We uncovered the other side of the archway that leads to the kitchen, and it’s patched just about as well as the kitchen side of it (with the backside of a piece of wood paneling). On this side an attempt was made to smooth out the joints with a little bit of joint compound and wall patch strips when it was closed up, so this should help when I cover the whole thing with a layer joint compound to smooth it out.

Sorry we don’t have any pictures, but it’s pretty uninteresting.

Another update for which I do not have pictures was a full replacement of our toilet’s guts. For a while now, we’ve been having strange noises occurring in our floor and basement shortly after flushing the toilet. We first noticed this out in the garage, when the water pipes were vibrating for some unknown reason. The noise started out as a low pitched hum and built up to almost a grinding noise by the time I got to fix it. After a little bit of internet research, I discovered that it’s a relatively minor problem with the toilet.

Apparently when the valve starts to go bad, the seal that stops the valve from letting water out when the tank is filling fails just enough to create a strange vibration in the pipe that runs water into the tank, and this vibration can carry through an entire plumbing system. In my searching I even read the story of a landlord of a multi-unit apartment building that had crazy noises throughout the entire building because of one faulty toilet. The noise in our bathroom could also be triggered by running water in the bathroom sink, which would take some pressure away from the valve and cause it to leak a little bit. I guess that’s also a common problem.

I verified the problem was with the toilet by lifting the lid off of the tank and pressing down on the top of the valve while the noise was happening. It stopped when I applied pressure, so I figured that was it. The toilet’s hardware looked like it had seen better days, so I opted just to replace everything in there with a valve and flapper from Lowe’s.

It was relatively inexpensive (I think around $11), so I bought the kit to replace everything, and after dealing with a noisy toilet for so long, I chose the Quiet Fill (supposedly tested to be the quietest toilet valve available). Installation was simple. For some reason the shut off valve on the pipe that runs into the tank was NOT shutting the water off to the toilet, so I had to turn the water off in the whole house.

I then flushed the toilet and kept the flapper open so the water in the tank drained into the toilet. I had to sponge out what was left (not all of it fully drained) so that I could open the inlet from the water pipe.

After this, I unscrewed the old valve at the bottom of the tank and removed it, unhooked the chain from the lever and removed the flapper. Putting the new one in was easy, I just repeated the steps in reverse and adjusted the height of the valve to the fill line on the tank, and turned the water back on.

After a few costly emergency visits from our plumber, burst water pipes, and snaking septic lines, I can say I’m finally getting comfortable enough with the plumbing system to feel like I can do small things myself. My next trick might be to replace the kitchen faucet with one that is a little bit taller. Washing bigger pots in that sink is impossible. We’ve also been doing a lot of research and reading looking for inspiration, and it’s finally struck, so look for more updates in the future as we pick out colors and begin painting the downstairs. And now that spring is finally here, my grandfather plans on helping us make a lot of things in his wood shop, including new kitchen cabinets.

What We Like

Gretchen is currently obsessed with this kitchen:

And looking on ebay for antique door knobs:

I’m currently obsessed with anything made out of bent wood:

We also plan on making a trip out to the Morris, NJ Habitat for Humanity store to see if they have any nice restored furniture or stuff for around the house.

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Might as well start this with the most unrealistic…

Living Area

Eames Lounge Chair. Well, not really, but a pretty nice replica of one. Even the replica is a little pricey and more than I’d consider spending on a chair. Maybe someday if we win some extra money randomly. Maybe I’ll find one at a tricky tray.

Built In Bookshelves. Having bookshelves built into your walls is awesome. This particular example was made by Strong Hill Cabinetry in New York.

Kitchen

IKEA DOMSJÖ Sink. We like this sink a lot. It’s bigger than the picture lets on and is ceramic. It’s pretty heavy duty (especially for an IKEA product), and looks awesome installed. Here’s an image of a freshly done DOMSJÖ from another blog, called Stately English Manor, to give you an idea of what it looks like IN a kitchen:

Dishwasher. Even our last rental had one and that had probably the worst kitchen of all time. I suppose this is means we’ve been spoiled.

A Shaker Style Kitchen. I’ve been pretty obsessed with shaker furniture lately. It’s rustic and modern at the same time. The kitchen in the photo was made by Border County Kitchens. It appears the English love shaker furniture also.

Somewhere

Dane Pendant Lamp. These wooden lights are similar to the ones they have at Fosters, but a lot cheaper. We’ll have to get some electrical wiring run in the house, but we planned on doing that anyway.

Back Yard

Fire Pit. Gretchen is 100% psyched to entertain at our house this spring/summer. A fire pit would be the centerpiece.

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