Thursday, August 30, 2012
a little rain must fall
yes, you could say we had a little rain this past Sunday. i love those days! looks like this weekend will be more of the same!
and of course we dealt with it as best we could!
Step Up
4 of 5: Handy Step Storage
so a LOOOOONG time ago, i found this ladder at The Container Store
but was too stubborn to buy it. i was certain i could find something (1) local & (b) cheaper with my focus being on the former. i also made the mistake of only concentrating on how flat the ladder could fold up & if it was shallow enough to still slide into the bottom of the pantry. i never really focused on the height it would give me (or lack thereof) when unfolded. so with that misguided priority in mind, i ended up buying a single step step stool from Target.
not a bad little step, but really what was i thinking? one step? i might as well stand on my tippies!
i don't know why, i just didn't. wait, i think i mentioned something about being indecisive? yeah, that would be it. so FIIINALLY i got my crap together & ordered it! but not before online chatting 1 more time to make sure i'd made it absolutely clear that this thing HAD to be 23" or less when folded. dear dog! someone help me! yet another CS rep chatted with me online & assured me he understood my question & it was definitely whatever measurement i didn't remember yet again - i have a feeling i'm flagged at their Call Center now. so all that for this!
the only complaint i would say about this ladder is it's not easy to collapse back down. i saw that in the comments section before i bought it & it does take me a few seconds to get it right, but it's worth it not to have to lug a step ladder through the house, watch Nacho stand on the counters, or risk some horrendous Darwinian episode from standing on those bar stools.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
It's All Downhill From Here
we took a quickie vaca trip a couple of weeks ago to CO. Winter Park to be precise. we've done snowboarding trips there before, but never a summer trip. so what does one do at a ski resort in the summer? Downhill Mountain Biking. oh boy! what a blast!
first up we took the Amtrak train. i did this when i ran a race out in Boulder, CO 4 years ago & i loved it. but you have to understand how much i HATE flying! i mean, i'm using the HATE in the fullest sense possible for that word! HATE HATE HATE. so yeah, we took the train.
the views after Denver were amazing. by far the coolest was going through Moffat Tunnel. 6 miles through a mountain, so about 10 minutes of darkness. neat-O!
and here we have the fence line of a house across from the Frisco station. this is about 1/4 of what they used for the fencing at this house. unreal!
so what does the main lift area/bottom of Winter Park look like without snow? like this!
who knew there was a full goofy golf course at the bottom of the mountain! crazy!
just happened to be a mini coupe rally going on while we were there. so many minis!
but on to more interesting stuff. the Downhill. here we are (minus me of course) after a morning lesson. that's Korby (who NEVER poses for a photo so i threatened him), Lauren (our main instructor), Nacho, & Stephan (co-instructor). really great class & awesome instructors.
Nacho & Korby had so much fun that i convinced them to take a second level class.
yeah, i sat out the afternoon due to a little spill that left me with this. it only got worse before it finally started getting better. it's almost gone now.
so lessons were Friday. Sat we went up to Rocky Mtn National forest where we normally snow mobile & did a little hiking!
this is Grand Lake - which we normall see covered in snow & ice!
and this is waht RMNF looks like when there is no snow or snow mobiles. 4wheelin instead!
man was that fun!
we capped off Sunday by biking all day! i faired much better than Friday!
people, you are looking at moguls. i don't mean me & Korby & a bunch of $$ either!
yeah, we ski/board down that!
no trip to a ski resort would be complete without Bloody Mary's & these at Lime did not disappoint!
 |
| coming into Denver station |
 |
| on the way to Winter Park right before Moffat tunnel |
 |
| Frisco station |
 |
| recycled skis |
i cannot recommend this enough, bruises and all! we will be back!
Wave of the Future
sorry for the drought, but we were on vaca & i never seem to get back into the groove quickly. so another IKEA Hack brings us my next kitchen customization!
yeah, sexy right? and yes that is a missing drawer front to the left of the stove. believe it or not it was the drawer front that broke the kitchen's back & kicked our redo into gear! sure glad i tore that off...uh, i mean too bad it fell off!
anywhose...the great thing about that microwave was, NOTHING! there was nothing great about it. the lighting was terrible and the venting went straight out the top and into the kitchen. i love when people do that, not properly venting a stove! right up there with eating their toe nails that one!
so i knew 6 years ago that the microwave was not going back UP into or onto anything. it would be hidden out of the way. and here we have it!
we started out with the Akurum Base With 3 Drawers (18" wide i believe) in Nexus Black/Brown
oddly enough when i went to their US site today, i could not choose the Nexus Black/Brown option so that might now be discontinued.
moving on....the only drawer kit we bought was the bottom one. leaving the rest open, we simply used a piece of shelving, cut a piece of Black/Brown wall panel to size for the front, & attached the front panel to the shelf with the hinges to create this - some of these pieces you can't find online, so be sure to ask for extra shelving and panel pieces for custom stuff like this, you'll be glad you did.
put the shelf in the cabinet & slide the microwave in. to compensate for the extra depth, we just cut a scrap piece of OSB down to the correct width & dept & set it in the back so the microwave would not slide around.
now we were ready to dress it up. either we own a biscuit cutter or we borrowed one. i have no idea which, but Nacho cut slices in the cabinet frame & the panel pieces that would cover the white.
he then wood glued/snapped those pieces together to give it a finished look.
and here's what it looks like in use
we have since changed the panel to pull down instead of flip up. it's a toss up really, but bending over to see what i needed to grab was cumbersome so we are using the flip down for now. and since it's so narrow, it makes for a great place to store cutting boards. i corralled that with a hand tray from Target.
nicely done i think! and here is a more complete finished view
yes, i know you can still see the white inside of the cabinet, but i just can't bring myself to line that with anything just yet. perhaps a future project. thinking either cork or metal panel.....but we will call it finished for now.
3 of 5: Microwave & Cutting Board Station
one of the early ideas i found when researching the kitchen redo was to place the microwave under the counter. most of the examples i saw had it positioned in the island. i have always hated any appliance that sits on the counter (with the possible exception of a Kitchen Aid Mixer cuz they are so stylish right?). of course, appliances on the counter take a way distant 2nd to the microwave above the stove. uggh! yuck! grosse! we lived with that beast for almost 10 years ourselves
anywhose...the great thing about that microwave was, NOTHING! there was nothing great about it. the lighting was terrible and the venting went straight out the top and into the kitchen. i love when people do that, not properly venting a stove! right up there with eating their toe nails that one!
so i knew 6 years ago that the microwave was not going back UP into or onto anything. it would be hidden out of the way. and here we have it!
 |
| Akurum Base w/ 3 Drawers |
moving on....the only drawer kit we bought was the bottom one. leaving the rest open, we simply used a piece of shelving, cut a piece of Black/Brown wall panel to size for the front, & attached the front panel to the shelf with the hinges to create this - some of these pieces you can't find online, so be sure to ask for extra shelving and panel pieces for custom stuff like this, you'll be glad you did.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Train
I love that group! But this is not about music. Nacho & I are headed out to CO but this time by train. I did this by myself 4 years ago since i didnt have to worry about anyone but me. I loved it! But of course i HATE flying. We usually drive the 14 hours out to CO & the train is 18 so not that big of a deal when you have the time. Of course I've never been out of the country, well except for Canada, so I have no idea what train travel is like in other countries. I hear nothing but good about it from those who have. I do know that we (US) are woefully inadequate in this tecnology as well. Too bad cuz it's relaxing & less demoralizing than any airport I've ever been in. Anyone want to enlighten me on how great, or maybe not, this is in other parts of the world?
Good Egg Bad Egg
i've intentionally held off on any duck updates because, well, i've kinda been holding my breath & hoping for the best. i'm afraid that time is passed.
we did have a spark of success about 2 weeks ago (July 19th) when we saw mama swimming with 2 babies after we got home from work. we didn't have our camera handy so had to run back inside & get it. by the time we got back out to the beach, this was the best we could get
she continued to swim across the river & disappeared around the island. she left behind 4 eggs. so we were a bit devastated that she'd abandoned the nest & remaining eggs, but like to think she knew best. and hey, 2 babies!
HOWEVER, she came back the next day! Alone! yep, we have no idea where the babies were/are. we have not seen them since that day. we kind of hope she's hidden them away or Dad is taking care of them somewhere, but that is unlikely. she has been on those 4 remaining eggs ever since.
i did a little googling around week 2 & found that the average hatch time is 28 days after the last egg has been laid. we don't know when that was, but today, Aug 1, it's unlikely those eggs are good. she won't abandon the nest. my heart is broken. we wonder every day what happened to the 2 babies that did hatch & if there is any way possible the remaining 4 will - doubtful. i like to think her instinct is best & maybe they will, but, again, doubtful.
for now, here's another close up from the day after we saw those 2 babies with her. she still will let us get really close to her and the plants in the nest have grown so that she has great coverage. you can see me trying to console myself.
we did have a spark of success about 2 weeks ago (July 19th) when we saw mama swimming with 2 babies after we got home from work. we didn't have our camera handy so had to run back inside & get it. by the time we got back out to the beach, this was the best we could get
HOWEVER, she came back the next day! Alone! yep, we have no idea where the babies were/are. we have not seen them since that day. we kind of hope she's hidden them away or Dad is taking care of them somewhere, but that is unlikely. she has been on those 4 remaining eggs ever since.
i did a little googling around week 2 & found that the average hatch time is 28 days after the last egg has been laid. we don't know when that was, but today, Aug 1, it's unlikely those eggs are good. she won't abandon the nest. my heart is broken. we wonder every day what happened to the 2 babies that did hatch & if there is any way possible the remaining 4 will - doubtful. i like to think her instinct is best & maybe they will, but, again, doubtful.
for now, here's another close up from the day after we saw those 2 babies with her. she still will let us get really close to her and the plants in the nest have grown so that she has great coverage. you can see me trying to console myself.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Punch List
oh my dog! some times you just have those weekends where, for no explanable reason, you get lots of stuff done! i don't know what happened to us this past weekend, but, whatever it was, i liked it! i always have my list of things to get accomplished written out for Fridays and i never get any of it done. this last Friday was no exception. instead of working on an endless ToNotDo list, i took Baxter over to my co-worker's house for some socializing work. after we got back home, i had no motivation to do anything that i'd put on my list during the week.
however, for some strange reason, Saturday was a different story. Nacho & i did our usual Sat morning breakfast at the Greece & when we got home, boy did we hit the ground running. for me it was a deep cleaning Saturday. we get a LOT of those wispy cob webs around here & i'd ignored them long enough. so my intention was to vacuum everything above eye level. i did just that, but then it somehow led to more. so here's just some of what we accomplished.....
yes, we now vent to the outside! horray! so technically, the kitchen/dining remodel is complete! i will post a full before/after soon! this sets us up for the roof redo that we've been needing for some time. can't wait!
this is still by far one of my favorite items in the remodel. and yes all of that is wine we drink with the exception of 1 empty bottle that is a placeholder! i did add the verticle corks at the back of each bottle to prevent the bottles from sliding back & so far it's worked great! the bottom drawers actually have room for 2 rows of wine & each drawer has room in the very back for 1-2 empty bottles. i plan to keep those handy for that placeholder function so that bottles don't roll around when there is an empty slot. and yes, Graffina is my current favorite right now - i have 3 different years of it. yum-o! oh, and if anyone can find me a consistent supply of The Show Cab, i'd greatly appreciate it!
but it's done finally! i did also manage to take some time to put 1 more coat of gloss on our bedroom window. the photos above are the spare bedroom/office & they were dying for some attention. anyone notice the lovely screen patch in the first photo (check out the right screen). yeah, that's sticky Cling Wrap that's been taped to the screen on both sides using packing tape. we can thank Baxter for that nice little remodel. he wasn't getting enough of a breeze through his hair so he made a minor modification. well, until we get it fixed..... i must say, as much as i loathe painting trim, i do love how it looks when you're done. i spent tonight putting all the hardware back on. note to self/everyone: it really is worth your time to remove all that hardware & don't bother taping the windows off, just come back with a razor blade after. both those tips are such time savers!
for some reason, i still like this curtain best. i like it so much, i'm changing my color scheme when we redo this room so i can keep this curtain. crazy i know! i think the true test will be if Moser can sleep in here without the street light peaking through!
i'm going to revamp that room some day too so you will have an idea of just how small that space is. it is my ultimate homage to organization and/or use of every square inch humanly possible!
actually this is not all we got accomplished. we had a couple of other small items that made a big difference (or not):
however, for some strange reason, Saturday was a different story. Nacho & i did our usual Sat morning breakfast at the Greece & when we got home, boy did we hit the ground running. for me it was a deep cleaning Saturday. we get a LOT of those wispy cob webs around here & i'd ignored them long enough. so my intention was to vacuum everything above eye level. i did just that, but then it somehow led to more. so here's just some of what we accomplished.....
Venting
Nacho proved me wrong for once! he got this finished up in about 2 weeks
Wine Storage
i'd originally posted the bulk of this project here, but it was nowhere near complete at the time. the steps have long been painted but i never did line the bottom drawers & get everything set up for storage. check that off the list as well.
Sealed
okay, this i actually did Friday morning, but i'd been on Nacho to apply a layer of Tung oil to the bamboo counter tops. why i didn't just do it myself to begin with, i'll never know. but that's done now as well!
Trim
oh god how we hate HATE hate painting trim around here. let's see with the kitchen/dining remodel, we had 10 windows to trim out & Nacho did 1. wonder who did THE OTHER FRACKING 9??? oh yeah, that would be me! i am a saddist!
Return of the Tarp Curtain
so i did finally get my sewing machine back a couple of weeks ago. and remember whe i modified that existing curtain to add a liner to it for use in the bedroom? guess what? i don't like it and i've changed my mind. i know, simply shocking. but i never did get rid of the old Tarp curtain! you know what? it's rough, but i really do like it! so since the office/spare bedroom didn't have a good blackout curtain, just an old sheer from Pier1 way back when, i put Tarp curtain back up in here.
A Little Extra
and with the old Pier1 sheer i had in the office coming down to make way for the Tarp curtain, i had a tension rod with nothing to do. so i borrowed from a popular Pinterest idea & repurposed that in our laundry room.
actually this is not all we got accomplished. we had a couple of other small items that made a big difference (or not):
- Nacho pulled the dining slider door & cleaned out the track. i do wish i'd gotten a picture of this. the door was so bad that i often had to put all my weight into it just to get it to open the entire way. he said it was amazing the amount of sand that had accumulated in the track. i think in the 11 years we've lived here we might have cleaned that thing once. that is on my annual ToNotDo list now!
- i attempted to organize some speaker wire behind the couch. why i have no idea, it will never be seen. suffice it to say, those Command strips that seem like such a great idea on tv, not so much in my house. fell right off the wall. i ended up using the plastic nail thingies that electricians use when running wiring to fasten the wire to a floating shelf so i could at least get them off the ground. certainly not photo worthy.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
My Favorite IKEA Hack!
late as usual, but delivered as promised!
I guess we only really have 3 hacks (one more coming soon) in the kitchen, and the pantry/fridge storage is my favorite
i've never been a fan of that useless black hole over a fridge or at the top of a pantry. whether it's the same depth as the fridge or not, doesn't matter. that space never gets used. at best we throw nic-nac plastic-y pic-nic-y crap up there that we think we'll use for some cookout we're never going to. with the remodel i swore i would not do that again. and with the remodel, we opted for a counter depth fridge (not sure that was a wise choice but maybe i'll talk about that in detail later, maybe not). so with the pantry & the fridge cabinets, one side of our kitchen was looking like this
pretty standard. pantry on the left with the upper cabinet & the fridge cabinet overhead. We used the AKURUM WRD and HD to create this:
Ta-da! not only do we have storage, but we have pull-out storage! now every time i've shown this to anyone, they've all commented "yeah, but how often do you have to get up there?" not very often, but they are missing the point! when i do have to get to something up there, at least it's easy to get to. with 24" deep cabinets, i don't have to struggle reaching all the way to the back to dig something out! yes, it's still way up there & i'll explain that soon too!
2 of 5: Upper Pantry Storage
Like pretty much anyone else who's ever planned an IKEA anything, it doesn't take you long to realize that what they don't make, you can easily hack. i mentioned the hack that we did to create our boxer feeding station! of course, that wasn't really an IKEA thing, because we'd done that years ago with an unused drawer in our old kitchen. however, it showed us that just because it may not "fit" in the planner, doesn't mean it can't be done.I guess we only really have 3 hacks (one more coming soon) in the kitchen, and the pantry/fridge storage is my favorite
i've never been a fan of that useless black hole over a fridge or at the top of a pantry. whether it's the same depth as the fridge or not, doesn't matter. that space never gets used. at best we throw nic-nac plastic-y pic-nic-y crap up there that we think we'll use for some cookout we're never going to. with the remodel i swore i would not do that again. and with the remodel, we opted for a counter depth fridge (not sure that was a wise choice but maybe i'll talk about that in detail later, maybe not). so with the pantry & the fridge cabinets, one side of our kitchen was looking like this
 |
| AK WRD 498.867.72 |
+
 |
| AK HD 398.868.38 |
You can see from those pics the the refrigerator cabinet & the top of the pantry cabinet is typically open space. SO here's where things get all hackey!
 |
| Pantry pullout |
 |
| Refrigerator pullout |
The idea for the shelves came from the pantry actually. you can tell from the IKEA photo above, that we went with the pantry that included pullout drawers. well, why not use those same drawers in the top? seemed simple enough. we just ordered an extra drawer that matched the ones installed in the bottom section.
 |
| Rationell 501.099.84 |
and
 |
| Rationell 201.323.87 |
For the refrigerator pullout it was a bit more complicated. we found out quickly that they don't make a 36" wide drawer if you look in the Storage Organizer section. the widest drawer they have is the Rationell 30" & it's not a Deep Drawer. i could live without the DD considering this is going above the refrigerator where i hope NOT to spend a lot of time! but surely they make a 36" drawer b..e..c..a..u..s..e.....we used a 36"AKURUM Base Cabinet with 2+2 Drawers! see, you gotta think outside the BigBox! of course i can't find the individual drawer online, but we simply ordered an extra 36" drawer like the base cabinet & used that above the refrigerator.
UPDATE: Thanks to Sam's comment below asking for clarification on exactly how we did the refrigerator pullout. I think at the time i wrote this, i simply didn't remember all the details & didn't want to bother my husband with repeating them. so i took the time to go back over that hack with my husband & here is what i told Sam:
(1) because we used a 36" base cabinet drawer, there is no hardware for the front. that means, unlike the pantry drawers, the base or shelf is exposed. that's the gray-ish part you see running across the bottom of that pullout. they don'tt make a 36" Drawer Front (or didn't at the time), 30" was as wide as they had. so we bought an extra Drawer Front (901.323.92) just to use the left & right pieces. this holds the bottom shelf piecce, the tubes that run to the back of the drawer & the "silver" horizontal piece across the front (that's up next). so you will have to deconstruct the Drawer Front to use pieces of it.
(2) the "silver bar" going across the bottom front is actually a modified piece of the Rationell Drawer Divider (501.822.53) which does come in 36". we just used 1 horizontal piece because the whole thing (3 horizontals) would not fit in the Rationell Drawer Front (901.323.98). we did this just to give us some stability in the drawer & to create a stop for anything that might roll forward. so you don't have the deep/tall front piece that the pantry drawers have, but at least it's some sort of "lip" that holds things in.
here's a photo so you can see where we had to chop the Divider down to get it to fit into the Drawer Front
so the formula is: Extra 36" Base Drawer + Rationell Drawer Front Kit (size doesn't matter cuz you just want the left & right pieces) + Rationell Drawer Divider (deconstructed to use just the part that will snap into the Drawer front).
You can see from our finished products that, due to the door hinges, we could not install the drawers in either cabinet at the very bottom. i wasn't sure i was going to like this at first, that tiny bit of space below the drawer might be wasted. but so far, it's come in handy for storing flat trays and serving plates.
up next! how do 2 people who are only 5'5" get easy access to these drawers even though they do pull all the way out. stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)