Monday, September 27, 2010

The Details

I'm cheap. I don't like to spend money on things I don't have a use for. I was recently at my friend Renee's house for a party when I took a look around and had a bit of a self-revelation. Her house was very nicely decorated. A vase of flowers here, some artwork there, a mirror over there, etc. I realized that my house had, essentially, the basics. If you couldn't sit on it or it wasn't providing light, I really didn't have it. I told Joseph, "We need more details."

So we got some details.

I just love this little area. The cabinet, vase, and mirror are all new and really make my living room fabulous. If I do say so myself.

I was really frustrated shopping for side tables. You know they want over $100 for them?? Now remember that I am cheap. We found this side table at an antiques mall for a great price and I fell in love with it. Add in the vase from my wedding (that was sitting around with no flowers) and the flowers we bought from Hobby Lobby (50% off baby) and you have a very nice little area.

The orange lamp and pillows we already had. Because Joseph found them earlier and made me buy them (I argued that we didn't need pillows or a lamp). How sad is that? The little table the lamp is sitting on used to be black, so I painted it white to match.

What do you think? I think I need a little help. Anyone with a good eye want to be my interior decorator?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Last Light

Last weekend Joseph and I tackled the two lights in the front room. There is a light off the kitchen that I can't stand and wanted to switch out. Joseph said he didn't want to, because eventually we are going to re-do the kitchen and he doesn't know how he's going to do the lighting and won't know until the kitchen is re-done, so he wanted to leave the light alone. When we were at the store picking out the lighting, I found one that would look good in place of the ugly one. Joseph told me we were not switching it out. I said I wanted to. He presented the argument listed above. I told him that we needed to re-do the bathrooms first and that was going to take time, energy, and money, so realistically it would be two years, at least, before we could get to the kitchen. For a $60 light, we would get our two years worth. Joseph looked like he was wavering, so I decided I needed to bolster my argument. I wrapped my arms around him, nuzzled his cheek, and said, "Please? I really like it."

Compromise is important in a marriage.

Here's the old, ugly light that I was so determined to get rid of.

It's really stinking high up there.

Much improved.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

You Light up my Life

In our living room we have two holes where there should be light fixtures. I have no idea why the previous owner took them down, but it has been on The List to get new light fixtures. This weekend, we finally went out looking and found a pendant for the front door, a nice track light for the other hole, and a chandelier to change out the ugly brass one in the kitchen. We tackled the first two this weekend.


Here's the hole above the door where we put the pendant.

Joseph screwed up the metal holder, and I shortened the chain.

The instructions to put the pendant together were pretty easy, and we managed this project in about 20 minutes. If I were to offer any advice, it is just to make sure you have all the little pieces strung up before you start screwing anything in. Otherwise, you may end up un-screwing some hard work. Luckily, there were no problems with this one.

I should have been suspicious. Nothing ever goes easy for us. Turns out light number two had a nasty little surprise for us.
Here's the second hole that needed a fixture. The fixture I found for this I fell in love with at first sight. Joseph had reservations about how he thought it would look, but because I loved it so much, he bought it for me.
Here's where we had our problem. The ceiling box hole was stripped; Joseph couldn't attach this metal plate, which is what would support the fixture.
I decided to take it down and see if we could replace it. Here's what it looks like; you can see the two holes where the screws were.
Here's the problem with my ceiling box. That metal piece up there where the box was screwed in is not a solid piece. It is separate from the bar up there. Which is fine for a new building; you can just hold it down and screw it in. But to do that, I would have to put a hole in my ceiling. Which left me searching for other options. We went to Lowe's and bought a new box for "existing" construction that was supposed to work, but it was too deep. It butted up against the metal bar up there and we couldn't get it in. We went to three different shops and they didn't have anything shallow enough.

One guy at Ace said, "Why didn't you just use a bigger screw?" Thanks Ace guy, great advice given too late. And to answer your question, I was afraid I would crack it. It is only plastic. Plus I had no idea that once I un-screwed it, it couldn't be put back up. Lesson learned.

Luckily, I thought up my own solution. I told Joseph we were going to bust it up.
Here's the new white box next to the old one. See how much longer it is?
And here's how we busted it...we took out the bottom strip to accommodate the metal bar in my ceiling.
We had to make our ceiling hole a little wider.
So here it is. A nice solution if I do say so myself. You can see the hole we made, so the bar wasn't a problem.
Joseph was able to put the metal plate back up and hook up the wiring.
Here's the mess on my floor.
Aaaand...my fabulous light! Love it.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Sick Kitty, Broken Truck

The Humane Society is overflowing with animals, according to recent news reports. Joseph and I had been thinking about getting a playmate for Marley. Here's our new little baby, Lilly. That's the name they gave her and we didn't want to change it. Don't let the blue collar fool you; they didn't have any other color available. We need to get her a cute pink one.

She started sneezing not soon after we got her. That really freaked me out because they told us that if they aren't treated, cats can lose their sense of smell and then they won't eat because they can't smell their food. The earliest appointment we could make was Wednesday, which is my day off.


Right before I needed to take her to the vet, my truck overheated.

Marcus the truck. Pretty much the best truck ever. No car payment, decent gas mileage, very dependable...radio and a/c work...what more do you need?

Luckily my dad is pretty much the most Awesome Dad ever and can do anything. Seriously.

And he lets me help, which is fun.
We replaced the thermostat and did a radiator flush. Which takes a lot longer than you think because in between running the vehicle, you have to let it cool down, which involves a lot of waiting.
The bad news with the kitty is that to reschedule my appointment at the free vet (it's free if your animal is sick within 14 days after adoption) was going to take too long because they didn't have an opening until Tuesday. I was not waiting that long. We had to take her to a different vet and it was a pretty penny. The good news is that she is now on medication (that she hates) but she is feeling soooo much better. Instead of sitting on your lap and acting sick, she runs around after her toys and gets into normal kitten trouble.

It's a good thing we were keeping her separated from Marley (like we're supposed to, according to the instructions for "introducing a new kitten" that Joseph googled), because she's still contagious. But here's to hoping that Marley isn't jealous of her new sister. We'll find out once Lilly is fully healed.