Some Assembly Required

 I needed a couple of pieces of furniture so had a shot at building stuff from kits. I wasn't sure of the quality so I could only go by photos and reviews. So far, I've built 3 items. The first one is a laundry hamper, that cost the most, about $150 but it works really well and makes the little bedroom hallway much neater than plastic laundry baskets stacked on plastic cabinets. I can't remember how long it took to build, a couple hours at least.

The backside has a couple of anchors to the wall, so it's well secured and doesn't tip over when the bins are open.

I intend to get this wall cabinet to mount above the hamper sometime this winter. The whites may not match but I figure it will be close enough.

The second piece I built was a sofa table, this was very inexpensive about $60, it was a sale. First photo shows the cam lock system. 

closeup of the side

The finished table. Inside the little center box is an outlet for lamps that I also bought of which I apparently do not yet have a photo.

I also bought a small linen cabinet for the small bedroom hallway. It was by the same company, Vasagle as the sofa table, and all the pieces were there, unfortunately one of the doors was scratched but I decided to live with it and put it on the bottom half where it's harder to see. It was cheap, and though annoying, I really don't notice it.

These units have lots of pieces.

Half built and upside down.

The scratches, which had to happen before being packed as there was nothing inside the box that could have done it.

The finished cabinet. It's 12 inches deep by around 40 inches tall and less than 26 inches wide as the wall I put it on was barely 26 inches wide itself.

Got another furniture piece coming next week. Stay tuned.

We Did Move that Table

Back in April I showed pictures of the plan to move the dining table into the kitchen assuming the temporary table sized obstacle did not prove to be annoying. After a week or so, we did it. Moved it with help from one of Hal's brothers.

It's been in the kitchen since May 8th and I have not regretted it. That is a very good thing as Hal is not interested in moving it again. It's heavy.

Yet Another Furniture Re-Arrangement

Now this unseasonably cold, snowy spring weather had been getting me down and as it's been very gloomy outside and my house is not well lit, I was antsy to do something to make me happier. So I started re-arranging the contents of my kitchen cabinets yet again. Then I had what became a brilliant idea after a little discussion with Hal.

I once thought about taking out the kitchen island but and putting the table there but we use it every fall for deer processing, that tile top is pretty easy to clean. Plus it held a lot of my kitchen supplies inside: oversize pans, extra slow cookers, etc. I'd hate to lose that storage.

But because it was so big, the 7 foot long cherry dining table did not fit in the dining area where it was stuffed into a corner between the massive fireplace, kitchen island and living room furniture. So a few years earlier we moved the table into the loft.

But what if we swapped the two?

So we moved the kitchen island into the dining area. It has now become a "bar" and the small table that was against the wall and being used as my sewing table until I moved back into the loft a few months ago has been moved into the kitchen in the island's place.

During cabinet re-arrangement and prior to moving furniture

Island placed where dining table used to be

Now I have no intention of leaving this small table in the kitchen. I placed 2 of my dining room chairs in a position that simulates the length of my 7 foot long dining table so we could get a feel of what it would be like to walk around such a large object. So far so good. When we first built the island the dining table used to be in the dining area but everything felt too big, the table just didn't fit the dining space. The location of the glass doors and fireplace just made walking around it awkward, plus we didn't really use it. As a farm table in the kitchen it just makes more sense. For instance, rolling out pie crust dough is easier on a lower surface. Also, because it's a table and not a big block of wood you can't see through, it's more pleasing visually and makes the room feel larger. The island in the corner isn't really blocking your view of the surrounding space.

new position

One other thing I am doing which you can't see in these photos is replacing some of the curly bulbs, those compact florescents, with LED daylight bulbs. Even the 60 watt equivalents blast out more light. The difference is incredible, and those CF bulbs blow out a lot more often than they advertise. The "60"s are putting out 815 lumens and a nice white light and have become fairly cheap, down to $4.97 at Home Depot. The 100 watt equivalents are still very pricey, around $18. I bought one 75 which cost $12 and because the actual wattage is much less than a 60 watt, somewhere around 10 or so, I was able to put it in my old goose-neck desk lamp up in my sewing room. Now I just need to figure out what to replace the overhead T12 florescent tube fixtures in the kitchen with.

In the meantime, Luna seems to be enjoying the new arrangement.

Luna seems to approve

Edited for clarity.

Home Improvement

We are continuing improving our house this year. Though I am still stuck on what to do about the kitchen counter we are merrily moving along on other improvements. We've selected the new vinyl flooring for the kitchen/living room/dining room space. It's made by Congoleum and is called Terrace Midnight. It's from their Luxury line. Not quite the most expensive but not bottom of the barrel either. I picked up samples from the local appliance/flooring store 3 different times and these were the final 2. Both Hal and I could go with either sample but decided on the left. The one on the right is called Iced Mocha. The photos aren't the best but better than the other ones I took. We'll be ordering when the store has their semi-annual sale at the beginning of April.

Another thing we bought this week, though it doesn't qualify as home improvement, was to buy a pair of recliners for the living room. Hal's old La-Z-Boy is more than 20 years old and has been repaired so often it no longer rocks or swivels. The material held up fairly well which was nice and probably why he was so reluctant to buy a new one. However, we hit that on going grand opening sale at the Art Van in Alpena and got a pretty good deal on a pair of cheap store brand recliners. I am certain they won't last more than 10 years but we got 2 for the price of a new La-Z-Boy.

The left chair, mine, looks a little squashed but I think it's just the camera angle. Though it's possible being on the low end of the quality scale there is something bizarre about it. Feels fine when I sit in it though.

I ordered "fern green" as the color and I swear the color I got, though the box says "fern", is not the color of the model in the store. It appears more gray-green. I suspect their current batch of material is from a different dye lot. No big deal it's still a nice color and should go well with the new floor. It's also nice that I now have my very own recliner. My favorite gliding rocker and foot stool now sits off to my right.

Another interesting little tidbit are the concealed pockets under each arm. There is a cup holder on each side and on one side a pocket for magazines or remotes and on the other buttons for massage and heat.

So that's it for spending money this week. Later this year we hope to put on new roof shingles and fix the wrap around deck which has rotten boards and iffy joists holding it up. I will be sure to post photos when things heat up.