Vee+Dee at Home

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

2011-12-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

I love mirrors.

When I lived in Australia, I moved around a lot. But there's a common denominator for all the bedrooms I lived in: they all had built-in wardrobes with sliding mirrored doors. I loved how much larger the space looked with the mirrors. Plus it was lots of fun when I brought home a cute little kitten, who kept trying to pick a fight with its identical twin in the mirror.

Because we live in such a small space, I'd love to use many, many mirrors to create the illusion of a larger place. Vee is worried about overkill, though. So I went on a quest (online) to ask the oracle (Google) for some much-needed advice regarding The Appropriate Number of Mirrors. How many mirrors is too many?

Sadly, there seems to be no guidelines on the matter. Does this mean we can just place mirrors anywhere, willy-nilly?

HGTV apparently thinks so: "Designer Jennifer Duneier believes you can never have enough mirrors in a home."

And Jonathan Adler seems to agree: "You can never go overboard (or wrong) with reflective surfaces. They add twinkly glamour, light and the illusion of space."

So, seriously? We can place as many mirrors as we want? Really? REALLY?

Then explain this:

For a wacky hotel experience, try the Propeller Island City Lodge in Germany.

To be fair, the mirrors do add light and illusion of space. And glamour, really, is subjective. But I don't want our home to look like that.

Currently, we have a total of four mirrors. One in the bathroom, obviously.

Ugh, can't wait to renovate the bathroom!

One over the fireplace. I love this mirror; I think it's so sexy and masculine with its chiseled angular features. And I got it from Craigslist for like $30! (Hmmm... somehow I feel like I'm describing a cheap, beautiful man-slut...)

It bothers me that this awesome mirror reflects the hell out of the outdated light fixture and textured ceiling.

One in the entryway... This curvy girl I snatched on sale for $20 at Ikea.

And this one in the bedroom behind the bedside table. It's a plain mirror with no backing and no frame. I got it from a garage sale held by a nearby 55-years-and-older condo community. A grey-haired gentleman volunteered to wheel the mirror down the street on his cart and in the process, chipped a corner. When it happened, all these seniors had already made a big fuss over how they would transport this mirror...so I didn't have the heart to cancel the purchase.

Chipped bevel! Tragic :'(

My Google search did help give me ideas on how to add more reflective surfaces. I particularly like this Apartment Therapy article, which has some serious eye candy.

We could group the mirrors together for some variation...

via Apartment Therapy

...use them as backsplash in the kitchen to help reflect light in the dark corners underneath the top cabinets...

via Apartment Therapy

...or even stick them onto cabinet faces for a truly unexpected twist!

via Apartment Therapy

Ikea Hack: Ivar Wardrobe

2011-07-24T03:45:00.000-07:00

This is a project we're very proud of. It's still a work in progress, but it's looking pretty damn good if you ask me.

Behold, the closet space before we did anything to it.

Yes, that's a pink skeleton. No, it's not a glow-in-the-dark pink skeleton. I checked. I found it on top of the dryer. As can be seen in the photo, I promptly sent my best detective to investigate. She suspected it to be part of a Halloween decor, which climbed all the way up there just because high places are awesome.

The walls in the walk-in wardrobe were white even though the walls in the adjoining bedroom were pale blue. I don't know why the previous owner insisted on squeezing the entire color spectrum into this tiny apartment.

We painted the bedroom and the wardrobe Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal to improve the "flow" between the two rooms. Then we placed an Ikea Malm dresser smack dab in the middle of the long wall.

Yep. Bad decision. It was the wrong size for the space. Good thing it fit in the small corner beside the stacked washer and dryer, so it will stay there until we figure out what to do with that corner.

Meanwhile, we sorely needed hanging space. We hunted down some Ikea Ivar parts on Craigslist and found a deal. It was dirt cheap at $55 (delivered!) and we got literally a big heap of it. It would easily cost hundreds of dollars new at Ikea. But there was a catch. They were painted blue, had doodles on them and were just an unintelligible mess.

This is only about half of what we got!

So we chose the Ivar parts we wanted to use, then got a Behr paint from Home Depot in a white color similar to the one on our Ikea Malm dresser. After sanding, primer-ing and painting the Ivar parts, we started assembling our wardrobe tower. This went in the middle of the long wall in the closet.

It wasn't that easy to assemble, though. This was where we started wishing that we bought a brand new Ikea Ivar set like normal people. But since the two frames alone would have cost us $50 new, we shut our mouths and got to work.

First, the drawers wouldn't slide in. I think the previous owner left them outside and they expanded.

After some vigorous sanding sessions, these drawers finally slid into place.

And the hardware for holding the drawer unit up above the floor was missing. We went to Ikea to look for it, but they couldn't give us the hardware without a receipt, which of course we didn't have.

So we got ourselves some metal L-plates and screwed the drawer unit into place. We used eight brackets, one for each corner of the drawer unit that met the frame. You can see one of those brackets in action below.

We then prepared the shelves that we wanted to attach out Ikea Ivar tower. We wanted to use a mixture of Ivar shelves and our own custom shelves. The Ivar shelves obviously would only fit the main middle tower. So we had to make our own shelves to span the length of the top of the entire unit and the two spaces on either side of the main tower at a lower level. It's sounds complicated, but it's really quite simple. Read on and you'll see what I mean.

We got some pine planks and cut them to size. Because we wanted a long piece at the top and couldn't find a plank that size, we used two pieces and held them together with metal plates.

Then we painted the pine planks the same white color as the Ikea Ivar to make them blend together.

Same white color as the cat?

After that, we went about installing rods for our clothes hangers. Because the set-up is a little difficult to explain, here's a picture to show you how we did it.

We first screwed metal L-plates into the wall studs at the height we wanted. Then we placed a length of 1.5" by 1.5" wood onto the L-plates and screwed the wood into place. We attached a shelf to the piece of wood and also to the Ikea Ivar tower. We placed a U-hook near the each of the two ends of the shelf and threaded a length of wood dowel between the two U-hooks.

See? You would never understand how it's set up just by reading my explanation. Here's a bigger picture.

We matched the heights of the shelves with the rungs on the Ikea Ivar frames so those rungs could help keep the shelves in place. We also used L-plates to attach the shelves to the Ivar frames for more strength.

After all is said and done, we're really happy with the end result.

That's my arm in the bottom left corner — tight space!

What I was most excited about was getting all my bags out of the moving boxes and having them on display.

And I love that we can change the heights of the Ikea Ivar shelves. We can switch the things we put on each shelf and adjust the heights accordingly. We have summer hats out now, but we'll be able to place winter stuff there later and still have shelves that are just the right height.

I also love how tall the whole thing is; it almost reaches the ceiling.

Adding a rug made the room feel more finished. That's an Ikea Farum rug, by the way. We bought it half price at $29.99. Boy, this post makes us seem uber cheap.

All in all, this project cost us a little over $150. We spent $55 on the Ikea Ivar, about $60 on the pine planks, about $30 on paint (which we still have plenty of and will use on other things) and about $20 on the wood dowels, supporting wood pieces and hardware.

That's not too shabby, considering the unit is really big and all made of solid wood. Similarly sized melamine models would easily cost five times that. And did I mention this was the first time we tried our hands on carpentry? We're patting ourselves on the back. I mean, it used to look like this:

And now it looks like this:

That's something. But I said the room isn't quite done yet and that's because there's still plenty of things I want to do.

I want to add some lights on top of the unit because the lower shelves are really dark. The space between the top shelf and the ceiling is just the right size for that. I also want to add some drapes to separate the bedroom and the wardrobe, and also to cover the washer and the dryer. That Ikea Malm dresser is also too small for the other corner of the wardrobe. And what's a closet without a mirror?

Mini Project: Entryway

2011-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

We're still saving up some money and gathering up some willpower to do large projects, like the baseboards. Those baseboard-less walls, they stare at me every day and laugh at my incompetence. One of these days, we'll cover them and shut them up for good.

For now, it feels good to just relax and take things one at a time. It feels good to be able to sit down and watch some TV after work and not have to rush to do some DIY work before it gets too late to make some DIY noise.

So we have been focusing on things we can do easily, cheaply and quickly.

When we moved in, one of the things that bothered me was this tight entryway.

That was the door to the apartment behind me. As you can see, you are faced with the wall once you open the door, and you have to walk slightly to the left to enter the living area.

As you can also see, the walls were all different colors in the living room, entryway and kitchen. Crazy for such a small apartment. Good thing we also killed all the other colors when we killed the orange.

Here's another view of the spot, as seen from the kitchen. We removed the mirror when we painted and were left with this blank canvas. That's the door to the bathroom, by the way.

I hated having that awkward wall greeting me every time I came home, so doing something about that corner ranked pretty high on my to-do list.

I decided that a tiny table would be awesome in that corner. And the table had to have rounded edges so people wouldn't bump into it. I took the measurements and had a very specific idea of the kind of table I wanted. After going through table after table that were either too big or too expensive, I found this on Craigslist:

Originally $39.99 from The Canadian Superstore and sold, with a chair, for $20 on Craigslist.

Here she was in that ugly corner, looking all lonely and desolate. She looked like she needed some friends.

Because we seemed to keep losing our keys, we installed this magnetic-message-board/key-hooks nearby. I got it at Nood's big annual sale for $17.50 (down from $59.90).

I also added a little bowl for sunglasses. It's summer and I hate squinting.

The same night, I found out that Ikea was having a summer sale and they had the perfect mirror for the spot. Down to $19.99 from $39.99. Voila, our awkward corner was now functional.

A little accessorizing, and this was what we ended up with: a prettier sight to come home to.

Let's hope it helps us gather enough willpower to do the baseboards after a long day at work.

Killing the Orange

2011-07-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

When we moved in, we knew the orange in the living room had to go. I know orange can work if you do the decor right, but it's not us. In the overused words of romantic comedies, "Sorry orange, it's not you, really, it's us." But I like Godfather more than Sleepless in Seattle, so, "It's nothing personal, orange. It's just business...BANG!"

We wanted a neutral color, but weren't fussy about which neutral color. So, like the amateurs that we are, we marched to the mistint section in the Benjamin Moore store and chose a color, any color, that looked tame.

See? The definition of tame.

I said to the lady working at Benjamin Moore that it seemed like a nice color and she had this funny expression like she wanted to say something but felt like she shouldn't. That should have been our clue.

Vee finished up putting primer on the last section of the wall, while I started cutting in on one wall. The first stroke scared me because the paint in the can was totally a case of false advertising — there was no way it was that same tame color! But I told myself how the color in our bedroom (which we thought and thought and thought about for weeks before making a decision) seemed scary at first, but worked in the end.

No amount of talking to myself could convince me, though. So I decided to paint a big section to see what it really looked like. Behold:

Definitely not tame. It was closer to orange than we would have liked. And it looked like mud.

So we looked at some paint samples we had at home and decided on a greige color: either Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray or Revere Pewter. They were next to each other on the paint chip and were pretty similar. But Edgecomb Gray had more beige in it, while Revere Pewter had more gray in it.

From left to right: Lancaster Whitewash, Edgecomb Gray, Revere Pewter.

I was already leaning toward Edgecomb Gray because I didn't want anything too cool here in cold Canada. And then I saw that Annie from Bossy Color had this to say about Edgecomb Gray: "an extremely subtle gray, a lovely, muted gray, a gray so complex and sophisticated that it fluctuates between cool and warm." And I was sold.

We went to Home Depot and matched to paint to Behr interior paint to keep costs down. Then got to work pronto. I learned an important lesson on how paint never looks the same in its liquid state in a container and in its dry state on the wall. Just look at this:

Right after we finished painting, I was relieved that the orange was gone (I actually chanted, "Die, orange, DIE!" as I painted.) But I wasn't sure about the color. I mean, I was still in shock over the horrible mistint paint. Can anyone blame me?

And our light bulbs cast a blue glow on the walls in the living room. It looked better in the kitchen, where the lights were less blue. Look how different the color looked in the kitchen and in the living room at night. Vee tried to convince me that it was just the lighting, but I was already considering repainting.

Oh, those are just broom handles at the bottom right corner here. What can I say, I lead a glamorous life and my house reflects that. Clearly.

Thankfully, after living with the new paint for a while, I saw that it wasn't blue and would look great once we switched out the light bulbs.

I love the Edgecomb Gray now. Love love love. And I'm keeping it. Yep.

We Have a Bedroom, at Last!

2011-06-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

We have been busy. We spend most of that busy time working on the bedroom.

Here's what it looked like when we first moved in.

After ripping the carpet, replacing it with laminate, painting the walls and filling it with some furniture, it now looks like this.

We love love love the floor and the wall color. Just the paint and the flooring alone changed the room so much. It now feels more like it's ours.

Ever since he was a child, Vee has always wanted a black bedroom. But came painting time, his family vetoed his black bedroom proposal. I couldn't bring myself to agree to a black bedroom at first, but several awesome pictures were all it took to convince me. I mean, look at these and tell me they're not breathtakingly chic.

Jenna Lyons' home as featured on Canadian House and Home website.

A living room from March/April 2011 issue of Lonny Magazine.

I couldn't agree to stark black, but we reached a happy agreement with dark gray (Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal). It does make the room seem smaller, but it feels really cozy now and isn't that how a bedroom should be?

When painting, we removed some fittings and found that the room was once yellow before it was painted pale blue.

I love finding things like this. I can only imagine the next owner painting the room years from now and discovering dark gray paint underneath and wondering whether the previous painters (that would be us) were mad.

We also replaced the cheap-looking, yellowing plastic shutters with bamboo Roman blinds (Serenity Privacy Roman Blinds by Frontier Blinds). We scored the blinds at a 60 percent discount at the local Rona store, so it was only a little over $30.

Our building management only allows white and cream window treatments to make the windows all look uniform from the outside. We couldn't find any white blinds we like, and then I saw that Thrifty Decor Chick had successfully spray-painted some bamboo blinds. So we decided to spray-paint the bamboo blinds white, but that didn't go exactly according to plan.

First, we couldn't get even coverage, so we had to go back to the store to get a spray-paint gun. By the way, that thing is the shiz; it's a must-have for spray painting. Get it and your fingers will thank you for not subjecting them to the torture that is holding a spray-paint can nozzle for longer than one minute. The gun really helped me get an even coverage. The trick is to apply a steady pressure on the trigger, putting on two to three thin coats and working in sections. But even after going through the second can, I had only finished painting one side of the blinds.

Uneven paint coverage, BSPG (before spray-paint gun).

The good thing is that the bamboo was tightly woven and the white paint didn't get on the other side at all. So with one side already painted white, we decided to leave the other side bare. It was easier that way, and we also figured the natural bamboo color would look good in the bedroom.


Looks perfectly white from outside!

And the tight weave has another perk: it provides excellent light block.

We can wake up as late as we want!

With proper flooring and window covering, the bedroom is now functional. Everything we've done so far has turned out great and we love it maybe a little too much.

10 Ways to Mess Up a Bathroom Caulk Job

2011-06-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

Our bathroom has a line of grout along the joint where there should be caulk instead. Grout, usually used to fill gaps between tiles, doesn't expand and will definitely crack when the bathtub or the tiled surface expands and contracts. Nobody should ever apply grout where the tiled surface meets the bathtub, but apparently this is a pretty common mistake. Just look at this cracking horror.

Because cracks can lead to water seeping into the drywall and rotting the building material, we decided to remove the grout and apply caulk instead. We set out thinking this would be an easy job that would take 10 minutes, max. We ended up taking a few days and messing up our caulk lines.

To help anyone looking to get artistically uneven caulk lines, we put together a short how-to.

1. Watch some caulking videos on Youtube and go, "Huh, that looks so easy, I'll nail it in no time."

2. Be a cheapskate and just buy the caulk in a squeeze tube because the pros in the videos use so little of the stuff.

3. Apply a fat bead of caulk along the joints because the tube opening is too big to easily control.

4. Scrap off all the caulk you just applied because it's beyond ugly and reapply until you use up all the caulk in the tube.

5. Remove all the caulk you applied and tell yourself you'd do it right next time.

6. Buy the correct products: caulk, caulk gun and tape.

7. Paste tape along the edges where the caulk will go.

8. Apply a squiggly, uneven line of caulk between the tape.

9. Use a coin that's too large for the job to remove the excess caulk. This helps you get bulging caulk edges because the flatter, narrower areas of the applied caulk is on the tapes.

10. Remove the tape and discover the beautifully messy caulk job.

Bonus points if you decide to live with the crazy caulk job because you haven't been showering for three days and you urgently need your regular showers back.

Double bonus points if you manage to get your hands to look like this.

Heaps of extra points if you got a fluffy white cat to condescendingly inspect your handiwork.

PS: The videos on YouTube are actually really good; the fault lies entirely in us and our shaky hands. Some helpful videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XIf0deyzx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TZL2yipTzE

Beautiful, Beautiful Floor

2011-06-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

After almost two months of on-and-off work, our laminate floor project is finally done! This was a very big project for two people who didn't even own a screwdriver not too long ago. It took much longer than we thought, and for the first two weeks we had to live entirely in the living room because the bedroom had no proper flooring.

And that was why our living room looked like this...

Frat house? No. Try again.

Yep. That's where we slept. On the mattress on the floor. And right next to the "bed" was the sofa, which became our "wardrobe" since we didn't have anywhere to store our clothes yet.

We're really glad it's done, although it took much longer than we thought it would. We're really proud of ourselves, too. It's not a bad job, if I may say so myself.

Em checking to see whether our work was acceptable.

Some parts are kinda wonky...

Incredibly uneven lines!

But nobody will see these parts because they'll be out of sight once we install new baseboards.

Some parts we can't take credit for because a friend happens to have an uncle who works in construction and is willing to work in exchange for some shoes. Yes. Shoes. Vee gets many free shoes from his workplace and our friend's uncle happens to have the same shoe size. How great is that?

Somewhere along the way, Vee and I automatically divided tasks. I did the measuring and he did the cutting, then we did the installing together. It worked out faster that way. Also, Vee likes them boys' toys and I'm pretty good with numbers. The factory line model is not used worldwide for no reason, people.

By the way, Jay remarked that I was "very cool" for getting down and dirty with the flooring installation because he says girls don't usually do stuff like that. Few things please me more than being the anti-stereotype, laminate flooring finally installed being one of these few things.

Junk in the Trunk

2011-05-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

When we moved in, the storage area was already full. After we removed the carpet and dumped everything in there, we couldn't open it without risking getting rolls of nasty carpet falling on top of us.

So we got the folks from junk removal to, uh, remove the junk. Before they left, the following conversation happened.

Junk Removal Guy #1: I didn't lock the door.
Me: Oh that's okay, you guys emptied it so it's not like there's anything to steal.
Junk Removal Guy #2: But if tomorrow you see it's full of somebody else's junk, you know who to call. *cryptic smirk*
Me: What? Does that happen?
Junk Removal Guy #2: *silently walks away, smirk still on*

Two weeks later, I saw this sign pasted on the building elevator.

The first paragraph says: "Someone has placed items into the locker #222 and put a padlock on the door." The rest of the notice basically requests that whoever put their stuff in there remove it.

I laughed out loud by myself in the lift that day, because I, funnily enough, got the answer to my question pretty promptly. Also, as horrible as this sounds, because it wasn't my locker that was filled with somebody else's junk. I probably wouldn't have laughed it if was.

Laminate Flooring and Baseboard Heaters

2011-05-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

After much, much, much thought, here's how we did the part of our laminate flooring that's right by our baseboard heaters.

We decided on doing it this way only after a long process. First, we drew on our limited DIY experience and thought long and hard. Then, like any other 21st-century person who is stumped on anything, we did some Googling. Then, we called several home improvement stores for advice.

When installing laminate flooring against the wall, you're supposed to leave a small gap so the material can expand and contract with different conditions. You then cover the gap later by installing baseboard molding.

Our first plank with the spacers against the walls.

This was pretty straightforward when it was just against the walls, but we weren't sure what to do when we got to the baseboard heater: end the flooring right before the heater so we leave a gap between the flooring and the baseboard heater OR slide the flooring underneath the heater? If we slide it underneath the heater, would the flooring expand and dislocate the heater? If we leave a gap, how do we cover the gap?

It just seemed like nobody knew how to do it. Googling resulted in nothing; just similar questions with no answers. We had to call three different home improvement stores before we got a good answer.

First store: Home Depot #1
Home Depot (HD): "You need to leave as much space as possible between the flooring and the heater."
Me(M): "How much?"
HD: "As much as possible. Hold on (She asks associate: "Hey, how much space between flooring and heater?...Okay.") Yeap. About 3 inches."
M: (Decided the Home Depot person either didn't understand my question or didn't know what she was talking about.) "Okay, thanks."

Second store: Home Depot #2
HD: "So is the heater on the floor?"
M: "No, it's a baseboard heater. It's on the wall, but really low so there's very little space underneath. It's just enough for the laminate, but the laminate won't have space to expand."
HD: "Okay...So the laminate, it's on the floor or the wall?"
M: "Uhh...on the floor." (At this point decided she also didn't know what she was talking about and stopped listening.)

Third store: Rona
Rona (R): "You can do it either way."
M: "But if I leave a gap between the laminate and the heater, then how do I cover the gap?"
R: "Well, you gotta sacrifice something, right?"
M: "Um yeah...but is there a way to cover the gap?"
R: "You can use a quarter-round molding. Just glue it to the laminate."
M: "I didn't think of that!"
R: "If you don't use the heater, then you can probably get away with sliding the laminate underneath 'cos it won't expand too much."

So that was how we finally discovered a good way to handle the baseboard heater situation. We were ready to accept that it was some sort of an industry secret that professional laminate floor installers guard with their lives to preserve the profession. That Rona guy was a lifesaver.

This is how the flooring looks when you get closer.

We still have to install some quarter-round molding around the heaters, but we can live with the gap for now while we tackle more urgent projects. After the molding goes on, I imagine it'll look seamless and the floor will have enough room to expand.

Moving is Fun!!!

2011-04-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it depends on whose opinion it is you're asking, really. Vee and I hated moving so much that the sight of our cluttered, tiny unit almost drove us to tears. But someone enjoyed it...

See her? She's in the picture somewhere... No?

How 'bout now? ...still nothing? Oh, come on, you've never played "Where's Waldo?" before? (Fun fact: Waldo also goes by Wally and a plethora of other names, depending on the country.)

Okay, there she is. That's Em, our six-year-old furball.

This was hours after we moved in, so she was still a little apprehensive and probably decided the highest place would be safest.

But overall, she seemed to think the whole moving thing was a big adventure. She got to explore the mysterious top side of the bed slats...

Lounge in a fortress of cardboard boxes...

And try out new nap spots. Nothing's better than fresh, warm laundry, right?

So much fun, and she hasn't even explored the deck yet!

Look at her, all curious about the goings-on outside, but didn't even know that she could use the cat door that's right beside her to slink out...

Choosing Laminate Floor: Cheap vs. Expensive

2011-04-03T01:50:00.000-07:00

We originally wanted cheap laminate floors. We just couldn't see how the expensive ones were better. But after a lot of enlightening research, we decided to dig deeper into our pocket and go with a middle-of-the-line product. After all, installing the laminate ourselves will save us a lot of money.

So how does one know what to look for when choosing laminate flooring?

1. Laminate products come in thicknesses of 7 to 12mm. The thicker they are, the better (and the more expensive). Thicker planks feel and sound more solid. It's hard to explain, but going into a home improvement store and knocking on laminate planks of different thicknesses gave us a good idea.

2. The flooring specialist in Home Depot told us that cheaper laminates are harder to install. He recommended products that are $2.50/sq. feet and above for beginner DIYers.

3. According to the same guy, premium laminates look more real. Laminate flooring basically imitates real hardwood. Each hardwood plank is different because it's a natural product, but the patterns on laminates are printed on, so repetitions are bound to happen. More expensive products usually have fewer repetitions.

Pattern repetition on our laminate floor planks.

Interestingly, the flooring specialist also said that the grain or the finish (glossy or matte) of the planks didn't really affect how real they look. But I notice that top-of-the-line laminates often have a glossy finish, so maybe the gloss gives a more polished look .

4. Additionally, I think each individual laminate plank should only have the pattern of one separate hardwood plank on it. Some laminate products have wide planks, with each plank trying to pass off as multiple hardwood planks. These have printed-on borders between each fake hardwood plank. The thing is, under some lighting conditions and/or after being used for some time, it can be pretty obvious that the actual joints of the laminate planks don't match the fake printed joints.

See the white lines of the real planks?

In the photo above, I've highlighted the edges of the laminate planks, which have discolored over time. It's now painfully obvious that they are laminate planks and not real hardwood, because each plank is masquerading as three planks. Even before the laminates lose color, it's possible to see the edges of the real planks under some lighting conditions.

Price considerations aside, from personal experience, it pays to talk to someone in charge of the apartment or townhouse complex before buying laminates. We went through some unnecessary drama just because we didn't ask our strata manager to specify the kind of flooring we have to get to meet the building requirements.

Anyway, we got ourselves laminates that are 12mm thick for $2.49 per square feet. Because we got a 19-percent discount, we only paid $2.02 per square feet (plus tax) for them. Each individual piece looks like a separate hardwood plank. We've installed the laminate on two-thirds of the living room and so far, we think the repetition is not too obvious.

We think we did really well choosing our flooring and we give ourselves little pats on the back every time we see the installed laminate because it just looks so good.

Our Laminate Floor is (Finally) Here!

2011-03-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

One week from our order date, we got a call from Home Depot saying that they had our laminate flooring at the store. That was great news, because at first they told us it was going to take at least two weeks for us to get our flooring.

The laminate floor boxes were pretty heavy, so it was a good thing that we found some shopping trolleys in the parking lot. Instead of having to take the boxes one by one, we hauled six at a time with these babies.

Let me zoom in on one part of the scene above.

Vee has done this at least twice, taking off his gloves and leaving them where he last put his hands. They look a little creepy, like they come alive when you're not looking.

By the way, you know those grocery stores with trolleys that automatically lock their wheels once you're a certain distance away from the store? Apparently, they lie because we see some of those "locking" trolleys in the parking lot and they work fine.

Anyway, this is what our new floor looks like. It's called Oslo Walnut from Beaulieu Canada. It's a nice medium brown and so far we're really happy with our decision.

But our laminate-floor-shopping experience was a saga.

First, the cheapskates that we were, we liked the 97-cent-per-square-feet laminates with nice pattern and coloring.

Then, after talking to a flooring specialist at a Home Depot store and getting some advice on choosing laminates, we decided on a 2.99-bucks-per-square-feet product with attached foam underlayment. Also, there was a 10-percent-off promotion for flooring products and 10-percent-off promotion for the first purchase on new Home Depot cards. In total, we got 19 percent off and also saved a little because we didn't having to buy a separate underlayment.

Then, our building manager said he wanted at least a certain level of soundproofing. We went back to Home Depot and found out that:
1. the laminate product we ordered did not have the required level of soundproofing in the attached underlayment.
2. we had to get the most expensive underlayment product in the store to get that kind of soundproofing.
3. we couldn't just add the soundproofing product under the said laminate because the attached underlayment would make the floor unstable.
4. therefore, we had to cancel our original order and choose another product.
5. the product we finally decided to buy instead had to be special-ordered and could take up to three weeks to arrive.
6. therefore, we might have to live on concrete sub-floor for a few days while we wait for the laminates to arrive.
7. Home Depot was going to honor our 19-percent discount again because it was the last day of the promotion on the flooring products and even though it wasn't technically our first purchase. This was the huge silver lining in the horrible shopping trip that it was.

But now that our new laminates are here, only about one week from the order date, we've almost forgotten all about the buying process. We're just happy we don't have to live on concrete because we can at least finish the flooring in one room before moving in. And it turned out for the best, because a friend offered to help deliver these boxes to our apartment (saving us $60 in delivery) and we spent the one-week wait time stripping and cleaning the concrete sub-floor anyway.

Stripped!

2011-03-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

The floor, that is. It's bare now.

We used to have nasty old carpet all over most of the apartment.

When we came to see the apartment before actually making an offer, we saw that the carpet was already peeling off the floor in one corner. True enough, it was quite easy to pull the carpet off. It was what came after that wasn't so easy. But let's start from the beginning.

We first cut a section of the carpet with a utility knife so it's easier to manage...

Then pulled it off the walls and floor...

And rolled it up.

Then we did the same thing with the foam padding that was underneath the carpet.

And now the concrete sub-floor was visible. See the roll of carpet that's in front in the photo above? It was too long so I had to use a utility knife to cut it in half. That was actually harder than just cutting it before rolling it up.

And see all the stains on the carpet? That's why I vowed, then and there, never to install carpet in any of my future homes. We had to wear a mask because of all the dust that was trapped in the carpet. And dust mites were probably flying all over the place, too, when we were flinging all that old carpet around. *shudder*

Creepy invisible critters probably hiding in your carpet.

Anyway, the other difficult thing was removing the tack strips around the room. These were the wooden strips that held the carpet in place. Vee used a hammer, a chisel and a pry bar to remove them. Then he used the back of the hammer to remove any tacks left in the concrete. The tacks left little holes in the concrete (experts in DIY forums call them "divots", apparently). But we're going to cover the holes with new flooring anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Those tacks looked really, really sharp and scary, by the way.

I freaked out a little every time I saw these strips, just as I do every time I see anything sharp. I blame Final Destination for the mental images in my head of flying sharp things trying to kill people. More than once I had the image of an inanimate object deliberately tripping me and me falling, head-first, onto those tacks. Damn you, Final Destination. *shake fist*

Anyway, I then removed the baseboards on the walls. This was actually pretty easy. I first used a utility knife to separate the baseboard from the wall if any paint was in the crack.

Then, I stuck a putty knife in the crack between the baseboard and the wall and wiggled it around to separate the baseboard from the wall. When there was enough space, I wedged a pry bar in the crack and pulled outward at an angle. I started at one end of the wall and slowly moved to the other end. This was pretty easy and was actually rather fun.

And finally, the floor was stripped down to its birthday suit.

That took about a whole week to finish, since we had work to do. One day, Vee went there early and said he got a surprise for me. Turned out he stripped the tiled portion all by himself with a pry bar. He had a hammer and a chisel, too, but turned out the tiles were pretty easy to remove for my stalwart, hard-as-nails hunk of a man.

A little background. We used to have a weird tiled patch on the floor in the entryway to our apartment. The door at the top left corner of the photo leads to the apartment hallway. The door on the left side of the photo leads to the bathroom and the floor is vinyl there. The top right corner is the kitchen with vinyl floor. And the gray line at the bottom right corner of the photo marked where the tile ended and the carpet begun. So it was just this small section that was tiled. And it bugged the hell out of both of us because it was so weird and awkward.

But anyway, they're all gone now, so we're happy. Good riddance, tiles and carpet!

How I Fixed Our Toilet Leak by Myself

2011-03-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

It seems like I spoke too soon when I said we had no more leak in our toilet after we removed the old one and installed a shiny new one.

Yep. It leaked.

See the puddle of water on the floor?

But I managed to fix the leak. By myself, no less. *grin*

We first thought the leak wasn't from the toilet, but from the water supply pipe in the wall behind the toilet (visible in the background of the photo above, to the left of the toilet itself). We were already thinking of calling someone we knew who was in construction to help us with it. Nothing scares us more than plumbing problems.

But then, with the old toilet, it never leaked unless someone flushed. And we didn't flush the new toilet all night because we hadn't even moved in. And yet here we were, with a puddle of water on the floor. So it couldn't have been the pipe.

Then, Vee turned off the water supply valve...

And when he checked the toilet again, the floor was flooded and the tank was empty. We found our culprit! Turned out we didn't tighten the bolts and nuts that connected the tank to the bowl enough. A quick poke at the bolts revealed that one of them was wet.

So Vee tightened the loose bolt, turned on the water and let the tank fill up. He turned the water supply off again and we went out for dinner. When we got back, the floor was flooded and the tank was empty again. But we were tired, so we went to sleep and left the problem for another day.

While Vee was at work yesterday, I decided to fix the leak. I didn't take any pictures because I was worried I was going to drop the toilet tank the whole time and didn't want any distraction. Plus, we had just moved at that time and I couldn't find my camera's memory card.

But for illustrative purposes, here's what the problem bolts look like.

Basically, I removed the tank and placed it on the vanity. I removed the bolts and then put them back on again. I poured a cup of water into the tank and checked for any leaks. When I was satisfied with how tight the bolts were, I then placed the tank back on the toilet base.

Now we have a leak-free toilet! And I didn't drop the tank even once! Yay me!

How Our Magical Toilet Got a Guy in Rona All Worried

2011-03-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd use the words "toilet" and "magical" in the same sentence, but hey, there's a first time for everything, right?

Look at this toilet.

Looks innocent enough, yea? That's what we thought, too.

But during our home inspection, we found out that it was leaking. It was a good thing that we planned to have two weeks in which we'd have both the rental and the new apartment. We (correctly) thought that it might take some time to prepare the space and move in. Otherwise, we'd have had to sneak to the 24-hour cafe two blocks away every time we needed to use the bathroom.

And for the first five days since we got the keys, that was what we did. Many times, we chose to hold it in until it was lunch/dinner time or until we were done for the day. We also minimized our liquid intake whenever we were there doing renovations. It wasn't very fun.

We started trying to change the toilet on Day 2. Note the usage of the word "trying". We managed to remove the old leaky toilet and we only had a hole in the ground the same day.

But we found something unexpected there. The online videos and tutorials we saw did not say anything about the flange (the metal ring on the floor) being covered by a bendable metal thing.

A bendable metal ring on the toilet flange. Hole censored 'cos it's kinda gross...okay, really gross.

So we went to the nearest Rona and got some advice from a middle-aged gentleman who worked there. Turned out the bendable metal thing was a pipe for funneling the stuff from the toilet down into the hole. And we weren't supposed to touch it. Good thing we went to Rona; Vee almost decided to remove it because he thought it was just something that came with the old toilet!

Before we left the home improvement store, the man who helped us put his hand on Vee's arm and, with the sincerest concerned look on his face, said, "I'm worried for you." Truth be told, we were worried for us, too, kind sir.

But what do you know, we went home and three days later the new toilet was installed. When we turned on the water supply and saw the toilet bowl filling up and there was no leak at all anywhere, I'm telling you, "magical" was the word that popped up in my head.

It's like in html-coding class when I finish writing all the code and hit Enter...then wait nervously for either the finished page or an error message to appear on the screen...and then joy of joys, the page I've been working on appears in all its glory and I don't have to spend the rest of the day staring at nonsensical rows of letters and numbers looking for the one dot I missed.

We had to wait for the tank to finish filling up to try flushing, so we worked on the living room while waiting. When we heard the water stop, I swear there was jumping and joyous exclamations. We literally ran to the bathroom and promptly took a picture of our magical toilet's maiden flush.

See, no leak!

I only wish the Rona dude could see it so we can all gaze proudly at the porcelain miracle.

I Wish I Could See the Past

2011-03-19T01:41:00.001-07:00

When we were looking at properties for sale, we knew what was important was the bones of the place: room layouts, whether there was laundry hook-up in-suite, etc. So we fell in love with the unit that is now ours because it had a walk-in wardrobe, a huge sundeck and a gas fireplace (bonus: gas is included in the condo maintenance fee).

It was only the second or third time we went to the apartment that I realized there was something unusual about the previous owners' decor preferences. Orange walls, for starters.

The apartment has a different color in almost every room. In the adjoining kitchen, which is essentially partially open to the orange living/dining room, the walls are light blue (although you can't really see it very clearly in this photo).

And that's the same color as the bedroom (hey, I said "almost" every room).

The bathroom walls are purple, with blue tiles on the bathtub surround. I actually don't mind this color combination.

Although I do kinda mind the movie-star lighting...

And the wardrobe/laundry room, which connects the purple bathroom to the blue bedroom, has white walls.

When we dug the contents of the storage locker, which is outside our unit, we found, shall we say, interesting decor items. Case in point, this larger-than-life profile portrait of an Indian man. Note its size relative to Vee's freakishly large hand (his pinky is the long-lost identical twin of my index finger).

When I asked Vee to hold his hand by the picture for size comparison, he decided it would be funny to put his finger there and then giggled like a schoolboy. I did a quick Google image search to check if the Indian man was in fact a religious figure, just so I wouldn't offend anyone with the photo. Try as I might, I couldn't find anything on the man in the photo. Which confuses me: if he's not anyone famous, then what's he doing on a that monstrously-sized canvas?

Or maybe he's the previous owner? Note to self: ask neighbors about ethnicity of previous owner. And whether he had a mustache.

We also found this drawing, which wouldn't look out of place in my grandma's home.

And this strange mesh of serene coastal scene, wild tribal design and textured wood.

I so wish I could see the apartment in all its huge-portraits-and-kitten-drawings-and-wooden-beach-pictures glory.