12/12/12

Yep, we did help the neighbors, and got it done in lickity-split time. It looks great, and we felt a sense of accomplishment for a few days.

That wore off.

Work has been rearing its ugly, but much-needed head recently, so all work has basically come to a standstill. Work, then a quick family-visiting trip to Naples, FL. Then Thanksgiving happened, where we needed to create enough room for BC to stay when she came here with us. Then family visiting. Then friends meeting said family. Then helping BC find a car to buy. Then trying to do some work while we had a quick warm spell, while still visiting with BC. Then had to get an endoscopy (looking at the insides of my esophagus, tummy, and upper intestine . . . all is well other than aggravated lining), then got another "take me to urgent care" migraine, and now it's Wednesday 12/12/12.

Tomorrow is a big day as well, that might put the kibosh on any major future plans for a bit. Homewrecker has a belly-button hernia that needs surgical attention, so tomorrow they fix that. For many weeks after, even if he feels better, he will not be able to inflict any harm on anything weighing more than 10 pounds, including our 13+ lb. cats! So it's been a mad rush between all the crap in the previous paragraph to get the countertop DONE (at least his part of it), so while he rests up, I sand and start finishing with tung oil.

I can also do some alterations on the vanity while he's out, since I've done that before, and he's cut all the drawer fronts for me, I should have plenty to do while he can't do nuttin'.

Did I mention our original plan for drawer fronts didn't work out? Initially, the drawers were full overlay drawers, meaning that the front of them slammed the face frame of the cabinet when they were fully closed. We both really like the aesthetic of no overlay, more reminiscent of old-fashioned cabinets and drawers, where, when closed, the fronts of the drawers are even with the fronts of the cabinets, and there's a small gap, usually 1/16" to 1/8" all the way around the drawer front, making it look like it's floating in the space.

So we thought it would be easy to just cut all the "flanges" off the edges of the drawer fronts, making them simple rectangles, and then re-use them as new fronts in the "drawer holes". Ahh the bliss of ignorance!

Turns out, after HW cut all the drawer fronts off the drawers, and I disassembled each drawer into its various components, something became obvious to us that we couldn't have known going in. The drawer fronts were not symmetrical. The flange (routed edge) on the top edge of the drawer stuck out more from the box of the drawer, than the flange at the bottom. From the front, they looked symmetrical, but from the back, they were not. I'm not sure how well this description will go, but here's a try: take a slab of wood, cut it down to the size of a drawer front, and then cut a flange (or rout the edges) around the whole edge of the drawer front. Then, on the back side, instead of cutting a rectangle to exactly fit inside the flange, offset the rectangle, so the flange on top is prominent and sticks out, and the flange on the bottom only half sticks out--the back side of the flange is now the bottom of the drawer. That's what we're dealing with. Bottom Line: We couldn't use the full drawer fronts like we thought we could.

This presented another dilemma: how many of the smaller drawer fronts could you get out of the bigger pieces of drawer fronts? The smallest ones are 10" high and 4 1/2" deep. The second tier is deeper, at 5 1/2" deep, and a little wider but not quite wide enough to yield two small drawer fronts. And the middle drawers were not as deep as the lower drawers ( 6 1/2"), so you could get a middle drawer front out of the carcass of the lower drawer fronts. Get the picture? So we salvaged drawer fronts for the smaller drawers out of the bigger drawer fronts, but we had to make the bigger drawer fronts out of new cherry wood that HW had to mill down.

LOTS of extra work.

It'll keep me busy while he's out of commission. :o)

This is what it could look like in place, with holes cut for the undermount sinks. All rough cut, and missing the front lip of the counter, but you're getting the idea. HW had to mill pieces for the back to make it deep enough, and for the sides to fit the wonky walls we have. It fits just about perfectly, and the wood looks like it's all been sandwiched together since the beginning of time. He's done an awesome job!

 

 

I still have to wait for warmer weather/water to cut the last pieces of tile. Did I mention that travertine, being natural stone, isn't cut exactly 12" x 12"? And as I walk over existing, already-laid tile, I criticize the crap out of it, wondering if I should pull up some pieces and re-do them before it's all said and done.

 

So, I could do tile, paint the walls, install all the outlets and lighting, and work on the vanity while HW is out of commission. Oh yeah, and celebrate Christmas, my birthday, New Year's, and so on. And also work on my job.

 

And something tells me this spring is going to be crazy with work. I just pray we get to a good stopping point before all the crap hits the fan. We started this in May. I don't have much hope for a shower stall by next May, but who knows?