Now that we are in the midst of this incredibly unsettling pandemic, I am SO grateful to have this little blog and all the past posts to review, laugh about, and to be able to look back and see how far we have come. Having the opportunity to document both our setbacks and successes has been cathartic in the moment, and smile-inducing in retrospect. If not for all of you I wouldn’t have taken the time to do this, so THANK YOU for your interest, your guidance, and most of all your encouragement throughout the evolution of this quirky home. I’m certainly glad that the bulk of it is behind us, now that we are all holed up alone and the economy is in the dumpster. We still have quite a ways to go before we can tie a bow on the place, but we made more headway this past month, so let’s get to gettin’, shall we?
I wish I’d had the foresight to snap a picture of our flatbed trailer a few weeks ago when it was loaded up with over 100 boxes of kitchen cabinets from IKEA, AND 55 boxes of cork flooring. Greg pulled that heavy trailer with our handy-dandy pick-up truck a couple of weeks ago and backed it into our oversized garage, load and all. Whew! With plenty of other projects to fill our plates, we were happy to walk away from the trailer and push the “close” button. Last weekend we were lucky enough to have our son, Mitch, come down with us. Though he was fighting off a cold, he was quickly put to work.
The first order of business was to get the washer/dryer out of the garage and give the washer a “go” before stacking. The units were purchased through Facebook Marketplace waaaaaay last April, and I remember feeling as though I’d scored a fantastic deal. Lucky for me, I wasn’t the one who had to haul the things from the original owner’s 2nd story laundry closet down to the truck. That task fell to Greg and Mitch, with me ably directing as needed(!) These things are HEAVY. With the units secured in the bed of the pick-up truck, we happily bouncy-bouncied down to the round house and unloaded them into the garage where they sat for nearly a year. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I decided to double-check the requirements necessary to stack these appliances, now that the interior spaces are ready to accommodate them. As I read through the washing machine manual I noticed a dire warning in a highlighted box in big, bold lettering that said, in a nutshell:
Before ever moving this washing machine, be sure to screw the enclosed big, special lug nuts into the back of the unit to secure the washer drum in place. If you don’t, the drum is going to rattlety-bangity-bang-bang inside the washer as you bounce down the road and potentially cause irreparable damage to the machine. Also, once you’ve reached your destination remember to remove said lug bolts, or you’ll create an entirely different problem.
Ummm…OOOPS! What lug nuts?? You mean THESE lug nuts?! The ones neatly packaged in the manufacturer’s plastic bag, and placed INSIDE the drum of the washing machine for easy discovery? GAH! I was sure we’d permanently mangled the machine beyond repair before we’d ever plugged the thing in! So we hauled it into the house and temporarily set it up to run a load through a wash cycle. We didn’t want to discover any problems AFTER we stacked the dryer on top, and certainly didn’t want a big water mess all over the cork flooring that is yet to be laid down. Luckily all went well. The washer seemed to run just fine, and there were no resulting water leaks – thank goodness. Time to stack ‘em up!
Following our success in that project, Mitch and Greg set their sights on unloading that trailer in the garage. The cork was easiest to unload from the trailer, so all 55 of the 50-pound boxes were quickly stacked inside.
After that, over 100 boxes of do-it-yourself Ikea kitchen cabinets were disgorged into the house.With all the stuff inside, Mitch and I quickly set to work putting the cabinet boxes together.
After that, over 100 boxes of do-it-yourself Ikea kitchen cabinets were disgorged into the house.With all the stuff inside, Mitch and I quickly set to work putting the cabinet boxes together.
Despite the wacky instructions, it was easy, fun work, the result being that we could finally visualize the complete layout – and discover gaps that needed to be filled. So yes, I need to order one more small cabinet to complete the run. If these were normal times this would mean a quick dash to the Ikea kitchen department for a quick consultation and order, a swing through their pickup window, and off we go. But these are not normal times. The Ikea store is now closed, with online ordering as the only option. I don’t trust myself quite enough to ensure that the order would be correctly placed, so I think I’ll wait. For now.
So, the walls, paint, ceiling, lighting are mostly in place now. Our new couch arrived (far too early, but that couldn’t be helped), and we’ve stored a few more furniture and decorative items at home until they’re needed down here.
I haven’t done this in a while, so it’s time to brainstorm home décor ideas to help me set my sights on the final direction.
Recently, a friend and I went on our monthly foray to downtown KC to take part in First Fridays vintage shopping. This is always a blast (we’ll see if it can happen in April. Sad times…), and you never know what you might find.
One item that gave me pause was this velvet painting of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. I choked on my own spittle when I first caught a glimpse of it, then guffawed out loud as I pointed it out to my friend. Following the shock and hilarity, I actually examined it with a different lens. Hmmmm…honestly – COULD this go somewhere in my house? NO. No, it cannot. But the lingering question remained: Why? Why does this exist?
But then, what about this:
What is this hideous, misshapen brown object with a lid, you ask! Why it’s an $11 Potato Dish, of course. We set the odd thing back on the shelf and walked away, but not 10 seconds went by before we found ourselves giggling away at all the fun we could have with that thing. Think about it: your neighbors are planning a pot-luck, your family is convening for Easter, friends are planning a brunch...all you have to say is, “I’ll bring a potato dish”, and your contribution is DONE! Just grab this dish – no need to fill it with anything - and dash to the get-together (once it’s safe to socialize again!). I should have snatched that little item up, actually.
So, most of the lighting is up, flooring is now going down, kitchen cabinets are being set in place. Now that we have found ourselves in lock-down down at the lake, we are knocking the items off the list in pretty short order. I’ll be sending another update out soon, but here’s a teaser to tide you over:
In the meantime, everyone stay healthy and well, and be sure to wear those gloves and masks!