Hello, friends. It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted after my recent “big comeback tour,” and I apologize. I’m sure we’ve each been dealing with Covid-19 issues, whatever they may be, in our own little corners of the world, and I was no exception. Thankfully, I have not been infected. I was, however, afraid my daughter was. She had been sick for more than two weeks, and the Health Department and hospital refused to test her because she hadn’t been out of the country in the past month. Nearly three weeks in, she was finally able to get tested, and turns out she had the flu but was thankfully negative for Coronavirus.
You’ve also probably heard a lot about Hydroxychloroquine in the news lately. I happen to take that to manage my Lupus, and even though some rumors were out there that people with Lupus could not get Coronavirus for this reason, several in a couple of Lupus groups I’m in who also take this medicine have turned up positive, and one case was pretty serious. And then the “fatal side effects” news came along. So, between worrying about my kiddo as well as dealing with the stress of my medication being on shortage when I needed a refill, and then stressing over the idea that it causes heart issues, my Lupus went into a full-blown flare, and I was pretty much incapacitated these last weeks.
Anyhoozle, I’ve been waiting to get all the other stuff out of the way that I’ve been saving up to blog about so that I could start sharing the “artsy” stuff I’ve been doing around the house. That time has come. It’s such an extreme difference in how it feels to finally own a house versus having always rented. It really inspires me to create. It also inspires Sister Michelle to utilize all her talents to their finest, such as painting the walls and trim, replacing the plumbing, etc. (among her other many talents), and it brings out Son Jeremy’s magnificent ability to watch YouTube and learn a new skill then conquer the heck out of it on the first try (such as replacing all the baseboards and crown molding). As for me, my skill is in seeing a space and envisioning it to be something else, then making that happen.
When we moved in, there was a 90s “wall cubby” in the kitchen that was being used by the previous owner as a computer station. But that wasn’t for us. I wanted a large pantry that looked a lot more modern than the 1997 build-date of my house. We hired a contractor to frame it out, and unfortunately, that was our first realization that contractors: 1) are difficult to find; 2) will likely drive up the price after they make a quote; and 3) may not hesitate to take advantage of women because they think we don’t know what they’re talking about.
The contractor who framed out our pantry: 1) didn’t make sure the door was level (not 45 degree angles around the door); 2) knew I intended to add shelves on both sides, yet didn’t add any additional bracing studs to hold shelves (which were obviously intended to hold heavy items such as cans); and 3) did not even tape and mud where the new walls met the existing wall, leaving large gaps. As it turned out, his knockdown texture also didn’t match the existing pattern size, so I bought a hopper and skim-coated everything and re-textured it (and later, just about the entire house).
After Sister Michelle and I figured out the best way to get the shelves up and be sturdy, she painted and I got busy on the computer designing a transom window. I bought a thick piece of glass and took it to a vinyl cutting shop where they printed and affixed my design, then I bought a sheet of frosted glass stick-on and applied it to the back of the glass, then had Michelle assist while I built the window frame. She painted it, then with Jeremy’s help, she installed it, and I found the fancy corner brackets on Etsy (pictured in the bottom photo).
As for the inside, I got some different sized plastic bins and added chalkboard decals and wrote whatever categories of food would go in them with a white paint marker. For the bins behind the first row, I made additional labels that I affixed to wooden clothespins so that the contents could be seen at a glance.
If you can see the wine shelf above, you don’t need to tell me that the bottles should be stored on their side… I know I need to build or buy something to lay them flat in, but I haven’t gotten to that yet. Eventually, we hope to remodel the island area of the kitchen and add a wine refrigerator to the cabinet area underneath.
Let’s talk: How are you and your family holding up under the Pandemic? Have you ever used a drywall hopper to texture a wall? When was the last time you made a significant change to your house?
Rachel Carrera, Novelist 