Condo: Houzz Meets Reality?

Just really like this picture/painting/photograph, whatever it is.

Thought I'd take some of my favorites from Houzz.com and start thinking about what would possibly work in our home remodel or condo. Yes nothing we own is done. It all needs the gut and remodel. Good thing I am patient and love recycling.

Condo in Chicago 

Picture from before the red phase...

And I'm not even showing a picture of the hideous bathroom.... just picture small, sliding glass doors, little bitty ugly gray tile.

Condo Kitchen Ideas

I love this layout, color, everything but would like a bigger sink. Plus instead of the upper cabinets on the right we want it open to the living room like the next picture.

This is the perfect layout, just like materials better in first picture. 

Condo Living Room

This Ikea showroom has both dining room and living room together as we need.

Yeah I've realized many times we painted wrong wall red. Wall behind sofa should be red. 

Artwork I'd love to hang over couch or in bedroom:

By the way these are other units in the building.

I hope this unit is narrower than our main room, sure looks like it.

Condo Bathroom

What about not only opening kitchen to living room, but opening bedroom to bathroom?

I really like it but it would shock people when they sit on toilet and look up and I wave from bed!!!! hahahaha

Bedroom

But imagine it flipped so bed on wall next to windows and desk/shelving unit long wall. 

Entryway Lighting

The Pool Saga Continues

Probably because it's been such a frustrating year. Two prior summers were scorching hot UNTIL we got the pool up. So I thought hah! We'll show them. (The Weather Gods?) This year it's already up. Wow have you ever seen such a cool and rainy summer. Yup! Our fault again. It rains so much we can't hardly work in the backyard on the deck either. Despite that Pat is out there today on his birthday no less working on the deck. What a guy!

Notice the green water. Yeah. I really screwed this up.

Here's my presentation on how many ways I screwed up.

Big Time Screwed Up Pool Project

Or how many mistakes I made this year

I have a big confession. I think everything I did to the pool screwed it up and it’s just multiplying.

#1. The new skimmer. Last year I got frustrated with the vacuum and felt it didn’t suck very well. So forgetting Bernoulli’s principle I thought a wide mouth skimmer would help clean the pool better. Wow just lying here now it occurred to me why that was wrong on so many levels. And I reviewed people’s set up on the pool forum and now realize another mistake.

#2. Removing prior skimmer set up to install new one. Most install as a second opening. Fargenugen! Now I know at least one good reason why.

#3. Vacuum doesn’t work right with wide mouth skimmer.

#4. Thought bigger pump and sand filter would also improve vacuum and help clean the pool. But that didn’t work either.

#5 Which made me wonder if the bigger pump sends the water by the salt sensor faster so it keeps thinking we’re low on salt and not running. Because the SWG keeps detecting low salt it doesn't keep running so it doesn't make chlorine and here comes the green stuff.

#6 The biggest mistake of them all not cleaning out the pool when my husband told me too. It was a Friday night I just got home from the office. He'd been home working on pool all week. I'm sure he hated it but I was jealous as I love being outside. So I walked in back to see how it was going and he said we're going to need you to hop down in here and clean this again before we put it up. I'd already cleaned out mucked up leaves that were disgusting and this was just a little clay dirt that fell in. So I said "Oh we don't have to clean up that dirt the filter will take care of that."

#7 Another physics lesson. Which is a smaller particle clay or sand or silt? From all my gardening I sure know this. Sand > Silt > Clay. So how well is a sand filter going to filter out the clay dirt that fell into the pool. NOT SO MUCH!!!!! 

Really I’m not sure which of these mistakes are worse but together it’s all f#@$ed up.

Possible Solutions?

But honestly I’m afraid to make any decisions since I’m 0 for 3 or 0 for 6 or 7 maybe.

First Option: Add back the old skimmer/inlet to use with vacuum

1. Install old skimmer back in and have connect to other outflow and both flow to pump. Have switch so can have both open or just the one. Will that even work?
2.  This would solve the problem of current vacuum not working because of not having a good seal. Hopefully we still have the old inlet and thing that draped over the side the vacuum attached to.
3.   But now we have this sticking into the pool which honestly I thought was more annoying then our new pool ladder because it was up by the net. (Volleyball net) Now I want to say for the record I really REALLY like our new pool ladder but Pat detests it. I mean he really doesn't like it. And I think it made it look more like an in ground pool myself. Sigh...
4.  OK so this would require cutting another hole, and probably would have to use PVC for these extra connections. BUT I don’t know about that and I am scared to say.

Second Option: Buy vacuum that doesn’t operate off of pool pump.

This is a much more expensive solution BUT much easier. If it works! 

Third Option: Take pool down and clean it.

1.    This is another option.

2.    Only problem with this is we still have a wussy vacuum.

3.    And there are probably other problems with taking it down that I’m not even aware of.

Last Problem: Is this Salt Water Chlorine Generator going to work with this pump?

1.  I hope we’re just low on salt.
2.  I probably need to buy the stupid salt testing strips that cost $18! (Good example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.)
3.  If they show that indeed we are at 3000 ppm or higher than why does it keep saying low salt. Is my pump idea valid?

So I presented the above issues to my husband today on his birthday in a Dear Honey Letter, Please help before my blunders screw up our pool forever! Also to put the $277 robot in perspective I have spent $70-$100 twice now to get chemicals and get rid of algae bloom and such and still haven’t successfully gotten the pool clean. BUT if the Aquabot doesn’t work then I will really never live this down. But from the reviews it sounds like people have had similar issues and it filters down to smaller micron than sand filter. So anyone have any ideas please please help!

Oh and here's the old ladder vs the new ladder. 

My Future Kitchen Sink I hope....

Rustic Kitchen Sinks by Toledo Kitchen & Bath Fixtures MR Direct Sinks and Faucets

Isn't she beautiful?

Sometimes people like husband's just needed a little push (shove)

I photocopied this article from Fine Woodworking on how to set up your shop. I put it on his desk months ago.  This was before the last time he supposedly reorganized the shop in the garage the second or third time. Bit he didn't even read it much less cut out the templates to arrange all the tools and machinery in a well thought out way.  Nope.

So I kept this article and printed another copy of the page with the templates.  Then when he was in Chicago, I purchased magnets with one side adhesive in 5 X 7 and 4 X 6 size.  And I made tool magnets. The I measured the garage twice.  I measured the duct work and pipes and doors and garage door rails and the size of the lawnmower and snowblower!  I even measured our 6 bikes. Wait no 8 bikes.  9 bikes? Hmm may have missed a bike or two.  I have 5 but one up in condo.  Pat has 3 but Ian has one. Rylie had two well 3 but one too small and 2 of those across street. So how many here?  7 actually.

So these pictures include my original layout. To which he proclaimed nice try bit won't work.  So I said fine show me what will these are magnets you can move them around.  Oh? Wow? He then came up with the layout in the top picture. 

Love this dining room furniture

Contemporary Dining Room by Gig Harbor Kitchen & Bath Designers Nancy Finneson, AKBD, CAPS / DeMane Design

Gutters

We desperately need to fix our gutters and I don't think my husband thinks it's very important so I think I'm going to have to do it. BUT wow I'm scared of heights. Wondering if I can wear my rock climbing harness and tie in somehow. Anyone know what you tie yourself too?

Here's how to do the gutters once I figure out how to get up there.

http://images.houseofhepworths.com/2014/02/26RainGuttersTV/Rain_Gutter_Cleaning_TV_hoh_pinterest.jpg

Check out this video

7 foot antique bed and how to move it to your second floor of house

Had to share because the little dance Victoria and her husband do is awesome!

New Collage With Mudroom/Entryway Addition

I dream some day of a mudroom. If you live in a split-level you feel my pain. That's the pain of a very small entryway that immediately says you have to make a choice up or down. One solution would be to add additional space on the front of that entry and make room for a small mudroom in the entry.

So tonight that's the theme:

I have all of this extra room around the edge because this is also my first collage done in photoshop instead of paint. Pat's been telling me forever I should switch to photoshop so I did. I still have long way to go to get comfortable.

Inside would be something like this...

 

Or this on each side?

You get the idea. You would enter and immediately know this house is super organized. That's what I want my entry to say. Not like it does now. Now it says "Danger, Danger, Will Roberts!" But instead let's see some more happy, organized entryways!

This last picture is just what I'd like to do to the big wall that is on your left when you come in. It spans from the steps up from basement to the ceiling. Then I'd hang our PortraitLife pictures from our engagement session and the one in my office of Rylie on that wall. 

Can't you just imagine how great these pictures would look up on that wall. Me too!!!!