Pining for the floors

Hello all. With the passage of enough time since our last floor installation, we jumped back into the breech. After many months we returned to one of the first rooms we painted, one of the upstairs bedrooms (see the first photos in this post). 

Here is where things stood. The previous owners had painted the plywood subfloor, which meant we had a clean surface as our base, akin to the other upstairs bedroom.

We laid the red rosin paper for squeaks and then proceeded to lay flooring. Getting the first boards in place is crucial because we needed them to be straight since everything else would build off them. We also knew from experience that hammering boards into place can shift them around. How to guard against that?

We screwed a number of braces in place to give us a rock-solid foundation as we installed up to the near wall, including filling in the little closet.

After that it was lather, rinse, repeat across the wider part of the room.

We had moved a number of floor boards and the miter saw up to the room to minimize the amount of travel up and down the stairs. Aside from ensuring that you don't end up with seams that are too close together (don't ask how we know this), the edges are always a bit slow as you customize pieces to fit. 

For example, around and between the little doors to the storage cubbies (typical of every cape cod) we had to get out the jigsaw.

The result, still awaiting polyurethane finish, always is worth the effort. At least we think so. We don't want to speak for you.

In case the subject line of this entry was unfamiliar or only vaguely familiar, let us offer a refresher on an all-time classic. Enjoy.

Until next time.

Oh cabinet, my cabinet

Hello all. With our now well known affinity for transforming furniture (in the bathroom here, and the living room here and here) you won't be the least surprised that we went back to this well.

We had purchased another kitchen cabinet that was intended to be the vanity for the small, third bathroom. That entailed a few modifications. First we had to put in something to turn the working drawer into a false one because the sink would make it impossible to house a drawer.

 

Then we needed to trim several inches off the depth to convert it from a standard kitchen cabinet size to a standard bathroom size. This was old hat to us by now. Find the line, use a straight edge (in this case a long clamp) and cut.

 

 

Then we attached a simple back of pegboard we had handy, leaving open a gap big enough to accommodate the drain pipe and water supply lines. So far, so good.

 

 

Our decision to make this bathroom into our laundry room made our work on this cabinet moot. There is sat in the garage until we decided its fate. We opted to make it an additional piece for the kitchen. Even with all the cabinet space and the island in there, we thought this might make a nice buffet. We replaced the back with some better plywood and painted it to match the rest of the kitchen.

 

 

Then we decided reintroduce a drawer to make the piece more useful. The dimensions and process were pretty simple. Make a box and put a bottom on it.

 

 

We added drawer slides, hardware, and a butcher block top to complete the look. You'd hardly be able to tell is wasn't conceived alongside the rest of the kitchen because it blends in so well.

 

Until next time.

Mudroom Upgrade

Hello all. After deciding to move the laundry into its own room, we took a harder look at the new mudroom to see what would make it welcoming and useful.

Our first idea was to put back the small utility sink that we had next to the washer and dryer. This would keep open the rest of the space while giving us a place for washing brushes, etc. One trouble we had was with the water supply lines. We tried to use a brass fitting to redirect the intakes downward but couldn't get them not to leak.

Then we hit on the idea of building a custom shelf to cover the distance between the sink and wall and give us a place to keep soap and paper towels. We matched the non-90-degree angle of the sink's backsplash and drilled through the metal to attach the shelf.

 

All fine and good, we tried this out for a bit. At the same time we realized that a larger sink we'd planned to use in the laundry room wouldn't work. The bowl is too low and the drain pipe and supply lines are too high to fit. And raising the sink would make it uncomfortably high. Why not use it in the mudroom instead of this micro sink?

We had the same supply line issue with this bigger sink and came up with the same solution--to build and attach a shelf. This required a little more finesse because the shelf would hit higher on the wall, going over a cover plate for an outlet.

Aside from needing drill bits that could go through the heavy duty metal, we broke out this corded drill because the batteries on our cordless were no match for this project.

 

A side project to this was designing a cover for the box with the water supply lines and drain for the washing machine. We didn't want to lose these and wanted to be able to pour water down the drain occasionally to keep it from drying out. But we also didn't want to leave this open and unsightly.

The little door we installed matches the wall color, and we added a small handle as a flourish. Finding screws small enough to attach the hinge to 1/4-inch plywood was tough, and we ended up using slightly longer screws and cutting off the excess that poked through.

 

Another component of the project was doing something to cover up the water heater. We couldn't put anything permanently around it, obviously, in case we needed to gain access. We tried several cloth options (imagine a shower curtain) and one of peg board. Nothing seemed right and the latter was too big/imposing.

What if we made it a snug fit and painted yellow to match the walls and have it blend in? 

 

A chair and a small shoe rack have been the finishing touches.

And again here's a video version of the final result.

Until next time.

Another floor bites the dust

 

Hello all. After the diversion of the bathroom door we turned our attention to the one room that remained untouched, that is if you don't count becoming a repository for tools and stuff.

It's been a long time, but the room looked like this when we bought the place.

The carpet was long gone and even though the paint color on the walls was fairly mild we put on a coat of primer in part to bring the spots of new drywall up to the same level.

We followed that with a new color from Sherwin Williams--Balmy--a nice, light blue.

Then it was time to turn to cast our gaze downward. We put down the luan boards to raise the level to the rest of the floor and then covered it with our standard red paper for squeaks.

Then it was Pine Time! 

This is still unfinished but at least it's installed. We're even getting a little faster at this part of the project. Or maybe we benefited from this being the smallest room in the house.

If you're more of an "experiential" learner, then below are some short videos that recap the same steps above. We'd recommend you watch them without the sound because there's some heavy background noise in several of them (laundry machine, heavy winds). Enjoy.

Until next time.