Last weekend on a whim I decided to paint the backs of my glass door kitchen cabinets. I gathered miscellaneous paint cans and did some tests. Continue reading “Painting Kitchen Cabinet Backs”
Author: Kristen
Kristen & her husband El Granto & their Vizsla Odin live in a converted Storefront in downtown Toronto.
Half a power outage?
Saturday evening we were sitting in the dining room painting things and chit chatting when El Granto decided to go upstairs and grab something. He found the light “burnt out” to our master bedroom then proceeded to find the upstairs hall, bathroom, staircase and livingroom lights out as well. Our cable and tv were out, as were our office electronics and wifi. Strangely the dining room and fridge and stove were not affected, but our kitchen lights were toast as well.
Our first thought was to check the electrical panel, so down we headed to the basement. No breakers were tripped, but we still turned each one off and on again, as well as turning the main supply off and on again. Still nothing. There didn’t seem to be any issues with the panel, it wasn’t sparking, arcing or on fire, so we were a bit perplexed. We feared a major electrical problem and a costly repair bill. Not to mention this was 8pm on a Saturday night. While El Granto went to check with our neighbors (to see if they had any power problems, and where he kindly got an invite to join them watching Despicable Me.) I called our power authority in hopes that there was a crazy power outage that would somehow only affect half our house.
Surprisingly someone picked up the phone at Toronto Hydro and didn’t think I was a complete nutter. He asked me a few questions, the classic IT question of “have you tried turning it off and then on again” and we went through the steps we had taken. I was expecting him to tell me to call an electrician, but instead he said they’d send someone out in a few hours.
Gearing up for a large bill from the laughing hydro guys, I agreed and El Granto set to procuring extension cords and making us a cozy movie night.
At around 11pm a knock came to the door and we opened it to find two men in big orange reflective jumpsuits and hard hats. They were kind and polite (although poor Odon was freaked right out by these reflective guests and had to spend the remainder of their visit in his crate). They asked to come in and check the panel, where they found no problems.
They then headed outside where parked in front of our house was a giant hydro truck complete with ladders and booms and tons of flashing lights blocking traffic. They got out their big ladders and started scaling our house. Within minutes they had found the culprit. The line coming in from the street is aluminum and our house is wired with copper. Over time these foes can decide they don’t want to play nice anymore and create a short. What we didn’t know is that we have three separate lines going into our house, and one of them shorted, thus leaving only half the house in the dark. They quickly chopped off the angry wire, replaced it, and we had power again! We knew this as all our fire alarms started going off in unison. Our saviors in orange jumpsuits packed up their ladders and tools and left with hearty waves off to save the next house stranded in the dark.
Exhausted after our exciting evening, we proceeded to go inside, shut off all the lights and go to bed. But at least I didn’t have to navigate the 3am bathroom break in the dark.
So if your house (strangely) loses half it’s power. After checking the possible causes, call in your power company, cause it might be a problem with your power line! Who knew?!
Countertop Inspiration
We are in the final stages of planning for our concrete countertop project. When speaking with friends and family about our project a lot of the questions we have been getting is “why concrete?”. Most of them haven’t seen concrete countertops before, and thought we were a bit mad for taking on this project. Others thought the concrete would be really rough and look like a sidewalk. I have been breaking out my iPhone to the skeptics and showing them some examples of concrete countertops, and they have been subsequently blown away. So I thought I would show you all some of my inspiration so you think I’m less cray cray and more awesome.
First up, why did we choose concrete?
- It goes with our industrial meets traditional asthetic
- It’s durable, and customizable
- We can do it ourselves. It’s not like we can mix up some marble in the garage
- It looks amazingly high end for a reasonable price
Possible cons:
- If done incorrectly, or the wrong products are used it can crack, break and/or look terrible
- If not properly sealed & waxed it can be stained (like stone) by acids such as wine, vinegar and citrus fruit
- It takes a bit more planning & prep to make molds and some muscle to pour, finish and install
Now, for some beauty shots!
Labour Day (yes we spell it with a “u”)
I hope everyone had an excellent Labour Day long weekend! I know my American readers are questioning my spelling of Labour, but yep, we Canadians put a “u” in there. Just like colour and neighbourhood. We’re awesome like that.
Spelling aside, it’s a holiday we get to share across the boarder, so I hope you had a good one! We left the city for a long weekend, and accomplished NOTHING. No work on the house, not even any researching or Pinteresting. It was 100% relaxo-funtime. We headed up to the Muskokas to a good friends cottage, along with a gaggle of our pals. There were so many of us, that people were camped in tents, on air mattresses and pullouts, and even sleeping in the garage. I felt like a teenager again, brushing my teeth with a bottle of water in the woods and “bathing” in the lake.
There was debauchery, way too much food and beverages, tubing, wakeboarding, batman masks, as well as camp fires, corn hole, survivoresque buffs and sweatbands, corn roasts and loads of swimming.
Today is back to work as normal, and a sad farewell to summer, but at least we have one thing to look forward to: Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
Sink Hunting
I really want to get started on our DIY kitchen concrete counters (which by the way, I’ve been doing a ton of research on, and I think I found the most awesome product ever. More on that soon.) However, before we can even think of making the new countertops, we need to find a new sink.
This is the sink we own:
I hate this sink. Yes, I know hate is a strong word, but this sink deserves it. I have a itty bitty kitchen, and this sink takes up a large amount of real estate for being such a tiny sink. The 1 1/2 bowl thing is useless. The small sink on the left is shallow and used solely for rinsing vegetables. The larger (and I say larger in relative terms) sink is okay, but still not large enough to wash a large pan or fill a stock pot.
The drainer, while useful for draining wet dishes, it always has a wet dish hanging out on it, cause why would you dry the dish and put it away if you could just leave it? It also takes up a lot of space on the counter.
To give perspective, here is our entire kitchen.
So when the new counters get made, that sink is out. It’s headed to Craigslist, hopefully to find a new home where its owners actually love it. (Oh and don’t even get me started on that backsplash, it will be outta here not long after the sink & the counters.)
Time to shop for a new sink. We have an Ikea 24″ sink cabinet, which is small. A double bowl is really out of the question. For those of you aghast at that decision, read Carol Reed’s post about single vs double sinks. While you’re at it, read her post on the advantages to Ikea kitchens.
Having such a small Ikea sink cabinet means buying an Ikea sink made to fit into that cabinet would be the easiest choice. I have looked at all the big box stores, all the special order sinks online, but realistically I haven’t found anything that can beat my Ikea options. Have you priced out a farmhouse sink lately?! I love you Kohler, but you are not in my budget.
So Ikea it is.
I have narrowed it down to two sinks.
OPTION A.) Shiny McSinkerson
Modern looking Stainless sink. Simple design, nice price tag. Would like it better if it was undermount, but drop in isn’t that bad. (I have never owned an undermount sink, so I am used to the crumbs.) It also has the look of a square edge sink, but without the actual square edges, which from reading reviews online I’ve heard are the pits.
OPTION B.) Goin to the Farm
I love the look of a farmhouse sink mixed with a more contemporary and/or industrial looking kitchen. I love the apron front, and the single hole means we can re-use our current faucet until we can save up for a new one. It’s also made to fit our current sink cabinet, so install will be pretty easy. Oh, and did I mention the price? $249! Have you priced out a farmhouse sink lately? This ones gonna be hard to beat.
Shiny McSinkerson vs. Goin to the Farm
Whats your vote? El Granto loves the farmhouse sink all the way. I am still a bit torn. Not to mention, the farmhouse is sold out in every Ikea close to us, so getting it will mean a rental car trip to Ikea Burlington.
Do you have any experience with either of these sinks? I hear glasses/dishes can break really easily in the Farmhouse sink, and that it can also get scratches. Is it worth it?
Paintin Signs
When we bought the Storefront, it had essentially been eliminated of all its character. It had been in bad shape, and the owners before us had brought it back, and modernized it, but in doing so had removed everything of the past. Don’t get me wrong, I love our spray foam insulation and skylights, but I’m not the biggest fan of the white vinyl windows and the lack of original trim & doors.
So in our quest to add some character back to the Storefront, I want to add in a bit of it’s past. When the Storefront was originally built it housed a Grocer. Later it did a stint as a Barber Shop, and until the 60’s it was a Tailor & Cleaner.
I have been scouring flea markets and antique shops for anything Grocery, Barber or Tailor related and have yet to find ANYTHING awesome for the house. Barber pole? Nope. Grocery Store sign? Not a hope.
Resigned to my failure, I decided to make things related to the past for the house. I started with a Grocery sign for the kitchen. (Cause a grocery sign was a shade easier than a barber pole…)
I headed into the garage and found a couple spare pieces of 2×12’s that were 6 feet long. I distressed one with some stain & a blow torch, and the other I whitewashed with some watered down chalk paint.
I then laid out my type. I made each letter about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, and just freehanded the letters with a pencil until they looked OK.
I grabbed some paint, and filled in the lettering with a small foam brush, and let it dry.
Then I sanded everything to give it a worn look, and I had two (yes TWO) grocery signs ready to go.
I then made El Granto put each one up on the kitchen cabinets so I could decide which one I liked best.
This one won out.
And now the other one is still hanging out in the kitchen leaning against a wall cause I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT. I’m really knocking it out of the park lately.
Anyone want a Grocery sign?
Burglar Proofing Flower Urns
As you know, I have a wee bit of an issue with a Flower Burglar. After my last rant, I did, well nothing. I planted a few cheap (and now shabby) plants in the front planter box (that no one would want to steal), failed at watering them, and never got another urn for the front stoop.
Don’t get me wrong, I had grand ideas of staging a stakeout and adding a flower cam, but after being indecisive I ended up doing nothing.
That was until I was at my local grocery store, and spied them liquidating their cast iron urns. This girl cant let a great deal pass her by, so the urn was loaded up into my in-laws car, and carted home.
Now this puppy weighs a few pounds, and to increase tonnage I filled the bottom with bricks. However, I wasn’t gonna let that be the sole deterrent. So we rummaged through the garage, found some aircraft cable from our outdoor curtain project, and picked up a large heavy duty eye-hook & cable ends.
We attached the eye to the house, and then attached the cable around the base of the urn.
Yeah, I know someone can still steal the plants, but hopefully they will be deterred. They COULD cut the aircraft cable, but I’m hoping our little flower thief will think that crosses the line.
So far its been a week, and no flower burglars. Wish us luck!
DIY West Elm Copper Light
I find things on the internet, fall in love, cant afford them, then get sad. I will drool over things for weeks, then finally I will snap, have to do something about it, and get my ass in gear. Continue reading “DIY West Elm Copper Light”
Ikea As-Is Score
I went to Ikea in search of a plant. I left with kitchen cabinet drawers.
Every time I visit Ikea I take a look at the as-is section. Most of the time there’s nothing to be had, but sometimes, they might have the very thing you need.
Last you saw it, the coffee bar was still missing it’s drawer unit (bottom middle) as well as the upper glass doors. Why you ask? Cause that stuff was expensive… The drawer unit alone was $232 before hardware. Ouch.
That was until I walked into Ikea on a fateful Friday night, and spied this fellow happily sitting in the as-is department with an $85 price tag.
It was a complete drawer unit EXACTLY the size that we needed for the coffee bar. In perfect condition, fully assembled. I don’t know how poor little drawer unit got to the as-is, he clearly wasn’t a floor model as he didn’t have any handles, nor had the cabinet ever been attached another cabinet (as it didn’t have any holes drilled through it). I frantically texted El Granto at home confirming that yes that was the size we needed, and then I ran to the check out, having my own “Start the car!” moment.
When I got home, we tried to figure out how to get the drawers OUT of the cabinet, as I actually already had the exact same cabinet frame already installed in the kitchen, and just needed the drawers. However they just wouldn’t come out! After goggling it, I finally discovered that there are two little tabs (one on either side) of the bottom of the drawer. If you press both tabs simultaneously towards the sides of the drawer and lift up and out, your drawer will come unattached from the drawer slide.
El Granto then removed the drawer slides from the cabinet frame and installed them in our coffee bar and slid the drawers back in place.
Using our cabinet handle template, El Granto attached matching handles, and our coffee bar was finally starting to look somewhat complete.
With the new drawers, open wood shelving and filler panels all complete, its looking pretty good. Progress baby!
Have you ever scored anything amazing in the as-is section?
Concrete Countertop Test Run
I really want to build concrete countertops for my kitchen. My laminate counters suck, and the coffee bar is curremtly covered in a $20 wood shelf from Home Depot.
I had a bag of concrete hanging around the garage (don’t you?!) and decided it was high time to put all my researching to the test and pour some concrete. I decided to make a “cutting board” as my test run, and grabbed some spare melamine (I’m not a hoarder, I just have stuff in the garage…collecting dust…that might some day get used.) SO the melamine… I had El Granto rip down a few pieces into 2″ strips and then built a little form with some spare screws.
Next up, sealing the cracks in the form with silicone caulking. I conveniently had a new tube of silicone caulking. I inconveniently could not find my caulk gun. Cause it’s an easy thing to lose. You know, giant red tube thingy that looks like a weapon. Yep, missing. Hardware store? Closed. Dollar store? I may be able to find paint brushes, and tie downs, but a caulk gun was not to be had at Dollarama. My neighbours had been outside working on project as well, and we had passed an air compressor over the fence earlier in the day (true story) so I figured I’d ask if maybe they had one. BINGO! Caulk gun. Except theirs was contractor grade and made for big tubes of caulking, and my wee bitty tube of silicone was too small. So now what? I shoved a piece of wood into the bottom of the caulking tube and hoped for the best.
I started caulking, and I got silicone EVERYWHERE. All over me and the mold.
DIY TIP. Tape your mold or you’ll get silicone everywhere. After about 10 minutes I was covered and sticky and I had done the WORST job of caulking anything in my life. I threw in the towel (this was a test after all!) and left it to dry.
Next day we moved the mold outside on worktable covered in a plastic drop cloth, and I (with my girly muscles, a shovel and a piece of wood) mixed up a half bag of concrete. In hindsight, it could have used a bit more water, and I could have used a trowel (rather than a piece of wood) to get it well into the mold.
I then (smartly) took the sandpaper off my palm sander, and covered it in a bag, and vibrated the crap out of the mold.
Then we screeded the top (which also didn’t go so well, as it started pulling gravel out of the mold, but again I think my mix was too thick.)
Then I let it dry, covered with plastic for a day. I didn’t put a wire mesh in it, cause A.) it was a test and B.) I didn’t have any in my garage…
I un-molded, and voila.
Things I learned:
- Concrete is heavy.
- 2″ is too thick for our countertop. It just looked too big (that’s what she said). In all seriousness, 1 1/2″ is a much more reasonable size, 2″ was just overkill. Like a Hummer H2.
- My mix needed a bit more water.
- Counter sink the screws! Or else you can screed it very well.
- I will not mix up all the countertops in a bucket. Concrete mixer rental is imperative.
- I needed a better concrete mix than the $4 bag of all purpose. It was too rocky and rough. The top of my cutting board was great, but the sides showed too much aggregate.
Next up, I will be filling the holes, adding some feet to my “cutting board” test driving some concrete sealers and waxes, and then putting it to the test in my kitchen. Wish me luck!
Have you ever played with concrete? Any tips to pass on?