Kitchen Makeover | Part I

When we got this house, I really thought I'd have sooo much more blogging material. And as a matter of fact, I do. I've just been short on the blogging time. So allow me to apologize for blog posts being so few and far between for the last few months. Good stuff is coming, I promise. We spent the summer and warmer months of fall focused on the the exterior. And we're devoting our winter to giving the interior a facelift. That mostly means: peeling wallpaper, fixing plaster, and sealing / priming / painting the walls.

Painting Doors & Restoring Antique Hardware | Weekend DIY Project

On Sunday, the boyfriend and I spent a good portion of our day binge-watching Rehab Addict on Netflix. Nicole Curtis is my hero. I love her approach to restoring old houses, her mission to keep things as original and era-appropriate as possible, and her belief that everything is worth saving. I'd love to renovate my home someday, but for now I'm a renter. Luckily, in my current rental residence, I'm allowed to make some changes. 

Using the Bosch GLM 15 Laser Measure to Calculate How Much Paint I Need (Product Review)

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bosch for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was a little girl, I went through a stage where I carried around a graph paper notebook and doodled floor plans of fantasy loft apartments and mansions all day. These days, I'm sketching up floor plans of my real life living space in order to plan my furniture arrangement, decorating, and now painting.

Usually when I'm measuring my apartment to create a floor plan, it's just me by my lonesome because I can't hold off until my bf's weekend visit. Now, measuring furniture or small things with a tape measure is fine. But measuring an entire room or apartment is quite the challenge.  So you'll catch me clumsily struggling with a tape measure. And I've ended up with battle scars and band-aids from accidentally hitting the release button and not letting go in time as the metal tape comes whizzing back toward me. Ouch.

How To: Thaw (and Prevent) Frozen Pipes

Negative 20-degree temps (and negative 40-degree wind chills) have made the last few days quite miserable here in Iowa. Breathtaking frigid air. Numb noses, fingers, and toes. Dead car batteries. And frozen pipes. Yesterday when I came home from work, I decided to tackle my sink full of dishes from the weekend. But instead, I found myself tackling the challenge of frozen pipes.

The first sign your pipes are frozen: only a trickle of water or no water at all. In my case, water wasn't coming out at all. Neither the hot nor the cold. Not even a drip. Thanks to being centrally located in the house I rent, my bathroom sink and tub worked just fine. But the kitchen sink water pipes are located in a stairwell leading up to my 2nd floor apartment. Since the stairwell gets chilly, I usually close the door at the top of the stairs to keep the cold out. Bad idea. The pipes might as well be outside. Those water pipes sat in arctic temps all day. I called my landlord right away, but he wasn't in too big of a hurry to call a plumber. So I was on my own. 

A few Google searches, some baking, and six hours later... my kitchen sink pipes thawed and I have running water. Here's how I got there: