When we bought our house, the stove and fridge were freebies thrown in with the deal. Which I’m sure was no heartbreaking loss for the sellers, because they’re the ugliest set of appliances you’ll ever see. Ok, maybe not the ugliest – my mother owned an avacado green washing machine. But they’re right up there, all almond and rusted with fake-wood accents.

There’s no room in the budget for a new microwave, let alone a new stove or fridge, but putting our almond beauties back in the revamped kitchen seemed wrong. So while they were all unhooked, I took a few cans of white spray paint to them. Not just any old spray paint, though. For the fridge, I used Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy Paint. For the stove, I used a combination of the appliance paint (for the bottom and sides) and High-Heat Paint (good up to 800 degrees) for the stove top.

Clean the surface really well with TSP or another strong cleaner. This is an important step, so take your time on it. After it was clean, I taped off the parts I didn’t want sprayed, and went to town. I don’t recommend spraying indoors like I did – even with good ventilation and a fan, it was pretty awful and extremely messy… but it was pretty chilly outside, so my options were limited.

Here’s the stove before:

And here’s the stove after:

(Click any of the photos for larger images)

The stove top isn’t as shiny as the rest of the stove, which kinda bugs me, but it still looks MUCH better than it used to. And the fridge looks brand new! (Well, until you open it up and find all the brown plastic goodness inside)

I’m not sure how long the paint will hold up, but since we’ll be replacing these appliances at some point anyway I’m not too worried about it.

I’m bleary-eyed and worn out, and it’s only Wednesday. We’re pushing extra hard this week to get everything ready for our “open house” on Saturday (from 1 till whenever – come visit!) So each night we get home from our day jobs, throw on some sweatpants, and work until bedtime. We did sit down to watch The Office last night though, and it was so totally worth it.

All sorts of stuff is happening, but it’s not ready for the big reveal so you’ll all have to wait until Monday for photos. Since last I wrote, we finished the drywall sanding, painted the kitchen walls and ceiling, installed a porcelain tile floor, spray-painted the fridge and stove, and re-potted some plants that were starting to flop. By Saturday, we hope to have the chimney painted, the scaffolding down, and the drywall dust cleaned out of every little crevice it landed in. Ambitious, no? I feel like I’m in college again, with a big final project to hand in.

Coming soon – pics and an explanation of how/why one might spray paint appliances, and plenty of whining about sore knees and grout dust.

Edited to add:
Hallelujah, he found the ring! Third time is a charm, it seems. He didn’t even use the metal detector, just a plain old rake. Good news, since I wasn’t in the mood to scour the dirt again, in the rain, for the misplaced symbol of our eternal love and commitment. It was feeling very ominous!

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There’s no rhyme or reason to the string of things I’d like to post, so I’m just gonna go ahead and ramble like an idiot. Forgive me.

First off, HOORAY for an old friend (and new sis-in-law) who understood the deep yearning I had for the Dover Victorian coloring book. I got it in the mail yesterday, and am totally breaking out the Crayolas this weekend. Thank you, Eilis. You always know how to please the kid in me!

Now, on to less happy news. Teague lost his wedding ring last night while doing a get-the-dust-off-me” dance in the back lawn. We’d been sanding drywall for the upteenth time, and he was starting to resemble Pigpen. While furiously shaking out his clothes, he thinks his ring must have flung off. We made every effort to find it, but given that it was pitch black and raining, conditions weren’t right for any type of treasure hunt. We’ll need a metal detector and a lot of luck if we’re going to find his ring. Cross your fingers for us.

I don’t want to end on a low note, so here’s more good news… we’re done with the drywall sanding (except for a few small touch-ups) and the kitchen walls are primed. We used Behr Drywall Sealer, which kinda resembles Elmers glue. We got to take down the makeshift dust-stoppers (old sheets tacked to the ceiling/walls to keep the dust from taking over the whole house – which were pretty ineffective) and we’re planning to shop for floor tile tonight. Do you know how happy I’ll be the day we install something over our shiny white linoleum?? If you’ve ever had two dogs and a bright white floor, you’ll understand.

Sherwin Williams is having a 30% off sale from the 13th – 17th, so if you’re planning to paint it’s a great time to get the good stuff. I myself am a paint snob…. the Behr just doesn’t do it for me anymore! After painting countless rooms, I’ve decided it’s worth the extra cash.

Also, for those who don’t know, if you sign up for a SW credit card you get 20% off everything all the time. I swear, I don’t work for them – just love good paint and want y’all to get a good deal.

Last night, we finally broke down and turned the heat on – it was down to 55 degrees INDOORS, and we’re not fond of snowsuits. The good news is our boiler kicked on without a problem, and all of our radiators are warming up, and we didn’t hear any banging. We had alot of adjusting to do last year, but it looks like we won’t have to repeat it.

What I’m sure we’ll be repeating this year is our never-ending game of “find the draft”. Each time you get one plugged, another one becomes more obvious. But armed with a caulk gun, expandafoam and a giant roll of the pink stuff, you should be able to knock ’em dead!

Going from no wall, to plywood, to insulation, to actual real-live walls is about as exciting as it gets around our house. And getting the ceiling AND walls done in one weekend for the kitchen addition has got us doing cartwheels!

Friday night:

Sunday afternoon:

(click on the thumbnails for larger images)

The walls make it feel like an actual room, instead of a strange growth on the back of the house. I can’t tell you how much this helps my mental state.

And now, I offer up evidence as to why I should NOT be allowed to clean the house unattended while revved up on three cups of diesel coffee….. I got a *tad bit* carried away and started ripping wallpaper off the wall in the craft room, thinking maybe I had time to just remove it all….. Ooops.

When you and your husband are trying to hold a piece of drywall up over your heads while standing on two shaky ladders, one of you perhaps wearing flip-flops, and you can’t get it to fit exactly right, it’ll start to feel pretty damn heavy. And when the “dead man” wooden support falls, and the drywall comes crashing onto your head (which, luckily, acts as the perfect support brace), it’ll give you a nasty headache.

Putting drywall up on a 10-ft ceiling was no fun. But it was over quickly, and we’ve nearly forgotten the pain. Teague’s STILL working feverishly – he’s got that glint in his eye, so I don’t dare try to stop him. The kitchen walls are all in place and he’s working on seams as I type. There wasn’t enough room in the kitchen for two people to work, so I worked on getting the upstairs cleaned up and organized, a job that we’ve neglected since, well, moving in. I spent 12 hours up there, but it’s looking decent AND everything is now in it’s proper place. I came up with some creative storage solutions, sine we’ve only got 3 closets in the whole house. Overall, I took care of lots of little things that had been bugging us for months. It’s funny the things you overlook for so long, then suddenly become aware of when the prospect of visitors opens your eyes!

Pics to follow, I swear……. lets see how much we get done by Monday!

We’ve been in our house nearly a year, so I guess it’s about time we have a “housewarming”, eh? We didn’t want to scare our closest friends and family from ever visiting, so we waited until the cat pee smell died down and the walls were hole-free (downstairs at least). Now that we’re more comfortable with our progress, we’re ready to open our doors. Though, I’m pretty sure I’m locking the upstairs bathroom door so no one sees we’re still showering with moldy expandofoam ;)

Everyone’s invited to come see the Fixer Upper live and in person on October 22nd. The party starts at 1, and goes till y’all get tired of us.

Incidentally, the looming house party has been a great motivator…. if you’re in a fix-it rut, just plan a little get together. You’ll be amazed at how many projects get finished this way.

Aaron from House in Progress posted a very good read on how being a fixer-upper drastically changes your lifestyle.

I can truly relate to his post. When Teague and I started looking for houses, we knew a few things. We wanted something old in a quiet neighborhood, and something that needed work. We were ready to be good homeowners and put in some sweat equity. We realized it was going to involve lots of hard work and sacrifice. But you can’t really know the full implications of something until you’re knee deep in it, like we are now.

I have no regrets about our decisions thus far. We love our house, and love the work we do to fix it. But we’re also keenly aware of how much of our lives (not to mention money) it consumes, and how hard it is to find a balance now that we’re caught up in the obsession. As Aaron notes, it becomes hard to take a break from house projects without feeling guilty for “wasting” time. There’s so much we wish was finished, and so far still to go before we’ll be satisfied, that we can’t seem to slow down. Even when we plan ahead and say we’re going to do something fun, we usually end up changing our minds at the last minute to do some house-related thing. We keep saying things like “after the kitchen is done, we’ll take a big break” – but we both know we’ll be in the upstairs bathroom the very next day ripping out the rotting shower surround!

I don’t know to break the addiction, but we do need to work on getting some FUN back in our lives. Fun that does not involve a trip to Home Depot ;)

As a child, I loved to color. Show me a nice new box of sharpened crayolas (the 72 pack, naturrally) and I still get excited. But I’m all grown up, and grown-ups don’t color, right?

Not necessarily. Dover’s Victorian House coloring books feature the coolest drawings, AND they look hard enough to keep me quiet for a few hours.

Or, if Victorian’s not your thing, try the Frank Lloyd Wright one. Cool, right?