Kitchen - Day 3

Well, yesterday was a piece of cake compared to today! Things just stopped going well, and I had to readjust. I was possibly more irritated by everything because I have a child who just doesn't sleep. He was in my room at 4:30am asking for a snack, milk, iPad...you name it. I probably should have just gotten up.

But I hurt. My whole body hurts. And I'm not THAT out of shape! I'm just using muscles I don't usually use with such intensity. Also, random things like my left thumb hurts—not sure what that's about. Safety first though! Wearing these glasses all day long...

Before I get to the kitchen, a note about the house... it dawned on me yesterday that the house is missing some light fixtures. As in, three bedrooms, the study, and the formal living room are all without ceiling fixtures. None. Zero. Zilch. This house is twelve years old and (I think) three owners. No one thought these rooms needed light?! I'm sure lamps will suffice but... how strange!

The Kitchen

We started our day picking up more lightbulbs (whatever is in there now shouldn't be called light). I also ventured to the crown molding section. You pick and cut your own. It's a little strange since you're measuring and using a hand saw. I can't recall the last time I used a hand saw. But I picked something out. 

So, as I started today, I quickly realized my pre-cut plywood from Home Depot was the wrong size for most of my areas. Keeping in mind that the cabinets are all hung at slightly different height (ugh!) I thought maybe I had just grabbed the wrong strip. Nope. Either I measured wrong or they cut it wrong but either way... it didn't fit. I attempted to cut a few pieces with the circular saw. I was successful, but it was basically free-handing and it wasn't pretty. I finally gave up and decided I'd go buy another piece of plywood and have it cut smaller to save my sanity. 

I had one section above the refrigerator where I tried to remedy the problem by putting up 2x4s instead and hanging a shorter piece (because it would be covered by crown molding anyway). That failed. Have I introduced you to this little guy? Super tiny—packs a big punch. I've used it a lot. A lot...

After that failure, I tried to use the circular saw to cut down one of the larger pieces. Failure. Again. I'm pretty certain I hate the circular saw. I don't want a table saw because those tend to be the ones that people cut their fingers off with, and I need all my fingers. I'm not sure what a good alternative is at this point. What I do know is that I kick myself every time I use my miter saw as I think back to standing in the store with my dad. He said, "Get the 12 inch sliding saw." And I replied, "I don't think I have enough room." Sigh... now I know all the many things I could be cutting with no problems had I listened to him. Don't get the 10 inch unless you ONLY plan to cut trim. 

Boxes finished!

So this is what I got done today. Also started sanding a bit. 

What I've decided is that trim is my friend. It will offer a lot of forgiveness for my sawing inadequacies. It also occurred to me that I need something that can be nailed into the brace (like the flat piece) but this one will not be big enough with this piece of molding. So I need to either get a larger wall piece or a crown piece that has more angle to it. The small trim I will use where the cabinet meets the plywood and also at the wall...possibly the corners... EVERYWHERE.

Crown molding.

My contractor came by to go over the house because his current job is waiting on materials. He might think I'm nuts because he walked in to my project. He's going to start tearing out the floor tomorrow instead of next week. We also discussed that horrid backsplash in the kitchen. Given how well it's put on, he suggested we just cut off that section of drywall and then fix the drywall. Brilliant. I would have never thought of that. He's also tearing out the desk, which will become kind of a bar/butlers pantry type section. 

And he's going to move the island and make sure it gets flooring under is so I can move it over a few inches to accommodate an overhang and still keep a decent walkway. 

Tomorrow, they'll be demoing at the house so we can't be there. I brought home some cabinet doors to start working on. Clean, sand, fix, fill woodgrain.... it doesn't look like a lot of doors until you take them off!!

5 1/2 weeks is what we have left. And somewhere in there I'll have to do some packing. 😬