Attaching Cabinet-Crown

After a bunch of cutting and finish work the crown was already to get hung up.

The pieces that went above use furring strips that were first attached to the top of the cabinets and then the crown pieces to them.

The lower piece are nailed directly to the underside of the cabinets, I used a finish nail gun and 18 ga brads.

the lower ones cover up any of the exposed under-cabinet lighting wires.

I could not figure out how to crown above the stove.

so that got filled in

Dad and I started with the easiest piece and moved to the more difficult ones.

In the whole project, I think there was only one that had to come off and be re-attached at a slightly different location.

It went fairly smoothly. And I feel kind of in shock that it is done, like I don't know what to work on next and I am not sure where that HORRIBLE winter has gone.  

Fixin' Holes

The last item on my list that had been written on my chalk board mini-wall (which had been labeled January, which is silly because what would I have done in February if I had gotten all that done in January) was fix holes.  I replaced my list with a fun saying that Christine found for me.

So there were several holes in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, mostly from the windows getting replaced.

A couple of the holes were deep.

I applied two layers of plaster.

To get the orange peel texture I bought a can of spray stuff.

Applying this was probably the most fun. I got the water soluble so that any over spray can be cleaned up with water.

Then it is prime, paint, paint.

It’s a little funky up close, but in the bathroom trim boards should mostly cover it.

At first impression it all looks good. Much, Much better…

Weekend Update

This weekend the work continued to be ready to hang up cabinet crown next weekend, I am borrowing a nail gun so it is important to be ready.

Dad came down on Sunday and we took some time in the afternoon to take the chain-link off of the chain-link fence. The next door neighbor, at one point, not the current one, put a wood fence inside of THEIR chain-link fence.  Luckily the current neighbor didn't mind that I take the chain-link down.  Last year it created a space for weeds to grow that we very difficult to get to.  And I don't really like weeding... But now I can get rid of the weeds and grow grape vines up the posts.  It should be fun.

It was very sunny and still cold.

Friday Comic: How to Make a Tie-On Tutu

First you start out with tulle, not tool, tool does not make tutus.  I started with 8 yards for four tutus, and cut it in half the hamburger way and then again the hot dog way so that I ended up with 4 pieces that were 2 yards by ~22 inches.  

Then I folded it in half and stitched two rows of LARGE stitches with the ends not cut too short. 

Lisa was in charge of gathering the tulle by pulling one string of each stitch.  Lisa was also in charge of ironing the long pieces of cheap stain (come on, they're tutus I wasn't going to buy the nice stuff) into tape.  So pretty much I did all the fun stuff on the sewing machine and Lisa did all the difficult work.

Long story short, you sew the tape on to the gathered tulle and then finish the ends of the tape by sewing the ends together to make double sided ribbons.

A word of advice: Don’t get tulle with GLITTER. Unless you can make the tutus OUTSIDE. I did not take this into account and I am finding glitter all over the house.

Furnaces: the Basics

Talking to my energy expert (Stacy)  she said there are two important features of a furnace- an ECM motor and a power vent, and to go with 95% efficient or better. Armed with these few facts I felt a bit dangerous getting quotes and deciding between them.

My old 80% furnace:

Motors:

Natural gas furnaces typically have one of two types of motors.

a PSC or an ECM

an ECM is more efficiency and allows the furnace to vary how much heat and air it is out putting.  All of the ones that I got quotes on had two stages of heat, all on or ~60% on.  So that if it is warmer outside it can run at a lower load.

A PSC is either on or off and cannot vary based on needs.

Vents:

The vents have two options: up the chimney or out the wall, the high efficiency go out the wall. Also known as a power vent

Intake:

The last option (other than brand) was with the intake for air to use in combustion.  Either the air can come from inside the house or they run a second pipe to the wall and pull outside air.  

Pulling air from the outside is suppose to be better because if you pull from the inside of the house you decrease the pressure on the inside which cause more air infiltration from the cold outside into the living space.

So the new furnace is a Ruud, installed by my favorite heating guys, Oak Creek Heating, they are very reasonable for house calls, can come after 6pm, and have helped me out other times. It has a 2-stage ECM, vents out the side of the house, 96% and fit into the old space:

Andrew asked what I thought of the new furnace (shown above) I said it looks fast.

Update on Cutting Cabinet Crown

I have been avoiding this project since I found out how difficult it is.  I can tell because I purchased the crown first thing in January (if not at the end of December) and now almost all of the kitchen projects are done except for this one.  Granted I have had to buy more crown, acquire my own saw, figure out how to finish it, learn to cope corners, its been cold in the basement so finish doesn't dry quickly, etc.

But I really want to get it done at the end of March, so the goal was to get the final cuts made this weekend, so I still have two weeks to get the finishing done.  

The outside corners were easier as they are 45°, the inside corners were coped.  

I really only had 5 or 6 pieces left to cut. But it is amazing how many things can get done while procrastinating on one.

For the bottom ones I taped up the piece I had so that I could measure.  Clamps weren't the right tool here but I needed some extra hands to hold the pieces but otherwise it was a one person kind of job.

This method worked pretty effectively.

The last piece:

So now all the pieces are cut, although I am debating if one piece is too short.  But I have pressed on and stained the ends.  

Trash Nook

The trash is tucked away on the other side of the counter with the cook book shelves.  I planned on finishing it in about the same way.  It is still open which isn't perfect but the platform was the current goal.

It started with the same plywood box:

I secured the two plinths, so now the whole front is covered. The top is just resting for now until I get the trim pieces attached, I figured I could use the nail gun in this and it doesn't hurt anything if it is not attached now.

Yep, the trash and recycling can sit on it just fine.  It also has another chalk board back.

With these projects finished I am going to be focusing on cutting and finishing the trim pieces for them and the crown molding in the next two weeks.

Cookbook Shelves in the Kitchen

The plan for this nook was cook book shelves, we thought that they would look neat because you’d be able to see them from the living room.  IKEA didn't have a turn-key solution in the correct finish so the plan was to make our own.  

I have been storing bags in this nook.  I painted the back wall with chalk board paint, because writing on the walls or cabinets is pretty fun.

Dad and I started with a base of ply wood that would be the structural support and then be covered with the finish pieces.

I have some trim pieces to go around each shelf so we planned an overhang.

the platform was secured to the wall.

The second/upper shelf rests on furring strips, I cut them short and at angles to reduce how much they can be seen.

The lower board is nailed to the platform,

The plinth piece was screwed in. I had to add a spacer because I got distracted from the original plans a some point....

The most difficult part (other than dealing with a not square wall) was screwing the top shelf into the furring strip.

The front plinth will be finished when I get the other side done. (soon I hope)

Then I gathered all of my cookbooks and put them on the shelves, but they barely filled up any space so I added my sailing books and a bottle of wine.

At some point I asked Dad if he thought that it was ‘properly’ supported, he responded ‘well I don’t know where you are going to find an elephant to sit on it.’ Elephant jokes ensued:

‘Time to call Animal Control’

Built-In Doors: Part 2

I refinished the wood doors.  I have skipped pictures of this because they all look about the same as other refinish work.  

 The most difficult thing was figuring out how to hold the glass in, I wanted to use the plastic clips because that seemed the simplest way, but the are not available at the Home Depot, which I realize is limited. So I bought them online with a variety of spacers sizes, I swear I measured but they the spacers were not deep enough.  Dad suggested that I use the plastic clips to hold the wood pieces in. So then I picked up the tiny quarter round and since nailing next to a piece of glass seems like a terrible idea I was back to using the plastic clips.  

A few drops of silicone went on the wood frame to prevent the glass from being able to rattle, you can see it right below the plastic clip:

The clips are hidden from the outside, but hold everything securely.

Here is the built-in without the doors:

and here it is with the doors on:

The next step is to refinish the drawer front, add new pulls and sliding hardware.

Built-In Doors: Part 1, creating the fake leaded glass