Adios, ceiling fan!

I apologize in advance... not very exciting "before" and "after" shots here... but a whole lot of WISDOM.

With my copious amounts of free time, I get bored. And when I get bored, I decide to mess with my house.

Case and point #1: My kitchen ceiling fan.

Okay, okay. It's not TERRIBLE, but it's rather 90s-tastic, gives poor lighting, and I never use the fan.  So, I decided to replace it. I've replaced light fixtures before... this should be EASY PEASY.

... it wasn't.

I called up my dear buddy, Ashley, and made her come help with promises of margaritas and Mexican food.  I figured that removing a light is challenging enough as a one-woman job, so a huge ceiling fan would definitely require two sets of hands.

Once the fan was unscrewed, I realized there are a whole mess of wires involved in ceiling fans. UGHH. Instead of the typical black wire and white wire, I had two black wires, one white wire, and a red wire. What do I do? 

Turn to Youtube. Youtube did not help. Realize I need to get wire strippers. Go to hardware store. Buy wire stripper.  Return home. Call Uncle Mike (he's an electrician... handy!). Uncle Mike tells me to get wire tester. Go BACK to hardware store. Buy wrong wire tester. Return wire tester. Buy new wire tester. Return home. Call Uncle Mike. Confuse Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike relays his plan. I  put his plan into action.

And what happened next? The light worked! 

Unfortunately, anything past the light on the same circuit did not. No kitchen fan, no bathroom, no second bedroom (Sorry, Jeannie!)

Uncle Mike was stumped. Given that we were on the phone and he lives 45 minutes away, the probability that this was going to be resolved that evening was slim. WOMP WOMP.  

After a terrifying vision of my condo building and Sheesha engulfed in flames due to my terrible electric work, I bailed on my dear helper, Ashley (sorry, Ash!) and called in for reinforcements: Dad.

My dad is NOT an electrician. But, he knows how electricity works and is much more daring with live wires than I will ever be.  After mixing and matching, we had the following scenarios:

1. Light works, rest of circuit line does not.

2. Circuit line works, turn on light and the rest of the circuit turns off.

3. Circuit line works, light does not.

Fourth times the charm? Dad decided to get adventurous and put one of the black wires with the white wire (breaking the 11th commandment? Perhaps!) 

BOOM! (okay, not an actual "boom"). Success!

After hours of works, trips to the hardware store, and fear of fires... I finally have this little dinky, yet powerful light.

ALL THAT WORK FOR THAT STUPID LITTLE LIGHT.

What I learned:

-ceiling fans are heavy

-ceiling fans require more lighting

-red wires connect to the light switches

-99% of the time you NEVER connect a black and white wire

-Dad is more courageous than I am with electricity

Over and out.

Vanity rehab!

HOLLA HOLLA FOR A DOLLAH!

I have been on a DIY hiatus due to life... you know, teaching the kids, teaching more kids, having no $$... the usual. Now that it is SUMMER, expect more posts due my excessive amounts of free time.

Anyways, my father dearest is a hoarder... typical. He always gets random items from work (no, he doesn't steal them). Normally he takes the most horrendously ugly things, but for once, he got something kinda cool.

EXHIBIT A: The retro desk

I did not take a proper "before" shot, but it was a neat little vintage desk.  It was painted an off-white with light blue trim.

THE PLAN:

1. Sand
2. Repaint a fresh, crisp white
3. (GET READY FOR IT) Re-face the front of the drawer with damask print wallpaper
4. Get a new knob (the original fell off)

THE PLAN IN ACTION:

Not exactly as I had planned... per usual.

So I went to this wallpaper warehouse in North Chelmsford to check out some wallpapers and I found a bunch of cool ones.  I wanted something damask or vintage-y looking, as long as it was black and white.

However, you cannot purchase samples/small amounts of wallpaper. The sales clerk FIRMLY stated this many times, despite telling her the details of my project.  WOMP WOMP. If you want wallpaper, you have to buy a DOUBLE roll... so I would have had to pay $25 for a 12" x 2" section. Not worth it.

My "brilliant" idea? Wrapping paper! I shot over to Target and bought some pretty damask wrapping paper from the wedding isle.  Woohoo! (Side note: I promise I will quit it with the damask prints... I am reaching a damask print overload in my bedroom, but I promise it all works together!)

Then MORE brilliant ideas flew into my head: Why not top the vanity with the paper too? And put some glass down on top to keep it clean and undamaged? OH YEAHHH.  I headed on over to Lowes and got a piece of glass cut to fit the top of the vanity (Lowes cuts glass for FREE! I like anything free!). I also picked up a nice glass knob and some wallpaper glue.

Ok, time to get to work. The sanding and painting was easy (OBVIOUSLY I'M A PROFESSIONAL NOW... DUH) but the wrapping paper turned out to be a bit tricky...

As it turns out, wrapping paper does not work like wallpaper.  Wallpaper is meant to get wet, wrapping paper is not. So, my first attempts to attach the wrapping paper with the wallpaper glue resulted in a bubbly, ripped mess.  Oops.  I finally figured out that if I only used a TINY bit of glue, the paper would stick, but not get all warped. GO ME.

After placing the glass down and attaching the knob, I was done:

Check out that knob!

The vanity in its true habitat:

I'm in love! Now I have a one-of-a-kind vanity! All for the low price of $28.00!!! #winning

-desk: free (thanks, Dad)
-wallpaper: $4
-glue: $6
-knob: $4
-glass: $13
-paintbrush: $1
-paint: free (already had some!)
-sandpaper: also free (had some of that too!)

Baller status.

WHAT I LEARNED:

-Lowes cuts glass for free!
-Dad's hoarding is sometimes okay
-wrapping paper does not function like wallpaper
-wallpaper cannot be purchased in small amounts
-I can spend an un-Godly amount of time staring at knobs at the hardware store.



Peace out, cubscout.