July 2013: Cleaning the House, July 3, 2013

Okay, I didn't take a picture of before, and since I didn't completely finish it until July 4, I couldn't post yesterday.  (Sorry!)  But here's the deal: I have a small kitchen, as evidenced from my July 2, 2013, post.  I don't have a pantry, but my stairway is surrounded by shelves.  I use the reachable parts for my pantry.  The problem?  I have a back door that faces south that has a window in it.  The shelves are open.  Direct sunlight can't be good for any food items sitting there.  Ideally, I'd put doors on the shelves to make them more like cupboards, but that's the expensive solution.  Also, I need to paint my stairwell before I do something like that, and I haven't gotten around to painting it yet.  The easier solution was putting up a curtain to cover the window.  I was a little sad to do that because the window provided a lot of light for the stairway.

On my trip to Target, I looked around.  I ended up finding a honeycomb window shade that blocked the direct sunlight, but still allowed light through.  Plus, it has insulating characteristics, and if there's anything my stairwell needs, it's insulation.  Problem:  As I was using my wood drill bit to drill holes to install the hangers, I discovered that my door is metal.  No, I didn't know that before, but I do now!  I did manage to drill a few of the holes, but the screws wouldn't go through.  I had two 3M command strips that were way too big, but I decided to give it a try.  It may have worked, except for the fact that I managed to put the brackets on upside down.  Er, oops.  As I was talking to a friend about the situation, she suggested sheet metal screws.  Thus, my being unable to finish until this morning.  I ran out to Menard's and picked up a small pack of sheet rock screws, and they worked perfectly!  YAY! 

(I did think about gluing the brackets on the door.  I opted not to because this door isn't very well insulated, so I'd love to replace the door with a similar, but newer/better insulated door soon.  I have to replace my front door before winter, so I may as well kill two stones with one bird, or however that saying goes.  Gluing the brackets on would've meant I would need to get a new shade, and I don't like to waste money like that.)