While Jason and I have decided to put off renovating the kitchen for now (while we get the fence underway), I told him I would not go another summer without a properly working stove hood.
Okay, so it didn’t look like that everyday. But I thought unscrewing it added extra emphasis on how old it was and how much it didn’t work. Truly, our fan never worked. I have been sweating through each dinner until tonight.
Before we dramatically tore it off the wall, we remembered to first turn off the electricity and then disconnect the wires.
We decided to order our new hood through our True Value warehouse and it was shipped in a few days. I didn’t take a picture of the box because 1) I forgot and 2) it’s cardboard box.
Once we got the old hood out of the way, I was a little taken aback.
So we paused the installation process until I could make it look a little more presentable and clean.
Installing the hood beneath the cabinet was very easy and only took four screws. Jason said it was a little awkward for him, trying to bend his body to make sure it was fully screwed in.
Once the new one was in place, we removed a simple steel plate to expose the wires and reconnect them.
Finally, we made sure the ground wire was secure and in place. We also added a lightbulb.
After that, we replaced the steel plate and turned on the electricity again to see our new hood in all its glory.
Definitely makes the rest of our kitchen look even more outdated, but we finally have a working stove hood! Now I don’t have to crank the A/C up when I decide to use the stove!
Maybe we are a little late to jump on the bandwagon, but Jason and I finally have subscribed to netflix after seeing our previous month’s cable bill. We only buy two or three movies a month, but it is easily over the $8.99 that Netflix offers. So we decided in the middle of our debate on which movie to purchase on On Demand that we should just go ahead and subscribe to Netflix.
So our movie-watching changed into let’s-watch-a-million-episodes-of-Bones, but we were very pleased. Suddenly we have a huge library to choose from! We highly recommend Netflix to anyone who is currently using On Demand or another cable program to buy movies. And now, Jason and I don’t have to feel as guilty to sit down and watch a movie because we’re adding to our cable bill. Which (hopefully!) means more movie nights in the near future.
No, not our house! But I thought I should take the time to discuss the benefits of renting. I have noticed so many more homeowners this summer coming in to rent from us at our Just Ask Rental department that I figured I should do a little post on it. Our neighbor was amazed by the work we just did with our bed edger (a post on that soon enough!) and we just rented our carpet cleaning machine ourselves. Renting equipment is a lot easier (and cheaper!) than you might think.
For instance, our neighbor had a quote to put in a fence at over $2500, and he wasn’t even doing his entire yard! Because we will rent the Auger (we rent our two-man Auger for around $60 a day) we can buy a nicer fence because we aren’t spending our money on someone else’s labor that we can easily do ourselves.
Most rental companies are now online and you can call easily for a price quote. Most don’t require a deposit in order to rent something (although some do!) so just make sure about their policy when you call. And some of these rental companies are family owned business, so if you aren’t into the big-box companies then you can support your local businesses even more by renting from them instead! If you don’t have a local rental business near you, of course Home Depot and Lowes do have a small rental department as well.
Before you buy (or call the handyman), take a look at renting and see if DIY is right for you.
..and we have no idea how to find the dead mouse (you wouldn’t realize the number of bolts within one until you start taking it apart!) or even attempt on getting the dead mouse smell out of it. It lasted us one year and we got it very cheap from a co-worker who had no more use for it. We are thankfully financially able to invest in a better, greener air conditioner to replace it, but the question remains..
How do you properly dispose of an air conditioner? If you know, help us out!
Although our neighborhood association has repeatedly asked in its newsletters for all dogs to be on leashes, it is typically not followed near our road. Since we worry about the safety of Charlie and Zoey (they are so small!) and have always wanted them to be able to run around more freely than they can on their outdoor lines, we felt that it would be more appropriate to put the first of our money from our homeowner’s rebate towards a fence.
But what kind of fence? That’s where we are stuck.
We don’t want a fence that’s too high or too private, but also has the posts close enough together that Charlie and Zoey couldn’t slip through. Here are the options available that we have been researching:
I really enjoy the idea of a scalloped fence, but I am worried about the dogs barking (on either side, neighbors’ dogs or our own) so we may end up going with this type of fence style in the long run:
There are quite a few summer sales going on right now, so we’re keeping an eye out! We’ll let you know when we’ve made our final decision — which will hopefully be by the end of next week!
Just a final note, if you didn’t realize it already: we’ll be putting this fence in by ourselves instead of hiring an outside company to do it. We’ll show you how easy it can be with a two-man auger you can rent from your local hardware store.
Last night we finally moved the large air conditioning unit into the kitchen/living room because it was getting way too hot. Because we are trying to save up for our perfect kitchen budget (which includes a stainless steel hood) we have yet to replace the non-working under-cabinet hood we currently have. The exhaust fan does not budge, which means when we cook in the summer (ah!) it gets really, really hot. So the air conditioner in the kitchen definitely helps. We both know deep down we just need to shell out a few bucks for a cheap under-cabinet hood that will last us until we do the renovation, but I have also been on the look-out for stay cool tips. At Apartment Therapy’s re-nest, they recently did a post on how to keep cool without turning up the A/C.
We already follow many of the rules but not on purpose: Bennett has a slight obsession with house plants, so I’m not sure if they help you think any cooler because we are still sweating. We already switched to CFL bulbs thanks to a major sale at our local True Value store. I haven’t tried the ice bowl in front of the air conditioner but when I do I’ll let you guys know!
Any other stay-cool tips? Let us know! Our goal is to beat our electric bills from last summer.
On our days off, Jason and I spend the majority of our time working on the yard. Last time I posted about the yard, we had chipped all of our brush and had used it as mulch for our new rose garden. We still had pieces of extra board left over, so Jason came up with a great idea today: making a border out of used boards. Of course, since we didn’t have enough boards we took some beat-up pallets from work (the ones that weren’t complete to be re-used) so we can continue our border throughout the yard.
It took over a few hours just to do the main corner, but it was well worth it! We are so excited to have come up a green, recycled way to make garden edging.
Hopefully we can get enough used boards so we can finish the edging around the porch, too. While Jason was hard at work making the channel for the boards, I started working on adding mulch around the plants surrounding our porch. Our neighbor had been kind enough to drop off a truckload of free mulch last night so I was excited to use it!
The hostas that line the back end of our porch look so much nicer with a clean line dividing the grass and the mulch. I even included the tree because it was so close, and I may even widen it to make a small flower bed.
Remember when I posted about buying these Ikea aluminum planters back in December? I finally found a use for them. I had two extra rose bushes that I had no idea where to plant. So, for now their new home is inside the aluminum planters hugging our hand-made work bench.
Jason and I love using the bench. It holds all of our small hand tools, the outdoor dog bed, bug spray, garden gloves, extra seed packets, and more! Our neighbor Bill built it for us over the winter and we couldn’t be more pleased. He took extra time to make sure it was water proof, and we are glad he did!
I also created a small vegetable garden by replanting two of our new azaela bushes. We have a lot of trouble finding truly “sunny” spots in our backyard due to the amount of trees we have, but right outside our master bedroom window was perfect for the tomato plants, pepper plants, gords, beans, and even watermelons (thank you Bennett). We will keep you updated on how this goes!
At the end of the day, we decided it was time to take more pictures of the front patio now that we have added the iron wrought shelf outdoors. Remember when we had the outdoor lantern indoors? It now has a new home on our patio.
What a difference from when we first moved in! Need a refresher?
You guys all know I’m a sucker for citrus, so I figured I’d shed some light on my other favorite all purpose cleaner (you can read about my review on the Lemon cleaner here) that I like using in the kitchen and bathrooms. It’s by Williams Sonoma, and although a little pricey, I think the positives outweigh the price tag. It is also concentrated, and I mix more water with it than it states on the package and I can stretch the life of it over six months. The scent is light, fresh, and clean — not overpowering at all! It’s also not tested on animals and is biodegradable, containing no ammonia or chlorine. I wouldn’t recommend using it on porous surfaces and beware around sealed wood, even though it states on the label that you can use it. This is definitely a spray I use regularly and hide underneath the main bathroom’s counter, so I can quickly wipe down the countertop before guests arrive. My favorite use is in the kitchen after meals — no matter how sticky, this stuff does the job even better than your basic chemical cleaner and leaves no harsh scent behind! You can purchase it at any Williams Sonoma store or online here.
Jason and I finally got around to taking pictures of the new additions in our home thanks to our recent ikea shopping spree. Our dining area has definitely improved with the new Tobias chairs! Take a look.
Because the chairs are clear they free up a lot of space around the area between where the table begins and the front door. I have also noticed that less things are being thrown on the chairs at the end of the day (score!) and that’s an added plus. It’s also fortunate that the dog bed still fits between them. Today was the day they lost their own bed area for a few hours while I washed their blankets and they were a little confused (Charlie and Zoey, as most dachshunds do, enjoy burrowing).
We also added the new couch covers! The couches, Ikea Klippan loveseats, are a hold-over from our old apartment, but we changed out the thin black covers with pleated white covers. Now the couches are more comfortable (the new covers have added extra padding) and make the living area much wider and brighter.
We’re currently debating on changing out the coffee table. It was a hand-me-down table and has lasted us a long time, but we’re leaning more towards another clear acrylic piece of furniture to match the Tobias chairs. What do you guys think?
Trying to put the final touches on our bedroom, we also added vanity in our bedroom and it’s worked out great! So much more storage for me and my prep items. Our master bathroom is very small and it is such a relief to have a wider area to work with.
All of my hair supplies (blow dryer, curlers, straightener, hair spray, etc.) are within the storage bench and within easy reach. I would like to get rid of the jewelry case so the vanity looks less cluttered, but I am still working out a a way to keep all of my jewelry close at hand without being so boxed in. And Jason likes the vanity as an added nightstand at night for our new iPad.
We also got rid of the cluttered bookcase and white bins that had been holding our clothing for so long and the streamlined look of the dressers next to each other looks great!
And yes, all of our clothing actually fits. Jason had to part with a few sweatshirts, but he will survive. (We also splurged on a new TV, a 32″ LG LCD, as you can see.)
So going back to our honesty post, we would like to present to you the bathroom vanity that has been sitting in our bedroom for over six months. We’ll be installing it this summer along with new tile for our master bath!
We are also on the hunt for a new bedframe. Although I love the iron wrought bed, it actually takes up a lot of needed space. Thank goodness we can slip through the area between the edge of the bed and the dressers. We realized that if we replaced the bed frame with one that does not have a foot or headboard, we will be gaining up to ten inches of space! And we need all of the space we can get.
Moving on from here, we hope to have the fence up in the next couple of weeks, as well as continuing our struggle with keeping the office organized, both of which we will post when progress is made!
Since we bought the house, there has been this cute wooden star hanging on the side of the shed facing the street.
We recently took it over to work at JBK True Value and pressure washed it quickly. Now, all I need to do is sand and reinforce it a little before painting.
I’m all about going bright, bright yellow so it makes the entire backyard cheery from the street. Any thoughts?
