Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

We thought we were pretty clever a while back when we replaced the temperature sensor in our freezer ourselves rather than call a technician to repair it.  After putting in the new sensor, the freezer stayed at the set temperature consistently for a few days (or at least the readout said it was at the set temperature), but then it started ranging up and down again.  By last week it was averaging around 20°F.  Then this morning, as I was putting some things away in the fridge, I noticed that a visible stream of water vapor was floating out of the top corner of the fridge when I opened the door.  Reaching back to the cooling vents, I found that hot air was blowing out of them instead of cold.

We searched around Angie’s List a bit for fridge technicians in the area and found a couple that seemed promising, but the price range for repairs seemed to be between $250 and $400.  Considering that the owners manual left in the house was accompanied by what looked like records of several prior service calls, we decided that it would probably be more economical in the long run to just buy a new fridge.  Aside from the general bummer of needing to drop a lot of money unexpectedly, we had thought of the fridge as a pretty major perk when we bought the place, what with it’s automatic ice maker and digital temperature readout.  It wasn’t at all the appliance that we thought we would have to worry about.

After some quick comparison shopping (there are three appliance stores at one of the local malls), we found a reduced price Whirlpool model with EnergyStar certification (our old fridge didn’t have that) and three crisper drawers which will be helpful considering how much produce we’re going to have once our CSA starts up.  Plus it makes cubed and crushed ice, which is a major boon for Tina.  Sigh.

In cheerier news, I finally have a home office to work from.  We had decided that the small nook off the upstairs bedroom we’re using as a studio space/craft room would be a good place for me to work.

It has a plywood entry that we refer to as the “princess door”.  Eventually, this will come down, but for the time being I didn’t have the energy to rip down the extra framing and have to deal with the condition of the wood underneath.  However, I did rip out the 2x4s that had been nailed into the frame and opposite wall to hold up a wire shelf.  It came out pretty easily with a pry bar; a satisfyingly masculine process.

Also, enough time had passed since our living room renovation that I allowed myself to forget what a pain in the ass it is to strip paint and decided to restore the wood window trim.  This in itself turned what would have been a weekend project into a two week project, but since I’ll be spending a good amount of time with my face two feet from that window, I think it was a good investment.  The rest of the wood trim – baseboards, molding around the princess door – I just put a fresh coat of white paint on.

I thought a bolder color would go nice in the small space.

I was also in need of a new desk for my office.  The rolltop I had in our apartment was fun, but the overhang made it difficult to accommodate my laptop.  After trolling around on Craigslist for a while, I got impatient and went to a nearby furniture liquidator warehouse (local business! low prices!) where I ordered what was supposedly an all-wood desk from a backstock catalog.   As you might expect, I ended up with something that’s not exactly what I wanted for more money than I wish I had paid.  For the record, if it’s sold as an “all wood” desk, I feel like should not include any oriented strand board. Whatever – it’s perfectly fine.

The botanical print was found at the SPCA’s thrift shop in Hyde Park.

It’s really nice to have an open workspace with room for the laptop and printer.  Plus, the deep sill on the window provides extra storage space.

One third of the full-wall bookshelf Tina’s dad made us for our apartment.