I’ve got 48” of wall space to work with and am currently waffling between the 3 on the right.
Benefits to the top right - I already ordered and it’s coming today. The most storage. Place to put my lamp on top (there aren’t any overhead lights in the room). Downsides - no place to put my serger without lifting it up to my head.
Benefits to the middle right - most table space, easy to put the serger on. Downsides, least amount of storage, no place to put the lamp without using the table space (negating the benefit of extra space).
Benefits to bottom right - place to put serger, good amount of storage. Place to put my lamp. Downsides - less storage than the top right.
So it’s settled, the bottom right makes the most sense? Thank you for coming along on this journey through my brain
I guess we’re going to have to make the trek out to IKEA tonight to exchange the kallax.
I’ll be going with the 4x2 on the right and 1x2 kallax on the left layout. I also got this little wall unit with mesh drawers which I think will be nice for storing little bits and and have some room for display.
We also picked up some drawers to go under my husband’s new standing desk that should be coming tomorrow.
I’m excited because we will both end up with way more functional spaces but wish we could fast forward past the part where we have carry everything up multiple flights of stairs and assemble it.
Edited to add - I also got some clear bins which will be perfect for fat quarter storage
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2669
Well, my bathroom sink faucet has bitten the dust. Fortunately, my home warranty company will pay to have it replaced but since I wanted an upgrade it is costing me a few hundred dollars more out-of-pocket. My house is old, so hoping that the other two faucets will hold up for a bit longer. Repairs are not as fun as decorating or organizing.
4 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2670
I can’t believe it! My home warranty company is paying the entire cost of the faucet and installation! We had Delta faucets so I wanted to upgrade and replace with Delta. Apparently, some Delta faucets come with a lifetime warranty so it is costing us zero! Well, that was a nice surprise and the plumber was so sweet and friendly. He even went out and got it at the store for me!
That is awesome! It’s always nice when a warranty covers more than you think it will.
We just had the opposite experience with a window. We had all of our windows replaces 5 years ago with double pane tempered glass and were told they had a lifetime warranty. The interior pane of one of the large windows in our living room spontaneously shattered last week. No one touched it, nothing hit it, we were just sitting in the living room when there was a “pop” and the glass all crackled and broke. The exterior pane is fine (apparently it is a known thing that tempered glass can spontaneously break). The install company says glass isn’t covered in the window warranty, home insurance says its below the deductible, and the manufacturer says the warranty doesn’t cover “any defects, damage, abuse, natural cause, or weathering whatsoever” (which leaves one wondering what the warranty does cover…I think it doesn’t cover anything). So that is going to cost us at least $500 to replace. Now I am worried about the rest of the windows too. I had no idea spontaneous breakage was a thing.
My handy DW recently fixed both bathroom sink plug open/close thingies; they had rusted out. There was a lot of banging and muttering, but they are fixed. Then the upstairs sink started leaking. More banging and muttering, but that is fixed now as well. The house is 76 years old; the downstairs faucets are only 15 years old, and the upstairs sink probably goes back to the sixties. I love a handy woman, she saves us so much money, if not time.
9 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2674
The poor plumber had to actually cut off the hardware with an electrical saw…it had literally corroded into the sink. I love the new faucet. It is so easy to turn on…no twisting…just a flick of the finger. I’m going to save up to have the other two sinks redone as well. My warranty won’t pay for that since they are not damaged. When you have an older home, eventually you end up almost rebuilding it all over at least once! Oh, well!
Our builder said that as long as you rebuild a house every 50 years (not cosmetically but plumbing, wiring, windows etc) it will last forever. Our renovation was a bit overdue but I guess the upside is, we should be done for the rest of our lives
We don’t have home warranty here, but from your stories, it sounds ideal. Finding a tradesperson and a reliable one on top of that is the most difficult part.
5 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2676
Since we don’t have children, the house will either be sold to pay for our old age care or it will go to my two nieces. No matter what, we want the highest value so we have to keep it up. The house is quite structurally solid so most of the work is just replacing worn out things as they come up or changing things because of new styles. In our case, it is almost two birds with one stone, which is why I am willing to invest in higher quality permanent fixtures.
In the two years we have been here, we have:
painted exterior and interior
replace all toilets
painted and refreshed kitchen cabinets
replace light fixtures
replaced stair carpets
finished basement
built new front porch, sidewalk and stairs
new garage door
replaced exterior doors
cut down dead trees
replanted front lawn
removed old side fence
put in mini split in basement room
new gas furnace/AC
new hardware on all interior doors and closets
installed alarm system on all doors, windows and garage
repave driveway
replace mailbox
build retaining wall in front
repair and clean back stone patio
front yard landscaping, trees, plants
So, just looking at the list, it is no wonder I am tired and broke!
I am printing this list off and putting it in my home files. And, if anyone asks me why I haven’t finished unpacking a few boxes in my house, I am going to hand it to them.
The good news is that Jim and I can enjoy our home and move on to just doing other things. It was a lot to do in two years, but we don’t have twenty years left so it has been nice to get it done fast. We still have a few decorative things to do and the big expense next year is new windows.
I would like to change some of the flooring from LVP to hardwood in the living room, but not a priority right now. I need a breather!
Our house has some interesting design choices, one of those being that the ensuite bathroom attached to the main bedroom has two rectangular holes above the door. Maybe for ventilation? But there were no vent covers (or covers of any kind) over them and they were both different non-standard sizes, and both had wonky edges (nowhere close to square) so no preexisting vent covers would fit them. After almost a decade, I finally got annoyed enough to do something about it. The light shining in my eyes through those holes every time another family member used that restroom while I was already in bed (an almost daily occurrence as I crash at night and my family is less than speedy about their nighttime routines) really irritated me, so I made a curtain. It blocks the light well, and I no longer have to be annoyed, and I like the jellyfish print on the fabric scrap I got at a craft swap.
What a productive two years! It took us around 20 years to…
Renovate the downstairs bathroom
Paint everything
Deconstruct the odd rooms in the basement
Build out a craft room, then reconfigure it when we added a door to the porch
Renovate the guest bedroom
Makeover our bedroom
Change out all the electrical outlets upstairs; we still have a few downstairs that need upgrading
Makeover two tiny closets for more functionality
Build a 3-season porch on the back of our house
Move the side door to the dining room so we could…
Renovate the kitchen
Resurface the driveway
Create and finally fence a veggie garden in the backyard
My DW is pretty handy, so many of these projects were done by her talented little hands. She’s on strike right now for house projects. She wants to finish organizing her workshop, which is currently in chaos mode. She is winning, bit by bit.
4 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2679
Yes, I remember all the work you guys put into your home! You are both quite handy around the house!
I did a lot of the work in my previous homes. I just can’t now and also, not wanting to spend years so we can enjoy it while we can. I would love to be able to live in this home at least another 10-15 years.
Most of the major work, like floors, redoing the kitchen, etc. were done by the previous owner, but it was obvious that they used some cheaper things.
I forgot that I also replaced all the outlet and light switches and had an additional electrical box put in to handle modern usage.
I just contacted our landscaper to remove a few stumps and to cut some lower limbs on trees. That is enough until next spring. My husband is going to put new sand in on the back patio before winter.
I pretty much am done except for some new window coverings.
Home warranties aren’t always so sweet n easy! It’s not unusual that the contractors on their program are ones that have low customer ratings and are difficult to work with.
I had never heard of a home warranty until a few years ago so I’m not sure how common they are (we never had one).
1 Like
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2682
I think it depends on how old the house is and how the inspection goes. Most people here carry them for a year or two and once everything is replaced or repaired, drop them. It is like an insurance policy. They run about $600 a year. So far, mine has saved me way more than the cost. You have to be careful and read the fine print. The one I have now does replacement cost so you don’t get cheap stuff if you already had good stuff. Some let you pick your own contractor, others have their own.
I think they can be cheaper for sellers than making certain repairs. I’m 97% sure that ours was because the dishwasher wasn’t working when they sold us this house. We got to use it for a malfunctioning baseboard heater as well.
3 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2684
Because the market is so tight here, sellers no longer offer it or any help at all. We tried to get a few minor repairs after the inspection and the seller refused. Houses never even make it to market in our area so most are sold as is.
I’m sure it depends on if the market is a sellers’ or buyers’ at the time. When we bought here it was a buyers’ market. Some other folks I know who’ve bought older homes (1930s-60s) have had them as part of the seller contribution in sellers’ markets, as well; just one year and also to avoid certain inspection things.
