House of Estrogen

Refrigerator Public Service Announcement

This is an important public service announcement to you, my faithful blog readers:

DO NOT LAY A REFRIGERATOR ON ITS SIDE OR BACK TO MOVE IT. Just don't.

If you MUST move a refrigerator horizontally for some reason, do lots of googling first to find out which side you can safely lay it on according to which direction the pipes flow and find out how many hours you have to leave it sitting upright unplugged for the oil to flow back down into the compressor from the cooling lines. Neglecting to do the appropriate pre-move googling may result in your refrigerator compressor being completely destroyed, and the appliance repair person telling you "you killed it. There is nothing you can do."  He will tell you this in a tone that makes you realize that heartless appliance repair people give out this news countless times on Mondays after refrigerators have been moved lying down over the weekends. I bet they show up to work Monday mornings and place wagers on how many broken refrigerator calls they get that day.

So, now you know. If you ever need to move your refrigerator for some reason, like, say... getting your hardwood floors refinished, you now have the classified information about how simple it is to destroy the most expensive appliance in your home. I don't understand why refrigerators don't have a warning label on them warning the unsuspecting public about this vulnerability, but I guess it is one way to sell more refrigerators.

On a completely unrelated note, we just bought a new fridge. Isn't it pretty and shiny? We just wanted one. That's all. Really.

Master Bathroom (a.k.a. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)

 
It all started with this lovely leak in our kitchen ceiling.

We called our insurance company and got an estimate for fixing and painting the ceiling, and fixing and replacing the old, cracked, mildewed, leaking shower floor above it.

That was simple enough, but then it was like we plunged headfirst into the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" book and couldn't get out of it. If you aren't familiar Laura Numeroff's books, one thing leads to another which leads to another which leads to another and so on. The progression makes for charming children's books; however, when adapted to home renovations, it gradually leads to bankruptcy.

When choosing new bathroom flooring, we couldn't help but think, "we should really get rid of all that dreadfully boring white tile in the shower at the same time...

and go for frameless shower glass too.

If we were having someone come in to do all that tile work anyway, it was a perfect time to get rid of the hanging shower caddy, right?

Sure, the insurance payment wasn't going to cover a dime of (not one, but two) custom built-in shower shelves, but you know... since it was all ripped apart anyway, it only made sense.

I never did like that white tile floor with the little black accent squares. And who was the genius who thought white grout was a good idea?

If somebody was going to be working on laying tile anyway, then obviously it was time to get rid of all the builder's grade white tile and replace it with travertine. Obvs.

Insurance was going to cover the cost of replacing the tile around the edge of the tub.

But you know... those big soaker tubs have always looked so inviting. Apparently, if you give a mouse a cookie, she's going to want a new bathtub to relax in while she eats it.

We initially planned on keeping the existing cabinets, countertop, mirrors, and lighting. The white would still go with all the new tile, and of all the things I have hated about this bathroom since we moved in, the light fixture was never one of those things.

So much for best laid plans.  If you're going to spring for travertine floors, you gotta get the travertine counters to match, right?

 

And if your contractor is going to the trouble to build new cabinet drawer and door fronts (we did actually keep the existing cabinetry), then why continue to use the purchased-from-Target-20-years-ago medicine cabinet?

If you give a pig a pancake, he's going to have the contractor build a brand new medicine cabinet to hold his syrup.

Oh, and since the toilet had to be lifted up to replace the tile...

Then clearly, it needed to be replaced with a stronger flushing one with nice flat sides that don't collect dust.

So, it all started with a little insurance money to fix a leak in the shower floor, and it ended with a completely renovated master bathroom, a very modestly updated kids' bathroom, most of the upstairs painted, both stairwells painted, a new closet built in the office, new walls built in the playroom, new lighting in the playroom, and the entire downstairs ceiling painted. I think our poor contractor thought we were going to make him move in.

I have to say though, I'm very pleased with the transformation. From the sterile grey paint with the white tile, white tub, white counter, white floors, white sinks, white cabinets, white trim, and that horrendous white grout...

 to our own little warm, inviting spa-like retreat.

Now we just have to figure out how to convince the insurance company that the little leak in the kitchen necessitated work being done all over the house. That shouldn't be too hard. Surely they have read "If You Give a Moose a Muffin", right?

 

The Great Granite Decision of 2014

As kitchens go, ours wasn't bad. The cabinets are good quality, it has hardwood floors, and the laminate countertops had a little wooden edge around them to give them a little style over your standard builder-issue laminate. The colors might not have been my first choice, but it was all relatively attractive for a kitchen where you didn't choose anything yourself. That said, after living here more than 10 years, we were ready for a change. I always pictured our kitchen with black granite counters, so that was the main goal.

Unfortunately, J.C. and I don't have a decision making gene between us, and so "The Great Granite Decision of 2014" began. We looked at this one,

and this one,

and this one,

 

and this one, and more, and more, and then more.

 
Sometimes the kids went with us,...

sometimes we took measurements, and...

sometimes there were chickens.

 

After months of spending an unhealthy number of hours touring every granite distributor in the area (with numerous visits to each one), we were pretty sure we would never redo the kitchen and just continue looking at granite for the rest of our lives. (Just a side note... we're currently at that stage with our bathroom reno.)

Finally though, we came to the conclusion that there was never going to be a "perfect granite", and we simply had to choose one.

We selected cosmos black with a leathered finish. (Bonus points if you can spot the chicken in this photo.)

We had the granite installed back in February, and finally chose a tile backsplash about a month ago. We are nothing if not painfully slow with decisions. It is now done though, so here are a few before and afters.

Close-up of the tile and counter before...

and after.

The first thing I notice in these pictures is that the white outlet covers need to go. We'll now spend the next eight months choosing what color faceplates to buy.

And the sink before...

and after. I have to say the new black sink is probably my favorite part of the kitchen. It is a Swan granite composite sink, and I adore it. Is it OK to adore a sink? Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that.

Area by the fridge before...

and after (probably should have cleared the fridge for the after shots. We have kids though. Is it possible to have clean refrigerator doors with kids?).

 

And one more before...

and after.

Anyway, it is finally done, and we're happy (with the exception of those darn white plate covers that I hadn't even noticed until I looked at these pictures). It isn't a huge overhaul, but it is new, fresh, bold, and more us. (And I really love the cool black sink.)

 

Laundry Room Loveliness

OK... so maybe "lovely" is too strong a word for any room that by nature requires you to wash, dry, sort, fold, hang, and iron clothing, but I do feel like ours is so much more lovely now than how it started. In planning this laundry room reno, our goal was to make the laundry room more functional. We brainstormed every possible way of making the room more spacious - knocking out walls, eliminating a closet, adding on to the house, moving plumbing, and finishing our attic. In the end, we couldn't justify the expense of any of those major renovations, so we settled on doing the best we could with the space we have. Here are the before pictures:

Depressing place, eh? With a family of five, we spend a lot of time in here. Although the space is tiny, there had to be a way to make it a little more usable and inviting.

The first step was new flooring and paint. JC laid the tile. The tile was that "sale tile that is always on the end cap at Lowe's" stuff... cheap, and perfect for this project.  Then I painted. It is already cheerier, right?

Next, our plans called for a front loading washer and dryer, so that we could have counter space across the top of both for sorting and folding. Sadly, we discovered while shopping that the space wasn't deep enough for a front loading washer. We wouldn't be able to open the door to the laundry room which makes actually using the room a bit difficult. Since that plan fell through, we went with the next best option - the highest capacity top load washer and front load dryer that we could find with a counter over half. If the counter top looks familiar, it is our kitchen island, conveniently recyled and repurposed into a laundry room counter. Although the counter space isn't as big as we had hoped it could be, it is still a vast improvement over what we had before. The new hooks give us some space for hanging swim suits and delicates too.

Every laundry room deserves a little decor and whimsy, so I added a fun vinyl decal from TweetHeartWallArt on Etsy. "Self Serve" is definitely appropriate too. Addison is the only one in the family who gets help with her laundry, and I'm weaning her off of that as fast as I can. Unfortunately, right now, she is too short to reach the bottom of the washing machine without falling in.

We didn't bother to upgrade the nasty old stained sink since it is mostly used for washing out paint brushes and stained clothing anyway, but I think it looks a bit more chipper and festive with new artwork as well from CarolAlden on Etsy.

We also found a new home for the ironing board behind the door. Perfect.

Laundry is still by far my least favorite household chore, but I think our laundry room improvements have made it a little more tolerable. Wouldn't you agree?