Little Projects

That's what we'll be doing this year or rather that is what we have planned right now. This doesn't make more exciting blogging, but it will have to suffice for 2009.

Of course, we made a list, a rather long list of everything we'd like to do and then we prioritized based on stuctural issues and cost. As it turns out, we have a number of things we can do that will cost next to nothing. Projects that have been cued up for a while and just pushed aside.

We have a stockpile of some materials in our basement also (read: oak, more oak, and some more oak)and it will be nice to clear some of that out! Steve is still working on our kitchen table at the wood shop. He is hand scraping it, which is the method used before sandpaper was invented. The effect is more burnishing and smoothing as opposed to sandpaper, which leaves fine scratches on the surface.

He's kind of a luddite when it comes to making furniture, but he does make "hand-crafted" furniture. This is why it takes a while too.

As an example of the kind of projects we are undertaking, our latest project was to install a Hunter ceiling fan we purchased in 2006, back when we were remodeling the 2nd floor.

The funny thing about this little "freebie" project is that it ended up costing us close to $100.00 after we retrofitted the ceiling outlet with hardware to hold up this monster ceiling fan. The house gets the last laugh this time, but just wait, the year has just started.

Projects on the boards for this year include:

Building out our mudroom/entry area with a mirror and hooks for coats etc...

Tuckpointing the garage and basement walls.

General maintenance of roof, concrete repair, window glazing etc...

Install missing shoe moulding in Living room, dining room and mud room.

And no summer would be complete without me refinishing at least one door so...we will be buying a salvage door for our den (Steve's office) and I will refinish and then install it.

There's a bunch more little and not-so-glamourous-or exciting small projects that I won't bore you with here. I'll try to post when something exciting happens.

The saga of our kitchen continues

Almost 4 years ago, Easter weekend to be exact, we demoed our kitchen. You'll be pleased to know that the kitchen was in fact (mostly) finished back in in 2005. But what we were unable to finish at that time, was our pantry.

We had opted not to demo that room to the studs as we had in the rest of the kitchen, and instead the walls had been covered with 1/4" drywall and a new light fixture put in. It was cleaned up, but not very functional(see photo). After that oh so long road to finishing our kitchen, we were weary and took a little break. Then came the 2nd floor and the summer of the wood pile. The pantry took the back burner.

Our kitchen was clean and functional, but we still had loads of stuff stored in the basement. We longed to be reunited with all our cooking instruments, pots and pans. I feel the same way about my books, most of which are as I write, stored in the basement awaiting the creation of built-in bookshelves.

I can't remember exactly when we started on the pantry project. I kind of dropped off on blogging around that time. I have a memory of staining the shelves in the basement in the fall maybe. Steve had to cut open the wall and add more blocking and then do some taping etc... And we had to find jusssst the riiiggghhht braaaccckkettts. These things take time you know.

Then came the holidays and our wedding. But in January, we got back to it. Steve worked outside in the cold like a trooper.


And now...it's mostly done! Just the bottom shelf and some trim remain to be finished.

Look at that- even a place for my beloved Dyson vacuum. At last!

Originally, we had planned to fit a pot rack in the pantry that would hang from the ceiling. This turned out to be a classic eyes bigger than actual space moment. It won't fit! So, we considered hanging it in the kitchen over the stove. Too cluttery for us.

So now, we have decided to add a few more cabinets. One over the fridge and a double door over the stove. Then, we'll be done with our kitchen. Until we decide to redo the counter tops. I really want soapstone...