DiningRoom

Saturday, January 23. 2010

Wallpaper I Wanted. And Wallpaper I Got.

Okay, today was looonnnnggg.

I knew I wanted to tackle the wallpaper that I've been talking so much about in our dining room. The problem was, I've never wallpapered before, but like usual, the Internet proved to be helpful (sort of).

I was following this guide: http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-apply-wallpaper/index.html

One thing that took me by surprise was this:

Prime the walls with a high-quality oil-based primer. Primer is especially necessary for new walls because untreated drywall will quickly absorb moisture from the wallpaper adhesive.

Not really reading the latter part of that quote, off to Home Depot Barrhaven I went. I asked the paint expert about priming the walls. Apparently that's a no no and the builders priming and painting would suffice.

First of all I purchased the wallpaper months before we moved in. I tried to explain to the lady that I'd need 3 rolls, but she insisted that 2 would suffice. Well it didn't matter anyway, there were only two left in the store. But, sure enough, when I'm ready to install, I do the math and I'm missing one strip. So it wouldn't be a big deal if all I have to do is buy one more roll. With wallpaper, it doesn't really work like that. Each roll has a lot number associated with it. So you need to match the lot number so that each roll is guaranteed to match. I had been checking Home Depot to see if they would restock, but they hadn't. The HD employee was supposed to call me and let me know when they got more rolls in. Yeap, no call.

Anyway, so here we are 5 months later and I need about 7 more feet. I call Kanata Home Depot and they are crazy busy, so I left a message. Sure enough, 2 hours pass, no call and I'm going to start to run out of light. I took my chances and decided to just visit the big HD again (but this time in Kanata) and hoped they had 3 rolls. I was in luck! But I also had to talk to a few people since my receipt was so old The wallpaper woman remembered me and gave Customer Service a call. Finally, I would be able to start wallpapering.

The one thing about me though is, I didn't want to have travelled to Kanata just to get wallpaper. So naturally I had to go shopping at Costco and do some groceries. Good thing though, I decided it was time to put up the television, so I picked up a wall mount. We'll get to that in another post...

So after reading and rereading the online guide, we were ready to wallpaper. We couldn't decide whether to do the bulk head or not. For now we're going to leave.

We figured since the wallpaper was going up, we might as well install the chandelier. Mind you that's a story in itself, but while at home depot I had to get them to cut down one of the pieces that came with the chandelier since it wouldn't install properly. The man at HD wasn't very happy. :S

What I wasn't happy with was the fact I had to hang each and every one of the crystals. Now that was a lot of effort and pain. But we ended up happy with the result.

Check out the pictures from our wallpaper / chandelier adventure. However, that table is just temporary.

Tuesday, September 8. 2009

We got the Call!

Friday night, we got the call. Not the "it's time to pick up your keys" type of call, but the "your chandelier is in" call.

We tried to leave Saturday morning, but the car wouldn't start. All we got was a "click, turn, and nothing". Since I don't know much about cars, I called CAA.

Attempt number 25, and Dennis got "click, click, click, click, click, click, and a start". Left it running for a while, turned it off and came upstairs to tell me he thinks it's the battery.

After a few hours CAA finally came, boosted the car, checked it's vitals, and then changed the battery. Apparently the print out said our CCA was 14 at the current temperature of 21C. The rated battery was apparently at 720. I'm pretty sure the battery we had was not rated at 720 CCA, but whatever, the car works now.

So I picked up the chandelier today at Home Depot. This thing has sooo many pieces to assemble. I guess we'll have to do that when we move in. I did however, count all the pieces. Not a fun night at all. But it did come with a few extra pieces, so that's always good.

Friday, September 4. 2009

Table For Two... Or Six

So I had mentioned that I wanted to attempt to design our own dining table. I think I've done it, but I'm currently getting it priced out now...


I have contacted the following companies:
- M&T Glass
- Centennial Glass
- Mirror Works
- Rossen Glass
- Ottawa Glass

I need to find out how thick the glass should be. I researched and it should be between 3/8" and 3/4". Hopefully most of them get back to me. In the mean time.. we'll attempt to find Plan B: the perfect table at an ideal price.