Category: Home Improvements

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Free Up Your Counter Space With a Mixer Lift

Guest post by my friend Linda Bradshaw

After watching cooking show after cooking show and seeing all of the fancy gadgets they have, I’ve decided that I would like to find a mixer lift to install in our kitchen. I have one of those high quality Kitchen Aid mixers that I just love. The only thing I don’t love about it is that it takes up a lot of space on my counter. I use it all of the time but I really want a place to put it away and still make it easily accessible.

I’m asking my husband to redo one of the cabinets in the kitchen so that we can install a lift for the mixer so that it can be hidden away and then slide out and up when ever I want to use it. This way I’ll have the best of both worlds and get to use it all of the time and still have the counter space free.

I wish I would have had it earlier this year for all of the holiday baking that I did. It really would have come in handy because I barely had enough room for the mixer because my counters were covered with all of the ingredients and baking pans. I can’t wait to get it and have it installed. Hint, hint, oh husband of mine.

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Choosing New Bathroom Sinks

So, my husband did some more looking into the kind of things we would like to add to our bathroom when we remodel it.  We are trying to narrow down our options for each area we want to freshen up.  My husband really would like to get his and her sinks.  He wants to be able to brush our teeth together and things like that without bumping elbows.  To be honest I’m excited about having my own sink and area in the bathroom.

I checked out some really gorgeous vessel sinks.  I saw such a variety that I think it’s going to making choosing my favorite pretty difficult.  The stone sinks look soo organic and natural. Some of the glass sinks looked like lava and were just stunning.  I like the straight forward, and clean cut looking sinks.  The sharp lines of the square and rectangle sinks look very modern and might be perfect.

However, if I want to relax in the bathroom I might choose the oval shaped stone sinks. The curved lines of those sinks make me think of flowing water and put my mind at ease. Renovating our bathroom and making all of these choices can be a little overwhelming at times, the least I could do is have a nice relaxing bathroom in the end when it’s all done.

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Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

With news of my friend Nancy retiring and designing her own home, it made me think about wanting to redo more of our home. I looked up Atlanta Bathroom Remodeling and got some great ideas to show my husband. We’ve already been talking about doing a few things to the bathroom to improve it.

I started with the flooring. I really want to have nice tiles put into our bathroom. I’d like something in a warm tone but not something too dark. It also needs to have some texture to it so we don’t slip and fall easily. I’d also like to have a separate shower and bath tub installed. Right now we have one of the combination bath and showers. I really want to get one a luxurious bath tub that I can soak and relax in. Of course I wouldn’t mind if it had jets either.

I’m also thinking maybe we can have the toilet in it’s own little room.  I’ve been in plenty other homes to see these and appreciate them.  I don’t want to stare at my toilet while I’m relaxing in my tub. Separating it from the rest of the room would eliminate that problem. It would also provide extra protection from unpleasant odors that may arise.

I’m sure there are a few ideas that my husband will want to add too. He will probably want his own sink. He’s always wanted matching his and hers sinks. I wouldn’t mind having the extra counter space to myself either to be honest. Our bathroom isn’t huge as it is so we’ll definitely have to work with someone to see how we can get everything we want into the final design.

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On A Hunt For Organization

This afternoon after I got off work, I planned to meet someone to pick up a baker’s rack that I found online in the classified ads. I’m going to use it in the garage as an extra storage area for the larger boxed items in our pantry. This will make a lot more room in the kitchen and make it possible for me to shop sales more frequently and stock up when there is a really good deal. I got out my notes that had the address scribbled on it  and read the address signs  on the street as I tried to make my way to the correct location.

It took me about fifteen minutes of driving up and down the street before I finally found the place. I eventually gave in and called the guy that I was purchasing the rack from because I was reading every one of the address plaques and couldn’t seem to find it. He came outside and said he was wearing a red shirt. As soon as I saw a man in a red shirt I turned the car around and headed in his direction. No wonder I couldn’t find the place, the address plaque was obscured by a big tree in front of the building. I paid the man, loaded it into the back of my car and came right home.

I’m really excited to have the extra storage and organization space in our garage.  I bet I won’t have any trouble at all filling it up with everything I have planned to buy this weekend to restock the house.

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Kitchen Cabinet Make Over

After spending the weekend organizing my kitchen pantry, the rest of the cabinets seemed jealous and were screaming to be made over too.  I started the same way I did with the pantry by taking everything out.  I found these great wire shelving units that I used to sort out all of our cups, bowls, and plates.  Now when I want a plate I don’t have to dig it out from underneath the bowls.

A handy lid sorter helped to keep all of the lids to my pots and pans in an easily accessible area.  I mounted it to the back of the cabinet door and it didn’t take up any additional space.  Instead of putting all of the baking pans in the cabinet laying flat, I got another sorter from the organizing store that helps me put everything away vertically.  It has a bunch of dividers to put things like cookie sheets and muffin pans in and not have to dig them out from each other.

After organizing my kitchen I’m feeling inspired to tackle other areas of the home.  I don’t want to go overboard but walking into my kitchen now and being able to get anything in a second is a breath of fresh air.  I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.

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Kitchen Pantry Organization

Organizing our kitchen pantry has been a chore I’ve been putting off doing for awhile now.  I hate opening it up and seeing stuff everywhere and not being able to find what I’m looking for.  Here’s my plan to have a headache free pantry.

First, I’m going to start by taking everything out the pantry and sort them items into similar types as I remove them.  This pre-sorting will save me time when i go to put everything back.  Once I have everything out of the way I’ll take the items I have sorted and put them in some type of box or basket.  I haven’t decided if I want to use wicker baskets or plastic boxes to be honest.  Either way the purpose of these bins will be the same.  Each bin will house each category of items.  This will make it easy for me to find items in the pantry and will make putting things away much easier.

I also want to get a few shelving units to organize all of my canned foods and spices.  I’ve seen some really neat can sorters that make it so you can hold up to triple the amount of cans in the same space.  As for my spices, I want to make them all visible so I’m not pulling  five and six bottles out at a time trying to find the right one.  A tiered shelving unit will make them all visible but I’m also concerned about it taking up a bunch of space.  I think I’m willing to sacrifice a bit of unused space underneath the tiered organizer to make getting what I’m searching for not only easier but faster.

Finally I’ll label all of the bins and shelves.  I’m going to use a combination of pictures and words so it helps everyone in the family regardless of reading level.  This will hopefully make unloading groceries and such easier for my husband and kids.  I won’t have to hear, ” Mom where does this go?” or, “Where is the peanut butter?”  Everything will have it’s place and I will be headache free, at least from the pantry that is.

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Time to Redo the Flooring

This morning when I got up the sun was beaming in through my window. I forgo to close he blinds before I went to bed last night. I usually one of the last things I do as a part of my wind down routine. I was on the phone with my sister last night and was a bit distracted so a few things were left undone.

After I got past the beaming light in my eyes I made my way to the bathroom. Wouldn’t you know it… I stubbed my toe on a piece of flooring that was sticking out between my bedroom and the bathroom. The bathroom floor is an old linoleum. It was that little metal piece that covers the seam between the carpet and the other flooring that I caught my big toe nail on. I rinsed my toe under the faucet in the tub and then put a little ice on it to prevent any swelling.

I think it’s about time for us to renovate our bathroom and maybe even our bedroom.  Getting injured due to old flooring is not my idea of a nice and friendly wake up call.  I would really like to get some pretty tile in the bathroom and maybe hard wood in the bedroom. I’ll have to do some number crunching and shopping to see what we can really afford.

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Renovating the Yard

This winter our yard looks kind of pathetic.  I hate seeing the grass look so dreary and dull. I wish the grass would stay green all year long.  I’ve heard of some products that keep your lawn looking great all year long but haven’t ever purchased anything special myself.

Even though we don’t really have to mow the lawn in the winter, it still needs to be taken care of.  I’m trying to convince my husband to consider maybe getting some kind of artificial grass.  We would have to make a pretty big investment to renovate the entire yard, but then it would always looks nice and would never have to be mowed.  Maybe we could sell our nice lawn mower and other lawn care tools to help fund something like AstroTurf.