Home Improvement

Although there wasn’t the usual restaurant hopping we like to engage in over the weekend, overall I’d say I enjoyed it quite a bit! I’ve created a list of minor home improvement opportunities that I’ve been bugging Josh about – nothing major, just little things that I think will make a big difference - throwing away broken blinds, painting, etc., and we finally started to get on top of doing some of them!

The problem, of course, is that I watch far too much HGTV, which will give anyone ideas. One of my latest ideas was to replace our bathroom mirror, which is industrial-sized and not particularly homey. I purchased an oval one that Josh was convinced was too small for the space and I was convinced was perfect. So, Thursday night we tore the mirror off the bathroom wall (and some of the wall off the wall, if you know what I mean). Held up the oval mirror and, of course, it is far too small! Lesson #636 in listening to my husband.

The rest of the night was me surfing the Internet looking for another oval mirror in a larger size. No dice. How is this even possible, when I am positive you can find everything one needs on the Internet?

Next morning I get the idea to look on the HGTV “Rate My Space” bathroom pages and I see several large round mirrors, including one from IKEA that I think will work. I email a link to Josh, he agrees, and we make plans for an IKEA date. At IKEA, we find the perfect mirror, and it is only $20. Twenty bucks!! I am thrilled.

On the way home we stop at Cold Stone Creamery where I try the new chocolate pudding ice cream with caramel sauce. In a word, scrumpdillyicious! Also peeped into Pier 1 and bought a new rug for our entryway. Got home and decided the new mirror will fit perfectly, so Josh started spackling the wall.

Meanwhile, I had also been bugging Josh to put some hardware on our kitchen cabinets. The only sucky thing is all the hinges (all 30 of them!) are gold, but we wanted some kind of silver knobs or pulls. Which means instead of just adding hardware, we also had to change out all of the hinges. And by we, I pretty much mean Josh, and it was an all-day job.

I have to say, the cabinets look fantastic! It is amazing what a difference hardware can make. I honestly feel like we have brand new cabinets.

I took time out of my Saturday making raspberry truffle cheesecake to run to Home Depot to take a tiling class. I was the only student so I got to ask all the questions I wanted. Took a million notes and got to do some hands-on grouting and tile cutting. Actually, I’m not so hot at the tile cutting, mainly because I’m not strong enough to score the tile properly. But, I am pretty sure I can do the thin-set and the grouting, and maybe if I get a cool new tool like a wet saw I won’t need to worry about having the muscle to operate the paper cutter-style. (Tools! I loves them!!)

I did decide even a small tiling project like our basement entryway (a space maybe 3x4 feet) could get expensive quickly by the time you buy all the tools and whatnot. The tile is actually the cheap part in a small space!

Besides Josh doing all the cabinet work on Saturday, we painted and sanded and re-painted and re-sanded the bathroom wall so we can hang the mirror. Next project? Probably finding a new light fixture and/or faucet for the bathroom sink. Then, I’ve got to start painting again – the bedroom or the front entryway, I think. Josh says chocolate brown is too dark for the entryway… should I listen to him this time?