Day 92 – Basement Door

Spent the evening working out how to install the lock set from the baseement door that I salvaged off the original basement door.  ” They don’t make em like that any more!”    Then I practiced on a scrap piece of wood.    Had to drill out 4-5 holes with a 3/4″ bit.  Then used a wood chisel to square off the opening which is about 3.5 inches deep.     Then chisel out a space about one eigth in deep for the “ears” of the hardware.   Then work out where to drill the hole through the door for the knob to attach to.    Then dry fit all the pieces together – it worked!

Day 91 – Tile Shopping, Unpacking, Door Trim

Today (Sunday) we logged several more hours on the kitchen project.  Here’s what we got accomplished

• Went to the tile store and looked at subway tile and lots of varieties of glass tiles.  We’re leaning toward doing the back splash with off white (biscuit) colored subway tile and doing and accent line with glass tile in a color that will compliment everything else going on in the kitchen
• Linda unpacked a few more boxes and found places to put things away.   About a week ago our den was piled high with about 100 boxes of stuff that we packed up to move out when the kitchen was demoed and when we had the floors redone.  The pile of boxes  is very slowly melting away like a glacier; come spring time we hope to find a whole other room in there!     On the other hand going for weeks and months without all that stuff has given us a new perspective on how much stuff we really need and use everyday so hopefully we’ll be able to shed some stuff as we go.
• I spent the evening working on the  new basement door.   When the contractor hung it a few days ago he did the easy side of the trim, but left the hard side undone – so Dave started plugging away  at that side.   Built up the thickness with two layers of 1/4″ thick furring strips.   Mulled over ripping down the original trim from 5″ wide to 2.5″ wide and decided that was beyond my capacity to cut in a straight line over a seven-foot length.  Luckily I had picked up a nice piece of clear pine at Lowes of the right width and trimmed the length down to size.   Dry fit it in place – looked good.   Took it out back to stain it Dark Walnut.  
• When I dry fit the trim piece in you could still see a gap in the plaster.    I took several long strips of mesh drywall tape, rolled them up and stuffed them in the crack to give the new plaster something to stick to.   Then I globbed drywall compound into the crack.  There’s really no way to do this other than by picking up a handful and pushing it into the crack with your finger.  When that was done then I cleaned up the wall and trim surfaces with a putty knife.  Tomorrow I’ll sand it down smooth.
• Also started filling in nail holes on the salvaged trim that the contractor put up.  Had to mix two colors of wood putty to get something close.
• Yesterday we also noticed a new “contractor curiosity.”    On the side of the pantry there’s some screws sticking out where one of the pullout shelves was screwed into the pantry.   Will have to talk to the contractor about fixing it.   Don’t know how they’re going to do it without tearing it out and replacing the whole cabinet.  This is a major pain in the  &#% !

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Day 90.5 – Musical Interlude

Dave’s band Barefoot Jones playing at The Iron Barley in South St. Louis Saturday night

Day 90 – Baseboards, Shelf Liners, Kitten Climbers and Live Music

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Today was Saturday and we got a few more things done on the kitchen

• Linda put in shelf liners in many of the cabinets
• Linda also went over to the tile store and came back with some tile samples for the back splash.   It’s amazing how different the tile colors look when you get them home and see how they go with the cabinets, counters, wall etc.
• We pulled out the refrigerator and cleaned up all the construction dust behind it and on top of it.  The Kittens used this as a springboard to get on top of the pantry cabinets!  (See photos).
• Dave cut down his home-made baseboard moulding to size and installed on the dining room wall.   It looks like a really good match
• Dave also installed quarter round shoe moulding with the baseboard to finish it off.
• Tonight – Dave’s band Barefoot Jones played down at the Iron Barley in South St. Louis.   You fans of the food network may have seen Iron Barley on “Diners Dives and Drive-Ins”
• At the gig we consulted with Brian (BFJ’s guitarist/lead singer — and our tile expert) on subway tile vs. glass tiles vs. glass mosaics for the back splash

Tomorrow (Sunday) we plan to do some more unpacking and Dave plans to work on the basement door some more.

Day 88 – We’re 98.5% Complete

The contractor came over today to finish up with everything.   Looks like he’s about 98.5% done.  There’s still a couple of details left – but it’s looking really good!

Things Accomplished:

• Got the stove hooked up!   Now we can actually cook something not in the microwave or on the grill!
• Installed all the cabinet knobs and drawer pulls!
• Adjusted all but 1 or 2 of the doors so they all line up with each other
• Replaced the last two bad cabinet doors
• Hung the basement door – using the salvaged/original door casement.
• Installed the salvaged/original trim above the door and down the right side of the door

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Things Not Done Yet

• Resolve the ice maker not getting water (replace water valve)
• Finish trimming out the basement door.  They need to take the old trim and rip it down to about 1/2 its original width to get it to fit the new space between the door & wall
• Install knob & hardware in the basement door.  This is tricky – it doesn’t go together like modern doors
• Also they still owe us a wood back for the extra display cabinet that we ended up with.

Day 87 – Prep for the Big Day

Tonight we spent some time getting ready for The Big Day.  Tomorrow the contractor is supposed to come back and FINISH the kitchen!

• Brought the new basement door up out of the basement
• Ran to Lowes to get some matching brass screws for the door hardware
• Got all the old trim out of the garage that I salvaged from the junk pile when the contractor did the demo back on “Day 1”
• Figured out what pieces were useable and how they all fit together
• Marked everything with tape and instructions
• Crossed  my fingers that the contractor will get it right!

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Tomorrow they are supposed to:

• Hang the basement door and put up the trim
• Hook the stove up to the gas line
• Fix the waterline/valve for the ice maker
• Install all the cabinet knobs and drawer pulls
• Install the last couple of replacement doors that are due
• Adjust the doors so they all line up with each other
• Change an electric outlet in the kitchen so it matches the others
• Fix a spot in the pantry where a screw comes through the wall of the cabinet from the bookcase next to it

Day 85 – Touch-ups, Staining & More

Tonight after work we did some paint touch-up and other odds and ends on the house:

• Took a flat art brush about 1/2  inch wide and cleaned up the paint edge between the wall and ceiling in the living room.   Since the wall is darker green any little spots where we didn’t have the masking tape on straight were jumping out.   Also touched up several little spots around window frames and baseboard   Looks much better now.
• Used some solvent to clean off several paint spatters and drips from the woodwork.   As much as we taped we still managed to drip several places when we were painting.   The solvent smelled just like the model airplane glue that was banned back in the 70’s.
• I finally found the ziplock back of outlet covers and switch covers that I had taken off when we did the painting.   Replaced the covers in the living room and bedroom
• We hung our  big print of tulips over the sofa – in its normal spot.  First picture we’ve hung since repainting!
• Put a 2nd coat of stain on the 2nd side of the new basement door.  It’s starting to look good.   I did this in the basement instead of doing it outside like I had previously done.  It was after dark, and I didn’t want to get eaten by the mosquitoes.   (After all, our neighborhood was “ground zero” for  the outbreak of West Nile virus in St. Louis back in 2003 – the year we moved into the bungalow!)
• Our poor front porch has been turned into a dumping ground for surplus construction materials, half empty paint cans, bags of plaster debris and, of course, lots of extra refrigerator doors!

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Day 84 – Painting, Staining, Mysteries and BBQ

Today (Sunday) we worked on painting and staining.

• We masking taped around the kitchen wall, covered up the peninsula with drop cloths and plastic
• We painted the dining room wall  (2 coats) with Porter Green Pastures – a light green.
• Taji was able to supervise our work from the step ladder
• I got the door out and spent some time sanding down the glue smudges that appeared yesterday.   Not sure if the sanding made it better or worse!
• Put a light coat of stain on the 2nd side of the door and wiped it down soon after
• After several hours of drying time I put a heavy coat of stain on the same side and left it to soak in and penetrate.

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The Mystery of the B17 is Solved!

• We saw the B17 Flying Fortress several more times today.  We searched Google and found that “Liberty Belle”  was in town this weekend.   Liberty Belle is based in Oklahoma and spends the summer touring the country and selling airplane rides to raise money to support its nonprofit foundation.  It flew 64 combat missions in Europe in WWII.   Check out its website   www.libertyfoundation.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday BBQ Menu

• Had another tasty sunday BBQ at the bungalow
• Artisan made spicy Italian sausage from our friends at Salume Beddu
• Panzella with fresh heirloom tomatos, basil from the garden, onion, cucumber, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and  home made marble rye croutons 
• Thin sliced red potatoes cooked with olive oil, salt and pepper
• Fresh watermelon

 

Day 83 – Jim Lauderdale & Staining the Door

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Today was Satuday and we did lots of running around and managed to get something done on the kitchen and caught a great concert!

• Picked up the new basement door from Home Depot.
• Set it up in the back yard, sanded it down and gave it a coat of pre-stain wood conditioner
• Put on a first coat of Dark Walnut stain on 1 side and on the edges.   There’s a few spots that look blotchy in the upper panel where there had been some glue residue from the manufacturing process.  Not sure if I should sand it down to bare wood to get rid of the glue splotches before I get any farther.
• At Home Depot we also picked up the gas supply line and fittings so the contractor can finish hooking up the stove next week
• Went out for lunch to a great deli where they bring a tub of  home-made pickles to your table and you can eat as much as you want.  When left and went outside a World War II bomber flew overhead (see photo).  Looks like it was a B17 Flying Fortress!
• We went to a fabric store and did some more searching for the perfect fabric for our chair recovering project.  Came home with three more swatches.

Jim Lauderdale Concert

• Tonight we went to a house concert featuring bluegrass singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale (see photos).   He’s won two grammys,  written and performed with Ralph Stanley,  written a couple albums worth of songs with Robert Hunter (Jerry Garcia’s old song writing partner), toured with Elvis Costello, had his songs recorded by George Jones, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Solomon Burke, and many other big names.  And he put on a great show in Rick Wood’s family room!

Day 82 – Third Degree Glass Factory

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Dave’s band played at Third Degree Glass Factory tonight.   Rich filled in for Jim on Piano and John filled in on guitar for Greg our fiddle player who has been under the weather.   Lots of friends came out to see us and we had a great show. Everybody was up dancing by the end!

Linda picked up some fused glass artwork that she had done a few weeks ago (see photos).    This got her thinking about doing some fused glass for the backsplash in our kitchen.  Will provide updates as that project progresses.