Tag: household

Kitchen Update

I won’t call it remodeling, but two things out of the three I wanted to do are completed.

The kitchen was the last space that needed painting, and I held off last summer because I didn’t decide on the color. This spring, I was ready, and I love the way the kitchen looks now!

It also worked perfectly that now I work in the office where they feed me:), so I had no problem with not having a kitchen for two days. It was for the third time that these painters did some job in my house and each time I admire the quality of their work. The trimming, and all these small details – everything is perfect. Also, they clean up the area after the job is done. They even take down the pictures and put them back!

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Beautification

I am moving through my To-Do list. 

After all the lights were put up, I asked the handyman to change the wiring of the lights so that I won’t have a string of lights down to the plug, which he did. Also, Boris replaced the remaining locks, and now finally, I have all four locks opening by one key, and all the locks are working!

I finished planting, and the flowerbeds look amazing. And I have the artwork on the wall, something I have wanted to have since I moved here! 

Most of my neighbors have some artwork, but the people who lived in this apartment before removed whatever they had on the wall, so I could only see the remaining screws. I was looking for something I could place on the wall for the past two summers and finally found something three weeks ago at the Greenleaf Art Center Open House.

This art was absolutely not like what I envisioned when I was thinking about this hypothetical art on my wall, but I saw it and loved it! Initially, I eyed another piece, which was monochrome, but when I talked to the artist and showed her a picture of the wall and a balcony, I suddenly thought that the other board, with pink elements, would look better. 

Angela (that was the artist’s name) agreed to put an extra protection coating on the board, and we agreed that I would pick it up in two weeks. Now, the board is there, and my balcony looks perfect, and I am ready to enjoy the summer!

Lights And Other Home Improvements

I finally have the lights on my balcony! All my neighbors had the lights, and I didn’t – that’s because the people who lived here before stripped off pretty much everything possible and impossible.

I still didn’t fix everything which was broken at the time I moved in, but I am getting closer and closer. I had a list of small repairs for which I tried to hire somebody to fix. That was one more never-ending project. The handyman who fixed the mice holes in my kitchen kept promising to find time and come over but kept pushing the date. Then I remembered that when I was looking for an electrician, somebody called me after I already found an electric company, and they said that they could do other repairs. This person was late the first time when we agreed he’d come over, and then he kept coming too late to start work, not showing up at all, etc. Each time, he apologized profusely and promised it would never happen again.

Somehow, I knew that he was not an imposter but had a problem with being on time. On Friday, he finally came here, if not entirely on time, but early enough to be able to do most of the things I hired him for. I knew he underestimated the amount of time it would take him to put the lights up (it took three times longer than he thought), so I paid him more than he originally asked and told him that we could finish the rest after the holidays.

Among other things, he replaced the lock on the back door, so I do not have a lock that can’t be opened with a key anymore (yes, I had it for two years!). And – he bought and put up the lights on the balcony. I need to replace the rest of the locks so that there would be one key for all, but not until everybody who has keys from my house has a new one. Hopefully, by May 31, everybody will have it! Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have the lights! They are operated by light sensors, so the light can either automatically turn on at dust and turn off at dawn or be on for a specified number of hours after dusk. Also, I have a remote to turn it on and off from the inside.

Simple Solutions

For a while now, I thought I needed a new fridge because the one I have now is most likely as old as the house after the rehab, that’s circa 2005, and also, it was generating some weird noise. The noise stopped a couple of weeks ago, but still- I do not want to be in a situation where I need to buy something immediately because the old one is broken.

I knew that I would have a problem with the fridge height – there is a shelf right above it, and the existing fridge just – barely-makes it. And I had a similar problem in Palatine, but there it was an actual hard limit.

I spent a lot of time on the internet (it turned out that you can’t ask Google “less than 67-inch height!” I mean, you can ask, but the results will be unsatisfactory).

So I spent a lot of time looking for a suitable model, and then I finally limited my search to three, and I asked Boris to help me to make a final selection. When we got on the call, I started by saying that I couldn’t get all the cool new features I wanted because all the newer models were higher than 67 inches. For that, Boris replied: why won’t we just lift the shelf several inches up? It’s plenty of room above it! And then I realized that I was subconsciously led by my Palatine experience where there was nothing to lift! I checked how this shelf is attached, and it turned out it’s just four screws on each side and one board on each side!

We decided to wait till Boris comes at the end of the month and move the shelf up, and then I can choose the fridge of my dreams!

More Gifts :)

One of the speakers brought gifts for organizers and speakers!

They blend really well with my other dishes 🙂

One More Time About My Cup Holder

The only cups that fit perfectly in this cup holder are IKEA cups! It was made for IKEA and designed to hold any IKEA cup model! And any non-IKEA (aka US) models just hang unevenly…

Light Fixtures Fixing

One of my significant accomplishments in December was fixing all the light fixtures and ceiling fans that didn’t work. I tried to approach this problem a couple of months after I moved in. Still, I had a hard time finding an electrician, and when I finally found one, he fixed a couple of things, and we agreed on what was next, a supply chain crisis broke, and they never got the ordered part, and I think they ended up going out of business. And after that, I never had time to start searching again.

I resumed my search when two more kitchen light fixtures died, including the one over the sink. I went to the NextDoor with one more cry for an electrician, got several recommendations, and started contacting them one by one, honestly trying to support the local business. At this point, I didn’t hold a hope somebody would be able to fix the fans for which there were no remotes, no instructions, and models unknown. I wanted to fix the lights in the kitchen.
After more than a week and several unsuccessful attempts (I called, texted, and emailed, people either would not respond or responded they were not available at the times which worked for me, or they would even come but not be able to fix things) I gave up and messaged a relatively big company which was also mentioned in response to my post on NextDoor.

And they were the best! They called me back right away and scheduled the evaluation service call promptly. During this first service call, they actually fixed several things right away, and we agreed on the next steps, which were also scheduled within two weeks. No supply chain crisis, no problem. Comparing what was promised to me in the summer of 2021 and what was done now, and prices, I’d say there was no significant difference. Oh, and when I found that one thing stopped working a day later, they came to fix it right away, and then it was even better. So the moral of the story: sometimes shopping local is not the best option.

Done With The Mice. For Now

Hopefully, the latest season of “mice and me” is over. After two weeks of being unable to schedule and miscommunications, a person who was going to take care of the mice hole in my kitchen was here!

Originally, it was supposed to be a big project. For a while, exterminators who came to my apartment said they did not know where the hole was. Then, in summer, an inspector said it looked like the hole was behind the kitchen cabinets. That sounded terrifying because I have granite countertops, and there was no easy way to disassemble them.

We discussed it with our building handyman several times and finally agreed to cut the back of the cabinets and try to locate the hole. But when another guy who takes work from him arrived, he said – how about we open the boards on the bottom of the cabinets? And he did, and then he was able to locate the hole and stuff it without any cabinets cutting!

My only question is, why the inspectors, whose job is to identify where mice are coming from, could not figure this out, and this person could? Oh, and he cleaned behind the stove where we set a new trap, and after he had left, he called me to say that if I see a mouse, I should call him, and he would come for free.

So why we have our biannual mice inspection in the building and most importantly, why we pay for it?!

Home Improvements

I could write a long saga of my kitchen lights, of which some didn’t work from the day I moved in. And to be precise, more light fixtures in this apartment did not work than did :). Same regarding the ceiling fans. 

I made one attempt to fix them in June 2021, which was only partially successful because the people who started fixing them went out of business. 

Recently, two more kitchen light fixtures stopped working, and I had to resume my search. There were several unsuccessful attempts, plus three no-shows, so basically, I went through the complete list of NextDoor recommendations.  

Finally, I scheduled an inspection from a bigger electrical company, which was a success. Although they said it would be a consultation only, the guy fixed all the kitchen lights (I never had them all working!) and turned on the jacuzzi (the actual switch still should be fixed, but at least I can plug/unplug it). And now they are going to fix all the non-working ceiling fans. The latter will cost close to 1K, but during my multiple attempts to fix them, I got a feeling that it would be something around that, even before inflation hit. I had money set aside back when this first company was going to fix them; it just never materialized. 

Now finally, my whole move-in list will be completed, although I already know what appliances I am ready to replace 🙂

Mice Again!

How difficult is it to finally find where is a hole the mice enter my house?? Apparently, close to impossible.

How difficult is it to find a time for the third inspection? Apparently, very difficult! I am more not at home than at home these days! 

We’ll see how it will end up!

(I called a handyman to patch the presumed mice hole, and he found a mice in the trap which apparently came from the opposite direction…)