 2″ poplar boards mixed in (since they don’t sell whitewood planks that thin) just like the console. Also like the console, I’d be screwing two 1 x 12″ boards side-by-side to get a wider board for the bottom and top portions of my vertical divider. And then a 1 x 10″ trimmed with 1 x 2″s for the middle shelf that would connect the two divider halves. Not pictured, nor sketched above, are some more 1 x 12″ boards for my shelves and some miscellaneous 1 x 2″s for trim.
The middle shelf would sit flush with the window sill, so I cut and attached the 1 x 2″ trim pieces so it’d leave a sill-sized notch. Here I am testing the placement, which fortunately worked out really well.
Then I screwed bottom half of the divider directly into the “floor “(which is actually a piece of plywood that runs under the appliances for extra stability – more on that here) and into the middle shelf using my Kreg jig. It hung over the plywood a bit (I forgot to calculate the added trim on the middle shelf when cutting my board) but I solved that later with another piece of 1 x 2″ trim on the floor to finish things off.
You can see above that I screwed in a couple of pieces of wood on the back and side walls for the middle shelf to rest on. That’s because the vertical divider doesn’t go all the way back to the wall (to leave some access to the washer and the dryer duct).
Speaking of which, I updated our old aluminum-foil-ish dryer duct to a safer rigid all-aluminum version from Lowe’s (since we hear they’re less of a fire hazard). It was an easy switch (remove the other guy, clamp new new one in place with metal clamps and metal wall piece, that’s it).
Here’s the top divider now attached, just like the bottom guy. Notice how he’s set back to be even with the window? Is this making more sense now? It’s sort of a two-tiered profile so it uses all of the depth that we can use without oddly overlapping the window.
As for the rest of the shelves, we wanted them to be adjustable and removable. Adjustable because, well, sometimes you want to adjust your shelves dagnabbit. Removable because it’ll help us gain access to the back of the washer/dryer if need be. So I purchased four 6ft lengths of metal shelf tracks at Home Depot (the same kind that we have in our built-ins and master closet) and snipped them with metal cutters to the right lengths.
The space between the divider and the wall was shaping up to be a smidge wider than my 1 x 12″ shelf pieces, so I added some additional 1 x 2s to bridge the gap. In the long run, I think this actually make the metal tracks more secure (since otherwise they’d just be nailed into drywall). So maybe a happy accident?
A not so happy accident? Realizing at this point that it’d be very difficult to paint all of the wood in place. So out it all came so we could access everything more easily. The good news is that it was pretty quick and easy to take out, which will be appreciated if ever it has to come out for some serious appliance maintenance.
In the sunroom (the laundry room is waaay too small to attempt to paint these big pieces) we applied two quick coats of primer (Kilz No-VOC) followed by two coats of white paint (Olympic Premium No-VOC semi-gloss off-the-shelf white paint) on all of the framing for the built-ins to make sure we were getting our whitest white without any wood bleed going on. But after lazily painting the shelves with just two coats of paint the next day (no primer) we realized we probably would’ve been fine without primer on the framing too. Oh well. It certainly didn’t hurt.
Oh, and we also painted that side wall on the right white (to make it look more like it was part of the bookshelf). But we left the back alone for a shot of color that would be seen through the shelves.
Then I reinstalled everything, nailed in my metal shelf tracks, added the clips, and took them for a spin.
On the bottom half I also added a little lip at the back of the shelf since, unlike the top, they don’t go all the way to the wall. This will hopefully prevent things from sliding off and getting lost back in there. But if something does sneak back there over the lip somehow, we can still easily retrieve it thanks to the shelves being removable.
But enough “how we built it” mumbo jumbo. Let’s check out the finished product:
That 2″ gap between the appliances and the shelf was intentional so that when the washer starts a-rockin’ things on the shelves don’t start a-knockin’ (if you know what I mean). Actually, that’s literally what I mean. It’s not a euphemism.
Admittedly she’s not the prettiest thing in the world when she’s empty (I think I would’ve preferred the look of fixed all-the-same-size shelves). But the function of adjustable shelving made a lot more sense, and we can now store something small and something tall without worrying that things won’t fit.
And there’s no denying that we’ve gained a lot of usable storage space when it comes to the max-depth that we worked hard to obtain. We haven’t quite figured out all that we’ll put here (besides the obvious detergent, iron, etc – maybe a basket that can be used for winter gloves & scarves and a larger one for flip flops and sandals). Just for fun Sherry went ahead and fancied it up a bit with some – you guessed it – baskets.
Along with a few other things we already had (magazine files, a scalloped bowl, a jar full of clothespins, etc).
We’re toying with the idea of this becoming our new drop spot for mail, coupons, and other miscellany. So maybe it’ll look like this in the long run?
As for the cost on this one, it definitely was more than if we’d gone with a not-quite-right existing solution (like this narrower, shallower version from Ikea). But we totally think it was worth getting something that looks more seamless and really makes the most of the space (so we can use the full width and depth and adjust the shelves to customize it even further whenever need be). Here’s the ol’ budget breakdown:
- Wood (from Home Depot & Lowe’s): $59
- Metal shelf tracks & shelf clips (from Home Depot): $15
- Primer & paint (Kilz No-VOC primer & Olympic No-VOC paint): already owned
- Baskets, magazine files, the bowl, etc: already owned
- TOTAL: $74
Oh, and the aluminum dryer transition duct was $10 from Lowe’s.
As for our laundry room to-do list, these days it’s looking more like this:
Paint the odd brown quarter round near the baseboards glossy white
Redo all the dinged up trim (also in semi-gloss white)Paint the wallsReplace our dryer hose with a safer all-metal oneAdd adjustable built-in shelving in that nook next to the stacked washer & dryer- Replace the hinges and knobs on the upper cabinetry
- Get a new light fixture <- DIY something? maybe a small chandelier?
- Add a window treatment (maybe a homemade one?)
- Add other functional storage near the door for shoes, Burger’s leash, etc
- Hang some art to keep it cheerful and obscure the giant metal fuse box
Even though we’re only about halfway through, we’re feeling pretty good that in the past few weeks, this space has already gone from this…
…to this:
As for where we’ll store the ironing board- we have a plan for that. More details to come after we tackle it (we wanna make sure it works first, haha). In the meantime we’d love to hear what storage solution you’re loving (or lusting after) in your laundry space. Got some sweet cabinets or drawers? A cool collapsible drying rack or ironing board? Your very own laundry sink? We know there are some pimped out laundry rooms out there, so let’s hear it.
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A Weird Milestone
We passed a weird milestone on Wednesday. On the surface, it just marked seven months of living in this shouldn’t-call-it-new-anymore house. Then we realized it also marked the point at which Clara has spent more of her life living here than at our first home.
We always knew our first house would just be a foggy blip on Clara’s memory radar, but passing this milestone feels like it’s actually happening. The house that we spent renovating/loving for over 4.5 years meant so much to me and Sherry – it wasn’t just our first home, it was our wedding venue, our DIY testing grounds, our inspiration to start this blog, and where we took our baby home from the hospital. But it’s already becoming “that place I lived for a few months back when I was a baby” to Clara. Sigh.
Here’s her almost seven-month-old self checking out her new room back on moving day.
And here she is over seven months later. Such a big girl. Still pretty bald though.
We’re really glad she (and Burger) took so well to the new house. And we’re more than a little fond of it ourselves. It’s just funny to think that a house that meant so much to us won’t be much more than “oh yeah, that place” to Clara. Thankfully she’ll have no shortage of photos and videos to remember it by (like this vid that we made just for her before we moved).
Do any of you have a childhood home that you only remember vaguely? Or do you get most of your memories jogged by pictures and your parents’ stories? I lived in the same house for my entire childhood, but Sherry moved around a few times, and only remembers “the drop ceiling in the basement that she and the boys would ‘accidentally’ break all the time” from her first one. At least Clara’s memory of her first house won’t involve destruction. Unless you count all the DIY that she witnessed.
Update- We just got Clara’s monthly pic done, check it out here. We’ve got a walker!!
Waste Not, Want Not
That was my attitude when it came to using up the rest of the oil-rubbed bronze spray paint from this project that I had leftover. So I turned my attention to the mismatched patio furniture that we inherited from the previous owners (seen here in an old photo with my dearly departed ceramic dog, sniffle).
Sure, I like painting things white (and white ceramic animals, and white chocolate among other snow-colored objects) but sometimes white things outside = grungy. As this shot demonstrates, any time it rained little dirt and leaves splashed into the crevices of the table and looked all grubby.
Parts of it were peeling too:
And you should have seen this guy in March/April in the height of allergy season. Yeah, it was fuzzy and yellow. So I figured a coat of ORB spray paint could cure his everything-shows issue. And unify those chipping black chairs.
So I just dragged everything out to the yard, set them down on items from our recycle bin (namely magazines & cardboard boxes)…
… and sprayed away.
Especially satisfying? Taking the nasty parts like this…
… to this (gotta love that ORB glistening-in-the-sun phenomenon):
Voila:
The whole shebang took about an hour and a half. Maybe two if you count brushing everything with a stiff brush (from our dust pan) to shake all the junk off, and carrying stuff out to the grass and back after they were dry. Oh and it took another can of ORB to get all three pieces done, but we figure spending $7 for that second can and using the rest of our leftover one (from this project) sure beats investing in new patio furniture just yet.
You might not see it yet, but adding some pillows (or chair pads), some swagged bulb lights, and a few other festive patio accessories might just take this old set from drab to fab. Yes I just said drab to fab (she types as she buries her head in her hands).
What have you guys been spray painting lately? Any outdoor chillaxing going on? Anyone shocked that I didn’t paint everything white instead of ORB? Anyone turn this post into a drinking game (and sip every time I mention that three letter abbreviation)? Just went back and counted, but I only said it three times. Not enough: ORB, ORB, ORB. There, done.
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Crack Sand.
You know we love to save a buck wherever we can. Sometimes to a fault. And as any scrimper knows, sometimes it can bite you in the a-dollar-sign-dollar-sign (a$$). Though I’m not sure we ever expected that we’d wish we had splurged on “the fancy sand”…but that was the case after living with our finished patio for a few weeks.
If you recall, we used some leftover paver sand to fill the cracks between the stones instead of spending the $95 that the stoneyard would’ve charged for a delivery of the polymeric stuff (which has some cement-like qualities to help keep it in place and block weeds a little better).
At first the paver sand looked great in those cracks…
… but after a few weeks and (more importantly) a few rains, I grew increasingly unsatisfied with my crack sanding job (yes, I just very maturely resisted the urge to write “the sand in my crack”). It had washed out in a bunch of places, leaving lots of empty gaps and an inconsistent look that I wasn’t happy with.
So, we bit the bullet, swallowed our pride, and bought a bucket of polymeric sand at Lowe’s for about $30. It technically should have only been enough to cover about 1/3rd of the patio, but since the cracks still had some regular sand packed into the bottom of ‘em, I knew it’d go further (not only did one bucket do the trick, we still have lots leftover in case we ever need to redo it). So at least we didn’t end up spending the full $95 that we were originally quoted.
Applying the sand was tedious to say the least. Just as the directions suggested, I used a ziploc bag with the tip snipped off to pour the sand directly into the cracks… of which there were lots. Did I mention it was tedious? And yes I channeled Duff from Ace of Cakes the whole time (minus the weird facial hair).
My initial application was way too heavy – which isn’t ideal because once this stuff gets wet it truly is cement-like. So you want to be sure you put the sand only where you want it to stay for the long haul (as in, not on the face of the pavers).
So section-by-section I swept my heavy-handed sand “icing” until it thinned out into something more subtle (the top half of this pic is done, and I hadn’t started on those bottom cracks).
Then in an extra credit bout of nerdiness, after all of the sand was poured and swept, I went over the whole patio with my electric leaf blower on its lowest setting to be sure I got rid of any excess on the surface of the stones. After that I broke out my hose and misted the entire area per the directions (being sure to get everything wet without going overboard and washing things out).
In retrospect I wish I had blown or swept out a smidge more sand before wetting things down so that the “seams” of sand between the pavers were a tiny bit thinner. Guess I’ll add that to my Lessons Learned list. Right under “Use polymeric sand in the first place.” But it’s really not too bad. Kind of charming in that it-looks-like-it’s-been-here-a-while-way (when the seams are free of sand it looks really dorky-new to us, like too-white sneakers on the first day of school).
Even though we did save about $60 in the long run, I do wish we’d “splurged” for it during the initial patio laying process. It would’ve saved me lots of time (it took about three passes to get the paver sand looking good during my first attempt, whereas the polymeric stuff took only one) and in the long run I’m confident that the “fancy stuff” will do a much better job when it comes to blocking weeds, ant hills, and all that other unwanted stuff over the next few years.
Here’s a shot of the pavers that I snapped yesterday, about a month after putting all the new sand down. We figured we should wait to post about it to see how it stood the test of time (and a few crazy thunderstorms). So far it’s holding up as well as the day I did it. And yes, I’m quite relieved about that. I don’t know that I had another sand application in me if this one didn’t pan out.
Has anyone else learned their lesson the hard way? Or can you think of a time where you wish you had just bucked up and done things right the first time? Basically I’m looking for you guys to make me feel less like I’m the only one who makes these kind of mistakes.
Psst- Want to look back on the entire patio process from beginning to end? Here’s the first post (about planning), the second post (about prepping the area), the third post (about unexpected budget breakage), the fourth post (about further prepping the area), the fifth post (about adding the gravel & sand along with the majority of the pavers), and the big we’re finally done post (complete with a bucketload o’ pics).
