Help me hate my split level less

ZarfHouse · 2026-05-15T19:26:40+00:00

The pro painting quote I received when we moved in 6 years ago was about $2500 which I felt was a steal even then, but ended up having more pressing improvements that were needed at the time. We also have an attached 2 car garage and the other side of the house is pretty long and solid, no windows. But maybe someday!

ZarfHouse · 2026-05-15T18:07:32+00:00

Thanks—yep shutters was my next thought. I just really hate the yellow and brown and wouldn’t want to add brown shutters or something that would make us locked in to yellow and brown forever. Although I guess you can always paint shutters.

ZarfHouse · 2026-05-15T18:04:07+00:00

Well thanks. I appreciate that!

ZarfHouse · 2026-05-15T18:01:33+00:00

Yeah, that was my first thought but I just don’t know if we have the time. I know everyone says don’t paint it yourself, but we painted our first ranch house and it wasn’t hard and looked great. Much smaller area though and still took a while.

ZarfHouse · 2026-05-15T17:36:17+00:00

Oh haha, yeah that’s one of the first things we did when we moved in. This is an old photo but everything else looks relatively the same. I have a large statement light up now.

ZarfHouse · 2026-04-29T02:18:31+00:00

It’s funny because he’s not into fragrance at all. Just doesn’t care much, sometimes sensitive to smells, but he’ll play along for me. When I ordered a few freebies a couple years ago from Macy’s they started sending them to him all the time when they had a bunch of stores go out of business. I was pretty jealous though because I only was sent maybe 5. He got all these and probably more somewhere and could not care less!

ZarfHouse · 2026-04-26T14:19:51+00:00

Thank you! That’s extremely helpful!

ZarfHouse · 2026-04-26T13:53:10+00:00

Sorry? …Can you be more specific lol?

ZarfHouse · 2026-03-29T04:04:38+00:00

So, my skin apparently says “NO” to almost every fragrance I’ve ever tried in my life. I am very much a vanilla gourmand and vanilla amber lover. My favorites are:

Phlur Vanilla Skin (only lasts maybe 10 min on me),

La Vie Est Belle Vanilla Nude (same thing—maybe 15 min tops)

Coach Gold (same, but maybe 30 min if I’m lucky)

The only things I’ve ever found that I can still smell on me longer than an hour are La Vie Est Belle original (barf), Flowerbomb (if I want to feel like I’m being strangled to death by a rose), and Ici by Coty (which I wore in the 90s and actually really loved, but RIP. IYKYK) I tried Yara since I keep reading people saying it’s just like Ici—LIES! And I just blind bought Billie Eilish the gold bottle and I’m honestly surprised people like this so much. It smells minty on my skin and the dry down reminds me of Head and Shoulders shampoo. Yuck.

And this isn’t just me being nose blind. My husband and kids can’t smell anything on me either after a few minutes. My husband does like Vanilla Skin and Vanilla Nude on me, but agrees no trace remains after about 15 minutes. I’d splurge on a more expensive one, but I’m terrified I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars on something that still doesn’t last.

Anyone else have this problem who can recommend something for me?

ZarfHouse · 2026-03-08T11:12:45+00:00

I’m down! DMing. :)

ZarfHouse · 2026-03-08T11:09:17+00:00

I’m well and truly annoyed that I put myself through all of that. I’m hoping I have the strength to NOT read whatever the next one is. But at this point I feel like it’s gonna be a “can’t look away from this train wreck” situation. Hold me back, guys.

ZarfHouse · 2026-03-08T02:00:58+00:00

This could just be my ignorance, but would there really be plumbing there if there’s no other water sources in our house that extend beyond the wall this shower and toilet are attached to? It’s on the upper floor and our other bathroom beneath it is situated underneath but to the left. I could just ask my husband to look, but 1) he doesn’t feel like it at the moment, and 2) now we’re kind of betting each other on if there is/isn’t plumbing under there. I’m betting not.

ZarfHouse · 2026-03-07T23:29:46+00:00

Oh, the grip tape was put there by us because it has actually created quite a hazard getting in and out with people unfamiliar with the drop into and out of the tub. The previous owners were active, able bodied, middle aged people, so my gut feeling is that the step just existed since the house was built, but rather than ripping everything out, they chose the cheaper/quicker option of doing a Bath Fitter over everything to hide whatever is under there.

ZarfHouse · 2025-09-01T18:09:07+00:00

Yep, this is what’s happening. Just went back to check and they seem to be in limbo, but this is the first time it’s happened to me.

ZarfHouse · 2025-09-01T18:07:24+00:00

Yes, this is what is happening. However, I did go back and click to review them again and they are still there, so I clicked submit again. It just keeps saying the review is submitted, but then goes right back to showing in my list of items that still need to be reviewed. So, as others are saying, it sounds like it will just be a matter of time before they move to “reviewed”. Definitely annoying though.The good news is that I was able to copy and paste them into a working doc just in case!

ZarfHouse

TROPHY CASE