Project: Recovered Kitchen Chairs

This was at the top of my list of projects for while my mom was here for a recent visit. As is so often the case when Mom is doing all the work, it was really easy!  Well, I helped.  In a tangential capacity.  I think I could do it again myself now.

I didn't remember how we (probably she) did these the last time, so I was interested to see that the seat juts unscrews from underneath, revealing a later of wood seat, a layer of foam, a fabric cover over the foam and then the top fabric.  We added another layer of foam for a more comfortable seat, tracing the old foam and cutting the new out with scissors.  The new cover was stacked with both pieces of foam and the wooden seat.  The cover fabric just wraps around and staples underneath so there is no precision measuring required.  We used a staple gun from the underside of the seat to staple it snugly on, then screwed it back onto the chair.  Ta-da!  And easy.

Scrapbook Layout: Waiting

This was one of the later pages to go into Sammy's baby album, though it's at the beginning of the book.  When we had these photos taken, I mainly wanted to get some pregnant photos I didn't completely hate and capture how sweet Zack had been taking care of me when I didn't feel well.  Looking at them three years later, I'm pretty happy we did!  One thing I really like is that they are in our home.  I didn't think that would matter to me much, but it really does.  That painting in the background of my picture is this giant green abstract scene that I saw randomly and James got me for my birthday.  I love love love it.  And in the family one, we are in Zack's new room that had just barely been finished - I painted the silhouette of an oak tree on the wall (there are also two deer on the wall that don't show - it's his Walking in the Woods room).  Something about the setting brings out the ideas I had about what I wanted to capture, which is really cool.

Turns out it's the tenth time...

...that's the charm. Or, at least I'm hoping so.

Thinking it would be the fifth service call that would fix my new range from Sears was laughably optimistic.

After the parts problems - both incorrect and damaged - I made a series of phone calls, with much waiting on hold and being shuffled about and sent to other numbers. I requested that, since no solution was in sight for the parts issues, my range be just replaced with a new one. They agreed pretty easily, which was nice.

We scheduled the delivery. This requires you to choose a day in which you can be home all day, because they won't give you a two hour window until 7pm the night before the delivery. Thus, I couldn't choose any days in which I had any plans that couldn't be changed. Once they give you the automated call for your two hour window, they will not - no matter how much you beg - pick a different two hour window: "It's all automated, ma'am, we don't have any access to make those kinds of changes. Would you like to reschedule for another day?"

However nice and cooperative everyone was, I can't really give them much credit for it. The first range arrived damaged - bashed in at the back corner where the gas connection is. This was not discovered until my current range, which was working (with the gas manifold held together inside with twist-ties), was disconnected and moved out to the street. The delivery people wanted to know if I wanted to just accept the damaged one and see. Uuuuhhhhh, NO. A bashed in gas-line corner does not sound like a good bet. So they brought the old one back in and reinstalled it.

I then had to set a new (home all day) delivery date. They assured me the range would be pre-inspected to make absolutely sure it was undamaged. But, when it arrived, it was damaged in the exact same way. I was quite suspicious of the similarities but they assured me it couldn't be the same range because all the packaging was factory-sealed. Of course, that means no one pre-inspected it. The delivery people told me they never open them until they get to the customer and won't ever open them until they get to the customer. They also said "Oh, yeah, it's always damaged in that spot - they pick them up wrong in the warehouse." *Sigh* At least I made them open it before they disconnected mine again and set it out in the street.

So I set another delivery date. If you are getting bored of this story, there's some variety here: they never came. When they missed their delivery window, I called and was told I wasn't going to be able to get a new range because I hadn't had enough service calls. "Five? Five isn't enough service calls?", I shrieked. He "did some checking" and came back to say that "since only two service calls were recorded..." I had to interrupt and say that this had all been approved, I had the two hour delivery window, I just wanted to know why they hadn't shown up. In that case, he'd check with delivery. He came back and said they were running late but would definitely be there. An hour later, an operator called me. She had the delivery man on the line saying that he would be late and would I like to reschedule? I declined to reschedule. They then proceeded to have an entire conversation with one another in Spanish with me still on the line. Is it just me? Because I think that's appallingly rude. It was along the lines of "Ella esta segura, porque.... muy tarde, muy muy tarde...", or "Is she really sure because really, we're going to be really late". I was sure. An hour later, this entire scene was repeated, including the conversation excluding me in Spanish, but they couldn't argue me into canceling so they canceled themselves.

So, another delivery date. They assured me the range would be pre-inspected, even when I told them the delivery guys said they wouldn't do it even if there was a note in the file to do so. I had to rush home from an appointment and have James get Zack from school but guess what?

IT WORKS.

At least so far. Those leeks above were part of its christening meal.

I believe I'm obliged to tell you: Thanks for listening.

And if anyone knows someone in upper management at Sears, I'd like their contact information.

Fifth Time's A Charm?

Things I love about my new range: I can bake in the summer without heating up the whole house. The surface is level (old one wasn't) and the power burners are speedy. The fancy features are quite handy. And so on.

Things I do not love about my new range:

• Gas leaks
• Incorrect parts
• Damaged parts
• FIVE SERVICE CALLS FROM SEARS.
  FIVE.

About a month after I got my very nice new range, we smelled a tiny gas smell, but then couldn't detect it again. A couple days later, a bit more, which again went away. A couple days later, more and it was not going away. UGH. I called Sears about getting it fixed. They told me to hang up, get out of the house and dial the gas company and hung up on me. Uh, hello? I had turned the gas off to the stove itself. I'm not an idiot. I had to call back and explain quickly before they could hang up that I was not in immediate danger but I needed my stove repaired. They couldn't get anyone out for a week! Do these people think I have a spare range sitting around?

The technician arrived and couldn't find a gas smell. He did what seemed a rather cursory check, "tightened all the valves", and pronounced it fixed. I pressed him to find something, since we had to wait a week for the service, but he pretty much said that was as good as he could do. Later I reflected that I don't think he actually ran gas through the burners and stove so after having the gas off, the lines probably had nothing left in them to leak. Sheesh.

I called to set up a second service call and was determined to be a squeaky enough wheel to get someone out here right away. Despite my best efforts asking for a manager six times, registering my official dissatisfaction, etc. they insisted it would be another week. But oh, they would send a senior technician. Super.

The senior technician did find the leak, but of course they don't carry that part on the truck. So, he ordered it and, you guessed it, they'd be back in another week.

The original technician (thrilled to see that guy; he used one of my good kitchen knives to cut open his cardboard box!) showed back up to install the new part, but it was missing the brackets. He installed it so that I could get rid of the leak, but now the right edge of the front panel and the two right knobs are loose. He ordered another part.

Another week later, a new technician showed up to install the new part. No brackets and it arrived damaged. He was confident that he has ordered the correct part this time. Every one of these visits involves at least four calls to and from Sears, some of which have an automated voice threatening to cancel my appointment if I don't call them back and confirm the parts arrived.

Another week later, and they are scheduled for this afternoon.

Do you think the fifth time is the charm??

(And on a cheerier note, don't forget to enter to win the set of four handmade cards!)

p.s. Yep, that fifth service call is now complete. The wrong parts arrived (and they were damaged). The parts don't match the pictures in the parts computer, etc. etc. They now officially have "no idea" what to do. They're going to "put it in research". That takes two weeks.

Family Visit Part 5 (Final!) - Under Sink Project

Ta-da!

Never seen anyone this happy with their under-sink cabinet? Well, you didn't see this cabinet before! And I didn't take a picture, but that's just as well. Yuck.

When the dishwasher leaked, water wicked along the underside of the cabinet to the next cabinet bottom, causing it to swell and bow. The center of the left side was about five inches lower than the cabinet facing, while the center of the right side was about three inches higher than the cabinet facing. The whole thing was grody from having been wet. So very yucky.

My dad used a little jigsaw to cut out the cabinet bottom and the moldy, deteriorated supports, then he and James built a new support and installed a new cabinet bottom (both out of actual wood and very sturdy). The cabinet bottom is painted a clean white (which I hope to do to all my cabinets eventually) and covered with a spare piece of vinyl, courtesy of a scrap James' parents had on hand (Thanks!). I'm really pleased with the result and relieved to have the mess gone. That's the last of the kitchen problems caused by the dishwasher, although we do still have some damaged laminate flooring. It's visible but not completely terrible and I'm just not up to tackling that project yet, so it's on hold for now.

My Dad had a little helper for his work too - see Trouble on the job?

Actually, this was a more common scene:

It was really fun to have not only my parents but my granny visiting. Even with the kids sick, we had some really enjoyable times together and I'm really thankful that they were willing to make the trip!

Family Visit Part 2 - Range Project

During my family visit this past week, we also worked on some projects. The first was an installation improvement for my new range. The gas connection I had before stuck out from the wall. On my old range, the connection fit into the space in the back of the range, but my new range has a back panel that was in the way of the connection, causing the range to sit three inches out from the wall. I was so pleased with my new appliance, but not how it stuck farther out into the room than it should have or had a space between it and the backsplash. So, my dad and mom and James! worked on reworking the fitting so that it exited the wall at a lower point and the stove could be pushed back.

It was supposed to be a fairly easy project, but is anything ever easy? There was an electric box on the other side of the wall that was in the way of moving the gas line. We thought about replacing more of the gas line, but the tricky thing about natural gas is needing to be able to brace the fitting that is not supposed to move with a wrench when you move the one you want to change. The result is that we would have had to tear through a lot more of the wall to get to the previous piece. So, instead we changed the electrical box for the opposite outlet to a slimmer profile box, out of which we still had to cut a corner.

Then my mom patched both walls and painted. So, it took longer than we expected, but I'm really pleased with the results!

Putting Her to Work

I put my new range to work tonight! We had some friends over for a dinner before they are off for their month-long summer trip and I wanted to put my oven and stove through the paces. We had chicken sauteing, pasta boiling, carrots cooking, brownies baking and bread warming. I tried out the convection option on the stove and my 45-50 minute brownies were done in 28 minutes of baking plus some sitting in the turned-off oven.

I'm still getting used to it, but I like it!

And now, I have so much to do before my out of town company arrives on Friday. And when I say "so much" I don't mean cutesy little extras. I mean I've got a layer of grime to chisel off the bathroom floor (eww). If I'm scarce around here, that's why.

Scary Monday

I try to set aside at least some Mondays for doing chores around the house. During most the of the week I end up doing a lot of straightening but not a lot of cleaning. Well, except the kitchen counters and the dishes - I'm pretty sure I do that about six times a day. But other cleaning is always at the bottom of the list, and I never get down that far. And during the weekends it seems that we are running from one thing to another, leaving destruction in our wake. So on Mondays I work on putting it back together, doing some (always overdue) cleaning, and doing the laundry. OH, the laundry.

This week Zack was entertaining himself while I was doing some work around the house by drawing things to scare me. He drew a wolf twice and hey, I played along. I squealed "eeek!" and jumped back. Apparently my reaction wasn't quite what he had hoped. He moped a little, saying "Mo-om, I wanted to you be scared."

"I was scared, honey. I screamed, right?" I responded.

"But Mom, you weren't really scared."

I shook my head. "Zack, what's really scary is this mountain of laundry."

He ran off, and returned, giggling with this:

My screams indicated an appropriately satisfying level of terror this time.

Range: After! (and Before)

While I was shopping for dishwashers, my research kept spilling over into ranges. I would be waiting for a salesperson to come back with some bit of information about a dishwasher and the ranges would call me over, whisper to me that they had a level cooking surface and an insulated oven, that they could be turned down low enough to simmer something, that they would be so nice to my food...

I did mention that appliances were looking like a slippery slope, right?

The other motivator I had was the shopping. Researching this stuff takes forever. At least, it takes me forever. I feel like I need to do my due diligence to be responsible with a major purchase, which means absorbing the main body of information. However, since the internet has so much information, it's a major project to make a purchase! And then (I know this from repeated experience), when it's put aside for "a few weeks" to think about it, all the stores and selections and model numbers and prices change and I have to start over. So, I decided this time I was going to press on until I got to a decision - and boy is it a nice one!

The top is so level. The old one was sadly sagging in the middle so that there was no way for the burners to sit level. And I can turn on the oven, even today when it was 105 degress (but my car said 113) and not notice an increase in the temperature of the kitchen, much less the whole house. I haven't used some of the fancier features yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Next project in line? Not sure, but I have a lot of good choices: the island countertop (it has fruit tile on it - fruit), the cabinets that would surely look better painted, the cabinet base damaged by the dishwasher leak, the floor damaged by the dishwasher leak, the gas line position that makes the new stove stick out four inches from the wall... yeah, lots of options!

Kitchen Plans

Remember my old dishwasher? Well here's the shiny new one.

The replacement has touched off a whole kitchen plan. Because if you are going to buy a new appliance, and you don't like the color of your current appliances... well, you get the idea. It's a slippery slope. And now I've got a multi-phase kitchen plan in the making.

But, now that I think of it, that plan started quite a long time ago. I love our house, and it's very nice, but I've been on a long, slow spruce-up of the kitchen area. When we moved in, there was ivy-patterned wallpaper border at chair rail height and at the very top of the wall. That's two ivy-patterned wallpaper borders in one 12x18' kitchen - yikes. You can see part of it in the background where I'm feeding Zack, below. There were also ivy-patterned bubble valences (do you know what I mean - the poufy fabric valences that people puff up with wadded up paper?) on the breakfast area windows and a lot of plastic ivy on the tops of the cabinets. The bubble valences and the plastic ivy were gone before the ink was dry on the closing papers. The wallpaper took a little longer - you can see that Zack was 20 months old (which would make it 21 months after we moved in) when my mom and I took down the borders and painted the kitchen. It's now Daybreak - a light yellow with green undertones that I love with my Silken Web family room paint (love that Silken Web too, but that's a story for another day).

Now that we needed to replace the dishwasher, we had to decide on a path for the appliances - they are all fifteen year old builder-grade models and they are all black. I know people like black appliances; I just don't. I actually like white appliances (quit shuddering, appliance connoisseurs!); I know other people don't like them, I just do. But, the more I looked at kitchen pictures (which was started by Cameron's post here), the more plastic-y the white began to look. I finally decided I was willing to go for the stainless. Hence, the shiny shiny new dishwasher. It's really pretty. And it works really well. And it's so big I run out of dishes before it's full.

And I'm making grand plans for the future. Some of those plans are for the somewhat distant future, but some are happening right away. Stay tuned!

Goodbye Dishpan Hands

See this beauty? I'm saying goodbye! She's 15 years old and already been repaired at least once. This repair would have been the entire motor/pump assembly and with the differences in appliances now, it just wasn't worth it.

After a week and a half of unrelenting comparison shopping (that's what we did the day before the triathlon when the kids were staying with grandparents overnight: shopped for dishwashers. Sad, right?), I was tired, sticker shocked, annoyed and excessively knowledgeable about decibels, energy ratings, wash arms, motor horsepowers, cup clips, delay starts, cycle times, oh should I stop now?

I finally decided on a model at a local shop. It was a really solid deal, cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes, good features- a couple of tradeoffs but that's what you expect, right? I went looking for the phone number online only to stumble on a set of reviews of the shop itself. The reviews were terrible. There were 20 (a lot more than similar shops) and only one was positive. The stories were just the sort of customer service nightmares that make you feel like your head is going to explode. They were focused on appalling disinterest, deceit and in-your-face rudeness by the sales staff and the (new) owner that all began the second the sale was final. I considered that they might not be genuine, or could be sandbagged by a competitor or... but it just didn't seem like the place we wanted to work with.

Today I went to one last local shop (one with good reviews online), with the plan that if there wasn't anything there, I would go back and check with the Better Business Beaurau, etc. and see if I thought it would be wise to buy the one we had picked out. What do you know? Great selection, great prices, great service, a good warranty/service policy, and no tradeoffs. Just everything we were looking for. So, I jettisoned my usual "never make a major purchase on the spot" and "better sleep on it" policies and bought one. The salesman did some trading of inventory so that I can get it tomorrow morning! I still feel like I need to cross my fingers.

Grr.

Our dishwasher leaked, which we discovered from the swelling up of our pergo (or other brand? who knows) floor in the family room, about three feet from the actual dishwasher. When the first spot appeared we thought we'd spilled something there without realizing it. Not so. Now we're out one dishwasher and several pergo boards in a color which has likely been discontinued. How convenient.