As such, the house is in total disarray. And overstuffed. Bring on the annual January crap purge and organizing and reorganizing of things that have spiraled or no longer function.
Per usual, I have made no New Year's Resolutions. Why? I never have so why start now? Too much pressure and why set myself up for disappointment if I don't come through, right?!
My cousin Leslie shared an author-unknown quote on Facebook the other day and it's a pretty lightbulb moment: "Every year you make a resolution to change yourself. This year, make a resolution to be yourself."
Hits home, yeah? So this year, let's decide to be ourselves, whether that's a personal pursuit or goal of making your home fully You.
Change is hard, I get it. Change is inevitable though. I personally flounder with change which might sound really really weird given my propensity to treat this house like a theater season.
Let's focus our inevitable or chosen struggle-bus change energy into (gonna sound cheeseball) a living-your-true-self positive, shall we?
Heh. Anyway......
Leading to the new year, I did manage to get some wee projects accomplished. There are additional than below but these are more interesting as you surely did not want to see me changing out rusty toilet seat bolts. Why did they rust in a non-shower room? No clue.
Oh, about those. Luckily they were too small for the toilet holes and pulled right through otherwise it seemed there was zero way they were coming off. Broadly, I am not keen on plastic but I went with it to avoid the rusty situation again.
Though I think I switched from plastic to metal ones for a reason. Hm, I'll surely find out.
Anywho. This Variety Pack post is brought to you by me contemplating bunches of other projects while using small stuff as actionable ponder time, fyi.
Ok, let's see here...First up in my New Year Variety Pack: a teeny Ikea hack, covering vanity door glass with peel-and-stick "linen."
Why? I dunno. Why not? Every time I enter this bathroom, I find myself looking right at the glass doors first which is not what I want as the draw so I thought by sorta blending them with the walls in a sense, they'll pull less focus.
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| Yes, the shelf is busted. Yes, I have a new plan. Or maybe this whole piece goes away, we'll see. |
Not hard to do, really. Get some peel-and-stick linen* or whatever, peel-and-stick wallpaper* if you want...
...and apply it to the glass or doors or what-have-you. It's an awesomely inexpensive way to change things up temporarily.
Use a super sharp Xacto craft knife* or rotary cutter* and a cork-backed ruler* on a spiffy cutting mat* to trim it cleanly to size or close to.
It's tough to clean up stringy edges once applied, so to size is best. Then, peel part of it, stick it on, then slowly peel and smooth on as you go.
Ten, fifteen minutes later, voilá, you got yourself a fancy new look you can change out at whim!
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| Floor is holding up! |
Next on the New Year Variety Pack list: update the towel bar in the main bathroom. I know, I said nothing was gonna change in here but apparently I lied.
I meant nothing major, heh.
Originally I attached a drawer pull to the wall as a towel bar. While it worked, it was troubling me as, hm, insufficient shall we say.
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| Before. Hard to see which was good but also hence the yellow arrow for you. |
When I made the towel bars for the master bath, I made them then remade them so I had the first round laying around being all scrap wood-ish so I broke one apart, trimmed it down to twelve inches or so.
Instead of creating new holes in the wall, I used the old pull to map out the existing holes onto the new wood (ugh math). I wasn’t fully on my hidden fastener game but no biggie, I really don’t see the screws.
So, screw the backing piece onto the wall, then with the barn screws, attached the face piece, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
It’s way nicer than the drawer pull and free and it made me happier, the latter being most important.
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| The towels are from Etsy.* |
Last project item for this New Year Variety Pack? Sigh, a new master bath sink faucet.
Ugh I’m so sad about this.
The old one started leaking out of the top ball/handle area. I tried pretending that wasn’t happening but then discovered it was leaking below too.
In an effort to not replace this faucet I love so much, I tried replacing the supply lines* which can't be found local* as I couldn't find a way into the ball area to see what I can fix.
At first it seemed the hoses were a thumbs up until one morning we woke up to a puddle on the floor.
I unearthed this excellent storefront on eBay* and bought a new fancy Delta faucet for a uh, a shocking quarter of the retail price.
It was so silly simple to install too. String it through the sink hole, slip on a bean-shaped plate, and twist on a nut.
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| Under sink installation. Yeah. That's it. |
I was so confused, as in, uh, that’s it? Can’t be. But it was. And it’s quite a swanky faucet.
I’m hoping to somehow repair the old one and put it in the hall bath as Mike recently informed me he has a particular loathing for that existing one.
Tada, Variety Pack! *curtsy*
Sooo, I guess what this post really is about is upgrade change. Upgrade yourself, upgrade your home, upgrade your life…upgrade to yourself.
Before I go, meet Elvis.
Aka Basket Case, aka Gizmo Gremlin, aka Psycho, aka No. I say this not to be coyishly cute.
Poor guy was neglected (thoroughly, we're finding) then abandoned then suddenly here. He pretty much only knew sit and to potty outdoors and is generally basically feral.
He has every behavior problem in the book: people hater, hates other dogs/cats/etc. with scary passion, separation anxiety, incessantly nippy, jumpy, into parkour, not leash walking trained at all, prescription medicine resistant, refuses to be controlled, and has maniacal meltdowns to mention a scant few.
Only things I've found he's not? Afraid of fireworks and has no food allergies. He loves Mike more than anything in the world and if he could crawl into Mike's skin, he would.
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| Seen here trying to. |
Honestly, he's a hellion repackaged as a sixty five pound, year and four month old German Shepherd which, obviously, is why he was abandoned.
A trainer said he needs to learn how to learn before he can learn. Sigh.
Therefore I have cried. A lot. And I miss Finn so badly. And Hailey. Oh ffs good heavens, that Hailey link.
Elvis is not good at Trusty Furry Assistant. He is cute. He is sweet and snuggly when he wants to be.
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| Seen here laying atop Mike awaiting his favorite treats.* |
Wish us luck.
Almost forgot a Variety Pack Day recipe! Doh! While I’ve been slacking at The Bake Dept too, there are some new recipes but hot damn, everything there deserves a bake.
Let’s see…How about Lasagna Soup? It is, after all, soup season! That one is behind a paywall, my apologies (use Paprika and it will save off the recipe, shhhh) though it just displayed in entirety on my iPhone in Safari. This one looks pretty similar, just in case.
Oh, briefly, I made a list! I'm in a Top 100 DIY Blogs list! Nice!
Ok, off to project plan!
*The peel and stick fabric, peel and stick wallpaper, and water supply lines are Amazon affiliate links. The Xacto knives, rotary cutters, cork back rulers, and cutting mats are Michaels affiliate links. The Turkish towels are Etsy affiliate links. The eBay faucet seller is an eBay affiliate link. Elvis' favorite treats link is a Bully Sticks Direct affiliate link. Mwah, thanks! Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.
Good luck with your new furry goofball!
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