Entries from June 2009 ↓

Last night I felt like a home improvement super hero as I removed the toilet tank all by myself (okay, I had instructions from KimC) and took my medicine cabinet out of the wall—all for the sake of removing as much of the hideous wallpaper as I could.

Now with cats!

I’ve only got three small patches left to remove…

But tonight I plan on giving my chapped hands* a rest while watching some trashy TV (Hitched or Ditched—painful to watch, but makes me feel better about being single) and boxed wine.

* Now I can’t wait for a normal-colored bathroom AND to have a bathroom that doesn’t reek of vinegar.

I made a little bit of progress with the bathroom’s wallpaper tonight. I have tomorrow and Wednesday nights to get the rest off—which will be the most challenging bit as there is a toilet in my way. Who wants to help?

I thought I might discover some hidden, secret love note or something. But instead I just discovered the dimensions of the wall.

I took down the hand towel bar and accidently dropped it—taking a chip out of the toilet tank cover. Can I buy one for cheap somewhere?

And I wish this hidden gem matched anything else, because I think it’s pretty.

And just because it’s been a while: a photo of me.

Next Sunday – Thursday nights will be my window for priming and painting the walls. I hope I finish before next Friday’s summer solstice party!

I started scraping wallpaper in the bathroom today. It was slow-going, but I think I started with the most difficult wall—it hadn’t been painted and the plaster kept chipping off. I’ll have some patching to do. I’m eager to get the rest off before tomorrow evening (hopefully I’ll keep up the motivation for a bit longer tonight), but then I’m going to have to live with this until I can prime and paint:

I can’t wait until this bathroom is a normal color!

Here is a quick tour of my new apartment, including notes on my pretty lofty dreams of improvement. (Please try to ignore all of the piles of junk. I took these photos on move-in day.)

I haven’t really figured out how to use this room yet. It’ll be some sort of creative/craft space, but currently it’s the room for everything without a determined home. I know I’ll be ripping down the wallpaper trim around the top of the walls, and I’ll be replacing the drapery hardware with some simple Ikea hardware I already own. This room may be either green, blue, or red someday.

My bedroom is so empty that there is an echo. Seriously. I’m happy that I have a specific room just for sleeping again, though. It’s peaceful. I’d like to paint this room a very light golden-yellow, but it’s not a priority by any means.

I love my new living room! It gets so much sunlight in the afternoon. I’m looking forward to getting a couch in the space some day soon (hopefully), but I’d like to paint this room beforehand. This room will be a greyish-blue to match some fabric I have (truth: it’s a dress I’m going to re-purpose as art). I’m also planning to remove the carpet, with the hope that decent hardwood flooring is underneath it.

I don’t quite know what to do with my entry, yet. It might be a light green someday. The built-in glass hutch is one of my favorite things about the apartment.

The kitchen is very large, which is great. It needs some work, but it is priority project #2. I’m planning to rip down the ugly wallpaper (it’s almost so ugly it’s fun, but not quite all the way there) and paint the walls a sort of marigold orange/yellow—something to match that oven and help it blend in a little. I think the tiled back-splash should come out because it grosses me out. It would nice to re-tile, but paint might be enough.

Karyn pointed out that this wallpaper was hung with great care—the seams all match up. I can appreciate that, and I’m planning to get some sort of vegetables in art form as an homage.

This is a 3-season porch on the northeast side of the apartment. It gets really nice light in the morning, but I haven’t had a chance to enjoy it properly as it has become the box repository. (I plan to get rid of the boxes on Monday.) I don’t know what to do with this room yet, but I would like to get a string of lights for possible evening enjoyment later this summer. It would also be nice to get rid of the carpet.

The bathroom is priority project #1—I’m actually planning to work on taking down the wallpaper this weekend. It’s truly awful and wasn’t hung with as much care as the veggies in the kitchen were. I plan to paint it a very light cool blue (a hue that will match the living room). I would also like to paint the cabinetry and trim a bright white. I’ll take pictures of my progress and report back, of course.

Did someone once think this was sexy? Yuck!

Overall, this is a great apartment—so much sunlight and space. I’m happy to be back in Northeast Minneapolis and I’m happy to have fun projects (and big dreams) ahead of me!

Early last week, Mom and Dad came up to visit Hannie while also making plans for Karyn and Bryan’s garage renovation later this summer.

We went to Wildfire one night to celebrate Dad’s 51st birthday.

For lunch before they headed back to South Dakota, we visited the 5-8 Club. I got the Juicy Lucy with blue cheese and it was awesome! I had a bite of the Juicy Lucy with pepper jack cheese, and it was also delicious.

We also enjoyed fresh rhubarb, corn on the cob, and watermelon while they were here. It was a very yummy few days!