We May Wobble But We Won't Fall Down

Most people use a matchbook or a piece of cardboard when their table wobbles.

Not us.

We use a level.

Work is progressing nicely on the dining room and home office.  I said nicely, not quickly.  The ceiling is done, wiring is done and the fan and light are installed.

The new walls have been drywalled, primed, and painted, some trim has been installed, and the flooring has been put in.  The cabinets in the office are have also been installed, but we are waiting to hear from the installer for the desktop.

There's still a good amount of work to do, but we should be able to complete it in the next couple of weeks.

But one thing is sure - our dining room table is not going to wobble.

If You Think Dog Hair is Hard to Keep Up With

You ought to try living in a house where every room is practically being gutted and/or remodeled.


This is what my kitchen looked like about a month ago when Vern (and our ever helpful friend Jesse) installed the canned lighting. (That's insulation from the attic for the uninitiated who have never remodeled.)

Made me wish for no lights so that I didn't have to see that mess.

Finally Moving in the Right Direction

Progress has once again started on the house after the long hiatus during Vern's kidney boulder episode. Vern's parents came from Minnesota to stay with us for a week, and Vern and his dad worked on several different projects.

One of those projects was our range hood.



It's a good thing they were here because by the time that we got the hood installed, it had taken the effort of all four of us!

But I think the effort was worth it.



Oh, and I finally figured out where Vern got his talent for using a level. (What you can't see in the photo is that they BOTH have a level in their hands.)

Can I Get An "Awww"

Remember this cabinet over our kitchen sink?

I found a picture on my camera that Vern had taken before he installed the trim, light, and valance.

I'm pretty sure I don't deserve him.

The Devil is in the Detail

What does that mean anyway?


According to the Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings this phrase is a variation of "God is in the details - Whatever one does should be done thoroughly; details are important."


No one takes that phrase more literally than Vern. It's all about the detail work. Of course, details are important - it's what makes something special. It's what makes it stand out. It's also what makes it take forever.

Installing the appliance garage and corner glass door (you did notice the level in the picture, right?)

Installing the cabinet and crown molding over the sink

and then the cabinet doors and stained glass valance

We're not sure about this - just testing out some beadboard between the cabinets and the crown molding (we have beadboard in a couple of other areas too)

I really don't have an explanation for this

The devil is in the details. I just wish the devil would work a little faster.

It Has An Added Feature

Now that my kitchen back up and running (somewhat), I've decided that one of my favorite features of the new range top is that I have a cutting board that covers the griddle. I'm finding it so handy to have a cutting surface right on my cooking area so that I can just chop and toss ingredients right into the pan.

However, I discovered an added feature that I didn't see mentioned anywhere in the user's manual.

Yes, that is Vern. And he is cooking.

I'm not even going to tell him that he's on the wrong side of the range.

He Gives Me Gas

Natural gas, that is.

(I love a man who knows how to use a level)

Vern worked long and hard installing new gas lines for the gas rangetop. It took a couple of days to get it just the way he wanted it, but I'm happy to report that we now have gas!


And I'm now completely out of the kitchen in the garage.


I might even cook tomorrow.

Progress in the Man Cave

The lumber rack is done.

Rumor has it that work will soon resume on my kitchen.

It darn well better or someone is going to be living in the man cave.

Welcome Back Old Friend

Oh, how I have missed you.

Speaking of welcoming back old friends, our good friend Jesse (who helped us build our deck last fall) is moving from Louisiana to Indiana this week. He'll only be a couple of hours away from us, so we hope to see more of him. Well, not exactly "more" as in "I'd love to see more of him *wink* *wink*" but rather as in "We hope to see him more OFTEN."

Because the other way is just wrong.

Sneak a Peek

We haven't been getting a lot of work done on the house lately but we've been pecking at a few things a little at a time and made a little progress.

Here's an unfinished idea of what the floor is going to look like. We only have this small section completed, and it isn't grouted yet. We'll be using a dark grout because let's just be honest here - I'm not going to be scrubbing a light colored grout to keep it that way. Been there, done that . . . I'm too old for that shit.

And here's a peek at the tile that we are considering as part of our backsplash. This would just be the accent strip (about 3" wide) with a neutral background. We haven't made a final decision, but I wanted to bring some amber and red into the kitchen for a splash of color since everything else is so neutral, and this works perfectly with what I had in mind.

Now, if we can just actually get a wrap on a few things before Vern has his next surgery on Thursday (May 8), I'll be a happy camper.

Stoned

As promised, albeit a little late, here are photos of the soapstone installation.

The stone was brought into the house in smaller pieces. Soapstone weighs approximately 20 pounds per square foot, so even the smaller pieces required three men to carry them.

In this photo, you can see the difference between the sink, which has been oiled with mineral oil, and the "raw" pieces of soapstone.

The seams were epoxied together and the surface was carefully sanded and smoothed. This process took a few hours.

The finished countertops, installed and oiled.

A few close up shots of the various veining patterns.

This is to the left side of my sink. We had drainage grooves cut in.

This is my favorite piece. It's on the island to the right of the rangetop, and I call it my "lightening" piece.

There's so much more work to do, but getting the countertops installed was a huge turning point.

A Little Bit of This and A Whole Lot of That

We had the first little bit of warm weather this week, so we christened our deck by cooking on the grill for the first time! It was a welcome change from cooking in the garage. Especially since Vern takes charge of cooking on the grill. (The white garage in the distance is Vern's shop, and that's my cute little red Jeep.)

Some further progress was made on the kitchen this week. We found out that we needed more structural support for the 12" overhang that will go around our island. The soapstone is very heavy, so we needed something substantial. We decided on some Mission style corbels. It was a mad scramble for them because we wanted to find something that matched the style of our kitchen, but that also was affordable. Affordable being the key because structural corbels in the size that we need are pretty darn expensive. Some of them cost as much as - - - are you sitting down? - - - $1,000 each! Yikes. that was definitely not in the budget.

We were able to find these from Rockler and have them overnighted to us so that we could get them stained and installed before our counters are ready.

Speaking of the soapstone, the great news is that it is being installed on Wednesday! The bad news is that we still won't have a working kitchen for a month or two due to the work that we have left to do and Vern's surgery.

We almost have the beadboard installed around the island. Here's a little peek at it as well as a look at the baseboard we are using around the island.

There will be a small inset bookcase in the area where the clamps are. The soapstone will extend about 12" most of the way around the island.

Here's another view that gives a little more perspective.

This is the view from the former living room/now dining room. There will be a small office in the area where the saw is sitting so that it is easy access from the kitchen but yet separate. You can also see the new door to the deck that we installed this fall. The walls are going to be a neutral tan color, so we're trying to decide on the color for the door. I'm thinking about red to give the room a little punch.

Finally, my "Mission Organization Project of the Day" was actually two projects. I'm working on our family room right now.

Here's a good example of "just because something is neat and tidy and you have room for it, doesn't mean you should keep it."

What the heck was I thinking keeping all of these maps? We had maps for almost every state, several large cities, and many areas of Canada. Do I really think I am going to be driving to Alaska anytime soon? Can I even remember the last time I used a map? And if I did need a map, wouldn't I want a more current map than 2003? Isn't that why we are members of AAA Motor Club? We can get all the free maps we want at any time. For that matter, we have two GPS units - why do I even need a map?

And these . . . .

Do we even have a VCR anymore? I guess we do, but I don't even know where it is, and I'm certain it is not plugged in. Heck, even when we did have one, I couldn't operate the darn thing. We have a DVD recorder and TIVO. I can't imagine I'm ever going to need a VCR tape again in my life.

So it was a pretty easy answer to the question "WWPD?" (What Would Peter Do?) Peter would say pitch them. And so I did.

Welcome to the 21st century.

We Have Progress!

There's nothing like that last minute panic to help move things along a little faster. Vern is using the last few days before his surgery to get things in order. It won't mean a working kitchen yet, but it does mean that some work can continue while he recovers.

The appliances were delivered.

Most of the cabinets have been installed and our soapstone contractor was able to come out and make templates for the stone.

They were here for close to four hours making templates with every little detail for the stone.

They even brought our soapstone sink. If you aren't familiar with soapstone, it is a natural stone and mined like granite and marble. It has a soft feel, but quality, countertop grade soapstone is very hard. It is nonporous and would not even be affected by spilling acid on it (that is why science lab counters are made from soapstone). It is also not damaged by heat (in fact it holds heat so well that fireplaces can be lined with soapstone).

Soapstone does not need to be sealed, but its natural beauty is brought out with a simple coating of mineral oil.





We have a few more days to put some closure to some projects and then we will just take a "relax and wait" approach until Vern is on his feet again.

Until then, I'll probably be doing some organizing and cleaning, so prepare to be thrilled to death with those projects. I might even get some down time to play with yarn and needles.

Spice Up My Kitchen

I fully admit it. I'm a spice whore. I probably have over 120 bottles of spices. And probably 20 of those are duplicates. I'm convinced that spice bottles are specifically designed to make the consumer lose their spices in a sea of short, tall, skinny, and fat bottles.

I would love to be able to store my spices like this

Or this


Or even a pretty spice rack on my counter like this one





But let's be realistic about it. None of those systems work unless you have just a few spices and they are all in uniform containers.


I don't know about you, but I have a fortune tied up in the spices I already have. I also cook a lot so I like to have a huge variety of spices on hand so that when a recipe calls for that elusive spice, there's a good chance that I have it on hand. My spices come in a variety of square, round, fat, skinny, tall, and short bottles.


A while back I came upon a solution that worked for me. I divided all of my spices into several boxes, divided by type: General Spices, Dessert Spices, Meat Spices, Salts and Peppers, and Baking Spices.



While it made it really handy to grab the right box and quickly locate the right spice, it still wasn't perfect.


So this week, I took a little time and labeled the tops of all of my spices so not only can I grab the right box quickly, but I can also locate the correct spice with just a glance and I won't have to dig through the box.



Heck, I might even get Vern to help me out in the kitchen a little more.