Fuse box solution....temporarily.

When we were doing the heavy work on our house, my husband was adamant that the wood paneling in the study had to go. Fine with me, growing up in a log cabin has made me despise wood in almost all forms. Welllll, turns out when we were hanging the sheetrock, we had solved all potential problems except the fuse box. For the past couple of months there's just been a hole and I couldn't for the life of me figure ou what to do with it. 



I was planning to put up trim and a door like the previous owners had, except there wasn't wood behind all the sheetrock around the box and I hadn't found something light and sturdy enough for the spot. I've seen plenty of blog posts about people hanging pictures over their fuse boxes to hide them, and some that put hinges to allow easy access. The only problem I kept finding was that, what if someone needs to find the fuse box in a hurry and isn't familiar with your house, like a fireman?

Ta-da!

It may not be the most obvious picture I could've put on there, but it does the trick. I found a picture of some vintage fuses (like what's found in our box...eek!) and decoupaged them on a canvas. I would've preferred having the picture printed on a canvas for a better quality picture, but I'm not willing to spend $70 on a temporary fix. Anyhoo, added  a couple of hinges and a magnet, and...

I figure this will work fine until we can have the box changed to a breaker box, and I'm hoping when that happens we can get a real cover put in that's flush with the wall. But I kinda love this until then.



Our main bathroom, now.

This is after what I'd like to call stage one in our bathroom's life. I finally found some colors that Ben and I both like that go together, bought the necessary items for a bathroom (remember, we moved in with almost nothing to our names!), and did a few repairs. But there is definitely more to be changed!



Small, right? Haha.



Our bathroom art for the past few years.





Curtains made from napkins I found at Tuesday Morning. Originally we had some cheap black cafe curtains just so the neighbors didn't get a show every morning, and boy were they dark! I think these work MUCH better.



Yes, the weight live in our bathroom. I like to do quick reps while waiting for the water to heat up.

The new toilet seat I installed. Who knew it was so easy, you don't even need tools?!

And here's my organizational skills getting a workout:


Before






After!

 



Before



After! I am in love with the little white bowl from World Market I got for my rings.
 Unfortunately, still haven't figured out what to do about that toothbrush charger...

Now here's what I would like to change at some point...


So far, haven't found anything better (that I'm willing to pay for).




Wondering if I can just give it a good scrubbing?




Brushed nickel, please!



This would be the biggie that I haven't figured out. Do we try to recover it and make it white? Do we take it out and tile? Either way, I can't stand the almond color and you can just feel how cheap it is.

 It's tough. I want to modernize the bathroom as much as I can, because you know it's a good place to put your money. Buuuut, I also love the original tile job and would hate to erase that part of the house. At least it's not pink or royal blue tile! Also, I forgot to mention we have to replace the sink bowl since there's a huge crack in it that is impossible to cover. By the way, if see something that claims you can paint it over a crack and it'll hide it, don't believe it. It ends up looking like a kid painted a weird-looking tree on your sink. And I want to tile the floor. Normally I love a checkered vinyl floor, but it's just too busy in a small bathroom and it doesn't even go into the closet. At least I already know what I'll put in though, just have to find the time and room in the budget for it.


Zoey says it's time to go now, she's ready for her bath!






Oh my gosh, update!

Okay, let's see...since last we talked it's been really nice outside (and really tornado-y!) and I've done a ton outside. Ben's dad came to visit and help with some little fixes that we couldn't figure out, couldn't find help with and were too cheap to hire someone. The biggie being fixing our saggy floor. The shower in the extra bathroom has had a leak for years and became a slight mold issue and caused one of the beams underneath the floor nearby to give way a little. And once they fixed that, our back door no longer closes correctly and the deadbolt won't work. Still haven't figure out that one yet, but soon! Ben and his dad also cleared out most of the junk the previous owners left behind: three doors, an outdoor table (kept), empty boxes, and a keyboard w/ stand (broken, unfortunately). They also: replaced the rotting crawlspace door, cleared out the culvert, rigged the gate to stay open when we need it open and hauled a lot of dirt and mulch to the house. Hooray!

Ben and I then bought our first lawn mower, about which I learned yes, you want a self-propelled mower. I also had to learn how to turn a push mower on; my parents had a riding mower for their yard and cows for the pasture when I was growing up. Learned that you can't easily tell your backyard is overrun with weeds if you mow everything low enough...haha.

I finished cleaning up one flowerbed and mulched it, and the weather has kept me from finishing the other :(

My daffodils finally bloomed like crazy!

Planted my very own first real gardenia! Hope it can actually survive here. And Zoey helped.

Also got some other interesting plants, a fuchsia:

And some strawberries in hanging pots.


So excited about these!

Finally finished our picture wall, for now...



And I did a lot of cleaning. You can finally walk into the extra bathroom now that I've taken all the tools out and put them away in the shed. Straightened the bathroom closet quite a bit.

But in the last month there's also been a lot of life getting in the way. We've had three severe weather days, two of those were bad enough to get into the bathtub. Between the two of us, we were sick for three weeks, which cancelled our trip to Austin and SXSW. Found out we have a huge carpenter bee problem (which also meant finding out what a carpenter bee was) and I'm trying to fix it right now. And this guy escaped into the neighbors yard briefly...

Which doesn't sound bad, except Ceti turns into a feral lion when he gets a little taste of freedom. That pitiful look is only after he tried twice to bite a hunk out of me and was screaming like a bobcat for ten minutes! Ben had to come home from work to get him. And of course when he gets there, Ceti just walks right to him and lets him pick him up. 

In better news, Ben got two job opportunities recently. One with a company in Nashville that would mean less pay, but it wouldn't be retail and it would be a set schedule. The other would be with his current employer. The store in Huntsville recently lost their general manager and Ben has already applied. I'm kinda hoping for Huntsville to happen because it would mean a lot more money than he makes now, he would have some control over his schedule, and we both have friends there. Franklin's great, but I don't really know anyone here except Ben's family and friends. Even my boss is Ben's old college roommate!

So that's what we've been up to lately. Hopefully, I can start balancing completing projects and blogging about them!

YIKES!

It's been almost a month since my last post?! I knew it had been a while since blogger asked me to log in again, and I didn't remember my password immediately....but a month! Even worse, we've been doing a lot of work around here. Okay, Ashley, stop panicking...

I promise to give an update on our goingson, but first I have to make another trip to Home Depot...and the Dollar Store to pick up a tennis racket. I'll definitely explain that later, haha.