Our D.I.Y. Remodel: Here, There, and Everywhere

We have been working hard. Every day we check off one or two items from the to-do list. Don built and installed the trim around the two custom kitchen built-ins, and Sami spent hours painting it all. When the time finally came to put the shelves, drawers, and doors back on the cabinets, we found that each drawer was a slightly different size (!*?!**!). That meant the drawers would not fit into the trim on the bottom, and would not close all the way. So, Don took the bottom drawers apart and made new faces for them. Then they had to be primed and painted again. Now they fit, but it was a lot of extra work.

This cabinet is what became of our old "phone nook."

This is the pantry that sits above the stairwell to the basement.

To keep up with the projects we must buy more supplies every few days. Last Friday we spent time at Home Depot and Wink’s Hardware deciding on kitchen drawer and door handles. At a glass shop we ordered the window glass for the kitchen built-in and the privacy glass for the bottom pane of the bathroom window, then another trip to the paint store for another gallon of primer, trim paint and sand paper. We are doing our best to keep the economy healthy.

These built-into-the-wall shelves are like the ones Don built in our upstairs bathroom

The main floor bathroom window required a lot more work than first anticipated. To make it right, Don has had to almost completely rebuild it. He also spent time building both sets of shelves and the trim for them, which gave Sami more work; painting, painting, painting.

Pretty soon the wainscoting can be added.

As if that were not enough, Corey is back and he is laying a new cedar floor on the deck outside our living room. Don built the deck about 22 years ago and lately the wood has deteriorated badly. Luckily, the supports are all still in good shape, and did not need to be rebuilt.