the first coat and sore knees – kitchen update

Posted on March 6, 2014 by zefiart

I have just spent the entire day shuffling along on my butt and knees sanding the kitchen floor.

Ok. Not the entire day but a bloody good portion of it.

I tore two #40 grit belts doing just one corner this morning, but they must have just been cheapies. I had to go into town to buy new ones and one of them lasted the rest of the floor. Mind you, they cost twice as much… After the #40 I went over it again with #120, then swept, vacuumed and wiped the dust off the floor before putting on the first coat of varnish cause the tin said ‘make sure floor is clean and free of dust’.

I don’t think this house will ever be free of dust. Ever again.

In fact, I think I’ll be finding dust in things for the next 5 years.

I am not looking forward to cleaning up, but unfortunately that’s what my life has become lately: Move things, clean, move things to somewhere else, clean again.

One day it will all be over. And it’ll be totally worth it!

As you can see, the floor has plenty of ‘character’. That’s what we DIY renovators like to call things which are old, stained, imperfect.

The square ‘patch’ is very visible. There were stains and mucky stuff under the old cabinets but I didn’t worry too much about them as they’ll be covered by the new cabinets. Unfortunately there were a couple of stains which will be visible… No amount of sanding would get rid of them. Probably sump oil or something equally inexplicable.

After all, this is the house where I found sump oil in the garden when I went to plant my hydrangeas.

I can deal with that. Its just more character.

Tomorrow Handyman is coming over to patch the holes he put in the wall when he did the plumbing, I’ll fill holes and hopefully do another coat.

At least that’s the plan.

the best laid plans – kitchen update

Posted on March 4, 2014 by zefiart

The day started off badly.

The car battery was flat cause someone, not naming names, but it starts with ‘W’ and ends in ‘ayne’, left the hazard lights on all night accidentally.

That was bummer #1.

Wayne put the car on the charger.

So we had to take Eduardo to work. That’s the old grey truck held together by rust spots, dints and black plastic where a back window should be (also thanks to someone, I won’t mention names, locking the keys in).

We were already in the city when I realized I’d left the work keys in the Beast (the newer, prettier, though only a little cleaner, truck).

That was bummer #2.

I realized I’d also left my wallet in the car.

That was bummer #3.

When I finished work I didn’t have my car, my audio book and comfy seat and I didn’t have money to go shopping.

That was bummer #4.

I called Wayne, told him he’d have to catch the bus cause I was going home to sand the floor. We could have dinner out when I picked him up from the bus stop. I booked at a local restaurant.

I made plans on the way… George said the kitchen cabinets are ready to put in this weekend (YAY!) so I needed to get the floor done. If I spent an hour on them tonight, then another hour on them tomorrow I should have most of the sanding done before Thursday.

On Thursday I have two dogs to groom in the morning, I could seal the floor, and even give it a second coat before picking up Wayne in the afternoon.

On Friday afternoon when Handyman arrived to patch all the holes in the plaster I could fill holes in the floor.

Then on Saturday or Sunday George would install the cabinets and I’d organise to have the plumbing and electrics connected after that.

I had such great plans… oh how naive I was…

I came home and the first thing I did was go start the car. I would let it run while I sanded.

The car wasn’t having any of that. It was still flat as a tack.

That was bummer #5.

I called roadside assist. I sanded till he arrived. About 15 minutes worth. He started the car up and recommended I take a long drive. I did. I drove for 40 minutes or so. There goes my sanding time.

That was bummer #6.

I got home, turned the car around, stopped outside the gate ready to go out for dinner, then thought “hmm, better test it” and …

drumroll…

It was still flat.

That was bummer #7.

I rolled it down the drive, threw it into second gear…

Nothing.

I rolled a bit further, tried again…

Nothing.

That was bummer #8.

I stopped just before the gate and called roadside assist again. “I need a new battery”.

The wait would be 45min or so. I called the restaurant and cancelled our reservation.

That was bummer #9.

So much for planning. I don’t know why I bother. I almost always get more done when I fly by the seat of my pants anyway!

The guy arrived to change the battery. $186 with the member discount, money I was not planning to spend on a battery.

That was bummer #10.

The restaurant hadn’t given away our table so we managed to have dinner after all.

The opposite of bummer:

up a ladder without a paddle – kitchen update

Posted on March 4, 2014 by zefiart

This last weekend saw a first for me – I painted the fascia on the front of the house at an altitude that had me ducking low flying planes.

Ok, ok, I exaggerate. I started painting the fascia… However, it was high. I’ve always been the ladder girl when it comes to painting – I’d never use one of those extension sticks with a roller. No way. It gives me a crook neck. I use a ladder and put all the strain on my leg muscles.

They are the strongest muscles in the body for good reason. They have to lug me around all day!

So, when doing any painting I’m always the one who gets the job cutting in around the ceiling. And painting the ceiling by climbing up, rolling a bit, getting down, loading up the roller, moving over a tad, climbing up, rolling a bit, getting down… you get the picture.

Its my version of a step class.

Well, this last Sunday had me doing the extreme version of that sport. And cause the only place the ladder could rest was on the aforementioned fascia (the one I was painting), and since there were more steps involved, it was a lot more climbing and a lot less brushing.

I had planned* to have all the white bits on the front of the house railing done. I did all the posts, porch side and garden side, and the inside of the fascia… and then it got hot.

I may have mentioned that I don’t do well in the heat? No?

I’m stubborn. I said I’d do it, I’d planned to do it, so by golly gosh I was going to do it!

I lugged out the ladder (with some help from my brawny half), fought with it to get it level and steady, then gamely climbed up the 323 steps and started painting. I painted about a foot, climbed down, wrestled the ladder over a foot and repeated.

About halfway across the front of the house my calf muscles started to shake.

I would have pushed myself to finish, but the highest bits were yet to come, and … did I mention it was hot?

I was about to make the decision to quit for the day when the decision was made for me… I stepped back from the ladder and right into the bucket of paint.

I now have a few white patches of grass and one white boot.

My failure to finish aside, other things did get done.

The gasfitter came and installed the gas lines. Here’s a pretty photo of our gas connection. We opted to go with smaller gas bottles we own and can fill as needed rather than pay rent on larger ones. You may not notice, but the gasfitter fitted the lines on the unfinished part of the porch enclosure. Handyman was not pleased.

Speaking of Handyman, he did a great job on making a slab for the gas bottles to sit on. And Barney promptly immortalised himself in the fresh concrete.

This is what that area used to look like – the end of the porch was pretty (now enclosed), but the ground sloped down in that spot and there was a broken concrete path that lead into the wall, and gravel. A mess basically. Having the slab there gives us a level area not only for the gas bottles but for my collection of ~~junk~~ decorative garden art.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen a big hole appeared in the floor. This is where the floor dipped by almost an inch towards the wall. Handyman lifted the boards and raised up the joists to level out the floor, then he and Wayne moved the plumbing to the other wall where the sink and dishwasher are to be located.

It made total sense to use that huge hole to move pipes than to squeeze through a tiny door at the far end of the house and have to crawl under the house, dodging spiders all the way to the kitchen. It was a door direct to the spot they needed to get to. It would’ve been silly not to take advantage of it.

Neither Wayne nor Handyman were too upset about not becoming better acquainted with the arachnids under the floor.

So, plumbing moved. Gas fitted. Electrics almost done (will they ever be finished? I’m not sure.) Pine lining started. Floor work started.

Started. There’s still one piece of masonite to be removed. All nails have been removed or punched in on the rest of the floor and I’ve started sanding with the belt sander.

That may seem extreme considering I can hire a floor sander, but here’s the thinking…

1. I can’t lift a floor sander by myself. Sure, I have Wayne to do the heavy lifting, but he won’t be here when I’m doing it. Or shall I say, when I plan on doing it…*

2. I rather like the ‘unprofessional’ finish. I like character and imperfections. I want the floor to look old – not brand new and slickly polished.

3. I have nothing better to do than crawl around on my hands and knees sanding the floor.

4. I’m insane.

So, the plan is to have the floor sanded and give it one coat (or two) before Sunday.

That’s the plan…

its all happening – kitchen update

Posted on February 27, 2014 by zefiart

Yesterday was one heck of a busy day. And every busy day begins with a busy day before cause I had to remove everything that wasn’t nailed down from the kitchen.

That means I had to empty all cupboards and find a spot for the necessities (toaster, jug, coffee) and rudimentary food prep and cleaning. We now have a temporary kitchen area in the office and are washing up in the bathroom sink.

Handyman got here early in the morning and we removed the rest of the kitchen cabinets, then he started removing the flooring – vinyl and masonite.

I helped. I got down on the floor and started removing nails. Fun job.

The kitchen is a real mess. We have holes in the walls, electrical cords taped to the wall (my idea to keep them off the ground where the dogs can touch them, even though they’re capped off). Speaking of caps, Handyman forgot to bring the caps for the taps so he had to put the tap back on so we could have water in the house without also having a swimming pool in the kitchen. Bet you’ve never seen a mixer tap used like this before!

We found that the bump on the floor is because there’s a rectangle of boards that was put in later or something. The joist along the wall in that area is about 1/2 inch lower than the rest, creating a wierd dip. The previous owners found it easier to trim the baseboards than to do the floor properly.

So my plan of sanding the floor this weekend goes out the window. I don’t think it’ll be smart to hire a sander for the weekend hoping that Handyman gets the floor issue sorted out on Saturday… Who knows what we’ll find when the floor comes up…

What did I say about this job growing with everything we start and can’t finish?

The electrician arrived to do a bit more wiring work. I somehow found the only electrician in Tasmania who believes in drip feeding his work. Seriously, he keeps calling to say he needs to come around and do something, does a small amount of work, then comes again a few days later to do a bit more.

Maybe he just likes my company!

Well, he’s a nice guy, neat, does a good job. And he likes country music. Anyone who likes Dwight Yoakam is a friend of mine. As long as it all comes together at the end I’ll be happy. He can’t finish the job till Aurora comes to move the electricity meter. Then he has to connect the stove and he’s done.

I had advertised the kitchen online and a guy came with a truck and a friend to pick it up. Thank goodness cause the porch was chockablock and I hadn’t been able to access my workshop area for weeks.

With all those cabinets gone, I was finally able to get to my power tools and I’m afraid that proved to be a temptation too hard to resist. I never finished pulling nails in the kitchen… I got distracted.

I’ll share my creations later. Meanwhile Wayne has been warned to stay out of the kitchen and I’m feeling better even though I have to make toast in my office and have aching hands.

Being creative makes my day.

its sinking in

Posted on February 16, 2014 by zefiart

Ok.

Deep breath.

I think I’ve narrowed it down.

I realised that whichever way I go, I need a sink with the space to put in two taps. See, we have rainwater tanks. And those tanks only work when the pump is working. ie if there’s a blackout we have no water in the house.

Or we wouldn’t have water in the house if we didn’t also have a gravity feed from the bore water tank.

Sure, the water isn’t the nicest to drink, but you can use it to wash up (to save rainwater) and cook with. For that reason we have 2 taps in the kitchen and in the bathroom. The mixer tap for ‘real’ water, and a regular cold water tap for the bore water.

So, after all that stuffing around yesterday and the tossing and turning last night, the conclusion I’ve come to is that NONE of those sinks I’d narrowed down to my list of 3 will do. None of them have enough space around the rim for 2 taps.

I now have a new list of 3, two of them are economical in price and come in shiny stainless steel, one is more expensive (but cheaper than the Franke) and comes in brushed stainless steel.

Needless to say I’m leaning towards the most expensive, brushed stainless one. Its called Posh. That’s so me… (not). Its got a bigger, deeper large bowl and a 1/2 bowl and overall size is 1050mm.

Next on the list are the Squareline sinks. Those are pretty much a tie in as much as bowl sizes, one has a 3/4 2nd bowl, the other has a 1/2 second bowl. Those are 980mm wide and 1080mm wide. If they done have the Posh in stock I’ll chose one of the others. They’re sold at the hardware store and they have plenty in stock. Or so they told me.

I choose to believe them.

So, I’ve made a decision. On Monday when the girl from the plumbing store calls to let me know if they can get the Franke in for me in time I’ll tell her I want the Posh instead, find out if they have one in store and go pick it up after work.

If they don’t I’ll just go buy one of the others.

Get the darn thing done and over with.

Now, on other news, I sit here while Handyman and significant other pull out the pantry in the kitchen. They already pulled out the corner unit so the electrician can put the wire in for the dishwasher. I’ve spend most of the day till now moving stuff from the pantry and rearranging things in the kitchen.

This is the bit I dislike about renovating.

The good news is that we have floorboards under the lino and under the masonite!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we rip out the rest of the kitchen cupboards we’ll lift up the flooring so the new cupboards can go on the floorboards!

That discovery really made my day!

Now I’m pondering whether to risk painting a bit on the porch rails. Will it rain? They said chance of early afternoon showers… Yesterday it poured and thundered. But the sun is playing hide and seek… The potato vine is saying ‘please paint so I can grow upwards’ but the sun is saying ‘go on, I dare you to paint’… decisions…

sink-ing…………

Posted on February 15, 2014 by zefiart

Today I spent the entire day looking at sinks. our kitchen guy said the cabinets would be ready in 3 weeks. A week ago. So I went shopping for a sink.

I started out unsure about what I wanted. By the end of the day I was unsure of who I was.

See, I thought I had the sink sorted.

Firstly, I wanted a double bowl sink. But I’ve managed for 3 years with a single bowl and it hasn’t killed me. Then I decided I won’t need 2 bowls. I’ll have a dishwasher.

I planned to go with a laundry tub – single bowl, big, deep. No drainboard, but my sink in Fentonbury didn’t have a drainboard and I managed for 8 years with no permanent scars. I still have the plastic white drainboard I bought for there. We could use that till I find something prettier.

Then our kitchen guy recommended a Franke sink, single bowl, with a bowl almost as big and deep as a laundry tub, with the added bonus of drainboard as well. Yay.

Today I found out that they need to order that sink from Melbourne. They say 7-10 days delivery.

So, do I go ahead and order it and risk the sink not arriving in time for the kitchen installation?

Wayne doesn’t want to risk it…

I spent the day looking for alternatives. Prices vary wildly from under $100 to over $1000.

I’m not insane. I’m not willing to pay more than the cost of the Franke sink ($396) if I’m to pick an alternative. The idea would be to find something cheaper and save money, right?

This is where things started to go downhill.

Single sink? One and 3/4 sink? Drainboard or no drainboard? Bigger, deeper sink or shallower and smaller overall?

WAH!

I’m surprised I’m not still lying in the middle of the hardware kitchen aisle in a fetal position sucking my thumb….

I did what any normal (slightly OCD*) person would do.

I made up a comparison table.

Hey. It worked for me when I was buying my first new car. It should work when I find myself unable to make a decision for something that costs 1/100,000,000th of that.

By making a table, doing hands on research, pushing Google to its limits and driving a good friend to drink, I managed to narrow it down to a choice of 3 single bowl sinks. The Franke and 2 others which are smaller overall but still with good sized bowls and nice designs.

Too rounded?

Better?

Then I realised the bench top won’t be ready for installation in two weeks. If the kitchen is actually being installed in two weeks. We are talking about tradesmen here… We could put the old sink in the temporary bench top till the new bench top is finished and the sink arrives… I can still get the Franke.

Easy.

It should be easy. Right?

*Tell me… is it normal to count everything? Is it possible to be ‘slightly OCD’ or have OCD tendencies? I count everything. I count snips when I trim pom poms. I count mugs as I rinse them. I count brushstrokes when I brush my teeth.

Basically, I count when my mind isn’t busy doing anything else.

Is that normal? Should I have my head examined?

a special find

Posted on February 11, 2014 by zefiart

I found the most gorgeous step ladder EVER.

I was picking up Wayne at work when I noticed this beauty in the middle of the training room.

You know me. I have an eye for special things. And this is special.

I had to have it. Turns out it belonged to a good friend of mine so I made an offer and this gorgeous stepladder is now living at my place.

Its in great condition considering its very old. There’s some staining on the timber and the middle step has broken off. Nothing a bit of sanding and gluing can’t fix.

(You don’t want to know what I paid for it, but I think it was worth it.)

I already have a spot planned for this baby. I’m going to put it in the entry/pantry.

This is the plan:

The entry to our house is a tiny little area which holds the fridge and the pantry cupboard I moved from the living room. (Minus its doors as the space is too cramped for doors.) Eventually I’d like to build a custom pantry which will go over the fridge to maximise storage space.

This is what I’d like to build (from DIY Showoff).

The main problem, however, is that any pantry will be high and I can’t easily reach things on the top shelves.

This is where the step ladder comes in.

With a custom built pantry cupboard I’ll have a spot for the ladder to sit, keeping it handy for when I need to step up and get something from a top shelf…

…With the added benefit of looking pretty and being one of the first things I’ll see when I enter the house.

The custom pantry is a long way away, especially since I’m told that making it out of galvanised pipe will

cost me an arm and a leg, so there’s no rush to fix this beauty up, but I’m sure glad I have it!

baby steps – kitchen update

Posted on January 17, 2014 by zefiart

Where did we leave off on the kitchen saga? Last time I posted about it we’d run into the minor snag of the power cables and facing a battle with the power company.

Not much has happened on that front yet.

In fact, nothing has happened on that front yet. The electrician only came in this morning to get the details he needed to put in the paperwork! Who knows when he’d have done it if I hadn’t called him to remind him we were waiting…

Did I tell you we added to that job?

See, the power comes into the house near the front door (the door furthest from the driveway of course), which means that we will never be able to put a roof on that side of the porch. It makes perfect sense that, since they’ll already be there to move the meter box, that they should move the connection/whatever its called too. Just a bit further over so we can put a roof on the front porch.

One day. If Wayne ever gets over the cost of the kitchen renovation.

The Handyman now has all the timber he needs to do the job, so he’s already started on putting a wall in where the old window was. On the side without the power cables, of course.

Did I mention we added to that job?

Ok, this wasn’t all my doing! I was the one who asked him to put a ceiling in the mud room. (Its just corregated iron in there now). Wayne was the one who asked him to enclose the end of the porch.

Its not a bad idea. The wind and rain come in that way and everything we leave outside gets wet.

Yeah, yeah, it was a stupid place to put a porch, but it was the ONLY place we could put a porch.

An enclosed end will give us a spot where we can safely leave things out of the weather.

‘Cause the mud room isn’t big enough for all our coats and boots.

let the games begin – kitchen update

Posted on January 8, 2014 by zefiart

You know the saying?

If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.

We haven’t even started yet and we’re already starting to hit snags.

Yesterday morning I went into Hobart for a few things and picked up a slab of concrete to sit the hot water cylinder on when we move it. It was at the front of the house when we bought here, then when we built the front porch, it ended up being ON the porch. It’ll be moved to the side of the house outside the bathroom window.

I took the antique style knobs I have with me to compare them to the colour of the stove. I thought they were close in colour. I was right. They’re an almost perfect match. Terrific. I can use what I have for the cabinet doors and they’ll tie in with the stove.

Its not a great photo. The laminate sample is Antique White sheen which is a semi gloss finish. That’s what I’ve chosen for the doors. The knob is a bit more cream than it looks in the photo.

I located some drawer pulls on ebay at a great price and purchased them. I now have the hardware for the cabinets and drawers and they’re exactly what I wanted. This is a photo similar to the pulls I ordered. These will go on the drawers.

I was feeling so proud of myself. I was so on top of things!

When I got home I started on the cabinets.

First I moved the microwave to the ‘pantry’ in the entry. I still dislike that rabbit warren but unless I change everything now and make the job bigger than it is, I have to live with it.

I had to make a hole in the back of the pantry (hello hole saw), then I struggled for half an hour to get the plug through the hole and connect it to power.

I managed, with very little injury to myself or others.

I discovered there are a multitude of power points behind the microwave. I gotta give it to the previous owners of this place: they didn’t scrimp on power points!

Then I unscrewed all the visible screws and started taking apart the upper cabinets on the left of the kitchen. Starting with the shelves, then the rest. It was touch and go there for a while. I was pushing, shoving, swinging panels back and forth, and eventually one cabinet came down.

Crashing down might be a better description…

Good news:

I discovered there’s plaster behind the cabinets and behind the laminate tile sheeting.

The bulkheads are plaster. Easy to remove.

Bad news:

The ceiling and walls don’t exactly meet so there’s a gap up there. Not totally unexpected.

Since I don’t really want any ‘visitors’, I opted to leave part of the 2nd cabinet up there till its time to do the walls.

Our handyman, who’s moving the windows, dropped in this evening. Tomorrow morning he’ll be coming around and helping the plumber move the hot water cylinder. He was here to make sure we turned the hot water cylinder off properly.

Good thing he came around too.

He said he told me but I never heard it… Apparently we need an electrician to wire the hot water cylinder in to its new place!

Yep.

So, that ‘two hour’ job just spun out… If I can’t get ahold of an electrician to do the wiring tomorrow we may be taking sponge baths in the hydrobath for a few days.

Also, the handyman discovered that we can’t use the window from the left/mudroom side of the the kitchen in the front. Its the same size as the windows in the living room but it will have to sit higher due to the benchtops, and the porch roof is lower than the kitchen ceiling…

So tomorrow morning I’ll have to call around and see if I can buy an ‘off the rack’ window to suit that spot.

And chase up electricians.

And call my cousin (that’s what I’ll call my ‘almost family’* kitchen designer) to make sure he got my email regarding the kitchen cabinet colour and the solid timber benchtop plans.

*His grandmother and my mother were good friends on Paros when they were younger. That almost makes us family. Heck, given that we’re probably the only people from Paros in the whole of Tasmania, we’re siblings!

Plus I have to go up to Cheeky tomorrow. The vet’s coming out to do the big SNIP. ugh. Poor baby. I’m not sure how I’ll handle it, let alone how HE’LL handle it…

I went up there this afternoon and just sat and fed him carrots and apples and held the rope and lead him around a bit. Yesterday I got him to come and eat a carrot out of my mouth. He’s so darn CUTE. I’ve been building this great relationship based on gentleness and trust, and tomorrow I have to hold him while a vet does unspeakable things to him.

Will he ever forgive me?

the new toothbrush holder

Posted on October 6, 2013 by zefiart

You know I hate our bathroom, right?

Its small. Its cramped. It has an unforgivably common vanity. A gold rimmed mirror. White and gold taps. (gag). A gold rimmed standard shower cubicle. A square edged clawfoot tub*. Ugly white and gold plastic towel ‘knobs’. No storage space, and less space to move.

Oh, and not to mention laminate tile sheeting.

Lovely.

One of the worse culprits was the hideous toothbrush holder in mouldy gold and white plastic.

Gorgeous.

I can’t afford to redo the bathroom right now. Though I’d dearly love to. In fact I was planning to, at the very least, remove the clawfoot tub* so there’s room to put in a cute cabinet or two and turn around when you’re drying your hair… but you can’t even get the clawfoot tub out of there without ripping out the shower and vanity!

sigh…

Meanwhile I do the tiny things which make it easier for me to go in there without throwing up.

Like getting rid of the ugly toothbrush holder and replacing it with something kinda nifty.

Like this spiritless spirit level I found at a tip shop. You can’t really see it in the photos but the test tubes and the beaker are painted in cream and white – the bottom cream, the top a white stripe.

I had wanted to do a more dramatic ombre type of thing but in the end I didn’t think I could get a nice effect on the plastic test tubes if I didn’t use spray paint. As it was, I discovered that ‘low tack’ orange masking tape ain’t low tack enough. You can just see the bits of orange pigment/glue left behind.

I figure once the paint has ‘cured’ long enough I can try wiping the residue off with some eucalyptus oil.

Can you guess why I wanted to paint the bottom of the jar and tubes? Yup. You got it. To hide the gunge that always accumulates at the bottom of a toothbrush holder.

And the reason I didn’t paint up as high on the beaker? Cause I liked the numbers showing.

I also whitewashed the spirit level so it wasn’t brown. Nothing I could do about the gold fitting though. I have to live with those. At least I painted the silver clamps white so it wouldn’t clash too much.

One day, when I have a bathroom I actually like, I might change the colours on the test tubes. Till then, this is way better than the ugly thing I tossed unceremoniously in the bin.

* I am thinking the clawfoot tub might work nicely as a cooling outdoor bath in summer. Somewhere. Maybe… I’ve always thought it would be great but never had the guts to actually do it.

NOTE: This project turned out to be a fail. The test tubes gather water which becomes mucky and stagnant and stinks. I replaced them with large gauge syringes and it works much better!

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