Little Things make all the difference

I noticed while doing the “house” project that there were a lot of little things that never got finished the first time around. That was over 20 years ago and it amazes me how we as humans learn to overlook the little things that we see everyday. Yet, those same “little things” are one of the first things we notice when walking into a new place.

Today I am going through each room to make sure I have all the little things finished. Did I find any? Yes!

In the front room I needed to replace the missing bolt  holding the damper. That is the same little hole that the bat came in last winter. Before I could crawl into the fireplace to insert the toggle bolt with washer to cover the hole I had to clean out all the ashes from last winter’s fires. Yes, I checked to see if the damper would open with the bolt in place before I inserted it.

 

I needed to  tighten up the legs on the nook table so it doesn’t wobble.I asked my cabinet guy how to do this and he said he would try adding two more screws per side and then gluing the pegs in place.

The end piece would work itself off as the table wobbled.

I tighten up the center screw and added two more screws to each end of the table.

Finished by pitting wood glue on the pegs before attaching the piece to the ends.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this takes care of the wobble problem for good. The table is very solid at the moment.

I will be glad when I have the garage organized so it doesn’t take me all day to find the screws that I want.

 

The big one is the staircase trim which even the cabinet-maker could not come up with an answer on how it could be done. I have  decided to leave that project for last.

I still have a cracked window from were a rock hit it –  but that is beyond my ability and I will let Bill handle that department.

Really not a bad list compared to what I started with: missing baseboard, clutter everywhere and broken furniture.

Upstairs I still need to drill the holes in Chris’ closet doors  for the knobs, cut and nail the trim around the bookcases, varnish and nail one piece of baseboard in the library,  and hang some art work. The artwork is  hung but I have to take a break and paint some more trim board for the apartment.  I have another 170 feet to paint.

Than I can continue on to the next room. Yes, I am procrastinating! The next room is the master walk-in closet.  It will take me a week just trying on clothes to see if they will fit (most will not because unfortunately one of the aftermath of my shoulder injury was weight gain). This will be very depressing to me – but since just opening the closet door is depressing I suppose once those clothes are packed away I will feel better.

 

 

 

This is the last room in the south wing of the house except the basement which I plan on cleaning in the fall or winter since it is more important to do the garage and north wing area during the summer.

I started the morning by harvesting cucumbers, zucchini, radishes,  and  green beans from the sun garden after treating Shoes paw. I know what’s for dinner tonight. <grin>

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Declutter old computer CD’s no longer needed.

Mudroom locker hutch arrived!

The locker hutch is here! It took my truck and Mr. Wichman’s truck to get all the pieces home. Then we had to screw the pieces together,

This photo …

with some instructional design changes from me and a lot of cabinetry skill by a master craftsman became my dream locker hutch.

Now I need to remove the baseboard behind it and screw it to the wall for stability before I can start using it.

Ordered mudroom hutch!

March 3, 2104

I made the final decision this morning about the mudroom hutch. This is the last big piece of furniture that will go downstairs.

This was what people saw when they entered our back door. It is also what you saw when you sit down to eat at the nook. Is it a wonder  that no one wanted to eat in that area?

After removing all of this to paint the walls i decided it was time to get  this area under control. I ended up with this:

Better , but not pretty. The next step was a computer search for mudroom furniture. I finally found an unit that we liked  but there were some things that had to be changed.

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I wanted the lockers to be a little wider. The ones above are only 14 inches and I wanted them 18 inches. The bottom shelve is fixed and I wanted it adjustable. The unit needed to remain 64 inches wide so the center cabinet needed to be made smaller  (28 inches) then the original 36 inches. I also wanted those shelves to be adjustable flat shelves. I wanted the center cabinet to be as tall as the kitchen counter and to have doors that matched the kitchen cabinets. I also wanted doors across the top chubby holes and a cork board messenger center  between the top and bottom cabinets and a place to hang keys. Oh, I wanted the whole unit to be 8 inches taller. Just a few changes.

I original wanted to paint the hutch a blue – flex  flower blue but after talking with my local cabinet maker I have decided to let him finish it to match the kitchen cabinets.  After hearing the price of having it made in popular I decided that it was just too expensive to not have him finish it, so I made the decision to upgrade it to oak with a pecan finish.

This has been a long progress since the original plans were given to the cabinet maker in October for his approval. He is retired and only makes a few pieces a year so I am very glad that he agreed to make this for us since he has made most of our cabinets. I am also strangely relieved that I will not have to paint this piece when it get here.

I found the hinged coat hooks I wanted for inside the locker. They were a bit larger then I was led to believe so I will need only four of the six I originally ordered. That is one of the reasons I prefer to buy local but after checking all the stores in the area I was forced to buy online.