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in Renovating

Replace this crappy thing with that crappy thing

There are some things in my home that I want to replace.

Shower heads and sink faucets are some of those things.

DSCN4968

But I do have priorities. And spending a few hundred bucks on these things are somewhat low on that list.

Eventually I’ll get new ones, but I may not get around to it for oh, a year. Or two. Or maybe even three.

DSCN4991

However, I do have a threshold for annoying crap, and these two things have about pushed me over the edge.

What I don’t have is a few hundred bucks. But what I do have is about seven bucks.

For starters, I got this handy dandy little nozzle for my kitchen sink for only $1.85.

DSCN4975

It will stream or spray the water and as an added bonus it has a swivel head.

I still can’t get a big pot under the faucet, but at least I can spray and swivel now!

DSCN4970

Okay, so the low-down on changing out your kitchen sink faucet nozzle with one of these handy dandy ones…

Every (well, most every) faucet has a piece at the end of it that can unscrew. Did you know that? Most people don’t know that.

Just get some pliers or something and loosen the tip of the faucet up, and then unscrew the piece right off.

DSCN4972

Fo’ shizzle! Pretty cool, eh?

All those little rocks are deposits from the water line. Side note: if your faucet starts running really slow or acting clogged, you may need to clean this out!

DSCN4977

Now take your bubble spray nozzle thing-a-ma-jiggy and wrap Thread Seal Tape around the threading.

DSCN4978

Just screw it in.

Piece o’ cake.

Now in addition to my boring basic water stream:

DSCN4979

I can also get a SPRAY!

DSCN4980

AND!

It swivels!

DSCN4982

Oh snap!

And then I had this totally crap-tastic shower head in my shower.

DSCN4991

This thing sprayed at such a huge width that only about 10% of the water would actually hit you. The rest would bounce off every single wall.

And if I opened the door with the water on, it would flood the bathroom.

Crappy.

So, I took it off the same way I took the kitchen one off.

And this piece came out, so I saved it for the new head I bought at our local hardware store for a grand total of $4.85.

DSCN4994

So I took the new shower head and I put that little piece inside it just like it was in the crappy one.

DSCN5001

Sorry for lack of pictures on this tutorial. I was actually about to get into the shower when I impromptu decided to change this head out. AKA I was neked. And guess what? All my pictures I took had a reflection of my neked body in them. Yikes! Note to self: If something acts like a mirror, don’t take pictures while naked.

Oh, and don’t bother trying to look. That’s my HAND reflection, mmm-kay?

Also, I wrapped the Thread Seal Tape around the threads on the pipe sticking out from the wall as well. If you are working with water/plumbing, you need to wrap the threads so they don’t leak!

Then, just screw the new head back on and tighten it with some pliers or whatever you can find that you think might work.

🙂

DSCN5004

Ah, a shower head that actually streams towards my head, not towards each wall on either side of me.

It’s the simple things in life really.

Maybe one day I’ll get real fancy with this shower, but for now I can take a quick shower without cursing profanities at the shower head.

So, my point in all this?

It’s two-fold…

1) Changing fixtures and shower heads is way easier than you think. You can do it!

2) These are not what I want long-term, but I’m still not going to spend the next 4 years suffering with something totally crappy when I can have something that’s only kinda crappy.

If you can’t afford that super expensive nice one you want, just spend a teensy tiny bit of money for a small upgrade to last you until you can afford the one you really want. It will make life so much more pleasant.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I tackled each project in about 5 minutes. And that included time to stop at each step and take pictures. So really, it’s like a 3 minute deal.

Filed Under: Renovating Tagged With: faucet, kitchen sink, shower head

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Comments

  1. Cath says

    09/20/2010 at 12:50 pm

    You better watch out, you could be on your way to being a full fleged home renovation contractor if you don’t slow down on the repairs!!

    Just an FYI~ the gray piece is a flow restrictor. I personally remove all those dang things from every new faucet we purchase.My husband thinks it’s like removing the textile tag from furniture. I set him straight one day and said read the tag, we are the “buyer” so we can rip them off.

    Same with the flow restrictors. I am the buyer so in the trash they go. A certain amount of water has to flow through my hair before the shampoo is rinsed. Standing in the shower longer because the flow is slow is just silly in my book.

    So if you notice the pressure from shower heads is less than desirable, try removing the flow restrictors first. It may be just enough to hold off buying a new shower head.

    Reply
  2. Sunny's Life in Rehab says

    09/20/2010 at 12:52 pm

    Naked bloggery??? I’m shocked!!!

    Nice job though, and at a reasonable price.

    Reply
  3. Rondell says

    09/20/2010 at 12:55 pm

    I agree…and what you did looks easy enough to do!

    Reply
  4. Shannon says

    09/20/2010 at 1:30 pm

    We lived in a house where the kitchen was designed to only be pretty in pictures. Functional wasn’t even close to a concept when that room was designed, but it was “small” things that you didn’t notice until you tried to cook in it. Or move around with a table in it. Smart people sell a house like that EMPTY. I digress. I had a similar kitchen sink issue; I decided was worth more than trying to not slosh water around, off the side of the pot or worse, so I went thrifting for a pretty pitcher. Something I truly liked seeing every day. I could turn it sideways, put it under the faucet, maneuver it easily and best yet, it was PRETTY. LOL Just another solution or a “compounding” one.

    Reply
  5. Connie Huntington says

    09/20/2010 at 1:53 pm

    Love that you did it yourself! It will work great until you can get the dream items! Good job!

    Reply
  6. Lorie says

    09/20/2010 at 5:04 pm

    Okay, I have done a lot of home repairs myself or with my dad, and I didn’t know you could replace that little piece on the kitchen faucet. Every one of my bathroom faucets in this rental needs one of those! (Not the fancy type, just a new regular one!)

    Reply
  7. Ashley says

    09/20/2010 at 5:16 pm

    Great tutorials! I think we’ll try out both of these when we move into our new apartment.

    Reply
  8. Mattie O'Donnell says

    09/20/2010 at 5:45 pm

    You. Crack. Me. Up. Seriously!! I was laughing hysterically about the neked reflections!!!!!!! OMG I’m not the only crazy person that does things at the drop of a hat – with clothes or without!!

    Reply
  9. Cecily says

    09/20/2010 at 6:39 pm

    LMAO over here, Allison! Your posts are just hilarious. Doesn’t everyone who owns a blog take pics “neked” once in a while?!

    So happy you have a new shower head and sink attachment! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Suzanne says

    09/20/2010 at 6:52 pm

    My mom has that same kitchen sink thing, it’s amazing. But when we got one it didn’t fit the faucet we had (in one of the houses we lived in) so we had to return it…fyi-keep receipt and packaging!

    Reply
  11. Aimee says

    09/20/2010 at 7:21 pm

    Once again, you taught me something I needed to know! I wanted a faucet that will spray & swivel & it is so nice to know I can get an attachment like that for cheap and that it is easy to install!! Thanks for showing us how easy it is to do little things like this around the house! You rock!! : )

    Reply
  12. Kim says

    09/20/2010 at 10:54 pm

    I just spurted my Pepsi. Thanks.

    Reply
  13. Deanna says

    09/21/2010 at 6:49 am

    I love my kitchen faucet thingie, too! But with my gooseneck faucet, I have to be careful how hard I pull or push on the sprayer nozzel- I made the faucet leaky over a period of time and got a scolding from the hubby when he had to fix it.

    Also if your faucet sprayer thingie breaks, save it! After a couple of years, ours did and hubby cobbled together the hingie part from the old one plus the new one for a double hinged one! Yeah, he’s kinda McGyver-ish.

    Reply
  14. SueAnn says

    09/21/2010 at 9:40 am

    Hey! Pretty cool!! You did a terrific job and I loved the photos!! Easy peazy!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

    Reply
  15. Michelle says

    09/21/2010 at 12:40 pm

    I am glad you found stuff to help you out! My husband and I had a hard time finding a shower head that we liked. We were not willing to spend over $75 on one, which was pointless because after trying about 3 different ones close to that price we could have bought one for around $250. We felt we should be able to get a decent shower head for that. Anyways in desperation we looked in Walmart and bought the cheapest shower head they had (around $5) and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! The water pressure is perfect and it goes where we need it to go. I learned sometimes more expensive is not better on that project!

    Reply
  16. Jen says

    09/21/2010 at 8:44 pm

    (Um, the bottom picture has a reflection of you naked in it…just sayin’)

    Reply
    • Allison says

      09/21/2010 at 9:21 pm

      Jen, I would like to personally thank you for giving me a heart attack. No, seriously. Thank you.

      I double and triple checked and I’M NOT NAKED in any photos! The only reflection in any of them is my hand!

      But thanks for totally freaking me out. 😉

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Bathroom and kitchen updates [6 new faucets] says:
    10/05/2012 at 8:54 am

    […] addition to all the bathrooms we also swapped out the kitchen faucet. TWO years ago I added a nozzle to my crappy kitchen faucet as a temporary fix until we replaced the entire faucet. Little did I know I would use that awful […]

    Reply
  2. The bathrooms got a fast facelift says:
    06/06/2013 at 11:36 pm

    […] My friend introduced me to these cheap little awesome shower heads back in 2009. I’ve been a raving fan since. I even put them in my last house. […]

    Reply

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