sweetfrenchtoast

My place is finally painted…yay! Looking back, I realize now that I probably would have saved money by simply hiring someone to do it all in the first place. After buying paint and supplies, and then paying two guys to finish the job, I probably spent as much or more as it would have cost to have them paint the whole place. Oh well, I’ve learned two valuable lessons from this. 1) Sometimes it’s worth it to pay someone to get the job done, and 2) when a guy says “We can handle it,” he most likely means “You can handle it. Have fun!”

I have, though, been pretty damn handy today, if I do say so myself. I’ll admit I’m not a terribly handy girl, and nothing makes me happier than having someone come over and knock out a few home improvement chores for me. (Okay, there are actually plenty of things that make me happier, but just play along.) So I’m really proud of what I accomplished today.

First, I figured out how to load a utility knife.

See, folks…it’s really not that obvious that you’re supposed to take the knife apart to load the blade. I had visions of slicing a finger off as I tried to shove the blade into the knife, and then when a Google search showed me that there are auto-loading utility knives that do not require any tools to load, I figured out that I had to take the thing apart. Since I couldn’t find a screwdriver in my house, I used the little paint can opener thing instead. It worked fine.

I used the loaded utility knife to cut the tip off a tube of 100% silicone, which is really hard to wash off your hands.

I have been trying to put up a towel bar in my shower for a while now. I got a great double towel bar at IKEA and tried to hang it up with those Command adhesive strips. It worked great for about a day, but then I came home one evening to find the bar and my towels in my tub, as if they had decided to take their lives in a tragic plunge from the wall. After doing a little research, I decided to try this silicone stuff to adhere the bar to the wall. It’s now curing, supported by painter’s tape, which I still have lots and lots of.

After securing the towel bar (fingers crossed it stays put when I remove the tape tomorrow night!) — I moved on to install a towel ring above my sink. This is by far the one thing I have been dying for the most. This is what my wall looked like before the installation:

And this is what it looks like now:

This is really quite awesome as now I don’t have to try to precariously hang my handtowel on the knob of the vanity cabinet.

My last really cool feat of the day was installing a toilet paper holder. I never realized how strategic the placement of that thing has to be, in terms of how high, how close, etc. you install it. I’m pretty happy with the finished product.

The box on the right is a combo fan/light, because the area by my toilet is extremely dark. I have a fan, so I’m going to replace it with something that gives off light as well. The light in the photo is coming from the one lamp I have at my place right now, which I constantly move from room to room. Lamps and lighting fixtures are coming up very soon on my seemingly neverending list of things to spend money on.

Did I mention that I finally ordered window coverings? Yep, $800 gone, just like that. I’m really looking forward to getting them up, though, because right now those temporary paper shades just aren’t cutting it. They’re a pain to raise, which means I just leave them down all the time, and they’re not long enough to completely cover my windows. I’m sure my neighbors love seeing my bare thighs when I walk around at night in my underwear. I got white cellular shades, which are supposed to be great for energy efficiency because they trap cold air in the winter and trap warm air in the summer. Mine will come with the top-down option, which means that I will be able to both raise the shades from the bottom and lower them from the top. This will be great for Kona, because as it is, she barks at everyone she sees. I live on the first floor, and I’m right on the street, so people walk by pretty frequently. The top-down option will allow me to lower the shade to let light in, but block her line of sight to the action outside.

I feel like things are finally starting to come together at my place. And hopefully this week I’ll be able to get Mom’s new place ready for her to move in. I can’t wait until we’re both in the same neighborhood…it will be so convenient! I’m at her old house right now, for example, so I can take her to a long overdue dentist appointment (really freaking early) in the morning.

I soooooo wish there was another day in the weekend, but what else is new.