Small Projects

Door Number 1

Published on February 12, 2015February 12, 2015 by Our Humble Abode2 Comments

In addition to getting the bar installed this weekend, we finished up the pantry. Here it is, right after install.

I went back and forth on colors for the door. Initially, I wanted white to blend in with the surrounding cabinetry.

But the wood tone looked pretty. So maybe giving it a darker stain, to pick up on the walnut we’ll add to the island?

Then again, the same gray I used on the rest of the interior doors could look great.

A reader suggested chalkboard paint.

Great in theory, but I’m almost certain it’d be a dusty mess that would drive me insane. I’m not far off right now, don’t need to add to it. It even crossed my mind to use something crazy like a grass green.

To work with the green curtain panels in the adjacent living and dining rooms, of course.

While we had the door off to paint, Ben added oak strips to the shelf fronts. Oak for added strength. Something’s happening to me; I liked the oak. I decided to clear coat it, not paint.

Not surprisingly, after weighing the options, I went with the most boring option and my gut. White paint, to simplify the corner. In our plans, the pantry door was always white because it isn’t supposed to be a focal point.

To further match the white cabinetry, I used a drawer pull as the handle, just with slightly longer bolts.

Even with the handle sticking out, there’s still a few inches of clearance between it and the oven doors. Nothing to interfere with opening and closing the oven or pantry doors.

Much simpler and it’ll match the rest of the cabinetry on this side. You know, once we’ve built and attached doors and drawer fronts.

The only upper cabinet is up, too.

Complete with under cabinet LED pucks to give ample task light.

Goodness Gray-cious

Published on April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 by Our Humble Abode19 Comments

My quest to repaint the entry, living, and dining rooms took a lot longer than I expected. First painting the new crown and waiting for it to thoroughly dry. Next, a last coat on the tongue and groove wall.

Followed up with a first coat of paint on the walls. Then tackling the ceiling where my shoulder and neck started cramping. I ran out of wall paint and went back to get a third gallon, but we had issues matching the color, so the walls are slightly different from my original color. But, now these dingy peach walls:

Are no more. Totally worth the days of plowing through. Instead we’ve got fresh light gray walls to bounce the light around. Make no mistake, the room is still one thousand miles from done, but much improved.

And hey, we’ve got a solid color. No more patched sheet rock or paint swatches.

Unfortunately, I can’t say they’ll stay that way forever. The too tall French door will become a standard window and the bay window a sliding door. After replacing the windows, we’ll update the window trim to match the rest of the house. If I nail down my stair railing plan soon enough, we might be able to replace it soon, too. Say it with me, no more orange stained oak!

For now, I’m just happy to have baseboard (and the entertainment center toe kick!) and blank walls.

This was unfinished far, far too long.

Whenever I paint, I pull out every nail, patch it, and then start anew. Which is why I have only a few frames on the walls. Still deciding on the rest.

Even so, I’m not desperate to slap things up in an attempt to hide something ugly on the walls.

And that’s the power of paint. Or love, as Huey Lewis might say. Sweet, sweet victory. Even if I will have to do it all over again after windows.

Worse Before Better

Published on March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

We’re making progress in the family room, after leaving it nearly the same since move in.

This is what progress looks like:

Yes, at first, progress always looks like a big mess. It has to get worse before it can look better. We pulled down the old, upside down (?!) crown before installing the new trim. I forgot to take pictures, but here you can see it in the basement:

We know the previous owner liked to do things his own way, but we’re not fans of the look. Especially compared to properly installed crown via This Old House:

So, down came the old stuff, leaving small nail holes in the ceiling. Filling with joint compound isn’t difficult, just another step added to my list. Two if you count sanding.

Along with caulking seams and filling nail holes in the new trim. While I had the filler out, I removed all nails and spackled old nail holes (there were many).

Trim around the entry hasn’t gotten the full treatment yet, but will once we break the ladders out. After that, painting the last white coat and walls.

We’re crownless in parts of the dining room until we swap the door for a window with a header. At that point, we’ll run a solid piece across.

For now, and hopefully not much longer, we have a lovely patchwork of colors and textures.

I’m carving out time this week to get the trim, ceiling, and walls painted.

Feeling Groovy

Published on March 19, 2014March 18, 2014 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Adding the West Elm Mobile Chandelier and vintage Longhorns added some interest to our blank entry. But it was (and still is, really) a far cry from what I’d consider finished. I mean, half torn off, waiting to be replaced crown doesn’t scream finished. In fact, it looks awful.

As do the peach, heavily textured knock down walls throughout the entry, living, and dining rooms. It looks the worst on the large 12 foot expanse. But, we did take a big step in the finished direction this weekend. Luckily, Ben and I are both fans of painted tongue and groove strips; a great cover up option for ugly walls. We’ve got a blank slate accent wall.

I’ve never had an accent wall. We started with tongue and groove planks, starting level with the entry floor, then down and up from there. Nailing into studs to secure the boards in place.

Going down was easy, just a few angled cuts along the stairs. But going up wasn’t so smooth. Being 12 feet off the floor on the right side, and 16 off the left made it tricky to get everything to the top. Fortunately Ben knows his way around a wobbly ladder. Me? Not so much.

I tried priming the wall, starting at the top, but my short T Rex-ish arms couldn’t reach. Though he thought it hilarious, he instead took over the priming and painting.

This pine has heavy grain and knots, so it has plenty of character and texture. Even when painted. But still looks neutral to allow the light and horns to be the real focal points.

Though this railing isn’t my favorite, it looks significantly better against crisp white.

We still have some trim pieces to add before putting the final coat of paint on. The angled trim pieces along the stairs are only 1/2 inch thick, so I’d like to add a cap to thicken it up.

We did this on the planked side, and it adds just enough thickness for the boards to sit against.

Crown can go up around the entry, living, and most of the dining next. Again, the lone piece isn’t the look we’re going for.

Except the back dining wall, where the 8 foot door goes to the ceiling. We’ll have to add crown there after we’ve replaced the door with a window and a normal sized header.

But, I’m willing to paint the room, even if the windows and trim will change soon. Those peach walls have been here too long. I’ll paint the dark garage door and new railing white for a seamless look.

If You Mess With the Bull

Published on February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

You get the horns, hung up. Last week, the UPS man delivered our West Elm Mobile chandelier. After living without an entry light for two months, it certainly is nice to see at night again. Right now we have six small round 25 watt globe lights, but I’d love bigger 15 or 20 watt bulbs.

Install was pretty easy, though poor Ben had to hold it while wiring because I couldn’t reach to help. While he had the ladder out, I asked him to hang the Longhorns.

Unfortunately, a stud wasn’t centered on the wall, so the horns are a few inches off to one side.

But, I’m still thrilled to have a light and decor in the entry.

I’ll be even more excited when we get around to other entry changes. Like sanding the ceiling and wall patch, installing paneling on the tall wall, and swapping out the front door and window.

See the tape on the window? We’re hoping to reuse the 8 foot tall glass door from the dining room with a transom style window above.

After researching doors, we really like the look and function of a double door with large windows. A few houses in our neighborhood have full glass double doors and we love them. With below freezing (and lately far below zero) temps, we can’t exactly start on this, but we’re itching to get there.