Monday, December 05, 2005
Kitchen, phase 1.
This weekend we began work on the kitchen bandaid restoration. We'll be leaving some work to the professionals, including a new tile floor and any plumbing, if we ever get around to installing our Coveted Ikea Farmhouse Sink. It may actually be shattered in pieces in the box, because there's no way in hell we deserve this sink. No, we haven't opened the box yet. Don't ask why, but it probably falls into the same category of reasons as me never watching our wedding video. Not even once. It's fear.
Back to my point. I pulled down all the cabinet doors and removed all of the hideous knobs and pulls. One of the knobs would not budge. I solicited Erik, thinking maybe I was just a pansy. After we had completely stripped the screw head, I put some calls out to my subject matter experts - my dad (didn't answer) and my friend John (also didn't answer). Maybe they are learning early never to answer calls from me on Saturdays. Finally, we got a few calls back, and I was on my way to buy a mini hack saw from Hillcrest Hardware (Saturday morning trip #2). I've never sawed through metal before. It was awesome and strangely satisfying. I'm trying to come up with other excuses to use it. Does anyone have any metal they need sawed?
As of this weekend, all of the mid-door mounted knob holes are filled with wood-filler (that smells vaguely like that new plastic toy smell of my youth), and all but four of the cabinet bases are sanded, using a combination of Joel's 1/4 sheet sander (his description: "it looks like a large vibrator, but DO NOT USE IT THAT WAY") and some steel wool that is now in a million pieces and will probably show up in every single corner of the house for decades to come.
But most importantly, we bought ridiculously overpriced hardware! (Thank god for Restoration Hardware friends and family discounts.)
We got the 1.25" circle knobs pictured below:
And the large bin pulls here (chosen entirely because the 4" size means not having to fill the old drawer pull holes):
We're not going to replace the hinges. They're sort of antique brass-y. I wish they were a little more antiquey, so I'm open to suggestions for speeding up, well, time.
I'll post pictures later in the week of further progress, but right now it just looks dusty. You can use your imagination.
[by julia 10:44 AM]
