A Nest for our Nest

When we bought this condo, we made a deal that we would not remove anything that was in good working order.  This was determined when our kitchen faucet started leaking, and Jenn wanted a new one, but knew it shouldn't happen if it could be fixed.  Alex kindly pointed out that it could be fixed.

So, our existing thermostat received exposure from the sunniest area in our home, and would occasionally read 80 degrees in, you know, December, which meant we would have no heat in any other rooms of the house.  Below is the best photo I could find of the previous setup.  If I had holed up in our hallway of a kitchen, that was no big deal because it was probably 70+ in there anyways, but if we were anywhere else it was not so great and Nyobi and I just huddled under the blankets.  Come to think of it, why did I push to change this arrangement?

The breaking point for me was mid-January, when the thermostat read 73 but the house had to have been 65. So I cranked it up to 74.  When the sun went down, I turned it back to a normal temperature and went about my life.  We experienced some awesomely hot evenings of - 74 (!!!) for the next week or so, which really means I woke up burning up (never happens) and Alex just suffered in his sleep.  It was programmable, and could have been addressed in that way, but we were not going to be able to do anything about the sun, other than moving it to another wall, which would have been even worse because the opposite side of the wall is the office which is already all kinds of hard to use with the fuse box.  Enough, we said.

We ordered a Nest.

It is so shiny and beautiful and perfect and has an app and we can manage the temp from anywhere with it.  That alone is worthwhile, as evidenced by the week I was recently holed up in bed sick.

 It also "learns" our habits and will figure out that, no, people who sleep with a dog and a cat and a good blanket do not need it to be 74 in the night, so even the cold person wakes up sweating.  And, even if the learning did not happen, it would be helpful because there is an option that we can turn on and it ignores a turn of "Sun Beats Down" (yes, a nerdy board game reference).

I also researched online, and learned that utility companies can offer a rebate on a new thermostat, which helped to soften the blow.  Our electric company provides a substantial rebate of $100, and our gas company does as well, only $20, but we are going to heat no matter what, so they have us.  Given that I found the Nest on Amazon for $247, that's almost half of the cost, for what we really wanted.

For anyone considering a new thermostat, we also looked into the Ecobee smart thermostat, but our wiring was not appropriate.  We needed a different power supply set up than our current HVAC wiring allowed, and it would have required another fix which seems really silly.  No additional fixes for our fix, please.  You can learn about this on both the  Ecobee and Nest websites.

I probably could have learned some cheats to work out the thermostat properly, but it just wasn't worth it to us as we plan to live here long-term, and a huge part of why we DIY is to improve our life and home without breaking the bank when we can, so we can budget out for larger needs that we find appropriate.  There's also no one who would put up with these working conditions, I mean cats and food stuff everywhere at any given time, but, hey, we have to make do with what we can.

My Mini Kingdom

So, on one of my "DO ALL THE ERRANDS WE'RE NEVER LOSING A DAY TO THIS AGAIN" Mondays, I stopped into a shop in Andersonville, paid a meter for less than an hour (because, antiques) and found a mirror that I knew was right for us.  So much of our furniture is thrifted, craigslisted, or inherited that I have kind of given up on anything being what I want and go with what I can find in the appropriate parameters.  But this guy, I knew he was mine. I started to take it apart on one of my middle of the night benders of PRODUCTIVE(!!!).  Basically, when the doors were being sanded and our lives were complete chaos.  I'm so intelligent about this stuff.  I took off the wire, the tacks holding the corners of the backing on, and then had to dig out small wedges of wood holding the mirror glass on, so that it could be removed.  The back of the mirror had a stamp, and it said "MMA, Hagemann Glass Company, Cincinnati, Apr 20, 1937." This mirror at least is older than some of my grandparents.  I texted my aunt, who would potentially be up for work by this time (and was), and asked what to do with him.  She told me to leave it alone, and also to go to sleep.  Not a bad plan.

I wasn't going to do that, but left it alone for several weeks.  I sort of listened?

I finally pulled the rest of the wedges holding the glass off, and took the glass out to properly clean it.  This guy was just in such rough shape.  I used some vinegar on both sides of the glass and scrubbed down, multiple times.  It removed all of the grime from the back and also cleaned the edges that had been hidden behind the frame lip beautifully.  

After a lot of research, I said, what the heck, and used a stain remover for antique woods that had all kinds of bad signs on it, but told myself it was for the greater good.  This stuff, Minwax Antique Furniture Refinisher, was perfect, it is a liquid that you pour out into a glass or metal container only (which was oddly reassuring to me, like, don't put this in plastic because it will be a puddle and alter your hardwood!) and buff with 0000 steel wool to dissolve off old finishes.  It removed the poly and finish that had darkened so badly over time, and of course was fumey, but, hey, it was working (I opened the windows, everything is fine).  There are no photos of this process because I was trying to get it over with as quickly as possible and had on gloves covered in noxious chemicals (safety first!).  The top's scrollwork and edging was a serious challenge and I left it soaking with some paper towels and called it for a bit.  Another day of erranding later, I found some smaller metal-bristled brushes than ones I had used for previous stripping projects, and thought I could give it a go in the detailed part of the piece.  It took some time, but the photo to the left was the result after two evenings of removal.

I let it chill out yet another day for all of the solvent to fully evaporate, and took to it with Howard Feed-N-Wax Wood Polish & Conditioner as I felt it would highlight the natural wood best.  You apply this paste-ish polish with a cloth, then allow it to rest on the wood for at least 20 minutes, then wipe to remove excess and polish.  Or, you can apply a coat, and walk away for a few minutes, and see that it's all gone and could use more, so apply two more coats before there is any "excess" to wipe off.  I gave it a good buff with a soft cloth and was thrilled.  This photo is mid-conditioning.  If you decide to make friends with this polish as I have, shake it up well, and forego the squeeze lid.  Just plop it out onto your cloth of choice, the lid doesn't let the thicker components of the gel come out terribly well.

Last, we came to the backing.  I didn't think the original backing would be a good option, as I felt the small wedges were possibly part of its anchoring, but also didn't want to just toss it.  We dithered for a bit, but since I wanted to see it done (one thing, PLEASE, FINISHED) I buckled down this afternoon and worked out a plan.  The plan involved yet another round of Feed-N-Wax, taking liberties with some of Alex's finishing nails, my pink hammer (which he takes advantage of sometimes, so marriage is legalized theft and fair), and the original backing (also Feed-N-Waxed, on both sides for good measure).  It fit onto the outer frame and no poor words were used, just 8 small finishing nails.

And now, my very own Kingdom mirror.  The condo version, and not a beautiful Victorian mansion.  This woman cracks me up, although my version of this is to acquire more things we don't need through Craigslist/Freecycle on my own without Alex's knowledge or consent, and then say, "Surprise!" He is easy-going about it (because he's easy going) and does not get mad, because sometimes it is a ShopVac ;) Also sometimes it is a project that keeps me quiet for a while and then he has peace in which to read and do math problems.

I would like to give an especial thanks to my patient aunt Shirrl, and her dear mother in law Joy, who swore that I should not paint the mirror.  I did really think about it in the beginning, but once the backing was off and I knew the age of this guy, I knew they were right.

Dining Room Wall Shelving

When we decided to straighten out the dining room, we found a number of options available.  Brackets like these are very popular around the internet, but I don't like the shiny, angular metal for some reason and resisted it.

I fell pretty hard for some aged metal brackets from Anthropologie and Rejuvenation (left), then realized we would need a small fortune to support the length of shelves we were looking to add.  By the time we really researched these, some birch boards were already living in our home and we've chosen to let them hang out rent-free until they can find a job.  We also purchased some metal L-brackets at one point that I planned to paint and then backed away from because it's not possible to buy spray paint in the City of Chicago, (thanks Obama! err, graffiti artists) so would have to trek out to a suburb, the Rustoleum paint we could find was not my real choice of color, oh and I realized I just didn't want to do it.

In the midst of the searches, something clicked and I remembered a project I had seen on a blog we were happy to find this year.  The genius DIY folks at Yellow Brick Home built super sturdy shelves for tool storage, basically 500% heavier than what we would be putting on dining room shelving (and also very similar to our bed frame) so we adapted their plans to our needs.  You should really look at their project for proper instructions, I am nowhere near as exact in this process as I should be.

They used 2x4s to create a frame to fit inside workroom, anchored the frame into the wall studs on three sides, covered both sides of the shelves in plywood and added a face to the front surface, and finished them.  We had only one corner to work with, but significantly smaller scale items, so used 2x2s for framing, anchored into the long wall's studs and used the perpendicular wall for a bit of added support, and framed with some birch that was hanging out unemployed.  We planned it! No, sometimes it just seems like it though.

So everyone knows, we do lots of our work at night when we are supposed to be enjoying our 20s young adulthood.  The entire wall was 8 feet, so we decided to build shelves that were 7 feet long and roughly 8 inches deep.  The first shelf's frame portion was actually cut and built the same night the desk was anti-frankensteined and Alex put it up while I made food a thing.  If you spy, with your little eye, a different looking thermostat, you get a prize! And so did we.  The joy of properly managing our heat.  More on that later.

The following night, Alex was a total genius and used the first existing frame as a ledge to cut down the remaining studs.  #smallhomeproblems We used the remainder of the length and some scraps to cut off additional supports, slightly less than 5 inches each.  Our drill/driver has two rechargeable batteries, but due to the heavy ineffective use by his wingman, we had to call it to charge them and leave the project for a third evening.

Sweet Alex was kind enough to pick work on this back up while I stayed out and about with my dear friend Abbie for birthday lunch and drinks and general Andersonville-ing until 630 (after sponsoring a mini-spa day, to boot!).  I came home and crashed hard, and when I came out, this all had happened.  Well, the shelves had ;) Easily one of the most useful birthday endeavors I have ever seen.  There will be better photos in the future, but we were so excited this was just snapped off on my phone.  Jane was excited we had gotten a lot of our silly human things off of her table, so I did not crop the lower mess out.

We tried a new wood finish for these shelves, and I am so excited about it.  It's Varathane 3x wood stain in Worn Navy.  I prepped the plywood surfaces by sanding down the edges and better flat surface, then gave two coats of Minwax wood conditioner and one coat of the blue stain.  All six panels were done in a night, and we let them dry for a day or two before he assembled all the pieces.  The edging planks were not primed, but they were also a better quality wood and took the stain more evenly than the plywood would have.

I grabbed the 2x2s while I stopped into Ace for some refinishing products (yet another adventure, to be sure) and spent about $30 on them.  The plywood we used was technically underlayment, birch, and one 4'x8' sheet (cut into sixths lengthwise) was about $40.  The long screws and wood conditioner were onhand already, and a new staining brush and the stain ran under $15 together.  So, the whole set of shelves for about $85 seems like a reasonable cost for storage we don't have to move to clean under and nearly doubling our surface space, from 8.75 sq ft to 16.

Dining and office updates

During the planning phase of the kitchen refresh, we tested out a number of colors.  I usually do some narrowing of the field, then Alex looks things over and we discuss and I harass family members for help etc. These six samples were the result of two rounds of sample acquisition and I am so glad we took the time to live with them a bit before taking the plunges.

Alex was kind enough to stop at HD for the paint and it's been kind of hanging out around our place since September, to be honest.  We chose the middle of the top row for the kitchen, and the far left of the lower row for the dining room and potentially other areas.  I put up swatches of the two around the rooms we thought might coordinate, and we decided that the dining room and office could both be yellow to help them feel larger and keep us energized.

We decided to add some wall shelving and to downsize furniture wise in both of these rooms, and plotted out a course of attack.  We had a lovely baker's rack in the dining room that held plants, teas, and serving dishes, but it took up over 16 inches of floor space depth wise, and was 3 feet long.  Our dining table is non-negotiable in this room, and hutch holds our wine glasses, adult beverages, and heavy jars of canned foods, so we decided the rack was the best option to leave.  Craigslist turned up no buyer, so it was picked up by the kind folks at the Brown Elephant, a resale shop we love (ok, Jenn loves, Alex cringes when he is drug into) that benefits a great medical group.

The office contained a desk our movers called "Big Bertha" and took all four seriously strong men to move it.  I loved it for storage capacity, but finally had to admit there was just not room for it in our 11X12 office that serves as Nyobi's entrance and contains the exterior door as well as access to the furnace in our utility space and our fuse box is in the middle of a wall. I would spend hours organizing the workspace, only to find it buried a day or two later and we just couldn't justify the space occupied (44 inches wide, 24 deep) for how little it was being used.  We had some wall-mountable cabinets stacked on top of the desk and decided to pull the trigger and hang them with the exit of the desk.

I list these kind of related projects together because this is really what Alex has to work with.  I insisted we do all of these basically at the same time, my brain insisted we paint the walls before hanging these new shelving options, but we had to dispose of the desk before that could happen.  We spent several hours disassembling drawer mounts for potential reuse, and smaller subsections from the large frame.  We had also ordered a really cool little circular saw for small cutting jobs, and it made short work of cutting some of the non-cutting surfaces, and made friends with our beautiful shop vac.  After these pieces were removed, we stacked up the pieces on our deck, hillbilly style, and got to work prepping for paint.

To the left is the first wall in our dining room - without anything else going on it is BRIGHT and sunny in daylight.  The baker's rack had been living in the corner next to the window for reference.  The two photos to the right are of the office (at night), obviously the curtains will be changed out and we have some additional plans for the middle of the room that don't involve the remnants of a desk Alex describes as having been "constructed through use of occult forces." 







A lot more has been happening, but this is the kind of non-exciting, unglamorous preparation that goes into our decisions and we wanted to put it out there that our place is often in disarray while we work on things.  Painting is not high on Alex's list of fun activities, but it is such a game-changer on space and we are on a mission to get the lame flipper gray out of here and on with our lives.