Fixing Damage to Wood Trim

A year ago I adopted a new dog. 

Then over Independence Day this year I watched my mom's new dog, Loretta, who it turns out is terrified of fireworks. Between the two of them both the door to my garage and the doorway of my spare room are sporting some impressive gouges.

Damage Rowena did to garage door.

Loretta was staying in the spare bedroom to keep her separated from Rowena since Loretta had picked up kennel cough the previous week. As a result I couldn't let her out in the house during the fireworks and she damaged her crate and scratched up the door in the spare room.

Since I have a new roommate moving in this weekend I decided to fix the gouges in her door frame (and while I was at it the door to the garage that Rowena damaged) so the room is more presentable. My dad recommended using a wood filler then repainting the trim, which turned out to be a pretty simple project.

Applied wood filler.

The wood filler is a consistency similar to play doh or a thick paste. After sanding down the wood, you can use a spreader to fill in the gouges with the wood filler and smooth it out as evenly as possible. Depending on the size of the gouges this may be easier or harder than it sounds. For a couple of the gouges in my door frame I had to let the first application of wood filler dry then apply a second layer in order to get the surface as level and smooth as possible. I also had some spots along the edge of the trim that were tricky since smoothing them with the spreader would cause the filler to be scraped away.

After letting the wood filler dry completely (which should only take a couple hours, but I just waited until the next evening) you can sand down any rough spots then repaint the area. The filler I got was a tan color that was pretty easy to cover with a couple coats of white paint. You can hardly tell there was any damage!

Before and After of door frame in spare bedroom.

After of the garage door, not much
I can do to salvage the actual door.

I have quite a few other spots around the house that can use a touch up coat of paint (but don't need wood filler), so I expect I'll be wandering around for the next few weeks freshening up my trim, windowsills, the spots in the bathroom that I missed while painting six years ago...

Wasted Storage Space

I may have mentioned how my kitchen cabinets are so full that I didn't have any extra space for new items. For instance, the Oster standing mixer and food processor from the 60s that I got from Gramma Getchell's house takes up a whole cabinet all on its own. Very frustrating for someone with limited space.

Until I realized I've got a whole area of storage space I'd been wasting.

I was in my laundry room a few days ago when it finally clicked that the cabinets above my washer and dryer don't go all the way to the ceiling like the ones in the kitchen do. There's almost a foot of space up there!

So I moved some of my rarely used items, such as my wok, a serving platter and my cake carrier up there. That opened up almost an entire cabinet!

It isn't necessarily pretty, but it is definitely nice to have. Gramma Getchell's house actually had storage cabinets built in above her kitchen cabinets. You needed a ladder to reach them, but it was nice to have some of the things you only use a couple times a year out of the way. I'll have to remember to have above the cabinet storage installed if I ever build a house.

I also bought a newer fancy gizmo to replace the Oster. Don't get me wrong, the Oster works great and there is definitely something to be said for products that keep working for decades after you buy them (I used the Oster last February to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras), but I really wanted a standing mixer that was small enough to keep on the kitchen counter.

So I bought this:

KitchenAid Standing Mixer

Isn't is beautiful? Lydia and I used it to make gingerbread dough during our baking marathon. I also used it to make cake batter for the New Year's Eve party I went to. I'm looking forward to getting a few of the attachments too, like a food processor.

Fun Fact: My great-grandma has a refrigerator that she and my papaw bought right after World War 2. And it is still running, despite the warranty that ran out in the 50s.

I'll probably try to sell or give away the mixer I got from my gramma's house. While I fully support reusing or re-purposing vintage items, I just don't have the space right now to accommodate a large vintage mixer.

King Cake

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
2 (1/4 oz.) envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 to 6 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsps. ground cinnamon
Purple, Green and Gold sugar sprinkles
Small figurine or image of Child Jesus OR a large coin

Directions:

1. Cook first four ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside the mixture to cool slightly.
2. Stir together the yeast, 1/2 cup warm water and 1 Tbsp. sugar in a 1-cup glass measuring cup and let stand for five minutes or until frothy.
3. Combine the sour cream mixture and the yeast mixture and add the eggs and two cups of flour. Beat at medium speed with a heavy-duty mixture until smooth.
   
   • The dough quickly becomes thick and heavy like bread dough. My hand mixer couldn't handle it so I used the bread hook on the Oster standing mixer.
4. Reduce speed to low and gradually add enough of the remaining flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups) to create a soft dough.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning the dough to grease the top. 
6. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm (about 85 degrees) place--free from drafts--for one hour or until dough is doubled in size.
7. Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll out each portion into a 22x12 rectangle.
8. Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a one inch border.
9. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the buttered dough on each rectangle. Then place the Jesus figure or coin on the surface of the dough. 
10. Roll up each rectangle of dough, jelly-roll fashion, starting on the long side. Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring the ends of the roll together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with second dough roll.
    
    • I put the two pieces together into one large circle rather than making two smaller cakes.
11. Cover and let rise in a warm place--free from drafts--for 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
12. Bake at 375 degrees for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and cool slightly on pans or wire racks. Drizzle creamy glaze evenly over warm cake.
13. Decorate the cake with colored sprinkles alternating colors around the cake.
    
    • I actually used food coloring to color the glaze and then lightly sprinkled the cake with white sugar. A lot of king cakes are overly sugared (in my opinion) and I didn't want to hunt down purple, green and gold sugar sprinkles.

Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsps. butter, melted
2 Tbsps. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 to 4 Tbsp. milk

1. Stir together first four ingredients. 
2. Stir in 2 Tbsps. milk, adding additional milk 1 tsp. at a time until glaze reaches spreading consistency.

There is also an optional cream cheese filling that can be used as a substitute to the cinnamon/sugar filling. See directions below:

Cream Cheese Filling:

1. Prepare each 22x12 dough rectangle as directed. Omit the 1/3 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 tsps. cinnamon.
2. Increase 1/2 cup sugar to 3/4 cup sugar. Combine with two 8 oz. packages of softened cream cheese. Add one egg and 2 tsps. vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. 
3. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on each dough rectangle, leaving a one inch border. 
4. Proceed with recipe as directed.

A Dining Experience

At the house I rented with Maggie she provided the table and chairs and before that my apartment had an island that served as both cooking and eating space.

The mismatched chairs.

When I moved into my house my grandparents gave me a collection of chairs for my dining area. They didn't match or hold up well to daily use, but it meant I didn't have to pay big money for dining furniture.

A little over a year ago my dad moved in with me for a month or so. When he came he brought the dining room chairs from his apartment and I went ahead and got rid of the chairs that were falling apart. When he moved out he didn't need his chairs immediately so I convinced him to leave them at my house until I got a chance to go shopping for new chairs. A year later I finally sucked it up and shelled out around $400 for a set of parson chairs that match the bar stools my aunts and uncles got me a few years ago for Christmas.

I debated buying six chairs instead of four, but the cost was prohibitive and I didn't really have a place to keep the two extra chairs when the table didn't have all the leaves in it. I'm hoping that if I do decide that I need extra chairs someday I'll be able to find something that will match what I bought, either the same chair (I bought them from Pier 1) or something that I could use at the head and foot of the table since those chairs occasionally look different from the rest. 

You can see the matching
bar stools in the background.

I spent a lot of time comparing prices and styles, I'm pretty sure I could have found a cheaper set, but I was afraid it wouldn't be as well made. I also didn't want chairs covered in cloth (as a lot of parsons style chairs are). The set I bought it a faux leather material that should wipe clean pretty easily.

Of course my table is my mom's old breakfast table from ages ago. She gave it to Spencer when he got his first apartment and he gave it to me when he moved out to join the Air Force.

I do think it's funny that I managed to get a complete outdoor dining set (check it out here) that I can only use three months of the year before I got the dining chairs I wanted. 

At least now I won't be up a creek next time Dad comes over and threatens to take his chairs back (he's usually half-kidding). Plus, I actually got to christen the new chairs the same day I bought them since I hosted my small group from church that evening. It was lucky I still had Dad's chairs though since we needed them all.

Let There Be Light!

My pendant lights are installed!

Finally! On Monday I was able to get an electrician to come out and install the lights that I posted about a while ago. I originally started thinking about this project in 2010. I even had an electrician give me a price quote before I had a financial set back and ended up putting the project on hold.

In the process...

I already had the light fixtures, but since there weren't already lights over my bar area I had to have an electrician install the wiring. What surprised me was how hard it was to pin down an electrician! With all the complaints about the economy I thought finding someone to do a job right before the holidays would be pretty easy. However, I wanted to use someone that was recommended so I wouldn't worry about safety or the quality of the work.

I called the company that gave me a price quote back in 2010, but after talking to the receptionist twice and never getting a call back I moved on.

The second electrician I spoke to sounded interested, then I never heard back from him. Even after calling and leaving another voicemail. I finally found an electrician who was able to come out Monday morning (which was perfect since I already had the day off).

They drilled holes from the attic for the wiring and made a second double switch where the light switch for my kitchen is.

The guys were really careful to make as little mess as they could and by the time they left I think my kitchen was cleaner than when they arrived!

Something that I hadn't considered until my electrician, Jason Camp, asked was buying light bulbs for the new fixtures. Luckily he had some that fit. He said that it happens all the time; he'll finish installing 100 light fixtures and there won't be a single bulb for any of them. Light bulbs were especially important because he needed to test that the wiring was connected correctly. And as it turned out one of the wires on the middle light actually came loose so the light didn't work when he checked it. He had to take the housing off again and reconnect the wire.

See how the one on the end looks orange?

Interestingly, the light on the end closest to the wall turns orange once the lights are on. When the lights are off all the shades appear the same color of red. I'm not sure what causes the different color, but I'm debating moving it to the middle so it doesn't look as awkward.

Do you think it looks strange?

I'm so excited to finally get this project checked off my list. Not only do I now have beautiful lighting over my bar (an area that didn't get much light), but the cabinet where I was storing the glass pendant lights and light kits is now freed up for other storage!

I went ahead and rearranged the cabinets and cleaned up my laundry room Sunday evening after taking everything out for the electrician. I was amazed by how much space I had. The lights take up a lot less room hanging over the bar then they did in storage.

What do you think? Doesn't the pop of color add to the space?

I Should Have Been a Plumber...

Old faucet, leaking even after turning it off.

You know what sucks? Unexpected problems like a leak in the water line or a drip in one of my faucets.

A couple weeks ago I finished watering my plants and turned off the outdoor faucet. When I went inside I could still hear the sound of water running, for some reason the spigot was still running even after I tightened the handle all the way.

The old spigot after removal.

Dad came over to take a look and we decided that we didn't need to hire a plumber. Dad bought a replacement spigot, turned off the water at the meter (super easy to do I discovered) and removed the old spigot. That's when we ran into some issues.

For starters, the spigot Dad bought initially turned out to be the wrong size. After a second trip to Lowe's we started trying to screw the second faucet in. This time it was the right size, but the pipe that the spigot attached into wasn't cooperating for us to screw in the new spigot. So luckily I have an amazing dad who actually crawled under my house the attach the new spigot.

My lovely new spigot.

Of course, the problems with the outdoor spigot haven't been the only issues I've had. I'm seriously unimpressed with the plumbing work done by the man who "flipped" my house before selling it to me.

Personal reminder not to run water in that side of the sink.

I've had previous problems with low water pressure (which might have been a result of a leak in the water main that the city was working on), gross brown water from the faucets, the tub faucet handles broke off when I had guests, the bathroom and kitchen sinks both began leaking from the drainage pipe and the most recent plumbing disaster: the replacement of the kitchen drain.

The kitchen sink had a slow leak that didn't worry me overmuch. I just set a container under the leak and emptied it as needed. The other night, however, I finished washing some dishes and suddenly noticed a flood coming from the cabinets under the sink. When I opened them to check I noticed that the connection from the drain to the pipes was unscrewed. How it became unscrewed is a mystery.

I tried to screw it back into place, but the threading wouldn't catch. Dad came to take a look and ended up removing the whole drain to take to buy replacement parts. So I covered that side of my sink with plastic wrap so I wouldn't accidentally splash water from the side that worked. And I made it work for about a week.

The next weekend Dad brought the new drain and other plumbing supplies over and we got to work.

Plumber's Putty

Before we were able to put in the new drain we had to make sure the hole in the sink had a proper seal so the water wouldn't seep out around the drain. For that you use plumber's putty (which just looks nasty). We created a ring with the putty and fit it into place around the hole in the sink. The next step was to put the drain in place, which caused the putty to squeeze out around the edges.

Once the drain was in place we started fitting it to the pipes underneath the sink. I held the drain in place while Dad worked on getting everything connected. Having someone hold the drain is definitely helpful (if not necessary), before I started holding it down the drain would lift up every time Dad began screwing it to the pipes. Makes the job much more frustrating.

After everything was screwed into place we wiped away the excess putty and let it sit overnight for the putty to dry. I tested it the next morning for leaks and everything seemed to work great!

I guess having three or four plumbing emergencies in three years isn't too bad. I'd rather not have any of course, but at least my dad knows enough about plumbing to be able to help me instead of me having to pay a plumber every time there's a problem.

Based on your experiences, what is a typical number of plumbing problems to have in a year?

A Tile Cover Up

New addition!

I've mentioned before how much I hate the tile in my kitchen. It shows every footprint or piece of dirt minutes after I mop. I've wanted to buy a round rug for the area for a while, but everything I found cost about as much as my mortgage or was the wrong color scheme.

Then a friend of mine posted on facebook that she was selling a rug that fit my needs perfectly for only $60. Perfect!

And it really is great for the space. It covers up a good bit of the tile and Ollie enjoys laying on it while I work in the kitchen. Plus the since the cost was reasonable I don't feel bad if I accidentally drop something on it while cooking.

Have you found great deals before on sites like facebook or craigslist? What do you think of rugs in a kitchen area?