Day Six

Last night we got back to work on the kitchen.

After dinner Dave applied the second coat of paint to the cabinet boxes. 

I started sanding the drawer fronts.

After the first coat made him nauseous, I went out and bought a painting mask for him to wear. 

 I got some sanding masks also, just to avoid some nasty nose dust.  

The paint we are using is by Benjamin Moore.

It's a waterborne alkyd, and is low VOC, but for some reason the fumes seemed to bother him. 

Either way, the boxes are now done!

We are going to give it 24 hours before we replace the stuff that lives on the tops of the cabinets.  

I'm looking forward to getting those things off the breakfast table, and back where they belong.  

The counter top things too!

It's strange going into the pantry for a knife or a pair of tongs.

We got an early start this morning, with a quick trip to Lowe's for me.

Our drawers didn't have any pulls and I insisted we add some sort of handle.

I probably spent half an hour trying to decide.

I was stressed.

But it's done!

 Now we can drill the holes in the drawer fronts before we paint.

We are filling the extra holes on the cabinet doors before sanding since I went with a knob for the doors.

Dave has been out sanding the doors this morning.

We are hopeful that we can TSP them, and hopefully prime them today.

I also need to spray paint our hinges since replacing them all would have been too expensive.  

We have painted the hinges on our bathroom vanities and they hold up pretty well.

  

Day Four

It took a long while for Dave to get the first coat of paint on yesterday.  

So after one coat he called it a day.

 Plus the paint says you are supposed to let it dry for 16 hours between coats.  

 Dave had to go to Montana today.

He won't be home until tomorrow, so the second coat will have to wait.  

That's okay.  

If he gets the second coat up on Friday, he is still on track to get the doors done this weekend.

As for the counter-top debate.  

We have a top three now.

In the photo above from left to right.... we like the first, second, and fourth.  

Although Dave doesn't agree with me on the second, he thinks it's too light.

It's no big deal though because we both agree that this one is our front runner.  

We are going to stew on it for a little while though.

Day Three

Last night after working a full day, Dave came home and got to work in the kitchen.  

He cleaned the cabinets with TSP, which was pretty simple.  

Then he got started on the primer.  

Dave got two coats on last night, staying up until two a.m.  

Of course he wouldn't have done that if he hadn't had today off for Veteran's Day.  

Then he slept in until 10.  

He had to run out to get the paint, and will hopefully get the boxes painted today.

He also mentioned wanting to get the cabinet doors sanded today.

But he has to go to bed on time tonight.  He got a new position, and his new shop does crash recovery.  Tomorrow they have to go to BFE Montana to pick up some pieces from the B1 crash two years ago.  These parts were recently found by some hunters.  He might not get home until Friday.  

That is no biggie.  

He is doing an AMAZING job.  

This weekend we can finish it up.  

Our kitchen was still functional last night.  

I made grilled ham steaks, boxed mac & cheese (it was organic so I feel less guilty), peas and a salad.

I'm not sure how tonight's dinner will go, but I have a casserole in the freezer so I might pull that out.    

We are already talking about counter-tops and back-splashes.

Also, our dishwasher sure does look off-white now!

Day Two

Day Two was supposed to include sanding AND cleaning the cabinet boxes with TSP and tack cloth.  However Dave had to go to a hockey parents meeting. 

 Nate and I went to see Beauty and the Beast, so it was a busy night.  

Dave still managed to get the boxes sanded though so it wasn't a total bust.

The bummer about having an 'open' house like this, is the sanding made a big ol mess.

The dining room was pretty bad. 

And the living room is pretty coated too.  

BTW I dusted this piece of furniture yesterday!  

So this is all from sanding last night.  

I've been dusting. EVERYTHING!

Even though the cabinet stuff was covered during sanding, everything needed a trip though the dishwasher's rinse cycle.  No big deal.  With everything getting cleaned up, and the shelves getting wiped down I think the kitchen is going to be SUPER clean after this adventure.

  

The kitchen is still functional, last night I made Lemon Chicken, rice, green beans, and a salad.

Day One

We have started this big project.

Step 1.  Take down the cabinets and drawer front.  

DONE.

Luckily the drawer fronts came off easily, then we found old knobs to put on the drawers while they are taken apart, so the kitchen is still fully functional.  This helps!  

Moment of the Week

A new DIY adventure.  

We had been plotting this for awhile, but now it's in.  

We had to order a new cabinet to fill the space between the microwave and fridge.  

It's supposed to take four weeks to come in.

Next up we are going to paint the cabinets. 

Our last major project.

Heaven help us.

I found a big pregnant praying mantis the other day.  I wondered if it was a grand mantis from one of the hundreds we released, two years ago.  I found it right on the front porch.  I bet she was feasting on the millions of box elder bugs that spend the fall on our front porch.  I don't know why they do this, but it's annoying and gross, I hope she hate as many as she could. 

This week has felt like the longest weekend ever.  We took the week off from school, and Dave took it off from work.  We ended up hanging around not doing much.  Little things around the house like cleaning the garage, taking junk to the dump, putting up the microwave, shopping for painting supplies.  and cleaning up the yard.  Dave also spend extra time with Nate, taking him out to shoot, and taking him hunting today.

I'm glad to have this catch-up and relaxing week, but I'm looking forward to getting back to school, and our routine. Daylight savings had made this week looooong and groggy.  

The Jedi

Last night Nate went out trick or treating.  He was Anikan Skywalker aka Darth Vader before he went to the dark side.  

I am so glad he made it out, because Friday night after dinner he started tossing his pizza and spent twelve hours heaving.  Not a fun Friday night at our house, and we didn't get to go to the hockey game we had tickets for.  Poor Nate.  But he was feeling well enough to go out, and he slept through the night and has been keeping stuff down and he seems better.  

 This costume was inexpensive, until Dave insisted I make the robe.  The cost before the robe was $6 for those tan pants.  The robe cost nearly $30 with the fabric on sale, and using a 40% coupon for the pattern.

We had perfect weather, not too cool and it didn't rain. 

This morning we were reminiscing on his past costumes.  I love making these mosaics every year.