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July 26, 2008
We Can Do It!
So Liz Stone came by yesterday to pick up some empty boxes (she and Damon are moving into our house on Kentucky Street, go figure) and she asked, "When are your cabinets arriving?" She seemed a bit stunned that they haven't actually been ordered yet. We were going to get sort of okay ones from the Home Despot, but they turned out to be more expensive than we wanted for cabinets we weren't absolutely crazy about. Then we thought we'd get Ikea (no, god, never again) cabinets, which are cheap enough to be able to toss out at a moment's contemplation (like when we get around to building proper period-appropriate cabinets, which is to say in, like, ten years.)
Nathan went out to the garage this afternoon and called for me to come out. He was standing there looking bemusedly at the old original kitchen cabinets which had been removed from the house and hung up in the garage in the Carter administration. We'd noticed them a couple of weeks before and wished they weren't in such crappy condition, because, HEY, THEY'RE FREE, and period, and we'd get to recycle and all that green stuff. Turns out, they're just dirty from having been in the garage for 30 years. They're actually in great shape.
There was much rejoicing. Once we'd recovered, we made our daily sojourn to the Despot and got some Citristrip. Dude, I love this shit. It makes a big honkin' mess, but it sure works.
This is a long-winded way of saying "This is why we didn't finish the kitchen floor today." That and we stopped work at 5:30 to to over to Tom and Chris' house for an ass-kickin' dinner party. But the bit of floor we got done DOES look fabulous. If it's done before rehearsal tomorrow it will be an Old-fashioned Christmas Miracle.
Comments
You guys are making such great progress.
Posted by: marycatharine at July 27, 2008 7:48 AM
All but two of the floor tiles were in before we left for rehearsal, and those are now in and the floor installation mess is cleaned up. All that's left is the floor under the sink, which is waiting until I take out the old sink, and the utility room. All that's left on this project, anyway.
Posted by: Nathan at July 27, 2008 8:29 PM
Damn - you're lucky about the cabinets! I wish we still hand some of the ones that were in our kitchen. It was remuddled in 1989 (found the permit in Fairfield) and the old floor to wall cabinets removed. Shame.
The floor looks SO GOOD! Congrats! now you're making me want to get busy on the kitchen.
Glad you guys had a good Saturday Night. Can't wait to do it again.
Posted by: Teknobear at July 28, 2008 10:45 AM
You didn't say you were putting in checkerboard tile! (Or you did, and I forgot.) Damn, that is gorgeous.
A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (his initials are WS, though) applied Citristrip to the window frames in his kitchen and left it there without scraping or refinishing it. It's been that way for about seven years. He says he likes the look, which I call ghetto craquelure.
Posted by: cirocco at July 28, 2008 12:10 PM
Woohoo for free cabinets!
Posted by: madalyn at July 28, 2008 12:26 PM
Inspiring. Now I'm gonna have to redo my kitchen too.
Posted by: Bob at July 28, 2008 10:44 PM
Mmmm...I loved the smell of Citristrip. ;P I've used it one a bunch of old wooden dressers for my kids.
And YES... its a gooey mess, but awesome at its intended purpose.
Woo hoo on the kitchen remodel. It feels great to get down in the trenches and get your hands dirty once in awhile. Can't wait to see how it turns out!!
Posted by: Sara at July 29, 2008 9:18 AM