Princess Problems: Shower Edition

Remember how I was saying that the bathroom in my new apartment was nothing to write home about?

Most of it was okay, (and I was especially glad to see that before I moved in they had installed a real light with a switch, since when I originally saw the place the bathroom had a pull chain light), but the tiny dollhouse shower (about 29" by 29") ended up being a bit of a bummer.

Just... No.

The shower head appears to be fine, but the water pressure was BALLS. (I MEAN THAT IN A NEGATIVE WAY, BALLS ENTHUSIASTS.)

This was, of course, easily fixed by just replacing the shower head. After scouring the internet and reading an absurd number of product reviews, I decided on the ~*THUNDERHEAD*~. The main thing that attracted me to the THUNDERHEAD was the adjustable neck- I can position the shower head directly above me (for a spa-like experience), making bathing in such a tiny shower much more comfortable. 

The THUNDERHEAD came in the mail today and installation was quick and easy 

I'll add a flange to the neck after I paint

 After installation, I quickly hopped in the shower for research purposes, and OH. MY. GOD. 

GO BUY THIS SHOWER HEAD. 

yasssssssss

I think I'm in love with this thing. It VASTLY improved the water pressure and, as stated on the box, offered a luxurious wide track spray with full body coverage. 

Will this magical shower head stand the test of time? I'll be sure to post an update in a few months. 

Another easily solved issue with the shower was the shower curtain rod, which was comically low.  To remedy this I put up a tension rod a little higher up. I used a regular tension rod made for curtains rather than one for showers, since the one I went out and bought (without measuring first...) turned out to be too big for my lil baby shower! I'll keep you updated if it starts rusting or causes some horrendous tragedy, but for now it seems to be getting the job done just fine. 

LIVEBLOGGING MY FIRST EVER TRIP TO THE LAUNDROMAT!

Dirty laundry

One thing I had to sacrifice in order to strike out on my own was a washer and dryer. I couldn't find a place with laundry in-unit that was within my price range, so I had to suck it up and leave that luxury behind. I've never used a laundromat before. I've never even been to a laundromat before. It was a little intimating to me, for no particular reason other than it was a new, unknown thing, so I put off going for as long as I could. But one can only go so long without washing their clothes, so, on this day of our lord, Saturday, September 12th, 2015, I made my first ever visit to a laundromat.

I picked Wash E-Z in Remington because it was close by and advertised free WiFi.

And so we begin...

11:24 AM: Listening to Laundromat by Nivea feat. R Kelly TO SET THE MOOD

11:27 AM: Accepting the fact that I will have to buy laundry detergent at the laundromat because it appears that somehow I have lost mine (I know. How do you lose laundry detergent?!)

11:30 AM: Leaving my apartment with a laundry bag stuffed full of nearly every piece of clothing I own plus my bath mat and two towels.

11:33 AM: It was raining before but now it's not. #blessed

11:40 AM: Stopping at 7-Eleven to get cash

11:49 AM: Eating a Lunchable purchased at 7-Eleven in my car outside the laundromat

12:08 PM: sitting and waiting while my clothes go through the spin cycle. I wandered in, bewildered, and with the help of the very kind laundromat employee, picked out a 60 lb Mega Load   Washer, plunked down $6.25 in quarters, and found a seat to wait. This place advertises free WiFi, but I'm getting a message on my laptop that the modem needs to be restarted. There's only one person working here, so I don't want to bother her with my #princessproblems :,(

12:19 PM: The person working here told me I can change the channel on the TV if I want. This place has AMC and is open til 11 on Sundays! I found where I'll be watching the Walking Dead this coming season! 

12:25 PM: It's pouring down rain outside again. #forsaken

12:39 PM: My phone is at 25% and I'm getting restless 

12:46 PM: Moved clothes over to the giant 45 lb dryer 

12:52 PM: Note to self: bring a book next time

12:59 PM: There's a woman who just came in and is sitting near me on her laptop! I want to ask her if the WiFi is working for her but I'm not sure if conversation goes against the social mores of laundromatting! 

1:01 PM: There's a commercial on the TV in which a girl strings her guitar with Twizzlers Pull and Peel candy. What is this bullshit. 

1:08 PM: My clothes are all done drying! That was much faster than I expected!

1:12 PM: Folding my underwear in front of strangers. 

1:35 PM: All done folding and back in my car! AND IT STOPPED RAINING IN TIME FOR ME TO LEAVE! I did it! I survived! I have clean clothes!

AND THUS CONCLUDES BABY'S FIRST LAUNDROMAT TRIP! 

Washi Tape Rescue

 I don't know exactly what was going on with my bathroom mirror, but it wasn't pretty. It wasn't coming off, either. Whatever that nastiness was was under the surface of the glass. There was no easy way to just remove and replace the mirror, either, because of the way it is attached to the medicine cabinet. I played with a few ideas and ultimately decided that Washi tape would be the easiest solution for this.  

And this is what my medicine cabinet mirror looks like now. 

 Close Up!

The spirit had moved me, so I turned to the next jacked-up fixture in my bathroom: this weird, skinny towel bar 

Washi Taped!!

Who knows how well this will hold up in a high humidity environment like a bathroom? I'll keep you updated.

I also embellished my clock. 

Mug Shot

When I was packing to move from the house into my apartment, I forced myself to get rid of a lot of stuff. One thing I couldn't bear to part with were my mugs. I have more mugs than any one person can reasonably own, but I love them. Each mug is special! Each mug has a story! I got my Gemini mug from dELiA*s in the late 90's! My sister gave me my Male Tears mug for Christmas last year because I'm a rampant misandrist! I've had my panda mug since I was in elementary school!

Since I have so many mugs and since they are all so special to me, I decided the best way to store them was to put them on display.

The Mosslanda picture ledge from Ikea (the ledge that is replacing the now discontinued Ribba) was the perfect solution.

Great news: This wall is just regular dry wall. This shelf installation was quick and easy.

#shelfie

The first week in the new place has felt a bit like living in a storage space. There are boxes goddamn everywhere and as I unpack, I transition into having stuff goddamn everywhere.

My first organizational endeavor was putting up some shelves in the bathroom.

I happened to already have a couple Ekby Laiva shelves from Ikea from a shelving project in my old place that never came to fruition so I just had to go to the hardware store to pick up some brackets and anchors. Then I started drilling and discovered that the back wall of my bathroom is brick, so it was back to the hardware store to get a masonry bit.

I got a third shelf at Ikea this weekend that I plan to put up as soon as I am emotionally ready to start drilling into brick again.

Side note: If you're going to drill into brick, for the love of god, put down a tarp, a drop cloth, a towel, SOMETHING. I don't know if I'm ever going to get all the brick dust cleaned up from my bathroom baseboards.

My Tiny Apartment

Welcome to my new apartment. It's tiny. It's easily well under 300 square feet. My rough measurements gave me about 250. But look at it!

THOSE FLOORS THOUGH

And, the crowning glory- THE BRAND NEW KITCHEN!!!!

The appliances are so new that they still had the manuals! I've never in my life had a brand new kitchen and I'm terrified to use anything in here because it's so tiny and perfect and new. MY KITCHEN IS BASICALLY A NEWBORN CHILD.  

These photos were taken the day I got the keys and before I started moving all my stuff in. I didn't think to take a photo of the empty bathroom- And the bathroom is certainly nothing to write home about compared to the rest of the apartment.

In case you haven't noticed- this apartment has no closet. The only storage built in to the apartment are the cabinets in the kitchen and the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom, so clearly, that will be my greatest challenge going forward.

Greetings, Blog Land

Oh, hello, internet. Nice to see you. I haven't updated this blog in the hottest of minutes, but I thought I'd crank the old girl back up.
At the beginning of the month I moved out of the rowhome where I was living with roommates into my very first solo (plus cat!) apartment!

Packing up the cat.

My Facebook friends have been inundated with updates regarding every box unpacked and each shelf mounted, so I decided to shift that stuff over here where people who are interested can seek it out rather than having Ikea's latest and greatest forced upon them each day.

Since it's been probably close to a decade since I set up this blog, I've also changed the name. It was originally called "Making Stuff", (and if I ever update it, this blog will likely continue to focus on making stuff,) but I've changed the name to the more fully encompassing "Enjoy Gunny" (an anagram of my name, Jenny Young).

So, here we go. NEW APARTMENT, NEW BLOG NAME, NEW ME!