Pre-kitchen prep projects & AJ's birthday

I caught a free week between the end of one class and the beginning of a new one, so I was able to make some progress on clearing space in the garage for the kitchen fix-up (now only a month away!). I spent the week cleaning things up, throwing things out, moving things around, and using up materials I've been saving for projects.

Project 1: Bedside Shelves

Our bed (the rolled up futon on the tatami mat in the picture) is in this little nook in the new room.  It fits great there, but there is no room for bedside tables, so I finally put up these little shelves:

Did I use recycled materials from another project, you ask? Yes, yes I did. These are cut from a plank left over from the Great Fence Replacement of 2012, & finished with rub-on polyurethane left over from The Monster Project of 2014-2016.


Project 2: Workbench

There was a 7-foot piece of structural beam left over from The Monster Project of 2014-2016 that I liked the look of. It's basically a 3 1/2"-thick length of plywood, made up of many ultra-thin layers:

Thumb for scale!

I decided that I would make it into a workbench, along with, of course, other pieces of wood left over from the project. Like this bug-chewed piece of wood that used to hold up the kitchen:

Here is the bench, from a side angle. It's only a foot wide, but very heavy, so I attached it to the wall with a 2"x4" rail, and used the stoutest supports I could find for the front (4"x6"'s).

 

When the bench was done, I put up a scrap of bulletin board, a 6' length of chalkboard Contact paper, and this paper towel holder, which I found in all the stuff that had been left in the downstairs "rooms" by the previous owner(s):

 

Here is the finished work space:

Having a nice, clear, new space to work, I couldn't resist diving right into more projects. Of course.



Project 3: Wood scraps rack

Obviously, I have a ton of wood scraps, and few practical ways of storing them. So, I built a rack. Here it is from the back:

Received the Pickles Seal of Approval

 And from the front:

Much better!



Project 4: Planter

I was very excited to finally get on to the project of making a long (5 1/2') planter for the back steps. I spent today cutting down the pieces I need for the box:

I'll be able to jump into assembly next weekend, & then get that outside.

After that, there are a few more long pieces of wood that I don't already have plans for. Maybe I'll make something for the new kitchen.

In other news, I wanted to show everyone Jon's famous paella, which he made on the grill to celebrate AJ's birthday last weekend:

Yes, it was as delicious as it looks. Thank you Jon!

Breaking news: china cabinet!

We just brought this 6'x6'x2' beauty home from the Salvation Army for the kitchen project:

The china cabinet, not the MMA dummy.

No, the MMA dummy didn't come with it.

Yes, I'm disappointed.

House guest

Last weekend, we had a house guest: the one and only StarrhillGirl, who AJ has known for 30 years, and who is a follower and frequent commenter on this blog.

Pickles, as usual, did her best to be a good host. For example, after the bed was made, she immediately swooped in to perform turndown service:

Thanks, Pickles!

We spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying the warm weather. While StarrhillGirl and AJ read and napped on Sunday, I got some work done on the mural:

Meanwhile, Pickles made sure that her spot on the deck didn't get neglected:

It was a great visit, but so short! We can't wait until she returns for more fun!

This week, it's going to rain all weekend, so there will be no work on the mural. That's just as well -- I have a paper due on Tuesday, so I really should be focusing on that anyway. I think another couple of weekends of work and the mural should finally be done, though -- can't wait to get back to it!

Spring has sprung!

We had some warm weather this past week, so we got to go outside for some long overdue projects.

AJ took some pots and pans and baking sheets down to the antique stove, to make a final decision about whether she wants to cook on it. If the decision is yes, we will seriously look into restoring it; if the decision is no, then will just use it as a piece of furniture, as originally planned.

The decision is yes! We'll start making some phone calls and get a restorer out to take a look at it.

On a related note, in the course of researching the stove, we found out that this thing isn't for burning wood, it's a trash burner:

We also found out that the stove is likely from the 20's, based on the shape of the legs.

The front yard also got some much needed attention. I took care of the weeding, and The Mars Estate Head Gardener moved some plants that were getting too big:

Some of them made their way upstairs, into these planters:

Others were moved to the back yard.

Here is the end result, after taming the wilderness:

On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny left a basket on our front steps:

It was full of scones, croissant egg nests, and prosciutto egg nests -- all still warm!

What a nice thing to wake up to. Thank you Jon Easter Bunny!

Believe it or not, I also got back to the bamboo mural this week. I finished getting the chalk outlines up:

And started painting the leaf shapes white, as a base coat for the bright green:

Lastly, with the heavy rain more or less done for the season, the hammock made a triumphant return to the yard. Here is the view from the hammock:

Next up: we found a really nice, but huge china cabinet that we like for the kitchen. We just need to figure out if we can actually get it in the house. And then we need to start looking at sinks!

Week 104, Part 2

In addition to getting the paperwork completed this week, we also were able to squeeze into Mr. Bunkport's schedule and get some final gutter work done in between rain storms.

Here is Mr. Bunkport, on the new neighbor's (the one who gave us the orchids) roof, fixing some downed vinyl siding and putting up a new gutter:

A thing of beauty!

And here he is, putting up a gutter outside of AJ's office:

Another thing of beauty!

And another task for my to-do list: removing a piece of the washing machine vent to make room for the gutter left a little white strip above the window that I need to touch up with the blue at some point.

Of course, it's unusual (and ill advised) to run a gutter and downspout toward the house instead of away from it, but I asked him to do it so that I could put together a small rain catchment system. I put it together on Sunday, using copper fittings (to match the copper water line below the window, and the copper downspout on the back of the house) and PVC pipe. 

Here's where it joins on to Mr. Bunkport's downspout:

Then it runs through the steps:

To a 50-gallon square rain barrel under the stairs:

The barrel is about 30 inches wide, 30 inches deep, and 26 inches high. Perfect size for this spot, and if I decide later that I want to collect more than 50 gallons, I can attach a second one to it in just a few minutes.

It's such a great feeling to have this massive project really & truly done. Especially as we are now getting serious about this year's project: the kitchen. We are shooting for a June start date, so that gives us three months to assemble materials and furniture. That doesn't feel like a lot of time when we really only have weekends to spend hunting for the right pieces, but we think we already found a decent hutch, so we're off to a good start!

Week 104: Construction Complete!

Today, 104 weeks from when we started the big renovation project (almost exactly two years -- the first construction post on this blog was on March 16, 2014), we finally can call the project totally and completely done: the last of the nightmare of city paperwork is now officially complete.

We are DONE!

Updates & Kitchen Kickoff!

I don't know how it's happened, but it's already February. Between work and school, the year is already getting away from me. Pickles has let me know just what she thinks about that:

Here are a few updates from the past six weeks.

1. More tidying and decluttering!

2. A new neighbor moved in and brought us this beautiful orchid:

3. Momma Arave sent us an exciting & accurate interpretation of our lives here on Mars, made out of horseshoe crab egg pod things that wash up on the beach in Virginia. It features AJ on the taiko drum, and me at the DuserHaus counter, with beer glasses:

And complete with a mouse behind the cabinet:

Thank you, Momma Arave!

4. We have decided to redo the kitchen this summer! And we're planning to do most of the work ourselves.

As everyone knows by now, the floor under the current kitchen cabinets has gaps that cold air & inquisitive mice sneak through. After we tear out the cabinets, we will have Mr. Bunkport seal and level those parts of the floor. Then, we will retile those spots ourselves (maybe).

Instead of installing a slick new set of cabinets, which is expensive and a ton of work, we are going to go for an older style, where the furniture is a collection of freestanding pieces (which we plan to get from flea markets, etc. and refinish over the next few months). In addition to saving us a lot of money, the end result will be a better fit with the eclectic style we have throughout the house.

We're still working through the details of the layout, but to keep costs down and keep the time to completion as short as possible, we're not planning to move the stove or sink. We're also hoping to be able to reuse some of the existing upper cabinets.

Here are some drawings (from Ikea's Home Planner tool) that show what we're currently thinking, featuring:

• sets of drawers and an armoire of some sort for pantry space on the left (but probably not that tall)
• existing freestanding bookcase next to the fridge
• some kind of wheelie cart next to the stove (but wooden)
• the addition of a vent hood above the stove (we don't have one now -- we have to open the windows anytime AJ fries something, which is annoying when it rains)
• a break in the currently L-shaped counter between the stove and sink to enable full use of the three feet to the right of the stove (right now the whole back corner is barely reachable)
• replacement of some of the upper cabinets with open shelving

Something along those lines, maybe. Susie has already improved the design with some ideas. If anyone else has thoughts on what might work well, we're all ears!

We also bought our first piece of furniture for the project last week. AJ happened to see this 1930's-era Occidental stove in a Salvation Army last Saturday, and, happily, it was still there when we went to check it out on Wednesday:

It's just over 4 feet long and 4 feet tall. That's a five gallon bucket to the right, to give some scale. Showing the dog for scale isn't as helpful, because not everyone reading this knows how big Pickles is, but it's cute, so here she is:

Getting it home was an adventure. We expected it to be heavy, but when it took four guys at the store to get it into the pickup truck we had rented, we knew we were in trouble. Luckily, two of our burliest (& kindest) friends were able to come over after work and help us get it off the truck and into the garage. It must weigh 200 pounds. It was made in a foundry, as it turns out, so...yeah.

Thank you Joe & Frank!

Our original idea was that it would just be one of the pieces of furniture that we would use instead of built-in cabinets. We may still do that, but it's in such good condition that we're considering having it restored and actually using it for cooking. It would require a substantial change to the floor plan, however, reducing the counter space next to the stove, so it might not really be doable with how AJ likes to cook. We'll see how it goes. There is plenty of time to figure this out. Although, looking at how fast the first six weeks have gone, I suppose we'll be starting the project before we know it!