I’m getting a whopping $593 refund on my taxes. I always try to work my taxes to zero out at the end of the season – no paying the government at tax time and no interest free loans to the government either – but this year I got a small return which will be turned around and invested in the house…of course…
The Boy and I can’t decide.
Oven.
TV.
Paint.
Here is the deal-io:
Oven
I know I’ve mentioned before that our oven doesn’t work, like the stove top and griddle are great and all the pilot lights work – so it’s getting gas – it’s just that the oven part won’t ignite. We’ve had people come look at it, I’ve talked to restorers and priced out restoration – but the cost is really prohibitive and no one seems to understand whats wrong with it…so I’m tired of dumping money on it I don’t want to invest a ton of money into it if there is little hope of it really working correctly forever and ever. The other weird thing? We have a 40″ oven space and need at least a 36″ wide oven to straddle the gap.
TV
Our TV is about to take a dump. The top portion of the screen no longer works correctly and everyone’s head gets cut off. It randomly goes black and white and the volume will sometimes just go to max for no apparent reason whatsoever. It is a television possessed and we are waiting for it’s final throws out of this mortal coil. We’ve had it for almost ten years and it’s seems the time to replace is coming…but what will we do without TV? I don’t know, live life more fully, read more, do more house projects…but goddamn it after a long day of work I like to relax a bit and watch Hoarders: Buried Alive and weird documentaries about Brothers and Sisters in Love while snuggling on the couch in horrid fascination.
Paint
Still got to paint the house. OMG.
…
Oven
Because of the crazy wide gap we are going to need one of those super expensive six burner commercial grade totally over the top ovens to fit in the oven slot. I’ve been haunting the local dent and dings, trolling Craigslist and keeping an eye out restaurant supplies for something reasonably priced. I know there is NO WAY we will find something like this for $600 – but it would make a dent in the total cost.
It’s not like we are professional cooks and need a super slick oven, but I’m so sick of hearing The Boy go on and on and on about all the great stuff we could cook if only we had a working oven while walking around the Fresh & Easy. I GET IT. We can’t heat up a pizza. Yeah, I’m suffering too.
I had high hopes for this baby when I saw it at Ikea, but at $1,749.00 it is out of the $$$ range of possibilities. The other possibility is that we buy yet another 1950’s used stove and take the big risk that it won’t function either.
We’ve also thought about moving the cabinets over to shorten the gap, but that requires a whole lot of demo and moving the vents and lighting and trying not to damage the metal cabinets and original Formica in the process, as well as replacing floor tiles and moving electrical outlets. So all in all a CRAZY amount of work with a lot of risk to close in 10 inches.
…
TV
The Boy has been voting for a giant flat screen TV for awhile now (of course, gender stereotype and all). Flat Screens, LCD’s, Hi-Def…whatever. I’m pretty easy, I just don’t want it to be ugly and huge and I want to be able to watch Project Runway and maybe True Blood when that shit comes back on. We are not technophiles and pretty TV stupid as well as cheap, an awful combo.
I guess we could be as happy as this couple if we go to Costco and pick up ourselves one of those fancified flat picture boxes that all the cool kids got.
$629.99
This is actually in our price range…but I bet you need a lot of fancy accessories to make it work “correctly”. Special cables, mounting hardware and such. Which adds up!
Paint
YES. The house needs to be painted – it’s been over a year since we started priming.
But…we are going pure white. WHITE WHITE. Which means we can buy one bucket at a time and we are going to need about 5 five gallon buckets. At about $500 this is a project we could do all at once or sparse out paycheck to paycheck. Plus we are doing all the labor so the time frame is pretty open. Just depends on what we want to do.
I’ve been asking around to friends and family trying to get input on how to solve this dilemma…
But what do you guys think we should do? What makes sense for both life enjoyment and house resale value? Or is there something even better we can do with this tiny lil’ windfall?
80 Comments
well, first off how much do you cook? I couldn’t live without a working oven. Tried before. No go.
And second how much motivation does the boy need to continue doing the house? Will the tv help or hinder…I dare ask!
Third, what kind of plants are you putting around the house….cause painting once landscaping has been done near the walls will be a bitch.
Thats my 2…5 cents worth of input.
We cook. But we’ve been without an oven for two years…so…hmmm.
TV won’t hinder as much as beer and sheer laziness.
We aren’t going to plant till after we paint. So there is an ifinate amount of time to finish painting. Which is probably the problem with our motivation.
What I would do is oven first. Absolute priority. It’s essential to living healthily. I would buy or find a really cheap second hand tv. (old ugly fat one) until your next windfall. Plus I think flatscreen tv prices will keep dropping and designs will keep improving so I’d hold out. (Actually that’s what I’m doing).
I vote for the TV. I know that doesn’t help the gender stereotypes. That’s just what I would do. I don’t like buying electronics used, so I wouldn’t do a craigslist TV. On the other hand, I would and have bought an oven on craigslist. It’s a stainless steel western holly from the 50s and is awesome. It cost $80. I also haven’t got around to hooking it up yet. Oops.
If you do go for the TV, here’s a great tip. Buy your mounting hardware and cables and stuff from http://www.monoprice.com. It’s this huge warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga. They ship. Ridiculously cheap and great quality. That’ll save you some money.
I’d say be patient and put the money away for the moment. Since you’re not passionate about technology you don’t need a flatscreen tv. You just need one that works. Picking up a decent quality tv on craigslist won’t be difficult because technophiles upgrade all the time. Paint the house paycheck by paycheck. Ask builders for paint recommendations. We use a brilliant white white from a trade place that’s a third the price and FAR better than the commercial stuff. It’s called MacPhersons, don’t think it’s available in the States though. An oven is essential and a fancy oven is such a pleasure. You can hold out and do salads over the summer. Buy a stovetop pressure cooker (heavy pot with sealed lid) for stews, curries etc. They’re only about $40 and very energy-saving. Give yourself a timeframe, maybe till autumn, to find a great oven on ebay, craigslist or especially repossession auctions. Failing that, buy the best oven you can afford in the sales and/or buy a display model. With the grace of the great gods of thrift behind you, there’ll be money left over for the plants.
Tax returns are about instant gratification – so I would buy whichever one is the most indulgent and going to make you the happiest.
I know this makes me sound all lame, but for the love of humanity, buy yourself a working TV!
ps: those BBC documentaries are INSANE! Have you seen the Real Doll one?
You really need a TV, if only for shit like that.
I adore your oven. I lust for the 50s loveliness.
But cooking is lovely as well.
I’m not helpful.
I have a ginormous flatscreen in my living room and I HATE that that damn thing is the focal point, but I do live with a man.
Paint the house.
Oven.
Like others have said- you can buy a tv off Craigslist for next to nothing. It won’t be a super thin fancy flatscreen, but it’ll get the job done.
And then you can buy an oven that you can cook pizza with.
oven.
boring but necessary.
Oven, definitely. I like Fiona’s suggestion, stick the money back and give yourself a time frame to make the purchase. A new TV is hard to pass up, but with spring/summer here why encourage yourselves to spend more time in front of one?
Ooooh…dilemma. My practical side says hold on to it until you find the right oven because that’s the most expensive thing you need, and it would be a nice chunk towards it. TV is VERY important for DIYers because we are so broke spending money on our houses we can’t afford to go out…but, TVs are getting cheaper by the day and I think you’ll find one you can afford once you zero it in on your radar. Paint paycheck to paycheck. That’s my vote.
Uh tough one ! Your three options are soooooo rational, but none seem to be critically essential. I mean who still needs a TV when you can download all the ‘important’ stuff ? You seem to be doing fine without an oven. And do you really have the energy to tackle the exterior paint job ?
So, how about splurging ? Clothes, cocktails, shopping, traveling – whatever makes you happy…
Or if you really want to be a rationalist – keep the money on your savings account until you can spend it on something you really need (laundry room remodel maybe?).
OVEN!!! How can you live without one! Seriously..nothing better than pizza fresh from the oven!
Have you considered infilling some of that 40″ width with open shelving or a base cabinet unit? It wouldn’t be symmetrical, but then you could buy a standard size oven (most are 30″) which should be much cheaper than the 36″ super ovens! You could top this infill with a butcher block or metal or something heat proof for resting hot pans etc.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09844637
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40141965
i am a lurker of your brick house business.
and in my head, you are my best friend.
that is all.
Paint that damn house.
oven, absolutely. do it for the food.
prices on TVs will always be coming down and i have recently discovered Hulu and it is absurdly awesome. there is a Home and Garden “channel”. i haven’t had a TV for eleven years and now Hulu is my BFF.
paint. it’s always available. cost isn’t gonna change. i think from your post that cooking wins over painting. good luck.
We’re in a similar situation; although, our return was much larger thanks to the first-time home-buyer tax credit (unfortunately it went towards the installation of a double central-heating system last winter).
Anyway, I’d probably have to say replace the stove. We cook at home a lot to save money, and it adds up pretty quickly. So if having a working oven = more money to spend elsewhere, I’d do it.
We’ve been talking about getting a new TV for months, but we can’t afford cable–I don’t think I’d want it anyway–so it’s just for watching movies…and playing Wii if I can talk my wife into getting one.
And lastly painting. Our house needs it badly, but every time I stand there looking up at it I can only think what a pain it’s going to be…so…but I’ll probably be up on a ladder before I get to be playing a Wii.
Not sure what to spend your money on, but before you choose paint, have you checked out local paint recycling places? i live in seattle and got 7 brand new 5 gallon buckets or paint for FREE from a recycling place. Or maybe the habitat for humanity restore?
I’m gonna go with the apparent majority on this one and say oven: It seems to fit in best with your home-improvement priorities. And you can buy a used flatscreen on Craigslist (definitely do this, then watch Life on Discovery; it’s amazing).
oven!! food is SUCH a priority, plus, pics of your new oven will be like kitchen p0rn for me.
Oven, oven, oven. There’s nothing better than good food. You can hulu your programs over the computer.
i would go oven. no need to go for a super huge one though if you’re not really mega-chefs. id say find a stove you like and that fits within the space & maybe budget. you could build out a tiny “cabinet” to fill the gap – tall narrow storage next to an oven would be great for one of those sliding spice racks or even just a place to stash cookie sheets. granted it wouldnt be the gleaming kitchen of perfection but youd have functionality on your side.
tv while fun can always wait plus stuff like that always goes on sale.
and the paint – while buying it in one lump sum might seem good if you wind up having to space out how you tackle the job having it just sit around will make the whole thing more daunting.
old ovens are so cool. in the orange circle, one mall (antique station) has 4 or 5 restored from antique stove heaven in LA. prices are redonk though. but i was thinking in this economy, they would bargain?
I think you’re going to spend the money on all of the above anyways so just put the refund in your account and buy each new thing as needed.
Is it possible to build a 10 inch stainless topped shelf next to the oven? I would go for more storage over a bigger/ more expensive oven.
I am going to agree with Tim and say try to find a stove on craigslist. We replaced our 50’s stove with a 60’s stove (similar aesthetic) because of the same gappage problem and I am really glad we did. The stove cost us $125 and is beautiful with lots of storage and two ovens. Then I would put the rest towards a new flatscreen TV. I stand at the stove for like 12 minutes, but the TV…ahhh…the TV I could look at for hours.
Oven/stove.
I haven’t had a TV in my home in over 12 years and I don’t miss it ONE BIT! The idea of spending THAT KIND OF MONEY on a brain-rotting device makes me what to jump in front of your car as you are pulling out of your driveway on your way to Costco. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, please buy an oven.
Also, could you maybe get a gas hob with a separate oven (installed in the cabinet below the hob) and infill the 36″ with a custom-built wide cabinet, instead of buying a humongous oven? Then again, that may not save you any money…
Just ignore me, ok? Except don’t ignore me on the “buy-an-oven-not-a-tv” part. ‘Cause I’m right. As per usual. Snort.
People just love to give their opinions, don’t they? It’s like the only time I ever comment on a blog…
And just because I’m an Aries/A-Type who can’t resist butting in with her own opinion:
Buy whichever item you feel would make the greatest impact on your quality of life. And I mean quality of life in a happiness way. Not in a healthy way, unless that’s what makes you happy. If it was me, I’d buy the TV because watching TV really makes me happy. Painting a house, not so happy. Working oven, I don’t cook so I don’t care.
However, if being able to cook fabulous meals really floats your boat, go ahead and get that oven. Or, if the unpainted house is driving you nuts and leading to sleepless nights, then do that.
But I’m just a hedonist, taking the short steps possible to the easiest way to make me happy. And hence, I’m not very good at looking into the longterm.
Hm.
A tough call. But, think of this: It’s spring (or perpetual summer where you live) so you won’t be watching SO much TV, rather, you’ll be outside enjoying it. Also, cooking happens outside on your BBQ pit, so a stove isn’t needed right this second.
And being outside so much will remind you that your house needs to be painted.
So, I think you should paint your house.
I picked up a 42″ VIZIO tv from Costco about 2 years ago for something crazy like $400… VIZIO makes really good TVs for the price. I also then went an bought a 26″ VIZIO from Costco for something like $279 to use as a massive computer monitor. It’s best to go into Costco and see which TV looks the best and just snag it.
You spend everything you’ve got on the house– you deserve a nice TV!
I say oven. Smell the house up with homemade pies and cookies!
Oven. Keep watching scratch and dent and craigslist for a decent one – when we were in the market there were quite a few – we ended up buying a Bluestar. But we sold that house and bought an induction range instead of gas, which we love MUCH better because the oven is PERFECT!
Another thing you could do is build an addition to your cabinets to take up the space that is completely different from the rest of the cabinets. Build a plywood box and put a different countertop on it (butcher block? White marble?? and don’t put a door on it – use it open-faced for trays, etc (you can get groovy little dividers at any organization store).
Paint! We have our own little 50’s ranch and are about to paint next month and I cannot wait for it to be finished! We’re going with bright white, too. I’m still looking for the perfect white, though. Do you know what paint you’ll use?
I would probably use it toward a new range. But I’d wait until I found a great deal on something I really wanted. If you do get a smaller range you can put a small 9″ cabinet in the gap. This worked well for me once, but my oven was in the corner. Do put a door on the lower cabinet box though. I didn’t and it got all grimy and was super hard to keep clean.
Buy a reconditioned or open box television when you do get one. They’re cheaper, and work just the same. I got my 37″ visio for only $300 this way and the only cable I had to buy was because I connected it to a media center computer.
I love TV. One day our little set stopped working and 5 years later I don’t miss it in any way. We still watch films and TV series we like on the laptop occasionally.
The TV is often the ugliest and most dominant piece of furniture in the room. And a room without a TV always seems much more inviting; everything isn’t oriented towards the big, black screen.
Anyway, I think oven, then paint. The smell of fresh baking beats the smell of paint and TV cooking shows.
Did you see this gas stove in Palm Springs on Craigslist? http://tinyurl.com/y6ehdza The price isn’t bad and maybe they’d be willing to bargain a little.
I think you should go for an oven first since you can probably save money on food by cooking/baking more. Then you can buy a TV used or refurbished and do the painting as you go.
hi dumb question about your oven. is it plugged in? is it plugged in to a working outlet? does the electric cord that the ignighter works off of actually working? I ask these questions because I just moved into mjy 50’s ranch and the oven didn’t work. it wasn’t plugged in, then it was plugged into a non working outlet, then we figured out that the cord needed to be replaced as well as the outlet. most ovens need electric for the igniters to work. just thought.
I’d spend the money on the oven…. do you have a Sears scratch and ding place? they might have cheap prices.
We had a similar dilemma with buying a tv so instead we bought a projector from craigslist and played movies and tv from the computer because you can download all your favey shows you know, and we just projected everything onto the wall which was great, maybe not totally ideal but good enough and now we just use one of those white roller shades and its kind of funny but works nicely too. Anyway, you could prob find a projector on cl for pretty cheap. And re: the oven- why not just get a reg size oven and put some nice built in shelving on either side? Like a pull out spice rack or something, or maybe a place for cookbooks that could pull out.
Buy an oven you can afford, and then when you have a little more money make the gap between the counter and the oven into a tall thin cabinet for mops or a short counter-top tall space to store baking and serving trays as well as cutting boards. I have one in my kitchen and love love love it.
This is a hard one. I would say oven first, then TV, then paint. Wait, no, TV first. Then oven. No, oven first if you find a great one on Craigslist. Paint can wait!
(We need a new oven and TV too, can you tell?)
I would sell you my antique Chambers stove if you could get the thousand-pound behemoth to your house. It works perfectly but we want something bigger.
I believe you said that this was the year of the exterior for you. (“2010 : The Year of the Exterior is progressing along nicely. Next up? Paint. PAINT THE HOUSE.”) I would say 1. Paint. Get it out of the way. 2. Buy a used TV or see if anyone is upgrading and wants to give you their old one. Then 3. save up for the stove you really want. I figure you have gone without a stove this long you can go a wee bit further. I hope this is helpful. P.S. Love your site.
hi! the gap between the counter and the stove could be a design opportunity: deliberately don’t match or move the rest of the cabinets. Like Kate above says, put butcher block or something that will help with cooking, and some narrow open shelves or a cabinet/door below, wood to match the butcherblock, not the rest of the cabinets… something like that. …I agree with others that you either have to splurge on treats and travel, or forget it and save it ’til you really need it. Not every eames lounger is fifty bucks, you know…
Thanks for the great read.
I love fiona’s comment but maybe that is because I am a banker (although not conservative in politics!)
It will give you time to consider and look:
Given your comments I would prioritize as:
tv (a little enjoyment)
paint (you have a house blog and that might provide addl material)
oven (you haven’t cooked in 2 years!)
You are fabulous and Great Job on having a good philosophy about taxes! I ca-RINGE when people talk about either paying or receiving too much. PEOPLE! What can I say – finance
I’d buy the tv. for sure. Whatever, the house is already primer white, just buy it bucket by bucket and do bit by bit. You can’t buy a tv bit by bit, or i guess you can – but it’d cost more. Just buy the flippin tv.
Definitely TV has to go bottom of the list – we haven’t had one for a few months now and don’t miss it at all. It’s tough to choose between oven and paint though. As you’ve seen a coat or two of paint can make a MASSIVE difference, and I can definitely recommend white white, without any tint (contrary to what most people working in paint stores suggest) – the only downside is you may need one extra coat to get a really lovely clean finish (we did, but your house doesn’t look as riddled with ivy and decay like ours!)….
TV. for the love of god, TV. you can live without an oven, or even food for that matter, but without water and TV – DEATH.
p.s. your screen is genius.
I vote for the tv. You can get a large toaster oven to hold you over. You can do lasagna and stuff in them. It’s not like you are baking a turkey any time soon.
TV from CostCo, if you don’t go huge, they are not even ugly. The Boy deserves it (and you too
)
Paint the house paycheck by paycheck, starting in the front.
If you go one side at a time, it will not be so overwhelming.
Then plant the front side.
Whenever you come home, it will look totally finished.
I like the idea of a 30” oven and a fill-in. Seems much more economical.
I second the large toaster oven. We had one that we rarely used until the microwave broke. Now I use it for everything. Everything I used to microwave gets baked to heat it up. It tastes way better! And you can definitely use it to bake small pizzas and lasagna and stuff.
I got an awesome big ass flatscreen on woot.com for less than 300 bones. It was refurbished but whatever, it looked brand new. I had to buy some more cables and stuff to make it talk to my laptop, but it was overall way under your budget.
That said, I vote you deal with the stove. I too, have a awesome 1950’s stove with operable cooktop and mysteriously non-operable oven. What a pain. Pizza rules.
a- ya can watch stuff on a computer (tv or dvd) = entertainment.
**b- get regular stove that works… how about getting (or making boy make) a rolling pan/baking sheet (or etc) rolling “cabinet” to fit in those extra 10″. fill with pot lids, baking sheets, colling racks, etc
c – paint – sounds boring.
d- b and c. get stove, but use a space filler and then get a can (or 2) of paint. ??? would work , no?
Stove. My vote’s for the stove.
As you said, the paint can be done one paycheck at a time. No need to paint it now.
As for the tv, you can probably catch most of your necessary shows online (hello Hulu!). It doesn’t really seem like a necessity.
The stove on the other hand would:
1) make the boy happy
2) help in resale.
3) ultimately save you money (because you’re able to cook at home more easily) and allow you to save up for the tv and the paint.
Ha, ha, found the tsilliehill comment very funny!
I say paint.
Oven. Build a wooden wine rack next to it to take up the space. Or, if you don’t drink wine, make some cubbies to hold linens. Top it with a butcher block or sheet of stainless. Extra counter space near the stove is always good.
TV is overrated. We pulled the plug on ours recently and haven’t missed it. And, I need to paint my stucco this summer. Also white…I dread getting up to the second story!
From Italy: paint, first.
In black or dark grey with wooden doors and windows; or white with grey doors and windows.
I would paint first! You have mentioned your distaste for the lack of paint in many posts. So maybe it is time to tackle that project?
Also if you already have a bbq, you can make so many tasty things in there without an oven. I hardly ever use my oven anymore. Also, pizza on the bbq is AMAZING.
Nthing oven. I cook. A lot. So without one I’d be fairly rudderless.
That said, if you’re a Costco member, I will not buy a TV from anyone else. Their generous return/satisfaction/awesomeness policy enabled my parents to take theirs back when the screen went poof one day. When my hub’s mega monitor went out, same thing. Also, the prices on flatscreens keeps dropping, so hold out a little longer and I’m sure you’ll be able to get something nice and big (to satisfy Mr. Man) for less.
Put it towards a vacation. Its always good to get away from home.
If you decide to tide yourself over with a toaster oven, I’d like to recommend the Breville Smart Oven BOV800XL, the best one out there. It is amazing: plenty big, functions like a regular oven but with extra tricks, and keeps you from heating up the house with the regular big oven. It will still be great to have even if you get a new regular oven in the future.
paint. eh. you won’t feel a sense of accomplishment if you buy the paint all at once, it will just be guilting you to get going on painting, staring you down. depressing.
you don’t have to look at another appliance. if you inherit a tv great but why would you buy one now that relatively inexpensive and awesome digital projectors exist and you have such lovely white walls everywhere? cake to hook it up to your computer ($20 cable adaptor), loads of tv available for free, stream your movies, welcome to the digital revolution! sounds like right now you have to pay for cable too, so dropping that would be an instant $600 in a year will pay for itself! seriously tell your tech-loving man that tv’s are way too 20th century, and your friends will be far more happy to come over and watch movies after helping you paint.
that said, I can’t imagine not having a functional oven. I agree with the reader who said to put in a little infill cabinet, a super simple one for cookie sheets and trays with a butcherblock top and buy a 30″ or smaller oven. you might try contacting realtors about model homes or soon to be reno’d homes for sale to get an inexpensive oven. Definitely figure out a way to bridge the gap though – we have a 30″ in a 37″ space (when we bought) and the way that the horrid old formica counters were constructed there is no way to just fill it in, so there is a dusty murky noman’sland on either side of the range that is just exactly too narrow to be able to really reach in and clean. I am not exactly ms. spic-and-span so believe me when I tell you this is a really irritating situation that it actually gets to me, but the kitchen reno is such a big project that I don’t want to start it until we can do everything all at once. but I think your 36″ in a 40″ space will also create the same gap problem for you, but 4″ wide is too narrow to do anything but store wine bottles, a little uneasy about that idea next to a stove, right? so with 30″ you get a wide enough space 10″ to be semi-usable.
I would buy the oven for sure. The TV sounds like fun, but you really need an oven.
If it were me though, Id probably be impulsive and run out and buy the TV.
is there freecycle in the states — ie stuff people are giving away for free? I see tvs posted to it ALL THE TIME. it may not be a snazzy flat screen number but you could get a better one and use the money for the oven or paint. might solve one problem!
Hey there! I have a 1966 custom made Crown stove/oven if you’re interested. It’s 42 inches wide but the oven is kind of small. I can send pics if you like. Have you tried your local Build It Green Warehouse? The one by me in NYC has some crazy deal on period correct stoves. If none of that works then I say go for the TV but check slickdeals.net before you buy. I scored a huge TV and surround sound thingy for like $600 at BestBuy through an offer that appeared only on slickdeals. I wish you luck!
P.S. Can you paint a whole house with $600? Not in NYC! LOL!
Hmmm…if you plan to sell your house, a working oven is a good selling point and if you’re cheap, think of all the money you will save – home-cooked pizza. If you save your pennies from this investment, you’ll soon have enough money to paint the house…
According to you, its the the Year of the Outdoors. So… paint! I liked the smaller oven + a cabinet idea above.
being a female i say oven or paint….big tvs are so overrated. my husband got a 42 inch HD tv and ya, it is nice, but it cost us $1500! ( i have no dishwasher and our shower surround is cracked…but he still thought the tv was more important)
I vote
1. Paint – find donated outdoor paint in your neighborhood. In nyc we have something called build it green where you can pick up unused paint, and white is the most common color.
2. Oven – ovens are ovens and will always be generally the same price. just do you research and buy one from a brand that is trustworthy/reliable.
3. TV – after you get your oven start saving for a TV. Right before/after xmas and other major holidays things like TVs always go on sale.
You have me torn between the oven and the stove. I would gun it for the stove, but only if I could get the exact one that I wanted.
I bought a Vizio several years ago and it’s pretty great. There are few extra initial costs: a couple of cables (at Sam’s Club are pretty cheap– digital is digital). The longer term extra $10ish bucks a month on HD cable/sat/whatever is a pain, but it’s totally worth it.
the tv gets boring
and the oven in so cute!
paint can wait
Hiya,
Don’t know if someone already mentioned this in another post/comment but IKEA is having a sale on kitchens…again, not sure if this includes solo appliances but it may be worth looking at…
I vote for the new stove! It will have a bigger impact on your day to day happiness.
I would go for the oven – if you can’t afford one to fit the 40″ space, fill the space with a breadboard/baking tray cabinet (doesn’t even need a door) and top it with chopping block or some other extension of the countertop. My reasoning is that ovens are essential. We can all do without tv – especially with internet access – all sorts of entertainment can be found on the internet. And, regarding the painting, paint is cheap and can be done in spurts – no need to blow the whole wad on a paint job. Good luck!
we painted our house last summer and we used this recycled paint called amazon. it’s super high quality and CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. we bought 5 gallon buckets for like $40 i think. each coat used just over one bucket. the guy from the paint store said it’s the highest quality stuff he sells (and he sells some fancy stuff) and he’s never had anyone come back to complain about it. my husband was once upon a time a professional house painter and he was also very impressed. anyway, they have a facility in riverside: http://www.amazonpaint.com/
Why not buy a nice 36″ oven and trim it on either side to fill in the gap. Better yet retrofit a 10″ wide cabinet for holding cookie sheets and the like, which would go to one side of the new oven.
Well, I”m going to squelch this whole filling in the stove gap area idea. Not going to happen.
a. We have rounded metal cabinets. It would be so weird with a squared off melamine cabinet shoved in to what would amount to a 2″ to 5″ gap. So like one cookie sheet would fit. Or a couple of pot lids.
b. The area is perfectly symmetrical – so moving the oven over to one side would be hella ghetto looking. Especially ten inches.
c. the countertops are turquoise Formica with metal chrome edging all the way around. A 2″ to 5″ wide cutting board top would be so strange and dysfunctional.
If it was that easy a solution I would go for it, but the end result would look like so much DIY amateur hour and stick out so awkwardly that I could never live with it. I love the kitchen how it is and just have to admit that a 40″ stove is the only solution.
Because I really should be doing other stuff, I began looking at Craigslist for southern California for 40″ ovens, just for kicks and, well, as avoidance behavior. While I’m sure you’ve seen all the listings, maybe (hopefully) if I write them here, I’ll get back to work: in Canoga Park, Calabasas, Ventura, and Huntington Beach, there are 40″ ovens in the $450-550 range. In Encinitas, Agua Dulce, and LA, $750-800, and in North Park, Rancho Mirage, and Lakewood, $1400-1500.
I keep waiting/hoping that someone will come through with an oven like they did with the butterfly chair covers or maybe will do a trade for some of the items in your consignment shop.
One way or another, it’s so much fun to read and be inspired by your blog!
I think you’re stymied because you have to buy 1 big thing, rather than a bunch of little cheapie bits and pieces. Frankly, I don’t think 2 people need a huge gas stove. You can buy a projector with a receiver and a huge screen for less than a standard TV.
Why not save this tax return, stop with the thrift store shopping and bank what you save? Then get what you really want.
hmm… in Seattle there is a shop that sells old ovens, the ones people take out of their houses in remodels and renos. maybe you could shop at a store like that? they could make sure it’s in working order, you could get one of the cheap(er)…?
if the oven doesn’t work, i say paint, then TV. TV could be your reward for painting.
good luck!
We bought a 37″ Sanyo from Costco – $620. The wall mounting bracket we bought (also from Costco) is a stationary model (I wanted it flush to the wall) and Costco about $30. It came with all of the goodies to install it. You will need a hammerdrill or somesuch if you need to mount it in concrete.
I would buy a toaster oven (great for heating things up and baking small amounts) and a TV. I too love Hoarders and all sorts of other shows that my husband finds “depressing” such as Intervention, Real Stories from the ER and Dr. G Medical Examiner. They’re even more glorious in HD.
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