More Adventures in Homeownership

Happy Labor Day!

The best Mondays are the ones that don’t require you to wake up before the sunrises, amiright?!

We’re taking it slow today, as we had a rather productive weekend. The only thing on our agenda today is finally finishing up our homemade cornhole boards with a few coats of poly! The building part was easy, but painting has taken for. ever. I can’t wait to get the boards out in the backyard, once we have some cooler weather!

And speaking of cooler weather, we actually had some pretty low temps over the weekend. It was the perfect opportunity to get some chili cooking and beer bread in the oven! Lots of friends on Facebook apparently had the same idea! I saw tons of chili posts!

We’re back into the 70s and 80s now, but I am so excited for fall! Can you believe that I’ve never really experienced fall?! I mean, I grew up in South Florida, and somehow, the Army has managed to only station us in warmer climates. Well, except for Fort Leonard Wood, which was basically only for summer (May-Oct).

Anyway, back to this weekend. We finally moved the X-brace table into the house! I’ve been dying to a table like this for forever, and John made it happen! I’m in love with it! We put it under the gallery wall and it fits perfectly! Once again, it was the paint and sealing that slowed us down. For the top, we used white chalk paint, and the bottom is stained with dark walnut (my fave stain color also found on my chalkboard!). At first, I didn’t think I liked the color combo (I think we should have inverted the colors) but it’s grown on me.

Additionally, we had to replace ANOTHER toilet in the house this weekend! We noticed some water damage forming on the ceiling downstairs under where the toilet sits in our master. We’re assuming that it’s the same situation that happened with our powder room toilet- the wax ring that the toilet sits on went bad, and allowed the water to leak into the floor. Given that the house is 11 years old, plus it sat empty as a foreclosure for nearly 5 years, the wax rings were in rough shape after lifting both old toilets.

Plus, did you know that using a plunger on toilets with wax rings can cause issues?! Yep! So, we used new rings made of foam and rubber in our replacement projects! Although we could have easily reinstalled the old toilet in our master bathroom, we picked up a new more modern one to match the powder room toilet! So much more comfy! And so easy to do! Says the lady that sits back and watches.

But really, it’s a pretty straightforward home improvement project, with all of the instructions clearly outlined in the box for the toilet and ring installation. 

And finally, we installed a new set of blinds above the toilet. We were quick to add/replace all the blinds downstairs, but since no one can really see into the upstairs, we’ve taken our time. Last weekend, there were police lights a street away, so I headed up to the window to take a peek. The original blinds are super old, so they snapped as soon as I touched them.

Annnd. Just one more thing! I need your help, please! I want to have my mantel ready for fall and Christmas decorating ASAP! Only, I don’t love it. Originally, I built the white wooden panel to cover up the giant hole meant to house a TV above our fireplace. I didn’t love how that looked either, so now I’m thinking the entire area need some paint? All of the window and door frames have the same wood, only they’re painted white. Thoughts painting the entire mantel area white?!

Any and all suggestions are welcome! Especially since this is the first house I’ve lived in with a mantel.

So many new things for me lately! Ha!

That’s it for me today! Be prepared for the “Monday-est Tuesday” memes tomorrow! 😉 Have a great week!

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