This weekend was a really snowy one here in Colorado, so we stayed in and did some things around the house. Stefan changed out some outlets...and I painted the kitchen!
March 4, 2019
Salmon and Aqua Kitchen
This weekend was a really snowy one here in Colorado, so we stayed in and did some things around the house. Stefan changed out some outlets...and I painted the kitchen!
February 27, 2019
Mid Century Bathroom Makeover, Part 1
We finally made a commitment about our bathroom redesign. Rather than be traditional 1950s, we went a little more 60s, influenced by this midcentury modern style we liked from this image below. So last week, with the help of our family, we set out to start with phase one: retile the shower.
This is what our bathroom originally looked like. The tiles were a bluish gray and don't go very far up the wall. The room just felt dark and...bleh.
A kind of useless...soap dish...thing?
These old fixtures were really giving us a hard time. Imagine the Inception "waaaaaaamp" every time you turn on the diverter.
Eventually this vanity will go too!
The original aluminum windows.
Sawing off the old wall!
Pulling off some of the loose tiles.
Sometimes we'd get lucky and pull off a whole wall.
Back to Lowe's for some plumbing supplies.
After some troubleshooting and leaving it overnight to make sure there were no leaks, we were good to go!
These braces are apparently usually on exterior walls, not interior walls. Yay for having an extra sturdy house!
Adding the water-proof cement boards (You use these in showers, rather than drywall)
Cement board complete!
Filling in the gaps with caulking.
Starting the mortar!
Working our way up! We were soooo slow (that's what happens when you have two perfectionists.)
My husband, Stefan learned to use the tile saw.
After a day and half, we were finally getting the hang of mortar. But we were so tired already!
Have you ever done pottery? Then you understand that at a certain point of being covered in grime, you just learn to accept it.
Look at this lazy bun, just watching the show!
At this point, we were so exhausted, this was the only image we got of applying the grout. Wipe on, wipe off.
I love this hardware set that we found. It's super streamlined and I thought it gave it kind of mid-century flair. It's a brand you can get a Lowe's called Jacuzzi (the Duncan set).
The window got an upgrade too!
And here is our finished product!
The last thing for this phase was to paint over that green with aqua. For anyone interested, this is Clark + Kensington (an Ace brand) 30C-3U, Fountain of Youth.
This old radio I have doesn't work anymore, but the color was too perfect!
This weekend I also found some 50s curtain hooks at an antique store, and it couldn't have been better timing!
Here's the cute box they came in.
There is a small cabinet behind the bathroom door, and it came with this super cool handle. It's the only one like it in the house and I love it!
I bought these handles awhile back from an Etsy seller. We will eventually use these on the vanity we are going to build to replace this one.
I can't help but keep these around for purely decorative purposes. I love the vintage packaging.
And lastly, this is our scale. It may be hard to tell from the picture, but it's a minty green.
So this is the overall plan. Phase one was the shower tile. Phase two will be the tile along the half wall, phase three: the floor, and phase four: the vanity/sink. We learned a lot and are super proud of what we were able to accomplish. It's a lot of work, but really rewarding. Excited to get to the next step, but also SO ready for a break!
October 26, 2018
Random Inspiration
This post honestly has no rhyme or reason. Every once in awhile, I scroll through images on Google and pull a few that I really like the feel of, so here are three of my favorites from my recent search!
October 15, 2018
Vintage Wooden High Chair
I found this adorable 1940s-50s high chair in the thrift store the other day for about $15, and I couldn't believe it! I've seen similar ones online going for $200+, so I had to get it.
You do have to be careful with older high chairs, since most of them do not meet the safety requirements for today, but it is possible to modify them so they meet the standards. For anyone who is interested, you can check those out here.
October 14, 2018
Project 62 Favorites
Target launched their first collection of the Project 62 brand last year, and it was love at first sight for me. The mid-century inspiration was really strong and felt very authentic. Awhile back, I shared my favorites from that collection, but I thought it was about time to do it again and include some of the newer items. So without further ado, here are the things that stood out the most to me!
The biggest draws for me are the new wall art options. Especially ESPECIALLY that first one with those abstract shapes, clean lines and ivory background. 😍 It's a huge statement piece too, at 24"x36"! But I also love tapered legs and angles, so that tends to be a theme in the furniture that I like.
Do you like any of the pieces from my list? Which new items do you like the best?
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Product Links
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Product Links
3. Cantilever Floor Lamp, in Brass $39.99
4. 16 oz. Monogram Stoneware Mug $4.99
5. Vase, in Gray $14.99
6. Hi Lo Blush Blocks Rug, in Gray Ivory $179.99 - $649.99
7. Mango Wood Taper Candle Holder $12.99
8. Amherst Mid Century Modern Writing Desk $189.99
10. Tapered Ceramic with Wood Detail Table Lamp $24.99
May 3, 2018
Vintage Fridge Energy Cost
From what I can tell so far, our vintage fridge is actually slightly more energy efficient than our current fridge. And for those of you curious about exactly how much that is, I'll break it down.
Our current fridge is a 1998 GE that, according to a sticker on the inside, should average at 697 kWh per year. If you multiplied that by the price of $0.11 per kWh, you would get $76.67—the cost to run the fridge for an entire year.
Just to double check, I ran the GE fridge through the Kill-A-Watt meter too, and I ended up with a readout of 0.08 kWh. At that rate, the total comes to 700 kWh per year which is consistent with their 695 kWh per year claim. You will see from the numbers below that the Coldspot's compressor actually takes a little more energy, so I can only guess that maybe the auto defrost in the General Electric fridge must play a big role. Or maybe I need a longer period of time to get a more accurate average. Or maybe it does a better job of keeping things cold, so it doesn't need to run the compressor as often. Or maybe the Freon refrigerant is simply more efficient.
Some comparisons...
Vintage Coldspot Fridge - No auto defrost
- Kill-A-Watt reading: 0.06 kWh / 526 kWh per year
- With the door open and the compressor on, the fridge uses 184 watts.
- With the door closed and the compressor on, the fridge uses 142 watts.
- With the door open and the compressor off, the fridge uses 41.3 watts.
- With the door closed and the compressor off, the fridge uses 0 watts.
1998 General Electric Fridge - Yes auto defrost
- Kill-A-Watt reading: 0.08 kWh / 700 kWh per year
- With the door open and the compressor on, the fridge uses 170 watts.
- With the door closed and the compressor on, the fridge uses 133 watts.
- With the door open and the compressor off, the fridge uses 38 watts.
- With the door closed and the compressor off, the fridge uses 0 watts.
It was really cool (hehe, pun intended) to see the results first hand. I did a lot of reading with various opinions about energy costs, and now I have some hard facts to go on. Of course it's going to vary from fridge to fridge. And I heard that those made between the 60s and 80s will tend to have the worst energy efficiency, so beware of that. But I hope this can provide some helpful information for others considering an old fridge or even just curious about the cost.
What's also interesting is that we don't need to set the temperature as high as we thought. We wanted to be on the safe side so we put the dial right in the middle, but this morning our milk was partially frozen. I ordered a fridge thermometer that should get here in a few days and will help us figure out exactly where we need to set that.
Yeah, so we were lucky to get a fridge that still works really well and has a great seal on it. The only disadvantages are that the freezer space is really limited (so we may consider getting a small, separate freezer for our garage) and the lack of auto defrost means that every once in awhile we're going to have to let our freezer thaw out (I've heard using a hair dryer really helps, and gives you a good excuse to clean out your fridge anyway). But other than that, the energy cost looks good, food is staying cold, the fridge layout is great and this thing is a TANK. I slid it across the floor to get it into the kitchen and there wasn't a single scratch. I love the way it looks in our vintage kitchen. So for now, we're going to keep it and see how this goes!
If you'd like to see pictures of the fridge (she's a beauty), you can view my older post here.
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