Plaster & Disaster

This past month or so has been utterly insane at work, so I unfortunately don’t have a lot of juicy new DIY projects to share!  We just got past a big event though, so I’ll be able to reclaim my weekends for wrecking improving the house going forward.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, however, the world doesn’t stop.  Even without a full-on project I wanted to pop-in and share a few updates!

Our Ongoing Fridge Disaster

I shared last week about our appliance selections for the kitchen renovation, and how happy we are with our new stove and how excited we were about our choice of refrigerator.

Pretty, right?  So you bet I was pumped when Brad texted me at work to tell me it had been delivered.  However, this is currently my kitchen:

So what went wrong?  First of all, you might remember that one of the main features I wanted in a refrigerator (as a consolation prize for not getting my way on a high-end white appliance) was that it wouldn’t have a water dispenser/ice maker on the door.  I think they’re ugly and don’t really use them that much and this appliance is right in the middle of our house and I didn’t want to look at it.  So Brad looked long and hard and found a great model without one.

That was not the model that was delivered.  Further, while we had purposefully bought a dinged unit on discount from Sears Outlet, the listed damage was entirely on the side of the unit, while this one has a lot of dents on the front:

(It’s really hard to photograph the stainless steel, so it actually looks a lot better in that photo than it does in person.)

We’re not thrilled and Sears has yet to respond to the customer complaint, so we’re currently in a holding pattern with a random fridge sitting in the middle of the house.  This could go a lot of different ways so I will keep you posted!

New Tenants

My second update is much more fun.  Remember the squirrel house that I built for my mom when she had to oust a squirrel family from living on her roof?

I promised to update you if/when they moved in, and they have!  It took a little while because the squirrel parents didn’t go there – we think they moved right to their summer den instead.  However, it seems like two of their kids have moved in!

You can see them both in this photo (one on the branch, one a little lower on the trunk).  Apparently there was quite a battle when the house was discovered and these two are currently tag-teaming guarding it, making quite a ruckus when any other squirrels come by.

They do use the porch to cross the house (which is my favorite part) but mainly lounge on the branches on either side to keep an eye out for intruders.

You can see them right from the screened in porch, which is really fun!  My Dad and I always sit there and drink a bottle of wine for fathers day and it was a blast to watch them come and go, very satisfying!