Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Are You Green with Envy?

So this weekend, I dragged husband to Lowe's for the purchase of random house-stuff.  (Is it odd that I'm the one skipping into the store, and he's the one groaning and digging in his heels?)  We casually strolled past the appliances just to get a visual of what we were looking for in terms of refrigerators.

Wait, let me back up. 

We were lucky that almost all appliances came with the house.  Despite that they were white (thus, to-be-replaced), they were in good condition, like-new, clean (thanks for that), and didn't have magenta paint on them (bonus!).  All that was missing was a fridge and a washer/dryer to make it move-in ready. 

So we knew we needed to purchase a fridge before we really decided to move in.  After measuring the area, though, we discovered that we were kind of screwed on size - the area only measures 32 7/8", meaning the biggest we could get was a 32 inch.  Most fridges come in 33", 35", and larger.  Sigh.  So that was the biggest hurdle to find, and atop that, husband had his heart set on stainless steel (or the stainless finish at least).  It only took a little persuasion before I came around to his side, particularly once I harkened back to the memories of having to clean black appliances.  Adding to the equation was the fact that we, under no circumstances, wanted a traditional (freezer-on-top) fridge.  After having the side-by-side at my dad's house, that was the minimum I wanted.  What I really wanted was the bottom-freezer setup (because it gives you so much extra room and you aren't cricking your neck to get the milk out of the fridge or find the butter on the top shelf, as you do with traditional fridges).  What I really, REALLY wanted was the French Door fridge (the one with the french doors on top and the freezer on the bottom), but after even ten minutes of pricing, I realized this was completely out of the question.  Bottom-freezer fridges were over a grand as it was, and the french doors tacked an extra $300-800 (or more!) to that price.  Vetoed.  Sigh. 

So now we have to find a >32" stainless steel fridge with a side-by-side or bottom-freezer for a few hundred bucks.  My limit was $1000 (for a new fridge) but that didn't seem even remotely possible, particularly when a lot of used fridges were nearing that price.  I didn't want to really pay more than $600 for a used fridge, because you know, it's used. 

I searched Craigslist, and outlets, and websites galore for weeks.  I would always find a fridge that fit two of our three qualifications, but never all three.  We all but relegated ourselves to having to buy a traditional fridge to fit the space and buying a cheap-cheap-cheap fridge for the garage for extra food/freezer space, etc. 

Now we're at Lowe's and we're looking at fridges, and the guy points us down one aisle and then comes back and says, "Hey, there's this other fridge over here, but..."  We follow him over there, and we see a Samsung fridge, 32", and it's FRENCH DOOR.  I see the price tag next, and it's $1300, so I immediately deflate.  I take a glance down and notice that the handle to the freezer is missing, and he tells a laughable story about a crazy man wielding a mechanical wheelchair that he didn't know how to drive, who took off the handle in one fell swoop.  Husband says, "So that means you'll sell it to me for $800, right?" and the guy says we'd have to ask his boss, who comes in on Monday.  Husband being the negotiator he is, starts noting all the other problems with the fridge (a tiny wire coming out on one side that you can't see, a tiny dent on the side that you won't be able to see when it's installed, etc), then calls last night.

Y'all?  He got the guy to knock it down to $750.  Free installation. One Year Warranty.  EnergyStar Compliant, humidity-controlled crispers, LED digital display, twin-cooling system, an alarm when you leave the door ajar (!!), the freezer is huge and has two shelves so I will never worry about space again, and it's not real stainless steel, so if for some ungodly reason I wanted to be THAT PERSON who put magnets all over their fridge, I could.  :)

I love my freaking husband.


*squeeeeeee*!!!

It's being delivered Friday though, which means...I have to paint the kitchen.  Or at least, the fridge-area of the kitchen.  So I went over last night and got to work.  Would you like to see the results?

Again, let's do a before and after:


And now.......(unfinished, so don't judge!):



As with the master bedroom, it's a complete 180 over the magenta.  :)  I'm already in love and I'm not even halfway finished yet.  And, as with my previous post, the color reads slightly lighter in the pics than in real life, plus the paint was still wet when I took the pics and paint dries darker.  
I was astounded when I began to paint at how truly inept the McLazies were.  Witness:

Yes, that is paint all over the cabinets.  And on the baseboard.


 I didn't even bother trying to paint inside the lines once I realized I'd have to repaint the baseboards, but even with my slightly-over-the-line green, you can see that it the McLazies painted way over that line.
Sigh.
Way to not take ten seconds to unscrew it off the wall, guys.  Winning!  

So what do you think of the green?  I'll take another picture once the second coat goes on and it's all dry and the baseboards have been painted.

Oh, and the color was Behr's Premium Plus Ultra in Grape Vine, for those other DIYers (like me) who are presently scouring the interweb looking for a particular paint color.  :) I used Satin for the kitchen to help with cleaning.

3 comments:

Tara said...

Congrats! The paint looks great! Live the fridge!!

Jessica said...

Awesome! Much better.

After reading this post and the post about your bedroom, I had a wait-a-minute moment. As in "Wait a minute... the kitchen was magenta and the bedroom was hooker red?... WHAT WERE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???"

Nice color choices. I can't wait to get started with the painting here, too.

Mrs. Clark said...

Thanks Tara! I'm soooo excited for the fridge. I can't wait until it's in and I can play with it! :)

Jess - inorite!! Magenta, really?! I was trying to imagine what bedroom furniture they had in the master bedroom to make that red work...particularly since it used to be dark brown. GLOSSY dark brown...*shudder* PS - you must create blog so i can follow along with your works.

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