The china cabinet is coming along. All I need to do is reinstall the hardware and put the glass back in. Lookin' good, methinks.
And I'm looking forward to getting some outside work done.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Teeny Tiny Zucchini
My garden has been sorely neglected lately, what with the indoor projects and the rain. I should be able to focus just on the yard, beginning this weekend, and I am looking forward to that.
I meant to do something about this little zucchini weeks ago, but never got around to it. I planted this seed at the same time as all the other zucchini seeds. It germinated a little later, but not so much so that I was worried about it. It is growing. It keeps sending out leaves. It's just not getting bigger. I planned to move it to a pot, and then transplant another zuke into its place, but I think it's too late for that now. Ah well. I'm curious if this thing will actually put out blossoms and tiny little zucchini, about the size of baby carrots? hmmm ...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Rainy Saskatoon Summer
The amount of rain we are having this year has been just phenomenal. This summer, it has been rare to go longer than 24 hours without rain, and when we do get it, we get a lot. The pictures below are from Friday, July 2.
Thankfully, we are holding up well at the School of Yard Knocks. I took part of my summer vacation in late May/early June, and was able to get my garden in, in between rainstorms. Many working people were not as lucky - they didn't have the same planting window. For others, it wasn't the endless rain, but the amount of it, puddling in their gardens, making it impossible to rototill or plant. My aunt's seed potatoes rotted in the ground. Another reason to be thankful for my raised beds - they drain well.
Worse still than gardening issues, many people I know have had their basements flooded. Many have been running sump pumps continuously for more than a month. The water tables are so high, that water just keeps seeping into the basements, even when it's not raining.
My workplace was flooded in the rains of June 29/30.
And the farming economy in this area has been devastated.
Other than a small leak in my roof (fixed a few weeks ago by a friend), and handling Archie's fear of thunder, we have been very lucky and I am counting my blessings.
Thankfully, we are holding up well at the School of Yard Knocks. I took part of my summer vacation in late May/early June, and was able to get my garden in, in between rainstorms. Many working people were not as lucky - they didn't have the same planting window. For others, it wasn't the endless rain, but the amount of it, puddling in their gardens, making it impossible to rototill or plant. My aunt's seed potatoes rotted in the ground. Another reason to be thankful for my raised beds - they drain well.
Worse still than gardening issues, many people I know have had their basements flooded. Many have been running sump pumps continuously for more than a month. The water tables are so high, that water just keeps seeping into the basements, even when it's not raining.
My workplace was flooded in the rains of June 29/30.
And the farming economy in this area has been devastated.
Other than a small leak in my roof (fixed a few weeks ago by a friend), and handling Archie's fear of thunder, we have been very lucky and I am counting my blessings.
Refinishing the China Cabinet
As if taking two weeks to repaint my kitchen wasn't enough, I also embarked on repainting my china cabinet. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment. I had thought about refinishing it for years; and now, with the new paint on the walls, it's time.
I bought a kit to do this with, years ago. You start by painting an ivory base, distress, stain the distressed bits, seal.
I took a 4-day long weekend, beginning on Canada Day, July 1. I figured, "Four days. No probs." You'd think I'd know better by now.
The probs, in a nutshell:
Started by removing all hardware and glass, sanding all surfaces, and separating buffet from hutch (and by the way, the hutch is still on my table, as of July 12).
The first kit sat around my house for a good 2 years or more. Obviously the paint needed a little more than a stir. Sometimes, my pack-rat-y-ness comes in handy, as here, where I use an old extra beater on my electric beater, to do the honours.
Three coats later, looking good!
And, starting the distressing:
It's only Monday, so with a lot of luck and elbow grease, I may have this sucker done by the end of the coming weekend. Knocking wood. Crossing fingers. Casting spells. Cursing under my breath.
The probs, in a nutshell:
- I actually needed three coats, about one coat per kit. I had only one kit.
- Saturday, July 3 was basically a write-off, between a visit from my aunt in the morning, running out of paint for the first time, and a 7-hour concert (The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, whoo!)
- Painting doors of any kind takes a really long time; painting paned doors takes a super duper long time.
- Distressing takes a lot of elbow grease.
- We finally had two straight days of good weather over the past weekend (July 10/11), so I spent most of my time working in the garden.
Started by removing all hardware and glass, sanding all surfaces, and separating buffet from hutch (and by the way, the hutch is still on my table, as of July 12).
Three coats later, looking good!
And, starting the distressing:
Monday, July 12, 2010
Mactac!
They still have it at WalMart. And the groovy dots and colours are perfect for my kitchen. Yay!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Painting the Kitchen ~ Day %$*#!
No really, I'm done painting. I'm thrilled. I love it. But, I'm tired.
I still need to strip the old paint off about half of my hinges. I googled for ideas on how to do this, and found one where you boil the hinges on your stovetop, in a mixture of water and baking soda. Works like a charm! Then, I can put the cupboards back together and start putting my stuff back in the cupboards.
And, hopefully, in the mess, find my (expletive deleted) camera cord.
That's all. Goodnight.
12 July 2010 Picture Update:
The lighting isn't great in this picture - it all looks a little yellowed. Please see other pics for a more accurate idea of the colours. But, here is the finished paint job on the cabinets:
Opposite cabinets:
And, getting my furniture in place:
Hinges before and after:
I still need to strip the old paint off about half of my hinges. I googled for ideas on how to do this, and found one where you boil the hinges on your stovetop, in a mixture of water and baking soda. Works like a charm! Then, I can put the cupboards back together and start putting my stuff back in the cupboards.
And, hopefully, in the mess, find my (expletive deleted) camera cord.
That's all. Goodnight.
12 July 2010 Picture Update:
The lighting isn't great in this picture - it all looks a little yellowed. Please see other pics for a more accurate idea of the colours. But, here is the finished paint job on the cabinets:
Opposite cabinets:
And, getting my furniture in place:
Hinges before and after:
Monday, June 7, 2010
Painting the Kitchen ~ Day 7
Still missing my camera cable; still no pictures.
So, it seems like my plan to wrap things up by Monday was a little optimistic. Okay, wildly optimistic. That said, I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for taking awhile to get this done. It's my vacation, after all. I'm not painting 8 or 10 hours a day - I'm reading and napping and taking the dogs to the dogpark and watching a few episodes of Sex and the City every night. And gardening; oh yes, a little of that too.
The cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and the walls up to the plate rails are turquoise (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Spring Stream), and those are all done, with two coats on and dry. I took all the finished cabinet doors off (scraping through about 4 layers of old paint to get to the screw slots on the hinges), so that it would be easier to paint the interiors. Most of the rest of the kitchen will be "cream" (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Artist's Canvas). I have two coats of that on the walls, but only one coat on the ceiling and inside the cabinets. I need to decide whether I'm going to do a second coat inside the cabinets or not. It looks pretty good as is, and you won't actually see that much of it. It's pretty clear my mom and dad only did one coat of yellow when they painted; but it still feels like cheating. At any rate, I still have to do a second coat on the ceiling and on the cabinet fronts. I also have to do start the insides of the drawers.
If I can do as much tomorrow as I did today, I'll have everything done except the trim.
I've been thinking a lot about Mactac lately. Does anyone still use that? Does anyone sell it? Looking online, it seems like it is marketed as an adhesive, rather than as a peel and still cupboard liner. I have some vintage wallpaper in the basement. I wonder how it would hold up as a cupboard liner? hmmm ....
btw, it looks amazing
12 July 10 Picture Update:
Here we are with all the cupboard doors removed (and Gabe's butt in the foreground).
So, it seems like my plan to wrap things up by Monday was a little optimistic. Okay, wildly optimistic. That said, I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for taking awhile to get this done. It's my vacation, after all. I'm not painting 8 or 10 hours a day - I'm reading and napping and taking the dogs to the dogpark and watching a few episodes of Sex and the City every night. And gardening; oh yes, a little of that too.
The cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and the walls up to the plate rails are turquoise (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Spring Stream), and those are all done, with two coats on and dry. I took all the finished cabinet doors off (scraping through about 4 layers of old paint to get to the screw slots on the hinges), so that it would be easier to paint the interiors. Most of the rest of the kitchen will be "cream" (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Artist's Canvas). I have two coats of that on the walls, but only one coat on the ceiling and inside the cabinets. I need to decide whether I'm going to do a second coat inside the cabinets or not. It looks pretty good as is, and you won't actually see that much of it. It's pretty clear my mom and dad only did one coat of yellow when they painted; but it still feels like cheating. At any rate, I still have to do a second coat on the ceiling and on the cabinet fronts. I also have to do start the insides of the drawers.
If I can do as much tomorrow as I did today, I'll have everything done except the trim.
I've been thinking a lot about Mactac lately. Does anyone still use that? Does anyone sell it? Looking online, it seems like it is marketed as an adhesive, rather than as a peel and still cupboard liner. I have some vintage wallpaper in the basement. I wonder how it would hold up as a cupboard liner? hmmm ....
btw, it looks amazing
12 July 10 Picture Update:
Here we are with all the cupboard doors removed (and Gabe's butt in the foreground).
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