Cabinet Capers: Erasing the Past

This entire process has been very entertaining for me. I live alone, as far as other humans go, and have learned that I can laugh out loud at myself without fear of wondering if I should be committed. Crazy people don’t know they’re crazy. I’m frakkin’ nuts! So by that logic I am doing okay.

I laugh frequently at the gross things my house presents, and to be honest it’s almost daily.  Between Pete occasionally sharting in the bed (twice! really??!) and the remnants of German cockroach infestation, I have seen my share of poop; especially for being a non-parent.  I should rename this blog: Easty’s House of Poop, aka EHOP. Ha! #EHOP

When last we left our heroes, the cabinet doors were drying after a couple coats of primer and my head was pounding. 

Time to eradicate the past horrors from the kitchen and bring this baby into a new era of well-being! I donned the rubber gloves and a bucket of soapy water and got to scrubbing.

Before (eeeewww)

After (aaahhhh)

Why yes!That is a good, solid layer of roach poop/pieces. I gagged and laughed my way through it because if I can’t laugh at really disgusting stuff, life gets just a little too hard. Here are the two big guys all scrubbed down and degreased (the same process as the doors.)

After Brett got the new walls in, we did some reordering of the cabinets to make the kitchen a little more cohesive. There used to be a single unit over by the refrigerator that wedged it tightly against the wall and provided a ridiculously small surface area.  So we moved it over to the cabinet next to the stove to create more counter space and so the fridge could breathe. The orange arrows below show the move, but please forgive the terribleness of the rendering:

See that green arrow? The original plan was to have a double upper cabinet with glass inserts installed in the door panels. Then this happened:

So I was like, “Suck it, jigsaw! I’m going all-open shelving!”

And that’s the new plan. This is how I roll.

Once all the cabinets were in place it was time for a light sanding and primer.

Pete was super helpful and not in the way at all.

 

BTdubs, my dog looks dead but I swear he’s just really hot and tired. It was 101 degrees outside (it’s the duurty south ya’ll) and with all the indoor/outdoor movement, plus the power switching on and off to rewire some of the electrical, it was about 97 degrees in the kitchen.  Poor Pete! He works so hard.

Brett secured all of the cabinets to the wall and installed the counter-top and sink. I broke out the wood filler once again (woot!) to erase the past lines between the units so it looks like one solid piece of furniture. I plan to put “feet” at the base of the cabinets later on so that you really get a sense of furniture-ness and not these-are-standard-box-store-cabinets-ness. whew.

Oh! And Brett rigged the sink cabinet to make it seem like it was built for an apron sink! Which of course, it totally wasn’t. In fact, we had to go out and purchase a new sink unit (hello unexpected reno cost!) because the original cabinet fell apart when we removed it from the wall. Years of water damage corroded the particle board and it just collapsed in my hands. The good news is that Lowe’s had an unfinished version in-stock for $105 that blended well with the originals. Added bonus: I did not have to de-poop that one!

Before

After!

     

After sanding everything down, giving it another couple coats of primer, it was finally time to break out the real paint.



Ooooo low odor! No VOCs? Now we’re talkin’! I used Benjamin Moore’s Advance paint in Cloud Cover, satin finish; quite literally ripped this one off from the Petersik’s. I’ve spent enough viral time in their kitchen to know that this is a great color and finish. And they highly recommended it, which is more than enough for me! Sold!

Next comes the hardware phase plus censored expletives! Good, good times!

Hugs,
~Easty

The Weekend Warrior - Part 2

The softer side of my warrioress-ness:

After a fairly restless night getting used to my hyper house guest,

Manny!

Petey giving me the put-the-camera-down look

I finally tackled that throw pillow project I've been putting off for reasons including but not limited to: a) I needed an iron/ironing board, b) I needed at least two hours of quiet, and c) I am still a little afraid of my sewing machine.  One time (at band camp) I was using the wrong thickness of needle to sew some denim - the machine is called the BabyLock Denim Pro II for goodness sake - and it broke off and hit me in the lip.  It really hurt but my first thought was, "Thank God it wasn't my eye!"

Since then I've been wary of the thing and have always worn glasses/sunglasses/ safety goggles when putting it to use.  I have a lot of meshugas, I know.  As my dear Aunt Molly would say, I may be high maintenance but at least I'm self-maintaining.  The whole point of me blogging this stuff is to document my learning process when it comes to DIY and overcoming my fears.


I get daily emails from Joss & Main, One Kings Lane, Fab, Beyond the Rack, My Habit and The Foundry, which are all websites listing daily designer sales up to 80% off retail value.  I am addicted to scouring these sites but am extremely restrained when it comes to buying.  Only on a rare occasion will a deal so fabulous catch my attention that I throw down the plastic for a piece of bargain basement gold.  Most recently it was a Fab.com tea towel that will be framed to hang over the future breakfast nook...more on that later when it arrives in 10 to 22 days.


The most common pieces that I rummage through are linens and decor.  Graphic prints are so hot right now and I love yellow and white chevron throw pillows, but not at the $65+ price tag!  So I popped into the local fabric store when James was in town, found the very print I was looking for and a 16x16" pillow form to work with.  That lovely yard of yellow and white goodness has been sitting on my sewing table for a month and I no longer had excuses a and b standing in my way.  Time to kick the dogs outside and conquer c!

Sometimes I plan and plan and plan, other times I just jump right in.  This time was a jumping plan.  Without a pattern to work with (not that I would really know what to do with one if I had it) I started measuring and estimating that I would give myself an extra two inches on each side to work with.

20x20" square

There was some pinning, some ironing, a lot of stitching, peddling and some cussing, but before long it was starting to look like a pillow!

Now how do I finish this? That took the most time out of anything.  After two broken needles and no blindness, I decided to hand stitched it shut and spot clean later, I guess.

Not too shabby for my first attempt at pillowry!

Here it is in action

 I quickly moved it to a safer location because of this guy and his shredding ways.

Ya'll come back now ya hear?!
~Easty

The Weekend Warrior - Part 1

I am a weekend warrior.

I have a full-time job that requires me to be awake at 5am and at work by 7. I get an hour break and am home by 4, at which point I am pooped.  I am Queen of the Power Nap too (Petey is the Duke of Snuggle Buggle).  After a quick recharge, I make some dinner, clean up, go spend some time with my fellowship, and then I have time to do things around the house...starting around 9pm.

So really it's over the weekend when I get the most done (and on the blog too).  Someday I hope to have a really successful, workaholic spouse so I don't have to do the 40-hour grind anymore. I want to be one of those women who says, "I work because I want to," say 20 hours a week.  Right now, it is just me and The Duke and he doesn't bring home the bacon.  He's an outstanding watch-dog though, despite being such a little squirt.

Stewart Peter Brown I, Duke of Snuggle Buggle

When my officemate found out I was closing on a house he said, "Congratulations! You just took on a part-time job," says the father of three toddlers - all boys.  I came home for lunch on Wednesday and found a four-foot deep sink hole to the immediate right of my driveway.  By the grace of God it was in the city's jurisdiction and they were all over it!  Whew. Now, for the kitchen:

When we last left it, the kitchen was in a state of backsplash nakedness/hoodlessness.  It being Saturday morning...

ATTACK!

The Duke inspecting the temporary kitchen setup.

I started the day by clearing the counters and the upper cabinets, setting up a temporary kitchen in the corner with the daily necessities.  The most important placement was the coffee pot because I am just not fooling around in the morning. I will cut you if you stand between me and my coffee.

After that I took down all the upper cabinet doors,

and I found this:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Upon completion of a brief melt down, I decided to put on my big girl pants and suit up...out came the pink rubber gloves.  

After learning my shocking lesson a couple weeks ago, I turned off all the power in the house before starting to remove the cabinetry from the walls.  I already have gravity working against me; I don't need to add more physics into this! 

Power On: beep, beep beep!

Power Off: silence

Look Ma! One hand!

A few things to remember when dealing with electrical wiring:

1. Make sure you shut the power off from the main circuit breaker box outside. The box inside is usually a subpanel (learned that the hard way!)
2. Only use one hand. Don't complete the circuit by using both!
3. Rubber is good. Very Good. Rubber soled shoes, rubber gloves, rubber handled tools. All of it good.
4. Use the right tools like a voltage checker (as seen above). It lets you know whether you've got a live wire or not and it's like, ten bucks at Lowes.  Also, these cap dealies (right) are pretty crucial for capping off exposed wire until the electrician can get there.  I should have bought more yellow ones; those are the size of most of my wire and I used them all today.

So, I had some fixtures to remove and all of these things came into play this morning.

Snip, snip mofo.

Exposed and dangerous

Done. Now listen to Marilyn.

When I got to the nasty florescent over the sink, I realized I needed my crowbar and rubber mallet to remove the "Country Kitchen" wood thingy (valance? what would you call that thing??) I summoned my inner hoss and ripped, clipped and stripped everything down and without hurting myself, save for a couple awesomely tough bruises on my thighs.  Note: when removing cabinetry, check for the no-see-um screws first, often found on the very top or underneath.  Unscrew those, then the lower ones, then do the top.  Dealing with the hidden screws is how I got the bruises.

Valance thingy?

Rubber hammer time!

Ta da! 

Oh yes, those big brown patches over there on the sink wall? That's drywall. Really friggin' old drywall that used to be white. I have to replace the whole thing I think. The project keeps getting bigger but thanks to Sherman-Williams and their amazing Color Visualizer, I can start to see my vision coming alive:

Imagine this with those white dishes I found, red accents and a whole bunch of glass jars filled with pasta. Ahhhhhhhhhh. It makes it all worth while.

Call it a productive Saturday! Cheers, ya'll!
~Easty

Easty's New House

Where do I start?? Okay, how about here:

I moved back to my hometown two years ago after living away for almost ten. I got my college done, some "life experiences," and a butt-load of time stuck in LA traffic, before I realized how much I missed Tuscaloosa. I was stuck on the 10 when I figured that out, called my mom and asked, "how 'bout for Christmas I drive home and just...stay?" I was expecting resistance but was met with lots of joy. Yay!

And so it was: Easty was moving back East!

I've been renting apartments for most of those ten years (with the exception of three years of dorm life) and was starting to get frustrated by my budding DIY passion and the limits placed on it by the ever-present lease.  Hmmm....how about a 30-year project??!! I think I looked at about 50 houses in the Tuscaloosa/Northport area before I finally found my little country cottage (from here on out known as The Knoll.)

It's got a big, fenced-in back yard for Pete------>Here's Pete! He's a jackrat with a penchant for lovin's.

Three bedrooms, two baths, and it's right in the center of town! My commute is seven minutes long, which sure beats the pants off the 2.5 hours spent commuting from Eagle Rock to Santa Monica everyday. I do miss some of the palm trees and all of my lovely friends. 

Best of all, the house is 62 years old and needs some Easty-izing. I would describe that as a modern/eclectic/ French cottage-with lots of red accents-type of style. Okay, so I am a hot mess right now. Follow me on my journey of DIY and decor; I am starting with the kitchen and the gnarly early '90s stuff going on in there...

Home Sweet Home Alabama!

~Easty