One bazillion shades of gray

Looking for the right gray pales only in comparison to looking for the right white.




We've decided! Valspar's "Tempered Gray" it is. A nice neutral not-too-yellow, not-too-blue, not-too-brown gray. It's on the top left and lower right below, along with "Urban Sunrise," the darker gray, along with "Frappe" which, thankfully, we didn't like so I don't have to think of that name, ever.




Tomorrow is painting day!

Re-thinking the mineral oil method for the butcher block

I wanted to be a mineral oil purist when it came to the counters. I really really did. But after some 20 or so go-overs with mineral oil and still the counters seemed to need more, I continued my search. I still wanted to avoid any toxic sealants, but the idea of just sealing it all up sounded appealing. Then again there was the nagging question in my mind, Then why did you get butcher block countertops at all?? 

Then I found the Old Town Home blog and discovered that someone else had gone through the same process. I'm following their lead, except I added in more sanding (by hand): 80-grit, 100-grit, 150-grit and, finally, 220. This was last night, even after a workout at Trailhead Athletics, mind you. My arms are pooped. A workout regimen is superfluous when you have a new house.
I applied Howard Butcher Block Conditioner and left it overnight. It said 20 minutes, but whatever. I wanted it to really get in there! I wiped that down this morning and applied another coat. It feels so smooth and just look at the water beading up:

Success.

Painting the kitchen cabinets.

To thwart the constant aggression of the HONEY OAK all over the kitchen, we opted to use a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit, mostly based on the "no sanding" sales point. We read and perused countless reviews and pictures and decided it was worth $120 (probably closer to $170 with additional needed supplies) to transform our kitchen. More on the process below, but I can't wait to show you, so here it is! (updated pic):

More pics to come of the entire kitchen once we paint the wall. AND THEN WE'RE FINISHED!

In all, we are quite happy with the results. We chose the "Castle" color from Rustoleum and opted not to glaze them. I'm pretty sure glazing will go the way of honey oak sooner than later anyway. The kit worked fairly well and while there was so sanding, there was a LOT of scrubbing, "deglossing," as they call it. The most worrisome part is that this is possibly the most important step, because anything not sufficiently deglossed is likely not to hold paint, meaning it could just peel off in the future and leave us crying on our pretty yellow Marmoleum floor.

The DVD that accompanied the kit made it all look so fun and easy. They assured us we'd be sipping wine in the company of a golden retriever by the end, all with happy smiles on our faces. This wasn't exactly so.

E tackled the doors and drawers:

And I set to clean up the cabinet bases and frames. Here is what you have to do when the silicone securing the counter to the cabinet base was hastily applied. Scrape, scrape, scrape. And sand.




Prepped and ready for painting to begin! We started at 11 a.m. Friday. This was at 6pm, aka time for a beer:

There were two rather disgusting pull-out cutting boards that gave us the creeps, so we took the opportunity to bury them forever.



Door painting station (round #1 of 2):



Back of doors after one round of paint/"bond coat." First of two on the back. Plus 2-3 hours drying time between. Then same process on the front. Do you see how "Three Easy Steps" is a bunch of crap? To complete just this step, it took us from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.



Here is the schedule after I got mad at it and wadded it into a ball:



From many reviews, we gathered that the top coat (polyacrylic) was going to be tough, and it was. It dries VERY fast and if you go back over it with more of the stuff after it begins drying, it pretty much pulls up ALL of the layers. Luckily, only one coat was needed--very quickly applied--plus many hours of drying time.
Also, when they tell you to keep track of which door goes where, pay attention. Putting it back together was an unwanted puzzle at 9 pm on a Sunday.

But now look!!!! 

We're thinking light grey for the wall color.... what do you think?

Towards a working fireplace

Here's a project that can be completed over a lunch break. And a tea break. And okay, an after work beer break, too.

We bought an old fireplace screen on Craigslist. Yesterday we attacked it with a wire brush and then bathed it in rust-stripping solution overnight. Today I wiped away the surface dust, cleaned stubborn gunk from the mesh with a toothbrush, gave it one more anti-rust bath, rinsed the whole thing with clean water, air dried it in the miraculously not-raining-yet yard, and finally sprayed with black high-heat paint.

I needed a new toothbrush, anyway.

Heat!

I'm actually a little surprised at the difference in the heat coming out of the vents already. It's warm. Actually warm. I think the mastic was worth it.
Some days home ownership feels like an uphill battle; some days I feel a little more in control.
....now to go talk to the neighbor about branches from one of their trees banging against our house :(


Just moments later and I've had a talk with my sweet neighbor and am free to trim whatever I need. Yay for nice neighbors!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Energy savings projects

Last week, we had a consult with folks from the community energy challenge program. They spent four hours finding all the ways we are wasting money in our home. The full report is due next week, but I was in the house long enough during the assessment to see that the duct boots (where the air duct from the furnace attaches to the floor) were poorly attached, leaving large gaps so that cold are just constantly poured in from the (uninsulated) crawlspace.
A trip to the hardware store and a couple of youtube videos had me sealing the gaps myself with fiberglass tape and mastic. Nasty stuff, that mastic.
But now look:




It doesn't make sense to heat the whole house when just one of us works from home in a single room and after a little research we found a solution in a ceramic wall heater. Looking forward to seeing how well it lives up to its claims. Heat at a lower price? Sold.




We will paint it to match the wall soon (isn't it cool you can do that?), but tonight I'm too tired!

Butler door installed!

The door is in! After a quick chop of 1/4" at the top and some shimming and holding an unruly door in place, we have successfully separated kitchen and laundry room.
Shims holding it in for the final measure.




It swings! It stays open when fully extended! It stays closed when it's supposed to! It's quiet! Yay door!
View from the now separate laundry room:


Now to determine if Pedal the Cat can push it open to get to her litter box....