The magic of oven cleaner

Did you know you can take the finish off of metal with oven cleaner? I've done it before on bicycle parts ---- removed the anodization off of old parts and made them shiny silver again.

Well, in the battle of me versus the sink, the sink was winning: I couldn't get this thing to not leak. The metal drain ring is mostly plastic and it broke as I was tightening everything to eliminate a leak.

I looked in the box of parts from the old sink that was pulled out and the old sink ring was there and its metal. And it used to be brassy.

I liked the idea of metal, but the brass wouldn't do. So, I tried the oven cleaner trick.The trick is to soak it for 15 minutes or so, then scrub with steel wool, then repeat as necessary.

Here it is about 3/4 of the way done. There are still some small spots in the photo but I was able to get them out. I installed the ring, but it's still undecided if I've officially won the fight.

edit: here is the sink drain ring thing installed:

Bathroom faucet done

Took longer than anticipated (as always), but got the bathroom faucet virtually done this afternoon.

Before:

 

After: 

What have I done?

The Grey Bathroom

Well, we've finally made some good progress on the grey bathroom, enough to post some photos. All we really did was repaint it, but with all of the cabinetry it was a little tougher than most rooms.

Rachel bought the fish prints at HomeGoods and she's planning on filling the sink shelves with blue and clear glass stuff.

Were still planning on getting a new sink and new chrome faucet, but this is pretty good for now:

 

Towel Rack is done

When we removed the previous towel rack there were 6 dime sized holes in the walls. Our new towel rack wouldn't fit those holes so I decided to cover them up. I really wish I had snapped the before picture (or Rachel hyperventilating looking at 6 large holes in the wall) but I didn't.

I bought a 1 x 4 of maple? at Home Depot and routed the edges to make it more decorative. Then I primed it and attached it to the walls using toggle bolts, patched the mounting holes, painted it twice and attached the towel rack.

Who knew one little towel rack could have hours of work behind it?

Board just attached:

Holes plugged:

Primed (also notice new knobs previously mentioned installed):

Final:

Glass knobs in the bathroom

We haven't posted much about our gray bathroom, but it is almost done. We just bought a set of 10 glass knobs off of eBay for $2.50 shipped each. They sell anywhere from $4 - $5 in the store.

Simple As a Can of $#!&ing Paint

How many times have you read in your favorite decorating magazine or blog that a room make-over “may be a simple as a can of paint”? Well, as it turns out, this is nothing but a lie. Apparently you can’t just buy paint and then paint – it is SO much more involved. It includes:
Sanding
Washing
Drying
Priming
Drying
Fixing the primer
Painting
Drying
Hoping you don’t mess up the paint, and then
Deciding if what you’ve messed up is noticeable/livable or not,
and then….either starting over from scratch or deciding you are done.

This is the lesson that I’ve learned from the never-ending sage of painting the bathroom. We finally have a handle on the situation, but it’s taken almost a month, and it is still not freaking done! On Friday, my day off, I spent the good part of the day sanding…I sanded all the paint/primer/paint – whatever off of the bathroom drawers and by Sunday night, they had been cleaned, primed, painted, etc and put BACK IN THE BATHROOM WHERE THEY BELONG! The next step is to finish up the shelves, which should not be as involved. In addition there will be some touch-ups to make and then the fun part begins – decorating!!

I have been scared off a bit from paint, but just the other day, another magazine lured me in to the idea that a can of paint really does have transformative powers:

• A can of paint can change everything. These days they have little sample pints. Try two or three on your wall and see what you think. You’ll know after a week if you can live with it or not.

• The ceiling is the forgotten surface. Paint it a color, or cover it with wallpaper in a small pattern. A pale-blue ceiling brings in the sky; a yellow ceiling adds sunshine.

• If a room has bad bones, paint them out. Doors, window frames, and moldings will disappear if you paint them the same color as the walls. It will hide a million mistakes.

http://www.elledecor.com/decorating/articles/mario-buatta-s-color-secrets

I really want to paint the front room, but I think Jeremy is more scared than I am. He now says only one paint job a quarter. The bathroom is Q1, Bedroom is Q2, and the front room is Q3. I can live with that!

Bathroom upgrades

Here's what else we did this weekend:

 

Added a few items to the bathroom. Were not a fan of the maroon and yellow tile, but it's going to stay for now.

In the meantime, we added the following:

-bathroom vanity and sink
-bronze faucet
-mirror
-no slam toilet seat
-shower curtain and rug

Who knew that that bronze hardware is twice as expensive as chrome? But chrome just didn't look right. Hard to tell in the photo but the cabinet is a dark brown (not black). We have plans to replace the light fixture also.