Bathroom
Before and after: Lights in bathroom were only from overhead fluorescent lights which stopped working. No more light problems with the new fixture which should also make it easier for my mom to change light bulbs when needed. However, since we are using compact fluorescent light bulbs, they are supposed to last many years.
Since the picture of the lights do not do it justice, here is a product picture (which I still don't think do the glass shades justice):
Before and after: The shower curtain did not do the best job of keeping the water out. The shower door provides a nice seal.
Kitchen:
Before and after: The counter was crowded because the microwave took up valuable counter space. By making a microwave shelf, more counter space is available.
Before and after: The microwave was a "perfect" fit, even though I had to install the shelf twice. I had not properly considered the height of the microwave when installing the shelf initially.
Other accomplishments on this trip:
- Due to my previous handy work, the new front door was a little difficult to open and close. I sanded the frame a bit and had to reprime/paint, but now the door opens much easier than previously. Also, although not due to me, the kitchen door was also difficult to open and close, so I also sanded, reprimed/painted the kitchen door. The inside of the kitchen door was also looking a little shabby, so I sanded and repainted the interior of the door.
- To make the dining/living room look less cluttered, moved the computer desk and large coffee table to the guest room. Not only does it make the dining/living room look more spacious, there’s less furniture which can get cluttered. Even if this area gets cluttered, with fewer furniture pieces left, it should be easy to tidy up in case of guests. In case the guest room gets too cluttered, the guest room door can be shut.
- To allow my mom to work on the computer in the guest bedroom, put a TV in there so she can watch TV while working on the computer. I brought a small TV which we had in Texas and put it in her guest room. Since it would be most convenient if she can watch anything from ReplayTV, I had to connect the cable from the ReplayTV unit in the living room into the guest bedroom. Unfortunately, almost all the underfloor wiring I did when we installed the laminate flooring is not working. I had to put up a new coax cable. Along the ceiling, the cable is still expored, so I will need to cover it with crown molding on the next trip.
- Put together the kitchen cart so my mom can have more storage space in the kitchen. Originally I wanted my mom to get a dishwasher for the empty spot underneath the counter, but she really needs storage space… I happened to have a kitchen cart from the container store which is an exact fit, so I brought it to Florida and put it together. Not only does she get extra more storage but the kitchen cart has a cutting board type top so she can use it for extra counter space, too, when needed.
- Put together the bathroom cart so my mom can have more storage space in the bathroom. In her vanity, the previous owner had put up shelves where the vanity chair should go and covered the shelves with an ugly folding door. The problems with it were (1) the folding door is ugly and (2) with deep shelves like that, you have a difficult time accessing anything in the shelves, so it quickly became an unusable storage area. By building a cart somewhat similar to the kitchen cart (but lower), she can pull out the cart to access the contents or actually simply pull out the drawers.
- Turned the bathroom switch/outlet combination upside down. With the switch/outlet combination, the outlet was on the bottom. I had previously given her a Sentina motion-detector nightlight. The nice thing about it is that you can set it up as a nightlight which is on when it detects motion. This was set up in the bathroom and would work well when she walks into the bathroom in the middle of the night. (Due to the way the bathroom is set up, it is shared with the guest room and the light switch is actually near the guest room bedroom, not her bedroom.) However, the motion detector part of the nightlight was pointing down since it could not point up due to the light switch… and would not show as much light in the room. By turning the switch upside down, I can now have the nightlight facing up, which actually makes it unnecessary to turn on the bathroom light if you don’t need so much light to do what you need to do in the bathroom… if you know what I mean.
- Put in new spikes in her golf shoes. She often waits too long before replacing spikes which make it a much more difficult job taking them out. She now has two more pairs of golf shoes she can use.
- Sanded a 2-step folding ladder/stool. Unfortunately this had seen better days and was covered with paint, caulk, etc. Sanded it down, so my mom can apply a new coat of stain if she wants or just leave it with the sanded look.
New "home office":
Things for future trips:
- When I decided on a clear glass shower door, part of my reasoning for that was because there was no light above the bath area and I thought it would help to get as much light into the bathing area as possible especially since the previous overhead flourescent lights seemed to be on their last leg. However, I am now rethinking whether the clear glass was the best option. I'll have to see if we change the way this looks. Yes, it looks spectacular when clean, but...
- I need to put up crown molding in the bathroom and living room to cover up some of the handy work.
- I still need to work on the threshold at the front door.
- I should put up some weatherstrip on the front door and kitchen door.
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