Tuesday, November 13, 2012

More Moronic Moves and Some House Before & Afters


After last week's unfortunate incident with the nail polish on the couch, I thought my marriage karma had miraculously turned itself around. Mr. W wasn't even really able to pick up my faint smear on the couch, so when we left for Santa Ynez Saturday morning, I thought I was irrevocably back in his good graces.

And then we opened the new faux wood blinds to hang in the kitchen...

As Mr. W pulled them from the box, I said, "I sure hope they're the right size." It was like one of those moments where as soon as you say the words, you know it's all going south. Like, "I sure hope that seagull doesn't poop on me," or "I sure hope the alterations on my dress are right." It's like a done doody deal as soon as you verbalize the hope.

Mr. W carried the blinds to the large kitchen window, and sure enough, they were the wrong size. Not because Lowes had mis-cut them, but because I had mis-measured the window.

Fail.

We had to go across the street and borrow a hack saw from our darling neighbors so Mr. W could cut each individual slat of the blinds. He was not thrilled with me at this point...

Then I went to work spray painting the frame of our guest bathroom shower—the tile was really ugly and we realized we could just paint it white until we demo the bathroom next year. The spray paint canister was a little different from others I've used recently and when I saw a plastic pluggy-looking thing attached to the nozzle, I pulled it out. Then proceeded to spray giant, unruly drops of white paint all over the inside of the shower.

Fail.

Thankfully, Mr. W is smart and told me to reinsert the plug—which was actually some sort of spray diffuser—and it was smooth sailing after that.

Seriously, that man is a saint. He even bought me a card for the five-year anniversary of our first date. I do not know what I did to deserve him, but I'm certainly not paying him back very well with all my home renovation disasters.

Here are a couple peeks at some of the stuff we worked on this past weekend. Just in case you were wondering how the future wine-making facility is coming along... (Please excuse the grainy pictures. I think a setting was wonky on my camera. Add it to the list of things I screwed up this weekend...)


The guest bath was a bit frightful when we first saw it...
 


We think it looks much lighter and brighter and inviting now. 
 


The retro diner booth and table setup was pretty cute, but I'm partial to the new table and chairs...
 

I bought the fabric to recover the chairs at IKEA and, although Mr. W thinks it's kind of an "old lady" print, I dig it. 
 

There's a before pic of the whole kitchen here in case you want a reminder. 
 

It's really nice to be whittling away at the very long to-do list for the house. By Thanksgiving, we should have the outside painted and quite a few more touches complete on the inside. If only we could go live there now...

11 comments:

  1. And we haven't even started the hard stuff yet. Maybe that'll be the time you can go move in with your parents.

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  2. I think that it's looking great (I even love the Ikea fabric)! Just remember that all the mishaps will make for great stories to tell at your housewarming party.

    Tiina

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  3. DIY is soooo overrated. Mom and Dad would love to have you move in for a while - why not - the rest of us did! I think the retro diner was cute - I hope you didn't toss it. You could put it in the killing shed for the future neices and nephew's playhouse.

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  4. Mr. W - After all the renovation shows we've watched on TV, you should have known even before the recent mishaps that I would be a disaster when it came to remodeling and DIY. But I'm not going to live with my parents. I plan to stay with you and cry in your face and forget to brush my tongue before bed.

    Tiina - It warms my heart to know that a real, live interior designer likes my fabric choice. :) You'll definitely have to weigh in when we REALLY start decorating it!

    Sister - I'm very proud that I'm the only child who hasn't moved in with Mom and Dad again, and I plan to keep it that way. We didn't get to keep the diner set, but if we did, maybe I'd just go sleep on it in the killin' shed. Who are these nephews you speak of?

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  5. I love all the work you're doing on the house. Sweets seems to think an ideal situation would be for us to buy a house, not live there, renovate it and move in afterwards. I keep reminding him he has a toddler and there's no way we would ever have the time to do the work himself. I really should just redirect him to your blog, so he can live vicariously! Your house is coming along so nicely!

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  6. Has anyone renovated without so many mishaps and restarts that she lost count? I don't know those people; even pros expect that. I think you're DIYN: Do It Yourself Normal. :)
    And this is something I never thought I'd say or even think about ten years ago but it's crazy how a new toilet can change a bathroom, right?!

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  7. I love that fireplace. And that fabric isn't old lady! It's twee. Or something. Doesn't Mister W know that "put a bird on it" is the new black?

    Love your progress!

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  8. You guys are doing great. we are not DIYers....Danny (husband) and Danny (dad) installed a new lock on our front door and everytime you close the door a little too hard, the lock falls out. So the thought of sawing off blinds to make them fit makes me cringe....but good for you and Mr. W!

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  9. You guys are doing great! Man, I LOATHE blinds. I always seemed to mis-measure when we managed the apartment building and Mr. D & I had many a tiff over that frustration. I have pretty much sworn off blinds for the rest of my life. ;-)

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  10. This is all making me want to paint. And take your rug as a sister wife for myself, too.

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  11. I notice you mention spray painting the shower and posted a before photo of it, but no photo of your end result. Hmmmm.....

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Well, whatdya think?