Two things that are brilliant

1. Those Scandanavians are so clever and I adore them for it.  I don't know how I lived without Ikea's STABIL pot strainer.  (Well, I do.  I made a mess.)
2. My love of Quickie isn't so consistent because they change their products so often it's hard or impossible to find refills... and not very green_ly left with a useless mop as a result. And while this isn't the exact model I have (the refill will fit mine), and the irony that they've declared it "green" isn't lost on me, I present the microfiber hardwood floor mop. I love the large head and how swivel-y it is, and that the elasticized microfiber cover is washable and reusable.  I am a bit more hopeful about the company's greener focus, at least.  They do have a lot of new products made of bamboo, recycled materials and microfiber.  I'm curious to see how this progresses, and plan to watch the styles' longevity. Quickie products are usually found at DIY/hardware stores. 
   

Now following:

Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op.  I just discovered it today- it's fantastic! 

Better late than never.

For years I've been meaning to do something about the switches in the bathroom.

Crazy stuff happens to half century old rental houses in low income neighborhoods. Things like two single switches (one for the light and one for the fan) installed so closely together that two single light switch plates couldn't be mounted over them without "customizing" one (but too far apart that a double switch plate wouldn't work, either).  It looked ridiculous.

I know wiring isn't rocket science, but I respect (read: fear) it enough that I just don't mess with it. I also never got around to asking one of my handy friends to help...

After years of being annoyed by the ghetto switch plates, I finally asked for help and had the switches rewired to a double box and they're finally covered by ONE double switch plate.

Which meant I had some drywall patching to do.

And I already had everything I needed!  This is probably the first project since I've returned that didn't require a trip to the hardware store.  Which also makes this the least expensive project to date!  I only had to purchase the electrical box, a new switch (the old one was decrepit as all hell) and a switch plate cover- everything else had been purchased previously for a bigger drywall project.

More after the jump... 

The Bathroom Vanity Re-Project

The vanity was one of my first projects when I bought the house.  I walked around with maximum measurements on my person for weeks (this was 2001 and pre-smart phone- I actually carried this information around on paper!) and eventually found the perfect sized thing... which was a bit more of a challenge to plumb due to the fact the chest has drawers (rather than doors).  I didn't think to shop sinks beforehand to learn some standard dimensions, but I got lucky- the sink was the smallest available my [then] employer offered.  Sold!  Then I learned about all the different types of faucets (the holes in my sink = widespread).  The plumbing guys who were leery of me when we opened the store (cuz I was a girl and from an uppity department store) grew to love me... and shared their years of experience and knowledge with me.  

In the end, I ran out of time and rushed the project, so the top wasn't as well protected as it could've/should've been.  (Also, people are MESSY in bathrooms and tend to splash a lot I learned.  So when you come to visit, please make sure the vanity top is dry as you exit the very tiny bathroom.  While it's much better protected than it was before, you really can't be too careful.  Kthx. )

The vanity was stored in Dad's shop while I was in AZ.  When it came back to ATL, I determined the top needed much love, so I loved it right down to the bare wood and back again.  I really like the color of the finish, so I hoped for color matching mojo...



See how it turned out after the jump...

Project: stripping paint

In today's episode, I'm not very green. I'm rather anti-green since I use icky solvents and such.

This morning (before coffee, even!) I slapped a coat of stripper on a small bookcase/room divider thingey with which my mom grew up. It's been in my possession for years and I've meant to undo that unfortunate paint job I gave it in the late 80's.

Apparently, today was the day.

Let me tell you I LOATHE this type of work. It's not fun. It's not pretty. It's not the fun sorta messy. Unfortunately, it's rather necessary.

After fetching a cuppa and while the stripper did its thing, I did a bit of sanding on an old desk/vanity I picked up somewhere along the way (some yard sale in Birmingham) that's also needed love for quite some time.

Until something happens to make me reconsider, both these items will get a stain finish rather than my usual mess around with paint until something interesting happens treatment. Gah- am I getting boring? Surely not...

There's tons of helpful stripper how-to info out there, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel. Helpful links:

• Paint stripping: the site isn't very pretty, but it is quite informative
• How stuff works "how to strip wooden furniture"
  

And I always forget to take "before" photos, but here's a "during" after giving up on the icky chemicals (aka: I ran out of icky chemicals and didn't want to buy more because it's icky and I have plenty of sandpaper):


As a bonus, I stumbled across this cool tip for removing paint from hardware sans chemicals at youtube while googling for helpful linkage. It has nothing to do with these projects, but I wanted to save it for posterity just the same.