Home Improvement

Now that Greg is done with school for the summer, we've decided to get to work on some things we've been wanting to do at the condo. The first change was quite simple, but it makes a big difference! We have Mom and Ikea to thank for this idea--changing the cabinet door handles in the kitchen. Mom saw an Ikea add that featured dark kitchen cabinets with neat brushed silver handles. When she and I were at Ikea, we checked out the cabinet handles, and it gave me some really good ideas. So, I removed the 1980s decorative metal things behind the original white knobs on the cabinet doors, replaced them with some stylo brushed silver handles, and bam--new kitchen, just like that! The cabinet doors were nasty where the metal stuff had been, with years of gunk built up in there, but Greg and I cleaned, polished, and stained those areas so the doors look better than new.

Project #2 was a storage shed. The one problem with the condo was that it didn't have any outdoor storage for bikes, etc. So, we found this cool little mini house and spent last Saturday assembling it. It is really nice, and perfect for the things we needed to store outside (including our new grill that we got for summer cookouts).

We have also been cultivating some tomatoes--my favorite fresh vegetable. We had two of these "Topsy Turvy" upside down tomato growing apparati hanging outside, and they were both doing so great. But, unfortunately one of them had its trunk snapped by one of the storms, so we'll have to re-plant that one. But the other one is going gangbusters, and I think we'll have some tomatoes very soon. Our problem with a garden last year was that the bunnies ate everything--but when it's above the ground, we're good to go. Now we just need to finish the main floor bathroom . . .