1080 Greenhills Kitchen Remodel & House Fix-Up, May-July 2008

Page 5  •  July 11-28

Friday-Sunday, July 11-13:  Installing the Upper Cabinets

Friday, July 11 -- Okay . . . 3" spacer's in the right place now!  (actually 2-15/16 but who's counting?)

Cabinet No. 4 installed!

Next!

Cabinet No. 5 & the new microwave (with the dumb door that has a 1" lip at the bottom and the even dumber "mute" command!  "That's really dumb!" is direct quote from Leland at Lowes when queried about microwaves with "mute" capabilities, so I guess it must be really dumb!).

There we be!

Remember these are half-days we're talkin' here!

Saturday, July 12 -- late afternoon . . . let's keep moving clockwise, shall we? . . . 3" spacer-wing put on right (and correct) side of Cabinet No. 6.

Inching up the car jack just so . . .

The same Fastening-the-Cabinets-Together-Process for the last kinda-useless-but-awful-darn-pretty Cabinet No. 7 over the fridge . . .

The Fastening-to-the-Wall-&-Ceiling-Process continues . . .

How'd' they look with the doors on?

Sunday, July 13 -- Not much action today . . . just modifying Cabinet No. 8 so it'll fit over the sink . . .  

Gotta let the glue dry before installing it tomorrow!

Monday, July 14 -- Okay, Cabinet No. 8 ready to install!

Little Blue III's carjack in service again!  A perfect fit!

And there it is -- all cabinets & shelves & doors installed! -- 8 cabinets & 8 days & she's done! (mostly --)

Let's take a stroll around the kitchen & see how she looks!

Zowie!

What happened to that big pile o' cabinets that was here in the living room?!?

View from the dining room . . . and this week's challenge!

Tuesday, July 15 -- well what with my dentist in the morning climbing halfway inside my mouth I didn't have much energy 'cept for getting materials from Fingerle and working on my cartop pallet contraption.

Took a while to find just the right pallet -- but it's not quite right yet . . . so take it apart & put it back together again only better!

Sanding the pieces . . . gotta be able to haul stuff if you're gonna be able to build stuff!

Wednesday, July 16 -- Good chunk o' the afternoon spent framing in the sink light -- had to borrow Fred's compressor & finish gun -- thanks Fred!

Lights hooked up!  But need another "rope" and more clips  (why don't they ever give you enough clips?  why why why??? . . . )

Next step -- finish the lights!

Thursday, July 17 --  Finish the sink light . . . a nice effect -- gives off a kind of golden glow . . . (functionally not really needed, but works really well as an evening or night light -- )

And finish the pallet-cum-cartop carrier!  Here shown later that evening, illuminated in the Moon's soft glow . . .

 seemingly accompanied by choirs of angels . . .

 an interesting composition . . . and a most sturdy contraption!

Friday, July 18 -- Okay moving on . . . materials from Fingerle . . .

Now to finish under the cabinets . . .

cuz it's kinda raggedy looking as is . . .

There!  Two underspaces out of five completed!

Sat-Tues, July 19-22 -- Rain days!  Well not really rain the whole time but had other stuff to do . . .

Wednesday, July 23 -- Okay time to finish the underside of the other cabinets!

Working Fast & Furious . . .

Playing with my new nail gun . . . finally broke down . . . tried a Bostich first but has a very poorly designed loading mechanism -- shoulda listened to Fred! -- the Porter Cable BN200A is a sweet little gun.

P!-tsshhhhhhhhh h

There pretty much finished off!

Yeah!

Thursday, July 24 -- Okay let's finish the carpentry on the upper cabinets, shall we?  Step 1.  Put oak veneer onto three sides (corner cabinet when you first walk into the kitchen, and the two sides under the light; no pix sorry).  Step 2. Measure & cut plywood for back. 

Sanding . . .

Replacing Sunnyside Linseed Oil with Uncle Walt's low-gloss Tung Oil.  We'll see . . .

Ready for the actual installation!

Lovin' the Porter Cable BN200A!

Trying to hold the trim straight & failing miserably  (ripped from 1¾ x ¼" oak lattice from Fingerle, sanded & stained with Minwax Golden Oak - Minwax seems to have a lock on the stain industry in this country, why is that?).

Four or five hours later that's pretty much that!  Trim work's pretty time-consuming, at least for me -- lots o' trips in & out . . . and Really Nice to get this part DONE!  (mostly -- tomorrow:  the little door on the bottom left with the Secret 8 Sq Ft of Storage!)

Lighting gets kinda bad toward dusk . . . seems to happen pretty much every day thataway . . .

From the living room . . . Gives a good sense of how much this final configuration really does Open Up the Space (which as we recall was our intention from the get-go).   The asymmetry also works -- the uneven space that's carved out by the outline of the cabinets & countertop frames what's behind it in interesting & aesthetically pleasing ways . . .

Closer up . . .

In the dark . . .

Meanwhile the basement's getting there . . .

G'nite!

Friday, July 25 -- Change o' plan!  Off to Lowes to use what's left of my "in-store credit" (from returning the crummy Bostich nailer) for shelving for my house in Annville!  Free burgers at Lowes!, where I happened to bump into my old workmate Henry Clarke -- Hey Henry!

Enough for 240 linear ft. of shelving (10 - 8' verticals & 72 - 3' 3¾" shelves) -- that's a lot o' wood!  (& half of what I'd like to get onto the big moving truck . . .) -- spent the day cutting & routing & sanding & staining . . .

Saturday, July 26 -- ssss

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