Go Big or Go Home

We have moved.  Officially.  Actually.  Completely!!  Since buying the lakehouse in June, our lives have been in limbo.  What we thought would be a quick sale of the townhouse turned into a drawn out, deeply disappointing experience that, for a long time, had no end in sight.  We tried to stay positive, but sometimes we just felt so glum.  Some of our family members were insatiably curious, repeatedly asking when we'd be moving.  We didn't know how to explain to them that each time they asked, it stressed us out.  Even when we eventually did sell the townhouse, we were unconvinced we'd actually move.  We were so sure we'd hit some kind of snag.  On Wednesday, with the closing date days away, we headed down the driveway to fetch our rented U-Haul truck.  I mugged out so badly on the ice that I sliced open my hands.  When we started loading the truck an hour later, my bleeding cuts slowed my packing contribution but I refused to let anything get in our way.  We were so close.  The kitty who looked like he was manning the front desk at the U-Haul pick-up did much to lift my spirits.  I laughed a little too heartily about Counter Kitty all day. 

We hired a young guy from the local classifieds to help but, even with an extra set of hands, loading all of our possessions took more than 16 hours.  The loading bled into our travel day which, coupled with inclement weather, turned a two day drive to our new home into a three day marathon.  Hubby deftly navigated the giant the U-Haul truck and towed a car carrier with Charlie.  Szuka and I inched behind in our Versa.

We filled (to the roof) the 26 foot U-Haul truck you see above.  It was so full, we had to push everything back and pull the loading door down quickly to close it.  I don't think anything really shifted during the journey because it was wedged in so tightly.  Where did all this stuff come from?!? 



Happily, on Sunday we finally reached the lakehouse and unpacking happened so smoothly!  The house was just as we left it, except for two important changes:  my parents had spent three days clearing a winter's worth of snow from the driveway and had trudged deep into the yard to string white lights on one of our trees.  Such a sweet sight.  With their help, plus the help of a friend, we shoved a lot of our stuff in the garage so we can start getting organized without feeling walled in by boxes.  When the last box made its way out of the U-Haul, we felt like a giant weight had been lifted from our shoulders.  We had finally moved on, and were finally home.  I'm looking forward to unpacking, getting settled (getting organized!) and tackling the lakehouse.  Life is good.     

How to Paint Baseboard Heaters

I don't know why I put off painting our baseboard heaters.  It was on my to-do list for four years but didn't get done until just days before we listed the townhouse for sale.  Why did we live with the drab griege metal for so long? Why did none of you stage an intervention?  In the end it was a really simple project, although it was as tedious a job as I imagined:

1. Turn off the heat
2. Pin up any curtains with giant safety pins to keep them out of the way
3. Tape off the wall and floor with painter's tape
4. Lightly sand the metal with fine grit sandpaper
5. Wipe down the heaters with a damp cloth to remove any dust, let dry
6. Apply a thin coat of Tremclad Metal Primer (I used white), using a small paintbrush.
7. Let the primer dry overnight
8. Applied two thin coats of Tremclad Metal Paint (I used semi-gloss white).

Our baseboard heater covers were incredibly difficult to remove and some parts were fixed so I opted to paint them in place with a brush instead of using spray paint.  I had to be careful about painting the parts we flip open when they are in use and this took some extra time and fussing.  With heaters that are easily removed, a metal spray paint could make light work of this job.

I tried a different method for the half bathroom heater: metal primer followed by the same latex paint we used for the walls and that seemed to work just as well, although the semi-gloss paint proved easier to clean and dust.

I painted the heaters in the office, guest bedroom, master bedroom, master ensuite, hallway, dining room, and living room.  My before & after photos are sloppy, and in some cases non-existent, because I was hurrying to get the house ready for sale in only a few days.  Hopefully you can get the idea from these glimpses.  It will be fun, like a spot-the-difference game.  Or maybe more like Where's Waldo.  Ready?

Remember when I showed you photographs of the framed enamel art?  You could see the beige heaters behind the teak and tweed chair.

Now they blend right in, mostly hiding behind the sheers but the piece that always peeked out is no longer an eyesore!

When I showed off my newly minted table, the baseboard heaters ruined the shot.

But now . . .

I even photographed the velvet chair in the same spot, because I didn't think twice about the heaters.

The guest bedroom photos were always ruined by a long row of beige, to the right.

Happily, when I photographed the bedroom swap, the heaters were already white.

The photos from the listing show just how long the baseboard heaters are.  They were terribly noticeable when they were beige.

The office (with no sheers to hide them), showed off the heaters rather clearly.

But in the real estate listing photos, you can barely see them!

My post about the townhouse being sold has many more real estate photos that plainly show off the freshly painted baseboard heaters.  I'm so happy I finally painted them - I only wish I had done it years ago!

Note: we do not have electric baseboard heaters.  Our heating system was converted to radiant heat from electric heat.  Our baseboard heaters are never hot to the touch.  We have only one remaining electric baseboard heater, in the main bathroom.  It was painted before we moved in and we've experienced no problems so far - even though, unlike the others, it does get very hot to the touch.  I'm pretty sure electric baseboard heaters can be painted, but I really can't speak from much experience.

Anyone care to weigh in?

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Modern Brackets for Open Shelving

When the lakehouse kitchen facelift was temporarily and indefinitely abandoned, I lost steam finalizing some plans.  Now that we have a moving date and can resume kitchen work soon, I'm hurrying to make some decisions.  I originally planned to pick up some inexpensive Ikea Ekby Bjarnum brackets that we'd pair with custom-fit, handmade shelves for a sleek floating look.  I then changed my mind, worried that it would be too difficult to neatly fit handmade shelves into these brackets.  They're meant to pair with Ikea melamine shelves, which are manufactured to be identical.

via Ikea Spotting

 When I spotted this photo, I fell in love with the Ekby Lerberg bracket, also from Ikea:

via Houzz

The brackets are powder coated steel, sold in white, which would look great against white walls with white shelves.  Or I could paint them a bright colour!  Or silver!  Or copper!  Unfortunately, before I could scoop up an armload, Hubby took one look at them and shook his head no.  Because I want to display my hefty Pyrex collection on the open shelves, these brackets are too flimsy.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose.  But I'm running out of time to find some super sturdy, modern brackets.  Hubby has approved these Richelieu brackets from Home Depot:

I don't know that I love them, but then, I don't know that I don't.  With white shelves and white walls I think they will disappear and if they guarantee my vintage casseroles won't perish in a spectacular fall, then I'm game.  Unless someone knows of a more attractive bracket of Herculean strength?

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Thirteen Favorites of 2013

I'm so excited that a new year has begun!  As a grad student my "new" year has typically started in September.  This is the first time, in a long time, that I get my fresh start with the rest of the world, in January.  2012 was nutty (spending four months in Hungary contributed greatly), but then 2013 saw even bigger things happen for us: the townhouse sold, we bought our dream lakehouse (which I started designing in my head immediately), I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation, and our home is a tiny bit crazier (and messier) thanks to the addition of our incredibly lovable pup, Szuka.  Handy Hubby and I also celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary!  This little blog has seen tremendous growth again, thanks to all of you stopping by!!  I've been flattered by many kind features of my projects and spaces - I even had a chance to create another DIY for a great magazine. 

2014, starting with a 1600km move across the province (next week!!), is sure to be amazing.  I'm so excited for the huge changes around the corner: finally moving (which involves down-sizing, simplifying and really getting organized), tackling some big-scale renos in the lakehouse, finding a job, making time to indulge in more crafts, re-naming and re-designing the blog, watching Szuka grow up to be a 100 pound bundle of love (she's 65 pounds now!!), and sharing it all with you.  They say grad school is like hitting the snooze button on life but now I am ready to wake up.  I want to linger in 2013 for one more day though, and share my favorite and your favorite (i.e. most read) posts and projects of the year.

1.  Custom matting?  Pass! 
When I bought some beautiful enamel paintings in Budapest I skipped the custom matting and just painted the cardboard backing on each a dark grey before slipping them into inexpensive Ikea frames.  Easy-peasy and still one of my most favorite mementos from the trip. 

2. Vintage Hungarian Posters
Scratch that.  The enamel art is clearly my second favorite memento, because my mid-century Soviet-era posters take the cake (and made me finally love the townhouse kitchen).  For anyone looking for their own, I purchased mine from Budapest Poster.  My Mom has yet to frame hers but when she does I can't wait to show you the gems she picked out.

3. DIY Cord Bracelets
The winter saw me keeping indoors (where it's warm), tackling a lot of smaller crafts that veered away from home stuff, like dying a dress, making sparkly necklaces out of shell casings and crafting rings from felted wool.  I loved these projects and hope to make time for more.  I think you liked them too because some of my DIY jewellery posts were my most popular.  The jewellery project viewed most was definitely the easy knotted cord bracelets I whipped up with my dear friend Erica.

4. Felted Fix
I also loved this adorable repair for a damaged wool sweater.  I'm still itching to try a bolder pattern or design, just for fun.

5. Framed Agate Art
Speaking of little craft projects, this super simple framed agate art was a win.  Combined with the enamel art hung between the patio doors and dining room windows, and new (brighter) dining room art, this row of agates above a new-to-me vintage teak cabinet (scooped up only days after finally tracking down a bar cart), really helped complete the dining room.  Happily, the bar cart found a new spot and all was good.

6. A Laundry Room to Love
Before we sold the townhouse, we wrapped up a few projects.   I shared some of these projects, like sprucing up a half bath (including painting it pale turquoise!), adding curtains to hide the washer and dryer in the laundry room, creating a minty corkboard area on the basement door, painting a curbside coffee table mint too, adding the tiniest bit of curb appeal, and de-cluttering for sale (which included swapping the bedrooms back), but I was so swept up in talking about lakehouse projects I forgot to keep you in the loop about some other makeovers!  Soon.  In the meantime, from those I did share my peek into the laundry room was by far a favorite.  The painted turquoise floors, creamy greige walls and re-purposed bed linens saw my vision (inspired by a front porch) finally realized.  Doing laundry became FUN!  The thriftiness and feasibility of this makeover even earned unexpected attention from Apartment Therapy.  I'm proud to show off my real spaces with real drawbacks and shoestring solutions (small room, small budget!). 

7. Fireplace Fix

With a makeover like the lakehouse fireplace update, it's easy to understand how townhouse projects were quickly forgotten.  It took some convincing, but even Hubby is now smitten with the lakehouse fireplace.  I can't wait to move in and decorate!  All that I had to work with when I snapped the "after" photos was a set of fireplace pokers (which I also made over - cannot leave me alone with a can of paint).

9. Bathroom Spruce: Make it Work
The bathroom (although much refreshed for now) also needs a little accessorizing, but de-oaking it on a dime was definitely a highlight.  A full reno is imminent, but I just could not live with the antacid pink walls and wood-wood-wood.  It was a real challenge to make over the space without spending much money or replacing things.  Most bathroom spruces I see at the very least swap out the lighting, cabinet pulls, add new tile (even if it's peel+stick).  But I really, really wanted to save my pennies for a gut job so I made do with what I had, painting pretty much everything - from the existing knobs to the vanity light and tile, nothing was safe. 

9. Garbage Chair
Soon I plan to show you all the pieces of furniture we sold in preparation for the move, and what we'll be making work in the new space.  Definitely in the "keep" pile is my garbage chair, recovered in velvet after many sleepless nights spent clutching fabric samples.  Bonus: the leg/arm problem doesn't bother me anymore!

10. Turquoise Kitchen: So Close I Can Taste it!
After mooning over turquoise kitchens, we bit the bullet and painted our cabinet fronts!!  This post got a lot of hits but it was such a teaser with no finished "after".  Unfortunately we had to leave the lakehouse and come back to the townhouse before making any more progress in the kitchen.  It was painful!!  After settling in, the kitchen is first on the list! It is absolutely in shambles and totally unusable right now.  I still need to paint the cabinet boxes, remove the upper cabinets, figure out a backsplash, replace the counters, sink, and faucet, and build some open shelving.  You know, nothing major ;)

11. Happy Days
Yep, "unfinished" is definitely the theme for the lakehouse, but that doesn't make me any less excited about the progress we made.  I'm taking more design risks (see above), but even though the walls have been painted my signature gallery white, I'm adding more colour in unexpected places like the bedroom closet.  We just bought a closet fitting that I can't wait to install.  I haven't edited my closet at all while packing because . . . ugh.  I'm going to pass the buck and have future-me do it during the unpacking.  In the end I hope for a stream-lined, organized wardrobe with only things that fit and look great (aside from my these-can-get-dirty-I-live-in-the-country-now clothes). 

12. Embroidery Success
Although I started it in 2012, it wasn't until July that my embroidered scrap of cloth magically morphed into a pillow.  I have been sent too many emails to count, by folks asking for a how-to.  Finally posting a tutorial with a fresh new project is high on my list of things for the new year (embroidery is definitely a curl up by the fire in the winter craft).

13. Money Talks
Last year, as promised, I started my Money Talks series, talking frankly and openly about tricks and tips we use to make our wallets healthier . . . and the ways in which we fail.  The posts are challenging to write because it's difficult to open up, plus I'm not an expert so I take the time to do some research too.  Because everyone seemed to love them (they've each received a ton of hits), I'm going to tackle a few more money topics this year and first up will be mortgages!  I'll be sharing our tips - and asking for yours.  I also want to work toward being really transparent about what renovations in the lakehouse cost, where we splurge, where we save, and how we make it happen financially.

I hope everyone's 2013 was fabulous, and I wish you nothing but amazing things for the year to come!

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Why it Pays Not to Celebrate Christmas

I've heard a lot of people say that Christmas really snuck up on them this year.  I don't know if this is a competition, or if there is a prize (if there is, please let it be this), but I think it might have snuck up on me the most.  Since I've stopped celebrating Christmas I just don't even think about it.  I was in my own little world all month and then today I woke up and all the grocery stores were closed (crap).  It's Christmas!  For my Christmas-loving readers, I wish you a merry one.  For anyone else who doesn't celebrate Christmas . . .

. . . you might love this list.  Number 10 resonates most with my currently-at-work Hubby.

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Canine Cut-Ups

In between bouts of feverishly working on my dissertation changes I've been tackling packing.  I'm really looking forward to unpacking because it's a chance to get organized.  Things were so tidy the first year we lived in the townhouse, but then we started cramming stuff into random places and I've been struggling to keep on top of it ever since.  The downside to packing is being confronted with just how much stuff I have.  I've been filling box after box, but I haven't even begun to touch the things we actually need and use!

Some guilt is setting in about the amount of stuff I've accumulated, but the one thing I never feel guilty about is art.  In fact, I'm about to order an absolutely adorable collage from Etsy.  For all of the puppy-lovers out there: Canine Cut-Ups . . .

Each unique collage is made from 10 to 20 hand-cut layers of paper.  The artist, Patricia, happily accepts custom orders and can create a cute collage for any American Kennel Club breed.  I've requested a Komondor on a bright turquoise background.  I'll share more photos when I receive mine and get it framed. 

And yes, life has become a little bit Szuka-centric!

This post was not sponsored, I am just so touched by the sweetness of these collages that I seriously want one of each hung in a huge grid on a white wall.   

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