Painting a (section of) Basement Floor

On Saturday I wanted to get the 'mud room' area of the basement ready for the winter, shake out the rugs, sweep the floor, nothing big.  But once I got those things done I looked around and realized there wasn't much else in that area of the basement. May as well move whats left and paint the floor. So I swept, vacuumed and then mopped on Saturday.  

I mopped again on Monday night.  Because the goal is to get it as clean as possible, and then do an acid wash.  The acid wash is the part that needs two people (in my experience) one to use the watering can to put the acid on and then a few containers of water to rinse and the other person to try to control where the water goes with a vacuum. 

The actual painting part, that can be done when the acid rinse is dry, goes very quickly. 

And can really make the space feel nicer. The specs are dried paint flakes that you can purchase with the basement floor paint, they even come in a shaker.  When the paint is still wet you just shake a few in.  It might be the most fun part, and not just because it is the last step.

And sometime in the future I can do another section, I still have lots of paint (it only takes one coat), lots of acid and a few of the sprinkles left.

New Front Stairs

Here are the stairs as of last fall.  I am not sure if this picture really conveys how slanted they were.

Here are the new stairs:

Straight and easy to walk up and down.

this winter should be much less scary.

Back Splash Boards: Part 2

I used the waterlux to finish the back side of each board. This process took several days.  Each coat needs 24 hours between it and the maple needed at least three coats.

Behind the sink before:

The Buffet:

To install the boards I put a bead of caulk down in the corner.  For around the sink I put one up higher too. Then the board was fitted in place, and nailed with a finishing nail gun.  Seriously the longest part of this half the project was getting the compressor and nail gun working. If any caulk leaked out I cleaned the edge with a wet paper towel.  I also used the clear stuff so it is barely visible. 

All but the one piece is in. One the longer boards Angela helped me to hold each end down while I nailed them in.

My first thought after I cleaned up from the project was, "Great, another thing to try to keep clean."

You can read about the first step here: Back Splash Boards: Part 1

Apple Butter

Angela, my current short term housemate, mentioned making apple butter. We had slightly different experiences with it in the past.  Mine took a lot longer to cook than expected and her recipe had told her not to peel the apples-that the peels could be picked out afterwards.  So this past weekend we tried again.  I looked at many recipes and in the end took the basics from the national food preservation website, which actually said no cook times, but the plan was to use the slow cooker. It also had great information about how to tell if it is done.

We peeled and chopped the apples late Saturday afternoon and got them cooking. I got jumpy so there was some microwaving involved as well.  And without a strainer we were relaying on it cooking down to mush.

On Monday morning it was still not done, as the liquid was still able to separate, see instructions below.  So it cooked all of Monday.  On Monday night we forced it through my colander (I do not have a strainers, I wonder if a potato ricer would work... not that I have one of those either) and cooked it for about another hour on the stove and then canned it.

Here it is looking all innocent on the island.  Don't be fooled it takes a REALLY long time to cook. I am not even sure what I would do differently next time.  Which is why I probably won't try again for another three years. 

From the National Food Preservation Website

Apple Butter

Use Jonathan, Winesap, Stayman, Golden Delicious, Maclntosh, or other tasty apple varieties for good results.

• 8 lbs apples
• 2 cups apple cider
• 2 cups vinegar
• 2¼ cups white sugar
• 2¼ cups packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground cloves

Yield: About 8 to 9 pints

Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Wash, remove stems, quarter and core fruit. Cook slowly in cider and vinegar until soft. Press fruit through a colander, food mill, or strainer. Cook fruit pulp with sugar and spices, stirring frequently. To test for doneness, remove a spoonful and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon. Another way to determine when the butter is cooked adequately is to spoon a small quantity onto a plate. When a rim of liquid does not separate around the edge of the butter, it is ready for canning. Fill hot into sterile half-pint or pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Quart jars need not be presterilized.

And here is the website that has more information on it:

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/apple_butter.html

Back Splash Boards: Part 1

First of all: I'm holding off on tile. 1 I am worried it will be dated when I try to sell the house, I know I shouldn't worry so much about that 2. There are a lot of necessary elements that need to go in before I think about decorative.

Months ago Bryna had routed the curve in these boards and I sealed the exposed faces with the water lox finish.  Here is a view of the kitchen with one board in set place:

Please note that the after view of the kitchen will not be contained in this post.

This weekend; Dad, Les and I, cut the boards to fit together.  Whoever can make these cuts with a copping saw to fit on the first try is a lot better than us. 

It turned into making rough cuts and sanding them down to fit decently together. Lots of sanding with 80-grit

In the end only one board was botched, and the rest are ready to be sealed on the cut edges and backs.

Read on: Back Splash Boards: Part 2

Almost too Cute to Use Pillow Cases

I can take no credit here, this is another amazing Rachel project.  The white pillow cases with ribbon detail are my birthday present from this year.  They really look good in the living room.  Now I just need to rearrange furniture.

Pantry Handles

I feel as if I had known how quick I could get this done, I would have taken care of it long ago, but I did have an issue tracking down the handle that I wanted, and then one day, it was at the store. 

I covered the area that was going to be drilled in with tape to try to reduce damage and so that I could make marks for where the middle was.

I made my template in CAD to get the holes in the right place and to locate center.

And then POOF, drill four holes and attach the handles.  It’s like they were always there.  

Except this morning when I went to open it and I started to grab the edges (which is how I opened it for 6 months) and there was a handle, made Monday morning just a little better.

Read about the rest of the pulls in the kitchen