More Wallpaper: The Living Room Saga - Part 3
Once our walls were finally painted and dry and looking significantly better than when we moved in I finally put the pictures that had been sitting in our guest room for the past three years on our walls. The living room was finally started to feel like home. The next step was buying and putting up a new chandelier to replace this one:
Besides the fact that this particular chandelier was not our style at all, it was clearly not someone else's style, evidenced by the $20 masking tape sticker that was stuck to the side. I have no problems with using and reusing items. I believe that some of the greatest treasures can be found in other people's trash. HOWEVER, there is a limit, and that chandelier was the limit for me.
The very first time my husband and I attempted to put up a chandelier was when we first moved into our house in Indy. The dining area (because we didn't have a dining room) had a hideous fruit Tiffany style lamp hanging from the ceiling. It was one of the first things we replaced, and it was one of many home improvement projects in the early years of our marriage and home ownership that jeopardized our relationship. This time, with the evening hours quickly fading and two children running around singing along to the Muppets soundtrack (a wonderfully fun movie for all children of the 70s and 80s who grew up watching the Muppets), we fairly calmly put up the new and much more attractive chandelier. As always, my arms got tired from holding the piece over my head, but it was a relatively light piece compared to other ceiling mounted light fixtures we have installed, and quite frankly, I usually get the easy job: chase down pieces that get dropped and hand my husband new pieces as needed. I am very happy with the new fixture.
Then we had to wait for window replacements. The story of replacing the windows really goes back to when we first moved into the house. It is nearing late fall, and my husband decided to finally fix the broken gable vent in our attic that appeared to be the entry point for some large animal that continued to get into the house. As he tried to close the ladder, the heavy end snapped down, and before any of us could stop it we watched the ladder crash through our bay window. Not just any window, but one of the most expensive windows in the house to replace. I called a glass company, they came and replaced the single pane, making our bay window way less efficient but at least still useable, and so we have managed for nearly three years. Additionally, the wood on one of the crank windows rotted to the point that we ended up cracking the glass the last time we shut it. It is safe to say we have an energy draining useless bay window in the dining room.
Then my husband had the misfortune about two months ago to hit a hidden rock in the grass that somehow managed to fly into our daughter's second story bedroom window. Thankfully, it didn't break through the storm window, meaning the window was useable but still needed to be replaced ASAP.
During the course of getting window estimates (and anyone who has had that done knows how painful it can be to hear that final number) one of the companies suggested that we wouldn't have to replace the entire bay window. Instead, we could rewrap it and get new glass at half the cost. SOLD!
The full window story is recounted here.
Besides the fact that this particular chandelier was not our style at all, it was clearly not someone else's style, evidenced by the $20 masking tape sticker that was stuck to the side. I have no problems with using and reusing items. I believe that some of the greatest treasures can be found in other people's trash. HOWEVER, there is a limit, and that chandelier was the limit for me.
The very first time my husband and I attempted to put up a chandelier was when we first moved into our house in Indy. The dining area (because we didn't have a dining room) had a hideous fruit Tiffany style lamp hanging from the ceiling. It was one of the first things we replaced, and it was one of many home improvement projects in the early years of our marriage and home ownership that jeopardized our relationship. This time, with the evening hours quickly fading and two children running around singing along to the Muppets soundtrack (a wonderfully fun movie for all children of the 70s and 80s who grew up watching the Muppets), we fairly calmly put up the new and much more attractive chandelier. As always, my arms got tired from holding the piece over my head, but it was a relatively light piece compared to other ceiling mounted light fixtures we have installed, and quite frankly, I usually get the easy job: chase down pieces that get dropped and hand my husband new pieces as needed. I am very happy with the new fixture.
Then we had to wait for window replacements. The story of replacing the windows really goes back to when we first moved into the house. It is nearing late fall, and my husband decided to finally fix the broken gable vent in our attic that appeared to be the entry point for some large animal that continued to get into the house. As he tried to close the ladder, the heavy end snapped down, and before any of us could stop it we watched the ladder crash through our bay window. Not just any window, but one of the most expensive windows in the house to replace. I called a glass company, they came and replaced the single pane, making our bay window way less efficient but at least still useable, and so we have managed for nearly three years. Additionally, the wood on one of the crank windows rotted to the point that we ended up cracking the glass the last time we shut it. It is safe to say we have an energy draining useless bay window in the dining room.
Then my husband had the misfortune about two months ago to hit a hidden rock in the grass that somehow managed to fly into our daughter's second story bedroom window. Thankfully, it didn't break through the storm window, meaning the window was useable but still needed to be replaced ASAP.
During the course of getting window estimates (and anyone who has had that done knows how painful it can be to hear that final number) one of the companies suggested that we wouldn't have to replace the entire bay window. Instead, we could rewrap it and get new glass at half the cost. SOLD!
The full window story is recounted here.
Comments
Post a Comment