Dishwasher to Storage

We’ve been working on this project on and off for several months now. Our dishwasher died in December and rather than have a broken machine in our kitchen, we decided it would be better to have the extra storage. Here I’ve split up the process into the big steps that we took.

Removing Dish Washer

First, we had to remove our dishwasher. We turned off the water near the dishwasher, remove the foot board, and lower the dishwasher. We then pulled out the machine, unhooked the water and drainage pipes, and we fully removed the dishwasher from our house.

Capping Garbage Disposal

The drainage for the dishwasher came into our garbage disposal. This posed an issue since the garbage disposal usually had a metal plug that would keep it sealed, but once it is popped out, there is no way to reattach it even if you kept the tab. We ended up using a rubber foot for protecting a chair leg and used a hose clamp to attach it onto the arm of the garbage disposal.

Making Walls, Bottom Shelf, & Painting

We were left with a mess. There was a hole in the left wall there the hoses were run to/from the water supply, and there were live wires for that was the dishwasher. First, Josh capped off each wire and wrapped it with electrical tape (the universal sign for a live wire), we then attached it out of the way. We got it so our water was no longer leaking and so that we won’t have to worry about them leaking again any time soon. We cut out the section of damaged wall, cut a piece of plywood to fit, and attached it with glue, filled the crack with a glue and sawdust mixture, plastered the wall, and sanded it flat. We used MDF to create a false wall in the back. We used brackets to wedge it against the wall since we didn’t want to put screws into our metal walls. We then made the bottom shelf with plywood and 2 2×4 feet that ran the width of the gap, with one placed in alignment with the cabinets on either side. This made a consistent kick board along the ground. Finally, we glued in the shelf to the cement, and we calked in the shelf and painted everything white.

Making Curtain Rod and Shelves

Josh made a holder for the curtain rod. He used 1/2 inch wood to create mounting points on either end. He drilled into each a hole for 1/2 inch conduit, and that would be my curtain rod. I had a set of extra curtains from college, so I added one panel, sewed it to the correct length, then attached the curtain rod. The mounting points for the curtain rod don’t have an option to simply remove the rod at this point, but we plan to rework this in the future. You can also just order a small tensions rod off the internet as long as you have the measurements. Finally, Josh took some aluminum angle to make the mounts for the selves. He drilled 3 holes to attache each to the sides of the cabinets and he added some on top if i even want to attach the shelves permanently. I picked the height I wanted, Josh cut 23/32 inch plywood to be shelves, I added 2 coats of white paint to everything, installed, and reorganized.

Final Product

April 12, 2020 1

What Food Can You Freeze? What about Canning?

Freezing is a great way to preserve food if you have an excess and you don’t want it to go bad. Freezing some food will change their texture and consistency, but many things you freeze will act completely normal in your choice of meal. I mention in passing in many of my recipes that I freeze certain things, but I think it would be helpful to have this list made for those who are curious what you can preserve in a freezer. The only thing about a freezer that you need to be aware of before you stock it is how often you lose power, and how long it us usually out for. A freezer can last 2 days unopened without power. If you lose power often or for longer periods, you may want to consider getting a generator.

What can you store in the freezer?

Bread – store bought in original package, or homemade wrapped or vacuum sealed to eliminate air and freezer burn
Meats – wrapped or vacuum sealed to eliminate air and freezer burn
Cheese – shredded lasts fine, blocks can have texture changes and hard cheeses preserve best
Prepackaged meats – this means hotdogs, sausages, hams, chicken, or turkey in vacuum. You can also freeze lunch meat as you get it from the store
Anything already frozen – prepared foods, frozen meals, frozen fruits or veggies
Grains – You can freeze flour, oats, cornmeal, rice, etc, however they tend to have a long shelf life as is. You’ll want to re-bag, label, and freeze to eliminate water exposure
Leftover cooked meats – extra turkey, ham, lamb, or pork from a holiday or event can be frozen and easily reheated. Meat prepared with sauces can also be frozen, however keep in mind dairy doesn’t freeze well
Stock – in a container that allows for slight expansion
Soup – you can freeze soups that are broth or stock based. Somethings in soup don’t freeze well like potatoes, and grains like noodles and rice will become mushy if you overcook them before freezing. Also don’t freeze a dairy based soup, dairy separates and becomes grainy
Diced fruits/veggies – Fruits and veggies can be frozen, however they will lose their crispness. This means things like lettuce wilt and become floppy, and whole carrots become gummy. However onions and peppers can be diced or sliced for stirfry or other sauteed recipes. Fruits can also be frozen and taste great in smoothies

Canning is a great way to preserve what you have and prepare for the future, limiting some of the items you need to buy over the next year or more. At this point I’ve only canned a few items myself, however this summer Josh and I are planting a garden, so I hope to get even more veggies canned this coming summer/fall.

Canning has been tested by the USDA and they have recommended times and methods for all things canning. You can find out more on their website or here. Below are some of the things I have canned. Follow the instructions listed under the USDA’s website for safest food practices.

What can you water-bath can?

Tomatoes
Pickles
Fruits
Syrup
Jams

April 8, 2020 0

Bathroom Transformation

Josh and I hadn’t been able to do too much with the bathroom since we moved in. We had big plans, and the bathroom is the smallest room in the house, so why not refinish it a bit? We decided we were going to paint, so we went out and picked paint colors and came home with 2 gallons of paint and a primer.

Before painting, we had to remove everything from the bathroom. We decided to paint behind the toilet, so that came apart. Then, we found mold. So, we mixed up several buckets of hot water and Ajax and we scrubbed all of the walls and the baseboards. Once that was done, we taped off the baseboards, the tile, and the ceiling.

We painted all of the walls, starting behind the toilet, so we could put on a second coat and assemble the toilet that night, since it’s our only bathroom. We picked the color “Courtly Purple” by Behr. The color went on pinker, but it dried to this beautiful light purple. I also primered the cabinet with 2 layers of 1-2-3 Zinsser primer. This primer is mold resistant, which is very important so close to our shower.

Finally, I painted the cabinet, inside and out, “Anonymous” by Behr. It’s a fully gray that seems dark, but it adds a boldness to the room, and ties together the tiling since where is some gray in them. Once I finished painting them with 2 layers, I attached the doors and replaced the handles. I also reorganized our bathroom. I was able to finally utilize the space under the sink well, and I was able to clean up the clutter that was accumulating on our wooden shelf.

We have a few more plans for our bathroom. We plan to install a wall mounted shower curtain rod, buy a new shower curtain, get a new mirror that can be mounted easily to the wall, adding wall outlets (since there are none), and installing a vent fan.

March 17, 2020 1

Closet Work

Josh and I have also been working on the closet in our spare room since January. We call that room The Green Room, since the carpet is very green. The closet was also green carpet, and we really aren’t big fans of it. The house also gets lots of moisture into the house, so we plan to seal all of our cement pad with paint eventually.

First, we removed the carpet. We used a box cutter to cut the carpet just past the threshold into the closet. We then ripped up the carpet and the padding they glued to the original tiling, and we threw it away. Josh also used a chisel to remove the carpet strips that were nailed into the foundation.

We then found clearance wood linoleum planks at Ollie’s. We were able to get 8 pieces for a little over $13. We also bought quick cement and a metal putty knife at other stores. We also needed our metal chisel to scrap the remaining padding off the tiles, a gallon of oops paint that we bought last summer for $9, and a tape measure.

Josh scrapped off the padding and then scrubbed the floor with soapy water. We let that dry for a day. We then applied the quick cement and learned to block that off after Newman left a paw print in it. Once it dried for another day or 2, we took 2 days to apply 2 coats of paint to seal off the tiles from the new flooring. We took a couple more days to let that dry.

Finally, installing the tiles. First, we watched this video. We then decided to just wing it. We used 4 tiles in the processes. The biggest hint is to measure, take it slowly, and to cut the boards to move them easily. This video is a big help, and teaches lots of the basics. We used a table saw to cut the flooring. Start from the back corner, and stagger your cuts so you don’t have one giant seam.

March 10, 2020 1

Removing Wallpaper

When we moved in, there was a wall that ran through the house that was covered in wallpaper. It ran from the utility room through the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway outside the bathroom and two bedrooms. It literally went throughout the whole house. We have been working for weeks to remove some the wallpaper and to figure out how to deal with some spots that were giving us some problems. First, there was not just one layer of wallpaper, but two layers of the exact same wallpaper! Second, there were spots where they plastered over the wallpaper extensively to cover all damage, now we were stuck with spots that had plaster on top of the two layers of wallpaper!

Before New Year’s, we were able to strip the wallpaper almost completely off of 1/3 of the wallpapered surfaces in the house. We recently were able to finish that first third by sanding off the plaster, removing the underlying wallpaper, plastering spots that were damaged, sanding again, washing the walls, then finally painting the wall. Thankfully, this wallpaper can be removed with water, so that has been very helpful, but it was still a lot of work. Take a look at the work so far, and keep an eye out as we still have 2/3 left to go!

The next two photos show some flaws in the wall after painting. I’ll let you know what we do about that in the future, but for now we’re gonna leave it since you can only really see the flaws at night in artificial lighting.